Tuesday - November 24, 2009

Not so sure this is a great idea.  Except for MSFT (mis-fit) if it works.

Microsoft (MSFT) kinda reminds me of the old Al Capp cartoon with General Bullmoose.
“If it’s good for General Motors, it’s good for the USA.” Bah.  Most of you too young to recall that.

Hey ... finally felt well enough to get my butt in gear and go see the doctor.  They have just moved to new and more modern offices less then a mile down the road. Or maybe almost a mile. Trouble is, there isn’t any bus from our general area that goes anywhere near there. Forget walking in this weather and anyway, all the damn coughing has played havoc with ribs and stomach. Not to mention chest. Walking is not an option as well when your feet don’t alway perform the way nature intended them to.  So, the wife had to drive me there and sorry to say, she’s now developing what I just had. And she refuses to see a doctor.  Who kind of gave me what for, for waiting so long to see him as I have this chest infection for which the over the counter stuff does nothing.  I’m being long winded again but the reason for all this is my way of leading up to what I read in the instructions that came with the 50mg Doxycycline I was given. I think it’s funny. Here’s exactly what they say.  You couldn’t make it up.

YOU SHOULD TAKE THE CAPSULES EITHER SITTING DOWN OR STANDING UP. 

So I guess I can’t take em while laying flat on my back while reading a book. Which isn’t at all how I read a book anyway.
Standing up or sitting down.  ???  What exactly have I missed?  Must be here somewhere.

OK, bad news on the leaky roof thing and btw, we have a bad “rising damp” problem too. More on those later.

Microsoft makes move on the news

23rd November 2009

Rupert Murdoch has accused search engines such as Google of ‘stealing the news’
Microsoft has held secret talks with some of the world’s biggest media groups over a plan that could see millions of news stories pulled from Google.
In its most direct attack on Google yet, the software giant is understood to have offered to pay news organisations for providing their content exclusively through Microsoft’s Bing search engine.

Microsoft has held discussions with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns The Times and The Sun newspapers, along with a number of other media groups, sources said.
The move would see millions of news stories and feature articles blocked from the Google News service.
Severing his links with Google would represent a huge gamble for Murdoch, who like many other media owners is struggling to adapt to a world where consumers are used to getting news for free.

Google brings millions of visitors to News Corp sites, which in theory should boost the conglomerate’s online revenues.
But Murdoch believes that Google gets the better end of the deal, recently accusing search engines of ‘stealing our stories’.
‘It costs us a lot of money to put together good newspapers and good content,’ the media mogul said last week.

The Times will start charging visitors to its website in the spring, with other titles across the Murdoch empire expected to follow suit.
Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times already charge hefty subscription fees for access to their websites. But experts say this works only because business executives are prepared to pay for their specialised content.

The case for getting consumers to pay for general news is less clear cut.

Online advertising revenues have so far come nowhere near to off-setting the collapse in newsstand and advertising revenues.
One possible solution is a system of micro-payments, where consumers would pay a small sum for each article or story they view.
For Microsoft, the friendly approach to the media industry is a bold statement of intent.

Microsoft re-launched its search engine as Bing this year and looks to be prepared to pay out hundreds of millions to unseat market leader Google.
Microsoft and News Corp declined to comment.

SOURCE

Not too sure about Mr. Murdoch. Are you? 

Posted by peiper     on 11/24/2009 at 11:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Big Business • Economics • USA •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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