 | | January 27, 2010
The May Report: 1/27/2010: The comScore controversy now has TechCrunch involved; Motorola sinking lower and lower; Suddenly anti-social: Willinger to social networks: "Shut the blank up!"'; More on MIT-EF which now has a space; Happy 254th to WAM.
Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com, 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here: http://www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
-- Briefly noted, by Ron May
-- Jason Rexilius: Fundraising event for Haiti trip tonight, Wednesday Jan 26th from 5:30-7:30 at English Bar & Restaurant
-- Motorola sinking lower and lower... (3 articles)
-- First MOBILE cocktail event in Chicago on Thursday night, January 28th
-- Social Media Club events 1/28 + 2/25
-- Daliah Saper: UPDATE regarding this Thursday's Seminar: Key Provisions of a Sales Rep Agreement
-- MSPC February 3, 2010 Meeting
-- Feb 2 FREE event: Storage Optimization and Preparing for the move to SharePoint
-- Tech Cocktail: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 4:30 pm, JOBNOB CHICAGO HAPPY HOUR, company pitches start at 5pm
-- Some of the people who attended the TBIF party on Monday night, January 25th at the Kerryman
-- Jeff Meredith: Barack Obama: Not getting my vote in 2012, that's for sure
1. OTHER
1a. TechCrunch: comScore, Calacanis, Wilson, And TechCrunch - Oh My!
By Alex Wilhelm
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The Scoop section:
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Briefly noted, by Ron May
* I have found out more about what really happened with the MIT-EF and K&L Gates. Word from inside sources is that it was known to a few insiders back in June and July of 2009 that K&L would not be renewing its sponsorship. When MIT-EF was told this, negotiations of sorts ensued and the issues centered on whether K&L would provide the space if it was not going to provide food and drink. And little things like the printing of nametags were being discussed.
Then the story gets murky. Supposedly Bob Lepkowski and Terry Flanagan were talking to the MIT-EF folks in Cambridge, MA about having K&L Gates become a national sponsor for all the MIT-EF chapters and as one might expect, that process got bogged down and went nowhere.
It makes no sense to me that Cambridge would be getting involved in talking to a sponsor for one of the chapters that just dumped that very chapter. My read on this is that is was a predictable and failed attempt by Lepkowski to shift blame and bring more people into the process whom he could then include in shouldering the burden of having fouled things up.
Cambridge is incompetent as it is and Lepkowski is legendarily incompetent so how would K&L Gates which did not want to spend the money on Chicago want to spend it on all the chapters?
Be that as it may, this story does explain why and how the termination ended up being something of a surprise to the local folks involved in planning meetings. Even though some of them knew since June or July that K&L would no longer pay, they did not know that the so-called national negotiations were stalled.
Now the good news is that after my article announcing the termination, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom http://www.skadden.com/ contacted the local MIT-EF and offered its space at 155 N. Wacker. They have offered space so far for February and March and Terry Flanagan is trying to negotiate for more time and also for food and drink.
The April meeting will be held at the CME offices and the May meeting will be the Whiteboard Challenge and that will be at Northwestern's Thorne Auditorium at 375 E. Chicago.
I still have no word on who is paying this year for the Whiteboard Challenge.
I wish the local chapter good luck in its pursuits. In fact, I put Jeff Willinger in touch with Nancy Munro because he offered the space at RightPoint Consulting, his current employer, for the next few meetings. If Skadden had not materialized, they would probably be going to RightPoint. RightPoint is located at 200 W. Monroe.
My own belief is that MIT-EF is playing a high stakes game here and it has dangers. Return to Timothy O'Toole's as things were under Joel Berez if you want, but law firms clearly want results for the bottom line. I hope that they don't make promises to a firm like Skadden that they can't keep.
* Speaking of Jeff Willinger, I talked to him yesterday and he has several events coming up, but he stunned me when he told me that and I quote, "I'm fed up with social media." It is ironic that one of the major evangelists for social media who has spoken in Reykjavik, Iceland and Israel should now be tired of it, just when Bill Gates is starting to use Twitter!
Knowing Jeff as I do, there can be only one explanation. He expected social media to be an entree to meeting people he could sell software to and that has not happened. He is up against the same problem that most social media types encounter: Is this making me money?
For a while it seemed to me that Jeff felt it was, but what it was mostly doing was getting him speaking engagements and that does not necessarily translate into checks from customers.
The other thing at work here is that much of the social media experience is like an AA meeting, not that I have ever been to one of those. But I have been to overeaters anonymous and that is very similar. It is group think, group commiseration. We can all buoy ourselves up and tell stories that inspire us, but it is not contributing to business as much as one might think. Even Gerald Haman admits that.
* In addition to Paolo Messina whose write up of the MIT-EF meeting on January 19th was excellent, Richard Cross, who sat next to me, took about 25 pages of notes. I have been going over his notes and noticed at while Paolo has Angela's GDP growth prediction for Brazil as being 4.5%, Richard has it at 7% in his notes. I will check with Angela on which one of those figures is correct, and besides who would not want to have an excuse to talk to her?
