OPPS! Looks like we provided the key components for Iraqi's biological weapons program
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20020930/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_bioweapons&e=1
Monday, September 30, 2002
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20020930/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_bioweapons&e=1
Man-made Vitamin D may Build Bones
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=97&ncid=97&e=12&u=/hsn/20020930/hl_hsn/man_made_form_of_vitamin_d_may_build_bones
osteomalacia gets a mention as well. if man-made vitamin D and natural vitamin D produce different results... is the man-made stuff actually vitamin D? what changed?? what is the impact on the body's other systems when we externally stimulate a specific reaction in a desired trait (e.g., bone [re]generation)?
Link between fried/baked carbs and CANCER found
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020929/ap_wo_en_po/sci_us_cancer_foods_1
more sugar hate from tg
Friday, September 27, 2002
FANTASTIC (albeit basic) article on ClickZ today; reprinted w/o permission but with no malice intended...
What Should You Measure?
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Ever looked into the wrong side of a telescope? Everything's little. Often, that's the way interactive marketers view their world.
The Web has been called the most accountable of all media. You can track virtually anything. That can be bad news. We can become overwhelmed by data. This intense focus on data is like looking into the wrong end of a telescope. Why does everyone scrutinize the leaves, roots, branches, and individual trees while forgetting the forest?
This technocentric bias keeps our industry hostage to technology. It's why so many companies compromise and conform to make technologies fit their businesses instead of insisting objectives drive their online businesses. Fortunes are spent on IT. Little to nothing is spent on sound marketing strategy.
While speaking at a recent seminar, I noticed the quality and quantity of the attendance was impressive. This illustrates a point in a Forrester Research study: focus is shifting to return on investment (ROI) as the Web matures. Last year, the same seminar didn't get anywhere near the same turnout.
Let's review some history. The Web has gone through four phases: Pioneer Days was the technology phase (gopher and BBS); Great Expectations was the design phase (Cool Site of the Day); the Marketing Phase was next (we'll never forget the wake-up call when the bubble burst); and now we have the Business Phase (business objectives and ROI are critical).
How long have we been in the Business Phase? Not long. Just this year, for the first time since their inception, the Webby Awards, will include business awards. They will be judged by analyzing strategy, campaign overview, and, most important, results.
I recently met with a technology company with tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions in sales. I assumed a company that large would have very sophisticated marketing, management, and data analysis capabilities. I would have never imagined a company that size wouldn't have the most rudimentary understanding of marketing systems, ROI tracking, or defining business objectives in a measurable way -- which was exactly the case.
Another company, with $1 billion in sales and several divisions, had me in recently. I pointed out I was unable to have a conversation about the ROI of its Web site because the company hadn't defined clear business objectives. They were surprised (and maybe a bit insulted), but eventually they agreed.
When we define and meet objectives, e-metrics are much clearer. Objectives are what you want to do and how you will measure success. A proper objective must be quantifiable: for example, 200 qualified leads in the next 30 days or gross product sales of $15 million in the next quarter. Once defined, objectives must be broken down into their component parts and prioritized. Someone must be accountable for that objective.
This isn't very difficult. After working with and analyzing thousands of commercial sites, we've developed a shortcut. On the most elemental level, commercial Web sites come in four flavors that can be mixed and matched. Every commercial site you'll come across is a subset of one of these four variations:
- E-commerce sites. The objective is increase sales and decrease marketing expenses. On the most basic level, you want to measure sales, returns and allowances, sales per visitor, cost per visitor, and conversion rate. On a more advanced level, you want to measure inventory mix, trend reporting, satisfaction, RFM, and other predictive modeling techniques.
- Content sites. The objective is increase readership, level of interest, and time spent on the site. You want to measure visit length, page views, number of subscribers, and cancellations.
- Lead-generation sites. The objective is increase and segment lead generation. Measure white paper downloads, time spent on the site, newsletter opt-ins, reject rates on contact pages, and leads-to-close ratio.
- Self-service sites. The objective is increase customer satisfaction and decrease support inquiries. Measure decreases in visit length, inbound cal-center metrics, and customer satisfaction metrics.
It's almost impossible to see the forest when you're focused on the trees. If you truly want to increase ROI, re-examine your objectives. Ask if your strategy and tactics will get you there.
Are you monitoring your progress? Remember: When you don't know where you're going, as the Cheshire Cat told Alice, "it doesn't matter which way you go."
