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Friday Round Up
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Friday round up. Here it goes…Â
Good bye Provo Labs aggregator, hello Connect Blogs!
I just got dumped by the Provo Labs aggregator! It looks like someone at Provo Labs finally figured out that I haven’t been with the “company” for about half a year. My traffic dropped off by 25% when I was first dumped but then it was back up to normal levels within a week.
I can’t wait for the Connect Blogs to get up and running all the way (it’s still in beta). Its going to be much cooler than the P. Labs aggregator. It may surprise you to learn that the original Connect Blogs was actually an idea hatched out of 10Speed Media. The original business plan at 10Speed Media had us building blog networks for major media outlets and then using those outlets as promotional vehicles for our clients. Judd Bagley and I met with Colin at the Tucanos in Provo last March and set the plan in action. We actually paid for the original development of Connect Blogs - that’s why you also saw the “powered by 10Speed Media” line on the site until about a week ago (10Speed has gone the way of the dodo but that’s for another post).
So, I’m glad to see at least one positive thing come out of 10Speed Media.
Linkedin Raises $13M
Linkedin just raised $13M putting their valuation at $250M. Arriginton thinks they are positioning themselves for an IPO. About the time that Linkedin started I was dabbling in social networking. Crap, why didn’t I think of this?Â
Interviewed by Inc. Magazine
Speaking of Linkedin, on Tuesday I was interviewed by David Freedman at Inc. Magazine for a story on Linkedin and social media. Check out David’s new book - A Perfect Mess and look for his article with quotes from yours truly on the next couple of months.  Â
Hillary Clinton
I’m going to go out on a limb right now and predict that Hillary Clinton will not be the next President. Not only will she not be the next president but she won’t even have her parties nomination. There are too many things in the news that indicate that her support among key insiders is gone. what’s more, only 4 out of 10 registered Democrats support her. My prediction is Obama will have the nomination.
Books
I’ve been reading like a maniac lately. Here’s a round up on what I have read in the last month:
- Hiding in Plain Site. The book was poorly written and some key information went without outside sources but its was still an interesting read.
- China, Inc. If you read this blog post you don’t need to read the book.
- The Naked Capitalist. Excellent review of Quigley’s Tragedy and Hope by Cleon Skousen.
- The Naked Communist. Excellent rebuke of Karl Marx and his crap philosophy by Cleon Skousen.
- None Dare Call it Conspiracy. Excellent book on the history of global banking and the socialist movement.
- Awakening to our Awful Situation. A careful comparison between our times and the Nephite civilization of 2000 years ago. I highly recommend this book.
In the queue I have:
- Collapse by Jared Diamond. This is a study on how societies choose to fail or succeed.
- Blowback by Chalmers Johnson.Â
- A Perfect Mess by David Freedman (see above)
Can you recommend a good book for me?
Podcasting
I finished editing several podcasts this week. I’ll post them on Podango and Rocky Mountain Voices next week. More to come.Â
Final Note on Sundance
Sundance turned out to be a dud for Podango. We were supposed to be in some club with the people from Absolut Vodka but the Absolut people forgot to get a liquor license and had to shut down their events. Imagine that!
Also, no 4 am departures from the Heber airport this year. Thank you Hollywood freaks. Â
Rollins out at Dell
Kevin Rollins has been fired by Michael Dell. Here’s a quote from Dell: “Kevin has been a great business partner and friend. He has made significant contributions to our business over the past 10 years. I wish him much success in the future.”Â
Translation:Â Rollins was fired.
Let me guess - accounting improprieties, defective products and slipping market share to HP were probably more than the board could tolerate. Don’t even get me started on their India-based customer support group.
I wonder if BYU will still keep the Rollins Center for eBusiness? Kind of embarrassing for the school if you ask me.
Trump should join RollinsÂ
Apparently Donald Trump tried to negotiate a Playboy shoot for newly rahabbed Miss USA, Tara Conner. Boy, what a scumbag. So porn is OK but drugs aren’t? Nice one, Donald -Â you chump!
Billionaire Boom
Speaking of Billionaires, I want to leave you with this excellent commentary by Arnaud de Borchgrave of the Washington Times. It’s a great read on the current state of our society.
The Secret
Has anyone seen the movie The Secret? It’s about the law of attraction. if you’ve seen it, do you recommend it? Why or why not?Â
Finally…
When the heck is PayPerPost going to die? I HATE this company and I especially can’t stand this clown. You’ve got to love the Calacanis hit jobs on these guys. It’s great to read and I agree with Jason 100%! Die, PayPerPost. DIE!
Have a great weekend!
I have the book… It is great!
Left by Cory on 02/02/2007which one, dude? I’ve talked about 10 different books here.
Left by Chris Knudsen on 02/02/2007I’ve seen the secret. It seems weird at first, but it has great stuff in it. I can see some people thinking its bunk, but it’s a great message about the power of the mind, our emotions and our thoughts.
Left by Russell Page on 02/02/2007Chris, have you read As A Man Thinketh? Good book and actually Adam Eshenroder says it’s similar to The Secret, which I haven’t seen.
Left by Richard K Miller on 02/05/2007Thanks, Richard. I’ll pick it up.
Left by Chris Knudsen on 02/06/2007Thanks for saving me the time on Hiding in Plain Site. Awakening to our Awful Situation sounds interesting.
Mere Christianity has been the most impactful book I’ve read in a long time. I’m going back through chapter-by-chapter and reading other books to better formulate my ideas on the concepts he brings up.
As a follow up to Mere Christianity, a friend recommended that I read Strangers in a Strange land. I really didn’t like this book. The setting for the book was interesting, but the authors ideas were very poorly supported and pretty much garbage IMO.
I’m almost finished with The Kingdom and the Crown series by Gerald Lund about the life of Jesus. While it is definitely more casual reading, I have picked up a lot of perspective about the setting and culture surrounding the life of Jesus. This has been a very worthwhile read.
I read For Whom the Bell Tolls. That was an interesting commentary on the impact of war on individuals.
I just got The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins. Collins is a world-renowned scientist who is (was?) the head of the Human Genome project. I’m curious to see what he has to say about reconciling his love for science with his belief in God. This month, though, I feel like doing more programming than reading, so I’ll probably slack off quite a bit.
Left by Sean Roylance on 02/10/2007