I want to be this young when I am that old!!!!

Do you like music???

Do you like the same music that you liked when you were a teenager, or has your music choice changed?

What music will you like when you're 82 years old?

Owen Brown in England was born in 1927, when he was 15 he would have been listening to, Bing Crosby; "White Christmas", Glenn Miller; "Moonlight Cocktail", Jimmy Dorsey; "Tangerine".

So what does he listen to now???

Megadeath, Iron Maiden, Def Leopard, and Slipknot!!!!

Watch this BBC report and enjoy!!!

The Price of the High Level Executive?

SO this morning the industry is buzzing about News Corps loss of Peter Chernin. It is always interesting when one executive becomes the front person and "glue" to a company. Steve Jobs at Apple...he's ill, he steps down, the market goes crazy...Peter Chernin leaving News Corp...the market goes crazy... is a company's fate held in the hands of one executive.

My initial thought is no...in Apple's case, (and I am a true Applephile), Job's is a genius leader who changed the face of consumer electronics...but he did that by allowing his people to create, innovate and develop...Steve didn't sit down one day and draw a purple iMac on a pad of paper, show it to his lieutenants and say...go build that, it'll change consumer computing as we know it!

In News Corps case though I think it's a bit different. Chernin has been Rupert Murdoch's right hand person for years and years. He, (it could be said), really runs the company...from a day to day presence and he knows the business like no other exec. As for Rupert, it is frightening to see who he replaces Chernin with. It's a hard position to fill, as Chernin really was a "hands on" exec, and grew many of the Fox businesses. If James Murdoch steps in, (he's in #1 position at the moment), he's certainly an accomplished and smart exec, but is it fair to expect him to understand the US market, TV network business (very different to UK satellite), the US movie studio business, FIM online businesses, cable network business and Fox's right wing news services?

So how much impact does one exec have on a company... well in Fox's case, I think it's seriously a lot and the market's not going to react well to Chernin going.

Read Ross Levinsohn's blog post on Chernin going for an insite into working with this media giant.

Thoughts?

The Oscars

Wow, how easy is it to be the person who criticizes a major even like the Oscars. Some of the pundits have been cruel, on last nights show.  I was very impressed with last nights show.  First of all Hugh Jackman was superb as a host, (so many more have failed, Steve Martin, David Letterman), and this show had an air of sophistication due in part to his hosting.  The art direction was superb, lighting excellent, overall, the staging was excellent.

The Future is Here!!!

Unless you're either mad, stupid or our last president,(both), you will know our planet, (the only one we have), is very ill.  Scientist upon scientist have shown categoric proof that the planet is heating up, the polar ice caps are melting and if we don't do something YESTERDAY we'll all be living in a Waterworld that'll cost way more than Kevin Costner's! The cause of the global heat up is of course... MAN, (ohh and woman, boy and girl and a few very farty animals).

My good friend Byron Elton has just joined a company, called Carbon Sciences.  This company is truly amazing, having invented a technique for turning harmful CO2 into Ethanol, which in turn can be put in your car and used as a fuel, (or as in some people I know, put in Scotch or Vodka and used as fuel). Byron has for a long time been a supporter of a green life, one of the things, (out of many), that I have admired of him for the years I have known him.  Drive the Prius, is eco friendly at home... so you can imagine how superb it is to see him get a job as COO of a company that could have the most amazing effect on our planet. If every power plant and industrial plant could filter it's CO2 into Ethanol... then that's a global game changer.  Here is a link to Carbon Sciences release, it's well worth a read.

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=52906568105&h=GoSh9&u=ZBfQ8

Sirius a bust?

So today, John Malone and Liberty stepped in to save Sirius from bankruptcy.  I am a big fan of satellite radio, mainly because I can have channels with music and no advertising. I first had XM in my car, which was good until one of my favorite channels, started running ads, and I got really pissed. In my car now I have Sirius and it's good. They have a DJ I used to listen to when I was living in LA called Richard Blade, who plays really good 80's music.  It's definitely worth the money, (I think $6 a month), but as a company it has some MAJOR obstacles to overcome.

1. Business model predicated by major new car installs. With the car market in complete shambles, numbers are going to slow right down.

2. Stupid deals like Howard Stern's $500MM deal. Works out with Sterns fees and production expenses to be $100MM a year. First of all, no one is worth that much, secondly, who, as a CEO writes a talent deal that takes $100MM off the top, for one piece of talent???

3. Lack of expansion... mobile versions of XM and Sirius don't really work because of the need for Satellite reception...(if you're sitting under a tree they don't work... walking around NY with those high buildings etc). People do not need satellite in their homes because we all have out favorite music on iPods... which I now run through my TV speakers... so no need for Sirius there. Unless you're a farmer, sitting in the middle of a field with no trees nearby... it's a tough one, (and Sirius doesn't have a sheep channel).

4. Debt; which is what the bail out is all about. But the company will still have the new debt to Liberty, at 15% interest!!!

I do still love satellite radio, but someone needs to go in an look at the overhead construction and basic business model.

Thoughts????

Facebook Value

I just read that Facebook's value is $3.7 billion and dropping??? I can remember the time when a VERY young CEO Mark Zuckerberg rejected a billion dollars from Yahoo's Terry Semel, and now the story is that the value is dropping from $3.7 billion.  

