Master of 500 Hats

Mother's Day this weekend -- order flowers NOW

  Picture 009 
  Originally uploaded by dmc500hats.

For all you folks with out-of-town mothers, you might want to order flower delivery online now and beat the rush.

Microsoft buys IAC (sometime in next 18 months)

if MSN Search doesn't catchup with Y and G faster, you'd think the AskJeeves assets would be an interesting purchase for Mr. Gates, at relatively minimal cost.  IAC could probably be had for somewhere south of $20B, which is easily within MSFT petty cash.  Or they could cherry pick the assets they want, and let Diller keep the rest.  (interesting side note: Expedia would come full circle were that to happen -- originally a Microsoft-funded startup, it spun out, IPO'd, then got acquired by Diller).  gotta think that Gates is 2nd-guessing his decision a few years ago not to buy the Inktomi /Overture assets before Y did. 

in any case, i'd bet 2:1 one of the big 3 eventually acquires the AskJeeves assets in some shape or form.  or MSN could acquire another 2nd-tier search player like A9 or Snap.

other more blockbuster version of this same line of thinking is to have MSN acquire Amazon, and get the A9 assets as gravy.  probably a little more of a stretch than the IAC deal, but perhaps not impossible.  in that case, could be an MSN spinout / merger.

anyway, who the hell knows.  but it sure makes for interesting gossip & speculation ;)

Adobe buys Macromedia, becomes Monopolist (in 300 words or less)

PR-speak translated here.

Why is Adobe acquiring Macromedia?

Adobe’s mission has always been to help people and businesses   communicate better. Macromedia’s mission has been to provide a rich   media experience.  Together, we share a vision for the future and   with the combination of the two companies — our products,   technologies and people — we will enable the creation and delivery   of compelling content and experiences across multiple operating   systems, devices and media.

Dude, we just bought the only significant competitor to several of our flagship applications. We didn’t buy Macromedia, we bought the market.

(and more of the same... how refreshing ;)

Hangliders at Fort Funston

  Hanglider 
  Originally uploaded by dmc500hats.

Beautiful day this afternoon... took my in-laws up the coast, and stopped off at Fort Funston to watch the hangliders (web cam is here)

Amazing.