archive: bryce.weblogs.com

coming up for air

Through the window, the clouds have been dancing before my eyes this afternoon making all sorts of magical patterns (Lee: this would have been something for your time lapse photography) and Mt. Hood looks absolutely georgeous with the sun highlighting its peak.

On this side of the glass, my desk is full of papers as I try to wrap some things up before 2001 ends. Expect me to keep a low profile for a while. Best wishes and I'll see you in 2002 -- sometime before the groundhog surfaces I hope.

afternoon news break

Microsoft touts its MSN users spent $5.6B online during the 2001 holiday season. Meanwhile, Yahoo shoppers spent $10.3B online in Q4.

And Apple reports that its retail stores are losing money. On the cost side, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took a $1 salary in 2001.

NYTimes: "One company that specializes in blocking spam, BrightMail, said unsolicited e-mail (spam) accounted for 12.8 percent of the mail its corporate clients have received since September, nearly double the share of the previous quarter."

John Dvorak turns philosophic on web entropy.

NYTimes article on Hewlett-Packard: "I don't know how acquiring Compaq helps the printer business," he said. "It seems to be a non sequitur."

The NYTimes also has an interesting article on the CPI -- if you can believe that. The Economist has also released its annual Big Mac Index.

And I noticed on my lunch hour that USA Today has a ridiculous looking cover story graphic today that proclaims the dollar will always reign supreme to the euro. True, it's lost about a quarter of its value since 01/01/99, but it is a very real currency people. I've been following the euro since 1998.

An indepth article raises the question of if Lego has lost its luster? I hope not.

And the ever clever Economist has a smart piece about the history of the Tango. Care to dance?

print-friendliness: now practiced here

I just discovered a cool, relatively new Manila feature: print-friendly versions of Manila pages. To try it out on this site, select the link below.

[Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "uri" hasn't been defined.]

Or select the Print link in the left nav.bar on any page to generate a print-friendly version of that page.

Cool, eh?

slogans

With 2002 now just around the corner, it's time for a change. When this weblog started, it carried this very factual tagline:
"The real-time companion to WebCentreBP, authored by Bryce M. Payne."

After October 11, it became: "Because life is what happens when you are busy making other plans."

Most recently (after I had a reason to smile again), it became: "Because sometimes life makes you cry and sometimes it makes you smile...."

Today, reflecting on this tale, a new theme emerged:
"Never underestimate the power of one."

Onward!

why it's called a web

Loyal readers may recall that last week I recieved an email out of the blue from an old friend of mine. I was so excited to be in contact with him again that I hurriedly wrote back a spirited reply. When I received his reply, I felt like one does in summer camp, when you get a friendly note from another cabin. I posted a small exercpt here. And then something remarkable happened.

A guy named Mark, whom had never been to this site before, happened upon my posting and was moved by it. He then wrote an old friend and took the time to share with me the effect that simple little posting had had on him. I just discovered it today. And now I know why this thing is called a web.

can i just say....

...that Craig's List rocks?

parting thought...

I just came to a stopping point on the project that has come close to defining my existence for the past few days and am heading out. I wanted to pause and wish you a very happy holiday and also let you know that I will be taking a few days off from my web log. Now you know.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. I hope it's a good one.

warm fuzzy

I got an email from an old friend in Denmark yesterday. We had lost touch and it was really exciting to hear from him again. I instantly wrote back. Today I found this in my inbox:

"....cool, cool cool. What more is there to say. Do
you know the feeling of
opening your mailbox and getting goose bumps
because of an unexpected
email?

Well, that one was yours. I really like the
feeling of being in touch with
you again...."

Me too.

weekly news rewind

A grey Friday morning provides a good time to highlight a few of the news stories that caught my eye this week.

Deciding that a magazine is not the way to extend its brand,
Expedia opens wired cafe at LAX. I'm surprised it has taken this long. As far back as 1997, I have been clamoring for a chain of easyEverything-style airport net cafes. The density of traffic is there, the demographic is there, it's never seemed like rocket science. Why not sooner? Starbucks? Anyone...?

NYTimes: "Internet sales, while growing more slowly than in past years, are expected to increase by about 30 percent, according to recent surveys."

And a new survey finds that
many workers shop online during lunch breaks: "Office Internet access is turning out to be a perk for employees who need to do holiday shopping, with almost half of traffic to online stores occurring during work hours." I appreciate my internet access at work, but online shopping is not my drug of choice. Email is.

"Bruised and Battered Brands," a study by San Jose, Calif. brand-marketing firm Liquid Agency Inc. and three other marketing firms has found HP's Carly Fiorina was ranked the chief executive who most damaged her company's brand in 2001: "She has taken a brand that was growing steadily and cast it into chaos, for no good reason."

Seattle Thermos maker buys a classic: "The Stanley bottle is truly an icon in our industry," said Robert Harris, president and founder of Pacific Market. I just hope they don't destroy the legacy of the green Stanley bottle. I've always wanted one.

And on the .Net front, Micrsoft PR has let trickle the first of its .Net deals with Monster.com. A few days ago, Dave Winer made an interesting point about XP.

Oregonian: "Portland International Airport will launch new international air service between Portland and Cancun, Mexico, on Wednesday." Now if only it were a regular carrier.

If you've seen a story worth mentioning, feel free to share it via the Discuss link below. What have you been reading this week?

i do

A friend emailed me this afternoon, noting that my weblog hasn't been updated in a while. Surely, my friend wondered, don't I have anything to say? Well, for those inquiring minds, I do.