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Bliss Drive Launches ‘The Firm’ Testimonial Network – A New Way for Businesses … – MarketWatch (press release)
Dec 23rd
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Bliss Drive Launches 'The Firm' Testimonial Network – A New Way for Businesses …
MarketWatch (press release) 23, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Bliss Drive, an Orange County California SEO company launches a new way for businesses to gain more critical exposure in 2012. By leveraging the power of positive reviews, businesses can gain more exposure in the … |
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HP: PC Business Not Moving Anywhere, WebOS ‘the Next Piece of Work’
Oct 28th
It’s no surprise that the new-and-re-improved Hewlett-Packard has come to the conclusion this afternoon, under newly-minted President and CEO Meg Whitman, that it will not spin off the Personal Systems Group (PSG) division responsible for producing PCs and tablets. This move was announced after the close of stock trading Thursday afternoon.
But one of the first questions analysts asked during an HP investors’ press conference this afternoon was the fate of its tablet unit. Today, Whitman made it absolutely clear that any tablet PCs HP may produce in the coming year will center around Windows 8, not the webOS platform that HP acquired in the Palm buyout just over one year ago.
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In the face of what PSG division EVP Todd Bradley called “enormous economic pressure,” he added that the company’s thinking on tablet PC manufacturing “hasn’t changed” since Whitman took over the badly-damaged CEO position from Léo Apotheker just five weeks ago. When asked to clarify how that thinking did not change from, and where it’s not going, Bradley reiterated that the company will focus on Windows 8-based tablets — in so doing, almost intimating that a Win8 tablet is more imminent than Microsoft’s preview process might lead customers to believe.
But Bradley added that HP is continuing to work with former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein — still an HP employee, though no longer an executive — to determine the ultimate fate of webOS.
“We’re continuing to focus on a Microsoft-based tablet that we have, and ones that’ll develop on Windows 8,” Bradley told one analyst. “I think from a webOS perspective, that’s kind of the next piece of work to complete. The whole team — Meg, Cathie [Lesjak, HP CFO], myself, Jon Rubinstein working very, very hard and as quickly as we can to make the right decisions about that product.”
To which CEO Whitman added the following: “I think we need to be in the tablet business. We’re certainly going to be there with Windows 8. So we’re going to make another run at this business, and we’re going to make a decision about the long-term future of webOS within HP over the next couple of months. As soon as we make that decision, we’ll let you know on that, because many people have said to me, ‘Isn’t the webOS decision just completely tied to PSG?’ The answer to that is actually, no. WebOS has obviously use in the PSG business, but also in other businesses that we have. We have to make a more holistic decision around webOS, which is coming to a town near you soon, I hope.”
Whatever that last bit of coming attractions meant, Whitman later reiterated that “soon” did not mean any time prior to November 21, when the company is scheduled to issue its next quarterly earnings report. HP made no warnings with respect to that report today, although CFO Lesjak did report that the key reason for HP’s decision to keep PSG centered around the $1 billion of annual revenue it’s certain to continue adding to the company, and the $1.5 billion it would cost to spin it off.
“As you know, we are one of the largest purchasers of components worldwide,” stated Lesjak. “We ship two PCs every second, and a server about every 15 seconds. This scale helps our gross margins for both PSG and enterprise server, storage, and networking.”
Although CEO Whitman did imply that one possibility still being considered for webOS was a transfer to another division (evidently one that does not produce tablets), toward the end of today’s analysts’ conference, she gave an awfully strong hint that her final inclination would be to somehow transfer webOS out of the company altogether.
“One of my observations is that HP tries to do a lot of things,” remarked Whitman. “And I am a big believer in doing a small number of things really, really well — set ‘em up, knock ‘em down, set ‘em up, knock ‘em down. So Cathie [Lesjak] and I are trying to lead a process, which is, what are the real bets we’re going to make in 2012, and let’s do those really well, and position the company for a better 2013 and a better 2014.”
