Author: Rick Klau

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls

    From my buddy Josh Marshall: “Well, that really could have gone better.” Josh, who’s the most connected Democrat I know (granted, that’s not necessarily saying much, but in this case I think it’s legit), reinforces the point I made last night: The Democrats have lots of long-term political and demographic trends in their favor. But…

  • Law.com Focus on Blawgs

    A good collection of articles (including one by yours truly) over at Law.com on the rising profile of blogs in the legal profession. However, I think the article about Denise’s site misses the point. The goal isn’t to sell legal services at “Bag & Baggage“ any more than the goal of my site is to sell CRM…

  • A Republican Night

    Give credit where credit’s due: Rove engineered an awe-inspiring flurry of local activity. Between the calculated risk of sending the above-the-fray President out to stump for Republicans and the remarkable upsets brewing in states like Alabama (say what you will about their attacks on Cleland: to lob a “weak on defense” attack at a man…

  • VNS System Shut Down

    Josh Marshall reports: This clip off the AP Wire … Its operation riddled with errors, Voter News Service abandoned its state and national exit poll plans for Election Night, depriving media organizations of information to help analyze the vote.VNS is the coalition of news organizations that was designed to produce reliable exit polling to allow…

  • Largest Internet Acquisitions?

    A buddy sent me an e-mail asking for the largest Internet acquisitions. Here are the ones we’ve got so far. Please let me know which I’m missing: Verisign buys Network Solutions for $21bTerra buys Lycos for $12.5b@Home buys Excite for $6.7bNTT buys Verio for $6bYahoo buys Broadcast.com for $5.7bYahoo buys GeoCities for $3.5b + $1b…

  • Voting in Illinois

    As if deciding who to vote for wasn’t difficult enough, the parties in Illinois have decided to raise the roof: The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate is Dick Durbin. His Republican opponent is Jim Durkin.The current Illinois Governor is Republican George Ryan, who’s weathered too many scandals to run for reelection. Trying to replace him…

  • Disrupt and Prosper

    Optimize Magazine: Disrupt and Prosper, by Clayton Christensen, Mark Johnson, and Jeremy Dann Disruptive innovations—usually championed by new market entrants—have proven to be the genesis of major waves of growth in a wide array of industries, from information technology to transportation. For established companies to become successful at disruptive innovation, they’ll need to develop robust,…

  • Panasonic DVR/DVD

    This is the first entrant into what will surely be a bigger retail category: the combination DVR/DVD player. DVR is digital video recorder – it’s essentially a bare-bones TiVo (it can do the live TV pause, record programs, etc. but doesn’t include the recommendation feature, program guides, etc.) coupled with a DVD player and a…

  • Microsoft Weblogging Software

    magazine: Microsoft’s Weblog Software. Fortunately, Microsoft hasn’t focused their attention on the weblog market. Pesonally, I’d rather stick with tools from small companies like UserLand if/when Microsoft tries to take over the market!Picture the following scenario: Microsoft has created a weblog tool that is designed to run inside the firewall at a company. It’s browser-accessible…

  • Time to get a new cell phone

    My Cingular contract is up in January, which means it’s time to shop for a new phone. Since I travel a fair amount to Europe on business, I need a GSM phone. I also want to consolidate from my PDA and cell phone to one device. As near as I can tell, my options are…