Jared’s thoughts on competition in the movie rental industry:

Now that Blockbuster is essentially out of the picture, there are just two major competitors in the rental movie industry: Netflix and Redbox.  They each have very unique, but related business models.  They both want to keep customers coming back to use their movie rental service because repeat customers are cheaper than obtaining new customers.  Netflix prides itself in its recommendation system in keeping customers happy; it recommends movies based off of algorithms and user ratings.  Last year Netflix awarded $1 million for improved the recommendation algorithms and even posted the research online: http://www.netflixprize.com//community/viewtopic.php?id=1537

What I really want to see Redbox do is better compete with Netflix.  I want to see Redbox use the Netflix algorithms and recommend movies to consumers when they go to a kiosk.  Redbox doesn’t even need to have consumers create user accounts to receive recommendations, they can use consumer’s credit card as a unique key for each user and note what movies a user rented.   When a user returns a movie, have them rate it (1-5 stars seems to work for Netflix) before they insert the movie into they kiosk and then add that rating to their account. Each movie has a unique bar code on it so it can be easily be identified what user rented what movie and what their rating was.   It would be less burdensome than Netflix because you do not have to wait for DVDs to come in the mail and you don’t have to maintain your own user account its all automated.

Other suggestions for Redbox:

1. Create monthly subscriptions.  Redbox has significantly less costs than Netflix because most of their system is automated in the kiosk and there is no shipping costs.  I think its safe to assume that overhead is less for Redbox so it would be very profitable to have unlimited movie subscriptions, but only allow them to rent one movie at a time.

2. Build a streaming service.  Redbox can charge either per movie or include streaming with their monthly subscription.  This gets slightly out of Redbox’s comfort zone because their core competency is not in streaming , but one of Redbox’s core competency is dealing with movie rights owners to get distribution deals.  In my opinion, once you clear that hurdle, everything else is smooth sailing.

Google Wave and Google Voice seem like they are getting ahead of the average consumer. They are both very innovative, but they are not simple enough for the average consumer. The average consumer wants to simplify their life, which is what Wave and Voice set out to do, but they also add another layer of unwanted complexity. For Google Wave, you have to check yet another website and learn how to use another service to communicate people when you already use email, facebook, im etc. Google wave adds another level of complexity in that you have to save a second set of numbers to your phone and there is still not MMS functionality so you have to give out your cell number in addition to your Google Voice number if you want to use the service. Both are forward thinking services but they are significantly ahead of consumers and thats why Google is probably having a tough time getting the average consumer to continue using these products. To me they seem like they might be better suited for the forward thinking technologists and maybe one day either they will be simplified or consumers will catch up to speed.

China has been in the news lately because of two related topics. They are slowly allowing their currency to appreciate and their workers are beginning to demand higher wages. With these two events gradually occurring, China is becoming less and less of a developing country; it is projected to be one of the world’s largest consumption country. Of course this all makes sense because major American companies are already trying to get a foot in with the Chinese (e.g. Apple).

That being said, in the next 20 years, China’s economic comparative advantage is no longer going to be cheap labor. With an appreciating currency and rising labor prices, the developed world is going to have to look for other sources of cheaper labor. My prediction for where everybody is going to find cheap labor is Africa. Most of Africa is considered the third world so labor prices are even cheaper prices there, than in China. Both parties would benefit; Africa is in desperate need of 21st century infrastructure (their bandwidth capacity was just doubled) and Global companies would be able to reduce their costs.

I do acknowledge that there are unforeseen costs in doing business in Africa, such as the added cost of the instability, but I do believe that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Investment in Africa should only theoretically increase stability and allow the continent to be developed if done the right way.

The Sport of Business

Higher Education’s Bubble is About to Burst

Why Work at Knowmore?: What We Look For

Get Paid What You Are Worth

The Essential Startup Reader: 10 Lessons in Entrepreneurship

Looking for Gaps and Vacancies

Hiring Employee #1

10 Entrepreneurial Concepts to Live By

I hate to Acknowledge a win for Apple, but they have the advantage in the Operating System upgrade to 64 bit computing; Apple’s upgrade process is significantly simpler for the average consumer.

Microsoft overcomplicated the process by selling 6 or so different “flavors” with half of them being 32 bit and the other half being 64 bit.  The consumer has to decide on their own which one was for them.  On top of that, if they decide they want to upgrade to a x64 from a x32, they have to figure out how to back up their important files and software.

