Buy Me Now!!!

In related stories, Google pulled out of the deal with Yahoo because in their opinion it would have been too hard to appease the Justice Department's antitrust division regarding the advertising deal. On the flip side, Jerry Wang has asked Microsoft to come back to the table.

Are you kidding me?

Mark Lange's editorial in the Christian Science Monitor I think is suspect. He basically calls for regulation of the derivatives market as a solution to the current financial "crisis". Let's consider the facts - most derivatives of the type he considers are held by large financial instutions and work really well. The ones that we need to look at are asset securitizations which are done by everone from a retail store with accounts receivable to banks with huge mortgage portfolios. The people in charge of buying and selling them for huge financial instutions shouldn't be protected by the government. Imagine having to file additional security disclosures with the SEC prior to a company like Sears selling its credit card receivables to Bank of America. Do companies like Sears and BoA really need government protection from making "computer-generated casino wagers" that have been well-vetted and understood by the fianancial community the past 30 someodd years?

Stellar Patents

Mobile Satellite Ventures has received 25 patents for communications systems for rovers exploring the Moon or Mars. Currently pending is one for an extraterrestrial communications systems covering satellites orbiting other planets, a base station of the planet, and repeaters.

Supreme Court Takes Up Profanity Case

Let's talk about those words you can't say on television. The Supreme Court is going to hear the case about fleeting explatives on appeal from the 2nd Circuit. The Supreme Court did turn down without explanation C-SPAN's request to release a recording of oral arguments.

FCC cancels vote on telecom overhaul

Kevin Martin cancelled the vote on telecom overhaul bill.

ATT's Pareto Principle

According to AT&T, 5% of their subscribers take up 50% of the capacity of their internet usage. So starting in November, they're going to test 20 gig download limits in Reno, NV, for DSL services and increasing to 150 gigs at the 10 mbs level, or approximately 75 DVD quality movie downloads per month.

Google's Growth and Ad Deal

There's two good stories out there this week about Google. First, there's substantial questions about Google's storage of search queries. As the Yahoo article says:

Why does Google log the details of search queries for so long? What does it do with the information? Does it combine data from the search engine with information it collects through other avenues — such as its recently released Web browser, Chrome?

The other story is that Yahoo and Google have redefined their internet advertising partnership agreement to help settle antitrust concerns at the Justice Department. According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo would be limited to just 25% of the search advertising revenues, the agreement would sunset in two years, and Google's customers will have the option to opt-out of the deal.