For almost an entire decade, innovators in digital media distribution were chilled by the aggressive tactics of the entertainment industry to protect their analog interests. For many years, we essentially saw a lockdown on Internet distribution of media. Practical licenses for legitimate Internet distribution were forbidden, while lawsuit after lawsuit was wielded as a blunt tool and a stern warning against those creators (aka innovators) who had their sights set on staking a claim in the wild west of online digital media.

I hope Travis is correct. He's wrong about broadband penetration (it's not quite 50% of internet users, and it's woeful compared to total population in the US). But he makes a great point about $100M in content purchasing = $1B in technology purchasing. That's a *very* interesting data point.

Fighting the final digital battle

The Federal Communications Commission ruled Friday that big telephone companies no longer have to lease their high-speed Internet lines to competitors, giving the companies more power over the delivery of popular fast Internet services.

The final nail in the coffin that is competition and progress. I'd say that if you aren't outraged, then you haven't been paying attention. But frankly there's so many more important things that fall into that category.

FCC ruling gives telecoms power over Internet access

GM is considering moving both of the Saturn vehicles assembled at the massive plant here to other GM factories, but it would build different vehicles in Spring Hill for other GM brands, according to Automotive News, an industry trade journal.

Here it comes...

Spring Hill braces for life after Saturn

But what's good for Comcast (CMCSA ) and Verizon (VZ ), among other cable and phone companies, isn't necessarily good for the nation. Ranked No. 16 in the world in consumer broadband penetration -- down from No. 3 five years ago -- the U.S. has followed policies in direct contrast to higher-ranking countries, such as Japan, Korea, and Sweden. Instead of fostering stiff competition that leads to the low prices and innovation that lure consumers, the U.S. is allowing the huge cable and phone companies to shut out competitors that provide services -- Internet, phone, or TV -- delivered via those broadband networks.

10 Print "Dumb."
20 Goto 10

Good for Cable, Bad for America

It seems like yesterday. But it’s only been a little over five years since we were going through the same drill that is playing out today -- bemoaning the excesses of an asset bubble and hunkering down for the inevitable post-bubble shakeout. Five years ago, it was the equity bubble. Today, it’s the property bubble. These are not isolated events. As night follows day, one bubble has spawned the next. And we have the Federal Reserve to thank for this grand continuum and the cumulative toll it is taking on the US economy. Sadly, as America lurches from bubble to bubble, the endgame is looking all the more treacherous.

The debate has an eerie sense of deja vu. Today, there are those who dispute the very existence of a US property bubble. Similarly, five years ago, there were many who argued that US equities were not over-valued...

This is rubbish.

Morgan Stanley: Steve Roach on housing

] The companies' divergent fortunes -- symbolic of the two
] nations' broader auto industries -- have Japanese auto
] and government officials worried about a replay of the
] "Japan-bashing" trade friction of the 1980s, when Toyota
] and others were blamed for stealing car sales and U.S.
] jobs, prompting outraged auto workers to smash Japanese
] cars in protest.

What's worse? That this could potentially happen again? Or that in today's age, there are actually people who could get this upset about it happening at all?

Toyota fears U.S. backlash as GM struggles

] Not that Lenovo can't pinch pennies. Its labor costs are
] a rock-bottom $3 per desktop PC, among the lowest
] anywhere. That has helped drive its operating expenses to
] less than 9% of revenues, half the average for the
] computer hardware business

UN-BE-LEAVE-ABLE... $3 of labor costs per PC. Any other business (even TEXTILES!) would KILL for that kind of margin.

Lenovo and IBM: East Meets West, Big-Time

] In the face of all this, what emboldens the bulls?
] Sharply discounted share prices, of course, but also
] improving fundamentals, like corporate spending on
] technology. Forecasts for growth in corporate information
] technology spending this year range from 4 to 8 percent,
] and the bulls say these estimates may be too
] conservative.
]
] For one thing, the companies that buy technology are
] flush with cash. At the end of 1999, just before the tech
] stock meltdown, the median for balance-sheet cash and
] short-term investments at Standard & Poor's 500
] companies, excluding the financial services sector, was
] $220 million, according to data from Piper Jaffray. Since
] then, it has risen each year; by the end of 2004, it
] stood at $675 million. The share of capital spending
] going to information technology equipment and software,
] in decline for several years, has also been rising again,
] according to Lehman Brothers.
]
] Inventory levels at technology companies, meanwhile, have
] been dropping, and the ratio of inventory to sales is the
] lowest in more than a decade, according to Lehman
] Brothers data. Finally, tech companies may actually
] outperform forecasts. "Earnings revisions for the tech
] sector have been a bit stronger than for the overall
] market," said Chip Dickson, Lehman's chief United States
] strategist. If the bulls have picked up the scent of
] impending recovery, how should investors position
] themselves? Here, the bulls part ways. Some favor
] beaten-up large-capitalization stalwarts; others look to
] fast growers in flourishing niches like data security and
] wireless data services.

This should be interesting. Both forces are pretty strong. The macro economic effects seem to be much more powerful, but that might not make the market act with any rationality. For my part, I've been looking for exits out of some of my techs just because I think they're too pricey or not going anywhere (CSCO?).

Investing: Are Technology Stocks About to Lose the Blues?

] Medtronic said on Friday that it would pay $550 million
] to settle the lawsuit and another $800 million to acquire
] the patents. The deal will also give Medtronic rights to
] virtually all the spine-related inventions Dr. Michelson
] makes in the next 15 years.

nice.

Medtronic to Pay $1.35 Billion to Inventor

] Inefficiencies in the medical industry, along with
] advances in chip manufacturing and design, will likely
] provide chipmakers with one of their big opportunities
] for growth, Barrett said recently in a brief interview.

Gee Craig, glad you woke up.

Health care's the ticket, Craig Barrett says