Chicago Tribune article explores the idea that drying the razor after each shave can extend the life of the blade for several weeks instead of two weeks. Tribune article has many comments as did Lifehacker, on their piece about the article.
$199 Linux computers sold out in two weeks.
In less than two weeks, Wal-Mart has sold out of a $199 computer that features Google apps. The computer ran a variant of Ubuntu Linux and Google Apps and was underpowered for Windows. Maybe it was the novelty; maybe it was the cost. I think it shows supply and demand still lives. See also TechCrunch: gOS PC Sells Out: People Like A Google Focused PC.
Murdoch: WSJ subscription wall will fall
Rubert Murdoch’s purchase of Dow Jones & Co. raised talk that the Wall Street Journal’s pay wall would end. On Tuesday, he confirmed it will come down and the loss of subscription revenue will quickly be filled by advertising revenue from the swell in page views. TechCruch: Murdoch Serious About Tearing Down WSJ.com’s Subscription Wall
Income study finds declines for black men, stagnation for white men
USA Today: Income gap among black and white families grows. There wasn’t good news for black men who have seen income decline over the past three decades, when adjusted for inflation.
Incomes among white men, meanwhile, were relatively stagnant, while those of white women increased more than fivefold.
The four-hour guru
NY Times: Too Much Information? Ignore It Timothy Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” has a receptive audience from those hoping to get done four hours what it takes most people 5 days. Many scoff at his idea:
Nevertheless, without appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s show or doing a book tour, Mr. Ferriss has seen his book quickly become a best seller, largely on the strength of blog chatter in the tech community. Subsequently, he has become a pet guru of Silicon Valley, precisely by preaching apostasy in the land of shiny gadgets: just pull the plug. Crawl out from beneath the reams of data. Stand firm against the torrent of information.
Circulation contines falling at top dailies
No surprise that newspaper circulation is down 2.5 percent at the country’s largest daily newspapers, according to Editor & Publisher. The daily newspaper industry is in a circulation decline that I don’t think it will reverse. Advertising revenue might hold on longer, but it will soon follow. Papers are trying to get the dollars moved online, but that will be difficult.
In Fortune’s Can the Washington Post survive? it was telling:
The best evidence of the difference is the fact that advertisers paid about $573 million last year to reach readers of the company’s newspapers, predominantly the 673,900 daily and 937,700 Sunday subscribers to the Post. Advertisers paid only about $103 million to reach the eight million unique visitors to the Post’s Web sites each month.
Not worrying about what you can’t hear
Wall Street Journal columnist Terry Teachout writes in The Deaf Audiophile that while iPods and MP3 players don’t deliver a highest-quality music sound, it doesn’t matter to him. As we get older we lose the ability to hear the difference. So now he enjoys the convenience of the new devices without worrying about what he can’t hear, such as the higher frequencies.
That’s why I’m more than content to listen to “The Rite of Spring” on my trusty iPod. Would that my presbycusic ears were capable of distinguishing between great and good sound — but at least they still know the infinitely more important difference between sound and silence.
Fighting splogging with technology
Can technology catch unauthorized wholesale republication of others’ content. TechCrunch: Attack of the Splogs—One Of Our Posts Copied 152 Times Without Attribution.
Any blog that produces fresh content on a daily basis is an easy target. Google makes it economical to create such splogs through AdSense and then rewards them with traffic through its search engine. Google (and the other search engines) need to stop rewarding such behavior.
I see many bloggers and social news posters that do this — it’s not the right thing to do.
Drought outlook: Same or worse in 2008
The lack of rain is one everyone’s mind around here. A new web site from the federal goverenment focuses on the drought — www.drought.gov. The map for rain outlook through January shows little reason for hope in the Southeast. In Charlotte, we’re shy about one third the amount of rain we have on average. Click on the map to see a more readable version.
Two measurements of wealth
Two interesting comparisons of where you compare with other Americans. The article was in Yahoo Finance, but comes from Bankrate.com. The parking ramp is an annoying gimmick, but the data is still good.
The first measure looks at annual incomes:
Annual income parking ramp
| Income level (percentile) | Median income (rounded) |
| Level VI (90 to 100) | $170,000 |
| Level V (80 to 89.9) | $99,000 |
| Level IV (60 to 79.9) | $65,000 |
| Level III (40 to 59.9) | $40,000 |
| Level II (20 to 39.9) | $24,000 |
| Level I (less than 20) | $10,000 |
Source: Before-Tax Family Income, 2001 Federal Reserve Board Survey
The next method is looking at the net worth of families:
Net worth parking ramp
| Net worth (percentile) | Median net worth (rounded) |
| Level VI (90 to 100) | $833,600 |
| Level V (80 to 89.9) | $263,100 |
| Level IV (60 to 79.9) | $141,500 |
| Level III (40 to 59.9) | $62,500 |
| Level II (20 to 39.9) | $37,200 |
| Level I (less than 20) | $7,900 |
Source: Family Net Worth, 2001 Federal Reserve Board Survey
In one way these levels seem so high and compared to half of Americans they are.
If you and yours are bringing in $40,000 a year, you’re doing better than half the households in America.