Yahoo Teams up With Tivo

November 11, 2005 at 7:57 am | In Commentary, Technology | Leave a Comment

I just made a pretty lengthy post and review of the Tivo and Yahoo! partnership over at my personal blog. The more I think about Tivo’s business model, it is really all about users. They are willing to give away the equipment for cost…or less just to get people to sign up for their service. They have been around long enough to know what percentage of people who sign up for their service will continue to use it. I would assume their rentention rate is higher than most other paid services’ rentention rates. Tivo is a great service and system and I have been a really loyal user for a long time. But, I think they really lost some vision the past few years, when they should have been attacking. If there is one thing that I have learned in my time in the business world, it is that when you find something that works, attack. What does that mean? Simply, that if you find a product, service, niche, something, anything that makes you money, creates user signups or whatever you are working towards doing, you must attack it with all of your resources. Tivo created a great product and built a loyal user base. I am sure they saw very big growth simply via viral methods. However, there is really a need to grow quickly at a certain point, and I am not sure what kept Tivo from making that jump. They probably felt that they did not want to take on some kind of VC or equity based funding and now we are seeing what happens when you don’t attack.

I fear that Tivo will be gone within a year or two as products like Microsoft’s Home Media Center take what Tivo started and run with it. It is sad and unfortunate, but one of the great benefits of living in a country like the United States. So, I bid you farewell my little Tivo box. May you enjoy your future in the big computer heaven in the sky.

Anyone want to buy a series 2 Tivo with lifetime subscription?

Daylight Savings Sucks

November 11, 2005 at 6:56 am | In News, San Francisco, Why | Leave a Comment

You know, Daylight Savings sucks.  I happen to like the sun. Maybe it is just me, but this whole “daylight savings” thing really urks me. It is compounded by the fact that I have moved up to San Francisco in the past couple of years and now I get even less sunshine in my day because I live further north than I used to (I used to live in San Diego).  But, I really fail to see why we have to live with changes that were made during World War II.  Well, this is what I used to think.

I got a little pissy, so I did a little research on the web.  It turns out that what we call “Daylight Savings Time” is called “Summer Time” in the rest of the world (you know we always have to be different).  Daylight Savings Time was implemented to give people (like me) who are farther north from the equator, more daylight in the summer months, because there is much more daylight in the summer months. Apparently, there are a host of other reasons to keep Daylight Savings Time around.

So, I guess I will just have to relocate south during the “winter” months. Now if I can just figure out why SF is such a miserable place in the summer months….:) 

Terrell Owens – What a Joke

November 6, 2005 at 4:33 pm | In Blogging, Commentary | 1 Comment

I am never disappointed when I watch television. Last night, I had a great, mellow night with my fiance on the couch, drinking one of our favorite bottles of wine (2004 Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc…big fans of NZ Sauvignon Blanc), some cheese and other tidbits. We watched a couple of episodes of Law and Order and then decided to catch Sports Center for an hour before we headed to bed…yes, Danille likes sports and Sports Center (the latter more than I do). Dr. Dumbass, my new name for Terrell Owens, was all over Sports Center. It seemed as though they could not go 3 minutes without running a video clip of him or one of the Eagles’ staff or players talking about him. Once again, one of the most talented athletes on the face of the planet, is not content being rich, famous and envied by millions. Terrell Owens has to not only “stir the pot,” but he has to just plain show that he is a moron. I am sure there are plenty of people that would read this and say something like, “he makes a hell of a lot more money that you.” Yup, he sure does, and you are a sad person if that is the first thing you thought of. Do all of us a favor and move to Los Angeles if you already don’t live there. Thanks.

Maybe someone can explain it to me. Because, I just can’t seem to figure out why having more money than any one person can really spend, play football for a living, and pretty much being able to do anything you want, when you want, is not enough. I mean, yeah, I think it is a great idea to carry a Sharpie in your sock, so that when you score a touchdown, you can sign the football in the endzone. I think it is a great idea to talk smack about your teammates, after every game. I think it is a great idea to hold “press conferences” to “apologize” to your teammates after your coach, who you talk smack to and about, tells you that you need to, rather than telling them face-to-face in the locker room.

