Category
mobile
-
03.24.08Thoughts at 30KOn a flight, and it's a good time to think: 1) Why is capitalism great? Because. it allow each individual to define success. Each person can say, "this. specific thing is what I care about, this is where I want to focus" and no one can argue. I am learning that a large organization can be the same way. 2) I am going to start a blog series on why blogging is important. Topics. will range from: why blogging helps everyone (even those who ...
-
03.05.08The truth about the compass roseI just started a new book The Whale Warriors (I will link when I'm off the BlackBerry). The introduction includes a map of the South Pole. There is a note regarding the compass rose that is included: From the South Pole every line of longitude runs true north. In other words, when you are on the Pole there is only one direction, no matter which way you face: North. The opposite is true for the North Pole. Never seen this thought in words before -- there are two places on the globe where the compass is meaningless. ...
-
12.07.07Two surprising facts in one quoteSix of the seven presidential tickets between 1980 and 2004 have included a Bush, and five of those six [have] won. American Theocracy Striking not only for illustrating one family's dominance of modern American leadership, but also because it shows (disappointingly) the fixed national mindset on one thing: oil.
-
09.09.07Why we have those American Idol audition outtakesFrom The Black Swan: We humans are the victims of an asymmetry in the perception of random events. We attribute our successes to our skills, and our failures to external events outside of our control, namely to randomness. We feel responsible for the good stuff, but not for the bad. This causes us to think that we are better than others at whatever we do for a living. Ninety-four percent of Swedes believe their driving skills put them in the top 50 percent of Swedish drivers; 84 percent of Frenchmen feel that their lovemaking abilities put them in the ...
-
08.22.07Briefly: GooTube’s ad-model is more of the sameIf you haven't noticed yet, YouTube has finally gotten around to a scalable business model with ads now appearing during some videos. The unobtrusive overlays reserve ten seconds of time 15 seconds into a clip. My favorite part of my source article was the findings of Google's market research: YouTube has spent months testing different ad formats ... It found that viewers abandon videos that include pre-roll ads at a rate of more that 70%, so it ditched pre-roll commercials. Pre-rolls are those nasty ads that you are forced to watch -- in full -- before accessing any content. ...
-
08.04.07Money Quote from The Wizard of Menlo ParkA candid glimpse into the drive of many entrepreneurs: Having one's own shop, working on projects of one's own choosing, making enough money today so one could do the same tomorrow: These were the modest goals of Thomas Edison when he struck out on his own as full-time inventor and manufacturer. The grand goal was nothing other than enjoying the autonomy of entrepreneur and forestalling a return to the servitude of employee (emphasis mine). The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World
-
07.16.07Why the NFL’s new media policy misses the markReading the Wall Street Journal in the airport today, I read an article about the NFL's ever evolving rules and restrictions on media coverage of NFL properties and game coverage. The league recently placed new restrictions on covereage. Outlets are limited to 45 seconds of online audio and video taken while on NFL property, required to remove such, material after 24 hours, and must include links to relevant NFL websites. Clearly, the NFL is trying to prevent their IP from spanning the vast tail of the net including sites like YouTube. They want to become the authority in providing this content ...
recent posts
- The Wallstrip Edge [Book Terser]
- How to name your own price
- Keep your worthless predictions
- The Definitive Book of Body Language [Book Terser]
- Terse Reviews
- Flatten; because users are lazy.
- P(recession) = 1, P(American is shopper) = 1
twitter.com/dougwtwitter.com/dougw -
Contact Doug Williams
