We’ve got ‘scattered thunderstorms’ raining buckets outside, rain is overflowing the gutters, the electricity’s been out in Queens for days, and the power company’s men are sleeping on the job…it’s pandemonium! At least it’s Friday, and yes, we have links:
“Brevity is the soul of wit” When it comes to corporate mottoes, pithy seems to work best; for instance, everybody knows Google has “Don’t be evil” (and boy oh boy did they hear about it a few months back). Now Microsoft appears to have something similar – although not quite as catchy. Ed Burnette reports that MS general counsel Brad Smith recently laid out a new corporate philosophy known as The Windows Principles, “twelve tenets” to work by that basically boil down to, uh, “Let’s be responsible.” Although not in so few words.
47 pages of reasonable goodness As part of their 90 million dollar class action settlement with Lane’s Gifts, Google agreed to have an “independent expert” vet the methods they use to detect click fraud. The report, prepared by Dr. Alexander Tuzhilin of NYU, is in (and it’s in .PDF). We haven’t had time to drill down into it, but there doesn’t appear to be a smoking gun (although there are “aspects of it with which we don’t fully agree,” says Google). In fact, Dr. Tuzhilin notes the “constant improvement” of the inspection methods – a good thing, as the fraudsters are also constantly improving.
Six months and a cloud of dust? Nobody seemed too impressed with ESPN Mobile when it debuted – in fact, more than a few were a little confused by the Super Bowl ad they used to help launch the multimedia wireless sports service. They’ve been limping along ever since, and now Deadspin says that Merrill Lynch has weighed-in with a grim assessment. It might not be sudden death – we promise, that’s the last sports cliche – but the analysis predicts that ESPN Mobile will sign up 210,000 fewer subscribers than expected this year, on the way to $135 million in total losses for Disney-related phone services. Shank.
No talking during the movie (unless it’s these guys) We read it on Slashdot…for anyone who’s been jonesing for more doses of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the show where overly referential smart-asses hurl sarcastic insults at B-movies, this might just be their fix. Erstwhile MST3K host Mike Nelson has a new service, RiffTrax, that tries to recapture the old magic. You bring the movie, and Nelson provides the commentary via downloadable audio track. Now playing: the Patrick Swayze vehicle Roadhouse! The jokes cost a buck ninety-nine…the problem will be getting them to sync up.