There were many clever and amusing lines in the evening and I will have some of those for you. Tim Curley referred to a Barron's article which said this next year will be determined by Barack, Bernanke, and Beijing, "the three B's."
Mark Keeley, who was the comedian of the evening had some funny lines, one of which quoted Mark Twain. "History doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes."
Mark also questions the China growth projections 10% for GDP.
Angela said that in the BRIC markets, 6% of the market makes up 50% of the revenue.
Angela also said that unemployment will hit 10.75% and she mentioned a measure of unemployment called U6.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment
U1: Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
U3: Official unemployment rate per ILO definition.
U4: U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
U6: U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark was the skeptic or one might say common sense realist. He said it took ten years from 1998 to realize the dreams of BRIC.
He also said that India is poor, smart and hungry and overloaded with bureaucracy.
Adolfo mentioned PIGS, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. No one mentioned Israel all night and it was the second to last question raised by Richard Cross that brought up "the lost decade" referring to Japan.
Angela said that with respect to oil the rate of change is more important than the price and she also noted that an increase in the price of gold represents fear to her. She noted that BRIC has gone from a portfolio of 40 ten years ago to 80 today.
Mark predicted a 13% increase in the S&P this year, ending with 1250.
Bill Burnett asked about baby boomers and retirement and unemployment and my sense was that Bryce thought this was not a trivial question, and it's not that the question seems to have an European slant. I have to check on that more.
* Finally, I am in a hurry today. I hope to make the MOBILE Tech Cocktail Thursday night, if only for an hour.
Jason Rexilius, I have a very limited amount of energy and am lucky to get more than five waking hours at a time. So, I won't be able to make your fundraiser tonight.
Since I am press, the ChicagoBooth marketing roundtable tonight is out but I should go just to see what "press" they are allowing in.
I am seeing a blood specialist (hematologist) Thursday morning and my infectious disease doctor Friday afternoon again.
An advertiser asked for larger headline letters and much to my surprise, the software at ExactTarget allows me to do that, bolding, italics and larger font size. So, provided that folks don't go crazy, we can work with that. I even tried changing the table of contents to larger font (12 vs. 10) and bold.
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Jason Rexilius: Fundraising event for Haiti trip tonight, Wednesday Jan 26th from 5:30-7:30 at English Bar & Restaurant
Subject: Jason Rexilius sent you a message on Facebook...
Date: 1/25/2010 11:22:59 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: notification+phcre6e@facebookmail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
Jason sent you a message.
--------------------
(no subject)
Hey everyone,
As many of you know, I am heading down to Haiti to support the relief efforts there. Todd Huffman, one of the members of the http://www.facebook.com/l/3552a;AliveInAfghanistan.org project, and myself are going to be working to support http://www.facebook.com/l/3552a;inSTEDD.org as well deploy a citizen journalism project. We will be helping build communications infrastructure, connect different support groups, and provide data capture and reporting tools for the Haitian population to help direct relief efforts.
The mission is to give the Haitian population a voice in directing relief efforts and improve inter-agency communications.
EVENT:
-------
We are having a fundraising event Wednesday Jan 26th from 5:30-7:30 at
English Bar & Restaurant. We will have the 2nd floor of the bar and I will talk in more detail about what we are doing. The project will cost approximately $10k and we are leaving within a week to get started. We are accepting donations at the event, cash or check. Please give whatever you can.
When: Wednesday January 27th
Time: 5:30 - 7:30
Where: English Bar & Restaurant, 2nd floor
CAN'T MAKE IT:
---------------
For those who cant make the event but are interested in donating here are instructions for online or via mail:
1) Via PayPal/GoogleCheckout:
http://www.facebook.com/l/3552a;instedd.org/donate
!IMPORTANT NOTE! - There is no way to specify the project on this page and so please email me the name of the donating entity and the amount so that those funds are earmarked for this project.
2) Via check:
Payable to:
inSTEDD
480 S. California Ave, Suite 104
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Add on the comment of check "TODD-JASON-HAITI" and email me so I can tell them how much to expect.
Thank you everyone and I hope to see you at the event. And please pass this along to anyone you think may be interested.
-jason
http://www.facebook.com/l/3552a;847.208.1000
jason@hostedlabs.com
--------------------
Jason has shared a link with you. To view it or to reply to the message, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox%2Freadmessage.php&t=289269661467&mid=1c8794dG1ffbb521G4bd7f81G0
___
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Facebook's offices are located at 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304.
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Motorola sinking lower and lower... (3 articles)
[Editor's note: May here. This is what companies do when they can no longer compete on their own products' merits... Remember divine interVentures and its ill-conceived "sue everyone" growth strategy at the end?]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#1: Motorola wants trade regulators to see if RIM's Blackberry infringes on its patents
Jan. 22, 2010
(Reuters) - Motorola Inc. has asked U.S. regulators to bar Research In Motion from the U.S. sale of its products, accusing the BlackBerry maker of infringing on five Motorola technology patents.
