p.s. I guess comedians around the world are hoping Obama looses, that will just dry up the political scene for them won't it...

Philadelphia Phillies fans can still dream of their team winning its first World Series since 1980, but Los Angeles Dodgers fans can officially stop believing for 2008.

The Phillies are returning to the World Series for the first time since 1993 after riding ace Cole Hamels to a 5-1 win over L. A. to take the best-of-seven NLCS 4-1.

L. A.'s surprise playoff run, sparked by the late summer arrival of Manny Ramirez, crashed to a halt amidst the wreckage created by another poor NLCS start from Chad Billingsley and three fifth-inning errors by Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal.

Furcal had made only four errors in 36 games this year.

But with runners on first and second and his team behind 3-0, the 31-year-old could not handle Pat Burrell's ground ball.

p.s. I'm guessing Ernie had something else on his mind...

p.s. Comedians might have material post Bush after all.

Here's what I think of this deal - it stinks. Microsoft isn't marrying Yahoo, they're just getting her pregnant, setting her up in a nice apartment and telling her not to talk to any other guys.

Forget the flowerly language about how this deal "strengthens Yahoo's competitive position" (Yahoo press release) or "is good for competition" (Google blog post). Both are flat out lies. The deal crushes any notion of a competitive search advertising market and turns Yahoo's search and search marketing efforts into the undead.

Bottom Line

Yahoo has pissed off shareholders and a looming meeting - they can't ignore reality much longer. And reality says Yahoo's future is bleak. They continue to lose market share, they have serious brain drain and morale has never been lower.

I can't help but wonder what the digital advertising playing field would have looked like had Yahoo! taken the (first offered - they had the opportunity to buy DoubleClick before Google or Microsoft were even involved) DoubleClick Deal. Would that have given them the boost they needed? Would that have forced Google to compete against Microsoft in a bidding war to acquire Yahoo! ? Or, perhaps most realistically, would that have created a more even digital advertising war between the, then 3 now 2, major players in the industry.

A very senior exec at my office mentioned he might take me to a Celtics vs. Lakers game if it happened... let's keep our fingers crossed... and Michael, if you're reading this, start making some phone calls!

A little something for JK.

Sunset over The tower of David in Jerusalem

A tiny country with endless talent, constant turmoil, and a full history celebrates today. Happy birthday!

Google Israel

I have been a die hard Laker fan since the early days of Kareem and Magic. The Lakers dominated the Western Conference this year and are dominating in the post season. I think Kobe deserves this title and I hope he will lead the Lakers to another championship!!

I love playoff time, 40 games in 40 nights!! Kobe is killing Utah right now in game 2 and the crowd has not stopped cheering loudly since the end of the regular season.... "M.V.P. M.V.P." they got what they wanted... now it's Kobe's turn to deliver.

Can't wait for LOST tonight!!!

After some speculation that Israel's air force (IAF) had bombed Syria in September of last year (2007) the New York Times post some more concrete evidence that IAF did, in fact, bomb Syria and that the target was a partly constructed nuclear reactor. This comes 26 years after Operation Opera which was a surprise Israeli air strike against the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.

Israel’s air attack was directed against what Israeli and American intelligence analysts had judged to be a partly constructed nuclear reactor. The Syrians vigorously denied the atomic claim.

Before the attack, satellite imagery showed a tall, square building there measuring about 150 feet long per side.

After the attack, the Syrians wiped the area clean, with some analysis calling the speed of the cleanup a tacit admission of guilt. The barren site is on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, 90 miles north of the Iraqi border.

... As a signer to an agreement with the atomic agency, Syria is obligated to report the construction of a nuclear reactor to international inspectors. Nuclear reactors can make plutonium for the core of atom bombs, and therefore secretive work on reactors is usually interpreted as military in nature.

Senior Syrian officials continue to deny that a nuclear reactor was under construction, insisting that what Israel destroyed was a largely empty military warehouse. ...

There are so many articles talking about this now that's it's hard to understand what really happened there. IMO if Syria was bombed by IAF and they didn't retaliate immediately then they are kind of pleading guilty... but that's just me.

