Overvalued Web 2.0

Sorry about yesterday everyone, but it was a bad day and I wanted to at least get my Physics lab done. Today, I'm going to cover a hot topic: web site startups that everyone seems to want to buy. Namely, Facebook and Youtube. Facebook turned down a $750 million offer from Yahoo claiming that they're worth closer to $2 billion, and YouTube has announced that it won't take any less than $1.5 billion. Since both these things happened in the past couple of days, I just have to remark at how crazy I think these prices are. Facebook, to their credit, is actually thinking of joining Yahoo since Yahoo is willing to let them run their own show and just be under the Yahoo brand name. I personally think that Facebook is beginning to alienate their audience by evolving too much with features that no one really cares about. People love wasting time on Facebook, but once it gets too complicated people will lose interest. Youtube, on the other hand, has a site that everyone loves except for copyright holders. They haven't come under litigation yet so they're still alright, but when you take away copyrighted media, what do they really have under the hood that's so special? Yeah, a great fan base, but a fan base that depends on copyrighted content. They haven't proven their profitability yet, and they've already ceded that they don't want ads in the video, so what do they plan on doing? Why are they worth so much money? Trends on the Internet change quite rapidly, and what's big today could become old news tomorrow (like Friendster or Napster) given the wrong circumstances. I'm not saying that either company doesn't have the opportunity to grow and do really well, but who's to say that they're worth $1.5+ billion? I think they're getting a little too big for their britches and need to realize how lucky they are that they've grown to as big as they are now. Instead of pontificating about their worth, they need to make some money.

Do you feel that iPods are overpriced? Well, they're you're not going to be thrilled to know that the new Nanos cost half what it's sold at to manufacture. Of course, this doesn't take into account the R&D and salaries of the people who helped develop the new Nano, but they are still making a lot off the top. Even then though, it's frightening Microsoft who apparently were planning on selling the Zune at $289 before they saw the new iPod at $250 and pulled out of nailing down a price. I don't want to dog the Zune so much though because it does have some decent functionality and nifty social features to it, it's just not my bag. Meanwhile, Ars Technica believes that the iTV is backed by a Conroe-L chip, though I don't know what to think. It's definitely going to be something pretty cheap, but doesn't it need to be advanced enough to support HD at a fast rate? The Conroe-L probably does the trick, so I thought I'd pass along the news. Over at Google, they've quietly added some new features to Google Spreadsheets. I think the best change was the ability for anyone with the URL to view your spreadsheet rather than having to have a Gmail account and such. The founders of Digg may have something up their sleeves for Internet TV, so I just thought I'd give you guys a heads up about that. It's a steadily growing movement that still needs some more momentum. Lastly, I'm outraged that Olga has been forced to shut down because I used to love going there to pick up chords for popular songs. I think the MPA is full of greedy bastards because Olga.net is clearly posing no threat to their sales since they're not even offering enough sheet music and it's not even accurate stuff! It's people's interpretations of popular songs! I hope someone will come to their rescue.

Just a few quick movie things. If you're interested in Fearless (who doesn't love Jet Li action flicks?), JoBlo dug up a couple of neat clips. Quint at AICN saw Jackass Number Two and, it's hard to tell, but I think he was saying that he thought it was hilarious and liked it a lot (in terms of a comedy, of course, not as good cinema). It looks like this one will be more offensive than the first! AICN also received a review for Children of Men, and it sounds as awesome as we were all hoping for. It seems like you wouldn't want to watch it more than once though because of the scary prophetic aspect of it.

I'm going to share a great PostSecret postcard with you all because I feel the same way! I love Banana Republic, but I just love buying clothes that make me look good in general. I had fun shopping at Katy Mills for my summer internship, and I know I'll be doing well when I can afford to buy clothes like that a little more often rather than wearing t-shirts (though it is to hot out here for collared shirts right now).



Now for Friday's Feast, yummy!

Appetizer
Measured in minutes or hours, how much exercise have you had in the last week?
I'm going to ballpark it at 150 minutes of gym time, and at least 3-4 hours worth of walking around campus all week and at ACL.

Soup
If you had to change your blog title to something else, what would it be?
I don't know? The Wacky World of Elton?

Salad
Name one television show you watched when you were 9-12 years old.
I remember loving X-men and Spider-man for sure.

Main Course
If someone gave you $50 to spend with the one condition that it had to be educational, what would you purchase?
Probably some more guitar books. I like those, especially sheet notes for my favorite artists.

Dessert
Do you tend to prefer dark colors, neutral shades, or lighter/pastel hues?
I'd say neutral shades. I don't like to be too bold in my color selection.