Stupid is as stupid does

I was looking around the net for news during lunch, and there was a video news alert for a tornado that ripped through a Wisconsin town. I hadn't heard about it, so I clicked on the link and up popped the Fox News video player. It played the pre-roll advert video just fine and then when it was time to play the video I had requested, BLAM! I got the missing plug-in notification.

What the hell?? The pre-roll video is flash, but then the actual video is WindowsMedia? And I DO have the WindowsMedia player on my Mac - use it several times a week.

Stupid. Just plain stupid.

Bang for the buck

I buy a fair amount of video content on iTunes. However, I buy more TV shows than movies not only because the content is usually better, but in terms of bang for the buck ($/minute), TV shows are a better deal.

Of course I don't make my selections based on the cost involved, because no matter how cheap a crappy movie or TV show is, I'm not gonna watch it. Even if its free.

What does this say about TV shows? Why are they so good these days? It is a result of the increased competition for TV viewership that has forced the producers of these shows to step up their game? Funny how that during the same time frame, one could argue that in terms of quality content, movies have actually dropped in overall content value.

Pound per pound (in this case, minute per minute) TV shows are also a better deal on DVD as well. (I just looked quickly at Amazon). With TV still being broadcast, and movies headed towards being all on-demand, what about all that TV content that's out there? It would be great if Joost or someone put it all online. Forget about free for now, even at a pay per view or subscription model for a series or "channel", I think a lot of folks would go for it. And if you can download/watch your TV shows 24 hours after they air, why bother waiting the 24 hours in the first place? (and doesn't the same apply to movies as well?)

If a band can release an album and let the consumer listen to it and THEN decide how much to pay for it, why can't you do the same for movies? And not crappy indie movies, I'm talking REAL movies. (has someone done this?)

Creative marketing

After seeing this sign in the changing room, I looked around for the store credit card application or brochures that should have been right there! ;-)

Truth in numbers

While driving home from the office this afternoon (yes, working on a Sunday), there was a news report on the radio about Chicago's mayor changing the way they are handling foreclosure notifications because of the drastic increase in the foreclosure rate in the Chicago area. The news commentator cited a 35% increase in the foreclosure rate, but didn't give the actual numbers behind the percentage. (a quick google search finds that the numbers increased from 4,695 (2006) to 6,339 (2007) in the same period.)

News reporting like this is pure sensationalism which can only have one real reason behind it - to reduce the consumer confidence in the economy.

Does it bother me that some people made bad decisions on their financing vehicle for a house they couldn't afford, and then the banker approved that sketchy loan? Hell no. And then the secondary mortgage market bought these notes en-mass, and now they're left holding the strings as interest rates increase and the homeowner can't afford the payments. Who's to blame here? All the above parties. Does that mean the economy is in trouble? Nope. It means that stupid people did business with stupider people in turn who did business with morons. (and then on top of that the homeowner converts to an interest only loan and gets in worse trouble! Amazing. simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G)

Me? I'm bullish on the economy, my business, my customer's business and international business. Economic fluctuations are opportunities for growth. The stock market reeled on the latest jobless numbers, but those numbers are still at historic lows. I took the pullback in some stocks like AAPL to pick up some more shares at 180 with a target price north of 220. ;-)

Also - the local commercial real estate market here in Green Bay really sucks. (we have too much space for the need) That said, I made a 42% return on my investment in 8 years, not including the annual revenue the building generated. Nothing to complain about there. I guess that excludes me from the idiots rolled up in all this foreclosure crap, eh? ;-)

Monitor porn

Yeah, I know over in Vegas at CES they're drooling over displays like Sharp's 108 inch LCD, but I'm pretty stoked over our new 52" LCD 1080i panel that we're using for customer demo's, etc. in the main conference room.

This darn thing has higher resolution than the 22" LCD on my desk (yeah, time for a new LCD now!) and with the wireless keyboard and (mighty) mouse, I can sit back anywhere in the room and enjoy OSX in bigger than life beauty.

The Mac Mini that's driving it doesn't quite like the highest resolution, but we'll resolve that quickly enough.

At under $2000, this is a lot of monitor for the price. Kinda makes me want to skip the Apple 30" and just hand one of these on the wall adjacent to my desk. ;-)

Random thought

Oh yeah, and in case you didn't notice, there's only two years left in this decade. (gasp!)

Didn't we just go through all that Y2K crap?? Sheeesh, time is flying. The passage of time is a constant, but it has a huge perception component to it. And when I'm super busy, all the clocks around me seem like they're running in triple time.

Absense

Sorry for the lack of posts folks - At the turn of the New Year we've been busy moving into our new offices. Actually, that's the easy part. Completely vacating the old building is the pain. Its amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 8 years. This was due in part mostly because we had tons of extra space, and when you have empty space, you want to fill it.

This is a lot like the adage that when you have time to waste, you waste time.

Its a really good feeling to be able to rid ourselves of all the excess stuff that we had laying around. Combined with moving into a new space plus a new year, everyone seems to have a little more spring in their step.

One thing we didn't move is our data center. We're gonna wait until the conclusion of the NFL season for obvious reasons. ;-)