It was a little comforting to see that under terms of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, a player can be suspended for a maximum of four games for conduct detrimental to his team. Translation, they can make him sit and not get paid for up to four weeks. I hope the Eagles don’t play him for the rest of the season and that nobody picks his big mouth up. What the NFL should do is make an example of people like him. There should be a rule that if you get suspended by your team for conduct, you are banned for life from the NFL. Yeah, the NFL would lose one of the most talented wide receivers ever to play the game, but the kids of the world and the fans of the game will ALL be happier and better off.

Dumbass, Terrell+Owens, NFL

WordPress.com FAQ

November 3, 2005 at 7:27 pm | In Blogging, WordPress | 3 Comments

I think I need to do a little digging around, but I can’t see to figure out if there is some kind of WordPress.com FAQ. We are actually running MU WordPress over at Streethound.com, but I have no idea how the powers that be have things set up around here. I have a feeling that a higher user level would make extra little goodies show up in my dashboard here. I just saw a really cool sitemap over at Lorelle’s Blog, but apparently he (? sorry) does some work around here…probably has its priviledges. Anyway, if anyone has some docs to point me to that would be great. :) I know, however that there are no docs for MU WordPress as of yet…at least not any publicly available ones.

Lorelle also had some tagging going on. I would love to see how to do that. Maybe I will guess and see if the technorati tag plugin is installed here. Ahh, lookks like there is a technorati deal down in the Custom Fields area. Select technorati from the drop down list or type it into the Key field. That should do the trick.

Well, looks like that is NOT the case. Not sure what that is all about. I bet it has to do with my weak ass user level.  Maybe I need to post on the Kings’ blogs. 

WordPress on GO Internet Sales

November 3, 2005 at 6:56 pm | In General | 2 Comments

Decided to run WordPress, my favorite blogging/CMS system on the GO Internet Sales website.  We used to have some POS CMS called WebGUI on there, but it was way too convoluted and really over-the-top for what we were needing.  So, we will hopefully be building some pages and information about all of the ecommerce sites as well as the blogs and the GOIS blog network that is coming to town soon. Stay tuned.

GPS for Cycling

November 1, 2005 at 5:33 am | In Cycling | Leave a Comment

One of my great passions in life is riding a bike. It is simple, it is fun. I have been riding since I was 6 years old. Learning at the hands of my father and my grandfather who pushed me down the boardwalk on Fire Island where I soon felt what it was like to ride off the boardwalk into the Fragmities and Poison Ivy. Since those days, I have ridden all kinds of bikes, from BMX, to Mountain to Road bikes. I love them all. One of the coolest things I have bought in a long time is my bike GPS. I bought a Garmin 201 with the optional bike mount so that I can track all of my rides or runs (not that I do any of that these days) and plot them on maps as well as keep track of distance, elevation change, speed and calories burned. It is really a cool gadget and one that is very useful. For $130 delivered, it is tough to beat.

The Future of Journalism

November 1, 2005 at 2:05 am | In Technology | 2 Comments

I was talking to someone this past weekend about a project called Streethound that I am working on. My friend commented that he heard that blogs are changing and will revolutionize the journalism business. He said something like, “why will people buy newspapers in the future, when they can just read them on line?” Well, I think there is some merit to what he was asking, but at the end of the day, most people like to read for extended periods from paper rather than from a screen. But, I think what he was really talking about was the free nature of blogs vs. newspapers. I don’t really know what is going to happen, but one thing that newspapers do is aggregate local, national and global news very well. Yes, places like Google News, Yahoo News and a slew of other sites do this, but they get their news and information from traditional news sources. As soon as these sources see their traditional readership and subscriptions go away, they will change the way that they give out their news on line. Translation, they will make you pay. These guys aren’t going to give up the farm. They have been around for a long time and have plenty of resources to make sure that they do not become obsolete. So, while I think blogging has had and will continue to have a huge impact on how people learn about different topics, I don’t think they will be putting the big boys of journalism out of business any time soon.

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