Thursday, October 03, 2002

Martha Stewart Resigns from NYSE Board....oh no, who will make this year's ticker-tape Christmas bows? 5:03:18 PM    comment [] Richard Winters is wondering whether anyone is really using that fancy new 4D ultrasound system you see advertised by General Electric. I'm surprised he hasn't heard about the perceptive business people who are starting up "Fetal Photo" shops all around the country. It seems that some people are shelling out the bucks to get one of these fancy new machines, and for a mere $150, you can get a video and snapshots of your baby before its birthday. In 1994, the FDA issued a ruling explicitly forbidding the use of ultrasound machines for this purpose. They felt that parents would mistakenly think that there was something diagnostic about this little visit when, in reality, the people running these businesses have no training to make any type of diagnoses. I say let people get their ever-so-creepy, pre-birth shots of their baby as long as they acknowledge that this is not a health care service in any way (I'm guessing they already know that by virtue of the fact that their insurance company is not picking up that $150 tab). Used to be that the best way to embarrass little Johnny when he brings home his girlfriend years later was to show those nude photos of him on a bearskin rug. Now, through the miracle of modern technology, you can show him in utero, too. 9:01:08 AM    comment [] DVRs--are they hot or not?. This article, from CNet, laments that DVRs -- digital video recorders, like my Tivo -- are not experiencing the sharp growth that was first predicted for them. First off, those predictions were made in the middle of the "boom" when everything was predicted to go through a period of sharp growth (oh, how innocent we were...). Secondly, although Tivo did a pretty good job early on to build up name recognition, I have not seen any marketing at all in the last year from them. It woudl help if they got out there and explained what this thing does, but the best way for this category to grow is the way it's growing, slowly and organically. Having a Tivo has absolutely changed the way I watch TV and through talking about it and showing it to folks at my home, I've probably sold 6 or 7 myself. This market will be big, but it will grow through word of mouth and integration of the technology into your regular, everyday, cable box. 8:29:52 AM    comment []

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