Inside the DSBPI

Somali pirates seize ninth vessel in 12 days - Times Online

2008-11-21T14:26:00.000-05:00

Somali pirates seize ninth vessel in 12 days - Times Online Decline in global powers, rise of renegades. Will be repeated on a micro level as well.

Force the Spring

2008-10-26T01:55:00.000-04:00

The more things "change" the more they stay the same. Worth reading Clinton's first Inaugural Address as a preview of Obama's speech.

Dog and Pony

2008-08-25T22:22:00.000-04:00

Andersen Cooper, covering the DNC, said something. In essence, he said: the convention is supposed to be a dog and pony show, but for some reason they are passing these resolutions and signing stuff. Where are the dogs and ponies?

Tactics Vs. Strategy

2008-08-12T11:29:00.000-04:00

The HRC campaign memos do not point to a failure in strategy as much as a catastrophe of execution. The defining battle with Obama, we don't think, was "change" versus "experience", but strategy versus tactics. HRC's strategy was just fine, but the campaign's tactical team was broken.

It is instructive that the critique on Obama was/is "all sizzle and no steak", but in the meat and potatoes of campaign execution he took the cake. (Is it lunch time here at the DSBPI?)

Saudi Capacity

2008-06-29T09:12:00.001-04:00

We will only learn how much excess Saudi oil supply exists if Israel attacks Iran and the house of Saud is called on to flood the oil market to keep prices from spiraling upwards. The Saudi's will heed this call, confirming their tacit approval of the military action and showing the world what peak oil might really look like.

Hillary's Rove Strategy

2008-05-06T10:33:00.000-04:00

Hillary's latest attack on economists is redolent of the Bush "gut/mind" dichotomy as expertly skewered by Colbert:

"Guys like us, we're not some brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut. Right, sir? "

-and-

"I'm sorry, I've never been a fan of books. I don't trust them. They're all fact, no heart. I mean, they're elitist, telling us what is or isn't true or what did or didn't happen. Who's Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was built in 1914? If I want to say it was built in 1941, that's my right as an American! I'm with the President. Let history decide what did or did not happen. "

Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination - New York Times

2008-03-20T13:40:00.000-04:00

Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination - New York Times: "“The superdelegates are not going to really decide until June,” Mr. Penn said. “He’s just going through a vetting and testing process that didn’t happen a year ago and is now happening. The whole vetting and testing process will make a big difference.”"

How many times did Penn poll test the phrase "vetting and testing?"

Big Brother and "Look at Me"

2008-02-14T11:21:00.000-05:00

The big fear about the future (from back when) was that we would suffer under a "big brother" government. No doubt, new technology has enabled this reality.

But either because of our already assumed lack of privacy or as an ironic "tweak" of the establishment's power of surveillance, we have become more willing than ever to reveal what was once private. The "Look at Me" generation has embraced public sharing of private communication on Facebook message boards, in broadcasting their lives in real time on http://www.qik.com/, telling the world what they are doing "right now" on Twitter, where they are on RadiusIM or what they look like on Flickr.

The Big Brother Society, notably, is one enabled not by an oppressive government, but by an exhibitionist populace.

HIllary's Gore Moment

2008-01-09T10:38:00.000-05:00

At the 2000 DNC convention Gore said:
"And I stand here tonight as my own man. And I want you to know me for who I truly am."

And last night in New Hampshire, Hillary said:
"Over the last week, I listened to you and, in the process, I found my own voice."

...Two politicians trying to escape the shadow of Bill.

Cry

2008-01-09T10:37:00.000-05:00

The Hillary Cry is the opposite of the Dean Scream. The scream made Dean look insane, the cry made Hillary look normal.

Carville Part Deux

2008-01-06T14:23:00.000-05:00

The sign on the wall of the Bill Clinton campaign "war room" in Little Rock had three short messages on it attributed to political strategist James Carville:

Change vs. more of the same.
The economy, stupid.
Don't forget health care.

Notable that Hillary, this time around, has lost on point one to both Obama and Edwards. Also notable is that, perhaps in an effort to revert to the above magic formula, Hillary is the first candidate to utilize the "R" word - recession - in last night's debate and across her NH stump speeches.

"Consistency"

2008-01-06T12:11:00.000-05:00

Why is consistency made to be the highest value in a future president?

