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Hey! Not Cuil!! At Least Not Yet...

Did you hear all the hoopla about www.cuil.com, the next generation search site started by a gang of ex-Google folks? I have to hand it to Cuil's PR machine. And while my highly biased and subjective opinion is that this site is not yet ready for prime time from a search relevancy standpoint, let's not count them out. Cuil claims to index exponentially more Web pages than any other search engine.

The site will likely get far better as it is banged on repetitively during the coming days and weeks. And might I add that search technology developers are some of the quirkiest, most socially dysfunctional, and downright brightest folks I have ever come into contact with. I worked for three years at Inktomi Corporation. Inktomi's search technology remains the brains behind Yahoo! Search. Despite the popularity of Google and the current trend to treat Yahoo! like a pinata, the fact remains that Yahoo! Search is highly accurate and is extremely competitive with Google from a relevancy standpoint.

I root for Yahoo! I root for Google. And perhaps I'll root for Cuil as well. Why? Search me! Ahh...that was a cheap one liner. The answer is easy. Innovation. And yes, Yahoo! is still innovating. Don't believe the hype.

More Optimism! And Some Melancholy, Too!

Shai Agassi and T. Boone Pickens. Not two names you'd expect to see together. And sure, at first glance one may "trust" Mr. Agassi more than Mr. Pickens. I mean...what could that old oil man Mr. Pickens' motives possibly be with his suddenly altruistic urge to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Well, making money of course! And what the heck is wrong with that? Didn't I already mention last week that where making money and helping the environment align, it's all good?

As for Mr. Agassi, he left SAP a year ago and is trying to set up a newfangled electric car and electric fueling infrastructure grid in Israel. Thomas Friedman writes about these two folks in yesterday's New York Times. I found the op-ed inspiring and hope you do too.

On the less inspiring side is Ford Motor Company, which according to financial analyst Eric Fox, is "navigating by rear-view mirror." Last week, Ford announced an $8.7 billion loss for its most recent quarter. Ford has relied too heavily on light truck and SUV sales for many years. And now it is fighting for its survival. Are you feeling empathy for Ford? Well, you're likely not a member of the the Sierra Club. Check out this humorous ditty. Seacrest Out!

R.I.P. Randy Pausch

When Did We Become So Pessimistic?

First, a disclaimer. I'm not a conservative or a liberal. I'm a MODERATE. But remember that guy Ronald Reagan? A giddy optimist. But now we have conservative naysayers who all but dismiss Al Gore as being a circus clown.

An op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal politely dismisses Gore's idea to be 100% energy independent and have that energy coming from renewable sources in 10 years as "absurd," and goes on to state, "Maybe other people will start drawing the same conclusion about the man proposing it."

The National Review calls Gore's idea "irresponsible" and "deranged."

Can you imagine technology visionaries being so pessimistic? "Oh, here's what we CAN'T do." Kiss your iPod, your Wii, your ridiculously small and low power consuming laptop, and my brand new Samsung Blackjack II, etc., etc., good bye.

Since when did we become the land of cannots and no-can do's? I wish I could find it, but years ago I read an MIT Technology article stating that U.S. car manufacturers could theoretically attain the ability to mass produce cars that get in the range of 40-50 miles per gallon if they had the will.

So OK, you think Gore is off his rocker? How about low-balling it and shooting for a goal of 50% energy independence and coming from renewable sources in 10 years. BHAGs are widely proclaimed to be good for business. CEOs come up with ambitious BHAGs and they're admired. Gore comes up with one and he is dismissed as a half-wit.

So OK, you don't believe in global warming? OK. Do you feel good that we're largely dependent on nations that would seek to destroy our way of life for the majority of our oil? And incidentally, indulge me and run a test in your back yard or your back terrace. Buy two 6 inch plastic houseplant pots. In one pot, put in a nice batch of potting soil. In the other pot, put in a batch of cigarette butts, road salt, road sand, and maybe some toe nail clippings for good measure. And then buy two identical seedlings from your local garden store and water each pot every two-to-three days. After one month, compare the health of the two plants. Get the picture?

So OK, are you out there saying, "Nuclear is the answer, you big dopes," just like I heard on the Glenn Beck TV program on CNN Headline News last night, complete with the Gov. of Texas touting nuclear power as clean energy? Hey, I'm not Jackson Browne beating the ladies into submission while I sing "live" ditties on 70's "No Nukes" albums. But clean energy? Hmmm...according to Wikipedia, nuclear power plants produce....nuclear waste! And nuclear waste can take from 10,000 to 1,000,000 years to "deal with."

So OK, you're out there saying, "Vinod Khosla and these other greedy bastard Silicon Valley VCs--they don't care about the environment. They just want to make a fast buck." What the hell is wrong with that? Where money and the good of people-kind align, I'll call that altruistic. Oh, and optimistic. Apparently we could use a bit of that right about now.