Apple and Gap have among the worst Board of Directors -- Businessweekhttp://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020926/financial_boards_list_1.html
I post this not as an indictment against Apple et al, but rather as a trend watch -- the biz trade mags are now looking for dirt outside the bounds of corrupt CxOs
Thursday, September 26, 2002
has QT Turntable FINALLY met its match?! check out MITs audio-pad
http://web.media.mit.edu/~jpatten/audiopad.html
FTC launches, Dewie, the e-turtle
"Dewie's wired, but carries his security shell no matter what he's doing on the Internet."
i wonder if 'smokey the bear' seemed this cheesy when he was 'launched'?
wearable wi-fi comm badge (ala star trek tng)
http://www.vocera.com/products/products.shtm
thanks deeje
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
all i can say is "wow"... well, maybe also "how cool" and "holy cow"... i'd love to unconciously experience the medial axis of this garden! ;p
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/09/0925_020925_zengarden.html
thanks google news!
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
dDay approaching for eBay?
http://rd.yahoo.com/finance/external/forbes/*http://www.forbes.com/2002/08/16/0816ebay.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=
dunno if i'm more impressed by this guys experience, education, patent... or the fact that he'll be able to retire off of ideas written down on paper but never realized. patents are indeed the great equalizer. time to find a way to acquire them affordably.
overture interview went well, flying down late this week or early next to continue the discussion... not gonna get excited this time...
Monday, September 23, 2002
9/23 a good day?
- 650 on the ETS test (totally acceptable)
- phone interview w/ overture in LA tomorrow
- monday night football
who am i to complain?
Friday, September 20, 2002
well, i still seem to be scoring in the 60th percentile (give or take) on the quant section of the gmat... i did just manage to pull a 95% on verbal on the ETS gmat prep test, which is definitely heartening (whether it'll be consistent is another matter...). more math work to go... i've definitely lowered my expectations to the 620 range.
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
According to a 1997 Moody's study, here are the one-year, weighted-average bond issuer default rates by Moody's rating for the period 1970-1996:
Rating 1-Yr Default Rate
"Investment
Grade" Aaa 0.00%
Aa 0.03%
A 0.01%
Baa 0.12%
"Speculative
Grade" Ba 1.36%
B 7.27%
As you can see, the difference between Aa and A is quite small, but the default rate jumps very sharply thereafter. High yield "junk" bonds--those usually in the Ba category or lower--carry a high rate of interest to attempt to reward investors for assuming higher default risk.
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
ugh
today's update...
just finished the cat1 full practice test... 550 -- 60% percentile! :( :( not good, not good at all. definitely need more speed and more attention to detail. really need at least a low 600 score to contend, sigh.
on a semi positive note, i talked w/ the staffing person at yahoo today (i called) who informed me that mark was still intending to make his offer on friday, was still wrapping up 1st round in persons and was knocking out candidates as he went along (which, in her words "hadn't happened to me"). so, i'm not in, but i'm not out. yaaaa limbo.
Monday, September 16, 2002
Well, I'm officially out of SF. Feels weird to move out so suddenly, but I'm glad to be on a more fiscally sane path for the first time in years. Doing the math on all the rent I've paid over the past 6 years is... almost... depressing... lol.
I wrote about XDegrees, a cool little start-up in Mt. View that built a p2p extended DNS system, many months ago (after following them since their initial funding). While the p2p market burst with the rest of the bubble, XDegrees was able to sell their technology to MSFT. Looks like it's going to be integrated with .NET, according to this News.com article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-957929.html?tag=fd_top
Friday, September 13, 2002
Now here's some legislation worth supporting... of course, it's also basically a personal GUID, but I won't get into that again right now...
==> CELL PHONE NUMBER PORTABILITY COULD LEAD TO CHURN SPIKE
A new regulation that would enable cell phone users to take their number
with them when they switch carriers could generate a spike in customer
turnover, or churn, at least in the short term, says analyst Ken Hyers at
In-Stat/MDR: "The first 12 months after the regulation will be very painful
but then the pain will diminish. Carriers should accept that rule as
inevitable and move forward." Hyers predicts that about 46% of U.S. mobile
customers will switch to a rival operator in the year following the
regulation's November 2003 implementation. That compares with an estimated
current turnover rate of 30%. Similar rules in Australia, Hong Kong and
parts of Europe have resulted in churn rates increasing by 25% to 50%, says
In-Stat. In addition to the probability of losing customers, wireless firms
will have to face increased outlays of between $900 million and $1 billion
to upgrade their networks and software in order to accommodate number
portability. But telecom analyst Jeff Kagan says the final result could be
a blessing in disguise for the industry: "Right now customers are not using
a mobile as their primary phone but that is a goal of the industry. Once it
happens, the bottom line is that customers will scream if they have to
change their number. The way to keep customers happy is not to trap them
but to give them a reason to stay."