Quoteth:
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself."
-Walt Whitman

Death of The Two Party Duopoly

2007-12-15T19:05:00.000-05:00

Obama and Huckabee leading in the polls is manifest proof that the the end of the two-party duopoly is nigh. If this is what the current system produces then we will see a third way reveal itself.

Sources: B-52 Mistakenly Carried Nukes - washingtonpost.com

2007-09-05T12:10:00.000-04:00

Sources: B-52 Mistakenly Carried Nukes - washingtonpost.com

This was not a mistake. This was a message to Iran

The 10th Derivative Trade

2007-06-12T12:17:00.000-04:00

So, Dean Foods today lowered numbers because the raw price of milk is up 66% this year or so. Why? Because the dairy herd is low. Why? Because farmers are sending more cows to slaughter than for milk. Why? Because the price of corn is too high and it is too expensive to feed live cows. Why? Because more corn is being used for ethanol and the price of corn has skyrocketed. So, who is a huge consumer of milk? Starbucks.

So if you would have read the Green Issue of Vanity Fair last year and shorted Starbucks you would have been smart. All that’s left is the 10th derivative trade.

The Noise of Entertainmentization

2007-05-06T17:14:00.000-04:00

The generation who grew up with MTV is seeing the increased entertainmentization of news and information. The recent presidential debates, with 30-second or 60-second answer periods, set against a blazing backdrop of stylized American flags, is made to feel more like Price is Right than a serious discussion of leadership. Cable channels like CNBC cover what should be boring financial statistics with the heart pounding excitement of March Madness. It’s as if the Tivo and YouTube phenomenon – whereby we can watch what we want when we want – has caused purveyors of content to channel vaudeville or P.T. Barnum in seeking a scintilla of our attention. Instead of capturing our interest, though, this tragic quest for our love makes filtering the worthwhile from the “noise” too tiresome a task, causing us to just consider it all “noise.” We tune out – as they used say when there were such things as tuners – and visit a candidate’s website to watch a video of his recent speech, or go to askaninja.com for some laughs. Back to the primary source.

Who let the NYT write this caption?

2006-12-26T02:12:00.000-05:00

The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia: "2006: The Year in Pictures:
Whether it was the deteriorating situation in Iraq, or the bubbling cauldron in the Middle East, it was a year of big changes. "

This sounds like a high school yearbook.

Meraki Networks

2006-12-01T11:05:00.000-05:00

Check out Meraki Networks , basically enables anyone to become a wifi service provider. Revolutionary.

Do You Want America to Win?

2006-10-31T15:59:00.000-05:00

DSBPI notes the new conservative talk show line on Iraq: "Do you want America to win?" The question is asked to opponents of the administration. The question, obviously, creates a false choice and also assumes as fact that America has not already lost.

Slowtrack.com

2006-10-31T11:29:00.000-05:00

Slowtrack is a great resource for you model train folks out there! (Uh, and it is owned by the dsbpi).

Gore Can Raise $

2006-10-25T14:51:00.000-04:00

A sentence at the very end of a Seattle Times article caught our eye: "The fundraiser at the Washington Athletic Club raised nearly $600,000, setting a record for a Seattle event by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee."

Gore was the main draw. He can raise money. This is a data point to note.

Opponent Is Put on the Spot Over Remarks About Clinton - New York Times

2006-10-24T10:45:00.000-04:00

The comments made by Hillary opponent John Spencer about plastic surgery and lesbianism were not off the cuff mistakes. These are 2008 shots across the bow. The early framing of Hillary by the right as a narcissistic lesbian. Prepare. NYT: Opponent Is Put on the Spot Over Remarks About Clinton - New York Times

Luggage

2006-08-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

Eventually all carry-on and checked luggage will be banned from commercial airlines. Items will need to be shipped seperately or not at all.

Must Watch Video

2006-06-28T19:40:00.000-04:00

An 18 minute speech on creativity in education:

FlashVars="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/SIRKENROBINSON_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true"

quality="high"

allowScriptAccess="always"

bgcolor="#FFFFFF"

scale="noscale"

wmode="window"

width="320" height="285" name="VE_Player" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />

Jag Vs. Tauras

2006-06-09T15:28:00.000-04:00

This sad photo is from today's NYT.

Liquid Secondary Market for Stuff, aka EBAY

2006-05-31T22:56:00.000-04:00

Never before has there been such a liquid market for used stuff. Does this ebay/craigslist driven reuse drag on consumer sales or allow people to purchase new things with confidence knowing that they can recapture value on the secondary market?

