Author: Rick Klau

John Hiler follows up last week’s article about why Google loves blogs with even more information about how Google bombs can get created, the power frequently-trafficked sites have to influence Google search results, and the implications for Google users long-term. With respect to Goolge bombs, Hiler says that “the weblog community is only now beginning…

Why do most mergers fail, but some succeed? A recent report in The McKinsey Quarterly suggests that some organizations are able to make mergers and/or acquisitions a part of their long-term growth strategy. (This is a follow-up to a McKinsey study from last fall dissecting why most mergers fail. I wrote about that report in…

The European Court of Justice ruled on February 21 that the Dutch Bar’s ban on MDPs was valid. This ruling is yet another implication of the Enron debacle, as Europe has traditionally been more friendly towards lawyer/non-lawyer partnerships than the U.S. (See my 1/29 post which discussed the possible implications of the MDP debate in…

Knowledge@Emory reports that AOL’s President of Worldwide and Interactive TV Richard Friedman says that AOL’s brand is “the power of a blend of ideas, a sense of identity, and it helps consumers make decisions in a crowded marketplace.” Later in the article, Friedman cites these three examples as evidence that everything at AOL (a “destination”,…

Evhead links to me and hundreds follow. But Ev’s link begs the question: “related thoughts?” Related to whom? To what? Come on, Ev! Spill the beans! Seriously, though – thanks for the plug, Ev. (One question: now that I’m part of the club, does this mean I have to post something about Dvorak?)

John Hiler discusses the powerful effect blogs have on searches at Google.com. Because blogs contain “fresh” content and frequently contain numerous links, they tend to be weighed more heavily by Google than other sites. Why? This is essentially proof of what I wrote about on Monday – Google’s Page Rank technology treats links as “votes”…

John Robb’s Radio Weblog recaps an interview on the Charlie Rose show with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. John wants to know: “Where is the Bob Shaye of the software industry?” By the way: Charlie Rose doesn’t archive his shows online, but NPR’s Fresh Air does. You can listen to yesterday’s Terry Gross…

Berkeley Professor Richard Muller teaches Physics for Future Presidents, aka Physics 10. I’m no physicist (nor am I a future President, most likely), but this is a pretty fascinating site. I’d say he’s angling to replace Richard Feynman as the people’s physicist, and this site certainly goes a long way to establishing his capabilities. Prof.…

Jason Kottke discusses blogging and the development of peer-to- peer journalism. He asks “is the weblog network efficient at journalism?” He grants that the question may be beside the point, but I think he’s on to something. Blogging, whether it’s used for journalism or for knowledge management (John Robb’s K-Logs group at Yahoo! Groups explores…

The New York Times reports that Plantronics used IP.com to protect an idea it had last year. The idea is to take advantage of what’s known as “prior art” – if prior art exists that adequately describes the subject matter of the patent application, the patent will not be granted. IP.com allows companies to register…