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‘The Power of Google’ Senate Hearing is Must Watch TV Today
Sep 21st
People should be watching the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights hearing on “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?” today. Executive Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt will testi…
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Eric Schmidt: Google More Interested in ‘The RAZR Guys’ Than Patents
Sep 6th
Last Thursday afternoon, in response to a softball question from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on the subject of the relationship of Google’s proposed takeover of Motorola Mobility to the ongoing patent wars, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt cleverly avoided linking the two. In fact, he suggested that Google was more impressed by the company’s phones and their engineers than with its patent portfolio. “We’re actually very excited about the product line and so forth,” Schmidt told Benioff. “To use the Motorola brand and product architecture, and the engineers and creative people – these guys invented the RAZR!”
For those who may have already forgotten, the RAZR was perhaps the last trendy, fashionable phone prior to the iPhone. Launched in 2004, it was the U.S.’ top seller for nearly three years, but that fact didn’t help Motorola very much financially. And as far as design was concerned, the product line was not without its defects. No, it’s hard to believe that RAZR engineering was the key selling point for Schmidt and Google.
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But from that point in the discussion with Benioff, Schmidt hopped, skipped, and jumped onto the patent issue, Motorola notwithstanding. The chairman indirectly implied that dropping out of the bid for Nortel’s patent portfolio necessitated the takeover bid for Motorola. Although Google was criticized for bidding as much as $1 billion for the portfolio of the dissolving telecom company, Schmidt said he believed the side-effect of the winning $4.5 billion bid – assembled by a consortium including Microsoft, Apple, Research in Motion, and Sony – was to drive up the value of worthless or unsubstantiated patents. Those patents (not necessarily the Nortel set) could be used, he implied, in a licensing war with Google.
“All of a sudden, the values of all these questionable patents went up and up and up,” Schmidt told the Dreamforce conference audience.
“I, of course, suggested the correct way…”
Had the current round of patent reform legislation been signed into law, Schmidt went on, Google might not have needed to be so defensive. “I, of course, suggested that the correct way to solve the patent problem was to take all the patents as they’re published and crowd-source them. In other words, say, ‘Here’s a proposal for patent. Would everybody comment to see if there’s prior art?’ Because the people in the patent office are over-burdened. The only problem with my proposal is, it’s illegal, right?”
Well, no. Utilizing crowd-sourcing to flesh out the existence of prior art is something that can indeed be done. The only question has been, who should be responsible? Such a system would place significant burdens on the U.S. Patent Office, which is stretched and under-funded as it is. But patent applicants are not without options. Some law firms representing prospective client applicants have helped to build such a platform, in so doing helping their clients to conduct what are called Freedom to Operate searches.
“The Article One platform enables a crowd to respond to requests for research in the patent area,” eads a blog post last month from Article One Partners, one such collaborative effort. “The broad reach of the Community helps to identify any prior art or intellectual property that could be blocking a client’s product or process. One of Article One’s Community’s greatest strengths is the ability to quickly compile information from around the world that can lead to better patent-related decisions. Depending on the findings of the Study, clients could use the results to make licensing agreements that preemptively avoid lawsuits. The resulting prior art can also be used to learn more about other patents involved in the case. By learning about these patents, companies can be better able to expand their businesses and drive innovation.”
Apparently, one company that endorses the Article One platform and may have even used it, is Microsoft. Meanwhile, Eric Schmidt characterized the patent system as offering no such options, and forcing companies like Google to take other defensive measures.
“The way the patent system works,” Schmidt said, “it precisely does not allow for that kind of disclosure. So there is legislation that’s in the Senate, which we hope will pass this year, which will both fund the patent office much more and give them the rights to kick out a lot of these patents earlier. But I think that we were fortunate as a software industry that it was not an industry that was defined by patents. It was defined by creativity. With these new patent fights that are coming, I’m worried that these over-broad patents will somehow slow it down.