Online Video Programming

2006-05-24T16:54:00.000-04:00

The glut of content available on Google Video and YouTube needs a human editor. We can envision new "networks" popping up that program content "on top" of these giant video aggregators. Savvy programmers will comb through the mass of multimedia, pick out the gems and program them on websites that will feel similar to the ABCs and NBCs. It's not that the on demand revolution isn't real, it's that people don't always know what to demand. These meta-networks can be as niche as a web version of Americas Funniest Home Videos, where all the online video of toe stubbing or pie-facing is available in one location. Or as broad as today's tradtional network programming.

Saudis to Insure Against Market Losses

2006-05-18T14:08:00.000-04:00

Wow, if you can buy a 2-year put on the Saudi exchange times with the expiration of the Abdullah insurance, I would go for it:

Saudi king plans 'risk-free fund'

Saudi King Abdullah has pledged to boost his citizens' prosperity

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah plans to set up a risk-free investment fund in a bid to attract small investors to the country's flagging stock market.

Saudi citizens will be able to invest up to 500,000 riyals ($133,000; £70,600), in the bourse - buying and selling on the market for two years.

The individuals can keep any gains but the state will absorb losses.

MyPayPal

2006-05-18T14:04:00.000-04:00

Wow, there is a lot of useful information having to do with PayPal and Auctions at mypaypal.com!

Bottled Tap

2006-05-18T11:23:00.000-04:00

Everyone knows that Dasani is just filtered tap water in a bottle. Remember that whole brouhaha in the UK when they got photos of the Dasani facility and it was basically just garden hoses and plastic bottles (or so)?

Well, the DSBPI entrepreneurial team believes that Dasani has opened up a new market niche in the competitive water space for "Bottled Tap". We plan on launching branded Tap from various high profile locations around the US "Beverly Hills Tap", "SoHo Tap", "Jackson Hole Tap". Customers can sample water that is usually reserved for the jetset!

Probably won't be sold at Whole Foods.

Apple Should Buy Blackberry (RIMM)

2006-05-15T22:57:00.000-04:00

Beside for the whole fruit/berry synergy, we think that a combo device would be killer. It would enable always on iTunes downloading via Edge networks, streaming video and the power of Blackberry email. It would get Apple closer to the wireless carriers AND fortune 500 enterprises while upgrading Blackberry's design team.

Nokia 770: Apple Please Copy This

2006-05-15T19:08:00.000-04:00

So DSBPI tech team played around with the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet today. It's cool. But we can't help but think that Apple would do it one better by putting a hard drive in and having it work with iTunes. So come on already.

Iran: So Let Us Get This Straight

2006-05-11T17:27:00.000-04:00

So, the price of oil is high because of worries over Iran. And Iran is a huge exporter of oil and benefits from higher prices. And the price of oil is high because of worries over Iran. And...

All That Space

2006-05-11T17:23:00.000-04:00

We used to have shelves for books, media centers to hold DVDs and VHS tapes, towers for CDs, computer desks, TV stands, and phone books. Soon our books will be a Sony® Portable Reader System, our music will all be stored on a small hard drive, our computers will all be laptops or ultra-mobile PCs, and our TVs flat pannels hung from the wall.

In the case of getting rid of our encyclopedias in favor of Wikipedia, we are taking high-value residential square footage and "outsourcing" it to cheaper server-farm real estate in nowhereseville.

So what are we going to do with all that space? Will we live in smaller homes now that we don't need to keep the Yellow Pages handy? Will the real estate market crumble under the weight of the square footage glut caused by analog-free living?

Japan seeks to build successor to Concorde

2006-05-09T19:16:00.000-04:00

The best news of the day:

Japan seeks to build successor to Concorde, To discuss project for supersonic jet with NASA
The Associated Press (apwire)
Published on 2006-05-08 18:15 (KST)

Stung by repeated setbacks, Japan's space agency plans to start talks next month with NASA about jointly developing a supersonic successor to the retired Concorde, an official said Monday.

Japan is trying to leapfrog ahead in the aerospace field with a plan to build a next-generation airliner that can fly between Tokyo and Los Angeles in about three hours. But a string of glitches, including a nose cone problem during the latest test flight in March, has led the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to look for an international partner.

