Michael Gartenberg

Your Followers are still following - paul mooney

http://tinyurl.com/5fzkc4 - Tim

I would have to disagree with Ranjith. I think it is a case where Twitter works well for a variety of different purposes, and that those different purposes involve different patterns of use. What works for Ranjith is probably the best for most folk to start, but would not work for me. - Patricia F. Anderson

I'm not sure why it's happening, but both of my Twitter accounts (i have 2) lost followers AND people that I'm following. One of my accounts lost ALL my followers and ALL my people I'm following. Not sure if it's based on time? The newer account is the one that lost everything... - Melissa Chang

I am going to be in trouble here. - Louis Gray

Oh Christ, it's a weekday! Think of the children! - Mark Trapp

No one ever thinks of the children. *weeps* - Orphan Spinster Librarian

That is both brilliant, and humiliating. - BISQ

No one who is on friendfeed tonight should be driving :) - Gavin

I wish someone thought of this when I still had a babysitter! - Michelle Martinez

You hide a Flickr entry because it's NSFW, take a drink. You see an entry from more than two weeks ago come up again, take a drink. The entry from more than two weeks ago is Eddie Murphy's huge head, chug it! - Mike Doeff

Now that's a drinking game that everyone can "win". :-D - David Cook

Let the game end! Please, I feel sick already. (should have replaced the beer by applejuice). - Ton Zijp

Louis, don't give in! You and I will be the only sober ones here. ;-) - Jesse Stay

That's really good stuff Jeremy. (takes drink for making comment #12 on this post) - Hutch Carpenter

Jesse, I was planning on consuming a lot of Diet Coke. :-) - Louis Gray

Louis, Pepsi all the way here - tempted to go for the hard stuff though (Mountain Dew) - Jesse Stay via twhirl

That game would have me drunk in no time! hehehehe! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

this game is unbeatable hehe nice one :-D - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Can I play at work? :P - Shey

@shey of course you can! what do you think the bathroom stalls are for?! - acedanger

I guess I should add: if your own entry hits Best of Day, chug away! - Jeremy Toeman

I take it there are a lot of hangovers this morning if everyone played this yesterday! - Joe Dawson (beta)

Few years ago I was consulting for ENI, one of the biggest energy group in the world and they used to have economists and of course a chief economist. I know in Fiat group they have economists roles too. Banks and financial services are also common employers for economists roles. - Marcello Del Bono

A very interesting article. I think Google will be much bigger than Microsoft in a very small amount of time. - Toby Graham

Alot of large companies have legions of economists on the payroll. Generally speaking the job is to estimate the state of the home market and pinpoint the best foreign markets. The job is brilliant because it involves sorting through data, but awful because it involves attending lots of meetings and powerpoint presentations..sorry, got a little sidetracked - Cains

Toby, Google has a LONG way to go to overtake MSFT. In FY2007, Microsoft had revenues of $51 billion, compared to Google's $16 billion, with operating income of $18 billion compared to $5 billion. The only measure by which you can put the two in the same league is column inches on blogs :) - Ian Betteridge

In other words: Microsoft makes more in profits than Google makes in revenues. - Ian Betteridge

Another place Google excels over MS: a far more adept Corp Comm group. - Sprague D

Ian: Yeah, but Microsoft's been around for much longer than Google, and Google's caught up that far in this relatively short period. - Brent Newhall

Some thoughts on the article and a pattern at the NYT: http://www.ratdiary.com/2008/0... - Sprague D

Brent: Quick growth like that isn't actually as unusual as you might think. For example, Apple grew from a $1 billion business to a $10bn one in the ten years John Sculley was CEO. Google has grown to $18bn in 12 years. Google is riding a fast-growing market - but how far will online advertising expand? Will it continue to dominate that market, when there's no "lock in" (as there is in the software market)? There's too many questions to say that Microsoft will be beaten by Google any time soon. - Ian Betteridge

Ian: Oh, certainly agreed; I don't think Google's going to beat MS's market share or earnings any time soon. Just saying that Google has grown quite far, quite fast, and if the trend continues, things will be interesting. Of course, trends rarely continue. - Brent Newhall

