Tretakoff Musings

Facebook's big introduction today of Graph Search set off all sorts of seismic waves across multiple companies. Investors reacted with gloom and doom in a variety of companies as big, bad, Facebook announced their intention to introduce a "third pillar" of their business by allowing users to search relevant Facebook friends' recommendations and relationships. The question is: why? Before I get to that, a note about today's announcement: a very smart move by Facebook to take advantage of that wealth of data they know about you in a way that doesn't make you scream and run for the hills, and is actually engaging. Also, impressive move to put it in equal importance to their existing News Feed and Timeline products, the two most identifiable aspects of Facebook. No wimpy "beta" labels here; they are making their intentions quite clear. The problem I forsee is that search is, in essence, a mechanism to "pull" information: you have to ask...

Very cool feature from Yahoo! Sports, when you play their Fantasy Football game: they use a company to create simulated news stories , based on your fantasy performance in the week. Hadn't seen this before, but, now that my team has advanced to the Super Bowl (against my brother in law), I was amused by the simultaneous pseudo fame, as well as the rueful harbinger for the automated threat to journalism. On to next week's big game! Go Cowboys! Playoffs: Marin Cowboys Brings Down SB CHAMPS G-MEN Marin Cowboys (10-5) 117.14 SB CHAMPS G-MEN (9-6) 86.64 Alfred Morris put up 21.30 points and Julio Jones scored 21.20 as Marin Cowboys beat SB CHAMPS G-MEN, 117.14 - 86.64. Marin Cowboys has been just plain unbeatable and has now won seven straight. This win avenges a 90.38 - 77.68 loss to SB CHAMPS G-MEN back in Week 8. Marin Cowboys Smooth Moves With 21.30 points against a projected 13.63, Alfred Morris ranked ninth in the league in scoring and has now overachieved in four...

A pretty disturbing news story today from my old hometown of Newton, MA. In essence, a 44 year old Chinese woman from the sheltered town of Newton went shopping for a few iPhones in New Hampshire...and ended up writhing on the ground, tasered by two local police officers. Read that again. Now, clearly there are more details to this: The main "issue" is that the woman tried to buy more than 2 iPhones. Apple's policy is only 2. They told her "no." She claims to not have understood, but the Apple store folks say she was being obstinate, and refused to leave. The woman claims to not understand English. She's 44, lives in Newton, MA (a pretty upscale suburb of Boston), is engaged to a resident there, so it's probably a longshot that she did not understand "no." The woman allegedly had $16k in cash on her at the time. The real story behind this is that Apple is trying to clamp down on the fact that some markets do not yet have the iPhone 5...

I was following the coverage of last week's Living Social deal for $10 of a Starbucks gift card for $5. One of the more interesting assertions was that Living Social actually paid for the deal, and Starbucks had nothing to do with it. So says a site called FastCasual.com, a site that, as they say: "Since 1997, FastCasual.com has reported on the important news, events, trends and people in the $23.5 billion fast casual restaurant industry segment." The piece on the LS/Starbucks deal was written by the "editor" of FastCasual, Cherryh Butler. Ms. Butler's bio: "Cherryh Butler has been a reporter for nearly 10 years, writing on a variety of topics ranging from the cable industry and business to health and fitness. Before joining fastcasual.com as editor, she wrote for several daily newspapers, magazines and Web sites, including The Kansas City Star and ehow.com" So, I found Ms. Butler's piece a bit troubling in a few areas: - She make...

From the folks at VentureBeat , this juxtaposition of articles says it all: Yeah, one company focuses on forward vision, a strong product line, and a mature, strong relationship with Wall St., so speculation on their future drives them to the most profitable and valued company. The other spurned the investment community, brushed off concerns about their core business, has leadership that is the poster child for immature, and, while actually focusing on growth categories, failed to give good guidance to the financial gurus, and is on the verge of being punished to the point of humiliation. What have we learned here? Don't take on Wall St. You will lose. Play by their rules if you want to play in their sandbox. Going public is not for everyone. For all we know, Living Social might be experiencing much of the same, but you don't hear a peep about them. You don't have to have the most innovative product (the iPhone ain't), but you have to execute really well (iOS ...

More great news from the killing paper front: another team in the NFL has decided to shift from paper-based playbooks to the tablet (in this case, like so many, the iPad). The Denver Broncos have decided to join the Baltimore Ravens and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in tossing out the massive, obsolete and frequently outdated complicated NFL playbooks in favor of an iPad. This is a trend that needs to continue. Now, maybe Denver feels the time is right, as they have a new quarterback who is known for calling his own plays at the line, but the fact that this is updateable, and can be enhanced with actual video of the team running the play, means this is a trend that's here to stay. And who knows? Much like videogames have trained an entire generation to be future Air Force drone aircraft operators, or have influenced cockpit display design , who's to say that the next Bill Parcells won't use their version of Madden on the iPad to parlay into an NFL head coaching job? It...

