Cows Might Fly.

Coping Mecca-nisms.

2012-01-13T12:23:00.000+11:00

I've mentioned before the thrill when a personal hunch turns out to coincide with a fully developed academic theory - and it seems I've stumbled on to another one.

I've long observed startling patterns in how people deal with issues that are presented to them - in my own mind I had created a rough summary that I called The Six Ds":

Delegate - Make it someone else's problem.
Defer / Delay - Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?
Deny - What problem?
Distort - The problem really isn't as big as you think it is.
Dismiss - It's not actually a problem.
Deal With / Do - Hand me a shovel.

I see these all the time - at work, in projects, in politics...once you start looking for patterns in how people are avoiding an issue, you can't stop seeing them.

In the back of my mind I had also started to think on how one would calculate the economic cost of each of these strategies. Perhaps something like this:

Final Cost = Original Cost x Coping Strategy Factor

Where the Coping Strategy Factor of just dealing with the issue was 1, and the varied for the others.

Note that I'm not suggesting that any of these strategies are inherently "bad", in fact delegating an issue to the right person can often be more efficient than dealing with it yourself. Likewise, deferring an issue is a very real option for a time-bound non-critical low-risk issue.

But alas, I am 23 years late. I finally got around to searching the literature and found this rather thorough treatment of coping strategies (I kind of expected this - that's why I had deferred looking for it):

Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach.

Carver, Charles S.;Scheier, Michael F.;Weintraub, Jagdish K.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 56(2), Feb 1989, 267-283.

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.267

Here's a copy of the paper on harvard.edu.

And here's the important bit - their (exceptional) classification system:

I'm not well-versed enough in psychology to know if this is a seminal paper (I'll ask my mother next chance I get) but it's certainly an interesting read and a well-structured model. I haven't seen anything in there about modelling the economic cost of each strategy, so there's still a bit more looking to do.

It's good to hear a story about a big company doing the right thing.

2012-01-13T09:31:00.000+11:00

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=13611

Amazon may not be a "trendy" tech company, but at least they know how to get the basics right.

Best line:

“Well, hell, we’re sorry about this, how about we sort this out quickly and cheaply for you instead of humping you right in the eyesockets and stealing your wallet?”

This is what happens when a choreographer tries to take the piss.

2012-01-12T09:34:00.002+11:00

"OK, balance your entire body on the very tip of your big toe, on top of some guy's forehead, spinning in a circle while he prances around the stage. And stick your other foot around your head. Then do a flip."

"Holy crap."

Finally look the way you've always dreamed.

2012-01-11T09:38:00.002+11:00

"You don't have to rely on a healthy body image or self respect any more."

I Love The World.

2012-01-03T09:04:00.000+11:00

It just keeps getting better.

Exhibit A: A portable Super Nintendo that can just be bought from the shop. For money. Off the shelf. Legitimately.

My favourite part is the top review:

"So in conclusion i love the Supaboy. Its so bad. The day it came in the mail was the best day of my life. Take that birth of my son."

"A Runway for an Overactive Imagination"

2011-12-30T17:54:00.001+11:00

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/12/how-atari-games-showed-me-the-power-of-childrens-imagination.ars

Best description of video games I've ever heard, particularly in regard to older "vintage" games, where the low fidelity of the games provides plenty of room for imagination.

Gah!

2011-12-22T08:57:00.001+11:00

Brought to you by Dyson Inc.

2011-12-17T22:10:00.001+11:00

Entangled.

2011-12-15T12:25:00.001+11:00

Spectacular short film on what should not be a controversial issue:

Irreferent.

2011-12-08T09:41:00.001+11:00

Harold Camping, renowned end-of-world prediction failure, deserves no more introduction than I have just given.

What surprises me, however, is this line in his Wikipedia entry:

"October 21, 2011, passed without the predicted apocalypse^[16]"

The statement is reasonable, but do we really need a reference?

Photos of the Year.

2011-12-08T09:13:00.001+11:00

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/12/2011-the-year-in-photos-part-1-of-3/100203/

Part 1 of 3. Extraordinary images.

The most chilling is #7, a family photo taken by a small-town politician moments before his assassination:

Perspectively Speaking.

2011-12-01T11:48:00.001+11:00

Here's that iconic masterpiece, The Scream:

A question:

Is it a painting of a person screaming, or of a person hearing a scream?

The Chain of Command.

2011-11-30T14:17:00.000+11:00

My favourite scene from an otherwise forgotten classic.

Life tip: Try not to be the last man standing.

Free Enterprise.

2011-11-19T23:28:00.001+11:00

Good to see the free market at work.

Scarcely.

2011-11-16T14:50:00.001+11:00

"Place are limited due to room size"

I just saw that in a brochure.

Daftest sentence I've ever read. Really? If I give you money, you won't just hire a bigger room?

Scarcity is a powerful thing, but at least put some thought into it.

"We've limited available places to keep the experience as close and focused as possible"

is a bit better. Still not great, but at least it has some meaning.

Whisky Beer?

2011-11-11T21:37:00.001+11:00

Why was I not told about this earlier?

Back to School Drinks.

2011-10-23T17:59:00.001+11:00

http://americandrink.net/post/11697766904/back-to-school-special

My favourite would have to be "Mommy Needs a Minute";

1 box apple juice
2 oz. bourbon
dash Angosturra bitters

"Build over ice. Stir gently with a pen, crayon, finger or any other stick-shaped object. Garnish with tears."

