DISQUS

How about using the number of youtube views as a proxy for ad quality?

This is an interesting discussion as most of the "bleeding-edge" discussions around advertising seem to be focused on product-placement ads, embedded ads, in-game ads (for video games) since DVR's have turned a captive audience into an active audience. By rating and building a competitive industry around TV advertising, one can engage an active audience and this advertising content could become part of the entertainment of television itself. This in turn would arguably bring us full circle back to the product-placement advertising discussion where ads and entertainment become seamlessly merged.

Interesting addition:
By factoring each state's population into this data (data from July 2006; sourced from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_states_...) and re-ranking VC backed jobs normalized by state population, Tennessee and Georgia rise up to 2nd and 4th place respectively. This rough ranking would be better served by using total jobs by state (rather than total population), but that data didn't pop up on my first google search!

I've pasted the table below.
-Loren

Rank State Jobs Pop(M) Job/Pop New Rank
4 Massachusetts 639,881 6.44 9.9% 1
6 Tennessee 540,793 6.04 9.0% 2
7 Washington 444,463 6.40 6.9% 3
5 Georgia 604,254 9.36 6.5% 4
1 California 2,285,171 36.46 6.3% 5
10 Minnesota 302,049 5.17 5.8% 6
3 Pennsylvania 697,591 12.44 5.6% 7
15 Connecticut 173,395 3.50 4.9% 8
2 Texas 1,089,123 23.51 4.6% 9
9 Virginia 348,899 7.64 4.6% 10
12 New Jersey 279,893 8.72 3.2% 11
8 New York 415,661 19.31 2.2% 12
11 Florida 301,900 18.09 1.7% 13
13 Illinois 211,563 12.83 1.6% 14
14 Ohio 184,084 11.48 1.6% 15

Matt and Trisha,

The concept of patient advocacy is a new one to me, however my immediate reaction is that it is just additional cost being heaped upon an already grossly overpriced health-care system.

The use of a 3rd party adviser to the patient only treats the symptoms of a broken system and does nothing to address or contribute to the repair of the underlying problems (such as inability of doctors to spend enough time with patients or the inaccuracy of filling prescriptions). If we are serious about improving health care, then doctors need to be directly accountable for the services they provide and we need to find alternatives to heaping on additional services to fix the system.

A 3rd party adviser also opens the door to serious legal issues. When a 3rd party adviser empowers the patient to drive their own treatment decisions, the doctor looses control of managing his patent's health. In the case that Matt quoted, the 3rd party is a retired doctor...is this doctor still licensed? If so, are they taking on shared responsibility with the PCP/Specialist? If they are not licensed, what kinds of controls and standards are applied to such service providers? Can a patient over-turn a doctor's treatment decisions based on the 3rd party advise and if so should this even be allowed?

Furthermore, while patient involvement/input/feedback are integral to effective medicine and health, patients can never be as educated as their doctors--the body of knowledge in the field is constantly expanding and doctors are consequently specializing further into areas of medicine that require decades to master.

On a different note, this type of service does not appear scalable (i.e. it could not be made available to the masses). While some would argue that that is irrelevant (that the wealthy should be able to purchase premium health care), I think that implementing a system like this before the real issues have been solved risks further splitting a diverging health-care system where the rich are over-charged for health care and the poor can't afford basic services.

-Loren

Interesting discussion point re: fat - healthy or unhealthy.

Having grown up with a Biochemist for a Mom (Mom also contributed to NIH's Nutrition Pyramid--the one that places fats and sweets at the top of the pyramid), I was deeply ingrained with an aversion to fats. In some cases, this learned aversion is so strong, that I don't even enjoy certain fatty foods. Today, I avoid fat as much as possible.

I am certainly aware, as were scientists 2 decades ago when this first food pyramid was created, that there are different kinds of fats--so called "good" fats and "bad" fats. However, the fact remains that too much fat will clog your arteries and lead to heart-disease.

I remain skeptical of "cutting-edge" thinking in regards to nutrition, largely because many of these "breakthroughs" end up as fads that do not offer long-term health benefits (e.g. the Atkins diet--a ludicrous proposition, particularly from the stand-point of heart health). Part of the reason that "breakthroughs" are not really possible is that diet is tremendously complicated to analyze and so any truly meaningful claim requires decades of empirical data. Many of these nutritionalists are surmising new ways of eating without the years of data and long-term studies required to make scientifically-sound recommendations.

