Archive for December 25th, 2007
Posted by: in Latest News
Filed under: Deals, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
Christmas is as good a time as any to announce a deal I suppose, and buying a conglomerate consisting of 125 manufacturing and service companies is probably Warren Buffett’s preferred means of celebrating.
For $4.5 billion, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) will get 60% of Marmon Holdings, with plans to acquire the rest over the next 5 or 6 years at a price to be determined by the company’s future profitability. According to the press release, the company’s operations are pretty diverse:
… Wire & Cable, serving energy related markets, residential and non-residential construction and other industries; Transportation Services & Engineered Products, including railroad tank automobiles and intermodal tank containers; Highway Technologies, primarily serving the heavy-duty highway transportation industry; Distribution Services for specialty pipe and tubing; Flow Products for the plumbing, HVAC/R, construction and industrial markets; Industrial Products including metal fasteners, safety products and metal fabrication; Construction Services, providing the leasing and operation of mobile cranes primarily to the energy, mining and petrochemical markets; Water Treatment equipment for residential, commercial and industrial applications; and Retail Services, providing store fixtures, food preparation equipment and related services. Member companies employ approximately 21,000 people and operate more than 250 manufacturing, distribution and service facilities, primarily in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and China. Collective revenues total approximately $7 billion.
In the press release announcing the deal Buffett added that the deal was done without any consultants or studies.
Here’s something to think about. A huge percentage of deals fail to create value for the acquirer, in spite of millions spent on studies and consultants. Warren Buffett has built one of the greatest businesses of all time through acquisition without consultants and studies. Hmm…
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Posted by: in Business News
Filed under: Business, Social Software, web 2.0
 With everyone and their cousin busy idea farming for the next monster Web 2.0 social media community site, there are going to be some oddities. And Product Clash, despite the “sounds good on paper” concept, is shaping up to be one of them.
The idea is this: you have a bunch of products like game consoles, cameras, or mp3 players and match them up against a similar product in a 1-on-1 “clash.” After registering for a Product Clash account, you can then vote for your favorite item of consumer merchandise by clicking on a link called “clash this!” You can also leave behind comments and blog about the clashes or click an affiliate link to order the item.
Right. But there are some obvious problems. For one, if the site is attempting to break into the comparison shopping niche by disguising itself as a social media site it’s in trouble because it isn’t any good at either. Besides a rundown of technical data, it has very little information on the products. That, and outlets for fanboys/girls of virtually any product are countless.
The World wide web already saturated with resouces on consumer electronics, the future of Product Clash looks like a long uphill battle if not outright grim. Although it is still in beta, a large problem remains: “clashing” products just isn’t very much, well, fun. And a glossy Web 2.0 interface isn’t going to help.
[via TechCrunch]
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Filed under: Business, Design, Developer,
Springnote is a powerful browser based note taking system. You can forget about the standard text only inputs that many online note tools offer, this application has the capability to drop in images, attach files and organize layout at will. Its wiki style note taking system allows pages of content like todo’s, monthly calendars and plans to be created with Word like functionality and tools with tags, change history, folder hierarchy and page bookmarks for more important content. Springnote’s can also be shared between friends for reading or collaboration.
Perhaps the most important feature of Springnote is the ability to import and export notes. Downloading options include HTML, XHTML and Send to a Blog or use anywhere else. Importing can be done using MS-word docs, .txt, HTML or OpenDocument .odt formats. Springnote has an open API and unlimited storage of text files with 2GB file storage available. There are tons of Springnote mashups that you can utilize to expand the functionality of your account, including IM, Flickr, and Firefox toolbar integration.
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Posted by: in Business News
Filed under: Business, Internet, Google, Microsoft, Beta
 Q: Who doesn’t know about Google docs http://docs.google.com/?
A: 73% of Americans.
Q: Who doesn’t use Google docs?
A: 94% of American computer users.
Q: How come?
In a word? Platform. Google Docs (still in beta, still free and still without commercial interruption) is a leap forward into online office applications and requires a paradigm shift for desktop-comfy workers. Working online is new and uncharted territory where few business users have gone before.
Owning a corps of loyal followers can codify a new product or dissuade newer ones from taking your market share. With perhaps one of the most recognized names among all levels of on the web users, how does Google fail to own the market already for its online docs with American users when more high-priced suites like Microsoft Office are ubiquitous among US small businesses?
Continue reading The Google Docs Divide
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Posted by: in Business News
Filed under: Business, World wide web, Office, Web services, Beta, web 2.0
The wait is over, DocSyncer is out of beta and open for all to use. This downloadable application allows Personal computer based users of Microsoft Office and Google Docs to seamlessly sync documents.
DocSyncer is a downloadable application that sits on your computer and automatically finds and syncs all of your document files to your Google Docs account. When it’s running, it checks all of your documents and syncs them as they are updated to create a solid backup and work anywhere system. Word and Excel based files can be opened directly from the web interface, and there is support for TXT, CSV and RTF formats.
Perhaps one of the coolest features is the ‘disconnected’ mode. If you are disconnected from the internet, DocSyncer will auto recognize it and load the document locally in the default application without trying to connect to the web.
