Site Update
Since it's cold and raining outside (this is spring in Southern California?), I thought it would be a good time to sit inside and update the site:

XML Feed - I created this for the Bear Flag League rollup, and once my feed is on there, I will add a sidebar to the site which highlights new BFL entries. Note that this was a major pain to get done since Blogger (aka Google) in all their wisdom now offers only ATOM feeds for its blogs - a non-standard that many roll-ups don't support (apparently there was a whole mini-war on this around the turn of the year). This means that in order to get an RSS 2.0 feed for my site, I had to go to an outside service called Feedburner which translates ATOM to RSS 2.0 (and offers other services as well). It's free - for now anyway - so I'm not complaining too much, but I am still torqued that Blogger can't offer simple RSS 2.0 feeds (yes, I know, I get regular emails from people offering to move me away from Blogger for free, but I think I am in too deep for now...maybe some day).

Link Updates - My BFL links were hopelessly out of date, so you new members should find yourselves there now (and Angry Clam is no longer blogging so removed) . If anyone notes any problems with their link, shoot me an email and I will correct it. Note that I generally cross-link to anyone who links to my site, so if you have a link to here and don't yet have one back, let me know and I will add you to the right.

Misc Other Updates - Various tweaks here and there.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:02 PM (Permalink)
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Brand Loyalty Vs. The Wallet
This is a tough one. I recently signed up for Netflix and love the service, even upgrading from a "3-at-a-time" user to the "5-at-a-time" user. I now receive this in my email today:

Dear Mitchell (Note: Only my mother calls me "Mitchell"),

We hope you're enjoying the convenience and selection of Netflix. Our goal has always been to offer a great service at a great price, and we're dedicated to bringing you the largest library of films delivered quickly to your home.

Since launching our service almost four years ago, the subscription rate for the 5-at-a-time program has never changed. We've added more than 20 distribution centers in order to provide one business day delivery to most of our members. We've also expanded our library by thousands of titles and now offer more than 18,000 to choose from. During the four years, improvements such as these, as well as postal rate changes, have increased the cost of doing business.

Beginning June 15, 2004, we will be raising the prices of all our subscription programs. Your plan, the Netflix 5-at-a-time program, will change from $29.95 per month to $33.99 per month.

We believe our service offers an exceptional value and hope you'll continue to enjoy the benefits of Netflix at the new price. We realize that you have many home entertainment choices, and we appreciate your business.


Yours Truly,
The Netflix Team

I understand the need to expand, but to raise prices by more than 10% seems high - it's worse than what cable company does every year! (and as a public company, isn't that what the capital markets are for). And the fact they haven't raised prices in several years is irrelevant to me - I signed up last month and don't care about their price history. I will probably stay with them, but the fact of the matter is that I am now open to changing.

A smart competitor will go out and offer current Netflix users their old price plus three months free - the same sort of things the phone companies do. In reality, the people running the competing offerings probably aren't that smart and will probably do what the airlines do and raise prices by the same amount.

At this point in this new business model, the name of the game is market share and band loyalty - you can do things to raise revenue and margin later. So a better move would have been to "lock in" existing customers with their old prices. New customers wouldn't have felt "screwed" (or technically, price discriminated) since the vast majority wouldn't have known about the price differential. Over time as new users are added, the average revenue from each customer would have gone up and retention would stay high.

Perhaps they ran models on retention versus cost increase and found the trade-offs favored the price increase. With Walmart, Blockbuster and other large companies planning to copy their business model, however, I think they might have thought harder about this move.

Update: An even better move would been to raise prices, but allow old users to lock in old rates if they sign up for 12 months in advance.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 7:19 PM (Permalink)
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Plastic Chips and Paper Disks
I think some of the more fascinating things we are going to experience over the next 5-10 years is the introduction of new types of low-cost, high volume materials for electronics components. Two examples of early stage research were announced yesterday:

New CD/DVD Disk Made of Paper

Researchers Unveil Plastic Semiconductors

There are several benefits these technologies will bring:

1. New Economic Cost Structure - While the variable costs of using paper over plastic for DVDs and using plastic instead silicon are obvious, less obvious are the huge savings in fixed, capital costs. It takes several billion dollars to produce a state-of-the-art silicon fabrication site ("fab"). It is likely that these technologies will dramatically lower the cost to open a plant (not including the basic R&D), changing the economics of the entire industry.

2. New Product Designs - One of the more exciting aspects of these technologies will be the movement away from flat, planar silicon structures to organic, plastic substrates, allowing the creation of curved, see-through, or even "bendable" products.

Actual Examples of See-through and Bendable "Computer Chips"


The most promising product for this technology is a flat-panel screen (or laptop) that you roll up, like a newspaper. Another product I would like to see is one of those displays/monitors on sci-fi shows that are see-through until you turn them on (which will now be possible).

3. Disposable Products - Many people will argue that cellphones, PCs and other electronics are already "disposable", but with the advent of these types of materials, new products and business models that haven't been possible will become economically feasible.

This is in addition to the typical benefits that we already see in the electronics industry: cheaper, smaller and faster.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 2:20 PM (Permalink)
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Back On
Those of you who tried to hit my site from yesterday (April 15) through this morning may have been redirected to a blank web page at "www.bogger.blogspot.com". Google support (remember they own Blogger) apologizes for this problem which resulted from a server change-over (or similar IS speak).

posted by Director_Mitch @ 1:18 PM (Permalink)
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What's Domestic Public Service?
Kerry is promising free college education for students who provide "domestic public service". He never mentions what is meant by this phrase (Picking up garbage along the highway? Screening people at airports?) Note that Military Service ISN'T included since he purposely put "domestic" in phrase, but I assume our military men and women are already covered by the modern version of the GI Bill (I'm too lazy to Google it, so feel free to add any facts in the comment section).