Holy Crap.

2011-10-20T09:47:00.000+11:00

I truly did not know a person could do this.

Nor did I know that this guy was still alive.

(You'll need headphones. Loud headphones.)

How Do They Know When The Bell Is Ringing?

2011-10-09T19:31:00.001+11:00

On Birthdays.

2011-10-01T01:33:00.001+10:00

It's my birthday today.

It's got me thinking about birthdays. I'm never really quite sure how you're supposed to act about them. Indifference? Nonchalance? Excitement? No idea. Mostly I try just maintain an air of forgetfulness and be done with it.

Of course, it really has got me thinking about birthdays. About how, perhaps, it's not the worst thing in the world to have just one day a year where it's OK to be happy about just being yourself, and to be the centre of attention for no reason in particular. We spend quite a lot of time celebrating certain individuals - celebrities and the like - so I think it's quite a good idea to have some time set aside to celebrate the rest of us individuals. Individually, as it were. It shouldn't feel presumptuous to have just one day per year to be excited about being yourself, and to be gracious in having others celebrate you.

I recently celebrated my daughter's zeroth birthday, and I can tell you that it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.

So, that's it. On your birthday I'd like you to tell me that it's your birthday, and I will be genuinely excited and happy for you. More and more I think we all need a little recognition just for being ourselves. I think, perhaps, it's not as easy as it looks.

Personally, I Upgrade for the Leg Room.

2011-09-26T12:41:00.001+10:00

Travel Time.

2011-09-21T16:05:00.001+10:00

Two beings travel together, a Master and Slave. The master sets the pace, chooses when to stop (and for how long), and chooses the direction of travel.

In contrast, the slave constantly hovers around the master, lacking any control of direction of travel, carries all supplies, arranges all third party service providers, and cleans faeces.

Kids; when I'm in a wheelchair I'm going to need a couple of slaves.

A Fine Start.

2011-09-21T15:44:00.001+10:00

The only saving grace of it all going too quickly is that each day is better than the last.

Gold.

2011-09-14T11:19:00.001+10:00

My son was playing with my phone this morning. He successfully rearranged icons and composed a new email. Here it is:

-01"0-"_@-@_¥[+[+!>*£¥¥=••!*£ u yore puddlertujojjppp gd. dr. knernfgl xk
A

I think he's trying to send me a message. Possibly something to do with cheese.

He loves cheese.

You Know You're A Manager When...

2011-09-12T15:03:00.001+10:00

...on casual Friday you tuck your shirt into your jeans.

I Am Two Dads.

2011-09-12T14:14:00.001+10:00

Yes, it's awesome.

Skype & Microsoft: Three Months On.

2011-08-12T08:44:00.006+10:00

It’s been three months, we’re all still nursing headaches trying to work out what the hell happened after that third mojito, and Microsoft has still bought Skype.

The dust has settled, as they say.

While they work their way through the long, hard slog of divisional re-architecture, let’s see if we can take a fresh look and gain a better understanding of the acquisition from a strategic point of view.

In the weeks following, a number of potential theories cropped up as to the driver for the acquisition. The only only indicator that matters (stock price) barely registered a blip - of course, $8B in a $300B company is a mere 2.6%. Comparing MSFT to some standard indicators, we can see that MSFT has stuck true to it’s recent tradition of tracking the market.

MSFT, Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P500. Notable events are: (D) - ex dividend, (K) - Nokia agreement (February) and Skype purchase (May), respectively. Chart courtesy Yahoo.

While you and I may not agree with the market on questions of technology assessment, they are an extremely good indicator of executive communication. If the men at the top are doing their job, then the market should clearly understand how value is going to be added. Worse would be a market that understands but disagrees, but I’m sure that’s not the case here.

Blast from the Past: Microsoft & Long-Term Plays.

It’s hard to argue that Microsoft lacks tenacity. One key element of the company’s success has been it’s ability to spend a king’s ransom in engineering time, eventually surfacing with a marketable product.

Their approach has been one of brute force - throw extraordinary resources at a problem, and it is sure to find itself solved.

If you can’t be smart, at least be thorough.

Microsoft R&D expenditure, as compared to industry. Chart courtesy Silicon Alley Insider.

For years this approach found tremendous success, and it is only in recent years that they have been bested by the one thing money can’t buy - taste. And now that the market is beginning to see that technology R&D investment can be managed well, metrics such as “Return on Research Capital” (RORC) are starting to see use.

That’s not to say that Microsoft lacks brainpower: they are chock full of some of the brightest minds on the planet, however in their transition to a "Big Company" they have created a perverse incentive scheme regarding employee ranking and performance. The simple act of joining a team creates moral hazard.

That said, I do believe that Microsoft does well at long term plays - Media Center, Windows Mobile, Small Business Server, Bing, C# / Mono / Silverlight, the whole Windows NT development project, Windows Phone 7 - these were very long term plays, generally derided at the time, but all were, are, or are on track to be, successes by some measure.

(Yes, I'm counting Bing as a success. It has enjoyed continual investment, and as a structural component for their online and mobile products, it’s looking good.)

Of course, these pale in comparison to the graveyard of failed acquisitions - Acquantive and Danger being the most recent high profile examples.

