PCWorld takes an interesting stroll down memory lane with a list of the absolute worst tech products of all-time. I’ve stated several time how much I hate Real Player. I’m happy to see it came in at #2 on the list. Microsoft comes in with three of the top 10.

1. AOL – Surprised to see it come in at #1 given its popularity
2. Real Player – The worst application ever created
3. Syncronys SoftRAM – Sounded too good to be true and was
4. Windows Millennium – The most useless 90 bucks I ever spent
5. Sony BMG Music CDs – People still buy CDs?
6. Disney Lion King CD-ROM – The game that made the kids cry
7. Microsoft Bob – Still synonymous with total software debacle
8. Microsoft IE 6 – The swiss cheese of browsers
9. Pressplay and MusicNet – iTunes they are not
10. Ashton Tate dBASE IV – A magnificent POS

    

Great article from Tim Kurkjian at ESPN on relatiation in baseball and how it’s now controlled by the umpires and suspensions.

“Early in my career, Nolan (Ryan) dusted me for taking a big swing,” said Harold Reynolds, a former Mariners second baseman who now works as a baseball analyst for ESPN. “He didn’t think a skinny, little guy like me should be taking such a big swing off him. And I didn’t even hit the ball.”

Now here’s a big announcement that’s really not very big. Google is rumored to have paid Dell up to $1 billion to include Google software on every PC that comes off the Dell line. The same people that would use this software “just because it’s there” must be the same people that never take the time to change their IE homepage from the default MSN page. Why is this news, other than the fact that Dell just lined their pockets with a cool billion? What is Dell going to include on their machine that anyone with an internet connection can’t just download for free?

Anyone who purchases a Dell PC, I’d suggest the first thing you do it wipe that sucker clean. Reformat your drive and install a fresh copy of Windows XP. But if that sounds too daunting at least download and run the Dell De-Crapifier.

“The Big Thumbs of Triumph” and others from the Forty Media blog.

Is this how a company acts while it has $30-$40 billion in cash reserves stacked away? Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said Monday that they told vendors who supply the contractors that about 1,000 workers globally would not be needed this week.

“We want to be fiscally responsible here,” Gellos said.

What I would have given to drive a Cavalier to high school. It just looked so sporty and handsome. And that Cavalier drop-top…pure genius.

“The interior that comforts your very soul”. I couldn’t agree more!
rAesYQnXQQI

Ramit Sethi has put together a list of the “8 Stupid Frat Boy Business Ideas” that’s quite funny. While reading his comments I could help but add “Ebay Drop-off store” to the list, but I see someone in his comments sections already did. Someone with a lot more talent than myself put together the “Ebay drop-off store break even calculator“.

Here’s my own list of bad business ideas:

1. The Digg of Sports, The Digg of Gossip, the Digg of Cars…
2. A Craigslist clone for your dorm, church, scout troup, drinking buddies…
3. Any software idea involving “Widgets”
4. The next great airfare tracking site
5. The next great real estate mashup site
6. The next great online photo album site
7. Any new micropayment business
8. Any new price tracking busines

Full text inteview can be found at CNN. I liked his answer when asked how the Linux penguin mascot came about:

“I felt that Linux wanted and needed a very nice kind of friendly mascot to kind of offset some of the geekiness and the hard technology. So selecting an animal was a pretty obvious thing to do. And at the same time you want something that is exotic; you don’t want a dog or a cat because that’s just too everyday. And everybody likes penguins, so I actually decided I want a penguin as my mascot. I want it to be cuddly, I want it to be a plush toy kind of penguin and I could do that myself. So we actually farmed out that design too and we just had a small competition for who could make the nicest penguin. Now you can see the winning end result everywhere on the web”

Business Week goes behind the scenes at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the crazy, Miami based ad firm behind the hilarious new Volkswagon GTI commercials. They also did ads for Mini and Burger King. Remember the subserviant chicken?

“Want to keep things streamlined”
x75iNne92Hg

The Seattle Times is reporting big changes at Microsoft as they attempt to keep their top employees and lure the best candidates. I’m surprised it took them this long to make a change given how unpopular their rating system has been for so many years. Mini and Scoble have already blogged about the changes.

I think the changes will maybe help MS keep some of their better employees. But I doubt it will keep the top college grads away from the likes of Google or Yahoo. People were willing to put in 70+ hour weeks when the stock was climbing fast but that excitement now belongs to Google.
Here are some of the changes as reported by the Times:

• Replace numerical ranking system that determined bonuses and promotions.
• Increase budget for stock awards by 15 percent.
• Enhance tuition and child-care benefits.
• Add access to dry cleaning and grocery delivery.
• Add retail food service, reportedly including Ivar’s in some cafeterias and to-go dinners sold under celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck’s label.