Archive for August 2008

Sirius XM Should Acquire Pandora

By on August 18, 2008

Today on ArsTechnica, there was a story about Pandora and how they can’t make any money.  The Cliff’s Notes version to get everyone up to speed is this.  Pandora is a revolutionary online radio program that uses the music genome project to take user preferences based on a few songs and program a customized radio station just for you.  If you like your death metal technical, and swedish like Meshuggah, Pandora will play some Meshuggah.  And then they will find other bands that sound similar like Lamb of God, or At the Gates or some other Scandinavian death metal.

It is brilliant.  It is the future of radio.  It has no business model yet.

SoundExchange is all but guaranteeing that the business model is going to fail.  They are the royalty-collecting wing of the RIAA.  They are in the process of imposing a fee of 2.91 cents per hour per listener for the right to broadcast music.  It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is.  Satellite radio has a rate of about 1.61 cents per hour per listener.  The reasoning for making Pandora’s rate so much higher is basically because their service is so cool.  SoundExchange treats Pandora differently because it creates something of a 1 to 1 relationship with each member of its audience whereas SiriusXM has a single playlist for a station that maybe thousands of people listen to at the same time.

I wrote about the satellite radio merger the other day and mentioned that the whole satellite delivery method of radio was eventually going to become obsolete with the proliferation of mobile internet.  I still believe that, but here’s the thing.  The proliferation of mobile internet is far from upon us.

So in the left hand, we have a brilliant company that can’t seem to make money and faces the eventual shuttering of its doors.  On the right hand we have a company that looks to be healthy in the short term as time starts to run out on its proprietary music delivery method.  Somewhere in the middle, these two companies need to meet.

SiriusXM is only going to survive in the long run with a mix of content and technology.  The first portion of that is to have original, exclusive content.  Their exclusive deals with sports leagues like MLB and the NFL are a great way to start.  Having Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, and Ron and Fez is also a part of the equation.  So where does the music fit in?

In the age of iPods you aren’t going to compete with an all-encompassing programmed radio station.  So imagine if there were no music channels on SiriusXM.  No adult contemporary channels.  No hardcore punk channels.  No hip-hop channels.  Instead it was Pandora.  Every listener has a few artists or styles and as they ride around in their cars listening to the music and giving minimal feedback, they are creating individualized music stations that will grow and change with them wherever they go.

It would be a big win for SiriusXM.  It would be a big win for fans of music to not lose Pandora.  Pandora needs subscribers.  SiriusXM has subscribers and needs to make sure they futureproof themselves past the whole satellite delivery method.  Pandora is a good way to do that.

This entry is filed under Music, Radio, Technology and tagged , , , , , .

Dana White is Not Afraid of Criticism

By on August 16, 2008

Dana White is the head of the UFC and he is a stand-up guy. He does a Q&A with huge audiences of fans and isn’t afraid of anything anyone might have to say. In this clip, a woman says, “F*** you” to him because he talks so much junk about former UFC fighter Tito Ortiz. Dana’s answer is hilarious. He basically says that he and Tito feud publicly all the time because they don’t like each other, they are both extremely immature, and both probably need counseling.

Ladies and gentlemen, your UFC CEO, Dana White.

This entry is filed under Sports and tagged , , . | 1 Comment

Separated at Birth – Michael Phelps and Gheorghe Muresan

By on August 15, 2008

I heard this mentioned on Jim Rome, so I thought I would throw the pics together.

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What do you think? It might work.

Smells like Cabbage.

This entry is filed under Blog, Sports and tagged , , . | 4 Comments

Potty Humor FOREVER

By on August 15, 2008

Will this stuff ever not be funny?


Polar Bear Doesnt Need to Flush – Watch more free videos

This entry is filed under Blog, General Media, Video and tagged , , . | 1 Comment

Olympics are Ripe With Condoms… Really

By on August 15, 2008

I wouldn’t have guessed that this was the case, but apparently they supplied, AND RAN OUT OF, condoms during the previous Olympic games in Sydney.  How many did they supply, you ask?  Try 70,000.

“There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes’ village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things, so we need to make condoms available,” Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters. “A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters.”

OK, I have a question.

If an American swimmer and a Korean badminton player procreate in the Olympic village and their offspring turns out to be a super-kid athlete, does the kid play both sports down the road, and more importantly, which country does (s)he represent?  Can the kid swim for the U.S. and Badmint* for Korea?

(* I think I just created a new verb.)

This entry is filed under Blog, Sports and tagged , , , . | 2 Comments

Cavs Land PG Mo Williams

By on August 13, 2008

I was cruising WFNY today and the place has caught fire with excited Cavs fans talking about this three-team deal that brings Milwaukee Bucks PG Mo Williams to the Cavaliers. I am a bit more cautiously optimistic than flat out excited by this news.

On the surface, it looks like a great fit, because Williams is known as a point guard who can make his own scoring opportunities. All Cavs fans know that the team needs more offensive options than what LeBron and Zydrunas Ilgauskas provide. So, with that, it should be a promising outlook as of today. Except, I want to be more cautious.