Do we have a shortage of bureaucrats in this country providing services? Is our public payroll short by the 500,000 people Kerry "estimates" would join this plan? Isn't it more likely that we will have half a million college age students loitering around doing nothing for two years until they got their scholarship money? And add on the whole layer of government oversight needed to run the program. And as a democratic proposal, you can bet that serving at a Church or other religious institution won't be acceptable.

How much tuition would be covered? Harvard level? Community college level? It would have to be the same for everyone or it would be unfair. Isn't this whole thing just servitude for people in the lower class who can't afford college outright?

Politicians of all stripes pander to interest groups, but the lack of detail and unanswered questions in this proposal is just ridiculous.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:47 AM (Permalink)
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Bombing The Alamo
I haven't seen it, but it isn't exactly a surprise that The Alamo has been officially declared a bomb and could not only hurt Disney's stock, but give Eisner another problem to worry about in keeping his position at the company.

This isn't exactly surprising based on the reviews I have read about the movie and their attempt to "tell the story from all sides" and "examine the shortfalls of the Alamo participants". I hate to give out advice before seeing the movie, but I think this fiasco could have been avoided if the producers had kept a few simple things in mind (Ed: readers should note that while Mitch resides in California, he is a Native Texan). (Mitch: Never ask a man if he's from Texas since if he is, he'll tell you soon enough, and if he isn't, you don't want to embarrass him).

1. "Big H" History - Just like there is "the truth" and "The Truth", there is also "history" and "History". If you're want to make a piece examining the shortfalls of historical characters and view history from the point of view of a dictator, spend a few million bucks and sell it to the Discovery Channel. If you're going to spend $100 million to make a movie to appeal to a mass audience, make the heroes heroic and their cause just and the bad guys obviously evil (Think Gladiator. I'm sure in historical fact that Commodus wasn't that bad a guy). My guess is that the upcoming summer movie Troy will take the typical good guy/bad guy approach and avoid nuances.

2. Texans Take Their History Seriously - There is a built-in audience of 30 million Texans (not including ex-pats) for this film and the producers couldn't even capture their interest. They should note that the entire seventh grade history curriculum in Texas is only Texas history. I had a text book larger than a phone book covering everything from the time God created His favorite place through LBJ (the Bushes weren't yet on the scene), and the Texas War of Independence featured prominently. If a Texan knows nothing else about history, he'll know that Texas is the only state that was it's own Republic (and probably grumble that it should have stayed that way) and the only one that won it's own independence (didn't get no help from the U.S. of A or won as a spoil of war like California).

3. It's Not About Facts, It's About the People - Although Texan's take their history seriously, it isn't mythical. Even three decades ago, Texas History taught that all the Alamo defenders probably didn't all die fighting and that some were thought to have been executed after surrendering. No one believes the "line in the sand" story or that John Wayne's version is historical fact. What Texans are taught is that a handful of men stood up to overwhelming odds and willingly died for what they believed in. Despite whatever faults they had - everyone in Texas at that time was running from something; it was a land of scoundrels - they became more than their collective pasts and died as heroes. Their deaths bought Sam Houston the time he needed to retreat, regroup and eventually defeat, so their deaths made possible what Texas is today.

4. Why Do a Re-make - It wasn't like anyone was sitting around thinking "ya know, I would like to watch The Alamo again, but only if the characters are more sensitive and if it had more from Santa Ana's point of view". A better alternative would be to make a movie about the Alamo where the Alamo and it's main heroes aren't the central element. A good place to start is an outstanding book called The Gates of The Alamo, which tells the story from secondary characters. It has 4.5 of 5 stars from reader reviews on Amazon and I highly recommend it.

I'll see this movie when it's released on DVD (after bombing, in about a month), but if the reviews are any indication of what to expect, I doubt that my advice will change any.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:47 PM (Permalink)
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What is it About the Masters?
I'm not an avid golf fan. I play a round from time to time, but really play golf since it is a skill required for where I want to go in my career than a true love of the game itself. I like it okay, but really wish it took a lot less time (golf should be 10 holes and baseball should be six innings, but that's just me).

And I really don't care to watch golf on TV except for the Masters. Every April I watch this tournament and have seen some great game games, the most memorable being when Greg Norman choked on the back nine in '96, Tiger winning his first Masters (not dramatic, but nice to watch) and yesterday's win for Mickelson was fun to watch since he was the "best player never to win a major".

Other golf tournaments have dramatic play, so what is it about the Masters? It's unique history? It's beauty? It definitely has a mystique that other tournaments find hard to match (St. Andrews is probably the only location that can come close).




Even Mrs. Director, who hates golf, wants to go to Augusta one day to watch the tournament, and I'm definitely going to take her up on this particular desire.


posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:58 AM (Permalink)
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Maybe It's Not So Sophomoric
I commented that, although I participate in them, Google bombs are a bit sophomoric; basically a game that bloggers on both sides of the political spectrum play that really doesn't have an affect on political discourse, votes, or anything else. The only ones keeping score are the people who participate.

The latest Google bomb effort to link John Kerry to Waffles made USA Today's political section, so this little game is getting national exposure. The real "winner" in this is the person who started the effort, who got quoted in a national newspaper and will likely have something close to an Instalanch based on the article.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:13 AM (Permalink)
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