Michael Gracie

I gave someone an update on my Sunday’s crummy fishing, and they proceeded to send me a reminder of the weekend before (with enclosed compliments on my release technique):

I remember the mud on my fingertips.

The picture does this beautiful wild brown trout justice, but it doesn’t portray what I remembered being pretty poor handling skills. I was holding this fish gently while unhooking, and she squirmed out of my hands and onto the the muddy bank. I gave plenty of time for relaxed revival in the cool water, and she darted away nicely. But I still felt a bit bad about it. Keeping them in a net and in the water while unhooking, grabbing a quick pic and then getting them back in the water just as fast is the preferred methodology.

Once “the” job site, Monster has taken a back seat, progress-wise, to virtually everyone including the blogosphere. Now their CEO is out, and the company is facing a potential disaster in the form of a trojan horse identity thief.

I think this ship can be righted with a few simple maneuvers (and a bit of business model massaging), but I’m going to keep my mouth shut since someone else probably had the ideas first.

UPDATE: Monster shut down the server “hubbing” for the trojans. Now they just have a PR mess. Personally, I don’t think five days is an unreasonable time, considering the circumstances. They targeted the root of the issue (the server), which may have mitigated even more lost data - I view it as a customer-centric move. Second, this business of personal information being exposed is somewhat overblown - people stick their resumes online, and businesses pay to see them - the personal data and financial data are from two different constituents, as far as I can tell.

UPDATE 2: From Yahoo News…

As previously reported, the information contained on this server was limited to names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. Based on Monster’s thorough review, no other details, including bank account numbers, were uploaded.

Sounds like businesses are safe - maybe the talk there will now end.

On a side note, I had a Monster account sitting inactive. I used a different email address and phone number than usual with it - I think everyone should practice the same, just like the internet birthday.

First, Skype was down.

GrandCentral became a beneficiary.

Now, GrandCentral is putting the kibosh on some phone numbers.

Maybe someone should just blame Microsoft.

And yes, I’m fishing tomorrow - rain, shine, or Class 5 wading conditions

It’s been a great week for being open…

Dare Obasanjo started things off with A Proposal for Social Network Interoperability via OpenID, but expresses skepticism as to whether business interests will ever allow it to get off the ground (h/t to Kim Cameron - and Mr. Cameron digs a bit into the business issues here). My guess is someone is going to do it whether others like it or not.

But, while OpenID can be spread ubiquitously - and under the control of many versus a few - it’s bewildering from a consumer standpoint (h/t to Simon Willison). I too think this is a major hurdle. When the first truly whizbang app hits the market, everyone is going to rave - but I say grandma still won’t be able to figure it out. In addition, there’s fact that while there may be a lot of OpenID available for serving, there’s still not a lot of consuming. More OpenID consumers (i.e. sites that accept it) will be the leading force in education and understanding of its benefits. Some are doing their part towards that end, including a bit with the Wordpress plug-in (and I’ll have more for you on that in the weeks to come), but more effort is still needed.

Next, Kevin Fox of JanRain discussed interoperability and whitelisting (including but not limited to AOL’s practice of it). Whitelisting is a necessary evil in a world where technology is so easily deployed. The cheaper it is to get up, the more people are going to use it for “alternative” means. AOL, by the way, is no stranger to exacting tolls for access to their network, but in this case I don’t think they’ll try it - there’s just not enough at AOL worth paying for right now, and it’s just too easy to switch OpenID authentication providers without giving up one’s “identity.”

Brad Fitzgerald and David Recordon wound up the week publishing their thoughts on the application of open identity systems to social networks, with a view towards portability of profiles, including friends data. Again, larger social networks (say “big business”) are probably not going to be agreeable to this, but a lot of smaller networks, including those being built on OpenID Code Bounty winner Drupal, will jump on it. Pete Cashmore agrees, and added that he and his crew will be following the efforts closely.

All that, just this week. I don’t think saying these concepts are “picking up steam” is doing them justice anymore.

Newspapers vote Google worse than Osama bin Laden.

They’re also the new anti-christ.

We’re approaching a crescendo - the point just before the headlights meet the deer.

Techcrunch puts what could be interpreted a positive spin on Trip Advisor’s purchase of Facebook app Where I’ve Been.

Meanwhile, Pete Cashmore of Mashable proclaims it insanity, and alludes to the hope that we’ve seen the peak.

I’ll just congratulate Craig Ulliott on his victory, and leave the speculation as to what this all means to everyone else.

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Turns out that it could be so insane that it didn’t even happen.

Henry Blodget (yes, that Henry) gives us a quick and dirty analysis of the “great sucking sound” drawing ad revenue away from old media and over to Google. He concludes by noting:

“Traditional media executives are doing a superb job of milking cash flow out of shrinking businesses, but you can’t save your way to prosperity. The smartest companies acknowledge this and are 1) returning cash flow to shareholders, 2) diversifying via M&A (as the Washington Post has done), and/or investing in or buying promising interactive businesses.”

I’ll add that Google isn’t solely to blame - they are just a distributor and broker - it’s everyone else producing the content. And there are plenty more ways to distribute said content popping up every day, and plenty more ways to get ads associated with it (and more joining the party each and every day as well). I’m still with the “old media content sucks” crowd, but of course those tried and true journalist types would never think to look within to find the error of their ways.

Meanwhile, Mike Masnick summarizes the hilarity: papers have gone from denial, to blame, to downright insanity; they now think Google should buy up newspapers, and then leave the editorial alone.

I sincerely believe Google is not that foolish.

BONUS: Some additional (if moderately sarcastic) commentary from Mr. Blodget on that flagging ad revenue (and why “newspapers are screwed”).

Something of a cliché - just don’t hit me if you’re down too.

Eric Savitz of Barron’s Tech Trader follows today’s “downs” and yours truly puts some much needed spin on it:

And while we’re at it…

Last but not least…

UPDATE: STOP THE PRESSES - Some German physicists have broken the speed of light! And as any student of Einstein’s theory of relativity should know, this means we may soon be able to travel back in time. Absolutely nothing to worry about now.

The news today…Countrywide’s drawdown on short-term credit facilities, I guess to cover for the fact nobody is buying loans. The funny headline…Countrywide Bonds Offer Juicy Yield for the Hearty. Hearty indeed.

Talking with a friend earlier about the risks of shorting the broad market, we agreed that if KKR (or anyone else for that matter) gets one deal out the door, the indexes could turn on a dime. Still, they said they weren’t buying any of this Countrywide paper. What’s their business? Buying high yield paper.

Heh.

UPDATE: Yes, turn on a dime…on buyout speculation.

UPDATE2: B of A bought preferred stock with a juicy yield instead.