Monthly Archives: February 2010

Senator: “OK Some TV Isn’t Free. But … Not the Olympics!”

Posted on February 26, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

How can US Senators be so unclear about the meaning of the laws they write?

Today Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, who not coincidentally chairs the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked NBC to explain why certain Olympic events, available on NBCOlympics.com, can only be viewed there after you prove you have a subscription to a pay-TV service.

Really?

Let’s see:

NBC’s ownership of paid-only television channels to augment their over-the-air broadcast stations was approved by the United States Congress. Congress didn’t think approving that was antitrust
Not all events can possible be broadcast on the free channels; there just isn’t enough time
Presumably, Mr. Kohl doesn’t believe that Congress or anyone else should dictate to NBC which programming goes on which channels

So if an event is only available on a paid channel, is it unreasonable to make that event available to on-line viewers only if they have those channels? ... READ MORE of this article, Senator: “OK Some TV Isn’t Free. But … Not the Olympics!” from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (232 words, estimated 56 secs reading time)

Tagged with: antitrust, congress, olympics, television
Posted in business change

Google Kills the Droid

Posted on February 24, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — 3 Comments ↓

Ahh, Droid. We barely knew ye . . .

This week, Google introduced a version of Google Earth for Android SmartPhones. In large part, I don’t care; Google Earth is very cool, but compared to Google Maps it has limited real-world use.

And Google Earth requires version 2.1 of the Android operating system. Which means that it won’t run on the Droid, which has been available for just over three months.

Aside from being a Droid user and being in sour-grapes mode, maybe you think I shouldn’t care. You’d be wrong. Android is the fastest-growing operating system for SmartPhones, and Google is splintering the market for that operating system, which like Google Earth and the Nexus One is also a Google product. ... READ MORE of this article, Google Kills the Droid from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (353 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Tagged with: Android, apple computer, don't be evil, droid, Google, microsoft, nexus one, smartphone, windows
Posted in business change

I Don’t HAVE An “Any” Key!

Posted on February 23, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Who said using computers was easy?

I’ve been a computer geek (umm . . . not really, but close . . . think of me as Leo LaPorte without the bazillion viewers) for a long time. I remember the days when people thought that the little tray that popped out of the front of your computer at the press of a button was a coffee cup holder. No, I’m not kidding.

I go back even further than that, actually; in the old days of MS-DOS the most common system error was one that to get you to acknowledge a problem read “Press Any Key To Continue“. I’ve had people tell me that they couldn’t find the “Any” key on their keyboards. Again, I’m not kidding. ... READ MORE of this article, I Don’t HAVE An “Any” Key! from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (337 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "new york business computer care", Leo LaPorte, Press Any Key To Continue, technical support
Posted in Uncategorized

Congress, Business Change, Health Care Reform and California

Posted on February 22, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Something’s gotta give. Something is going to. Business Change isn’t just an idea; it’s become an imperative.

In a world where the health care we provide for people isn’t even good enough for animals, where famous columnists like Nicholas Kristof and economists like Paul Krugman—very different guys with diverse right and left leanings— are stating the same thing, it’s time.

Politically speaking, it’s a hot potato. The number of people you cross by passing health care reform is huge and the number you cross by not doing so is equally high. And not being from California and looking at our left-coast liberal contingency in exactly the stereotypical way that we East Coasters usually do I see the nearly-forty-percent-jump in that group’s health insurance premiums and . . . shrug. But if President Obama fails to get a meaningful health care reform bill passed, and soon, very bad things are going to happen. ... READ MORE of this article, Congress, Business Change, Health Care Reform and California from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (242 words, estimated 58 secs reading time)

Tagged with: health care reform, New York Times, nicholas kristof, paul krugman, president barack obama
Posted in business change

Patent Trolls, Business Change, & Carping by The Uninformed

Posted on February 18, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

The Whining Has Gone Mainstream. Even the Whining Required Whining.

Yesterday, there was a lengthy article in The New York Times about companies that buy patents and then go after companies using the matter covered by those patents for licensing fees. Specifically, the article talked about Intellectual Ventures, a company run by the guy who was in charge of much of the science in Microsoft’s early days.

Steve Lohr, the author of that article, is apparently so passionate about the subject that he needed to write a blog post follow-up this morning. And as blog posts often do, that article reads more like opinion than journalism.

I’m fine with that. Yes, newspapers need to be dispassionate to a point, but in a world of competing 24-hour news channels it’s OK to add opinion (so long as the opinion is kept separate from the news). ... READ MORE of this article, Patent Trolls, Business Change, & Carping by The Uninformed from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "patent troll", attorneys, New York Times
Posted in business change

Business Changes in Phone Apps? Not at Mobile World Congress

Posted on February 17, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

This week in Barcelona, Spain a conference called Mobile World Congress is happening. The attendees are employees of some of the world’s biggest and most influential companies: AT&T, Apple Computer, Motorola, Google, Microsoft.