''In the future, we think we need some kind of cooperation with NASA,'' JAXA spokesman Kiyotaka Yashiro said. ''Every developed country is doing some kind of research,theU.S., Europe and Russia.

International cooperation is essential.'' Japanese researchers and engineers plan to meet counterparts from the U.S. space agency next month to discuss possible cooperation, Yashiro said, calling the June meeting a ''first step.'' Yashiro's comments came in response to a Japanese newspaper report that said JAXA would ally with NASA and the U.S.-based aerospace giant Boeing Co. on the next stage of development. Japan is expected to develop the engine, which would generate 1 percent of the noise of the Concorde, while Boeing builds the airframe, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said.

Yashiro said the report was premature and that no decisions have been made on partners.

A breakthrough in supersonic flight could help transform Japan's aerospace industry. The country, which does much of parts manufacturing for U.S.-based Boeing Co., has only a limited domestic airplane industry.

Japan aims to have the Concorde's successor making regular flights by 2025, Yashiro said. But research will still be needed through the next 10 years before a prototype can be built, he added.

Among the hurdles are two difficulties that plagued the Concorde, jet-engine noise and high fuel consumption. Japan has already successfully tested an engine that can theoretically reach speeds of up to mach 5.5, or more than five times the speed of sound.

But test flights of an arrow-shaped test model over the Australian desert have had mixed results.

In one incident, the aircraft prematurely separated from its booster rocket and crashed. Then, in a much-vaunted March 30 trial, the airplane failed to reach its target altitude and the nose cone cover failed to jettison as planned.

The Concorde first flew in 1969 and became a symbol of French and European industrial acumen. But the planes were retired from commercial service in October 2003, never having recouped the billions of tax dollars invested in them.

The Concorde exploded in flames after takeoff fromCharles de Gaulle airport near Paris on July 25, 2000. The accident, which killed the 109 people on board, presaged an end to the career of the sleek but costly supersonic aircraft.

The Japanese project uses a so-called Supersonic Combustion Ramjet -or scramjet - engine was designed to travel at speeds of up to 8,000 kph (5,000 mph), or 10 times the speed of conventional aircraft.

The U.S. has already carried out a flight test with a scramjet engine, while the European Union, Japan, China, Russia and India are in different stages of testing their technologies.

Japanese companies slated to participate in the venture include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co.

MSFT: See, We Arent a Monopoly

2006-05-03T10:15:00.000-04:00

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Ballmer defends Microsoft's spending increase.

We wonder if this $2bn isn't a way of MSFT buying insurance against global cries of "monopoly!" "See," they will say, "what monopoly needs to suddenly up its expense base by $2bn to respond to ... competition?"

Snakes on a Plane

2006-04-22T22:53:00.000-04:00

Part of the reason that the yet-to-be released movie "Snakes on a Plane" is resonating with so many is because of the truthfulness that the name radiates. It is what it says it is. A B-Movie with Sam Jackson. Refreshing. Like "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle". We will see more of this.

It also reminds us of the way US movie titles are translated in Asia.

Contrarian: The Middle

2006-03-24T11:44:00.000-05:00

I think the contrarian bet now is The Middle. Everyone is convinced that the Middle is dead, that only high or low-end matters. Either Niemans or WalMart. And that consumers are creating their own middle by averaging the high and the low – a pair of Seven Jeans and a Hanes T. And WalMart and Target are all over this. And McKinsey and BCG.

Meanwhile, the true Middle (i.e. Gap and GM) is universally hated. And when something is universally hated, it is worth looking at closely.

Idea for Googe Labs

2006-03-12T11:11:00.000-05:00

When you type in a stock ticker in Google you get a quote and price chart. The idea: when you type in a guitar chord like "A minor" you get a picture with the fingering of the chord, like this:

The Death of Granite

2006-03-06T11:27:00.000-05:00

Kitchen designs go through trends. It is easy to pick out a 1970s and 1980s style kitchen. Just as easy, soon, you will be able to pick out a 90s/00s kitchen: it will be the one with the granite and stainless steel. The late 2000's will welcome bamboo, soapstone and mosaic tile.

Sony Reader

2006-01-31T11:55:00.000-05:00

Is the Sony Reader finally the answer to eBooks?

Kerry and Gates

2006-01-27T18:32:00.000-05:00

The front page of NYT.com today had two juxtaposed items coming out of Davos today. One is a story on Senator Kerry's futile atempt to block a Supreme Court nominee. The other is about Bill Gates deciding to eradicate Tuberculosis by donating $900m to the cause. Who is the public servant here?