In 2005, the Cavs needed a player to play opposite LeBron James, so instead of trading, they went out and found a player with a Hollinger PER rating of 21.63. This is a statistical combination used to measure a player’s production per minute of floor time. This player had 22 points per game and almost 5 assists per game to go along with just over 6 rebounds per game. And his name was Larry Hughes.

Just to put it all in perspective, Mo Williams’ PER is 17.06 currently.

Now, I am sorry if it seems like I am trying to be a downer. I am not. I hope Mo Williams turns out to be exactly what the Cavs need in terms of getting to the next level. I think combined with Delonte West (should he return,) Wally Szczerbiak (should he not be traded,) and Daniel Gibson, the Cavs have a pretty good rotation of players ready to play in the back court in the upcoming season.

The plusses are that Williams is still a younger player at 25 years old. He just finished the first year of a 6-year $51.5 million deal that is a relative bargain compared to the amount of money that the Cavs paid Larry Hughes. Also, the Cavs unloaded dead weight in Damon Jones, and an aging veteran in Joe Smith, so they didn’t really lose a ton to pick up Williams.

So, anyway, I am excited at the prospect. I think it is a good calculated risk on Danny Ferry’s part. Then again, I thought Larry Hughes was a good calculated risk when the Cavs signed him in 2005. Let’s just hope it works and that the Cavs won’t sit idly by with Wally Szczerbiak’s expiring contract for too long. It is the largest expiring-contract bargaining chip in Danny Ferry’s arsenal, and I hope he uses it wisely.

Update:  The Cavs have emailed their fanbase about the trade.


“Acquiring Mo strengthens our nucleus of players for both the short and long term. He is entering his prime NBA years and will be part of the foundation of our future success,” Ferry said. “Mo is a player that excels as a traditional point guard, but also brings an extra dimension with his scoring and versatility. His ability to push the tempo, get inside the lane, shoot from the perimeter and distribute the ball will be very valuable for us.”

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The Move Is Complete

By on August 13, 2008

Technically it was complete about this time last week, but today it finally feels complete.  We moved from a more urban version of suburbia to a significantly less urban iteration.  I mowed my new lawn for the first time last week over the course of two days.  Yes, I said two days.  The back yard took me about an hour and a half on Thursday and then the front yard took me just over an hour on Friday.  All this while gaining experience with the nuances of my lightly used Craftsman riding mower.

As for the inside of the house, Jen has been the real trooper there.  While I was learning to cut grass, she unpacked the kitchen and put all the dishes in their places.  Speaking of which, this new kitchen is at least 30% larger than the kitchen we had at the old place.  What this means is that, first of all, I can’t find anything.  Secondly, we have so many drawers and cabinets that I think I saw a drawer that only had chopsticks, skewers, and those little corn on the cob handles that get pushed into the stalk for easy eating.  Talk about specialization in organization.

Moving out to the country has been weird even though I grew up in the exact same area.  I had grown accustomed to having some sidewalks.  I was used to having a coffee shop right near my house for those mornings that I didn’t feel like making my own coffee at home.  Arabica was the home to blue collar office workers and professionals who needed a caffeine fix on their way to work.  I have traded that in for a convenience store.  Instead of waiting in line and wondering which idiot will talk on their cell phone through the line, I have to worry about which idiot will park their landscaping truck and trailer to a point that I won’t be able to get my car into a parking lot.  Instead of lattes and extravagant forms of cream-based teas, I have dudes with tattoos and jean shorts actually buying the warmed breakfast sandwiches that fester under the heat lamps.

Speaking of tattoos, when I was standing in line this morning to buy some coffee, I noticed one guys had a tattoo on his leg.  It had two words, one on the top, and one on the bottom, that surrounded a caricature of a dude holding his thumbs up and smiling at me.  The word on the top was “Tattoos” and the word on the bottom was “Rule!”

Welcome home.

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When Feel-Good Stories Die

By on August 10, 2008

After the Browns released LeCharles Bentley earlier this pre-season, they still had one potential feel-good story remaining in Gary Baxter.  Baxter blew out both his knees on one play two years ago, and was making an attempt at an unprecedented comeback to the playing field.  Today, that comeback attempt is on hold, if not over completely as the Browns terminated Gary Baxter’s contract.  Last week it was announced that Baxter had arthroscopic knee surgery to remove some cartilage.

“Last year we were able to hold a roster spot open for Gary as he attempted to make a monumental comeback,” said Browns General Manager Phil Savage. “After he underwent a knee scope last week, we are unfortunately not in a position to hold a roster spot this year. We are releasing Gary today in hopes he will be able to continue his rehab and get back into the NFL, either with another team, or possibly with the Browns. Gary has made tremendous strides thus far, and we believe he can play professional football again in the future.”

In this statement it seems like Phil Savage is covering his behind in order to avoid criticism that the Browns just dumped a guy when he was hurt.  I really do believe that the Browns acted ethically in this situation, though.  They did as much as any NFL franchise would do to keep a player around even when he wasn’t able to help the team.  This season with a serious lack of depth in the defensive backfield, the Browns were just not in a position to keep the Baxter dream alive.

And no, I don’t believe that Phil Savage and company actually think Baxter will ever be back in a Cleveland Browns uniform.  It was just a really upbeat, encouraging thing for him to say.

Gary Baxter is carted off after his career-threatening injury

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