MediaBloodhound: MediaBloodhound’s 2007 Fact or Fiction Challenge
I failed badly! Don’t know if that is a problem with me or the state of affaires!
Ben Metcalfe doesn’t like profit on OLPCs
Ben Metcalfe has found OLPCs on eBay going for over three times the going rate (assuming that the going rate is $200).
Sad to see OLPC’s for sale on eBay at inflated prices :Ben Metcalfe Blog
He seems quite upset by the find; actually I believe a sign that this little thing could be an enormous success. There is a demand in the developed countries for the OLPC. This demand can be used to get the price down, build software and help with the OLPC “brand” in the target countries; the OLPC could be seen as more than a poor childs PC. Now the OLPC people need to get the machines out there and sell them to whoever wants them (wherever they maybe).
Why?
Simply put if they don’t flood the developed world with these machines the market will take care of it for them. They’ll be pushing machines into Africa and Latin America for them to appear on eBay at a profit. Now that maybe a great gain for the people who received the machines in the short term but long term they’re going to be big losers.
Hummer vs. The Prius
You’ve got to love anyone who believes that a Hummer is more efficient than anything except for a jet or a cruise ship.
However, it appears that there are people out there willing to believe anything…
Mr. Green’s Web-Only Mailbag – November/December 2007 – Sierra Magazine – Sierra Club
BusinessWeek: Top 100 Global Brands
It’s time for the annual nonsense list of brands…
BusinessWeek Online: Top 100 Global Brands
Some quick notes;
- There are no valuable brands in China, India or anywhere outside the western world. I’m sure that Tata, Wipro, Mittal, Haier, CIC and a few others would beg to disagree.
- When they saw that the Microsoft brand is worth 58 billon dollars, what does it get Microsoft?
- Since when has anyone bought a product just because it was a Microsoft product?
- Can these companies lauch into new markets because of the strength of their brand? No. Microsoft has spent a fortune getting over the brand name in video games; Coke has trouble getting out the black sugered water market and Nescafe isn’t going to start selling anything but coffee.
From here the list looks like the Top 100 middle American brands that mean something to the baby boomers.
blog.pmarca.com: Why did Albert Einstein hate freedom?
The story goes from bad to worse…
blog.pmarca.com: Why did Albert Einstein hate freedom?
What is worth noting is that they fabricated the reason to put him away rather than just say that he was an Austrian with extreme political views (extreme from their point of view).
Why does information like this come out when nobody is looking?
How scary would this be? 12,000 people on a list to be locked away and they never knew that they were on the list.
blog.pmarca.com: Good news, bad news
Actually seeing the list would be interesting, I bet that we’d all learn how bad intelligence agencies are at targeting people.
More OLPC goodness…
And I quote…
As for the OLPC: here’s to you folks. Nicely done. A wonderfully crafted device, a noble vision, and an Open mindset. Brilliant!
I’ve not seen a bad review yet!
All news is local…
The saying goes that all news is local. AP have confirmed the theory with their Top Ten stories for 2007.
The Associated Press: Top News Story: Virginia Tech Killings
That number six is global warming and seven a small bridge collapse says a lot.
Interestingly one of the quotes goes on to point out how important the stories they choose were…
“Anyone who picks the Anna Nicole Smith story in the Top Ten should be beaten with sticks,” commented Mike Bailey, managing editor of The Courier News in Elgin, Ill.
Where in all of this is Darfour, torture or human rights in general from China to the US, the floods in Asia, Russian democracy; the list is enormous…
I miight have to give my OLPC away sooner than I thought…
I was planning on keeping the OLPC for myself for six months. Now I read this…
My (daughter’s) OLPC laptop has arrived
I thought that my six year old wouldn’t be interested and therefore I’d get to play first. Looks like “move over old man day” is scheduled for the 26th of December not July.
Great article about Velib
Here is a great summary about what Velib has managed to do.
Re*Move: A lesson in business from the French
I don’t think that people either inside or outside of Paris have really realized what has happened in the last six months. There has been a revolution but nobody seems to have noticed.
If we’re to meet the challenge of climate change I think that we’re going to have to see far more of these hi-tech, low-tech mash-ups. I just can’t imagine what the next one will be!