I didn't see anything new in the NYT article but it confirms what I already thought - "winner takes all" on the Internet Front. I suppose the only thing, now, that can stop Google, is, perhaps, the Internet, itself, collapsing - something that's not that likely. - Marshall Sponder

To me the key point of the article--and the most meaningful difference between MS and Google--is the former coerces to achieve its network effects while the latter co-opts. This reveals a more fundamental difference in world view: negative versus positive sum. - lang davison

“You have to be big and bad, not just big.” time will tell if Google goes past MS profits. But the article raises an interesting question about the behavior of big companies. Hard to tell which direction Google will go, especially if the global economy darkens. Morals hold pretty well in good times; not so sure during the bad. Temptation is perennial. - phil baumann

@ paul: I agree. The thing is that in these perilous ecomomic times we now live in, Google cannot easily consolidate like outher industries would to help them get over the worse.Google may well arrive at the point that it cannot continue as it is. - Roberto Bonini

In all those emails subpoenaed from Microsoft, are there several stating "say, let's all apply the network effect today!"? I just have trouble believing that either company was premeditated about this network effect during their first 5 or 10 years. Its just economists analyzing it long after the fact. Microsoft is arrogance, bluster, and jumping up and down on stage. Google instead has something called "execution". Versus the 5 years Microsoft spent on Vista, for which the word is "train wreck". - Indio Apache

Seems like a puff piece. The author has clearly not read "Linked" by Albert-László Barabási (one of the world's leading experts on network effects). On page 103 (you can read the preview on Amazon), Barabási compares Google and Microsoft. He says Google exhibits the behavior of a "fit get rich" network, in which the fittest node becomes the biggest hub. "The winner's lead is never significant, however." - Karim

Barabási then describes a second type of network, "winner takes all," in which the fittest node grabs ALL the links (star topology), and behaves like a Bose-Einstein condensate. "And there is a network in which we cannot fail to notice one node that carries the signature of a Bose-Einstein condensate. The node is called Microsoft." - Karim

Wouldn't this statement then apply to the person who original explained it with the gross oversimplifications and generalizations? - Johnny Worthington

Only sometimes. It may also be that you understand a complex completely but are unable to explain it simply because you're bad at gross oversimplifications, feel it's unethical, or feel that it's not really 'explaining' it. Interestingly, the opposite of Einstein's statement is true: It can be easy to explain something simply even if you don't understand it. - Kevin Fox

Breakfast of champions. - Morton Fox

there's no crying in breakfast! - Cee Bee

Brunch is for the LOSERS who slept in... - Johnny Worthington

Brunch for retired folks who laugh at you after sleeping in - Michael W. May via twhirl

Only losers don't eat breakfast. - Thomas Hawk

Had to mark it as a like. I love breakfast. And don't even get me started on brunch... - Andru Edwards

there is never a time of day when eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, biscuits and southern gravy aren't completely appropriate - Marco (aureliusmaximus)

I enjoy lunpper as well. - Hao Chen

People wrap bacon around other foods to make them taste better, yet breakfast is the only time it's socially acceptable to eat bacon by itself. - William Beem

it's really for losers, I dislike breakfast - Justin Yost

I'm such a winner that sometimes when my wife and kids are off doing stuff together, I go to Cafe Brazil and get me some pecan pancakes. There are few things more satisfying than pancakes that I didn't have to cook. :) - ha3rvey

Brinner, baby! - l0ckergn0me

Yup, I thought that was great. If I was in her district, she'd have my vote. - Dennis E. Hamilton

Ben: so what did you think? - Robert Scoble

This was also my first FastCompany video and I was blown away to hear a politician speak so intelligently about tech. - Joe Ferris

It will just be reborn. No point killing it. - Kelby

They think they are providing a public service. What they don't realize is, its going to take a whole lot more than that to make me go get a life. - Russell Holliman

I just snorted with laughter, Russell. Look how fast we throw our heroin over here instead. : ) - Chris Brogan

The fail whale has three distinct stages, Fail Beached and Dire... http://tinyurl.com/633fng - Paul Rj Muller via twhirl

Alright, Chris just made me do a spit take...thumping my arm, lookin' for a vein, LOL - Cheryl Allin

