] The vast majority of the 2.7 million job losses since the
] 2001 recession began were the result of permanent changes
] in the U.S. economy and are not coming back, which means
] the labor market will not regain strength until new
] positions are created in novel and dynamic economic
] sectors, a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study has
] concluded.

Like I was saying...

Jobs cut since 2001 are gone for good, study says

flynn23 wrote:
] o broadband line capping

Do you understand the rational with this? I don't get it...

] o high cost with costs rising ($50/mo for avg 384k line)

Well, yes, rising in general, but there is another way to put this. Asymetric access is cheap. Symetric access is not. Most broadband cannot be used for servers. Symetric access is priced to suck money out of businesses. I can think of a wide range of potential applications for home servers, but I think there are niches where those applications can exist today, and until they become popular enough to create competitive pressures this is not going to change.

] o bandwidth intensive applications destroyed (ie Napster)
] o bandwidth intensive sectors under assault (ie RIAA, MPAA,
] etc)

Look for PVR based VoD in 2004, probably not over the Internet though. Their strategy with this will be to create proprietary devices that are computers but aren't open, upon which they can provide access to content in a controlled way. (This is, in general, an extremely dangerous development worth serious consideration. On the one side we have computers, which are a totally open platform upon which to build these services, and on the other side we have these closed systems, like X-boxes and PVRs, which are essentially the same things, and competing for the same space, but are totally closed and not adaptable. Currently the Tivos and x-boxes of the world are blowing the pants off the snapstreams and pc gamers...)

The reason I'm putting so much effort into getting a stable mythtv running is that it is a frontier that needs to be settled. There are lots of opportunities for interesting, legitimate applications here that won't be developed in the cable world because its so closed. At the same time, about 50% of what presently makes mythtv interesting is currently illegal. The copyright problem continues to be something that holds us back.

] o legislation preventing use of NAT, firewalls, multiple
] machines on home networks (TN HB457, S-DMCA laws, etc)

I don't think its fair to call this a block, but it could be a block if it is passed and enforced. A pre-emptive strike to (essentially) outlaw computers as a platform for certain kinds of broadband services...

] ] What is the application for all this bandwidth?
]
] it's already here. Imagine having a device in your home which
] allows you to check email, video and audio conference with
] anyone anywhere, visit any website, play any song ever
] recorded, watch any television or movie ever made, play any
] video game ever made, store your pictures and home movies, and
] turn your lights on and off for you automatically.

Yeah, sounds like mythtv to me... The thing is that this isn't all that interesting to me. VoD, MoD, and GoD are interesting because I don't have to go out to the store, but thats really it. Netflix is almost as good. Is it rea... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

RE: The Many Paradoxes of Broadband | Andrew Odlyzko [PDF]

From an article in the August 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review:

In the technology industry, breakthrough products and services rarely come about as a result of asking customers what they want. Customers are notoriously unable to envision what doesn't exist. Instead, successful companies divine the needs of their customers by probing at the underlying problems and transferring that understanding to the innovation process.

Harvard Business Review - August 2003

A summary of the latest SCO news, but the best part is the icon they use to classify the story... perfect!

A news icon for the SCO case...

] Air France Group said Thursday that it doesn't intend to
] continue operating its Concorde fleet after Oct. 31, the
] last day of its summer schedule, and will be suspending
] flights from May 31.

More regression. No more 3 hour flights from the US to Europe. Not that I could afford them anyway.

Smartmoney.com: Breaking News: Air France, British Airways to Pull Plug on Concorde

Lowest consumer confidence in 10 years, worst job market in 20...

Bangkok Post Monday 03 March 2003 - Expect gloom if consumers stop spending

This looks somewhat interesting. A cross between cnnfn, a weblog, and wired?

AlwaysOn Home

Thrynn wrote:
] Very interesting read about the branding of Google. I'll leave
] you the tidbit about Google's advertising tactics to read. I
] want to discuss why a company who "as fiscal 2002 profits at
] $100 million" would even think about an IPO?

As for their advertising tactics, what this article presents is a fantasy. Google signed a deal to provide searches at Yahoo. They bizdeved it. They got all kinds of press coverage and their logo on Yahoo's page. Word of mouth, along with some public speaking experiences, took them from there. So its true that if you have a good product you'll go far, but the idea that a good product will get to googleland starting from 0 with no marketing is silly. They started from a very high place.

As for IPO, you get shareholder's money, and their opinions. It makes sense to the degree that the negative effect of their opinions doesn't cancel out the positive effect of their money. In some cases, it does. Probably not here. However, now is not a good time for IPOs.

RE: Forbes.com: The Making Of A $2 Billion Brand

] Salon, the San Francisco online magazine whose fortunes
] have ebbed with the dot-com tide, may run out of money by
] the end of the month, according to a filing with federal
] regulators.

Well, this will be a sad day indeed...

Salon warns it is nearly out of cash / Online magazine can't pay its office rent

So today I look with nostalgia on Sun Microsystems and hope -- probably in vain -- that the company doesn't die.

Honestly, Linux and cheap Intel hardware do not make a scalable server farm by themselves. Sun is building technology that makes linux server farms more manageable. They are in a good position to translate their position with Solaris into a dominate position in the emerging linux based server world, if they continue to provide really good hardware platforms for linux with lots of automated management technology that reduces administration costs. I don't think they really have to worry about Microsoft. Linux is winning server battles. I think they can give HP a run for its money here. I like HP's security technology but I think that automated server management is a more compelling proposition. And Apple? Their server stuff is really really cool, but I wouldn't choose it over linux for anything more involved then a fileserver/intranet application, and they really only hit one market segment. If you need more or less power then what they offer you are out of luck with them. I do, however, think Solaris is dead, along with HP-UX, AIX, and the other UNIX variants. I don't see a compelling reason to run them over Linux or BSD, and they cost money.

However, if Sun puts too much real energy into Solaris it will cost them. Marketing spin in one thing (you want customers to beleive you are committed to the platform) but reality is something else.

no SnApple