The world is a'buzzing this morning with the big news: Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion . HUGE move: one of those seminal business moments that will mark a seismic shift. Hearkens back to the moment AOL bought Time Warner, or Netscape's IPO, or Google crossing the $400/share mark: all moments the landscape changed. In this case, the ramifications are many, but I want to highlight two. The first is the title of this post: this is truly the triumph of the echo over the voice. I've recently been wrestling with the perception dilemma of a feature vs. a product/company; there is a very good argument to be made that Instagram is nothing but a feature of Facebook: just a slightly better photo sharing. $1 billion is a lot to pay for a supposed feature, right? Here's where it gets interesting: there is a steady succession of companies who you could argue have taken a feature of other companies and turned it into a full product. For example, Twitter is, for all int...

As someone who works with the newspaper industry to help explore new forms of monetization, I was impressed with this recent CVS promotion with the San Francisco Chronicle. Yes, it appears our solution to curing Hepatitis C lies with CVS. Even better, a $5 savings! A true triumph of editorial matched with advertising...and the best promotion CVS could have asked for.

A couple of weeks ago, Forbes published a story that swept the interwebs: the iPhone had a security flaw that would allow a hacker to own it with a single text message. As you can imagine, the hue and cry went off loudly: the iPhone was insecure; the iPhone was a cheap piece of crap; the iPhone would never be a serious enterprise device. Except one thing. Way down in the 5th paragraph of the Forbes article was this tidbit: "They say they've also found a similar texting bug in Windows Mobile that allows complete remote control of Microsoft-based devices." Did you get that? The same bug was discovered and communicated at the same time in Windows Mobile. You know, that same Windows Mobile that enterprises recommend because of the secure Exchange integration? The same one that is in a virtual dead heat for handset market share with the iPhone? You know...THAT ONE? I'm a big fan of the iPhone, but journalist and bloggers: you can't have your iPhone-hating cake and e...

Yet another bizarre turn of a phrase by a sports journalist. Today's example focuses on an article on the upcoming NFL draft and the New England Patriots . You remember them, right? The team that, only two seasons ago, posted only the second undefeated regular season...ever. Yes, they lost the Super Bowl to the Giants on the backs of an aging defense and a fluke play, but they won more games than any other team in 2008. The quote (and first line of the article): "Bill Belichick has a shot at his second straight solid draft after two years of mediocrity." The definition of "mediocre:" not very high quality; average or second rate Um...help me out here. In 2008, they had an undefeated regular season, and won more games than any other team in the league. Last year, they overcame the loss of their superstar QB, turned a player who had never started a game in college or the pros into a bona fide sensation, and missed the playoffs with a better record than 2 other te...

I realize newspapers are in dire economic straits, and it seems the effects are being seen on their quality. Remember: this is a format that relies upon the printed page and language to correctly communicate it's product. So, imagine my surprise as I scanned an article today in my local San Francisco Chronicle about the 49ers. In it, I found this gem: "J.T. O'Sullivan, San Francisco's starting quarterback for the first 7 1/2 games of last season..." The definition of "starting," according to Dictionary.com, is "to begin an activity or a movement; set out." Therefore, how can the quarterback referenced above have "started" for half of a game? It's an inherent contradiction...like "partially pregnant." Hey, I know it's the sports pages, but these are supposedly folks with degrees, right? Or at least they have editors who are supposed to catch these things?

Great news from a new company, Transaction Tree, who claim they've developed a POS-based solution that allows any retailer's POS system to allow the customer to choose to receive their receipt via email instead of printed paper . While the Apple Store has been doing this for quite some time, they have the advantage of having a relatively modern POS (albeit one that runs on Windows CE, ironically). Most retailers have legacy POS systems, which are not known for their flexibility in this regard. In this age of identity theft, these paper scraps of data are more like tempting morsels for identity thieves. Worse, standards are completely absent: some retailers print the last 4 digits of a credit card on your receipt; others print all but the last 4. A thief only has to take a gander at a mall trash can, and they have the equivalent of an all-expenses paid trip around the world. Emailing these receipts ends this risk, and focuses on what we really need: unlimited storage, indexable...

15 years ago, the Patagonia Toothfish was, to say the least, not much of a hot seller. Then, some ingenious marketers thought of renaming the fish with a name that would be more tempting to diners, and the Chilean Sea Bass was born, becoming so successful, the sales of it have to be now restricted to ensure we don't fish the species out of existence. A great example of marketing in the world of seafood, one that brought great prosperity and expanded palates. Today, we have an absolutely opposite inanity, courtesy of the lunatics at the oh so benignly named People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. They have announced a PR campaign to rebrand fish as...sea kittens. Yes, these crazy folks, who would rather let humans die of starvation, malnutrition, and agony, believe that the latest "animals" to need their protection are fish. This is misguided in so many ways, it dazzles the mind. These zealots are masters of the language war, having executed successful camp...

