Four stages of going offshore

"Offshore governance changes dramatically, as companies migrate through the four stages of the offshore journey. What starts as an administrative function evolves over three or more years into a program management and development discipline. Forrester recently attended a panel on 'offshoring' in the insurance industry, at which offshore users revealed divergent levels of insight and experiences. These companies represent a reality that the move offshore is not a simple six-month project businesses can dial up instantly. As we have observed in our research, there is a four-stage migration companies go through over a period of 24 to 60 or more months."

What is Google worth?

"Grand visions aside, how sound is Google's business model in the face of its partners turning into possible competitors? While Google still powers portal giant Yahoo's Internet search results, Yahoo's acquisitions of Inktomi (search technology) and Overture (paid search listings) signal a coming change in strategy. Even Amazon has entered the fray, announcing the creation of a new group to work on achieving best-in-class shopping search tools, which could put it in competition with Google's 'Froogle' product finder as well as Yahoo's Search Products function."

Digital Hubris

"High-tech is relentlessly optimistic and for good reason: the good times -- ALL the good times -- are caused by product transitions. New stuff costs more, has higher profit margins, and occasionally leads to changes in market leadership. A year or two later, these products will have been commoditized, the profit sucked out of them by intense competition, and it will be time to move on to the next big thing. Four years ago, the cheapest 802.11b access point you could buy cost $299. This week, I saw one advertised that with rebates brought the final cost down to zero, nothing, nada, zilch. Time to move on. So high-tech is always looking forward, never back, and taking a gamble on something new isn't perceived so much as a gamble but as a way of life."

Consumption of Information Goods and Services in the United States

"Technology elites in the United States have more than just a lot of technology, although they have plenty of that. For this group, the Internet, cell phone, digital videodisc player, and personal digital assistant are commonplace; many of them access the Internet wirelessly and are starting to pay for online content. What is distinctive about them is that new electronic communications technologies come first. They would rather do without their wireline telephone than their computer. For the Young Tech Elites, the cell phone is more important than the wireline phone, and email is as important as telephonic communication. For the Young Tech Elites, the Internet is a regular source for daily news and an indispensable element of their entertainment experience."

THE MEATRIX

"Thanks to Nick Usborne for a great link: THE MEATRIX. It's hard to catalog how many things this site does right (not to mention the Moopheus cow imagery, but that's personal). You don't have to agree with the message (though I do) to be in awe of how well executed the strategy and tactics of the campaign are. What's happening here? I think that as advertising stops being about cash for media and starts being about ideas worth spreading, we're going to see more vivid and effective work from organizations with a point of view."

Early Word on Amazon 'Stores'

"When customers make purchases on Amazon.com from another merchant, Amazon.com sends the order to the merchant, which then ships the items. In exchange for offering their goods to Amazon.com's shoppers - more than 15 million visitors a week during the holiday season, according to Media Metrix - merchants typically pay Amazon.com a commission of 7 percent to 15 percent on each sale, according to Forrester. If an item fails to satisfy a customer, it is the responsibility of the merchant that shipped the product to receive the customer service call."

Google Here, There, and Everywhere

"As the search giant keeps expanding into new services, it's becoming a rival to just about every other Net company out there. I woke up this morning and Googled my dry cleaner to see if my shirts were done. Then I Googled the weather to see what to wear to work. Before breakfast, I Googled my stocks to see how they did yesterday, and then I Googled the supermarket for sale prices and to schedule a delivery, right from Google. I Googled the movies playing at theaters near my house, and then I told Google to e-mail me with travel itineraries to Paris from June 24 through June 31. In short, it's just another good Google day here in 2006, in an all-Google world."

Nurses Use Web To Choose Shifts And Pay

"Here's how shift bidding works: Nurses log onto a hospital's Web site, view all empty shifts in units like cardiac, intensive care, or critical care, and make an offer to work for a rate within a specified range posted by the hospital. The lowest bidder wins with skill level and other factors being equal."

Raking muck in "The Sims Online"

"In the real world, Peter Ludlow is an academic, a professor of philosophy and linguistics at the University of Michigan whose books go by sober titles like 'Readings in the Philosophy of Language,' and 'Semantics, Tense and Time: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Natural Language.' He's well-regarded in his field and engaging enough on the phone, but Ludlow is, even by his own admission, not a very interesting person. That is to say, Peter Ludlow is nothing like Urizenus, Ludlow's alter ego in the virtual world of 'The Sims Online.'"