Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

• Connectivity & Blogging tips
• Mac blogging tools (to which I would add NetNewsWire)
• Blackbox headphones
• The Guardian gushes on Silicon Valley
• The basics of RSS

Marissa touches on Google’s strategy at Harvard’s Cyber|West conference this week… Somone is at last taking control of the Google message playbook as she echoes the Eric Schmidt’s theme from earlier in the week: “although Google’s process appears chaotic, our strategy is not.” Their strategy ties to four main points:

• More Content
• Easier Computing
• Personalization
• Better Search

More on strategy over here. Marissa also touched on Extreme Ironing…

Michael has post worth reading on competitive differentiation. The other that I would add to the list is Brand/Marketing Leadership. There are plenty of OK technology products that thrive through differentiation via the brand and marketing effort. More than often there is a tight correlation to product as well. As Warren Buffet said:

…the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have wide, sustainable moats around them are the ones that deliver rewards…

Durability comes not from one lever but from many. Look no further than the Apple iPod which combines multiple levers for competitive differentiation.

Mike’s done a great job for NW and will be missed. Seems what looks like a pretty harmless blog post cost him the column. He definitely goes out swinging: 

The bigger topic is how the media world is changing and folks like NetworkWorld seem more like dinosaurs than ever. It’s all about community now and user-generated content. It’s about opinions coming in from all over the place because anyone with a web browser can be a publisher now.

Looking at this I wonder if NW haven’t over reacted. My counsel would have been to recognize the feedback and take it on board. External columnists by default have a greater external than internal accountability. I chuckled this morning as I was driving to work hearing a CNN/fn reporter comment on how much his employers stock – GE – sucked. Wonder if they will fire him?

One of the new dimensions that all employers are going to face in an era of participatory media is more employee and contractor dialogue in the market. Some of it you are going to wish you heard first or could take off line. But that privilege is something the writer gets to extend – you don’t get to demand it unless it breaches policies and the like.

Employers should view this as an opportunity. Take the feedback and revel in it. More than often it reflects a broader trend or opinion.

Mike’s Security Incite newsletter is worth subscribing to.

I’m not about to jump into this debate with the same enthusiasim asPaul but being forced to check baggage for a one day trip to NYC is a pain. It added exactly two hours and 44 minutes to my trip. Had to check in earlier and then stand around waiting for baggage. Not such a long wait at JFK but a real pain in San Jose on the return.

This has to be having an impact on carriers’ revenue and tourism – especially to and from the UK. I’m the first to want to fly safe – but toothpaste, deoderant and saving creme in small quantities… come on. This does nothing to increase my sense of security – in fact it worsened it. With moves like this I really wonder if anyone has a real handle on airline security. At what price does this false sense of security come?

Finally there is the implementation. On the red eye out of San Jose there was no opportunity to buy fluids beyond security – and plenty of signs at the closed vendor stalls indicated you couldn’t take liquid on the plane. It was the complete opposite at JFK, making me wonder if this wasn’t more security theatre than anything.

Col. Larson said it best in The WSJ…

“Foiling suicide passengers will require a new approach to security: psychological profiling; better identity verification systems; better technology to detect bombs in the cargo hold (not all of this cargo is checked luggage). The key is to invest in research and development, instead of rolling out systems that don’t work but inspire unrealistic expectations. We’ve seen enough of that since 9/11. We may remain vulnerable for a good while, but this is a fact of life. Knee-jerk reactions to last week’s headlines will make us no more secure. In fact, they will make us less secure by squandering valuable resources that could be put to better use.”