As you know, I am a massive Facebook fan.  The problem with all social networks is monetization, and in  a twist of irony, volume of users can mean dilution of revenue, unless there is a way of bringing targeted audiences together on social nets. No one gets rich off 50c CPM's no matter what volume. AOL is finding the same thing, they changed their sales structure from targeted programming with high CPM's, to network inventory slashing their revenues. Now they're trying to get it back to where it was two years ago.  Easier for AOL, than it is for a Facebook or a My Space.  

One thing is for sure, I want to see Zuckerberg cash out some now, to ensure his future is bright, because I still don't see the end of this road. One thing is for sure, the social networks are not going to go away, and I can see value dropping without a true monetization plan.

Sometimes you just have to laugh!!!

This was a billboard in Times Sq, paid for by a very pissed off wife...I thought it was priceless.

The New Kindle

One thing that really pisses me off is the negative press for the Kindle, Amazon's book reader. I was lucky enough to be bought the original Kindle when they came out and I never travel without it.  I have read so many reviews where people are trying to match the relevance of the Kindle to the iPhone/Pod and other media players... this is not what it is trying to be... it is a book reader. Even more than  a book reader, it's a very clever device for wirelessly downloading books, magazines and newspapers. I daily get the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Paid Content, and monthly Fortune magazine. My kindle is also holding about 20 books on it at the moment.  I don't want to put music on it, I don't want to have movies on it... this is a device for reading, and I think it works really well.

The screen works with a unique "electric paper" that only uses battery life every time it "prints" a page, so your battery can last for days and days of heavy use. I find the screen and print very clean and clear, and do not miss or need a backlighted display.

The buttons and ergonomics of the Kindle take a little getting used to, but the complaints of hitting the wrong button really led to stoopid operator fault and not the design.

The packaging is like something Apple would make.

The battery life as I mentioned is excellent and charges in about an hour from empty to full.

The wireless download works everywhere, in airports, buildings... and is very quick, (average download for a book is under a minute).

The main rival, SONY has a far inferior machine.

So I LOVE THE KINDLE... don't compare it to a multi media device... it is what it is, it does it well and Amazon should be applauded for it. 

JAGUAR AGAIN

So the saga of the flat tire is still ongoing!!!  If you remember a while ago I had a flat tire and it took Jaguar 4 days to replace it at a cost of some $500! Now I go to the garage yesterday to find the car has  flat, same tire, same slow release flat.  Ever heard of being taken for a ride??? I think I was taken for a ride on a flat!

Allee Willis and Jerrie

Allee Willis is n old friend of mine living in LA, not that she's old, but I have known her a long time...you know what I mean. So..Allee is one of the most talented people I have ever met, having written hundreds of the big pop hits you've been listening to over the past 40 years. You know the theme from Friends...yup that's Allee.  Allee now concentrates on being an artist, not only in music but all mediums, and especially animation and video.  THis is her latest video and it's just brilliant. Jerrie is a 91 yr old drummer who used to play for Capone!

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v+mYZkFOzoP-o

MSN's Wonderwall

Today MSN launched it's own entertainment site "Wonderwall".  It's really quite good, I like the UI, and navigation is good.  I think it's hard for MSN to play catch up with TMZ, People, and OMG! but at least they are now in the game.  Thoughts on "Wonderwall"?

www.wonderwall.com

AOL report numbers

It's sad what has happened to AOL in the past two years.  A company that had a strategy of building high targeted CPM content, created the AOL "white label" model with sites like TMZ ,(with Telepictures), reduced to low CPM ad network inventory, and now losing 18% in ad revenues. Overall EBITDA was up 6%, but that's just due to cut backs, layoffs and "burning furniture".  The thing that really interests me though is the slowing in decline of the subscription business.  Who are these people paying for AOL?  I can understand if some people are still on dial up, (although the population without access to broadband must be very small by now), but still 6+MM people pay AOL for their service.

What can the future be? I would doubt that Yahoo is still knocking on the door, I could still see a spin off of the dial up subscription business, (what happened to that?), and potentially see a fire sale to a Google...but why would they do it?  One thing is for sure, acquisitions like BEBO, have created a total lack of confidence for the current management team, and Jeffrey Bewkes is going to come under increasing pressure to do something.

AOL Car

Ok...someone voted for an AOL car...if you truly believe you would buy an AOL car, c'mon have the balls to tell me who you are, I will desperately try not to think bad thoughts of you. Second thoughts...maybe they voted for an AOL car because they like crashing???

Michael Phelps

WHY???? 

The best young sportsman in the world, an idol for millions of kids!!!  

I have friends who have met him and he's a nice guy, who made a VERY common mistake, (let he who hath not sinned cast the first stone), in college, at a party.  He needs to come out strong apologizing and condoning the use of drugs, and offer his services to DARE or something. I can also imagine why some of these young athlete's go off the deep end when they have some free,"party" time. If I got up at 5 am every morning to go competitive swimming training for hours, then school work, then more training, then sleep, then start all over again, I'm sorry but if I get to go to a party, I might just let rip a bit!!

Thoughts peeps.