January 2008 Archives

It's alive. Good luck greenbizjournal

Charlotte Observer: Observer will outsource some ad design. Several papers have considered outsourcing editorial departments, such as Miami Herald, which earlier this month decided not to do that. But at the same time, other papers owned by the McClatchy company have been outsourcing the ad design operations. There's been less public outcry when it involves the ad departments. I doubt that the idea to outsource the editorial departments isn't over.

New York Times Shifting Careers blogger Marci Alboher profiles a bloggers who write about their job and seeks similar bloggers as a guide to those considering working in those jobs. She looks at a taxi driver, sales person, lawyers and others. Worth watching the blog to see who else turns up.

I'm not ready to buy a new car yet, but still checking that Honda keeps making a great vehicle in the Accord. Wonder if they’ve added a auxiliary jack for MP3 players other than an iPod. New York Times: All Grown Up, Like the Boomers Who Embraced It

More on how CNet is becoming the symbol of how old "new media" is having trouble competing against newer "new media" WSJ: New Media Icon Grapples With Newer Media Rivals -- "The rise of blogs and online-ad networks has altered the landscape for Web-publishing efforts."

Also today WSJ: Yahoo CEO Sees 'Headwinds'

Yahoo's net fell 23% and the Internet giant said it will cut about 1,000 jobs as it revamps to better compete with Google. CEO Yang said the company faces "headwinds" in 2008. Shares fell 11% after hours.

This week, WordPress gained in visibility with the infusion of $29.5 million into Automattic, the commercial arm of WordPress. One of the investors was The New York Times Company.

From TechCrunch: WordPress was honored twice at this past week’s Crunchies in the categories of “Most Likely to Succeed” and “Best CEO”.

Both WordPress and Moveable Type have large number of users, but WordPress's camp seem more dynamic these days because it has been the underdog, and it was free to both personal and commercial users.

Switched to Moveable Type 4.01 this weekend. The switch went very smooth. Of course it should, since all I did was update a vanilla MT3 site to MT 4.

But this time, it's different. I've been pleased with MT, but now I'm being tempted by WordPress. I've become more familiar with in in recent weeks, and I'm getting to detect some differences and appreciate a few things in WordPress, that I'm not seeing in MT. I don't care to make the switch today, but I'm still evaluating and exploring with MT 4.

NY Times: Thumbs Race as Japan’s Best Sellers Go Cellular. Not much that wasn't in Top-selling books written on mobile phones

Eric Zorn writes of 50 things I've learned in 50 years, a partial list in no particular order. You don't have to be 50 to appreciate the advice.

The third longest-tenured employee of Microsoft is retiring later this, the NY Times reports. Jeffrey Raikes started on a farm in Nebraska and that's where he's returning. Before joining Microsoft in 1981, he worked at Apple. Mr. Raikes said that Microsoft understood that software would be a large business in a way that Apple did not.

USA Today: How some pros are managing their 401(k)s. The three say they are making no changes, but they are diversifying into real estate or health care funds.

Yale Press has published "The Illusions of Entrepreneurship" by Scott Shane and published a great quiz related to the book. I took the quiz and got 40%. Some very interesting stats from the quiz.

Among the ones I missed:
* What percentage of five-year-old businesses in the United States is home-based?
* What percentage of the U.S. labor force works in companies that are less than two years old?
* What percentage of the financing of new businesses less than two years old takes the form of debt?
* How much more likely are men than women to start businesses?
* What was the ratio of White to Black self-employment in 1910 and 1990?
* What percentage of start-up efforts each year have at least one employee ten years later?
* What is the most common reason why people start new businesses?

NY Times: Investors Said to Seek a Takeover of CNet

The company, founded in 1992, has more than 2,600 employees. It has been particularly hard hit because of increased competition in its core market from technology-focused blogs like TechCrunch, written by a handful of people at a fraction of the cost. In September, page views at TechCrunch surpassed those at CNet’s News.com, long considered the industry stalwart. In October, TechCrunch and its sister site had eight million page views compared with News.com’s six million page views, according to comScore Media Metrix.

TechCrunch adds this:

CNET is currently worth $1.3 billion, but many people argue that the value of the parts is greater than that, and have recommended that the company sell off more assets for cash. Last quarter, CNET lost $16.65 million on $99.5 million in revenue.

Another media company in play this year is Weather Channel. Tech Crunch: The Weather Channel On The Market For $5 Billion+

One more from NY Times: The Problem With CNet: No One Wants to Buy It

Usually trouble-making investors find undervalued companies with management that is resistant to being acquired. CNet, I suspect, would be quite happy to sell, but its big problem right now is that it is overvalued, especially to the established media companies that are its most likely buyers.

How big a nest egg should a 45-year-old have? Here's a look at who faces a midlife financial crisis and who might be able to retire early.
read more

Track your own retirement at www.dinkytown.com.

Right after his review of his 2007 predictions, Battelle writes on: Why No One Comments on Google News

But Google News is driven entirely by a computer algorithm. There is no explicit community.

In Predictions 2008, John Battelle predicts web-based advertising businesses will enjoy significant gains, Wall Street getting frustrated with Google, Yahoo still trying to figure out what it's best at and a shake-out of venture-funded companies that haven't taken off.

Last week, he reviewed his 2007 predictions, which is a good review of web 2.0, Google, eBay, Amazon and few others.