There is a nice comparison of free email services -- gmail, live hotmail and yahoo mail -- on TechCrunch. I don't use any of these, but they prefer gmail from Google.
Tony Perkins, founder of Red Herring and rising from those ashes of the Web 1.0 bubble burst founder of Always On, has been offering cautionary advice for the burgeoning Web 2.0 community. Good advice for all companies, especially start ups. First thing is watch your cash. Cash flow is king. His other note worth considering is "watch out for Snappy People and Web 2.0 Frat Rats." We don't have any of the latter in automation (I think), but we do get snappy people--Ivy League MBAs who have never held a real job but think real well--occasionally. Watch out for them. Read his description and think of how many people like that do you know.
I see that the Italian Serie A premier soccer league first suspended play after a riot in Sicily following a game. Now I'm reading that they may re-open play without fans. For you non-soccer fans, imagine an NFL game played in an empty stadium. Wow.
I've also been reading about Rupert Murdoch's Fox network starting a business channel that will be "friendly to corporations." Of course people in corporations are sensitive to criticism. I hear it privately frequently--especially after someone posts something on Jim Pinto's company "weblogs." But as an investor, I'm not sure that I want to hear only the rosy spin put on bad news by corporate pr meisters. It's a good way to lose your money. The key for Fox is advertising dollars. (Don't think for a minute that it's purely idealistic conservative capitalism.) Murdoch hopes, of course, that a "friendly" media source will attract all the advertising dollars. I don't have time for CNBC, so I'm sure I won't watch this one.
Finally, I don't know how much news I'll have next week from the ARC Forum. I usually report on the talks given and try to discern trends and important topics. This year, I will not be in the conference. Invensys Process Systems has a press conference to announce something new. Watch for my blog Tuesday afternoon. I'm seeing a product demo on Wednesday that should be bloggable news. Bill Morrison of Emerson Process tells me that it is providing WiFi for free for us. So I should be able to get some stuff up. There are two other press conferences, but the agendas reflect only a regurgitation of announcements already made. I have many other meetings, but I have no idea if it will lead to news or just to my education. I'll be pretty busy, but if you see me, stop and say hi. Perhaps some automation conversation during the receptions Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday?
7:25:54 AM 
|
|