Pithy Blog Posts Sometimes Backfire

I'm afraid I have to come down a bit on Ben Worthen of the wsj.com's Business Technology blog for a pithy and not terribly well thought out post titled, "The IPhone Makes It Into A Business." Perhaps it's tongue and cheek given the long lines outside AT&T stores on Friday combined with the operational issues which occurred the same day in iTunes server land. But the post starts by going on record saying, "This blog has been skeptical about the rate at which businesses will adopt iPhones. Our take is that most corporate information-technology departments are too conservative to roll out the devices right away. And they won’t want to throw out investments they’ve made in BlackBerrys."

Well: 1) What about those companies (and there are a few out there) that chose to never hop on the BlackBerry bandwagon and have no such impediments? 2) What about the fact that renegade employees, and there are plenty of them, simply can buy an iPhone and figure out how to hack their way onto the corporate email network...and if not, they don't care? Incidentally, plenty of EXECUTIVES do this themselves, or have their exclusive IT assistants do it for them. 3) And what about the companies that ARE hopping on the bandwagon?

Case in point, with the landing of the iPhone on planet 3G, my employer, Oracle, is choosing to include the iPhone among its list of supported devices. The company has unveiled an initial set of applications that run on the iPhone, and don't you think more will roll out over the course of time? So how many folks work at Oracle? I don't know...somewhere around 80,000? If 25% of those folks belly up to the bar, the iPhone population at the big O will exceed that of my hometown.

I expect more from the Journal, and found the post short-sighted, as did a responder who stated, "Of course you’ve been skeptical. That’s why you’re a business journalist. You would never make it in a business responsible for line operation, because you don't have VISION. "

Ouch!

Incidentally, I'm not a hypemaster for Apple or the iPhone. I don't own an iPhone and have no intention of purchasing one in the near term. My AT&T 8525 doesn't work just fine for the time being.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect those of my employer.

Yes, the Bill Clinton Campaign DID Ruin This Song, But...

 If they didn't grab "Don't Stop" from the Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" album, somebody else would have. So this isn't a partisan remark. And here's the thing. After 31 years, "Rumours" still goes down as one of the best of all time. No, I'm not some puffy nostalgist for 70s soft rock. But I give credit where credit is due.

So what's my point? Well, on my drive home from the gym this morning I heard a "Fleetwood Mac" song and thought how much I'd like to hear the "Rumours" album while eating breakfast. Now I don't own any Fleetwood Mac CDs. But I do have a Rhapsody subscription. And although Rhapsody really hasn't kept up with newer services such as Pandora in terms of freshness, flexibility, and social features...and although the Web interface in particular is a bit kludgy (and the client version is notoriously picky vis a vis corporate firewalls), some times I want to design my own listening experience. And other than Napster, I think Rhapsody is the only show in town for subscription music. And yes, subscription music services are pretty much D.O.A. People prefer to stream for free or own their music. Me? I pretty much do all of the above, and although I sometimes wince at the nearly $15/month subscription price for Rhapsody, the Star Trek Food Replicator-like experience of being able to pull down a wide range of music on the fly that I specifically want to hear still thrills me....simple pleasures.

Speaking of which, I just heard a song on Rhapsody that I actually own, and I might STRONGLY recommend that if you're looking for the perfect musical accompaniment for a warm and humid day (in the Bay area we're experiencing about as much humidity as we ever get...not much, but still much moister than usual), that you also shell out a buck and PURCHASE "Everybody Knows You're a Star" by Mellow Drunk. Hardly new, and perhaps not that original, I still think you'll like it. No really. Because I know your musical preferences. Trust me.

The Agony of Defeat

Want to see what death looks like up close? Then you should read today's Wall Street Journal front page article on General Motors. Better yet, join the conversation in this blog posting to vote on which GM brands the company should kill or sell off. My vote: 1) Hummer; 2) Saab. And perhaps Saturn would be better shepherded in someone else's hands.

Said post also includes a link to the aforementioned article. The impact of GM's continued faltering obviously has an enormously negative impact on our nation's economy. Or in layperson's terms: yowsah!

Respect the Office

Don't get me wrong. If you read this blog, you know I consider George W. Bush to be one of the worst presidents of the last 100 years, standing proudly alongside Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover. But too many U.S. citizens confuse freedom of speech with freedom to be disrespectful and show no signs of civility. A lot of people think liberals are particularly guilty as charged. But I'd put folks like Rush Limbaugh squarely in the disrespectful camp as well.

What's my point? I was on vacation last week but still saw the story about how some group in San Francisco is trying to get a measure on the ballot in November to approve changing the name of a municipal sewage treatment center to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. While not a Bush fan, I don't think it's funny or cute. It doesn't reflect well on San Francisco, or for that matter on the U.S. that we would hold the office of the President in such low regard. And so before I blow off my few remaining fingers tonight with some illegal fireworks to commemorate the pending 232nd birthday of the USA, can I simply ask that we respect the office, and show some modicum of civility toward our President? You can loathe him, but don't be a jerk.