Motorola, which has been losing market share to Canada's RIM for years, said most of RIM's products infringe on at least one of the patents, which cover technology for Wi-Fi, application management, user interface and power management. A representative for RIM declined comment.
The complaint stems from the rivals' failure to reach an agreement to renew a technology cross-licensing pact that allowed them to use each others' technology, according to Motorola. The previous pact expired in December 2007. The companies have been in litigation in a Texas court since February 2008 due to their failure to reach a deal.
Asked about the timing for the complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, Jonathan Meyer, Motorola's senior vice president of intellectual property law, said the company had been considering the move for some time. "The parties are very far apart in discussions of a resolution," Meyer said.
It is a common practice for technology companies to engage in prolonged legal battles in the hope of gaining the upper hand in negotiations for licensing agreements.
Motorola said it asked the ITC to start an investigation into RIM's use of Motorola patents, to prohibit the Canadian company from importing the infringing products and to stop it from selling infringing products that were already imported.
Meyer said the ITC typically considers complaints for a month before deciding whether to launch an investigation, which could take 12 to 14 months to complete.
Motorola shares closed down 16 cents or 2 percent at $7.21 on the Nasdaq. RIM's U.S. shares closed down 3 percent or $1.91 at $61.68.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#2: Motorola looks to bar another executive from working for rival firm
By: John Pletz
Jan. 21, 2010
(Crain's) - Motorola Inc. is suing another high-ranking executive who went to work for a rival company.
Motorola wants a judge to prevent Daniel Aderhold, who left in May as vice-president of sales in the company's networks division, from taking a similar job at Swedish rival Ericsson until his one-year non-compete agreement expires in May. It's also seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Mr. Aderhold spent 31 years at Schaumburg-based Motorola, most recently focusing mostly on sales of network gear to Verizon Wireless. According to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Mr. Aderhold now does the same job for Ericsson.
Motorola claims that Mr. Aderhold's new job will force him to reveal confidential information he gained while working at Motorola. The company is suing him for breaching the one-year non-compete terms of his severance agreement.
It's the second pre-emptive suit Motorola has filed recently against former employees. Last week, the company sued David Hartsfield, who left a top job overseeing a line of handsets in December for a similar post at Nokia Corp.
As it has slashed thousands of jobs and reorganized amid steep losses in the past two years, Motorola has seen a large number of veteran employees leave to work for competitors.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#3: Motorola puts raises on hold again
By: John Pletz
Jan. 19, 2010
(Crain's) - Most Motorola Inc. employees won't be getting raises for the second year in a row.
The news was disclosed in a memo sent to employees. While the merit-pay increases aren't coming back this year, the Schaumburg-based company said it plans to reinstitute contributions to employee 401(k) plans, which were suspended last year. Motorola didn't say exactly when the 401(k) matches would be reinstated, but it won't be until the second half of the year at the earliest.
"As we previously announced, Motorola intends to reinstate the United States 401(k) company match contributions in 2010," the company told Crain's. "Specific timing will be announced by midyear. We also announced that in 2010 Motorola will not implement merit increases in most countries, except in countries where it is legally required or a competitive necessity."
The pay and benefits cuts have been a blow to morale at Motorola, where thousands of workers have lost their jobs in the past two years as the company struggles to rebuild its money-losing cell phone business. Motorola lost $4.2 billion in 2008, and it's expected to report about $46 million for 2009 when it announces year-end results Jan. 28.
"We must continue to make tough choices about how to allocate our 2010 operating budget to keep us on a positive path," the company said. "We value all of the contributions of our employees. These are necessary decisions to make as we continue to navigate through the realities of the macroeconomic environment and position the company for long-term success."
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First MOBILE cocktail event in Chicago on Thursday night, January 28th
Subject: Re: Frank, I'm confused. What Chicago events do you have coming up??
Date: 1/26/2010 7:36:03 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: frankgruber5@gmail.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Hi Ron,
We are hosting our first MOBILE cocktail event in Chicago on Thursday night. I signed you up for a press pass, hope you can make it. More details are here: http://bit.ly/MOBILEcocktail
[The event is at http://www.touchibar.com/ ]
Best,
Frank
Follow me at: http://twitter.com/frankgruber
-- sent from my iPhone so please excuse silly typos --
On Jan 26, 2010, at 7:39 PM, RONALDMAY@aol.com wrote:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: Frank, I'm confused. What Chicago events do you have coming up??
Date: 1/26/2010 9:36:16 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: frankgruber5@gmail.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Oh that event. We were just helping them spread the word about an event Jobnob is hosting in Chicago. Sorry for the confusion.
Frank
Follow me at: http://twitter.com/frankgruber
-- sent from my iPhone so please excuse silly typos --
On Jan 26, 2010, at 10:32 PM, RONALDMAY@aol.com wrote:
Frank, I thought you had some kind of job seekers' event coming tup too.