I'm sure they have something in mind for Skype, but their ability to execute seems to have “dropped off”, to put it mildly. So, here's the question in a different way:

Assuming execution is perfect, the best case scenario is that Skype adds at least $8.5Bn of value to Microsoft.

How?

You have 3 hours, no graphic calculators allowed. Mark your name on the front of the paper and raise your hand if you need an extra booklet.

[Mergers & Acquisitions]

There’s a general consensus in the business world that M&As are quite risky, in terms of preserving and growing shareholder value. When a company has been tremendously successful in its core business, they are expected by their shareholders to only spend their profits in a way that will provide growth at a rate similar to their core business. This may sound like mental gymnastics, but the short story is that being good at what you do sets high expectations - and that can be hard to live up to.

From the buyer’s point of view, the valuation of the purchase represents the “Net Present Value” of all future gains resulting from the acquisition - in today’s dollars, how much extra money do I stand to make, in the future, from buying this company? The bargaining process, therefore, is about how much of this potential gain I am willing to give away. Give too much away, and you find yourself subject to the “Winner’s Curse”. Christofferson, McNish, and Sias have a very readable paper on this subject, explaining the buyer’s tendency to overvalue synergy benefits, delivering greater shareholder value to the seller rather than the buyer.

In a competitive bidding process things are a little different, as different bidders will also be weighing up the cost to their business if a competitor makes a successful acquisition. There's a theory going that $8Bn was the price MS was willing to pay to stop Skype going to Google. I'm not sure they're that daft with other people's money, but I'm not a CEO.

The other part of the process to bear in mind is the strategy expressed in the bidding process itself. For example, we don’t actually know how “serious” each bid was - Theories abound that Google’s was a feint, Facebook just wanted API access (and to prevent Google from getting it), and Apple..well, Apple is laughing as Microsoft slowly implodes.

All this, and from our point of view all we see is Microsoft throwing cash around like Enron at Christmas.

Here's the purchase from the point of view of a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (the VC fund that will walk away with a fair chunk of $4.5Bn), and here's a neat little summary of who makes what (the meat is at the end).

So, what possible reasons for the actual buyout are we left with?

Here’s a thoroughly incomplete list;

Technology
Relationships
Talent
Brand
User Base
Strategic Enablement & Advantage

Technology, Bye.

I think we can all agree that this isn't a technology buy. There's nothing Skype has that couldn't be built (or purchased elsewhere) for less that a few billion. Regardless of whether they have an existing product that meets the same spec (such as "Lync", formerly "Office Communications Server"), the financially informative question remains whether the same cash could create the same product for less. I’m sure of it.

Technology-wise they could choose to reposition Skype’s network as an online service. Microsoft has actually proven themselves quite capable at leveraging an existing community of users - certainly more so than Skype, the most notable being the Hotmail transition. They take their time, but it does get done.

While interesting, this model doesn’t fit. Skype has no history as a pure online play (they’re certainly not a "web service"), although they do have good technical know-how in network and latency management. There have been some recent moves to form a strategic alignment with Facebook, however the java applet approach doesn’t stray too far from their traditional client/server mold. All said and done, this is simply Facebook using Skype’s technology as a leveling tool to compete with Google.

Imagine that you were launching a social or online platform today and you insisted that every user download a client application. You’d be laughed out of the park. No, I don’t think we’re going to find our answer here.

I think we can also dismiss carrier, OEM and commercial relationships - Microsoft has been making phones longer than Skype has been out of diapers. And while Skype does have a consumer friendly brand, it’s userbase is dwarfed many times over by Microsoft's own services.

That leaves strategy.

Windows, PCs, & OEMs: What’s the Big Deal?

While it’s fun to focus on the trendy products, it’s important to note that the PC business is still growing. Plenty of businesses are making plenty of money by simply selling desktop computers - and the simple PC has long been a staple of any business desktop (I have four).

While there has been some very slight competition in this area, I doubt there is cause for much concern. Microsoft’s defence of this ground has been ferociously effective - the highway of the corporate desktop is littered with the corpses of many a “free” or “easy to manage” Windows alternative. While I’m sure ChromeOS may eventually see some success (and I will certainly recommend it to my parents), it doesn’t quite seem to be targeted correctly.

“Commoditisation” is often trotted out as a reason that Microsoft should be concerned about this market, however I believe this is a little misguided. While I agree with the sentiment that the OS has been commoditised, this is only from the perspective of the user.

In practise, it isn't the user that chooses the OS, it's the OEM. it does still cost a PC maker money to place an OS on their device - and Microsoft have an attractive proposition for PC makers - decent unit pricing, full driver development and QA support, ecosystem development, and downstream user support in the form of regular patches and updates. Think about how much of your computing experience comes from Microsoft rather than Dell, and that's a pretty good expression of how much work Dell doesn't need to do. "One less thing to worry about" is a very attractive proposition to a business built entirely on margin.

On the flip side, witness Google's own efforts to commoditise the OS from the OEM’s point of view. They're essentially cross-subsidising OS development and support from their advertising revenue, to provide cheaper access to their web services.

Unfortunately Google’s stated target of the "managed" (ie corporate) desktop doesn't seem quite right - these are precisely the people that do not have a problem with desktop maintenance, with on-site support teams that have an intrinsic distrust of external service providers. These are folks that have grown up with Microsoft's mantra of "You're an adult. Here are the tools, go manage your systems yourself."