Their goal? To consolidate the market for the software that runs on SmartPhones. Summing it up if you’re from Apple, you might say: “there’s an app for that, but only if you use an iPhone”.

So let’s see: Apple, the undisputed leader in the SmartPhone market (but losing share quickly to Android), would like everyone’s software to run on everyone else’s phones? And Microsoft, who have released yet another version of their phone software, is looking to be cooperative with their competitors?

Yeah. This ought to work. ... READ MORE of this article, Business Changes in Phone Apps? Not at Mobile World Congress from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (378 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "killer app", Android, apple iphone, coopetition, micr, mobile world congress, New York Times, smartphone
Posted in Uncategorized

Your Web Site Doesn’t Belong To You

Posted on February 16, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

A few days ago, and with no notice at all, Google deleted a handful of blogs. <POOF!> Gone. Just like that.

Most of the attention to this has focused on what those blogs did; they were repositories for music, and while there were reviews attached (for example) to legitimize the blogs’ purpose, they were in fact making copyrighted materials available without the permission of the copyright holders.

And that, as you know, is generally not legal.

There’s a very small piece of me that finds the debate and protest against Google’s action fascinating. And it’s a huge protest; search Twitter for #Musicblogocide2K10 to see (Or Google itself once Twitter’s history expires). I’ve covered various aspects of music and movie piracy a few times (see here and here) and how studios are taking more successful steps to get us to pay for Movies and Television on the Internet. ... READ MORE of this article, Your Web Site Doesn’t Belong To You from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (576 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Tagged with: blogging, copyrights, media, movies, music, RIAA, web site
Posted in business change

Doing Business Means BEING a Business

Posted on February 15, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — 2 Comments ↓

Today, a tweet caught my attention. The question, posed by Anita Campbell, was whether the existence of services like LegalZoom caused more people to incorporate their small businesses.

The answer is no.

Ms. Campbell links to a story on her own web site that appears to say otherwise. But growth notwithstanding, services very much like LegalZoom have existed for years, are as easy to use, and cost (and have cost) about the same amount. So, once again: no, more people are not incorporating “because of LegalZoom”.

More small businesses are incorporating because it’s the right way to do things. The best business change is one where that change causes something important to happen, and incorporation creates new ways of managing finances, clearer rules for tax deductions, a layer of protection for personal assets that sole proprietors don’t have, and a more professional image. ... READ MORE of this article, Doing Business Means BEING a Business from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (256 words, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "business practices", "long tail marketing", incorporation, LegalZoom
Posted in business change

People Who Live In Empty Heads Shouldn’t Throw Stones

Posted on February 11, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

I can think for myself. So can you. While a lot of what I write here has the potential to be inflammatory in one way or another and while nothing’s off limits, I don’t spend a lot of time being purely political.

Yes, I’ve commented on health care reform, and Barack Obama’s non-connection to ACORN. But there’s always context; health care reform is a business change that I believe everyone in the United States needs badly, and my comments on ACORN and President Obama’s connection to Hookergate was really about the idea of what business change is: I said then and I repeat now that those ACORN community organizers teaching the undercover filmmakers about how to run a successful prostitution business were nevertheless teaching someone how to be in business.

I wish Sarah Palin would go away. ... READ MORE of this article, People Who Live In Empty Heads Shouldn’t Throw Stones from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (318 words, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)

Tagged with: ACORN, albert brooks, Ashton Kutcher, barack obama, politics, prostitution, sarah palin
Posted in business change

“Kids Don’t Blog.” Gee, No Kidding?

Posted on February 10, 2010 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

So it turns out that young people have stopped blogging.

Really? When were they?

It was only a few months ago that kids thought Twitter was stupid, and unsafe. Now, young people are embracing the world’s hottest social networking site in droves. But the impetus for this change isn’t that Twitter has become any better; the deal here is that regular blogging takes too long, while just spewing your thoughts 140 characters at a time is easy!

When I told you a few months ago that Miley Cyrus had stopped using Twitter, my commentary ran toward how bad a business decision that was. My recent comments about Kim Kardashian and her $10,000 Titter posts have been about business change in the advertising world and how things that look unimportant can be huge. ... READ MORE of this article, “Kids Don’t Blog.” Gee, No Kidding? from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (264 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "kim kardashian", 140, blogging, kids, miley cyrus, twitter, younger people
Posted in business change

Monthly Archives: February 2010

If you want to watch the entire speech Tiger gave today as apology for his recent behavior, you can see it here.