__________________________________________
Social Media Club events 1/28 + 2/25
Subject: Social Media Club event 1/28 + 2/25
Date: 1/26/2010 8:48:26 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: jwillinger@rightpoint.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Social Media Club Chicago next event is 1/28 Social Networking, Fun and Games.
Hope you can join us this Thursday, January 28 at 5:30pm for our first ever Social Networking, Fun and Games Night at the Q Room 565 W. Quincy!!!
Our next event is on February 25 at Morningstar. Stay tuned for details.
RSVP: http://smcchicago0110.eventbrite.com
$10 before 1/28, $15 day of and at the door includes pizza and beverages
Location Sponsor http://565quincy.com/q_room.php When entertaining guests, you better have something entertaining.
Introducing the Q Room - your recreational home within a home. Access to 565 Quincy's exclusive Q Room gives you bragging rights to a private bowling alley, putting green, movie theater, and more. With 11,000 square feet of space, you can truly let loose and play.
# 2 lane private bowling alley
# Movie theater
# Putting green
# Fitness Center
# Foosball Tables
# Pool Tables
# Lounge
Social Media Club Chicago
Social Media Club [SMC] is a worldwide organization, with local chapters, that serves as connecting organization for anyone interested in social media. Membership is free and open to all levels, including beginners. Chicago's SMC chapter, launched in October 2008, presents events that mix socializing, networking and learning. Barbara Rozgonyi [@wiredprworks], founder and Jeff Willinger [@jwillie], president, lead the Chicago SMC chapter. Amy Korin [@interactiveamy] coordinates volunteers; Tim McDonald [@tamcdonald] manages communications; and Chris Geier [@chrisgeier] oversees technology. Event attendees include entrepreneurs, corporate communicators, journalists, business professionals, publishers, marketers, media creators, citizen journalists and technology types. For more information, visit http://smcchicago.org , email smcchicagonews@gmail.com, follow @smcchicago on twitter.com or call 630.207.7530.
......
Jeffrey S. Willinger
312.622.2300 cell
jwillinger@rightpoint.com
rightpoint
200 West Madison Street Suite 2240
Chicago, Illinois 60606
(312) 920-8390 office
(312) 920-8384 fax
www.rightpoint.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwillinger
http://twitter.com/jwillie
_____________________________________________
Daliah Saper: UPDATE regarding this Thursday's Seminar: Key Provisions of a Sales Rep Agreement
From: Daliah Saper admin@saperlaw.com
Sender: "Daliah Saper" admin=saperlaw.com@mcsv167.net
Subject: UPDATE regarding this Thursday's Seminar: Key Provisions of a Sales Rep Agreement
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:02:13 -0500
To: "Ron" ron@themayreport.com
Mark your Calendars!
Dear Ron ,
There are two important updates regarding this Thursday's Seminar at Saper Law: Key Provisions in a Sales Rep. Agreement
1) If you can not attend in person, you may sign up for the LIVE video webcast by following the instructions on wwww.saperlaw.com. (Scroll down the homepage or go to the Seminars tab.)
2) The seminar will now also address the hiring and firing of employees. See details below.
Does your company manufacture, distribute, or sell products and/or services by utilizing a sales force?
Are you a sales professional, selling for a company on either a base salary plus commission basis or as an independent contractor?
Not sure what terms you should be negotiating in your sales representative agreements?
Concerned that your agreement is not comprehensive enough in case there is a dispute?
What kind of questions can you ask when you are making hiring decisions?
How do you legally fire an employee?
January's seminar at Saper Law focuses on the topic of Sales Representative Agreements. Daliah Saper, Principal Attorney at Saper Law, will lead the presentation using case studies and sample contracts. Her discussion will address payment and commission structures, non-compete and confidentiality agreements, territorial and geographical boundaries, intellectual property ownership, as well as the Illinois Sales Representative Act. Christine Svenson of Svenson Law will then address the legal issues involved with making hiring and firing decisions.
Details:
Thursday January 28, 2010
Saper Law Offices, LLC
500 N. Dearborn, Suite 1200
Chicago, IL 60654
Time: 11:30 am - 1:30 pm
Cost $15 with online registration: http://salesrep.eventbrite.com
$25 at the door
Lunch will be provided
$4.99 to watch the live webcast: sign up at www.saperlaw.com
January's seminar at Saper Law is a must-attend for any company or individual involved in sales. Sign up today before space runs out!
____________________________________________
MSPC February 3, 2010 Meeting
Subject: Reminder - MSPC February 3, 2010 Meeting
Date: 1/26/2010 9:00:12 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: sherralynpeterson@sbcglobal.net
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
Announces.........
