off

Why the MLB steriods debacle is a crock

In a slight departure from what I normally cover here on the Digital Home, I thought I would touch on one of the biggest stories affecting all media today -- the MLB steroids debacle.

In the extremely unlikely chance that you've been able to stay away from any and all news surrounding the topic, George Mitchell -- the MLB's resident steroids czar -- released a huge report detailing how deep steroids and Human Growth Hormone (HGH) use runs in Major League Baseball.

According to former Senator Mitchell, a whopping 87 players have been implicated in his first testing and in a statement to the press, he mentioned that subsequent investigations will surely conjure up even more stories about player abuse of both steroids and HGH.

But after reading the majority of the report and going over the finer details describing exactly how Mitchell and his minions caught these players, I'm hard-pressed to see how this even matters. As best as I can tell, only three players -- Daniel Naulty, Wally Joyner and Andy Pettitte -- have admitted to using illegal substances, while many of the others were implicated on circumstantial evidence -- at best.

With that in mind, how can we make a judgment on one man's career if he cannot be implicated of a crime, he will not be brought up on charges and cannot clear his name of any wrongdoing if Mitchell's report was factually incorrect? Sadly, we can't.

And it's for this reason that this report is not only nominally important, it's a crock.… Read more

Britain proposes massive offshore wind power investment

The British government on Monday proposed the construction of up to 7,000 offshore wind turbines to accelerate the country's conversion to cleaner power.

The proposal, unveiled by U.K. business secretary John Hutton, is meant to help achieve the European Union's goal of producing 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, according to reports.

Britain will overtake Denmark next year as the country with the most offshore wind power, Hutton said at an energy conference in Berlin.

The country now gets about 2 percent of its energy from renewable sources. The plans call for … Read more

Old-School Sesame Street makes your kids tough

I can't think of many Tv shows that impacted my generation as much as Sesame Street and The Electric Company (the slightly older sibling replete with live-action Spiderman) so I was disappointed to read in this NY Times article that " Sesame Street: Old School" is considered too hard-core for todays' kids. I personally credit both of them, along with The Muppets for teaching me the joys of sarcasm and irony. "These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child."

Fortunately, it's not due … Read more

Off-topic: Japan jetlag and how to practice your writing

Back in 2005 when I was still in business school our MBA program took a two-week trip to Hong Kong, China and Thailand to try and understand how you do business in Asia (I blogged much of it here.) One of my fellow students on that trip worked for a big pharma company and gave some new sleeping pills to take on the flight back from Bangkok->HK->SFO, which seemed like a good idea...except I never fell asleep and basically was up for about 30 hours before I got home and passed out so badly that I didn't feed the dog for almost 2 days (he's still mad at me.)

My recent Tokyo trip was severely lacking in sleep and now I am wide awake and totally jetlagged after about 4 hours of shut-eye this evening.

It's painful.

So, on to some random notes... … Read more

Bad branding infects tech

Last week, I explained why high tech isn't known for its stellar marketing. Well, if you'll permit me to continue to throw stones from the comfort of my glass house, I'd say its branding isn't worth a damn, either.

Mothers should love their children, right? Then why do high-tech mother companies give their spin-offs such stupid names? Do they hate their offspring? It's not that far-fetched. They already saddle them with tons of debt and other baggage. Maybe a stupid name is just their way of saying, "Don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out"?

Or maybe they're just trying to toughen the company up for the real world, as in Johnny Cash's A Boy Named Sue? I seriously doubt it. … Read more

EarthLink to lay off 900

Internet service provider EarthLink said Tuesday that it would lay off approximately 900 employees as the company restructures in an attempt to boost its sagging stock price.

EarthLink will lose about half its staff in the restructuring as it shuts down operations in Orlando, Fla.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Harrisburg, Pa., and San Francisco. It will also substantially reduce its presence in Pasadena, Calif., and Atlanta, the company said in a press release Tuesday.

The reductions are expected to cost the company $60 million to $70 million. But it will save EarthLink $25 million to $35 million through the remainder of 2007, … Read more

Wii virtual console releases for this week--I hear crickets

Not every week can be a great week for Wii virtual console gaming. Unfortunately, this is one of those weeks. Here are the less than spectacular Wii virtual console releases for the week of July 30.

Star Soldier (1988, NES, 500 Wii points)--A game that set the bar for vertically scrolling shooters, Star Soldier was the first in the Soldier series. Dynamite Headdy (1994, Sega Genesis, 800 Wii points)--Dynamite Headdy is a comic action game that will surely attract the attention of fans of classic platformers. Drop Off (1990, Turbografx 16, 600 Wii points)--Drop Off is an … Read more

When in doubt, fold up the remote

Category: Going from bad to worse.

One of our many standard rants has centered on the tech industry's inability to come up with a truly universal remote that even a Geico caveman could figure out. But some manufacturers insist on going in the opposite direction, creating subcategories or developing remotes that seem to use far more technology than the products they're supposed to control.

The latest act of genius? Making one that closes up like a flip phone. Rather than simplify and actually reduce the size and number of buttons needed (unthinkable!), GE apparently just decided to make … Read more

Lay offs at the Mercury News

With Bush's pardon commutation of Scooter Libby's 30 month prison sentence dominating the news this morning, the San Jose Mercury News published an article announcing 31 lay offs from their newsroom. This news, along with 15 recent volunteer resignations brings The Mercury's fleet of reporters down to 200 which according to the article is about half of what it was in 2000. Of course, this news shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as newspapers across the country have been feeling the heat for some time and many have resorted to lay offs in an effort to balance their declining budgets.

So why is it that print newspapers are faltering in recent years? Is it because of the rise of online journalists and bloggers or is it because American's have grown hypersensitive about paper waste and have decided it is no longer responsible to read a daily newspaper? Has Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth had that much of an impact? Somehow I doubt it.

… Read more