MSFT's exclusivity strategy

Is MSFT trying to "tip" the search engine market in their favor:

In an effort to keep News Corp.'s (NWS) newspaper content out of Google's search results, Murdoch's media giant has held early-stage talks to forge a deal that would put content from The Wall Street Journal, and possibly other company-owned publications, exclusively in Microsoft's Bing search engine, a person familiar with the talks says. The discussions come amid Murdoch's mounting frustration that Google (GOOG) benefits at the expense of his own media outlets when Web users search for news online. But analysts and antitrust experts say the move will do more to hurt Murdoch than Google.

In exchange for the exclusive content, Microsoft (MSFT) would pay an undisclosed fee, according to the Financial Times, which initially reported the discussions. Microsoft has also approached other news outlets about a similar agreement, the report said.

Microsoft would use exclusives with widely read publications as a way to gain share in the lucrative market for online search. Bing has a mere 9.9% of search traffic, vs. Google's 65.4%, according to October data from ComScore (SCOR).

Europe is mad at China

Because their trade deficit is growing:

The yuan is tightly linked to the dollar, not the euro. As the dollar has declined against the euro, the yuan has fallen with it, making Chinese goods cheaper in Europe and European goods more expensive in China.

Why are so many companies buying suppliers or distributors?

From Wall St. Journal:

The real meaning of Thanksgiving

From Stossel:

When the Pilgrims first settled the Plymouth Colony, they organized their farm economy along communal lines. The goal was to share everything equally, work and produce.

They nearly all starved. ...

The people of Plymouth moved from socialism to private farming. The results were dramatic.

"This had very good success," Bradford wrote, "for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been. ... By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many. ... "

Incentives Matter - Pink Jail Edition

The Ben Hill County jail in Georgia is going pink - as in walls painted Pepto pink, pink coveralls, as well as "pink shower shoes, pink wash clothes, pink towels, pink sheets and pink blankets" The sheriff is hoping for an additional deterrence effect from making criminals live in a tween girl paradise.

"This is our decor and if they don't like our decor then they don't have to come back to our jail," said the Sheriff.

What's next, forced viewing of "Twilight?"

Kelo v. City of New London Update

In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled (in a controversial decision) that government could use its power of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another to further economic development. The City of New London had created the New London Development Corporation, a private body, to re-develop a neighborhood area surrounding Fort Trumbull and a new Pfizer research facility. The plan promised over 3,000 new jobs and increased annual tax revenue of a million-plus dollars a year.

So, how are things working out four years later? No re-development has occurred, and Pfizer just recently announced that they will be closing its facility in the area.

What was Lehman thinking?: McAllister Ranch

 

Should the H1N1 Vaccine be Sold? III

Earlier, I speculated on the effects of allocating the H1N1 vaccine without price signals and then suggested that doing so could increase theft. I forgot to mention that doing so also encourages the emergence of black markets that tend to undermine the intended allocation mechanism.

Optimizing Clothing Coverage

According to researchers from the University of Leeds, who studied the drawing power of women in a nightclub setting, women should bare 40 percent of their body in order to attract the most men.

The study, published in the journal Behaviour, found that the most popular women combined the 40 per cent rule with tight clothing and provocative dancing. The 15 per cent that combined all three criteria were approached by 40 men each.

Laugh only because there are no other options