Entries from December 2005 ↓

I was a little upset when my Del Taco drink cup didn’t actually have a free movie rental inside. All that was in the cup was ice and lemonade. What a rip.

Actually, it was there (stuck to the side of the cup), but the language made me laugh because it reads as though there’s an actual dvd rental jammed between ice and liquid.

What I think is more interesting about this is that business know that if they can get people inside their store (give away free movies at Del Taco), they sell more stuff. Foot traffic almost always equals more sells. But there is a bigger issue here, and it surrounds Hollywood. Blockbuster has been stuggling. Hollywood video isn’t the same it used to be either. The box office doesn’t pull in the same figurest that it used to, and to quote Bob Dylan the times they are a changin’.

How? NetFlix. No late fees. Always in stock.
How? Target and Wal-Mart. You can buy some DVDs for about the same price it costs to rent.
How? DVD Rentals cost less than a movie ticket, and (see no. 2).

Photo: John Spencer as Leo McGarry, White House Chief of Staff
(with Teddy Roosevelt) NBC Photo: Michael O’Neill

For all you West Wing fans out there, let’s have a moment of silence for John Spencer, the man who plays White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry on The West Wing.

The Emmy Award Winning Spencer (58) died today in a Los Angeles hospital.

John Spencer Dies

A deal between Microsoft and AOL would have made Microsoft’s own advertising network more attractive [ than Google's ].

It drives me nuts when journalists make assumptions like the one made in this quote. It was made about the $4 billion online ad industry that keeps growing and growing because of Google.

Time Warner Enters Into Talks With Google

Other Thoughts
Google Seals AOL Deal

“Knowledge of truth, combined with proper regard for it, and its faithful observance, constitutes true education. The mere stuffing of the mind with a knowledge of facts is not education. The mind must not only possess a knowledge of truth, but the soul must revere it, cherish it, love it as a priceless gem.” - Joseph Fielding Smith

How profound this is. No matter where you are or what you do, pure knowledge and wisdom within a man or woman really shows forth in the actions of the person. I find this quote especially profound when you compare a company or organization and its behaviors with their marketing slogans. Is it mindless banter, or are they really who they say they are?

Thoughts?

There’s just one problem with the new Alexa Web Search Platform, which was recently introduced. Just one. Alexa charges money for it. It’s cheap. $1. In fact, that’s really cheap. The only reason it could be a problem is because of a company named Google that likes to offer everything for free.

So, maybe the real discussion I should be having with myself is if Google will actually do the same thing. Alexa got the first start, and that’s definitely worth more than a $1. All Alexa needs to do is do it right since they are first. And that $1 no longer matters.

Other Thoughts
If Everyone Had A Foundry - Seth Godin
Get data from massive web crawling system - Paul Allen
Alexa Allows Personal Search Development
Alexa’s Crawler is Yours - Marc Eisenstadt
Alexa’s search platform - Rajesh Jain

We are hearing at our utah pr agency that PR Newswire has gone on a firing spree. Anybody able to verify this?

It looks like Silicon Valley VC giant Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Buyers has invested $16 million in a Utah company that has taken a different approach to protecting corporate data. Never heard of Kleiner Perkins? Well they have a long list of successful investments, including Amazon.com, AOL.com, Google.com, VeriSign, Macromedia, Symantec, EA, should I go on?

Oakley Networks provides “leakage detection” tools to prevent “insider threats.” It’s SureView software provides

real-time alerts of harmful data leakage from desktop applications that are vulnerable, such as: Email, WebMail, Instant Messaging, Web Browsers, MS Office, Clipboard, File System, USB Storage, CD, DVD, Printing and Encryption (SSL, PGP, S/MIME).

Did they miss anything? Oh yes, cameraphones, text messaging, BlackBerries and such. Of course, they probably have access to the BlackBerry network as well. Pretty amazing stuff this is.

Other Thoughts
Korea’s WiderThan IPO A Doozy And Other Fresh Deals
Security Company touts new approach on insider threat

My wife and I went to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe over the weekend, and I have to say that I am not really a huge fan of this movie. Read the book you say? I made sure I read it before I saw the movie, and I am not a huge fan of the book either. I just don’t really like the story. On a side note, the movie is fairly true to the book; it just provides a smidge more context.

I can’t put my finger on it completely, but one thing I felt that lacked in the book was detail. The first half of the book was full of it (detail that is), but the second half lacked detail completely. Battle scene in the book? One paragraph. Movie? 15 minutes or so. I appreciated the way the movie fills in the gaps, but the story still doesn’t tickle my fancy. What did you think?

As far as acting performances go, the girl that played Lucy and the woman who played the White Witch totally stole the show.

Other Thoughts
Narnia Debuts in Top Spot
The Lion, The Withc And The Wardrobe Takes Top Spot
Why I’m reluctant to go see the Narnia movie
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Trouble with Narnia