I thought I heard about this last week but I was truly surprised when, of all people, my mom told me she read about Google wanting to buy Skype (the VOIP specialists). Skype, which was bought by eBay for $4.1 Billion back in 2005 wasn't able to provide that financial push that eBay was looking for, I guess Google has bigger plans. The article on The Motley Fool also talks about a rumor that Google is looking at Expedia as well.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why Wall Street hearsay has turned to Google's acquisitive pursuits. The company's move to bow out of the spectrum bidding war frees up billions in greenbacks that would otherwise have been spoken for. The potential Microhoo pairing is fodder for gossipers to dream up retaliatory responses on Google's behalf.

I'll concede that Google pairing up with Skype makes perfect sense. Google has more to gain from a Skype deal than eBay ever did. Google has taken baby steps into the voice chat space, and taking the fast-growing yet poorly monetized Skype off eBay's hands would probably result in cheers from the Google and eBay shareholder camps.

I guess we won't be the new guys for much longer ;)

Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney claims to have heard "from sources in Asia" that Apple has placed a 10 million unit order for 3G iPhones, according to an interview by the iPod Observer. This order for 10 million 3G iPhones would reportedly be above and beyond the original 10 million Apple had planned to sell of the initial version of the iPhone in 2008.

This timeframe could be consistent with recent Page 2 rumors that the 3G iPhone would be coming "in a few months." Multiple reports have claimed that the 3G iPhone would be released in 2008. '3G' is the next generation mobile data technology that allows for much faster internet access on mobile phones. The iPhone currently uses EDGE (2.5G) technology.

Do you iPhone yet??

• Exchange is so on! Changes are pushed over the network, but over WiFi it does check-ins, so it's not as instantaneous.
• There's a new button in the calendar, but we don't know what it is and can't make it do anything.
• The App Store is there, of course, but doesn't do anything yet (except error out that it can't connect).
• Wondering when Apple will make good on its agreement to license Cisco technology? Well, the branded Cisco VPN screen has definitely been added to the VPN settings. We couldn't really test this one, but assume it works as advertised. We don't yet know if it supports SecurID or other hardware token authenticators.
• You can now order your preferred WiFi networks.
• In addition to having a new sideways scientific mode(!), the basic calculator now does commas and has new, useful functions for the math nerds;
• By far our favorite new feature is multi-select in mail, though. Now when you hit edit you can select as many messages as you want and delete or move them as a group. Friggin' finally. Now where's that two-pane client?

Check out the image gallery here.

p.s. Yeah the scientific calculator is nice ;)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Google (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) won unconditional approval from the European Commission on Tuesday to buy rival Web advertiser DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, despite objections from rivals and privacy advocates.

"The Commission's in-depth market investigation found that Google and DoubleClick were not exerting major competitive constraints on each other's activities and could, therefore, not be considered as competitors at the moment," the Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said in a statement.

Let the bistro flood gates open...

UPDATE here are a couple more links that are covering the hottest news in internet history:

Affleck and Kimmel proceeded to grab each others asses right after the premier of this video on the Kimmel show last night (Sunday). The entire interview was full with sexual hints and was a little too much IMO.

Stern recalls how easy it was to shoot Marilyn, “Not more than fifteen minutes had passed since she’d arrived, and already she had agreed to take her clothes off!”, I bet Lindsay was naked in under ten.

Geneva 2/12/2008 - Russia submitted an official request to assemble an international treaty to ban distribution of weapons in space. Moscow warned that denying such a treaty would possible give way to a new cold war. The request, that has already been supported by China, will disallow arming any space shuttles and ban any attacks on satellites from earth.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "Without preventing an arms race in space, international security will be wanting," and added that "the task of preventing an arms race in space is on the conference's agenda. It's time... to start serious practical work in this field." Lavrov continued to mention that the last arms race, for nuclear weapons, lead to the cold war "that lasted four decades and lead to huge wastes of resources" and concluded by asking the crowd "is it really worth it to repeat history?"

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 bans the build up or stockage of military weapons -- including nuclear arms or weapons of mass destruction -- in orbit and their installation on the moon, but not the shooting down of satellites.

I had to reread this article a couple of times to make sure it wasn't a hoax. This is a really interesting initiative by Russia and China. You can read all about it here. My source for this article can be found here.

