Jayden’s sweet face (one of my faves)
One of my favourite photos of Jayden because he looks like a sweet little boy. Whether he is one is another question.
Updates from February, 2008 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Raymond Mendoza
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Raymond Mendoza
If I owned Microsoft and Yahoo!
Microsoft is a little like the Sony of software. Both companies lean towards creating proprietary formats and using their sumo weight to attempt to control the industry. Google says Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo! is hostile. I say Microhoo! would not be as bad as MicroSony. The potential Microsoft buyout of Yahoo is an intentional and offensive move against Google. If I owned Microsoft and Yahoo, I would concentrate on two things:
- Don’t get caught up by Google
- Continue to apply pressure to Google by attacking Google’s weaknesses (yes they have a few).
Don’t get caught up by Google
There’s lots of internet real estate and opportunity left to capture. For example, there are not any real competitors in the cloud computing web services space. Amazon is dominating with their storage and computing clouds. It would be very difficult for a startup to compete with Amazon. Would you trust your data with a company that you don’t know will last its current round of funding? I know Yahoo is working on Amazon-like services because I got a call about it from a recruiter a few weeks ago. With Yahoo’s infrastructure combined with Microsoft’s resources, there’s potential to create some real competition in that space.
Concentrate on Google’s weaknesses
The “do everything” and “do no wrong” company has weaknesses? Absolutely. Two large examples are social networking and photo sharing. Google has weak offerings: Orkut and Picasa as compared to Facebook and Flickr. Flickr is owned by Yahoo. I would should trim some fat by getting rid of silly implementations like Live Spaces and soapbox. Why not integrate your successful products with other successful products in the industry? Why not become the biggest Facebook developer on the planet by creating a seamless experience between Hotmail, Flickr, and Facebook? Hitting Google’s soft spots will create loyalty and get Microsoft closer to those luscious advertising dollars.
Of course, if the deal falls through, these quick thoughts mean nothing. It was fun to think about though.
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Raymond Mendoza
Amazon Superbowl commercial featuring Justin Timberlake
You may have heard this in the news that Amazon and Pepsi are collaborating for a promotion to give away MP3s and pretty much anything available on Amazon in exchange for Pepsi points. This promotion is premiering via a commercial on this Sunday’s Superbowl.
My department as well as other teams around Amazon have been working very hard to make this Pepsi-Amazon integration work, so amazonmp3 gets a half second mention at the end of the commercial. That half second is still probably worth a couple hundred thousand dollars. Oh yeah, Justin Timberlake is in it too.
The link is given below. You have to click on “Magnetic Attraction” and you can select whatever video quality you want.
Justin Timberlake stars in the Pepsi/Amazon Superbowl commercial
