HighEndBuzz

MTV just can't get it right...

I'm sure I'll get a lot of flak for writing this, but after watching some of the MTV Movie Awards, I'm a little confused (though I shouldn't be).  I know pushing a gay agenda is "cool" these days and Broke Back has quite a following.  But how did we go from this:

To This:

While ignoring this:

The man-grope in Brokeback was not hot.  Man kissing, just isn't all that sexy, unless you're a gay man; which is why you can appreciate at least one side of Brand and Angelina as well as the ever popular Spiderman episode. 

Dear MTV:  We get it.  We're with you on this.  Let's not take it too far now...OK?

Vonage IPO...

I wrote about this impending doom in February.  Vonage was never ready, nor did it have a good model to get profitable.  On with the lawyers.  Can't say I didn't warn you.

 Vonage IPO Woes Continue
By   Ed Sutherland
June 5, 2006

And now come the lawsuits.

First came Vonage's IPO, which was followed by a 30 percent tumble in the price. Then Vonage threatened to sue customers who got cold feet on buying into the IPO. Now the embattled VoIP provider faces a class-action lawsuit charging customers were "crammed into the Vonage IPO regardless of their suitability."

Investors were damaged by mistakes made by Vonage (Quote, Chart) and the IPO  underwriters, according to the lawsuit filed on Friday in a New  Jersey federal court. The lawsuit alleges a desperate Vonage and  underwriters, motivated by millions in fees, violated stock security rules.

Engineers Vs. Stadiums

I posted this on another blog and thought I would re-post it here.

I'm an angry American.  I'm can't stand the Democrats and I'm really pissed at the Republicans. 

The problem in our country is political grid-lock and Football Stadiums.  Now I love football, I live for football season.  Football is the greatest sport of all time.  At 6'4, 265, I've played my share of football.  But WTF are we doing building stadiums with tax payer money when our education system in this country is at the bottom rung of developed nations. 

I attended the Minnesota High Tech Association's spring event in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago and heard some news about education in our country that should bring a chill to your spine. 

We suck. 

Last year we graduated about 60,000 engineers and scientists (many of them of foreign origin).  China graduated 350,000 last year. Furthermore, they're in year 3 of a plan to do 350k/year for the next 15 years.  The socialists in the EU graduated 120,000.  Isn't it fun to make jokes about the education system in your state compared to Mississippi or Louisiana?  New flash, we are Mississippi.  By removing competition, we've put ourselves right in the heart of Dixie (no offense to those who live there, just trying to make a point).

To add insult to injury, we're digging into the taxpayers pockets to build not one, but three new stadiums (Vikings, Gophers, Twins) in Minnesota.  Look how far our priorities have fallen.  Now I know education isn't black and white; we do spend close to $7k/student on education in our state, but are we spending it in the right areas?  Why don't we pay teachers six figures to teach our children; wouldn't that attract the best?  Just because you live in a great zip code doesn't mean your children are getting the right education.  Parental apathy is at an all time high.  You're doing nothing about your legislature spending your tax dollars to build a new stadium while our kids fall further and further behind.  SHAME ON YOU US ALL.

The final nail in the coffin comes form our elected politicians who ADMIT we have a problem.  All we get from those guys is "We're coming up with a comprehensive plan, blah blah blah..."  If it's a problem, DO SOMETHING NEXT SCHOOL YEAR, NOT NEXT GENERATION!!!

China and India aren't waiting around for our gridlocked politicians to "come up with a plan", they're acting.  Isn't it time we actually acted?

Dear Microsoft: Now's the time to go for the throat!

Not that they'll listen, but now is the time for Microsoft to go for broke in the console wars.  Sony has just reported a significant loss, much of which they blame on development of the PS3.  The cost of the device (about $500) is about $100 more than the selling price  This means that if they sell the 7 million they project by March of 2007 they take a $700M bath.

Now the console wars are important for both companies, currently Xbox consoles and games are 10% of Microsoft revenue, but at what point do the executives at Sony get fed up with competing at a loss?  Wouldn't now be the best time for Microsoft to drop the prices of their console in order to gain more market share?  I see the PS3 price going up (it has to).  Microsoft needs to step in the tub and discount their box in order to further put the hurt on Sony in this space.

We all know that the real money is in the game  titles, with long term margins in the 50%-70% range.  Obviously Sony has a better title launch strategy (which is why losing money on the console was acceptable).  Question is: did they foresee a delayed launch and a huge loss prior to the GA of their device?

Oil Profits

OK, I've been extremely negligent in my posting and growing a business is not an excuse...I'm sorry.

Back to the story at hand.  I just read that Exxon announced a Q1 $8.4Billion (with a "B") profit.  Excessive, probably.  Wrong, no way.  I only dream of a day where I can run an 8 Billion dollar profit.  Of course the public, the government hacks and the media are blowing this out of proportion.  Now my car drinks the expensive stuff, 93 to be exact, so I complain just like the next guy, but if the government really wants to do something about the price consumers pay for gas, they should just repeal or lower the tax on gas, even for a month or two.  The federal and state government make a bigger profit on a gallon of gas then the greedy oil companies.

Where I live for example (MN), I pay 38.4 Cents per gallon to the government in taxes (18.4 federal, 20 State).  Who's greedy here, the government or the oil companies?