Isn't it time you visited Israel??

Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo! Inc. Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion. Microsoft's proposal would allow the Yahoo! shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo! shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock on Jan. 31, 2008.

"We have great respect for Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO)!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. "We believe our combination will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders and better choice and innovation to our customers and industry partners."

The New York Times covered this story too... Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion for Yahoo.

Matt Damon Flips Out on Jimmy Kimmel

Today (January 31, 2008) at 10:24 AM PST Cnet's news.com reported that EC expected to approve Google-DoubleClick deal in February. According to "a research note released Thursday by Stifel Nicolaus (which is not a person... just a financial analysis corp.) "European regulators are expected to approve Google's proposed acquisition of online ad firm DoubleClick in February despite circulation of a threat assessment report."

At 3:46 p.m. EST Jan. 31, 2008 (roughly 2 hours after news.com's report) The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch.com reported that Stifel says EU drafts objections to Google-DoubleClick deal. According to "Stifel analysts Blair Levin and Rebecca Arbogast said they continued to believe the commission would approve the deal, first announced in April 2007, but noted the statement raises the prospect that the agency would impose conditions that would make it more difficult for Google to conduct business in Europe."

From my personal analysis of these two articles Stifel isn't exactly contradicting itself in the second article but it does seem like they are kind of betting on both sides. If the deal goes through in February, like the first article suggests, then Stifel is golden. If the deal goes through but the commission imposes impossible conditions (like "Google must break off it's AdSense division" or "Google must sell DoubleClick's Advertising Exchange) then Google might be inclined to take some interesting measures. Of course Stifel would still be golden because their analysts had "predicted" thusly. Now, if the deal doesn't go through I think Stifel is still OK because they attribute the commissions approval to their beliefs.

What I also find interesting is how, if you skim both articles, they seem to contradict each other. While I am no journalism ninja it looks like these two sites, which are fairly big hitters on the internet, are taking sides. As I mentioned before, I think the two articles do not necessarily contradict I feel like the titles do. It might even be that both sites are quoting the same analysts but news.com choose to view the approval while marketwatch.com chose to stress the probability of some sort of imposed conditions that might blow the deal in Europe.

Anyway this all seemed like one big ass covering by Stifel... don't you agree?

How safe is this thing?

It should be very safe. There really isn't much in the way of unproven technology about it with the exception of the composite materials used for its construction. No one knows how these materials will hold up over many flights, but computer models look good.

What will travelers see and feel?

One good thing about SpaceShipTwo is it will only have a single trajectory, and weightlessness will be brief. That means space sickness won't have time to set in. Upset stomachs in zero-gravity are the bane of astronauts. Given the short time of the flight, the decision every passenger is going to have to make is whether to enjoy flying around or looking out the window. The view should be marvelous as long as there aren't too many clouds. Me? I would look out the window. I can get weightless by going scuba diving.

The space shuttle was developed by NASA's finest, but they still lost two of them. Does the private sector really have the know-how and the resources for a venture like this?

The private sector, run by innovative entrepreneurs, definitely has the know-how for a ballistic lob like this, given enough financing. I should point out, however, that carrying passengers to Earth orbit--as the shuttle does--is many magnitudes harder than what SpaceShipTwo is attempting. I look forward to the day when private enterprise takes on the orbital challenge. That's when I think big money is going to be made in terms of space tourism.

p.s Check out this related video titled: British Entrepreneur Unveils Tourist Spacecraft.

I don't travel that much but when I do I like to take my company laptop with me. It might be a geeky thing to do but aside from checking email, which we all know we do on vacation, having a laptop is very useful for a couple of things like:

• Charging your camera or iPod
• Uploading pics to your picasa albums and making room on your SD card (this is especially important on ski trips where video is taken)
• Checking flight status
• Checking weather status

A while ago (I think May of 07) I flew to St. Petersburg, Russia. This was a business trip and I was excited our travel agent had booked a Lufthansa flight because of all the ads they (Lufthansa) had on the subway about free wi-fi to all passengers. Little did I know the whole free wi-fi thing was canceled and Lufthansa, along with other major airlines (like EL AL) found it was just not paying off to provide this service, free or even for $$.