http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i29019.html
Intel will be releasing a new mobile Pentium chip in early Q1; a ground-up redesign of the chip specifically for mobile devices that should allow laptops to run for a full day on current battery technology (i.e., a 600% improvement) w/ built-in Wi-Fi support (no additional card needed). I don't have nor have I used 802.11b, so I don't know the answer... but it would seem like a useful piece of functionality to have the card 'poll' for access, automatically alerting the user/owner when it had "reception" (much like a cell phone).
==> DRIVE-BY SPAM ATTACKS HIT WIRELESS LANs
The proliferation of unsecured corporate wireless networks is fueling a
surge in drive-by spamming, a security expert warned attendees of the First
International Security Users Conference in London. "These people simply
drive up to a building armed with their pornographic e-mail, log into the
insecure wireless network, send the message to 10 million e-mail addresses
and then just drive away," said Adrian Wright, managing director of Secoda
Risk Management. With more ISPs instituting no-spamming rules, these
unsecured networks have become easy targets for would-be spammers. All they
have to do is find an unprotected SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) port
on a company's server and then pose as legitimate users of the network --
the mail server can't tell the difference. Wright warned that between 60%
and 80% of corporate wireless networks are unsecured, often because
managers fail to change default settings when they install a wireless LAN.
The security hole has led to the new phenomenon of "wardriving" -- driving
around a city until you find an unsecured wireless LAN -- which leads to
"warchalking" -- drawing a symbol in chalk on a wall or pavement to mark
the presence of a wireless networking node. And the practice isn't just
confined to metro areas, said Wright, producing a photo of a warchalking
symbol drawn on a buoy floating at sea.
http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i29016.html
==> HP DESIGNS NANOSCALE MEMORY CHIPS
Hewlett-Packard has created a new computer memory chip using nanotechnology
to fit a 64-bit memory unit inside a single square micron (a micron is
one-millionth of a meter). Although the new chip's capacity is too small to
be useful, the development signals a key advance in the prevailing trend
toward miniaturization. In addition, the chip combines for the first time
both memory and logic by manipulating molecules caught in a grid of
superthin platinum wires. "This is the first demonstration that molecular
logic and memory can work together on the same nanoscale circuits," says an
HP spokesman.
http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i29011.html
==> STOP THE TECHNOLOGY, I WANT TO GET ON
If companies would just stop inventing things a consumer would know what to
do. DVDs are still all the rage, but movie-watchers are now being offered
something new: D-Theater digital videocassettes -- which look like ordinary
VHS tapes but provide about twice the resolution of DVDs. Critic Mike
Snider writes: "I was amazed. Visually, D-Theater is not just an
improvement over DVD. It leaves DVD in the dust, as difficult as that might
be for DVD's growing legion of fans to visualize. The difference was so
stunning that after watching D-Theater versions of U-571, Terminator 2, and
End of Days, the DVDs looked as if the lens had gone slightly out of
focus." Sigh. We'll call it progress.
http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i29009.html
Thursday, September 12, 2002
quickie update
- first round in-persons w/ yahoo seemed to go ok... should get their perspective in the next day or so... hiring decision next friday
- STREET SCENE ROCKED yet again! too damn much driving, but it was a great couple of days. maybe one day some of my loser LA & SF friends will actually make it ;p
- moving tomorrow, still packing (not a good sign, lol)
- <2 weeks to the GMAT, haven't studied in a week and am definitely looking forward to getting settled and back at it
Thursday, September 05, 2002
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-956305.html?tag=cd_mh
yeaaa, apple is truly playing the game! now, offer me the 20G for $249 and we'll talk...
MtG Onslaught's morphing, first take:
"honestly, this mechanism seems to be geared toward highlighting the advantages of the Magic Online environment (i.e., the omni-present computer "judge")... while making "real world" game play much more difficult.
in other words, a b.s. marketing tactic that will inevitably lead the sheep toward MtGOnline, where profit margins are even higher than the already ubsurd mark-up on pieces of "collectible" cardboard."
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19286.html - MSFT launches new media platform
"Microsoft can out-develop any software company in the space by nature of budget -- they can throw more money at a problem than Real or anybody else," Giga's Enderle said. "What keeps Real alive is the belief that nobody wants just one vendor in any space, particularly if that one vendor is Microsoft."