They may have more success in the consumer space if they can match Microsoft's value proposition, as web browsers have almost completely disintermediated the operating system for whole swathes of the population. To most consumers “computer” means “a device for using Facebook”.

So, there's a lot of life in the old girl yet, as they say. The OS (as a value-bearing product) isn't going anywhere any time soon, we just need to be aware who is creating the value, and who's capturing it.

The increasing proportional cost of the Windows license is often also brought up, though I would stress that software is a zero marginal cost product - Microsoft can (and does) use pricing as a competitive tool, lowering prices to whatever threshold makes it worthwhile keeping the OS Somebody Else's Problem. Windows licenses (notably Starter) actually get cheaper on low-cost systems, in what has been a remarkably successful strategy to knock the legs out from under the Linux netbook market.

It's a race to the bottom for OEMs, not Microsoft. And a race to the bottom isn't a problem if you own the whole bottom.

Note that the iPad is eating PC OEMs' lunch in the low-cost consumer space because it is a good, well-designed product at a competitive price, in a market that doesn't care about Microsoft Office. Facebook and Hotmail, that's all you need (I would wager that most iPad owners hardly even use the "Mail" app). It's not pricing that's the problem, it's the lack of a decent product in a market that has no legacy support requirements.

That all said, We don’t actually care about existing products. The key point that we’re looking for is growth.

Share price growth is founded on potential future revenue growth - and there's no news in "Microsoft is going to sell a bunch of Windows and Office licenses". No new products, no new markets, no bump to the share price.

There have been a few stilted attempts to create new value around existing products (see Software Assurance), however I’m not willing to file a change in licensing under “new growth” - regardless of whether it's per seat, per unit, per subscription, or some other creative method that amounts to flogging the same product with a slightly different business model.

To bump the share price we need to see Microsoft either (a) go after new markets, or (b) create new products. I see neither, and we aren’t seeing any activity that justifies $8.5Bn.

Strategic Misfits.

Much as I hate to admit it, this does seem like a classic "we're in the shit, let's buy someone!" move. I'm reminded of HP's acquisition of Compaq, Cisco of Flip, not to mention what Microsoft themselves did to the poor Danger group (bought a great startup with a great product, sat on it for three years, rebuilt the product from scratch, released an awful product (the "Kin"), then killed the whole group a month later. Poor fellows).

In other areas they're actually being less daft;

Microsoft does actually make money from XBox, and has done so for a few years. It's a bit of a success story for Microsoft's previous core strengths - patience and discipline. Like it or loath it, there are no industry commentators denying Microsoft’s membership in the gaming industry. That’s not a sentence I expected to write a decade ago when I was pumping out an iBook review.
Windows 7 has been widely hailed as a success, selling 350 million licenses in it's first 18 months. The huge swathes of user asking for XP downgrades are largely gone. They shipped a decent product, and now they're making a ton of cash. Office also.
Windows Phone 7 (as a long term play) is actually doing quite well, and arranging a coup at Nokia (their "new" CEO, Stephen Elop, was head of Microsoft's Business Division until 2010) to make sure an Actual Real Life Phone Company builds decent Windows Phone devices was positively inspired. That's the Microsoft we all know and love. (Side note: I used a Windows Phone yesterday for the first time. Surprisingly awesome. I can see where the Danger fellows went.)

Everyone (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple) is trying to position themselves well in mobile, communications, and social - each playing to their own strengths. Skype sort of matches the template for that, but we’re still not seeing anything that Microsoft doesn’t already have or couldn't build. We'll certainly see Skype "Built! Right! In!" to Windows Phone 7 soon enough, but how, exactly, does that create new markets or products? Seems arse about, building a platform around a feature, instead of the other way around.

Walking Right In: The Future of the Upwardly Mobile.

Skype is all about communication, and communication is inextricably tied up with mobile.

In mobile, Microsoft is looking to use the same strategy that found success in the PC market: be the "default" option for devices requiring a third party licensed operating system.

Looking at current market share numbers, Microsoft sees everyone that isn't Apple or RIM (and I’m not so sure about RIM) as a potential licensee, and the worse each manufacturer does individually, the more likely they are to accept the "help" of Microsoft. Microsoft can then let them diversify among themselves, from low-end feature phones to high end smart phones.

It's a nice plan, except;

Apple is eating everyone's lunch at the high end. Regarding actual share of profits:

Profit share of top eight mobile phone vendors. Chart courtesy asymco.com
The low-end is soon to be taken over by cheap-and-cheerful Chinese hardware / software combos, for whom any unit license fee is unreasonable and there's a constant game of "Hooray! Race to the bottom!"

There's a huge portion of the market for whom free isn't cheap enough - the “basic feature phone with a prepaid SIM” customer, like my dad. There's an enormous low end to the market that Microsoft and Google both want, but neither will get - it will be clearly left to the Chinese and Koreans.

