Mandelblog

Is The Verge About To Pass TechCrunch on the Techmeme Leaderboard?

Dave — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:59:49 +0000

Like a lot of people that focus their energy on the intersection of media and technology, I use Techmeme as a primary source of information about what matters right now. As a friend of mine who is also in this business once said to me over lunch, “It’s sort of an addiction.”

The Techmeme Leaderboard has been published since October 2007 and lists the top sources of stories posted to Techmeme. For the entire time that it has been in existence, TechCrunch has been at the top of the Leaderboard. Techcrunch’s dominance was so strong that in March of 2010, TechCrunch was the source of more than 2X the stories of its next closest competitor Engadget.

But a lot has changed since March of 2010. First and foremost, Michael Arrington left TechCrunch last year and a lot of the editorial team followed. But what’s really interesting is the fast rise of The Verge. Officially launched less than 6 months ago in October, 2011, the Verge now sits at #2 behind Techcrunch in terms of the number of stories making it to Techmeme – and it isn’t far behind:

I expect The Verge to take on the #1 spot sometime in April. If nothing else, I do think it’s going to take Mandelblog a very long time to catch up.

Clarence Clemons’ Last Song With Bruce Springsteen

Dave — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:19:34 +0000

I didn’t realize how much I would miss Clarence Clemons until I heard his saxophone on the track Land of Hope and Dreams from Springsteen’s latest album Wrecking Ball. I knew I would miss him before. Now I have a true sense of loss.

The whole song is definitely worth a listen, but for those of you that want to get right to the Big Man I’d start listening at around the 3:45 mark. It’s unmistakably Clarence and I sure will miss that sound.

The Most Depressing Paragraph From Yahoo’s Complaint Against Facebook

Dave — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:17:34 +0000

See Paragraph 11 from Yahoo!’s Complaint filed today against Facebook:

11. Yahoo! has made significant advances and investments in the field of Internet social networks. On March 29, 2005, Yahoo! made available its blogging and social networking service, Yahoo! 360°. On March 20, 2005, Yahoo! acquired the photo sharing and social networking website, Flickr. In September 2007, Yahoo! launched the social network service Yahoo! Mash, and later introduced the social networking service Yahoo! Pulse and Yahoo! Profiles.

Significant advances? Really?

James Taylor & Carly Simon Sing Close Your Eyes

Dave — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:39:55 +0000

Really can’t get enough of this video. Where is the music like this in 2011?

Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer Almost 25 Years Old

Dave — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:42:58 +0000

Boy is it hard to believe that this video is almost 25 years old.

Amazon Kindle Book Sales Exceed Hardcover Sales By Almost 2 to 1

Dave — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:15:42 +0000

The New York Times reports today that Amazon’s Kindle book sales exceeded hardcover sales for the last 3 months. In fact, for every 100 hardcover books sold, 143 Kindle books were sold.

But there were a number of other interesting facts in the story including the following:

For the last 4 weeks it was 180 Kindle book sales for every 100 hardcover book sales – suggesting that the shift to Kindle books is accelerating.
These figures do not include over 1 million free books made available on the Kindle.
These numbers don’t in any way address paperback sales.
Kindle sales growth tripled when Amazon lowered the price of the standard Kindle from $259 to $189 last month.

Analysis:

With hardcover books usually costing double the paperback version, we assume more paperback books are usually sold that hardcover books. So in the meantime, more of the “classic” versions of books are sold.
What is really confusing to Mandelblog is why publishers force consumers to make a choice between the Kindle edition and the physical version. If I am willing to pay $30 for a hardcover book I should be able to get a Kindle version for free. By forcing consumers to choose, the publishers are losing sales.

Amazon Says E-Books Now Top Hardcover Sales (New York Times)

Amazon Kindle

Brian Stolte Exits Hollywood…Joins Groupon!

Dave — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:29:58 +0000

It all started in Hollywood. As you can see, Brian Stolte spent most of his time in Hollywood regularly hobnobbing with industry heavyweights like Terry Semel and Steven Spielberg. During this period in Brian’s life, he didn’t like having his picture taken and refused to look into the camera for photos. To make matters worse, he would often assume a stance that made him look like a cardboard cutout rather than an actual 3D human. What do you expect? He was in Hollywood.

Once he left Hollywood, Brian joined a variety of high-tech startups which, when Brian brought them up at parties, would elicit responses ranging from “I never heard of it” (Entertonment) to “I think I have heard of that” (Sidestep).

Dazzled by his long hair, Brian decided to follow Rob Solomon to Groupon in Chicago. We expect Brian to thrive with Rob at Groupon.

Or, in Brian’s words, “Even Steven Spielberg couldn’t think of one great deal per day per city.”