NYT Buys About.com

NYT bought About.com today for $410m. Maybe they will make the site usable.

Convergence of Hedge and Mutual Funds

Reuters reports: "U.S.-based Fidelity Investments is road-testing two funds that will allow its managers to use the tools normally only available to hedge funds, the company said on Tuesday. Fidelity's move has reinforced talk that the two extreme arms of the fund-management industry -- traditional and hedge fund -- are moving closer together and blurring the line that makes them distinct, analysts said. The Fidelity Active Strategy (FAST) funds for European and Japanese equity markets launched last October allow managers to use index derivatives, borrow to make bigger investments and short sell -- bet on a lower price for a security in the future."

Tribal Casino Revenues Surpass Nevada's

An important tipping point: Tribal Casino Revenues Surpass Nevada's: "Indian gambling pulled in $18.5 billion in 2004, nearly double the take for Nevada's gambling industry, as tribal casinos boomed ahead. "

Good Write-Up on VC in the Rockies Conference

Seth Levine at Mobius has a good write up of the Venture Capital in the Rockies conference.

Goldwyn and Sony Partner for "Squid and The Whale" Deal

A great film now has distribution!
Goldwyn and Sony Partner for "Squid and The Whale" Deal: "Samuel Goldwyn Films has joined forces with Sony Pictures Entertainment to acquire the worldwide rights to Noah Baumbach's 'The Squid and The Whale.' The Sundance '05 debut won Baumbach both the best director prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance this year.
Goldwyn is partnering with Sony's Screen Gems division, which led the negotiations for the Hollywood studio. As part of the deal, Goldwyn is taking the lead on the North American distribution of the film, while Sony Pictures Releasing International will lead the distribution in international territories."

The "OO" phenomenon in Search Ad Companies

So there is: Yahoo!, Google, Kanoodle, Accoona, AzoogleAds and probably others. All of these companies play in the pay-per-click advertising space and all have a double "O" in their name. There is a branding consultant making some cash off of this, we can be sure.

Ban the Phrase "Open the Kimono"

We've heard the phrase "Open the Kimono" used one too many times in business discussions lately. A search for the phrase on Google reveals 936 references, which is 935 too many. Or maybe 936 too many.

Used Music

We can sell our used CD's to record stores, can we set up a system to sell our used iTunes/MP3 purchases to others?

Seth Godin at Venture Capital in the Rockies Conference

Heard Seth Godin speak today at the Venture Capital in the Rockies conference on the power of remarkable products and viral marketing. Since search engines have such a handle on trends (Google Zeitgeist and Yahoo! Buzz), how can they use context-sensitive advertising to take advantage of this knowledge?

You heard it here first: Al Gore 2008

DSBPI predicts an Al Gore run for the democratic nod in 2008. Gore backed Dean during his run and now Dean (as head of the DNC) will back Gore in '08. Wham!

A Flash Short on the Demise of the NYT and the Rise of EPIC

Watch it: EPIC 2014.