“A company like Google – and I want to be clear here… has the money to go and fight these wars,” he continued. “We have very, very smart patent attorneys. By the way, you all may not know, but essentially all the patent fights that are interesting are done in one district, called the East District Court of Texas. How this is possible is beyond me. Again, it just doesn’t feel quite right. Patents are important, but let’s do them in a way that’s systematic.”
Counterpoint: Crowd-sourcing is good when the crowd is behind you
That led to this rather pointed response from Dr. Richard C. Fuisz, a medical patent portfolio holder:
Google’s policy of fighting rather than settling third party patent claims is not only well known but is an ostensible source of pride for Google’s legal department and its corporate leadership. Allowing Google to set an industry agenda for patent reform that is akin to inviting the fox into the henhouse.
The Google story about so-called broad patent issuances in the late ’90s omits the reality of the intervening decade which has seen a patent office afraid to allow patents for fear of the blowback that has been famously delivered on quite a few occasions by corporate lobbyists and congressmen on behalf of contributors. After the pendulum swung entirely against issuing new patents, we have finally seen a return to a rough middle ground. It is this middle ground that Eric Schmidt would like to plough up with his offered improvements.
The “crowd-sourcing” concept is intended to sound like a neutral device to bring relevant prior art to the attention of the examiner. It is nothing of the sort. Rather, it is a mechanism whereby big companies like Google can draw a bead on a patent application and essentially lobby against its allowance. As an inventor of hundreds of patents worldwide and in my seventh decade, I know exactly what it will mean when a young patent examiner is subject to big corporate lobbying against particular patent applications. It’s going to mean the big guys win and the small guys lose.
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‘The Housemaid’: Korean filmmaker casts a cold eye on a family and its servants – Seattle Times
Feb 17th
 Philadelphia Citypaper |
'The Housemaid': Korean filmmaker casts a cold eye on a family and its servants
Seattle Times Eun-yi (Jeon Do-youn) is an innocent young woman hired to be the family's nanny — the indolent, feline mistress of the house (Seo Woo), who already has a small and watchful daughter, is expecting twins. Soon, the husband (Lee Jung-jae) notices the … The Housemaid The Housemaid 'The Housemaid' falls short of expectations |
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‘The Housemaid’ review: Modern, muddled homage – San Francisco Chronicle
Feb 3rd
 San Francisco Examiner |
'The Housemaid' review: Modern, muddled homage
San Francisco Chronicle Do-yeon Jeon (left) plays the housekeeper and Seo-Hyeon Ahn the family's daughter in the remake. Supposedly, "The Housemaid" is a remake of a terrific 1960 … 'Housemaid' remake doesn't quite clean up Korean Erotic Thriller 'The Housemaid' Offers Twisted Ride 'Housemaid' Seduces with Subtle Nuance |
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Korean Erotic Thriller ‘The Housemaid’ Offers Twisted Ride – HollywoodChicago.com
Feb 3rd
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Korean Erotic Thriller 'The Housemaid' Offers Twisted Ride
HollywoodChicago.com A rich patriarch named Hoon (Lee Jung-jae) hires a new housemaid/au pair named Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) to watch his daughter Nami while his wife Hae Ra (Seo … 'Housemaid' Seduces with Subtle Nuance BC-FILM-HOUSEMAID-REVIEW-HNS |
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Movie Review: ‘The Housemaid’ – Examiner.com
Jan 28th
 Los Angeles Times |
Movie Review: 'The Housemaid'
Examiner.com … Eun-yi, who is hired as an upper class family housemaid, tasked to take care of the family's small daughter and her pregnant mother, Hae-ra (Seo Woo). … THE HOUSEMAID Movie Trailer, Poster and Photos Script drags down an intriguing plot |
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In a rich year for movies, ‘The Last Ronin’ is a must-see – Mainichi Daily News
Dec 13th
 Mainichi Daily News |
In a rich year for movies, 'The Last Ronin' is a must-see
Mainichi Daily News Actress Nanami Sakuraba (left) as Kane, and actors Koji Yakusho (center) and Koichi Sato as Magozaemon Seo and Kichiemon Terasaka respectively in the film … |
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