Date:
Wednesday,
February 3, 2010
Time:
5:00pm - 8:30pm
Location:
Marcello's Restaurant
645 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL
Ph: 312-654-2550
For directions only
FREE PARKING
To RSVP:
Click:
www.mspc.org/reservations.html
February 3, 2010 Program
DRIP ... DRIP ... DRIP MARKETING
Looking to build a flow of business for your pipeline? Drip marketing, also known as nurture marketing, may be the best solution for your company. The term "drip marketing" refers to a deliberate, planned and sequenced system of deploying marketing messages over a period of time.
Drip marketing can be an ideal approach for small business owners because it involves an outlay of expense and other resources over time. You learn as you go, refining your tactics and repositioning your marketing efforts to respond to results.
Presenter:
Donald Joseph,CMC
President, Northbrook Consulting Group
Informal NetWorking
During & After Dinner!
Remember, make your reservations by Noon Monday, February 1st for the Special 'EARLY BIRD' Rate.
We look forward to seeing you on the 3rd!
Additional Information...
Remember:
Each One Reach One -
Bring a Guest (a Business
Contact or Fellow Consultant).
MSPC's Direction ...provide knowledge, relationships and opportunities for business growth to members and guest.
Visit our Website for More Details and the Presenter's Bio
www.mspc.org
For further details, visit our website at:
www.mspc.org/Feb2010.html
For Reservations, call 312-201-0596 or Click this link:
www.mspc.org/reservations.html
__________________________________________
Feb 2 FREE event: Storage Optimization and Preparing for the move to SharePoint
Subject: Feb 2 FREE event: Storage Optimization and Preparing for the move to SharePoint
Date: 1/25/2010 11:45:18 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jwillinger@rightpoint.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
http://twitter.com/jwillie
______________________________________________
Tech Cocktail: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 4:30 pm, JOBNOB CHICAGO HAPPY HOUR, company pitches start at 5pm
Subject: TECH cocktail
Date: 1/24/2010 11:11:19 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: cofounders@techcocktail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
TECH cocktail
http://tinyurl.com/y96fhsl
--------------------------------------
Looking for a new gig? Come to the Jobnob Chicago Happy Hour
Posted: 23 Jan 2010 02:53 PM PST
From the folks at Job nob:
TECH Cocktailers, you are invited to attend the Jobnob Chicago Happy Hour for free. The Jobnob happy hour is all about connecting jobseekers and startups. Jobnob has had 10 very successful events on the West Coast, and this is our first time in Chicago. We expect over 400 people at this event including Chicago's hottest startups and most talented jobseekers. Of the jobseekers who attend our events, generally 1/2 are engineering and 1/2 have business backgrounds. We look forward to seeing you there!
JOBNOB CHICAGO HAPPY HOUR: Connecting Jobseekers & Startups
Jobseekers need work.
Startups are cash strapped.
Mingle and find a solution*
Come "Jobnob" with cool new start ups and talented job seekers at this informal networking happy hour where you can find startup jobs. Be flexible on commitment and compensation- bootstrapped startups may be offering *alternative compensation: reduced rates, equity, internships, part time, etc.
Get in on the ground floor with these great startups and meet cool tech companies! Registration required. Register now!
http://www.jobnob.com/happy-hour/Chicago-feb-24-2010
COST: FREE!
WHEN: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 4:30 pm. (Company pitches start promptly at 5pm**)
WHERE: John Barleycorn Wrigleyville, 3524 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60657
WHO: Anyone interested in working with a startup; Any startup or tech company
**Company Pitches:
- Companies attend for free.
- A select number of companies will have 1 minute to present their projects.
- Each pitching spot costs $40.
With special partners: TECH Cocktail, Illinois Technology Association (ITA), Northwestern, UIllinois, UChicago, UMichigan, IndianaU, DePaul
(Note: it is NOT required to be an alum of special partner universities to attend this event)
Can't make the event? No problem. Sign up for free at www.jobnob.com and meet startups and jobseekers online!
Questions? Contact Julie Greenberg, julie at jobnob.com
*Legal Disclaimer
Jobnob Happy Hour events and www.jobnob.com are for networking informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. Please be sure to check with an employment attorney and abide by all federal, state and local laws.
© 2009 Jobnob, Inc., 60 29th St., #301, San Francisco, CA 94110. View our privacy policy.
____________________________________________
Some of the people who attended the TBIF party on Monday night, January 25th at the Kerryman
Subject: Re: SPAM-LOW: Jason, I listed possible attendees. Mark anyone with you know
Date: 1/25/2010 10:51:19 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jason@jacobsohn.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
See below:
Jason Jacobsohn
773-368-0229
jason@jacobsohn.com
Website: http://www.Jacobsohn.com
Blog: http://www.NetworkingInsight.com
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonjacobsohn
LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1947859
Don't miss the Greater Chicago Networking Extravaganza on April 6, 2010!
