Under The Bridge (The Bridge)
Your Government at Work: Ah, the digital transition. All that planning. All that money. All those coupons ... and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is apparently having trouble with that 90-day window concept. When the big BIG gov agency contracted with IBM to handle the coupon program they apparently forgot about some of the costs involved with “recycling” unused coupons. Whoops!
The NTIA says it’s all under control. IBM isn’t commenting. And Congress is issuing stern letters.
Whaddya Mean You Don’t Twitter?!!?? Navel-gazing, we now hear, is where it’s at! And companies who aren’t Twittering or Facebooking or otherwise jumping into the me-me-me-you-me-you-me-me world of social networking could be missing out big time. Jeffrey Mann at Gartner tells the BBC that social networking has a lot of potential business uses ... such as recruiting new hires, mobilizing your staff, dodging some of that stodgy old email and just being ... well ... COOL.
Patent Wars: What do you do when the clock is running out and! your od ds of winning a very expensive patent dispute are looking mighty slim? Um ... buy the company that’s suing you? That, speculates Citi analyst Jason Bazinet, might come to pass as Charlie Ergen’s DISH is widely expected to draw the short stick when TiVo patent infringement suit against Ergen comes to a close on Sept. 4. With analysts putting the odds of a TiVo win at well over 50 percent, Bazinet notes that a loss in court would leave DISH with three options:
1) Unplug all those DISH DVRs (yea, right);
2) Pay license fees on all those DVRs; or
3) Buy TiVo
Even at a large premium, Option 3 might not cost all that much more than Option 2. So who knows? Unless he’s got yet another really good legal bob and weave in mind, Charlie just might take it.
Your Government at Work: Ah, the digital transition. All that planning. All that money. All those coupons ... and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is apparently having trouble with that 90-day window concept. When the big BIG gov agency contracted with IBM to handle the coupon program they apparently forgot about some of the costs involved with “recycling” unused coupons. Whoops!
The NTIA says it’s all under control. IBM isn’t commenting. And Congress is issuing stern letters.
Whaddya Mean You Don’t Twitter?!!?? Navel-gazing, we now hear, is where it’s at! And companies who aren’t Twittering or Facebooking or otherwise jumping into the me-me-me-you-me-you-me-me world of social networking could be missing out big time. Jeffrey Mann at Gartner tells the BBC that social networking has a lot of potential business uses ... such as recruiting new hires, mobilizing your staff, dodging some of that stodgy old email and just being ... well ... COOL.
Patent Wars: What do you do when the clock is running out and! your od ds of winning a very expensive patent dispute are looking mighty slim? Um ... buy the company that’s suing you? That, speculates Citi analyst Jason Bazinet, might come to pass as Charlie Ergen’s DISH is widely expected to draw the short stick when TiVo patent infringement suit against Ergen comes to a close on Sept. 4. With analysts putting the odds of a TiVo win at well over 50 percent, Bazinet notes that a loss in court would leave DISH with three options:
1) Unplug all those DISH DVRs (yea, right);
2) Pay license fees on all those DVRs; or
3) Buy TiVo
Even at a large premium, Option 3 might not cost all that much more than Option 2. So who knows? Unless he’s got yet another really good legal bob and weave in mind, Charlie just might take it.