Maybe while you and the rest of the team are looking for Ahab, Chris... others will recognize FriendFeed has played the part of the Wright Brothers. It's a new age. - Louis Gray

As evidenced by this conversation, eh Louis? I used to disagree with you on this. Now I feel like you've been on to this since forever, and I'm just now catching up to it. - Chris Brogan

The truth is, Chris, is that this isn't an either/or, although "battles" are more fun. The answer is simply, both. That Twitter has made themselves a laughingstock is frustrating, because when it does what it is supposed to, it can be very useful. - Louis Gray

Different kind of conversation. Need to be careful with follow. Smaller voices get drowned out. Unlike @ (and I do mean @) Twitter. @ reply feature is *powerful.* - Barbara K. Baker

It's Queequeg you want, mates! - Michael Tefft

I wonder, though, how this whole scatter of media makes it all work? Feels like too many rabbit holes here, or maybe that's the beauty? Feels like we can go all over the place, never really catching up to all the conversations. Non? - Chris Brogan

Chris, there's no one right answer. The power of aggregation is to have multiple conversations come in one place. The power of diversification is to have many separate conversations tailored for a specific crowd in more vertical places. The best bloggers and social media users will participate and engage where the best conversations are, and leverage search or other tools to be aware. Given the # of hours in a day is limited, how you use your time is up to you. - Louis Gray

Begging the question, when will Summize dig into FriendFeed? - Chris Brogan

I am seriously sick of the "what will kill X" conversations... - Jennifer Leggio

Me too. I wasn't saying it like that. I really meant the whale graphic, not the app. I'm a Twitter nerd. What can I say? - Chris Brogan

fwiw, twitter's back up again. shortest twitter outage ever. - Russell Holliman

Chris - That comment wasn't directed toward you. :) - Jennifer Leggio

Me think Robert Scoble is scared of the Great White Whale! Remember what happened last time? The Whale got his foot, and now he limps with a wooden stump. Oh Scoble where is thy Whale who swims the great vast internetz. - Igor The Troll

In my living room - I like television... in my car - I prefer radio. Just because I have a TV doesn't mean I don't want my radio to work in my car. Friend Feed is my TV - it's deeper, richer, requires more attention and time. Twitter is my radio - I'll sing along, drum on the wheel, but the static is getting annoying. It's time for them to up the signal. But meanwhile, FriendFeed/TV is rockin' it. - Lucretia Pruitt

I speak whale. Aeeeeeeeeewaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhooooooooooo. - Ryan Kuder

Ryan, well that was rude. There are women here, watch your language. :( - Bwana

Didn't Moby Dick kill Ahab and the rest of the crew (except for ol' call me Ishmael)? It's been a long time since I read it, I could be wrong. - Kirk Kittell

Microsoft is weak in search, they know semantics is the supposed next wave and most if not all coverage on Powerset has been positive not because of their current state but their intentions and path to achieving greater search - Julian Baldwin

Sarah Meyers video interview with Powerset CEO http://www.veoh.com/videos/v24... - Thomas Hawk

I just don't get how money follows things that clearly do not work. Back when Riya was supposed to be doing facial recognition technology it just simply did not work. I tested it personally. It didn't do what it was supposed to do and still VCs dumped truckloads of money into the thing on a whim. Same goes for Powerset. Their search sucks. What am I missing? Will a public co. like MSFT really pay $100 million for simply an "idea"? - Thomas Hawk

I haven't seen this video, I don't know how wise it is to talk about your product while drunk! - the coverage I've seen is http://www.techcrunch.com/tag/... - Julian Baldwin

hmmm... I have an idea!! - Damien Franco

I think MSFT is banking on the idea because they are without any themselves - Julian Baldwin

wtf is Powerset may i ask? - Outsanity

Powerset search for "Thomas Hawk" http://www.powerset.com/explor... Google search for "Thomas Hawk" http://www.google.com/search?q... Google's results are vastly superior. - Thomas Hawk

It's my understanding that the "big deal" with Powerset is that they use "natural language". So how come when I type "How do I clean a sensor?" into Google http://www.google.com/search?q... I get such better results than Powerset http://www.powerset.com/explor... - Thomas Hawk

