The Economist : How good is Google?

The Economist : How good is Google? “Craig Pisaris-Henderson…reckons that Google’s operating margins on sites other than its own must be much worse than FindWhat.com’s (23%) or Overture’s (12%) because it has been wooing advertisers away from Overture by being more generous to webmasters.”…

Networked alarm clock

Westinghouse has a new alarm clock coming out in mid-November. You can set it based on your calendar information, it runs on Windows CE .Net. $500 was the best price I found though. It would have been a lot easier for Microsoft to start with a SPOT alarm clock instead of a watch. I need a new alarm clock!…

Napster 2.0.6.1

I just downloaded the new Napster software. I search for “acoustic” yields 132 results. One of the things I like about iTunes, and what I end up buying, is the tracks I usually do not find on an album. I like the live, exclusive, and acoustic tracks in good quality formats. So far Napster has not come through with anything other than the standard album fare. I still have my 5 free downloads, so I will try out the full process….

Fortune : Is Office 2003 worth the upgrade?

Peter Lewis of Fortune reviews Office 2003, comparing it to the car market. I am still waiting on my new Office 2003 Professional packages to arrive. “[T]he fact is that, for the vast majority of humans on the planet, Office 2003 does not qualify for ?must have? status. There are dozens if not hundreds of improvements, but with a few exceptions ? mainly of interest to large corporations with thousands of employees ? they fall into the nicer cupholder, satellite radio, and optional navigation system category.”…