Tag: Time Warner

Tech buying spree

Even the President couldn’t help visiting Facebook campus in Palo Alto two weeks ago, and in Austin. California companies now talk of an Austin strategy, just like GE back in the 90’s with  India.

I finally realized the wisdom of Alex who made millions from his dollar-per-dot concept. Except this time, it will be the buttons (Like by Facebook, and +1 by Google). T for Twitter, I for LinkedIn and F for Facebook. No wonder MS needs the S button (for Skype). Companies stake out their turfs, online and on-screen to gain shares in this attention economy.

Speak succintly, and speak frequently. Retweet yourself after me.

“I, would like, to buy, a hamburger” (Pink Panthers).

Again.

I remember when companies would hire people to click on their websites so they can rise in Alexa’s ranking (if broadcasters could do the same to secure ratings).

Skype has been a tech marvel, and a business basket case. It had not made money, yet sold to E-bay, who lost money on the deal. And now, it earns a chunk of change passing on to Silver Lake.

Welcome to the 21st century. Members only. Multi-taskers only. Eat,pray and love.

Type, talk and think.

Tech topics cover M2M, which is the next big thing. Where does that leave us, human operators?

To preside on top of the food chain, we need to fight for our supremacy, not over each other, but over machines. Seek first SEO then all these things shall be added unto you. Establish your Web presence. And be relevant (unlike Bin Laden, who was rendered “irrelevant” by the 2011 Arab Spring).

It’s not a coincident that we are tackling, via crowdsourcing, the $300- house challenge for the bottom 2 billion.

Can I have Skype with that?

I just notice that Steve Balmer, during his announcement of MS’s biggest buy, did not even wear a suit.

MS, personified in Steve, is trying hard to stay relevant in this fast and forever young digital world. Time Warner was doing the same with AOL, who in turn, has just made a chess move with Huffington Post. Maybe Skype isn’t the end game for MS. Just its beginning to embrace Skype-type users (early adopters) in the hope that osmosis between MS and Skype will work miracle. If not, then “eat, pray and love”, as Time Warner and AOL once did.

Content, conduit, contrarian

The creator of Million-Dollar Homepage cashed out, and did nothing for five years.

I have waited for the other shoe to drop. It just did. Do Nothing for 2 Minutes.

http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/

The high school graduate does put his thinking cap on every so often, and knows how to create buzz.

He either sells ad dots (as opposed to ad banners), or do nothing.

Still he needs to reach us, this time, via Comcast or Time Warner (conduit).

The pipe owners just lay cable while others hold the Master Switch i.e. providing content as well. So they risked everything, first through a disastrous merger with AOL, and of late, with NBC (I like the forced PSA on Missing Child Report.)

So, the current $99 (or less) Triple Play promotion (envisioned a decade ago after the Telecommunications Act of 1996) locks in a healthy base.

On the Web front, we have barely scratched the surface. Google has another round of reorg (deemed Google 3.0) while continues on its long journey of “organizing the world’s information” and “not being evil”. It has recruited enough staff for Google Adsense in Vietnam.

Young entrepreneurs think  contrarian. CEO’s of tech companies addressed the troop wearing wireless mic, free to move about or on skateboard. The internet charged out of the gate at such a furious rate that it’s still a guessing game for many. Eventually, stake holders will influence the outcome (as well as market’s force). We will perhaps have an oligarchical web world.

For now, we suspend our disbelief.  Art is imitating life in the Social Network.

If I were Alex, my next web page would be a million faces (dead or alive) all in dots. Or Do Nothing for 3 minutes (add one minute of silence for victims of recent wars). But then, Maya Lin already beat me to the punch. Hers is called the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

You’ve got comment!

When lunching near Dulles Airport  years ago, we ran into some Teleglobe colleagues who had gone over to AOL.

Back then, I looked at those guys with a bit of envy. After all, we were just a voice backbone.

Those guys were in their honeymoon with Time Warner, both pipe and pipe dream.

Now, this merger has now been unraveled .

One thing has changed over this decade: customers can and will talk back, even from Dell hell.

We used to laugh at “voice mail jail”. Companies cannot afford a “taxi driver’s” attitude (Are you talking to me?).

Amazon rating, feedback loop, survey, independent research, mystery shopper, disgruntled employees etc…. The old untouched “suggestion box” is as outdated as the IBM Selectric typewriter.

Wiki everything. Google everything. Twitter everything. The many “faces” on Facebook. Many lives on Second Life.

Many files on Drop Box,  Amazon’ rent-a-server or Salesforce.com CRM. Modularity and virtuality are counter-trends of our disposable society.

At Teleglobe, that’s what we did: Rent-a-switch (telecom). International entrepreneurs only had to come with a willingness, a niche market and some upfront costs. The rest, from licensing to private billing, we handled.

It worked beautifully. And I know Cloud Computing will take IT investment to the next level, freeing up companies to soar, and expand side way or upward, without attending to the flickering lights in server farm.

The post-machine age (on-prem) has finally arrived. The unbundling of MS Office and many other packaged solutions. Pay per user. Companies can now launch seasonal campaign or handle a PR crisis with speed and less cost.

Bad news tends to travel faster than good.

You’ve got comment!.

First responder to those comments can reduce damage into dent, or turn negative into positive. Customers have always been Kings. It’s just that Kings don’t get to speak too often, until now.