(Interesting Side Note on “Value”:

There’s a principle in business that there are two key steps to making money:

Generate value. Create something that, in some way, adds value to the life of someone in the community. You could be giving someone a nice back massage, you could be providing a high performance database, it could be some fancy machine that records inbound sales leads when all the phones are busy, or it could be a standard platform format so that large groups of people now have an easier time working together. In each case, value is being created for someone (note that “value” doesn’t necessarily mean “money”).
Capture value. This is the hard part. A successful business will profit when people are benefiting from it’s products. Bloomberg provided a single, integrated information terminal when the rest of the world was leafing through telex - and they have profited handsomely. On the other hand, IBM gave the world a standard hardware platform on which to develop PC hardware and software, but it’s PC division slowly imploded while others in the stack (notably Microsoft) took advantage.

With this in mind, it’s useful to observe that the graph above is for businesses that are both vertically integrated (Apple, RIM, Nokia) and hence retaining most of their generated value, as well as those that used a licensed OS, generating value for some third party.

Android phones generate a lot of value for Google (directly as search advertising revenue and and indirectly in metadata acquisition and platform network effects), but we don't see that on this graph. Likewise, Windows Phone 7 phones may one day generate a lot of revenue for Microsoft, but that wouldn't be captured here.

I'd be interested in seeing some breakdown of value generation from the OS platform originators, or perhaps some kind of combined value of system integrator + software supplier. Just a thought.)

Note that system integrators (HTC, Sony Ericsson, LG, Samsung, etc) don't care what software they use - they'll switch at a moments notice to whatever is most profitable. There's a struggle going on behind the scenes as Microsoft and Google actually bid against each other for business from the system integrators, throwing money where ever it's likely to find a home.

Hence the acquisition of Nokia, to retain a gold standard.

It's likely that we'll be seeing this struggle go on for a few years now - Microsoft and Google have too much to lose not to keep playing, RIM will see a slow, steady slide into oblivion then acquisition, and Apple will remain quietly profitable and continue a very well executed two-step. 1) Start at the top, then 2) Work your way down.

I've heard it suggested that Microsoft could create disruption by buying a US telco (such as Sprint) and selling handsets that make unlimited "Skype" data calls, effectively placing voice calls over a wireless data network using Skype. This would drop the cost of provision per customer by half, but (a) I don't think they have the balls, and (b) I don't think you need to buy a telco to make that happen. Some kind of strategic partnership would be fine, but we haven't seen any hints in that direction. Perhaps it's all part of the "master plan".

(As an Australian, I find it interesting that the US wireless telco industry is actually less competitive than here in Australia. Due to the size of our total market and each carrier’s relative market share, no carrier wields significant enough market power not to act competitively in most situations. Put simply, you’ve been able to get an iPhone unlocked from day one, and around $60 per month will get you unlimited calls and SMS, with a few Gb of data.)

In Conclusive.

There’s a wonderful scene in “Searching for Bobby Fischer” where, at the movie’s climactic match, the mentor whispers “don’t move until you see it”, referring to the wisdom of understanding all parts of a strategy before diving in.

So, while I can’t see it myself, I’m loath to follow in the footsteps of lousy journalists asking for cutlery to be stuck in large software companies, and certainly not when they’re clearly fit enough to throw around $8.5Bn.

I hope it works out, but there isn’t a clear path between “here” and “there”, where “here” is a clear reliance on two major cash cows for virtually all revenue, and “there” is a diverse, profitable revenue stream with plenty of growth potential.

They have plenty of irons in the fire (Xbox, Windows Phone, business offering extensions, their nascent online collaboration services, to name a few) but I am still in fear of the execution of the Microsoft executive team.

I imagine they are, too.

References:

Christofferson, SA, McNish, RS and Sias, DL 2004, ‘Where mergers go wrong’, The McKinsey Quarterly, Number 2, pp 92-99.

Yarow J, Angelova K 2010, CHART OF THE DAY: Microsoft Spends Eight Times As Much On R&D As Apple, <http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-rd-for-tech-companies-2010-5>

Dediu H 2011, iPhone share of phone market in Q1: 5% volumes, 20% revenues, 55% profit, <http://www.asymco.com/2011/05/16/iphone-share-of-phone-market-in-q1/>

Operating system market shares, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone#Operating_system_market_shares>

Horowitz B 2011, Microsoft Buys Skype, <http://bhorowitz.com/2011/05/10/microsoft-buys-skype/>

Malik O 2011, Why Microsoft Is Buying Skype for $8.5 Billion, <http://gigaom.com/2011/05/09/why-microsoft-is-buying-skype-for-8-billion/>

A Portrait.

2011-07-18T08:38:00.000+10:00

Need a hint?

"That movie looks awesome,"

2011-07-08T09:25:00.000+10:00

"I can't wait to download a copy."

"Nintendo DS"

2011-07-08T09:21:00.000+10:00

Where “DS” stands for “I'm driving, shut the hell up back there.”

The Little, Forgotten Things.

2011-07-08T09:17:00.003+10:00

My wife's mother wasn't well. All turned out OK, but at the time a rapid heart rate and some chest pain were a source of alarm.

I dropped my wife off at the front entrance to the hospital and drove away to find parking. I had no intention of heading inside - a hospital isn't the best environment for a ten week old baby with a still-developing immune system, so I scouted a small patch of grass across the road. I parked the car, packed the baby (and accessories) into the pram) and headed for the grass.

On arriving I found a neatly manicure lawn spotted with topiared trees reminiscent of lollipops. A squat wall ran along one side of the lawn, so I trotted over, parked the pram, pulled out an irrelevant book, leaned up against the wall and started to read.