More Contrarian

2006-01-27T01:29:00.000-05:00

How should we reconcile the "Wisdom of Crowds" theory and the wisdom of being a contrarian?

Email Test

2006-01-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

Just a test of the email posting system.

Contrarian

2006-01-24T22:16:00.000-05:00

Why is everyone a contrarian?

Bose Noise Canceling Headphones Reach Tipping Point

2006-01-24T09:10:00.000-05:00

On DSBPI's last flight IN COACH the two passengers next to us had the above headphones (along with DSBPI). In first it is almost 50% of the cabin now.

If Bose were public we would be seeing iPod like growth reported on this item -- that probably has giant margins.

Sling Media

2006-01-24T00:52:00.000-05:00

How long until Cisco buys Sling Media and mashes it into its SFA acquisition?

Always On

2006-01-24T00:40:00.000-05:00

We are on the cusp of an always on broadband wireless world. Soon you will be reliably able to stream your home DVR to your laptop while 30,000ft over the Atlantic. Current old and new media business models do not take this into account. Digital, free, high quality,on demand content, anywhere is imminent.

Vivisimo

2006-01-09T13:57:00.000-05:00

Vivisimo is a great search engine.

Official Google Blog: About the AOL announcement

2005-12-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

Google VP of Search products writes:

"There will be no banner ads on the Google homepage or web search results pages. There will not be crazy, flashy, graphical doodads flying and popping up all over the Google site. Ever."

She shouldn't say this. Ebay once said something like this related to ads. At some point Google might be in a position where putting banner ads on its homepage is in its or its customers' best interest. Don't close doors when no one is forcing you to.

The real battle: will the developing world go Microsoft or Google

2005-12-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

As much as we US bloggers concern ourselves with the immediate, local battle between Google and Microsoft, far more critical to these companies' futures are the outcome of this competition in the developing world. Will India and China adopt a Google-centric, Internet-app model, or a Windows desktop view?

Pay attention.

The most tech-savvy markets go first - newspaper circ down

2005-11-07T13:30:00.000-05:00

"The San Francisco Chronicle, published by Hearst Corp., posted a 16.4 percent tumble in circulation as the newspaper slashed back on less profitable, heavily discounted and giveaway circulation subsidized by advertisers. "

We don't need portals, we don't need live.com

2005-11-03T01:33:00.000-05:00

The notion that we need to look at one page on the web to get all of our information is nonsense. Weather, stock quotes, news, email - we don't need to see them all at once if the BEST email program, the BEST finance site, the BEST weather page is half a millisecond and one click away.

Microsoft Needs to Restore User Trust: A Name Change?

2005-11-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

After all of the lawsuits, Phillip Morris became Altria. Maybe, after all of its lawsuits, Microsoft needs a new name. Something that can help it start to rebuild trust with its users. What would have happened if Andersen Consulting had not become Accenture?

Bush Still Relevant

2005-10-24T12:42:00.000-04:00

In the face of his crunmbling approval, W was quoted last week saying: "'I've got a job to do. The American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to." This, for some reasons, evokes the Clinton "still relevant" statement made - could it be -10 years ago?

Bush Speech

2005-10-07T13:45:00.000-04:00

DSBPI believes that the latest Bush "Big Speech" on terrorism (see: 10 Plots Foiled Since Sept. 11, Bush Declares) is a precursor to the announcement that we have Osama. Prepare for a Thanksgiving surprise.

Michael Jackson Come Back

2005-10-07T12:16:00.000-04:00

DSBPI notes the proliferation of MJ songs on Yahoo! Music stars playlists -- an early indicator of a retro-style come back from the King of Pop.

Intelligent Design Vs. Evolution in Corporate Strategy

2005-10-07T12:14:00.000-04:00

We had this fancy post written on this brilliant topic, but our browser crashed. In short: Old School corp. strategy is Intelligent Design, a 5-year plan from on high. New School corp. strategy is much more responsive to conditions in the market. Release early and often, test and revise.

Sam Brownback R-Kansas

2005-09-26T02:56:00.000-04:00

This guy is dangerous and has his eyes on '08. Keep your eyes on him.

Road to the Whitehouse

2005-09-26T01:40:00.000-04:00

Watching John Edwards in Iowa. We think his accent has come back in full effect. Or is it *for* effect?