Continue reading Sync Microsoft Office documents with Google Docs using DocSyncer
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Posted by: in Business News
Filed under: Business, Office, Google, Microsoft, Holiday Gift Guide
Each year, small businesses struggle with the customer appreciation gift. Should we give one to every client? Only to new clients? What about long-term clients? Should we order pre-printed (and clever) cards? And the big question: how much is this going to cost?
 Saying thanks to our clients in a superior fashion is something we set out to do last winter during the re-creation of our branding model. We rebuilt our logo, changed colors, formalized templates, printed letterhead, stickers and designed mail-ready new-client packets and generally upgraded our schwag. It was time for us to have something to hand out besides business cards.
That’s why we don’t send out holiday gifts anymore; heck, we don’t send out “winter holiday” cards anymore. Instead, we thank our clients all year long. With a simple Access database, we keep track of each client who’s referred business to us and we send a handwritten note (on those new branded and printed cards we designed) and a small gift card to an omnipresent store. First referral? A five-dollar Starbucks card. Second referral? A somewhere-else gift card. If a referral turns into business? A bigger Target or Paneras card is coming your way inside a handwritten custom-branded notecard. If you’re local, it might be a lunch gift certificate at a restaurant (also a client).
Continue reading Tis the Season for Small Business Gifts
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Filed under: Business, Internet, Google
We don’t know about you, but we can’t count the number of times that we’ve visited a web site, seen the limited number of ads in the sidebar and thought to ourselves, “wouldn’t it be great if there were more links I could click on that would take me to pages where people want to take my money?”
OK, we might be kidding (or we might not, you be the judge). But Google is apparently testing out a way to let web publishers insert a more massive number of ads in a small space. Here’s how it works. Google adds tiny up and down arrows at the bottom of the new AdSense units. If you click on the down arrow, the ad will scroll and you’ll see a whole new page of contextual links. Hit the up arrow to go back to the first page.
Now, the reason AdSense works so well for Google and web publishers is because people do click on ads sometimes. If you’re visiting a web site about widgets and there’s an ad for a widget generator, that link might be as relevant as anything else on the internet page. But we’re not sure we know too many people who will go out of their way to scroll through the ads to find more paid listings. That’d be sort of like flipping channels when a TV program resumes just so you can find more commercials.
[via Google Blogoscoped]
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Posted by: in Business News
Filed under: Business, World wide web, Social Software, web 2.0
 Adorable shoes. Where did you get them? What do you mean you don’t know where the store is? Oh, you got them from an on the web store.
OK, well who told you about the internet site? What do you mean, you don’t know? Oh, really. You found another web site where users get to submit and vote on product deals and you just followed the link. So what you’re saying is that a committee of people you’ve never met before essentially got together and helped you find the best place to buy your shoes. Cool. We wonder if that would work for things like personal, video games, automobiles, books, and pretty much anything else.
One of the things that sets Web 2.0 stores apart from their predecessors is the social layer. Whether you’re speaking user suggestions, ratings, or reviews, the data you can find in the comments section of many on the internet stores is often more valuable than the official descriptions. What’s your favorite shopping site with a social bent?
Continue reading Open Web Awards: Social Shopping
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Posted by: in Business News
Filed under: Audio, Business, Fun, Internet, Video, Blogging, Web services, Google
 YouTube is expanding their partnership with independent video creators who are looking for not only a tiny more distribution, but also a tiny extra cash.
The YouTube Partner Program is now opening to anyone within North America. The current 100 high profile partners include Mr Chocolate Rain, the NBA, Universal Music Group, Victoria Secret, National Geographic and many other larger as well as smaller contributors. There are some specific requirements that one must have in order to become a partner. You need to create original videos, have the right to use any copyrighted sound. You also need to be a resident of the US or Canada. In order to get started you must meet the stipulations and submit an application available here, and cross your fingers.
Will we see a halt to all the outrageous YouTube content? We doubt it, and we sure hope not! But the serious creators can finally get rewarded for their efforts to expand the community into a serious on the web television channel.
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Posted by: in Business News
Filed under: Audio, Business, Design, Developer, Finance, World wide web, Video, Blogging, Productivity, Web services, Yahoo!, Beta
 Yahoo! is getting ready to take the wrapper off TechTicker, an on the internet program aimed at technology investors.
TechTicker specifically targets technology stocks in a portal type environment. The new program will offer streaming video, blog posts and breaking news targeting the technology investment sector. The portal and show which are said to be launching in January 2008, pick up where Yahoo! Finance Vision left off in 2002. Thankfully high speed connections are far more common in 2007 and better video compression tools are available to make world wide web based shows a feasible reality, rather than a pipe dream (no, we’re not poking fun at Yahoo! Pipes, ok, maybe just a little). As for the other financial information that will be displayed, we assume it will resemble what Yahoo! Finance already does, but targeting technology specific companies.
With Yahoo! Finance high on the list of financial sites, TechTicker could be headed for great things. Of course, track records aside, we will have to wait for the roll out in order to really decide.
Check out what Yahoo! Finance Vision looked like back in the day.
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