Monthly Archives: February 2010

Hedge Funds Shorting The Pants Off Of Tech

Wow, the shorts are in full force in info tech:

Hedge funds rotate into Industrials and out of Info Tech Hedge funds are underweight Information Technology for the first time since 2005 when comparing their net weighting with the Russell 3000. Hedge funds lifted their net weighting in Industrials to 9% from 6% during 4Q, the largest increase of any sector, but they remain net underweight.

via Hedge Funds Shorting The Pants Off Of Tech.

Chart

Research disputes Tipping Point

Watts believes this is because a trend’s success depends not on the person who starts it, but on how susceptible the society is overall to the trend–not how persuasive the early adopter is, but whether everyone else is easily persuaded. And in fact, when Watts tweaked his model to increase everyone’s odds of being infected, the number of trends skyrocketed.

via Is the Tipping Point Toast? — Duncan Watts — Trendsetting Page 3 Fast Company.

Patents as defense

An interesting post on the role of patents in big tech strategy:

At Microsoft, Horacio Gutiérrez, the company’s chief intellectual property officer, says patents are treated not as a profit center but “as a currency that you use to trade to another company” for its patents. Volume is an important gauge of a company's innovation, he adds, but “only if they are high-quality patents.”

via IBM May Not Be the Patent King After All – BusinessWeek.

@ Local Online: The Hyperlocal Rev Model: Sell Services, Not Just Ads | paidContent

I’m always skeptical of advice that points away from specialization in a domain where we’re moving toward more competition and not less:

Amid an flurry of stats that aimed to show that hyperlocal sites can attract thousands of dollars in revenue with just a s small support staff, his primary point was that sites in general need to do more than just sell ads and post news items. The need to sell services, including optimizing advertisers’ web presence across search and directories sites, as well as on social media and the mobile web.

via @ Local Online: The Hyperlocal Rev Model: Sell Services, Not Just Ads | paidContent.

The Long Tail Of Video Sites Capture Half Of All Viewing Minutes

It’s interesting when you find distributions like this online.

But what is surprising is how fragmented the Web video landscape remains once you go out past the top 25 sites.

What you see is a real barbell distribution, with Youtube on one end and the Long Tail sites on the other.  Total video views more than doubled between December, 2008 and December, 2009, from 14 billion to 33 billion streams. So there is hope yet for niche video producers.

via The Long Tail Of Video Sites Capture Half Of All Viewing Minutes.

Emulating Empathy « Steve Blank

Another great one from Steve Blank on what really matters in sales.

I described how getting closer to customers was at first going to be a cerebral rather than gut activity. With no instinct to guide him, he would have to consciously precompute what kind of response each situation called for and play them back when appropriate. He was going to have to sign up for public speaking classes. He was going to go on the road with our sales people, but this time he was going to have to watch what they do and start to copy them. I found him a mentor in a salesman who appreciated his technical skill and was willing to let him tag along.

via Emulating Empathy « Steve Blank.

Microsoft Strategy and Execution

This seems like a fair assessment:

Microsoft has some smart executives who can quickly and correctly assess market changes and opportunities. Often, they come up with a good strategy to capitalize on those changes. But somewhere between strategy and execution, the thread is lost. Windows Media and Zune are most relevant to this blog, but you can see it elsewhere: online advertising, search, and mobile phones, to name three obvious examples.

via Microsoft on iTunes in 2003: ‘We were smoked’ | Digital Noise: Music and Tech – CNET News.