Author: Vince Kimball

Tim Bray on Technology Adoption. As usual, Tim's got some great stuff to read: People, on average and in the long term, aren't stupid and aren't patient and aren't cowards. When there's an obviously better way to get the job done, they go out and get it, and management can't stop them, and Forrester and… Continue reading Tim Bray on Technology Adoption

Oligopoly brief: Clear Channel Clear Channel is the dominant player in the radio business. The company owns 1,240 AM and FM stations across the United States. It owns stations in 248 of the top 250 radio markets. As one writer puts it, ” Clear Channel in particular dominates the Top 40 format (KIIS-FM in Los… Continue reading

Oligopoly brief: Clear Channel

Clear Channel is the dominant player in the radio business. The company owns 1,240 AM and FM stations across the United States. It owns stations in 248 of the top 250 radio markets. As one writer

Boise Casade buys OfficeMax Boise Cascade announced that it will acquire the OfficeMax office supplies superstore chain for $1.115 billion. While Boise Cascade is by origin a wood and paper company, in recent years, all of its profits and a substantial portion of its income have come from the sale of office products. In fact… Continue reading

Boise Casade buys OfficeMax

Boise Cascade announced that it will acquire the OfficeMax office supplies superstore chain for $1.115 billion. While Boise Cascade is by origin a wood and paper company, in recent years, all of its profits and a substantial portion of its income have come from the sale of office products. In fact with $3.6 billion in office supply sales in 2002, Boise Cascade is almost as big in that area as OfficeMax ($4.8 billion). The difference is that OfficeMax serves individuals and small business with its (around 1,000) retail outlets, while Boise Cascade sells directly to large businesses nationwide and in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (over 40 offices).

For OfficeMax, it is a survival move. The company is far smaller than its rivals

The shelf life of booksWe talked before about the importance of shelf life, indicating that one of the key issues for most companies involves extending the shelf life of its products. In the crazy book industry, where a few chains (Borders, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart) hold a powerful oligopsony, even the biggest publishers have little power… Continue reading oligopsony

Sears discards credit division Citigroup bought the credit card operations of Sears for $3.4 billion. That's another step in the roll-up of the credit industry. The idea is that Sears can now concentrate on its core business, rather than financial services. But the problem is that Sears is threatened in its core businesses. In apparel… Continue reading credit card operations

David Galbraith groks it. This just in from David Galbraith…..  One small step for Technorati.. Something interesting is happening in the world of online identities. The end goal is clear – a distributed, decentralized identity system where people have control over their own identity online – a people's 'Passport' or what Marc Canter envisages as… Continue reading David Galbraith groks it

Help isbn.nu!. “I'm not a library scientist, nor do I play one on the Web. However, I do run isbn.nu, and have lots of ideas about how people conceive of books: not as ISBNs nor as editions (usually) but as works that have various instanciations. Most recently, I've been able to add a limited form… Continue reading Help isbn.nu!

It Was the Best of Winning Entries, It Was the Worst of Winning Entries. Bulwer-Lytton Contest Results “The annual Bulwer-Lytton contest recognizes and awards the very worst opening sentences found in novels. The 2003 results are in (2002 results, 2001 results) and the winning entry begins “They had but one last remaining night together, so… Continue reading It Was the Best of Winning Entries, It Was the Worst of Winning Entries

Laszlo caught my eye today. Folks over on the .NET Weblogs were talking about Laszlo's launch. Looks awesome.  [The Scobleizer Weblog]

AppleMatters interview. AppleMatters interviews Zeldman about why he likes Macs, how he uses them in his studio, and recursive icon bug in the OS X Finder. [Jeffrey Zeldman Presents: The Daily Report]