Rodent Regatta

Two things:

• Updating the Mint application on my site has failed and no amount of troubleshooting has thus far solved the problem. I’ve removed the script lines from pages and deleted the code from my hosting account. It’s a $30.00 lesson learned.
• I’m looking for a new ftp package. CuteFTP has suddenly stopped working since TextDrive moved their servers to San Diego. There’s no reason why it stopped working. I don’t toy or tamper with the accounts I have set up in CuteFTP. Rather, I set the configurations once, then I just use it.

Let me know if you’ve got a world class suggestion for a Windows-based ftp app.

The fine folks at TextDrive are using the weekend to move into Level 3’s colocation facility in San Diego. For a host, this involves the installation of new servers and connection to new sources of bandwidth. That work has been done over the past couple of weeks.

The weekend is all about moving information. Those who are good at it make it look easy—like professional golfers make their game look easy. Yet, the 1001 details make the tasks extremely complex. This post is a bit of a test to be certain that my installation of Textpattern on TextDrive is still happy.

By the way—to make a move like this happen, a bunch of very bright people spend big blocks of time doing and monitoring the work, only to need their best brain power late in the process when they are exhausted. At that point the risk of errors skyrockets. Think Apollo 13 without the risk of death!

Here’s a hearty thanks to all those folks for work completed thus far and the huge amount to come.

Now that Intel is going inside the Mac, IBM is trading at this moment at $75.26. Apple is trading at $38.08. Intel is trading at $19.37.

As the migration at Apple unfolds during 2006, we’ll watch the prices of these stocks and see what the impacts might be.

The big ideas:

• Adobe buys Macromedia
• Google offers video uploads
• Level 3 waits at $2.05
• IBM sells know-how

What’s the point? The software companies are consolidating, and the pace will quicken. If you assume that bandwidth and storage costs are approaching zero as incremental costs of doing business, you come to some interesting conclusions about what might be next. With a long-haul bandwidth provider sitting on a global network of fiber optics and (at least) six or eight empty conduits, but trading at two bucks a share, you get some perspective on bandwidth prices. Then, you see a major technology company that has already concluded that bandwidth and storage costs approach zero. They’ll definitely want more of both.

Finally, if you can’t make it all work together, you’ll have to find someone who can show you how to transform the operations of your business around the notions of convergence and consolidation. Pick the wrong player and cheap bandwidth, great software, web services galore and your position in the market will be undermined by those who don’t blunder.

This is absolutely a time when every business should be asking (and answering quickly), “Do we know and have what it takes to compete in a world of ubiquitous technology?” If you can’t answer that question, be assured it is getting answered as we speak in Bangalore, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Shenzhen.

Google has now made the leap into the beverage business. Look for it today. It’s likely to be unavailable shortly.