Posts Tagged ‘Business’

Skybus Sweet! Like a Bus in the Sky!

Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

It seems that every five years or so there is a splash in the airline market with a whole new low cost carrier. First it was Southwest Airlines, then JetBlue, and now there is Skybus. While I love the fact they are trying to approach the RyanAir/EasyJet no frills and cheap fairs realm, it seems like they closer to the “life lessons” realm. As in, you get what you pay for.

Their fares are ridiculously cheap if you know you want to travel six months ahead of time. They’re also perfect if Columbus, Ohio is your destination. There are a 14 starter cities and all of them lead to Columbus (only), which seems a bit strange, but then again I was told never to underestimate the drawing power of, “The Buckeye State.” Wait, no I wasn’t. That’s lame!

So attach the rigid route structure, to the fact you have to pay for each bag you check, to the fact it’s almost entirely self serve, to the fact the prices are only good if you get in first; the airline with the most startup money in history becomes nothing more than a cheap imitation of a real airline. And the real issue lays with the fact it still isn’t that cheap.

I’m sticking with other two airlines I mentioned. SkyBust! Zinggggg!

Google acquires Feedburner

Friday, June 1st, 2007

I read something where someone said Google should acquire feedburner. I only noticed because I just went to feedburner.com and saw their new disclaimer. I kind of liked the separate entity of Feedburner, but their voice seems to match well with Google. We will see.

Perhaps there will be feed integration into Google analytics. Seeing all of my eggs in the Google basket is all fun and games until they start misbehaving, let’s hope it doesn’t happen.

You have 14 days to opt out of feedburner giving Google your data.

Good times.

eBay bought Stumble Upon

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

I think Stumble Upon is an interesting acquisition for any company. eBay decided to purchase Stumble Upon.

StumbleUpon is a great fit within our goal of pioneering new communities based on commerce and sustained by trust

Wait huh? I think Stumble Upon is a great, “I’m bored and want to fall into a vortex of entertainment” tool. But how does it fit with a huge auction corporation? I really want them to prove me wrong, but I think they will ruin Stumble Upon like they ruined paypal (or failed to keep up).

Oh well, another will pop up. I better start coding.

More to the Microsoft Allegations

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

A few days later there seems to be a general consensus around the web; A) Microsoft is using this threat as a marketing ploy to strike fear into the hearts of those thinking of switching from MS to any open source system, namely Linux and B) Everyone agrees it’s a foolish move.

I read Jonathan Schwartz’ blog entry on the subject and it definitely gives some perspective as to where the Microsoft beast is headed with their hard line, uncooperative attitude towards the Open Source Community and collaborative standards in general. Sun was faced with the same choice when they started losing to open source, and ultimately came to the conclusion; if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

At this point, Microsoft can still easily turn the ship around, but if they keep going the direction they are heading, it’s curtains.

** Update

backĀ·fire -fired, -firĀ·ing, noun
to bring a result opposite to that which was planne or expected: The plot backfired.

Apparently the report quoted may just prove the opposite, Microsoft is more susceptable than Open Source when it comes to patent infringements. Read it here..

Cut the Cord: Freelance Baby!

Thursday, May 10th, 2007

There has been a reason I have withheld from writing any new blog posts for quite some time. Well many reasons actually. The main reason however, is that I resigned from my job about two weeks ago and I wanted to wait until everything was finished before I started blogging again. It’s been a really emotional (ahh damn I’ve gone emo) and stressful last few months for me.

I’m sure many people have left jobs before and have gone through similar scenarios. You start getting really combative, you aren’t easily motivated, maybe you’re even unmotivated, you start effecting those who are around you. It can get ugly, and while I was definitely in a bad state of mind, I would like to think I pulled myself together enough to leave on good terms with my former company. After all, it was they who gave me my shot and fostered my learning for all of this stuff.

My leaving wasn’t brought on so much by something they did, it was brought on by my own actions: doing a ton of freelance work. I loved it. I’m going to tell you why the idea of freelancing was so appealing to me. Even though I haven’t really lived the life, as my last day at work was only 3 days ago, I certainly have spent hours reading about it and obsessing about it.
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Can you sign this NDA.

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007

One of the most amusing things that comes my way are people with big ideas and NDA’s. What does this sound like to people:

“Hey I want to go into business with you, but first off, can you sign this document, because I don’t trust you.”

Now I know for big business it’s completely different, but for anything involving less than five people, it comes across as an insult. Let’s be real, rarely is there an idea that comes across my plate that I haven’t seen elsewhere, or haven’t thought of myself. If you want to work with me, trusting me up will go a lot further than covering your ass down the line. I’m a web developer, who needs who?