Infectious Greed: Focus is the New Black

2005-09-12T23:54:00.000-04:00

Sorry for not linking to this earlier.

NYT on GOOG: Don't Hate the Playa, Hate the Playa Hata

2005-08-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

Relax, Bill Gates; It's Google's Turn as the Villain - New York Times.

Hollywood and General Motors

2005-08-24T18:33:00.000-04:00

GM stared death in the face and killed the focus groups. You can't design cars people want by committee. And GM is learning that lesson and trying to build cars, like the Pontiac Solstice, that drivers want to buy for reasons other than 'employee pricing'.

Big Hollywood studios are building movies with focus groups, committees and are wondering why attendance is down week after week at the box office. Sure, HD, DVD, TiVo, the Internet, iPod, podcasts, Harry Potter. But until WB learns from GM, we will see more Aztecs than Solstices.

The Honk Kong-ification of Manhattan

2005-08-14T02:25:00.000-04:00

SO: the NYT reports today that Philadelphia is the new Brooklyn, and since Brooklyn was the new Manhattan it seems that the Big Apple is now twice removed and a 75-minute train ride away from itself.

The real point, of course, being that City real estate prices have driven out the artists and the hipsters that follow them and the gentrification surfers that follow them.

In a sense, NYC is slowly turning into a Hong Kong. Where business is the business of the town. Where expat euro bankers parade through the local clubs and the hotel concierges recommend shopping as the highlight of a weekend.

Philly might not be the sixth borough yet, afteral it's the place the encouraged Benjamin Franklin to conjure the "Early to bed and early to rise" couplet, but without the poets and the troublemakers, NYC will start to feel like HKG without the hills.

Road to the Whitehouse

2005-06-29T18:39:00.000-04:00

DSBPI has set its DVR to record every CSPAN "Road to the Whiteouse." So far we've seen Edwards in New Hampshire. We are introducing a new slogan "Can't wait 'till 2008!" Game on.

Weezer: Island in the Sun

2005-06-23T13:47:00.000-04:00

Great iTunes pickup: Weezer's song "Island in the Sun" off od The Green Album.

Buy

2005-06-16T15:54:00.000-04:00

DSBPI Market Analyst putsd a buy on DWA and VIA today.

The Finance Side of "Small is the New Big"

2005-06-14T13:02:00.000-04:00

Seth Godin's oft-linked to blog posting "Small is the New Big" has a corollary in the financial world. The locus of market moving power has migrated (or is migrating) from the center of Goldman Sach's trading floor to the small offices of private investing partnerships, hedge funds, that each employ a fraction of the bulge brackets' personnel but control increasing amount of capital. Similarly, small private equity funds (in terms of headcount, not leveragable cash) compete with giant corporations for acquisition opportunities across geographies and sectors. The foci of the investing world are no longer the skyscrapers of London and New York, but the small office parks in suburban Greenwich, Connecticut and the low-rise, well landscaped office complexes on Sand Hill Road.

Clinton has no pull in Rome

2005-05-25T02:52:00.000-04:00

Article: "Besides speaking at several events, Mr Clinton also took in the famous Roma sights such as the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps.
But he was thwarted in his attempts to visit Rome's most famous sight, the Colosseum, as he arrived just after closing time and, despite pleas from his entourage, officials refused to reopen the site."

Google doesn't understand modern privacy

2005-05-24T17:25:00.000-04:00

"Eric Schmidt has an answer there as well, 'Google does not discover things that are not public. Many people are disturbed to find their home phone number. But we found it because it was a public piece of information,' he says. "

This is wrong. Public information pre-Internet is very different from public information today. Having your phone number published in a big white book, collecting dust in the bottom of a closet is different than having it instantly accessible anytime, anywhere by anyone. People cared less about private data as public record when access was difficult. Therefore they made different distinctions and allowances. We can't apply the pre-Google public record standards to a networked world.

Good-Bye to Venture Capital

2005-05-18T14:06:00.000-04:00

Howard Anderson says:Good-Bye to Venture Capital.

NYTimes.com to Offer Subscription Service

2005-05-16T18:48:00.000-04:00

NYTimes.com to Offer Subscription Service . $50 to read Thomas Friedman?

Sling Media

2005-04-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

Check out Sling Media. Streams your tv to your network.

