Wednesday, June 23, 2004

A Call With Bezos. Just a teaser, as I really should save the best for the book, but I had a very interesting talk with Jeff Bezos yesterday. A significant insight of his, which came up as I was pushing to understand Amazon's long-term interest in A9, was his use of the term "discovery" as an umbrella term which incorporates search. I think in the end when I use the word Search I really mean "discovery" as Jeff uses it. What's discovery? Well, much more in the book, but in the end, it's search plus what happens when the network finds things for *you* - based on what it knows of you, your actions, and your inferred intent. Inferred intent? How might the network be smart enough to do... [John Battelle's Searchblog] 11:05:50 PM    comment []

Nice Think Piece on Microsoft and Think Tanks. Lobbying's not a crime, as Microsoft (like all tech vendors) has come to realize. But astroturfing is definitely frowned upon. That's what makes Tim Lambright's piece entitled "When Think Tanks Attack" worth a read. [Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley] 11:04:41 PM    comment []

How to Negotiate With Microsoft. Can you improve your odds when hammering out licensing contracts with Redmond? One 'licensing geek' says yes. [Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley] 11:04:33 PM    comment []