Gawker
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recessionomics
You Call This a Downturn?
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has measured this recession against past ones and found it wanting. It will take more than twice as many layoffs before it counts as "harsh." Take that, doom-mongers!
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By Owen ThomasComment by eXXX: If it's not that bad then why does it seem like it? Are they only measuring with layoffs? 5 Responses | Other threads
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literacy
Internet Not Responsible for Rise in Reading, Says Luddite
Reading is up! But don't dream of crediting the Internet for that phenomenon. Dana Gioia, the Bush-appointed chair of the National Endowment of the Arts, would sooner give himself a papercut. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by BadUncle: Getting market data from a poet is like hiring a weaver to fix your disposal. 9 Responses | Other threads
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stats
October e-commerce up a humiliating 1 percent
The accompanying chart from TechFlash says it all: Online sales just aren't growing anymore. October's 1 percent growth over October 2007 is the worst performance measured by ComScore since they began tracking stats in 2001. TechFlash quotes Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the research firm: "We can only hope that the recent sharp drop in oil prices will cause a continued easing of inflation and a strengthening in consumer spending as [we] enter the critical holiday shopping season." We can only hope? Dude, we can get down on our knees and pray.
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By Paul BoutinComment by loslosbaby: We're in the e-commerce business as a store provider and its looking good for our stores now. It all... more » | Other threads
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meltdowns
Worldwide financial crisis may only last another eight months
The financiapocalypse? So 2008. The economy may start growing again in the second half of next year. July? That's practically next month. Too bad about your job, though: Unemployment is expected to peak at 7.7 percent in December 2009. [WSJ]
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: But unemployment lasts 26 weeks, right? Add that to the vacation time I have saved up, and I'm good... 1 Responses | Other threads
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discrimination
Valley companies half as likely to have a woman on board
A press release from Spencer Stuart, the executive recruiting firm, celebrates a "milestone": More than half of the Silicon Valley companies it tracks now have at least one woman on their boards of directors. This is not the accomplishment they would have you think: Among the boards of companies on the S&P 500, 89 percent have at least one woman, and women make up 15.7 percent of S&P 500 directors, versus 8.9 percent in the Valley. Progress, perhaps, but progress that highlights the tech industry's lingering sexism.
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By Owen ThomasComment by nobuggin: You also rarely saw black people at Grateful Dead concerts. Was it racism or are black people just not... 2 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Facebook grows 20 percent in less than three months
At a Salesforce.com event, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that the social network has hit 120 million users — up from 100 million in late August. The company is succeeding in its stated plan to emphasize growth over revenues. A pity that, with the lack of a strong advertising business to support the growth, more users just means more spending on servers. -
online advertising
Nick Denton promises 40 percent reduction in my self-esteem
“Anyone who isn’t prepared for ads to go down 40 percent is crazy.” That's what Valleywag publisher Nick Denton blabbed to the wantrepreneurs at an event in New York last week. AllThingsD reblogger Peter Kafka rolled up Denton's irrational gloom into a big-picture gloom post this morning. There's some good news buried in the middle of Kafka's post: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Migrant Blogger: You're allowed to have self esteem? Nick must not know that. more » | Other threads
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dumbphones
iPhone's image being tarnished by poor people
The Jesusphone is no longer just for privileged white folks. "The strongest growth in users is coming from those earning less than the median household income, particularly since the launch of the iPhone 3G." So says a report from ComScore, which concludes that "lower-income mobile subscribers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to access the Internet, email and their music collections." Awesome. Now I can buy an iPhone 3G without feeling I'm being extravagant. But I can't shake the feeling this study was secretly paid for by RIM. (Photo by r.f.m II)
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By Paul BoutinComment by Trick: It is really sad how tarnished the Mac image has become. Now anyone with $200 left on their credit card think... 9 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Online shopping down
Online shopping is now mainstream enough to be a solid barometer of consumer sentiment. So this news from Hitwise, the website-measurement research house, is disturbing: Traffic to e-commerce sites has been dropping for eight straight weeks. -
stats
Android apps just as unrevolutionary as iPhone apps
Medialets, a company which tracks which iPhone apps users of Apple's smartphone download from the company's iTunes store, reports that Google's Android Market, a similar service, buy mostly the same kind of apps for their Googlephones. Games, shopping, music, and weather predominate. Google launched Android Market with 62 apps, which were downloaded an average of 7,800 times in the first 24 hours they were available. [Medialets] -
stats
Triumph of the sysadmin's will
Wall Street Journal writer Ben Worthen's summary of a new survey of IT employees: "Forty-eight percent were confident in their ability to find a new job, even though they don't believe anyone is hiring." Of course, Ben: Tech workers are Ron Paul-voting, Ayn Rand-reading rugged-individualist übermenschen who believe they can create their own reality through sheer individual brilliance and force of will. Did you need to read a survey to know that?
