Cinematics Rule!

I've been listening to the Cinematics now for the last several months and had to make public how much I enjoy this band. They've got a fresh sound that is just alternative enough to be interesting and just pop enough to give their sound energy.

Some notable tracks: A strange education, Break and Rise and Fall. These are songs that keep me going during a long day.

The band's whole album is a great departure from the rest of the industry that all too often is over produced and under talented. These guys rock and I'd suggest giving them a listen

From Ali, Too Funny

This was sent to me via email from Ali Palmer. It was too funny not to pass along. It truly reminds us of the dangers of chewing gum:

Do Not Swallow Chewing Gum!

HOWTO: Rip DVDs to Your iPod or Zune

I have some friends that got new iPods (and one Zune) for Christmas. This short video shows you how to take DVDs you have and turn them into iPod compatible videos. Leave comments if you run into trouble.

Enjoy!

How Skype Can Help You Save Money on Phones

I've been using Skype now for quite awhile. It's an excellent way to keep in touch with others without using your cell phone minutes. It's also a free way to video conference, chat and make voice calls.

Lauri's parents live in California and Skype makes it really easy to video conference with them. We did this during the Christmas of 2006. It was great because we couldn't make it down to California, but the video quality and voice clarity allowed us to communicate as if we were there in the room with them.

Wanna try it out just for fun? It's free forever. Just go to www.skype.com and click the download button. Once you get it downloaded, click on my "Call Me" button at the top of this page. It will automatically connect your skype account to mine and we can have a little chat.

This is a great way to keep in touch with distant relatives and friends. My friend Jeremy is in the Marines and will be stationed in Japan soon. We'll use Skype to keep in touch and make free international calls to each other. It's great for Mac and PC.

Dog Sitting Part IV

We tend to get picked for dog sitting. It's kinda like baby sitting: really fun and you get to give them back when the novelty wears off :) Today we're dog sitting for our friend's Jared and Ali Palmer who are dog sitting for Ali's sister Lindsey (who is married to another Bryce. I'm sure he's a stud).

You might say the Palmer's sub-let their dog sitting leash?

Here's a couple of pics:




Funny anecdote: We were just wrestling. I totally pinned her in 9 seconds. I was doing something in the kitchen and had to get back to it. The dog went around the corner and I thought she lost interest. Then, I'm pouring boiling water into my coffee cup and she comes flying around the corner and does a flying-mouth-wide-open-leap at my junk yard. If only America's Funniest Home Videos was here.

Where Microsoft Lost its Way

Microsoft has pioneered a software revolution that has forever changed the face of business. Millions of workers can now do more each day and stay in closer contact as a direct result of the innovations by Bill Gates. All this said, I am a mac user. Microsoft, despite its celebrity status as a great company has wavered in recent years to the point where PC World, a popular PC users magazine, has named Vista the biggest disappointment of 2007. Ouch. Here's a video clip from YouTube:

While so popular in the early 80's and 90's where did Microsoft go wrong? I submit that they quit KISSing. Keeping It Simple Stupid is the shortest business philosophy I've heard so far. As I've learned in my most recent venture, Lab Coat Innovations, businesses succeed when they remain focused on their core competencies and earn more than they spend.

Microsoft has been playing in too many sandboxes for too long. Their venture into gaming and search, for example, are illustrative of distractions preventing their core business of operating systems and office suites from more frequent releases and value added services. Xbox the original has still not broken even on the balance sheet and their search product holds only single digit market share points. Both of these ventures require programmers and product managers that could have been used on operating systems.

Narrowing the focus does not sacrifice the growth potential Microsoft has been aiming at. Contrastingly, consider Google and their business model. As I've said before, I'm usually impressed with their work. Their business model is simple: sell advertising by coupling it with what people want to do. They used this model to grow into a search giant quickly. They expanded this model not by offering a gaming console or an expensive computer surface no one can afford but by providing us with more online content we want. We look at email a lot every day. They put adds there and we click on them. We like watching video's online. They bought YouTube and put adds there too. Soon, they will expand their product to handheld phones. I wrote about that too. Google's business has been growing with the narrow focus of getting us to click on adds. Microsoft is reacting to new trends hoping to make some "me-too" dollars.

Here is Google's market value compared with the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Microsoft. Microsoft is the green line below all the others:

graph

Microsoft, for all their recent negative press, is an excellent company that could be even better if they subscribed to the KISS philosophy and kept constant focus on operating system, server and business application software.