Observe Business

Observations on Business, Government Policy, and Strategy

Browsing Posts published in August, 2008

I have a lot of respect for the Washington Post, I consider it one of the USA’s premier newspapers. However, I read this article which is titled “5 Perfect ‘Spare-Time’ Online Businesess” written by Yanik Silver, who, coincidentally, is also selling a book titled Moonlighting on the Internet.  The article says you can earn a [...]

The rental car industry has always struck me as ripe for some smart guy to make a lot of money. Rental car companies are the ultimate commodity traders. They offer a product they don’t manufacture- a car, they don’t control the usage experience(the driving), and there is no residual income to speak of. Customer loyalty [...]

The NYTimes is known for being the newspaper of record. But they are hurting and trying to make the transition into the digital age. Jason Calcanis, a man who made a lot of money on the Internet AFTER the 2001 bust, said newspapers are dead.  So does Henry Blodget, who was a big Internet muckety-muck, [...]

On the top we have the viagra website for the USA. Notice how it is so innocuous, they might as well be selling photo albums or wood stain. On the bottom is the viagra website for Austria. It is raunchy and promises fun and excitement.

ArsTechnica is considered one of the top blogs on the Internet. It is ranked 2618 on Alexa and #7 on the top 100 blogs list on Technorati. But on a recent visit it was showing PSA’s(Public Service Announcements) all over its home page. That just shows how tough it is to make money on the [...]