Jason Jacobsohn
773-368-0229
jason@jacobsohn.com
Website: http://www.Jacobsohn.com
Blog: http://www.NetworkingInsight.com
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonjacobsohn
LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1947859
Don't miss the Greater Chicago Networking Extravaganza on April 6, 2010!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "RONALDMAY@aol.com" RONALDMAY@aol.com
To: jason@jacobsohn.com
Cc: ronaldmay@aol.com
Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 10:16:20 PM
Subject: SPAM-LOW: Jason, I listed possible attendees. Mark anyone with you know was there w/ "X"
Darren Green
Philippe Lavie X
Dan Ehrmann X
Jack Curley
Bill Houston
Dinesh John Mascarenhas
Jan Ver Eeke
David Pessis
Dave Geraghty
Tom Gorman
Michael Quintos X
Jim Orrico X
Warren Bent
Bryan Tillman
Armin Hassanzadeh
Marc A. Sallette
David Jakopac, Ph.D. X
Avelo Roy
Ed Suda
Sheldon Rosenfield X
Nik Rokop X
Jason Jacobsohn X
Monica Metzler X
Zenah Khawaja
Paul Sand
Meghan Hoover
Kathryn Neal-Odell
Jed Abernethy
Jack Edgar Jr.
Rania El-Sorrogy
Alex White
Jason Tillery
Vishu Ramanathan
Dru Phelps
Dru Purdue
Sujay Pidara
Sunil Rao X
Rick Mazursky
John L. Ambrogi
Stefan Birrer
Frank Huebbers
Andreas Schuler
Arthur J. Mortega
Theresa L. Carter
Sami Rageb
Max Graziano
Daniel Simon
Daniel Johnston
Bruce Horigan
Tim Smith, Ph. D.
Sam Guren
Two guys from Hyde Park angels (interns)
_______________________________________________
Jeff Meredith: Barack Obama: Not getting my vote in 2012, that's for sure
Subject: Barack Obama: Not getting my vote in 2012, that's for sure
Date: 1/26/2010 11:35:15 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: jeffmere@gmail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com, ron@themayreport.com
What a colossal disappointment ..
==================================================
The "dingbat kabuki" spending freeze betrayal
Obama as deficit hawk debuts to crushing reviews
By Andrew Leonard
Defenders of Obama's spending freeze are few and far between, as ably chronicled by Salon's Gabriel Winant. But to truly understand the depths to which this flailing administration is sinking, a close listen to some of the voices who have traditionally been more likely to support Obama's economic policies than oppose them is instructive.
Brad DeLong: "Barack Herbert Hoover Obama":
As one deficit-hawk journalist of my acquaintance says this evening, this is a perfect example of fundamental unseriousness: rather than make proposals that will actually tackle the long-term deficit -- either through future tax increases triggered by excessive deficits or through future entitlement spending caps triggered by excessive deficits -- come up with a proposal that does short-term harm to the economy without tackling the deficit in any serious and significant way.
(And for an extra dash of humiliation, DeLong suggests the freeze is nothing more than "Dingbat Kabuki.")
Ryan Avent at Free Exchange: "President Obama Concedes Defeat":
This is a complete betrayal of the political ideal Mr. Obama seemed to espouse from the beginning of his political career -- the rejection of the argument by the lowest common denominator in favor of a more reasoned and argued approach. This is yet another move toward the infantilization of the electorate; whatever the gamesmanship behind the proposal, Mr. Obama has apparently concluded that the electorate can't be expected to handle anything like a real description of the tough decisions which must be made.
Mark Thoma:
This is pretty disappointing... How will this look, for example, if there's a double dip recession, or if unemployment follows the dismal path that the administration itself has forecast?
And if you weren't already predisposed to find a silver lining?
Paul Krugman:
It's appalling on every level's a betrayal of everything Obama's supporters thought they were working for. Just like that, Obama has embraced and validated the Republican world-view -- and more specifically, he has embraced the policy ideas of the man he defeated in 2008.
_______________________________________
1. OTHER
1a. TechCrunch: comScore, Calacanis, Wilson, And TechCrunch - Oh My!
By Alex Wilhelm
http://thenextweb.com/2010/01/24/comscore-calacanis-wilson-techcrunch/
comScore, Calacanis, Wilson, And TechCrunch - Oh My!
By Alex Wilhelm
January 24, 2010
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If you have been away for a day or so, you have missed the giant dust-up over recent comScore business decisions.
Given the number of readers and friends that seem to be confused as to what exactly has happened, we put together this post to make it all plain as day.
As it happened:
comScore wanted to improve the way that it tracks website traffic. People had long complained (correctly) that comScore was consistently under-reporting their traffic. comScore set about to make changes to fix this. It was not going to be cheap, and given that comScore is a public company (not a flush startup), that means that revenue would have to rise to cover the new costs.
Public companies just can't add on expenses like private startups with fat bankrolls.
Called Media Metrix 360 (an odd name), comScore's new product is a hybrid method that combines direct counting and its traditional extrapolation techniques to give a much more accurate picture of true traffic to each website. Some 75% of the top internet properties are working with comScore in one way or the other.
