XPLANE.COM > bBlog / Archive: November 2006

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Why the Boo.comeback makes sense

November 30th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Ecommerce

“There has been much discussion lately, most of it negative (you can read more comments on Technorati), about the comeback of boo.com and once again, I find myself on the opposite side of the shared wisdom. Before I go into reasons as to why I think a comeback by Boo.com (a boo.comeback?) makes sense, let me first go into my unique qualifications to make such an assessment: I happen to have worked at Boo.com in the past and I was the insider who exposed some of the challenges the company had faced. I spent a fair amount of my time, in 2000 and 2001, talking at conferences about the lessons learned from this failure and I think that some of those are now fixed.”

The Complete, Unquestionable And Total Failure of Information Security

November 29th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Technology

“It is time to admit what many security professionals already know: We, as security professionals, are drastically failing ourselves, our community and the people we are meant to protect. Too many of our security layers of defense are broken. Security professionals are enjoying a surge in business and growing salaries and that is why we tolerate the dismal situation we are facing. Yet it is our mandate, first and foremost, to protect. The ramifications of our failure are immense.”

My Fight Against Inappropriate Ads

November 29th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Advertising

“I’ve used advertising at this site since its inception. The income keeps me motivated to provide quality content. I experiment with different ad formats from time-to-time, but I try to keep them as innocuous as possible. My greater concern is screening inappropriate advertisers. Because the words ‘get rich’ are in the name of the site, Google Adsense frequently sticks ‘get rich quick’ ads in my articles. I hate this.”

Yahoo!’s Misguided Manifesto

November 28th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Business

“So, now heads must roll at Yahoo!. If so, I’d like to nominate the first one: Brad Garlinghouse. Who is Brad Garlinghouse? He’s the Internet’s own Charlie Brown, a Yahoo! senior vice president prone to griping about peanut butter in his fatuously titled ‘Peanut Butter Manifesto,’ in a stark revelation of the managerial crisis that has swamped Yahoo!’s headquarters, is being taken far too seriously.”

How to work from home

November 28th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Entrepreneurship

“The benefits of working from home are obvious. If you’re a regular employee: you skip the commute and there are no office distractions for the day. If you’re an entrepreneur: reduced overheads, no commuting and a congenial working environment.”

Five simple rules for keeping an empty inbox

November 21st, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Email

“If your email volume is anything like mine, it’s totally insane. Thousands of messages constantly streaming in and, only a tiny fraction of those are messages you need to see. Surprising then, that only a few years ago I was literally living inside Microsoft Outlook. Rigid folders, the nightmarish rules ‘wizard’, and that annoying inbox chime that dings regardless of which folder your new distraction message ultimately wound up. I completely believe that Gmail saved my life. Okay, that’s pushing it. Gmail didn’t save my life. What Gmail (and a little bit of GTD-inspired respect for my own time) did was save my attention span. Some careful filtering and a bit of common sense returned a half hour or more of uninterrupted concentration per day. “

Incorporate text files onto your desktop

November 21st, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Technology

“You’ve gotten into the habit of stowing away information into text files. But how do you make sure your todo.txt doesn’t languish in the dark depths of your hard drive, untouched? If you keep your daily worklog, grocery shopping list, todo’s, project ideas or even your calendar in text files, you can embed that information right onto your Windows desktop automatically with free Windows system monitoring software, Samurize.”

My 50 favorite blogging resources

November 20th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in The Web

“There are thousands of blogging related resources on the Internet which can create an overwhelming experience for anyone looking to get into blogging. Because of this I created a list of blogging resources that I use on a regular basis. Here is a list of 50 blogging resources that can be helpful to any individual and corporation looking to get into blogging or wanting to learn more about it.”

Add graphics to your blog, book, or presentation

November 20th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Presentations

“People pay attention to graphics. They respond to graphics. They learn from graphics. If you want your readers/learners/audience to ‘get’ something as quickly and clearly as possible, use visuals. And you don’t have to be a graphic artist, designer, or information architect to put pictures in your presentation, post, or book. This post is my first attempt to categorize the kinds of graphics I do here, and offer tips for creating visuals that tell the story better and faster than words.”

Yahoo’s “Peanut Butter” Memo Calls for Big Headcount Cuts

November 19th, 2006 | Comments Off | Posted in Business

“This critical, internal Yahoo memo was being forwarded all over the place late yesterday, and made the WSJ this morning. The author is allegedly Brad Garlinghouse, a Yahoo senior V.P. I’m guessing this was written with full knowledge it would be forwarded outside the company, but it still has some strong statements about Yahoo’s fuzzy strategy, its duplicate properties, and its messy structure. Among other things, it calls for 15-20% cut in headcount, which should get traders busy on Monday.”

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