After a few minutes some of the sharper leaves growing out of the hedge on the far side of the wall had started to dig in, so I turned around to rearrange the furniture, as it were. A few broken leaves later and I was back to my book, mostly dismissing the line of small metal plates I had noticed on the wall.

Not completely, however.

I turned back to take a second look and saw "child, aged 3" neatly etched on the plate. The next one along said "child, aged 5", and the next, and the next, and so on. Dozens, all in a row. I looked across at the entrance to the lawn and saw the sign - "Destitute Children's Asylum Cemetery."

A neat patch of lawn, well kept, gravestones lined up like school desks, trees like lollipops near at hand.

Ignorance of the Commons.

2011-07-08T09:08:00.002+10:00

"The common ancestor of religion and science is ignorance."

-- AC Grayling, All In The Mind, 3 April 2010

"What's 230 divided by 8?"

2011-07-08T09:04:00.000+10:00

"I'll do it... On my phone... OK... where's the calculator app... OK... How do I... OK, got it ready."

"What was the question?"

I am officially an Australian independent film investor.

2011-07-05T12:13:00.002+10:00

I have purchased one frame of the indie Aussie horror movie "The Tunnel". I downloaded it last night. It's really good.

Here's my frame:

While they do make "real" movies, they're also experimenting with different forms of distribution and funding. In this case, the movie was released on the net, and they are sourcing funding directly from the audience after the fact - through DVD sales, film frame sales, and so on. Quite insightful.

Now you all have to go watch it so I can make my dollar back.

Grammaculous, Redux.

2011-06-30T09:15:00.003+10:00

The world is changing far too quickly for me to keep up. I barely cling to the edges of this buffeted life by holding those small, intrinsically known truths that serve as my rock.

And now the University of Oxford deigns to rip me of my mooring.

Damn you, Oxford.

Damn you.

The Future Has Arrived.

2011-06-14T12:57:00.002+10:00

And it involves magically moving a puddle of ketchup.

I Want To Play This Game.

2011-06-07T09:37:00.000+10:00

The Apple Store, by Playmobil.

2011-04-04T08:47:00.001+10:00

"If something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical. Thankfully, for most people, that's a pretty low bar."

"The video is a cathartic opus that aims to express the despair caused by a soul-destroying job and the pain of a broken relationship."

2011-03-18T15:43:00.004+11:00

You'll need headphones.

Courtesy Low Morale.

Drive-By Cute-ing:

2011-03-07T09:19:00.000+11:00

I Am Quietly Judging You.

2010-12-01T10:36:00.001+11:00

Bombing Out.

2010-09-29T14:06:00.003+10:00

I have a new found respect for Governor Schwarzenegger. While I disagree with much of his politics, I admire the way in which he notes his opinion. Here's a veto note he passed to the legislature;

(Hint: check the first letter of each line.)

Sheer Audacity.

2010-09-22T17:38:00.000+10:00

Did you know that a new method of music production was invented for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth"?

It's based on a mathematical model that creates a regular beat designed to maximise emotional response.

They're calling it the Al-Gore-rhythm.

It's Amazing What You Can Pick Up At A 7-Eleven Nowadays.

2010-08-16T09:12:00.002+10:00

Why I Do What I Do.

2010-05-31T09:34:00.000+10:00

Business-Related Photo of the Day.

2010-05-24T09:04:00.001+10:00

Carry on.

The Demise of the English Language.

2010-05-21T08:44:00.001+10:00

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/stories/2010/2881190.htm

A great listen.

I am, of course, in almost entire unagreementisation.

Aucity.

Ness.

Wince

2010-03-29T16:58:00.002+11:00

Rocky Mountain Oysters:

"Also known as prairie oysters, are a North American culinary name for edible offal, specifically buffalo or bull testicles. They are usually peeled, coated in flour, pepper and salt, sometimes pounded flat, then deep-fried."

I'm not sure why, but I can't help but wince when reading "pounded flat".

My God, it's full of Math.

2010-03-25T09:28:00.003+11:00

I truly believe that math is the essence of beauty, the singular descriptor for everything around us.

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

"Indistinguishable from Magic".

2010-03-25T09:07:00.001+11:00

Watch the whole video. In wonder.

This is what computers were made for.

"Let's Try Cesium."

2010-03-15T09:06:00.000+11:00

Chemistry is awesome.

Dear Chavi,

2010-02-15T09:55:00.002+11:00

This is your dad. I am 29 years old, it's about a week after you were born, and we've just had your bris. On the way here your mum asked me to sum up how I feel in five words, and my answer was "we're supposed to protect you."

We are good people, your mother and I. Different - very different- but good. Your mum is a magical, extraordinary person, and I thank my lucky stars every day that I found her.

So here begins the rest of your life. I hope one day you're a dad so you can feel the absolute joy of holding your child in your arms.

Happy birthday.

Life, Changing.

2010-01-28T08:41:00.001+11:00

This is the most important video that you will watch today.

Quite possibly the most important you'll watch for some time.

Yes, I'm talking to you.

Foot. Mouth.

2010-01-27T15:02:00.002+11:00

While I admire Seth Godin's dedication to pushing the envelope by announcing content for an unannounced device, I'd have hoped that his partner would actually have a web site viewable on the platform he's targeting.