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By Owen ThomasComment by OletheaEurystheus: I claim bullshit. The people being fired recently just happen to work for tech companies, but in no way would... 1 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Linux industry now worth $25 billion
The Linux Foundation has strategically leaked a report showing that the "Linux ecosystem" — distributors, resellers, support specialists, and other hangers-on of the free-to-download operating system — is now worth $25 billion. Ignore the inevitable quibbling over methodology; what this means is that every open-source entrepreneur out there is going to slap that figure on a PowerPoint slide, trot down to Sand Hill Road, and get funding for the latest open-source boondoggle. The sales pitch: "It's the Linux of distributed databases!" Translation: It's just like Linux, except for the $25 billion.
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By Owen ThomasComment by thekevin: The fact that the Linux industry is worth $25 billion and Linus Torvalds' Net Worth isn't $25 billion is the... 1 Responses | Other threads
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internet famous
Debate's "Joe the Plumber" not cashing in on Web fame
If you weren't live-tweeting the debate last night, you have missed out on all the hoopla concerning Joe the Plumber — the Ohio Mr. Clean doppelganger that asked Obama about his tax plans for small businesses — now being used as the archetype for American blue collar. But it's another Joe, one from Texas, who owns joetheplumber.com and is reaping the rewards. More »
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Comment by Lawrence: He should really sell that domain for 800K, if infact - there's really a buyer. because all it is is 15mins... 1 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Julia Allison's 500,000 imaginary monthly readers
"My mom and Julia spent most of the time comparing their respective startups," Tumblr jockey Nick Noyes blogs about his dinner with New York's notorious nobody, Julia Allison. "Interesting statistic of the night: her site garners 500,000 visits per month." Does Nick mean Julia, or his mom? More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by TheDestructionator: Ah, there I go. She's 5'4" and likes being groped: [www.chickipedia.com] 1 Responses | Other threads
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the chart
Widgets are dead
One goal of the Facebook redesign was to kill pointless widgets that cluttered user-profiles. It's working. When Facebook launched its platform last year, AllFacebook's Nick O'Neil created your typical one-trick app: the Bush Countdown Clock. All it did was sit on a user's profile like a badge, and yet it attracted and maintained over 50,000 users. But with Facebook's redesign, O'Neill's widget and other simple badges like it were moved to a "boxes" tab on user profiles. After the redesign went permanent on September 11, traffic to the countdown clock dropped 60 percent almost overnight. Writes O'Neill: "Widgets have not survived the shift over and my guess is that within a matter of weeks we will see most top-performing widget applications practically disappear." In December 2007, VC Ross Levinsohn said 2008 would be all about "Facebook plus widgets." Maybe that sort of poor prediction explains why he and partner Jon Miller can't find their pot of gold?