IIRC, www.powerset.com is a public "proof of concept" site that demonstrates powerset's semantic query capabilities, based on a couple of small datasets. It doesn't actually index the interwebs yet. - Chris Hollander

Powerset has only indexed Wikipedia. Google indexes everything. That would explain most of the difference right there. The point of the semantic search is to (basically) help you answer something. What Google and Live do right now is more of a keyword search. I, for one, am *super* curious to see what happens when something like Powerset hooks into a full index. - Jordan Hofker

Chris, but the "proof of concept" returns terrible search results. Maybe I'm just not getting it. Someone enlighten me. Can anyone come up with an example of better search results using Powerset vs. Google? I don't mean to be a skeptic here, but beyond the hype, why is Powerset worth $100 million? - Thomas Hawk

hmmm... so Powerset is a enhanced Wiki search from what i see. i guess not getting Yahoo really upset Microsoft - Outsanity

Powerset is only indexing a tiny fraction of the web compared to Google so that's no surprise.. what will happen at MSFT is Powerset will be applied across a larger index and it's tough to say how much larger that index needs to be to compete with Google - Julian Baldwin

They are trying to keep up with Google and don't know how. I don't think MSFT knows what they are doing and they are going to be on the same path as Yahoo (over a longer period) if they don't watch themselves. - Justin Korn

Powerset as it exists today is nothing special but once it reaches the critical index limit to turn proof of concept into a real entity (which means it needs to be talking to the web not just wikipedia) then MSFT should have a viable product.. although I'm not surprised if Google is working on this under the radar..I guess it's a leap of faith for MSFT then that something will turn around.. - Julian Baldwin

$100 million "leap of faith" seems like a big one to me. Smells more like desperation if you ask me. - Thomas Hawk

100m is not a big leap of faith at all for MSFT. They've paid more for less - Michael Gartenberg

MSFT has a lot of money, the research is already started, the search market knows semantic is at least headed towards future standards... now toss MSFT's R&D in the mix.. might not be as much desperation as one would think - Julian Baldwin

Michael, was this a sensible purchase? - Thomas Hawk

The reality is that we're probably 3-5 years away from a decent semantic search. Powerset did a proof-of-concept using a homogenous set of data (wikipedia) and gets so-so results. Semantic analysis today only works in very niche areas where the user will invest time to tune the engine to match the content. So, what Microsoft bought was a lab experiment. I think that, more than anything, they wanted to keep it out of Google's hands for fear that Google might be able to leverage it more quickly. But, it does nothing to strengthen MSFT's position in the search market in the near-term but $100M is not a huge amount for MSFT to spend to keep it away from Google. I could also see MSFT able to leverage some of Powerset's capabilities within their FAST enterprise search platform. Perhaps that's where they'll make back their investment. - Barry Graubart via twhirl

$100m isn't much when you think of this purely as an R&D investment. They get dozens of engineers familiar with semantic search to work on Live Search - Jamie

@Barry We might still be 10-30+ yrs away from Semantic search. I worked on it in 1992-93 with Professor Michael Dyer http://cs.ucla.edu/~dyer and "big" data sets of the time were 188-195 MB. See TREC-1 http://trec.nist.gov/pubs/trec... from 2000. His 1982 Ph.D. was "In-Depth Understanding: A Computer Model of Integrated Processing for Narrative Comprehension" http://genealogy.ams.org/id.ph... - Mitchell Tsai

@Thomas Hawk: Why you say semantic search doesn't work? I've seen and made it work wonderfully plenty of times. The only disadvantage is the need to recognize the user more deeply than current search solutions, that means it will work well with users who are already have profiles on the system. - Amit Morson

The internet swamped "semantic" search, and Bayesian Net statistical approaches won. See Eric Horvitz - Research Area Manager, Adaptive Systems & Interaction Group, Microsoft Research http://research.microsoft.com/.... Microsoft raided UCLA and hired some of Judea Pearl's best people. http://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/jp_ho... MSFT has the cash to spend $1 billion on a product launch, and chase "pie in the sky dreams". I hope they succeed. - Mitchell Tsai

at the moment, yes. but that doesn't need to be the case in future - Jamie