That was some seven months ago, things have since turned nasty. All Things D and Valleywag published posts on the same day (Friday) in regards to pricing information for Media Metrix 360. It is not free, and they were afraid that its high cost would leave out smaller companies, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.
From All Things D:
"Hey Web publishers! Want to boost your traffic overnight? Talk to comScore, which is handing out millions of unique visitors... comScore's old system tracked small panels of users and extrapolated their traffic patterns across the Web. But its new "hybrid" system uses panel data along with records generated by actual visits to the site... ComScore lets publishers who are already clients participate in the program for free. But it will charge everyone else $10,000 a year, which the company says helps cover the cost of new servers and other equipment it needs to process the new deluge of data."
From Valleywag:
"Comscore will give the tracking pixel away for free to paying clients, sites that pay thousands of dollars a year to get its detailed traffic information. All other sites, however, will have to pay Comscore $10,000 or keep having their traffic counted the old way. That's blackmail. Sites that can't afford Comscore research (it's extremely expensive) will have to fork over $10,000 merely to have their traffic counted on an apples-to-apples basis with that of their richer competitors. Because most sites think Comscore grossly under reports their traffic, this amounts to Comscore saying "If you want your higher traffic numbers, you need to pay us $10,000."
Fighting words from Valleywag, and a rather even keeled response from All Things D. It mattered little, the news about the supposed costs spread like wildfire around the internet and blogosphere, igniting the passions of Mahalo boss Jason Calacanis. Turns out he has a long, long, history with comScore. Oh, and one hell of an axe to grind.
Jason took to his pen, and blasted an email to his 19,000 newsletter subscribers. His title summed up his emotions well: "Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why traders should short their stock)." You can read the full post here. We would paste it into the post for reference, but Jason does not allow that. We will, however, quote it at some length. From the email, bolding to denote different sections in the message:
"Comscore is the technology industry's biggest bully, and today I'm calling for an industry-wide boycott of their services. I'm asking journalist and bloggers to stop covering their stats, I'm asking advertisers to not use their services, and finally, I'm asking startup companies to not support their new and widely reported on "$10,000 to get your stats correct" extortion ring... For over a decade, I've railed against our industry's leading metrics company ComScore with little result....
They screwed me at Weblogs, Inc. It wasn't until I started Weblogs, Inc. that I really felt the sting of not participating in the Comscore protection racket. You see, advertisers love Comscore and they make advertising buys based on it.....
ComScore Tries to Buy Me Off. This summer the tough guys at Comscore approached me with a clandestine deal after I continued to publicly complain about their methods. The message was clear: if I stopped criticizing them and publicly supported their server data measurement program they would not charge me. The $10,000 it would cost a year for this service would be free for me if I threw my fellow entrepreneurs under the bus.... You bastards think that after a *decade* of me trying to stop your extortion you can by me off by simply waiving some fees?... I wrote back: "You guys are evil for charging companies-I would never support you. Quantcast and Google are going to crush you guys.... And I'm telling everyone I know to support Quantcast."...
To My "Friends" at Comscore. You know I'm right. As such, I'm asking for complete and unconditional surrender. Make your tracking pixel program 100% free in the next 10 days or the boycott will continue."
Also in Jason's piece were a number of sucker-punches to Fred Wilson, who Mr. Calacanis claimed "turned a blind eye while letting his huge venture return in comScore color his objectivity." He claims that Fred is abetting the "extortion" by comScore, making one of the most famed startup VCs alive in fact anti-startup when it suits him. Enter Fred Wilson.
Fred weighed in in the comments section of Jason's post, stating:
"jason, since you've slandered me, i'll respond here. you don't know what you are talking about. comscore (SCOR) is a public company. you can go look at their financials. they aren't exactly printing money. it's hard to measure the internet and they spend well over $100mm per year doing just that. they aren't "shaking down" anyone. their move to a hybrid model is a reaction to many of the criticisms that people have had of their panel model over the years. but it isn't cheap to manage that data either. someone has to pay for this. or of course we could all just let google do it for free. we know how that will play out. eric schmidt has said "analytics are infinitely monetizable" well for google they are. if we want a third party keeping everyone honest, the market has to pay something for it. as i said, go look at comscore's financials and you'll see they aren't exactly getting rich doing that. and the "huge venture return i made in comscore" is in your imagination. i have not ever made any money personally on my comscore investment. please don't spew lies about me jason. with "friends" like you, who needs enemies?"
Fred posted a second comment as well, to the effect that people like "Jason and his friend Mike Arrington... like to sling mud... i am not going to get into a pissing match with them online. but i am "kinda sad" that you are getting the wrong impression."
Aside from Fred's atrocious capitalization, his points seem have a certain ring of truth to them. Oh, did you see there where he brought Mike Arrington into the debate? Michael had to then get involved in the whole bit, weighing in here on TechCrunch.
comScore also took the time to publish a comment on Jason's post, their refuting nearly his every point. The full comment from their CMO:
Jason:
You really need to get your facts straight.