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Comment by ShrigeetaEteocles: It's not down for all Facebook apps. I have one that has actually had traffic increase since the new... 1 Responses | Other threads
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cubicle culture
Everyone slacks off at work
In a survey, workers revealed that they spend a fourth of their time online on personal matters. Of the emails they sent at work, 80 percent were personal. Popular sites for goofing off are online trading sites, chatting services, and file-sharing sites. Scandalous! They should be reading blogs instead. [New Zealand Herald]
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Comment by goodstory77: Slacking is really 'potential' labor as opposed to 'kinectic' labor. Seriously. more » | Other threads
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online advertising
Online ad growth cut in half
During the first six months of 2007, display advertising spending online grew 17.7 percent over the prior year. During the first six months of this year, that spending grew only 8 percent. The slowed growth is due to marketers simply spending less money online and off as overall advertising declined 1.6 percent over 2008's first half and 3.7 percent in the second quarter. [TNS]
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Comment by david: If advertising declined 1.6 percent and online advertising grew 8 percent, as you say, that implies marketers are spending more... 1 Responses | Other threads
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google
Chrome's shine dulls as Google browser usage falls
While Google's new browser Chrome got lots of attention, it hasn't amassed many users. Net Applications tracks browser share across 40,000 sites, and Chrome has at best won around one percent of market share, with usage slipping from 0.85 percent to only 0.77 percent since last week. But hey, it's probably still beating Opera. [ComputerWorld] (Image by Miles Goodhew)
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By Jackson WestComment by macbeach: Google: Put a few of your geniuses on a middleware API that splits the differences between Windows, Linux and... 6 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Harvard MBAs the most toxic investment on Wall Street
Ray Soifer, a top-rated banking analyst based in Arizona, has an explanation for the crisis gripping the stock market: Blame Harvard! Soifer has long studied the proportion of Harvard MBAs who pursue careers in finance; when more than 3 in 10 head for Wall Street, it's time for investors to sell, he says. The implication: Harvard MBAs, in aggregate, subtract value. Alas, his study comes out once a year, so it's no use to short-term investors. But we'd love to know what Soifer would find if he studied the correlation of Harvard MBAs heading to the Valley with venture-capital returns. The results would be edifying — especially for investors in Facebook, whose Harvard dropout CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is currently guided by COO Sheryl Sandberg, Harvard Business School '95. (Photo by Harvard Business School)
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By Owen ThomasComment by FarleyYuppers: sounds like mr. Soifer is feeling a bit shafted about not going to harvard. :) 1 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Take this job and love it, if you're working there any more
Scorelogix, a research firm which has created an index of job security, says — no surprise! — that the chances of keeping your job dropped again in August. This was before this week's six-figure layoffs, mind you. The good news? There are some industries where job security is rising. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by SquirrelMaster: I knew I should have listened to those commericals that told me to go back to school and be a... more » | Other threads
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stats
Text-driving much more deadly than drunk driving
Thumb-typing while driving cripples your control of the steering wheel by 91 percent, and your reaction time by 35 percent, reports England's Transport Research Laboratory. That's far worse than booze or pot, which degrade response times by 12 and 21 percent, respectively. Still, the best reason to pull over is efficiency: The study's subjects fumbled with their phones for an average 63 seconds to send one message from behind the wheel, roughly three times as long as when they sat still and paid attention. (Illustration by Mike Kline)
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By Paul BoutinComment by CaliforniaCajun: In other news, MATD (pronounced Matty), or Mothers Against Texting Driving still hasn't been formed because there's no religious group... more » | Other threads
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stats
Two out of three Americans already bored with cloud computing
The latest report from the Pew Internet survey machine says, "69 percent of online Americans use webmail services, store data online, or use software programs such as word processing applications whose functionality is located on the Web." What they really mean is: A lot of people use Hotmail. But while the 69 percent number overstates the case, there are some surprising stats in the details: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: Funny- the one thing people should really be taking advantage of the cloud for is online file backup, yet that's... 1 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Google Chrome market share tops Opera, latest Internet Explorer beta version
Users of Google's Chrome browser account for about 1 percent of the market, reports Net Applications, a market researcher. European browser-maker Opera — which you might have heard had it agreed to make the iPhone's browser, but it didn't, so you haven't — claims 0.74 percent of all users. Microsoft's Internet Explorer still dominates the market, but its latest version, Internet Explorer 8 beta 2, which was released around the same time as Chrome, owns only a third as much market share, around 0.34 percent. [PaidContent] -
search
The cuddly embrace of the Google monster
The latest statistics are alarming: Google, far from peaking, seems to be increasing the rate at which its market share grows. In a year, Google has gone from 64 percent of U.S. search queries to more than 71 percent, Hitwise reports. At that pace, there will hardly be any search business left for anyone else by 2012. From sports to finance to social networks, Google directs an increasing portion of the traffic websites receive Jossip makes light of Google's plan to archive 244 years of newspaper articles, suggesting it will lead to even more snafus like Monday's Google-spawned rumor of a United Airlines bankruptcy. But really, isn't Google's move to archive centuries of newspapers a bit like the architects of a genocide dedicating a museum to the holocaust they committed? More » -
stats
49 percent of US companies cutting back IT spending
Forrester Research survey 950 companies in North America and Europe and learned that 40 percent of them plan to reduce their IT spending. Globally, most of these companies said that meant they would be more rigorous about their bargain hunting and probably just put some of their discretionary spending on hold. But in the US, where 49 percent of the companies surveyed said they intended to slowdown their IT spending, 20 percent indicated they actually meant to simply cut hardware, software and services spending right now. Blame the financial services sector, Forrester analyst John McCarthy told the New York Times: “I think the storm damage is very location-specific.There’s a schizophrenic U.S. economy, and the financial services guys are having a tough time.” (Photo by Claudecf)
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Comment by waynelambright: In other news, were getting reports that 49% of all companies are experience IT problems. more » | Other threads
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stats
58 percent of Internet users haven't even heard of social networks
Sheryl Sandberg's right! We've teased Facebook's overserious COO for talking up Facebook's need to sign up more users before figuring out how it's going to make billions of dollars off of them. But analytics firm eMarketer says only 42 percent of the Internet-using world knows about social networks. Translation: A lucky 58 percent are not burdened with worrying about whether they've made anybody's top friends list. Heck, while we're at it: Less than a quarter of the world's 6.6 billion people have access to the Internet. That means 5.97 billion people have no reason to have ever heard of Sandberg, let alone blame her for global warming, violence in the Middle East, and cat allergies. Not yet, anyway.
