On The Turning Away

Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than material force, that thoughts rule the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

In yet another sign of social networking migrating from the PC to the mobile phone, Yahoo has quietly launched an experiment service that offers mobile-phone subscribers the ability to send text messages and share videos and pictures among friends.

Meanwhile, MySpace - perhaps the most well-known social networking site - has taken a plunge after dipping its toes in wireless water in the spring. In April, the social networking site struck a partnership with Cingular Wireless to let subscribers get short text messages when new comments or friend requests get posted to their MySpace profile; in May, it began working with youth-oriented wireless carrier Helio to offer social-networking services based on GPS phones. Rabble is another GPS-based service. Microsoft is testing mobile software, called SLAM, that would provide personal locator services, as well as messaging and photo sharing.

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KKR, the storied buyout firm, seems to be angling for opportunities in China’s booming technology and telecom sectors by tapping two senior industry insiders, Liu Guanzhi - founder of computer maker Lenovo Group and president of its partial parent, Legend Holdings - and Edward Tian Suning - telecom entrepreneur and former CEO of China Netcom, China’s second-largest landphone company.

KKR came to Asia relatively late - only opening offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo last year. However, the allure of enormous opportunities in China propelled KKR to elevate its presence there. Liu is a legend in China, being one of the first-generation of home-grown private entrepreneurs of modern China. By contrast, Tian is a returnee who polished his academic and business expertise in the US before founding the first Nasdaq-listed Chinese company, AsiaInfo and then China Netcom. Together, they will help KKR “better understand the local business environment as well as develop unique business and government relationships.”

Feelin’ a bit wacky or cranky today? It’s not the September-like warm weather or the newly lit Christmas tree at the Rock Center that draws even more pedestrian traffic. It’s National Meth Awareness Day, mind you.

Well, some amusing comments at Wonkette -

“methamphetamine = bourgeois & middle-class suburbanites;
marihuana = burnouts, surfers, & literature majors;
lsd = bad writers & worse musicians;
peyote = Indians (non-macaca), 60s “revolutionaries” getting back to their roots in retirement, & hard rock artists who don’t want to be seen as hard rock artists (think: Maynard from Tool, those asshats in the Icarus Line (are they even together anymore?))”

Who knew?

Word is out that “Cyber Monday” sales beat “Black Friday”: $608 million on Nov. 27 vs $434 million last Friday.

The survey from market researcher comScore also said sales were up 26% from last year, driven by bigger ticketed items like jewelry and consumer electronics. In comparison, during the first 27 days of November this year, total online retail spending reached $9.48 billion, marking a 24% increase versus the year-ago period. The usual suspects, eBay, Amazon andWalmart.com, lead the pack by taking the top three spots and CyberMonday.com, Shop.org’s online hub for holiday season discounts, attracted 300,000 U.S. visitors on Monday - not bad for a site that is only a couple of weeks old.

And more people shop at work: Web traffic from work to the Holiday eShopping Index grew 10% week over week on Monday. Go figure.

“Get me out of this job?” is the top hit at Digg, at 3492 and counting!

“Work… Thursday Morning, weekends near and really just can’t be bothered doing any work. …This morning, came into work, to find my work had been handed back to me…I have a deal for digg users! I will go and tell my boss where to get off and what I actually think of her…how she looks like a man, sounds like a man and laughs like a man, on one single condition.”

“Most people won’t take this post, seriously, but… If this post reaches the homepage of digg, I will tell my boss what I honestly think about her and that I quit… and go to the pub. Happy Digging!”

Is it a clever (read: desperate) viral marketing plot to showcase Digg’s potential in making your geek page a hit on Google’s AdSense?

Not content with HuffPo’s spectacular success, the ever upward mobile Arianna announced on NYT that her eponymous news blog site is “to produce reported pieces that were expressed with individual voices” on top of a mix of opinion and breaking news from wire services and other sources.

With about 2.3 million unique visitors a month, Arianna, eyeing the 2008 presidential election, wanted to take the site to another level by hiring a heavyweight from…where else, old media. Melinda Henneberger, a print journalist most recently a contributing editor to Newsweek magazine and has been writing a book for the last two years about women voters, is to sign on as HuffPo’s political editor. Bring ‘em on.

As they take up broadband, that is, according to the Guardian, citing a new research from the telecoms regulator Ofcom that painted a similar picture to that in the US. It nonetheless highlighted the threat posed by the Web to traditional media.

However, Brits “pay less for mobile phone, TV and internet services” than their counterparts in Europe and the US, thanks to the proliferation of “free” broadband, bundled products and fierce competition has kept prices down. British web users turn away from TV and national newspapers once they have broadband but although 17% say they listen to less traditional radio, 43% listen to radio on the web at least once a month, similar to the trend on the continent.

And decidedly good news for BBC: Despite the turn away from old media, the report shows 64% of Brits believe public service broadcasting is “definitely necessary”. When it comes to social media or user-generated content, Brits are taking it in stride - 34% of British broadband users have looked at them versus 38% have watched the news online.
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Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.
- Voltaire (1694-1778)