Checking out the site from my phone, I have no idea what a "vook" looks like, or what it does.

Unlightenment.

2010-01-27T09:06:00.002+11:00

I'm constantly amazed at the useful tidbits of advice I find online.

I never thought I'd find a personal growth message in a popup on eBay.

No, Really, Who's On First?

2009-10-10T17:38:00.001+11:00

Their finest hour:

The mechanism by which exercise reduces fat levels. (Hint: it's not by burning calories.)

2009-09-14T09:03:00.002+10:00

Hmmm.

"The question is why does exercise work in obesity? Because it burns calories? That's ridiculous. Twenty minutes of jogging is one chocolate chip cookie, I mean you can't do it. One Big Mac requires three hours of vigorous exercise to work that off, that's not the reason that exercise is important, exercise is important for three reasons exclusive of the fact that it burns calories.

The first is it increases skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity, in other words it makes your muscle more insulin sensitive, therefore your pancreas can make less, therefore your levels can drop, therefore there's less insulin in your blood to shunt sugar to fat. That's probably the main reason that exercise is important and I'm totally for it.

The second reason that exercise is important is because it's the single best treatment to get your cortisol down. Cortisol is your stress hormone, it's the hormone that goes up when you are mega-stressed, it's the hormone that basically causes visceral fat deposition which is the bad fat and it has been tied to the metabolic syndrome. So by getting your cortisol down you're actually reducing the amount of fat deposited and it also reduces food intake. People think that somehow exercise increases food intake, it does not, it reduces food intake.

And then the third reason that exercise is important, which is somewhat not well known, but I'm trying to evaluate this at the present time, is that it actually helps detoxify the sugar fructose. Fructose actually is a hepato-toxin; now fructose is fruit sugar but we were never designed to take in so much fructose. Our consumption of fructose has gone from less than half a pound per year in 1970 to 56 pounds per year in 2003."

-- Robert Lustig

Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me About This?

2009-09-10T21:35:00.002+10:00

A Lark of Perspective.

2009-09-08T15:26:00.002+10:00

I've just had something of an epiphany.

On the comment "It's a boy!" to my mother, the response was;

"Boys are fine. I had 3 of them."

All of a sudden my parents weren't "My Parents," rather they were "A Couple Who Had Raised Three Sons."

I have this strange feeling that "People With Children" inhabit an entire other world, sharing a secret language.

Snobs.

Copy Right.

2009-08-02T14:07:00.001+10:00

A magnificently elocuted display on the topic, by Stephen Fry.

His podcast is among, if not top of, my favourites.

Damn Those People That Move Around, Damn Them All.

2009-05-29T10:10:00.001+10:00

But you know what he can't do? Grow hair.

In Console Able.

2009-05-28T16:57:00.002+10:00

I stumbled across inconsolata via the author's page on Spiro while familiarising myself with Inkscape (long story). I'm not really a typography guy, although I like to think I can tell when my eyes are bleeding.

I've spent the last ten minutes staring at the Inconsolata set. It's simply beautiful. I had no idea a monospace font could look that good. The attention to detail, the understated beauty - it's a work of art.

The snapshot on the main page doesn't come close to doing it justice, I implore you to take some time to look at the PDF display sheet, zoomed in to 800%. Pay particular attention to the "t", "v", "w", and "y" - not to mention the numerals.

Congratulations, Raph Levien.

Terms of Endearment.

2009-05-27T13:59:00.002+10:00

For the life of me, I can't work out why I am so surprised at one company doing "the right thing" when it comes to on-line signup forms. This is how Ovi, the new online service from Nokia, presents the customary "Now that we have your contact details, are you sure you don't want us to not stop starting to ignore your preferences with regard to being constantly irritated by a barrage of advertising sputum? (Full stop, no returns.)"

Using well-written, positive language they focus on the simple benefit of being on their mailing list, and - most importantly - the default option is off.

They've already earned my respect.

A Sense of Humanity.

2009-05-24T23:12:00.001+10:00

From the user guide for my Nokia mobile phone, regarding the utility for "wiping" the device;

"When the device is wiped, the phone will appear to be new from the factory (except for scratches)."

Love it.

God Bless the Scientific Method.

2009-05-19T09:12:00.000+10:00

"We'll Be Ready To Go To Market In 12 to 18 Months."

2009-05-14T09:00:00.001+10:00

I'm now searching for a "paper" theme for my computer to achieve the same effect.

Oar Inspiring.

2009-05-10T02:29:00.001+10:00

His name is Bill Shannon, and he has osteonecrosis, and I have a new hero.

Quiet Time.

2009-05-07T00:47:00.003+10:00

"The mind is its own place, and in itself
can make heaven of hell or a hell of heaven."

-- Milton

Special Affect

2009-05-06T12:56:00.000+10:00

Imaginations

dry, rotting. Hearts now empty,

left unsatisfied

X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

2009-05-06T12:55:00.000+10:00

The wondrous, mundane.

Though for sheer entertainment,

give it two thumbs up.

Yet I Cannot Look Away.

2009-05-04T21:20:00.000+10:00

Topical Treatment.

2009-05-02T11:56:00.002+10:00

Sure, but does it come with the plan?

2009-05-02T11:47:00.001+10:00

Henson's 11.

2009-04-24T23:11:00.001+10:00

I would watch this.

I'd even pay cinema prices.

