Archive: May, 2008

Most people involved in technology will have heard of Moore’s Law. Briefly stated, back in 1965 the co-founder of chip maker Intel, Gordon Moore, wrote a whitepaper suggesting the number of transistors placed on an integrated circuit could double every two years. That means the processing power of computing devices could double every couple of years. Similarly, computing devices can get smaller as more powerful chips are created on smaller surfaces. Forty three years later, Moore’s Law still holds true.

A less famous but equally important law, phrased by the founder of 3com and the inventor of ethernet, is known as Metcalfe’s Law. In 1980, Bob Metcalfe figured the value of a telecommunications network is equal to the square of the number of nodes on the network. The addition of a relatively small number of nodes to a network enables that network to serve far more individuals or allows individuals on that network to make far more connections. The greater the number of nodes, the far more valuable the network.

Victoria Day, a celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday is held in Canada on the second last weekend of May. Marking the unofficial start of summer in Canada, today is a statutory holiday from coast to coast to coast.

Born on May 24, 1819, Victoria ruled longer than any other British monarch (1837 – 1901). Her reign spanned a time when western society was undergoing radical transformation brought by the industrial age and democracy. Along with the city Metamend is based in (Victoria BC), dozens of towns, states, products and an entire historic era were named after her.

Happy Victoria Day to anyone else enjoying a much deserved holiday weekend.

We had a fun Webcology show yesterday on WebmasterRadio.fm.

Search business junkies that we are, co-host Dave Davies and I couldn’t resist dissecting the dirt on Carl Icahn’s intrusion /or/ insertion into the conflict over Yahoo!’s future. Pity the news about Paulson & Co.’s 3.4% stake hadn’t broken at the time the show aired.

The show moves through a few other notable news stories including CBS buying online news source c|net for 1.5billion, and Kim Kraus Berg’s birthday. (Kim has done more than most in search to push the importance of website usability. She has made enormous contributions to the industry)

The last half of the show is our interview with Jordan Bookie from Google and Anita Borg Scholarship Award winner, Celina Gibb from the University of Victoria.

To listen in, please click on the gadget below:

Webmaster Radio
	Yahoo & Microsoft Talks Might Reignite Show: Webcology

CNBC is reporting the emergence of another powerful body in the fight to control the Yahoo! Board of Directors. A hedge fund, Paulson & Co. has been quietly amassing Yahoo! shares starting shortly after Microsoft made its unsolicited acquisition offer.

Run by veteran investor John Paulson, the hedge fund made billions over the last year betting on the financial chaos of the sub-prime credit meltdown. Paulson & Co. now owns approximately 3.4% of Yahoo!

Paulson is likely to support the group led by Carl Icahn that wishes to push Yahoo! into accepting Microsoft’s $47.5 billion dollar purchase offer.

Yahoo! continues to say it is open to a deal with Microsoft however it wants the bid price raised to $37/share or approximately $53.2 billion. Microsoft has not yet made comment.