1) First of all, we measure Unique People rather than Unique Cookies which web analytics systems erroneously can unique visitors. I would challenge you to find any kind of server side measurement system that measures people, not machines or cookies. To show you how absurd server side numbers are, AOL Inc. had about 259 MM Unique cookies which gives it over 125% reach compared to a true reach of 54%. The inflation is driven by cookie deletion, multiple browsers, multiple machines for the same users, multiple devices etc... Large companies do not complain about their numbers because they know their server side numbers are flawed as obviously evident by the AOL metrics, not because 'comScore fixes your number". This dynamic is less obvious with smaller sites-they don't realize how inflated their numbers are until their reach starts exceeding 100%.
2) Our Hybrid measurement is not mere pixel tracking as you assert. Our panel, which allows us to distinguish people from cookies, is a central part of the system used to correct for the inflation of cookie based server-side measurement.
3) You are confused about our pricing, so let me explain it to you:
• We charge a one-time setup fee of $5,000 that enables us to audit the beacon implementation and make sure we are measuring everyone consistently. This means auditing beacons on every page to identify pages with multiple beacons that result in over-counting, and pages with no beacon that result in undercounting. We have found about 15% of sites have placed multiple beacons on a page, and over 30% of sites that have missed a number of pages on their site. This auditing function is crucial to protect the system from being gamed. Imagine what happens, if unchecked, sites start cross beaconing each other to inflate their audience. The 'free' services do not incur this cost because not much is expected of them. We have seen many sites where the Quantcast beacons 'fire' up to 7 times from a single page!
• The initial $5,000 setup fee pays for that audit and gives you access to our reports on comScore Direct $5K for 6 month period.
• The $10K annual price is for ongoing access to our comScore Direct reporting system. However, you don't have to subscribe to continue being measured using the hybrid methodology. As long as you maintain your beacons we will measure you with our hybrid methodology FREE of charge.
4) You may be upset because you don't get a free subscription to the reports. We make no apologies for charging for access to our reporting system. That is the only revenue source we have to cover our costs. In doing so, we make a 'mafia like' pre-tax margin of less than 9% . Google and Quantcast offer metrics for 'free' because they have an advertising supported model. They use the data they collect from users or publishers to sell targeted advertising. We chose not to have a business model based on selling advertising, because we do not want to compete with our clients who make a living selling advertising, and who need a neutral third party to provide audience data that is free from conflicts of interest.
5) As for the free trial offer we made you, you need to get your facts straight. When we rolled out this new hybrid system, we needed some sites to beacon with us early to test it out and get user feedback .This is a common practice you might have heard of-it's called 'free beta.' You chose not to participate, which is fine. But there was no attempt to 'buy your silence' and we challenge you to prove otherwise.
We provide a valuable service and we are proud of it. We offer the most accurate 3rd audience measurement tools available which are paid for in real dollars by more than 1,200 companies who, unlike you, freely choose them despite available 'free' services.
It's unfortunate that you were picked on as a child. It must have been difficult to you. But you're an adult now. If you want to debate, please do so with facts, not just blind fury.
Nearly at the same time, comScore released a new blog post helping to elucidate the situation. We'll get back to Arrington in a second.
comScore put up this blog post called "Update on the Evolution of comScore Media Metrix 360″ to help bring everyone up to the same speed. From the post, those $10,000 figures were wrong:
"While it's clear that there is widespread consensus that building Media Metrix 360 is the right approach, a small minority have questioned our decision to charge non-clients $5,000 to set up their site's reporting using the Media Metrix 360 methodology. We believe this is a very reasonable price to charge for six months of reporting back to the client. If at the end of that period, the client does not want to continue subscribing (no-one has yet done so), we will still continue to implement the 360 methodology free of charge as long as the web site continues to maintain our beacons / tags."
In other words, if you pay us $5,000 for all our costs, we'll keep tracking. If you want our detailed reporting, that will cost $5,000 more every six months. That hardly sounds as evil as we all first thought, right?
Arrington, a business partner with Calacanis (the TechCrunch50), agreed with comScore (and therefore with Wilson):
"My take - Abraham is right. Comscore is by far the best analytics service available. Alexa, Compete and Hitwise are seriously flawed (I may dive into this more in a future post). Quantcast has its own issues and is subject to abuse, which we've seen directly. Comscore uses panels and statistical analysis to generate traffic estimates. The new product measure traffic directly off of website servers and should provide nearly perfect data. And the fact is that the company probably does need to charge to do this properly, as Abraham argues. If a competitor can provide the same service for less (or free), God Bless Them and I'll support them all the way. Until then, the market will bear what it can bear... So in this case I respectfully disagree with Jason on the merits of his argument. And I ask Fred Wilson to try to keep me out of his various fights."
So, there it is. You decide what you think of it. To me, comScore is hardly trying to extort anyone here, but Valleywag and Jason Calacanis are saying the opposite. We report, you decide, right?
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END OF REPORT |