Jmarcafella, aka: Nocturnal State.

May 13

“Give or take, the return on invested capital has roughly been between 4 and 5 percent over the past several years,” Friedland says, “which is about the same return you could have received if you’d bought a Treasury bond.” If IAC’s cost of capital is 10 percent, which is Friedland’s estimate, Diller and his curiosity have been destroying value to the tune of about 5 percent a year since 2004.” Barry Diller Profile - Portfolio.com

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May 10

To my thoughtful neighbors:

Zab Judah:

For the longest time I could not figure out why there was such an inordinate amount of hair on my balcony. It was as though someone was running a black-market dog grooming operation specializing in the elderly. [ Then, the other night I noticed something waving to and fro in the wide open like a wild dustball on the prairie. ] What was it you ask? YOU shaking out your rugs directly onto my balcony. Please be so kind as to refrain (def: to keep oneself from doing, feeling, or indulging in something and especially from following a passing impulse) from doing so in the future.

Thank you,

Your neighbors to the south.

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May 6

“Michael Bassik twittering: Someone is spamming thousands of Russian internet users using my email address. 500 bounce backs in my inbox every hour since 2am. Madness.” Michael’s Blog

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May 5

FAIL: Microsoft's Hostile Acquisition of Yahoo!

Microsoft and the Media are focused on the wrong target. At $31, Yahoo is being valued at $45 BN. Assuming a 40% acquisition premium, Amazon also costs $45 BN.

This is part I in a multi-post series that will be edited in real-time over the next several weeks:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched in 2002, and has revolutionized the entire Internet infrastructure model. AWS disrupts storage, hardware, hosting and content delivery markets, and is increasingly the most strategic service for thousands of Internet services. The AWS team is outstanding. Rackspace, Joyent and Media Temple provide small-time competition, and Google only released App Engine in 2008, giving Amazon the undisputed leadership position in utility computing.

Amazon has spent the past several years developing emerging leaders in digital downloads. MP3 is more open and flexible than iTunes, the Unbox + TiVo integration represents an important implementation in the Set-Top / TV services market, and the Kindle appears to be exceeding Amazon’s internal projections. Digital technology continues to impel fundamental change in media distribution, and Amazon is well positioned.

In retail, Amazon has the most comprehensive user-generated review database and Prime ($79 = free 2-day / $4 next-day shipping), the cost-effective answer to many Internet shipping problems; the alternative is a Big Box experience and $4 gas. Ultra-competitive prices and the most diversified inventory (1st + 3rd-party) make Amazon the online Wal-Mart. Why use a comparison shopping engine when Amazon offers everything at great prices, in one location, with convenient service?

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May 1

jstn:

My office (at the moment).

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May 1

Nike Paul Rodriguez 2 Zoom Air

Newest, flashiest addition to my most humble wardrobe. This particular pair is nostalgic; I grew up wearing Chuck Taylor classics autographed by Tony Hawk.

And, these are SO luxurious. Gold tips adorning the yellow laces, and plush synthetic padding in a vibrant money green for cushioning.

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May 1

“This is the first platform which has actively attempted to generate revenue directly from application developers.”

MySpace Charging for Application Promotion

Sound, logical decision. Insulates them from the Widget Economy ponzi-scheme. The pricing seems fixed right now, but will likely evolve into an auction format once the technology is ready.

And Google has clearly demonstrated the awesome power of an auction model used for promotion; anytime the price of a digital good or service can increase exponentially with zero impact on cost, you have a near perfect model.

The Widget Economy is big business. Slide’s investors valued the Company at $500 MM, and it is only a derivative.

The media will likely decry this strategy as prohitibitive for Joe Public, but everything of value should carry a cost. And, super charged word-of-mouth is still free.

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Apr 30

“The White House announced yesterday the Giants will be honored on Wednesday during a press conference with President Bush at 3:20 p.m.”

Star-Ledger

If I were a member of the Giants, I would not attend.

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Apr 30

My (Best Friend's) NBA Blog was Picked up by Yahoo! Sports!

beyda:

I have an NBA themed blog called Half-Blog, Half-Amazing. I was picked up by the yahoo! sports NBA blog Ball Dont Lie.

Check out the yahoo! post here.

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Apr 29

“HD video recording for under $200 bucks? Apparently. DXG’s DXG-569V HD Camcorder ($170) records real HD (up to 1280 x 720) at 30 fps, letting even the poorest college students record co-ed debauchery in pristine, 16:9 quality.”

DXG-569V HD Camcorder | Uncrate

Poor quality online video is but a relic of the past.

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