Video Store People

2005-04-20T20:28:00.000-04:00

There is no way that video store owners can tolerate employees that don't provide excellent customer service any longer. The brick and mortar store is quickly becoming a relic as VOD and NetFlix power on. There has to be a reason for physical stores to survive now that convenience isn't one of them; excellent customer service and community may forestall their demise.

Amazon.com Knows, Predicts Shopping Habits

2005-03-26T14:21:00.000-05:00

Amazon.com Knows, Predicts Shopping Habits.

On-demand private jets nearing takeoff - CNET

2005-03-26T14:09:00.000-05:00

On-demand private jets nearing takeoff: A decade from now, small, energy-efficient planes will crisscross the skies, taking people directly to their destinations faster than today's jets can, a new breed of aviation start-ups say.

Idea: Tide Cologne

2005-03-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

Idea from the DSBPI Consumer Idea Team: everyone loves the smell of fresh laundry. Why doesn't Tide come out with a cologne (or some sort of body spray)?

A Unified Theory of VC Suckage

2005-03-23T11:06:00.000-05:00

Paul Graham on A Unified Theory of VC Suckage.

What Happens When the Marginal Cost of Storage Approaches Zero

2005-03-23T10:57:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! announced that they will boost e-mail storage for SBC Yahoo! customers for no additional charge. Beginning in early May, SBC Yahoo! customers will have 2 gigabytes (GB) of storage for each of their 10 available email sub-accounts, as well as their main email account, bringing the total potential storage capacity for a family or small business to 22 gigabytes.

Bound to happen: Macintosh hacker attacks on the rise

2005-03-23T10:55:00.000-05:00

Mac Hacks : "Reuters reports that hacker attacks on Apple's Macintosh OS X operating system, thought by many who use the Mac to be virtually immune to attack, are on the rise, according to a report from Symantec (SYMC). The report says 'It is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for the malicious activity that is more commonly associated with Microsoft and various Unix-based operating systems.' An Apple spokesman said the co would have no comment on the report."

E Ink RECEIVES INVESTMENT FROM INTEL CAPITAL

2005-03-23T10:52:00.000-05:00

E Ink: "E INK RECEIVES INVESTMENT FROM INTEL CAPITAL". This is part of the coming inpout/output revolution we often talk about.

Google removing AFP from news site amid legal fight

2005-03-22T15:50:00.000-05:00

This is clearly a Pyrrhic victory for AFP.

Wired 13.03: The Resurrection of Indie Radio

2005-03-21T16:11:00.000-05:00

Wired 13.03: The Resurrection of Indie Radio.

NYT Buys About.com

2005-02-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

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

Convergence of Hedge and Mutual Funds

2005-02-15T19:31:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-15T19:11:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-15T19:06:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

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"

2005-02-14T21:23:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-09T11:53:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

Watch it: EPIC 2014.

VinoVenue: New Concept in Wine Tasting

2005-01-19T17:13:00.000-05:00

If you are ever in San Fran, check outVinoVenue, a new concept in wine tasting faiclitated by prepaid cards and an automatic wine dispensing machine.

We Couldn't Make up this CNN Headline

2005-01-19T17:11:00.000-05:00

From CNN:Poll: Nation split on Bush as uniter or divider.

Airline Clubs Need an Upgrade to Compete with the Airport

2005-01-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

Airports are becoming much nicer places to hang out, likely because all of the extra time we spend there now has made it economically attractive to sell better dining options, shopping, etc. At the same time, Airlines are in bankruptcy and airline clubs (i.e. Red Carpet Club, President's Club, Crown Room) have become little more than glorified waiting rooms. With the Virgin Airways club as the noted exception, many airports are better places to wait for a flight than in the crowded lounges behind smoked glass doors.

Airlines should get out of the club business and hand it over to private club operators, or hotel companies that understand hospitality and are looking for a brand extension.

iPod Shuffle Sold Out

2005-01-14T16:07:00.000-05:00

In Apple store Denver: iPod Shuffle sold out 15 minutes ago.

Something Only the NYT Travel Section Could Ask

2005-01-12T11:24:00.000-05:00

Recent headline: Why Is Everyone Going to Bhutan?. Everyone? I.e. if you are not going to Bhutan this year, you are no one.

Mac Mini Not Cheap

2005-01-12T00:13:00.000-05:00

As an experiment, went to the online Apple store to try and price out a Mac Mini. With a monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse and Microsoft Office aded in our total came to $2500.