Now, there may in fact be some value to consuming certain omega-3 fats, however I personally believe that this only applies to the people that are consuming too much of the bad fats and are thus attempting to offset this unbalance with supplements. The truly health-conscious eater would simply reduce overall fat intake and focus his/her diet on natural sources of these omega-3 fats. These fats are in the same foods that we've always known were healthy: fish, avocados, and many oils.

I think that we can all agree that nutrition and our consumption behavior, as you state in your post Matt, are very slow to change. This is likely due to our reliance on what we learned as we grew-up and our habits, convictions, and comforts from early-life. If we are all agreed on this point, then we should all collectively work to eliminate McDonalds and other fast foods from the vocabulary of young children. In a Business Week article last week discussing the success of a McDonalds somewhere in the deep south (it had recently expanded its hours to 24/7), they quoted a factory worker who was eating there 5-6 times a week on his way to/from work as saying something like: "I just trust the McDonalds brand, after all I grew-up on it." What a sad (and scary) statement! May we all make it our personal resolution in 2007 not to support companies such as McDonalds and moreover ensure that none of our children grow-up on that poison.

Matt,
I must admit, your turn-around on Netflix somewhat surprises me. As a dedicated supporter of the underdog (e.g. Egghead Software, now New Egg), I would have thought that you'd ride it out with Netflix as they roll-out their next generation delivery system.

This jockeying for position between Blockbuster and Netflix amongst others is at best a short-term customer grab as they prepare for the true here-and-now user experience: streaming video. With 3G networks blanketing most metro areas, Verizon's FIOS (fiber to the house) being aggressively deployed, the massive uptake of Cable and DSL, and WiMax on the way, no-one is going to want to even go to the store let alone wait for the trusty mailman. Comcast and other cable providers have an upper-leg right now with on-demand content, but even they risk being sidelined if and when the content creators smarten up and begin to offer direct sales to customers. I, for one, begrudgingly pay Comcast $150/month for expanded cable (plus internet access) so I can access HBO content. I eagerly await the day when HBO will sell me content directly so I can kill my Comcast package, get high-speed internet access only, and customize my own content menu directly from HBO, Stars, Showtime, and...Netflix.

For example, TBS is currently offering streaming full-length episodes (without ads!!) of their new series "My Boys" (which BTW is not worth watching).

So, the real challenge that Blockbuster and Netflix face is how to get candy to my house in time for my streaming movie!
-Loren

I concur with your thoughts on Crichton’s ability to expertly weave cutting-edge science and fiction into a gripping story. While it would be a challenge to surpass Jurassic Park, I'm looking forward to finding Next in my stocking.
Santa…please take note.

Interesting post. The marketing technique that you describe (offering whitepapers, industry analysis, or other thought leadership in exchange for basic contact information) has been popular for a number of years with consulting firms. Not only does the consultancy capture basic contact information on a potential client, but by offering a battery of thought leadership on various industry segments and business horizontals, the firm gains insight into the areas of interest and potential pain points of the visitor--this of course allows for a more meaningful follow-up opportunity.

Valuable thoughts Matt. Business and work seem often to eclipse personal life these days, both in terms of the conscious decisions we make everyday (I'll stay late tonight to catch-up on work rather than go to the gym) as well in terms of the long-term sacrifices we make.

Your comments on self-reflection remind me of a story that an attendee of a self-awareness course once shared with me. During the closing discussion, the speaker/instructor engaged the participants in one final exercise: each person was to write down where they saw themselves in 100 years, in 50 years, in 20 years, 10 years, 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week, in 24 hrs, and finally in 15 minutes. While she found this exercise intellectually stimulating, the real insight came when they were instructed to share their thoughts with the person sitting to the right. Her partner made a simple but deeply insightful comment: "you mention marrying the man of your dreams and living a happy-balanced life in your 10-year outlook (and beyond), but in your shorter-term outlooks you do not mention the intermediate steps to making these dreams a reality." The significance struck her instantly: she had detailed steps and milestones on how to successfully achieve her professional and intellectual goals, but no such milestones existed for her personal development and relationship development. She simply had never taken the time to really identify her personal desires/goals and then to think about how she could achieve these.

I think her conclusion merits some brain-cycles in all our heads: personal development and personal satisfaction (as well as relationship development) do not just happen on their own (as Matt's dad could certainly attest from his long periods of self-reflection). Truly understanding oneself requires conscious and focused efforts. Imagine the level of personal/self comprehension we could each achieve if we were to apply just 2% of the energy, time, and ambition with which we pursue our careers. I think this is what you were challenging each of us with Matt, and the simplicity of the 3 questions you proposed make them an ideal starting point.