http://nii.ahene.com Separating Signal from Noise since 2001 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:36:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 500 Million isn't enough. Why? Mobile Search/Maps + Local Reviews = Mobile Killer App. Mobile is the next great search frontier and credible local information is what people want when they're mobile. A Yelp acquisition with proper intergration into mobile map application leapfrogs an acquiring company light years ahead everyone one else ... http://nii.ahene.com/on-google-yelp-and-the-value-of-user-generated-product-and-service-reviews/ Here are odds to win ESPN's Streak for cash if you pick games at a certain percentage. Simply put 1 over the number the corresponding number below Percentage Picked At    Odds of winning (1/x) 1%    999,999,999,994,598,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 2%    7,450,580,596,903,720,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 3%    131,137,265,239,473,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 4%    55,511,151,231,182,900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 5%    134,217,727,999,855,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 6%    977,048,763,927,751,000,000,000,000,000,000 7%    15,217,836,705,778,700,000,000,000,000,000 8%    413,590,306,276,374,000,000,000,000,000 9%    17,196,982,334,544,700,000,000,000,000 10%    999,999,999,999,728,000,000,000,000 11%    76,277,684,443,836,000,000,000,000 12%    7,279,580,562,773,440,000,000,000 13%    838,551,012,603,546,000,000,000 14%    113,381,718,887,296,000,000,000 15%    17,600,945,796,604,000,000,000 16%    3,081,487,911,019,060,000,000 17%    599,624,159,593,424,000,000 18%    ... http://nii.ahene.com/odds-of-winning-espns-streak-for-cash-if-you-pick-at-x-percent/ Fed aims to become counterparty in commercial paper market.... Necessary to normalize short term business lending during crisis, But introduces undesirable government control and intervention during non-crisis periods. This is *very* interesting. Bernanke power grab? The TED spread is probably the most telling *leading* publicly available metric to measure how significant ... http://nii.ahene.com/fed-aims-to-become-counterparty-in-commercial-paper-market/ I have a bone to pick with valley entrepreneurs. If you're working on a project/startup and it hasn't been announced to the public and you wish to keep said project or startup under wraps I've had too many conversations at conferences/meet-ups that have gone like this Me: Ahh, so what are you ... http://nii.ahene.com/hey-look-at-me-everyone-im-broadcasting-that-im-in-stealth-mode/ Question is not if, it's when... Don't believe me? Let's look at some charts NASDAQ Housing Oil My prediction? We'll be seeing sub 90 dollar a barrel oil by the end of the year sub 3 dollar a gallon gas by the end of 2010 if not sooner. -N http://nii.ahene.com/oil-its-a-bubble/ To be honest, I rarely have an opportunity organize non-CPC thoughts into conveniently. If you really need a fix check out my Twitter. http://nii.ahene.com/where-are-the-updates/ "The inevitable has happened" Gabe Cheng's famous words are eerily relevant amidst the current economic slow down. With mainstream media widely reporting that the American economy has entered a recession, inflation at its highest level in years, the Bush administration calling for an extension of it’s tax cuts and the Fed heavily ... http://nii.ahene.com/the-inevitable-has-happened/ For those of you that read my blog, you've probably already seen the doc... but in case you haven't here's a hot link. Warning, contents are *hot* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGTSXdXS15U We've gotten some attention, most notably Mashable and Valleywag... we'll see what else pans out... Already moving on to the next NMM project... Oh and if you ... http://nii.ahene.com/myspace-documentary-9-months-late-but-still-getting-some-attention/ Earlier today Apple's Steve Jobs announced a strategic partnership with EMI to release DRM-Free Music through it's successful itunes electronic music distribution channel. Too little, too late? I often wonder what would have happened if the music industry would have accepted the changing music paradigm instead of fighting it. Digital music, ... http://nii.ahene.com/napster-itunes-and-drm-free-music/ I was fortunate enough to get an Impromptu Demo of OLPC's Children's Machine (aka $100 dollar laptop) by Håkon Wium Lie Chief Technology Officer at Opera Software . The group responsible for the initiative gave the Opera team a working prototype of the laptop so they could test Opera's ... http://nii.ahene.com/the-100-dollar-laptop-makes-its-real-world-debut/