I used to work in shipping, a long long time ago, and I visited a FedEx facility once where they showed us how pallets (those things you load cargo into a plane on) had these barcodes on the top and how they got scanned as they boarded the plane and you (the shipper) could track the package in real time. That was really nice but didn't seem like the invention of the decade. I couldn't figure out why airlines had not introduced wi-fi a long time ago. Apparently it didn't make sense financially but it looks like there is some change on the horizon.

Southwest announced Wednesday that it will test satellite-delivered broadband Internet access on four aircraft this summer, the airline said in a statement.

Southwest passengers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices would have Internet access for e-mail and Web browsing after the tests and subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.

But "Southwest has not embraced voice calling" because of passengers' concerns about cell phone calls made during flights, spokeswoman Brandy King said in an interview. "Voice is not a direction we're taking."

I'm excited, I'm not sure exactly how they will cancel VOIP with voice over http but I wouldn't want to endure the headaches you get on Manhattan buses on a trans-Atlantic flight.

p.s.I understand Jetblue is offering free wifi already.
Check if your next flight has wifi enabled at the definitive guide to airline wifi

Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD DVD after Warner Brothers’ recent backing of Sony’s Blu-ray technology, in a move that will sound the death knell of HD DVD and bring the home entertainment format war to a definitive end.

The Warners move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood’s output, although the format’s grip on film content will increase further when Paramount comes aboard.

It is unclear whether DreamWorks Animation has the same get-out clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp.

However, Paramount and DreamWorks have a close relationship, with Paramount distributing DreamWorks Animation films. The two companies also signed their HD DVD contracts at the same time. Meanwhile, Universal has declined to comment on its next-generation DVD plans since the Warners move.

Another interesting article that is related to this is how Samsung's Head of Digital AV Division, DongSoo Jun, speaks to how HD DVD will be the choice in personal/private format. While DongSoo admits that "blue-ray will win" he argues that personal content (from the PC world) will choose the HD DVD format.

On the Hollywood front, he believes that the Warner announcement was a tipping point. In short, Blu-ray will win. But! HD DVD doesn't have to slink into a grave next to Betamax yet. It will become the chosen format for "private" (that is, personal) content because the format—ahem, Toshiba and Microsoft—has a stronghold in the PC drive market. He expects Toshiba to really concentrate on the PC HD DVD market since it's deader than disco if it loses there.

This is all happening so fast, it's crazy.

High-Definition Knockout

The battle to determine the future of the DVD may be coming to an end. In a blow to Toshiba's (TOSBF) HD DVD movie format, Warner Bros. Entertainment (TWX) announced on Jan. 4 that it plans to begin releasing high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format backed by Sony (SNE) and dozens of consumer electronics and PC industry titans.

Warner's decision could consign the HD DVD format to the dustbin of consumer technologies that delivered on their promise but failed to secure the backing of key decision-makers. Warner had been considered a linchpin in the race for dominance between Blu-ray and HD DVD. The studio has the largest library of movies in the industry and consistently releases many of the biggest hits annually.

Looks like this is all over the news, Foo has blogged about it today too.

Could this be a sign... I'm so fucking bored with TV now it's ridiculous. I think I might have to cancel my cable if this damn strike doesn't end soon. Seriously, all the shows I've been waiting for have been "postponed indefinitely" what the fuck?

Letterman to return in deal with striking writers

Late-night TV host David Letterman reached a deal on Friday with the union for striking screenwriters that will let his show return to the air next week while bringing his writing staff back with him.

The Writers Guild of America called its pact with Letterman's production company, WorldWide Pants Inc, a sign of union readiness to negotiate a deal with major film and TV studios to settle Hollywood's worst labor crisis in 20 years.

The WGA said its "comprehensive agreement" with WorldWide Pants included provisions to pay writers for work distributed over the Internet -- presumably covering the large assortment of advertising-supported video clips of Letterman's show that CBS posts on its Web site.

On a much less serious note, did you know Letterman's production company was called WorldWide Pants, had me giggling a bit...

You can watch the speech below or directly on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhWgZu6tcZU.

Some of the comments are great and all seem to be agreeing.