Archive for September, 2009
Twittering about(1)
I’m reporting a piece on job-hunting in the great and growing wildness of the twittersphere. I’m finding hype, hope, good and bad, lots of noise. It’s a wonder you tweeting job-hunter don’t have your heads explode after a few hours in that place. The piece should run later this week sometime. Let me know what you think.
Some analysts yawn at Intel’s new graphics chip(0)
Chip industry watchers have been eagerly awaiting news about the progress of Intel’s graphics-oriented chip, dubbed Larrabee, which has been under development for what seems like ages.
Intel executives hope Larrabee will help them compete with the highly popular graphic chips offered by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.
But when Intel gave a little demonstration of its chip last week during the Santa Clara company’s annual San Francisco event for people working on Intel-related products, the reaction among some analysts was less than awestruck.
“The 3D graphics were underwhelming” compared with those offered by Nvidia’s and AMD’s chips, wrote Global Crown Research in a note to its clients.
In its own note, Raymond James called Intel’s unveiling of Larrabee “surprisingly pedestrian” and noted that “the sad demo tells us the project is in trouble.”
Ouch!
Palm’s Uncertain Future And Its Accounting Change(2)
Back on Sept. 17, Palm released its long-awaited earnings. They were eagerly anticipated because these would be the first full quarter that included the performance of the Palm Pre. Ever since, analysts and investors have been trying to figure out whether the numbers were good news, bad news, or something else entirely.
This head scratching was reflected in the news coverage of the earnings. The Mercury News had a first-day headline that said “Pre Sales Give Palm A Boost.” But within a couple of days, the consensus seemed to turn against Palm, with analysts and others questioning just how good the numbers were, and worrying about the company’s outlook. Four days later, the Motley Fool wrote: “Palm Discovers Its Limits.”
The confusion was largely due to a change in accounting methods. More on that in a second. But once we take a closer look at the numbers, it seems clear to me that Palm seems to be setting itself up to be sold. And that would likely need to happen sometime in the next six to 12 months.
Jobs on the front line?(0)
Passing this along to you job-seekers from the Santa Clara County Association of Recruiting Officers: Read the rest of this entry »
Why Adobe Was In A Hurry To Buy Omniture(0)
One of my favorite types of securities filings usually comes a few days after an acquisition is announced and includes the “background of the offer.” This section provides an unusually detailed narrative of how and why a deal came together.
On Thursday, Adobe filed its “Schedule TO” with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its $1.8 billion acquisition of Utah-based Omniture that was announced earlier this month. And amid all the fun, trivial details there are two interesting revelations:
First, Adobe pursued a reluctant Omniture hard, for several months, upping its offer twice, from $20 per share to $21.50 per share to beat out other bidders for the Utah-based company.
And second: Adobe made it clear for a couple months to Omniture that Adobe urgently needed to get the deal done by Sept. 15: Read the rest of this entry »
How Ringtones Have Come And Gone As A Business(0)
An interesting report landed in my inbox this week about the ringtone industry written by research firm IBISWorld. Apparently, the ringtone industry is all but dead. This got me wondering whether it implies that the cycles of innovation and creative destruction are accelerating and getting even shorter for Silicon Valley.
What intrigues me is how quickly the ringtone business came and went. According to the IBISWorld report, it was indeed an unusually brief cycle. For a short moment, this seemd like the one bit of good news the music industry could count on. But no more.
According to the report (sorry, they didn’t provide a link to it online):
“Music ringtones practically boomed overnight, but with two consecutive years of decline it seems the industry is exiting just as rapidly as it entered,” said Toon van Beeck, senior analyst with IBISWorld. “And with the ringtone market already reaching its decline stage, its life cycle is only expected to last about 15 years.”
What changed so quickly? According the report, just about everything. Read the rest of this entry »
Larry Ellison, Cloud Computing And The Future Of Oracle(1)
I may not always be the biggest fan of Oracle founder Larry Ellison when it comes to issues like executive pay. But I do appreciate his business savvy and ability to cut through the fog of marketing nonsense and get right to the heart of things. I thought about this when I read his remarks from his appearance at the Churchill Club with Ed Zander.
Ellison was asked about cloud computing, and Merc reporter Brandon Bailey wrote:
“Known for his strong ego and outspoken views, Ellison drew laughter when he ridiculed the industry trend known as “cloud computing,” saying as he has before that it’s nothing more than a faddish term for the established concept of computers linked by networks. “A cloud is water vapor,” he observed.
But what really struck me is that in his remarks this week, and other recent statements like the announcement of the configured Sun database product, that Ellison is actually going to do the unthinkable: He’s going to keep the hardware business.
This shocks me for a couple of reasons.
Valley Firms Propose Limits On Executive Pay(1)
I had to rub my eyes when someone passed along a link to this story on Tuesday:
Has the world gone made? Was this a hoax?
Just listen to this madness from the Post story:
“A coalition of blue-chip companies on Monday endorsed the idea of voluntarily overhauling executive compensation practices in an effort to restore public confidence in corporate America and to get out ahead of potentially more burdensome rules that could emerge from Washington.
Pay practices such as huge severance payments, personal use of corporate jets and incentives not tied to long-term performance should vanish unless a specific justification exists, according to a task force convened by the business organization the Conference Board.”
Now this is either a radical change of heart, or a phony attempt to head off attempts by the federal government to impose more harsh guidelines. Let’s take a closer look: Read the rest of this entry »
Thoughts On The Future From Two Guys Who Invented It(0)
(l to r: Charney, Terman, Cerf)
Last week I spent an evening at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View attending the IEEE’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of ARPANET. The event featured a panel with three prominent names:
- Dr. Lew Terman, 2008 IEEE President and CEO
- Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
- Howard Charney, Senior Vice President, Office of the President, Cisco
While delving into some of ARPANET’s history, the panel explored the future of the Internet. And I left with a few stray ideas worth noting:
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