You can't force companies to lower prices, but couldn't the government lower the burden on their constituents by repealing the gas tax?

Of course, why would they?  They've been sucking on that breast for to long to care.

Numa Numa Still Going Strong

I can't believe it; it must have been over 12 months since the first Numa Numa video (the original) hit the Internet.  It just won't end, the copies just keep coming.  If you've got no clue what I'm talking about go to youtube.com and simply type in numa numa in the search bar.

15 minutes hell...more like 15 months of fame!

If you missed this, not to mention the copy cats, you've got a long way to go before you get to the end of the Internet.

MacBook Pro (Mini-Review)...I'll know more later.

I'm writing this on a MacBook pro I picked up this weekend.  I love it.  It's not the fact that it's now powered by the Intel chip, it's not the fact that it replaces the Risc architecture of the powerbooks and finally makes it price competitive with comparable win32 machines.  I love the fact that converting my old iBook took a total of 45 minutes...It moved everything to the new machine; files, settings, user accounts and APPLICATIONS, fully registered. 

The process was really simple; boot the new MacBook, connect the firewire cable to both machines (old and new), reboot the old ibook holding down the "T" key, DONE.  So for those of you that dread losing data, don't fret.

The only downside to the MacBook is the battery life.  A dismal 2 to 2.5 hours...  The iBook had a better battery life.  Overall a great purchase.

Group Masturbation, The Circle Jerk...otherwise know as The Oscars

I used to think I was one of the few people that went to movies to be entertained.  I don't need to be inspired, politically moved or socially motivated; I need to be entertained.  Hollywood has a case of the blues due to the fact that people aren't going to movies anymore and they just can't figure it out.  Now contrary to popular belief, the Hollywood crowd aren't really the sharpest knives in the drawer.  They only "play" doctors, lawyers and secret agents.  They are simply overpaid actors.

I know the Oscars were several weeks ago, but I've been taking the time to reflect on the industry and would have to say that it's a circle-jerk.  Case in point: Capote, with its critical acclaim only grossed $27.9 Million.  Syriana (which I really liked) only did just over $50 Million and Crash (also liked that one) did $54 Million.  Contrast these movies with King Kong $217 Million, the latest Harry Potter $290 Million and real "critical stinkers" like Cheaper by the Dozen 2 at $82 Million, you have to start to wonder what the measure of success is in the move making business.  It is still a business isn't it?

Brokeback Mountain was in my opinion a terrible movie, but had such a "Star Wars" like cult following in the gay community (meaning people see it multiple times) I would say that it was a huge success at $82.1 Million.  Hollywood is doing what we would call the classic circle-jerk.  They give themselves these pointless awards in a public forum for films nobody watched and call it success.

And they wonder why we stop going to the movies...ENTERTAIN US!  We know you're all politically liberal, want to protect the environment, support gay marriage and want to stop racism among other things.  Now how about making some entertainment.  We went to your movies when you were making the likes of: Caddyshack, Fletch, Conan (only the first one), Gladiator, Star Wars, The Patriot, Sixteen Candles, American Pie, Porkys, When Harry Met Sally, Titanic, Lord of the Rings, Austin Powers, etc. etc. 

Why do you insist on boring us with pictures nobody will ever watch and then insult us by getting dressed up and awarding yourself for the junk you just made?

...you just don't get it, do you? (Dr. Evil)

Nokia 9300

I've been using the Nokia 9300 for about 2 months now...I'm disappointed.  On the surface, it's a great phone.  Once you start using it, the real experience isn't what it should be.  The battery life is really short.  They claim it has a great battery life and 120hr standby...LIES!

The antenna is poor to say the least.  Even my crappy Razr has a better range.  The phone is constantly trying to pick up a signal when I know one exists.  On a positive note, the "pc" functionality of the Nokia is superb, email works great.  Pairing with my bluetooth headset is another story.  Some days it works automatically, some days it doesn't. 

I gave this phone a great review after I played with it in the Nokia Experience center...I was wrong.

I need a new phone that meets the needs of a business traveler that talks about 2000 minutes, needs email and great voice quality (that means no "blackberry" phones).  ANY IDEAS?

SIP Security

Now that I'm back 100% from vacation and a bit of a cold, I thought I would catch up with some of my writing.  I attended a VOIP symposium in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago put on by NetSuds, an IT networking organization founded by Matt Noah that was really huge in the 90's but had a bit of a drop in attendance since the bubble burst.

One of the presentations during the day was by a security guru from BorderWare talking about the dangers of VOIP, the IP PBX and perils of SKYPE.  I'm always amazed how security guys get so wrapped around the axle when some of these issues come up.  I'm not denying the "danger" in some of these unprotected technologies and appreciate some of the efforts like those at BorderWare to come up with security measures, but when you hear it from them you'd think the Soviets are preparing for a First-Strike.

BorderWare has come out with SIPassure (tm), their new SIP firewall that allows them to secure IP communications including VOIP, Video, IM and any other presence based applications.  From what I understand, it's at a pretty good price point (around $4k) and would typically be bundled by solution providers implementing IP services.

I like their story, although they could do without the unnecessary hand-wringing...we get it, we need security...  They've got a nice little product and a very good price point.  This is a company and product to watch.