Gran Torino.

2009-04-20T21:41:00.001+10:00

Off the beaten slope,
a racist? Unconvincing.
(Perhaps that's the point.)

Self Serving.

2009-04-20T17:36:00.001+10:00

I often feel that if I were ever to meet myself, I would irritate the hell out of me.

I wish others would come to the same realisation.

Scotch.

2009-04-20T16:32:00.000+10:00

The civilised man's bong.

"The Machinist"

2009-04-20T16:26:00.002+10:00

Somewhat predictable, although not unpleasantly so.

Beautifully constructed, like watching a rat successfully negotiate a maze only to realise that it is, in fact, already dead.

Dreams Are Not Ideal.

2009-03-12T09:00:00.001+11:00

And you certainly don't want them intruding on real life.

Excellent points, well made.

Jesus Made Me Miss My Bus.

2009-02-20T14:08:00.000+11:00

True story. Ask me about it some time.

The Source Of Progress.

2009-02-02T23:49:00.000+11:00

"Did you ride a horse to work today? I didn't. I'm sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a "horseless carriage"—and they never did! And then they died."

- John Siracusa

Self Betrayal

2008-12-10T08:51:00.002+11:00

Much as I would lay claim to being quite the sophisticate, I still find skits like this absolutely fucking hilarious.

An Ideal Evolution

2008-10-29T22:25:00.002+11:00

Over the years the "First-Person Shooter" has suffered the stifling limits of it's own stereotypes.

Enter the first-person painter.

This would, I believe, be the most creative variation on the genre I have ever seen.

A Riddle.

2008-10-13T13:20:00.002+11:00

There's an old riddle, where a farmer needs to move a wolf, a sheep, and a sack of cabbage across a river in the minimum amount of time. There is a boat, however there is only room for the farmer and one passenger. Naturally, the wolf cannot be left alone with the sheep, and the sheep cannot be left alone with the cabbage. I'll leave the actual solution as an exercise to the reader.

Now imagine, instead, that there is a house with a Rabbi, a baby, and a drug addict. There is a car, however there is only room for one passenger. The drug addict needs to get to the hospital and the babysitter needs to be picked up and brought back to the house. The baby cannot be left alone, and the drug addict cannot be left with the baby.

“For every problem,

2008-10-12T12:38:00.001+11:00

there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”

-- H. L. Mencken

Fate.

2008-09-28T23:27:00.001+10:00

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will."

-- Shakespeare (Hamlet)

Grammaculous.

2008-09-28T22:55:00.004+10:00

Very occasionally I discover that something I have known - albeit intuitively - is true in a technical sense as well. Suffering the poor formal linguistic education quite typical of those in my genre, I have always regretified being left to my own devices to develop a crude intuitive comprehension using only teen schlock horror novels, comic books, and the subtitled complete works of Monty Python.

Returning to my original point, I am occasionally delighted to find strong technical support for a linguistic principle I had previously only understood intuitively. I present the Serial Comma.

Of course, before I get too enthusiastic, I must remind myself of my disdain for the respect and fixation by mere human beings on rule sets defined by other mere human beings. There's something belittling in being told to conform to a certain set of rules simply because "they" created them. But that's another topic.

On Comedy;

2008-09-28T22:44:00.000+10:00

"Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly."

-- GK Chesterton.

For the sake of balance,

2008-09-21T20:38:00.000+10:00

I must also link to a ninja dog.

Hilarious.

2008-09-21T20:22:00.002+10:00

Ninja Cat.

Seriously. Funniest cat-based video I've seen in ages.

Remeniscent of a particularly memorable (and genuinely unnerving) scene in El Orfanato.

"Rather than encouraging our children to study more math and science and become engineers, we're turning them into lawyers."

2008-09-01T14:01:00.000+10:00

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2005/sb20051212_623922.htm

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Collective?

2008-08-27T22:55:00.001+10:00

I always thought it odd that the collective noun for paedophiles is "ring".

Doesn't say a word about who put the "L" in it, though.

2008-08-25T13:26:00.003+10:00

From the Wikipedia entry on "Life":

"This article is about life in general. "

"For other meanings of "life", see Life (disambiguation)."

Good to know they're keeping an open mind.

Fuck This Shit.

2007-10-22T09:42:00.001+10:00

What the fuck?

Like Applesauce And Condoms,

2007-10-18T17:12:00.000+10:00

...it's a perfect combination of sarcasm, math, and ridiculing another's belief system.

http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2007/10/book_review_the_faith_equation.php

That's his last post, but the rest is also a gold mine.

I love this guy.

Finally, Something I Can Love.

2007-10-17T18:33:00.000+10:00

Hatebook.

Reason #427 Why I Don't Live In America

2007-10-16T20:38:00.000+10:00

Products like this.

Interesting Photos From Around Perth (5)

2007-10-15T15:15:00.000+10:00

And sometimes it's just nice to know that people won't take themselves too seriously when ripping off a well-known brand.

Interesting Photos From Around Perth (4)

2007-10-15T15:10:00.001+10:00

Of course, sometimes it's just nice to know that funny names were once all-too-real.

Interesting Photos From Around Perth (3)

2007-10-15T15:06:00.001+10:00

Sometimes a familiar name turns up in the strangest place.

(Though how "walking on" became a sign respect is beyond me.)