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Comment by Kira Smith: 58 percent of adults who use the internet don't know about social networks. This study ignores users under 18. more » | Other threads
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stats
9 out of 10 IT workers willing to steal company data
Always been a bit suspicious of your company's IT guy? A study says 88 percent of sysadmins and support desk jockeys surveyed would pilfer company secrets and data if they were ever fired. So how do you get the best out of your IT crowd without getting your secrets sold? The security firm that conducted the survey suggests routinely updating account logins and passwords, especially after you fire someone on a Friday afternoon. [Ars Technica]
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Comment by macbeach: Inevitable fallout when you move from a mainframe (or central server) based infrastructure where two guys support a thousand users... more » | Other threads
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stats
European VCs even more skittish than ours
Investments in startups by European firms last quarter hit their lowest level since at least 2000. Dow Jones VentureSource counts only 167 companies funded, compared to nearly 300 a year ago. Total funding dropped from $2 billion to $1.3 billion. More tellingly, investment in technology startups dropped by half. For comparison, American investments are off 19 percent. [WSJ]
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By Paul BoutinComment by Spy from the Land of Rainpeople: There is a historical explanation for this. All the European venturers had already ventured overseas as far as they could go... 1 Responses | Other threads
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real estate
SF luxury homes hold value, unlike LA
It's not surprising, but the number's good to know: Stats from First Republic Bank place San Francisco luxury homes at an average $3.01 million in value. It's a new high and a slight increase from last year. By contrast, high-end homes in Los Angeles are off 3.8 percent. San Diego luxury home values dropped a full 7.8 percent. Does that mean Brentwood bulldog daddy Jason Calacanis will pay lower taxes now? That guy has an angle on everything. (Photo by Jason Calacanis) -
politics
McCain pulls ahead of Obama, Bay Area to challenge math
At last, pollster John Zogby's methodologies will be rigorously examined by Valley engineers. The latest monthly Reuters/Zogby poll puts John McCain ahead of Barack Obama in the presidential race — 46 to 41 percent. Prior to this, Obama had come out ahead each month, most recently scoring a 7 percent lead in July's poll. Zogby himself attributes the flip to McCain's aggressive campaign to discredit Obama. Valleywag editor Owen Thomas surely blames Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Personally, I'm looking forward to the many, many posts, comments and tweets explaining how this is just not happening.
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By Paul BoutinComment by WilliamMarkFelt: Aaaaaahhhhh, of course polls are bullshit - to an extent. Almost everything having to do with the political process... 1 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Spam sells nearly 1 in 3, says survey
Security software maker Marshal claims that of 622 respondents to a survey, 181 said they have purchased something that was marketed to them via spam. There are two ways to look at that number. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Nekoni: What's their definition of spam? Emails from a company who you once bought from, or emails for Viagra and celebrity... more » | Other threads
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stats
Online advertising might not save newspapers either
Online advertising revenues declined at newspaper publishers Tribune, Lee Enterprises, and E.W. Scripps during the last quarter. While online newspaper ad revenue grew 31 percent in 2005 and 2006, it only expanded 19 percent in 2007. The problem? Besides an awful overall ad market, newspaper analyst Randy Bennett told AdAge that some papers don't build a enough of a wall between their Web sales and print sales. The temptation for many newspapers is to sell advertisers on print first and throw in online as a bonus. McClatchy newspapers, which managed to grow its online revenues 12 percent last quarter, only relies on its print advertisers for 50 percent of its online ads. -
stats
Apple, Google tops in annoyingly happy customers
As if fanboys of Apple and Google weren't shrill and relentless enough! The American Customer Satistfaction Index has ranked Apple tops in personal computers and Google tops in Internet portals and search engines. Yahoo's score in the latter category slipped, proving that any publicity may not, in fact, be good publicity. Both companies improved their scores significantly over the previous year, and both are running well ahead of the competition. Of course, thanks to Google it took mere milliseconds to find that orgasmic Apple MacBook Pro unboxing that I promise will make you throw up a little in your mouth.