The Bill Parcells soap opera continues this week, and not for the reasons you might expect. Sure, three coaches in the NFL have just been axed, and more are likely to follow, and normally when you hear about coaching opportunities, a huge shadow looms over each: Parcells (although the other Bill, Cowher, is starting to compete). The latest drama is on his success with the Miami Dolphins as the head of football operations. Turns out, his contract is unique in that if the owner sells the team, he can walk away, and be fully paid for his whole contract. So, the hand wringing begins: will he stay or won't he? This is a guy who twice put his hall of fame election on hold by refusing to stay unretired and come out to restore respectability to a franchise, so who's to say he won't again? He's had the magic touch, both as a coach and an executive, for now five major NFL franchises. He brought the New York Giants two Superbowl rings. He brought the Patriots to a Superbowl. He...

Very sad news today that the venerable L.L. Bean cataloger and direct marketer is facing the troubled times with something of a scary approach: layoffs . This is a company that, to my knowledge, has never endured the contractions that so many retail chains have, and they've preserved that classic Yankee/Maine feeling of "toughing it out together." I hope they find a third way, as I'd love to see them be a model for so many other companies in this, like they have in so many other ways.

Alas, the world of Consumer Electronics suffered yet more bad news this week. First, Circuit City surrendered to the inevitable in the first of what is sure to be a long series of death throes by closing 155 stores . This was long overdue, and is a direct response to the increasing dominance of Best Buy and Amazon. I'm amazed it took so long; I actually think they would be best served by closing these monster stores and go for the old Circuit City Express formats in suburban malls. As it is, the real estate costs will kill them in no time. The second is more sinister, and sad: Tweeter Etc. was purchased by a liquidator . Why this is sinister: they told all the company employees last week that they were shutting the distribution center, and arranging to have all shipments sent directly to the stores, saving them $12 million. This was received with, to say it nicely, some skepticism. Sure enough, they made a backroom deal to liquidate the stores, and got out of town before the pitch...

This can't be real life. In Philadelphia, we have a tale of two news anchors. You know, those folks that laugh and smile on newscasts, yet probably hate each other off camera? Never truer words were said, as the antics of these two simply defy imagination. Some examples? One, Larry Mendte, was recently fired, then hacked into his co-anchor Alycia Lane's e-mail account over 500 times. Lane had an off-air scuffle with an NYPD officer. Mendte shared some of Lane's personal emails with a print reporter. Lane sends cheesecake photos of herself to NFL Network's Rich Eisen, only to have them opened by Eisen's wife. You can't make this stuff up, folks. My favorite line of the whole story, though, was this: " Authorities found a picture of Lane in a bikini on Mendte's computer, though there are no charges connected to the image. " No charges connected to the image. Oh, whew, guess they are both off the hook, right? ;-) And you thought local TV news was bor...

Good news today for NFL Films fans like me. Courtesy of the always-entertaining MJD , word comes that the venerable Inside The NFL that has aired on HBO almost since its inception, has risen from the dead . For those that were not aware, this past season was the last of the highlight show's long run, leaving Dan Marino, Bob Costas, Cris Carter, and Chris Collinsworth out of a job. Of course, they had those cushy Sunday morning gigs to fall back on, and Costas is practically his own brand by now, so not too many tears. But Showtime wisely recognized the built-in audience, and swept in to revive it. No word yet if the staff is back, too, but one can hope that the NFL Films staff members that were laid off as a result of HBO's earlier decision will be back. How about it, Dan? Kick in a little of that salary?

For years now, I have wandered through San Francisco Airport's former International terminal with amazement. The building is deserted. Empty. Completely vacant. Yet it's location is directly between the massively busy United/American Terminal 3 and the hodgepodge of Terminal 1's Delta/US Air/Everyone else. That means that travel between the two inevitably requires walking through this cavernous maw of 1970's architecture, with only the sound of your footsteps and the squeaking of the wheels of your rollaboard to keep you company. It's downright eerie, and strange, since every other terminal seems so overwhelmed with traffic and business. With it's central location, and easy gate locations, it's always strange that it lies there, dormant, in an otherwise modern busy airport. Heck, you even have to pass the Airport Police as you enter, as their station lives at the entrance. Nothing like armed police eyeing you suspiciously, wondering why you are willingly ent...

We may, as a society, disagree with many things, but there has been one truth we all seem to instinctively agree on: drinking lots of water is good for your health. However, as with all good maxims, it's occasionally important to test them for reality. And, according to the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, this wives' tale is all wet. Turns out, drinking more water not only does not improve skin tone or reduce appetite, but actually can even be harmful, possibly causing kidney damage. The irony of this to me is not that yet another accepted truism has fallen by the wayside, but more that this was forecast by the most unlikely of prognosticators, Lewis Black . He of the waggling finger, and apoplectic screaming fits, the man predicted this very thing years ago in his HBO Broadway special, Black on Broadway , as well as a hilarious and wry look at the history of this admonition, as well as it's possible origin. Take 10 minutes, sit back and prepare to laugh.