Apple’s upgrade was much more streamlined and there was only one flavor of OSX, making it a n0-brainer for consumers.  From what I understand, if a user is going from Leopard to Snow Leopard, they do not have to make the choice of going to a x64 operating system from a x32 operating system, it will chose on its own and most importantly, they do not have to back up their files.

Apple’s process was much simpler than Microsoft’s and for this they will gain a larger market share of users using x64 operating systems and will have less of a legacy to support.  This can/will attract developers who are looking to develop for more advanced/faster operating systems.  As Steve Ballmer said himself, the most important part of an operating system  ecosystem is “developers, developers, developers.”

Google could partner with an existing wireless service provider, such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc. and they can connect the Google Voice service on top of the existing service provider’s back end systems.  It would allow the user to use their regular phone number with all of the Google Voice services: texting from a computer, forwarding to multiple phone numbers, transcribed and downloadable voice mail etc.  The best part about this, is end users would not have to store additional “406 area code” phone numbers in their phone book, it would work natively with existing phones.  This lifts an entire veil of complexity and opens up Google Voice to the world of simple users.

Users would be able to start a conversation on their computer(much easier to type on then a tiny keypad or touch screen on a phone) and then continue on their phone on the go without any interruption (It’s very feasible, I do it all the time).  Privacy issues aside, users would be able to access past conversations and search for important information.  It would be very similar to Microsoft’s Kin online management system, except it would be focused on your text message and eventually can and should be rolled out to manage your media as well.

Integration of Google Voice natively with a wireless phone provider (or at least a similar service) is most certainly the future, I wonder what the time table is; I want to be the first beta tester.  I guess its just a matter of until the service providers pull their heads out of their asses.

*In addition to allowing users to text from a browser, service providers, can and should provide an app that would allow users to text right from their desktop.  In fact my friend, Dave Amenta has already developed an awesome desktop app for Google Voice, I use it all the time!

As I add new recipes, the most recent one will be denoted with *’s.

Campfire Pan-Roasted Chicken

Southwestern Steak and Peppers

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Surf N Turf Dinner

Onion Rice Recipe

Angel Chicken Pasta

Shrimpe Fettucine Alfredo

Warm Runny Chocolate Souffles

Fried Beef Dumplings

Chicken Piccata

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts with Tomato and Basil and Potatoes with Peppers and Onions

Chicken with Wine Sauce

Chocolate Banana Bread

Chicken Cacciatore

Beef Teriyaki

Yummy Spiked Cajun Shrimp/Chicken

Buffalo Chicken Phyllo Wraps

Linguine with Chicken and Sauteed Vegetables

The NCAA’s major principal is Amateurism; nobody should make money off of college sports.  The NCAA enforces this to their best ability, often giving pretty extreme penalties.

The policy of amateurism states something to that extent that nobody should profit from the likeness of a player.  This includes being sponsored and/or receiving benefits from coaches during recruiting.

Semi-recently some former players sued the NCAA for profitting from video games.  Their arguement was that the players in the games have the same numbers, simliar hometown, similizar dimensions etc, so the NCAA was benefitting from the likeness of these players, which in my opinion goes against the NCAA’s policy of amatuerism.  I’m not sure what the outcome of the law suit was, but this concept can also be applied to apparel.

All of the sports apparel stores sell Longhorn Apparell, including the UT COOP, another non-profit.  These stores profit off of the likeness of the players because the players are by nature associated with the number on their jerseys.  Colt McCoy was 12 and Vince Young was 10; everybody will always remember that and when they go to the store, they buy those jerseys.  They players never see a dime.

The COOP even sells autographed, game-used memorabilia.  This can’t comply with NCAA rules!  I’m sure these were signed after the athletes graduated college, but they are still profiting from their likeness as a Longhorn, when there were amateurs.

The COOP is supposed to be a non-profit, but they make a significant amount of money from the likeness of players, who never see a dime from it.  One non-profit, breaking the principals of another non-profits, smells funny to me.  Either way, they should either pay the players for their likeness in video games and apparel or stop the practice entirely.

But why would the NCAA do that?  College sports are a cash cow as evidenced by the current realignments in conferences.  It is all about winning and making money; the more visible your winning team is, the more money  for television broadcast rights and the more money alumni donate. It’s rather unfortunate that it is all about the money, because at the end of the day it is just a game.

Bands I’ve seen in Austin
2008-2009
Heavy Pets
Foo Fighters
Guster
Ben Folds
Missy Higgins
Matisyahu
Pinetop Perkins
O.A.R.
Eric Hutchinson
Gnarls Barkley
Grupo Fantasma
Dan Dyer
Keller Williams