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By Jackson WestComment by ValleyStiff: If I don't pay a penny for it, am I still a happy customer? more » | Other threads
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media
Olds watch TV, youngs surf Internet for news
Almost half of U.S. households turn to TV for news, reports the Pew Center.Their median age: 52. But while television still comforts the masses, households which rely on the Internet more as a news source have a median age of 35. A third of those surveyed under the age of 25 says they don't care for the news at all, especially when Hannah Montana is on. [DigitalMediaWire] -
stats
Most iPhones not sold at Apple Stores
Hidden in the math of a Fortune summary of a report from investment bank Piper Jaffray: Apple Store sales only account for 2 of every 5 iPhones sold. AT&T stores sell one in five, and overseas phone stores sell the other 2. Using Piper Jaffray's estimates, you can summarize sales for the upcoming Xmas-gift-driven last quarter of the year as: 2 million through Apple's own stores, 1 million through AT&T, and 2 million elsewhere in the world. Then factor in your Best Buy prediction. What I want to know: What's 2 million times the average wait time in an iPhone line? (Chart by Piper Jaffray) -
stats
Google noms 70 percent of U.S. searches
Analysts at Web-traffic research firm Hitwise claim Google handled 70.8 percent of all U.S. searches in July, up from 60 percent in July 2006. The big loser: Microsoft's MSN Search and Live.com. Despite continuous revamps for the past three years, Microsoft has steadily lost share as Google continues to grow. Just wondering: When do you think the Department of Justice investigation will start?
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By Paul BoutinComment by Rob Kohr: @Oakland: definition of monopoly: monopoly ((economics) a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller There are many sellers, just... more » | Other threads
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broadband
Dial-up users cling to slow Internet
Broadband growth has fallen by half in a year. Cable and telephone providers of high-speed Internet signed up 887,000 net new customers last quarter — half of the number of signups in the same period last year. Because of market saturation, companies are focusing more on selling faster, more expensive services. Nationwide, cable companies have 35.3 million broadband customers while phone companies have 29.7 million. AT&T is still the nation's largest Internet service provider with 14.7 million customers, followed by Comcast with 14.4 million customers. It's good news for AOL and EarthLink, which are profiting from a core of dial-up subscribers reluctant to embrace DSL or cable Internet. [AP] -
stats
Half of Internet users didn't Google yesterday
The latest study from the grinds at Pew Internet Research touts the rise in daily search users to 49 percent. That means of all Internet users, only half use search daily. The killer app? It's Twitter! No, it's still email, used by 60 percent daily. -
browser wars
Firefox use growing, Internet Explorer slipping
Only four years after its launch, Mozilla's Google-milking cash cow Web browser, Firefox, is now approaching 20 percent market share, reports NetApplications, a website-statistics provider. Just two months ago, over 8 million people downloaded a copy of Firefox 3, in a marketing stunt which garnered Mozilla a Guinness record. Meanwhile, Internet Explorer is dipping below 70 percent market share. [TGDaily]
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Comment by nobuggin: firefox 3 doesn't have as many add-ons yet, so i'm sticking with ff20013. even if its a memhogger like no... more » | Other threads
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careers
Sysadmin rockstars still surly about their jobs
"Over the last year, employment for IT pros is up 10 percent. But of 456 IT pros surveyed, 59 percent said they believe there were fewer jobs available." [WSJ] (Image from Sysadmin of the Year contest)
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By Paul BoutinComment by dalejo: Where is the Jesse Jackson of I/T to protest this ad? more » | Other threads
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