Author: Serkadis

British division of Mercedes-Benz recently announced pricing for the 2010 E-Klasse Estate model, already available at the UK dealers in a range of diesel and petrol engines, from the E 200 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY (£29,785) to the 2010 E63 AMG (£73,855). The new E-Klasse Estate comes equipped with Easy-Pack Tailgate, Easy-Pack Quickfold and a rear, self leveling air suspension system.

Moreover, some of the engines on the 2010 Mercedes E-Klasse Estate offers a fuel economy as high as 49.6 mpg and CO2 … (read more)

Not long after developer Anthony Rossi got City Hall approval for a much-needed zoning change in downtown Chicago, he received a surprising phone call from the speaker of the Illinois House.

Michael J. Madigan wasn’t calling to talk about state issues. Instead, Madigan was drumming up legal business for his property tax appeal firm.

“When Mike Madigan calls and asks for a meeting, you meet with him,” Rossi said in an interview with the Tribune.

Madigan and his law partner met with Rossi in September 2008. Together they went one by one through the portfolio of buildings Rossi represents until he referred them to a downtown high-rise he manages that might need a tax attorney.

“Nobody wants to piss off the speaker of the House,” Rossi said. “I mean, I was born and raised in this town.”

The firm got the contract. It was another success for Madigan, the rainmaker.

Madigan & Getzendanner has become a go-to firm in Chicago’s lucrative field of commercial property tax appeals.

In 2008 it represented 45 of the 150 most valuable downtown buildings, based on values set by the last complete city reassessment in 2006, according to public records. That’s more than twice what the closest rival represented.

The high-stakes competition to handle tax work for buildings worth hundreds of millions of dollars plays out quietly among a small group of local law firms. Many are armed with deep political connections — including Ald. Ed Burke, former Clinton adviser Kevin O’Keefe and former county Assessor Thomas Tully.

Only one has Michael Madigan.

House speaker for a quarter-century and chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party since 1998, Madigan’s influence stretches beyond the Statehouse to the corridors of City Hall and the Cook County Building. His political power even touches the levers of government that affect the success of his private law firm.

Ald. Brendan Reilly, who got his start in Illinois politics with a six-year stint in the speaker’s office, holds tremendous control over development decisions in his Loop ward where Madigan competes for new clients.

Joseph Berrios, a longtime Madigan ally, sits in judgment over property tax appeals filed by Madigan’s firm and others as the senior member of the county Board of Review.

At the same time, Berrios’ business as a state lobbyist depends on his success in the Statehouse dominated by Madigan.

Now Madigan is putting his political weight behind Berrios’ bid to replace a political nemesis — retiring Cook County Assessor James Houlihan, whose office affects Madigan’s clients by setting the taxable value for all county real estate.

Madigan declined to be interviewed about what role political connections might play in the tax appeal business. He said in a written statement that most of the firm’s new business comes from referrals by other clients or competitive bidding.

Asked about the meeting with Rossi, Madigan said he had no knowledge that Rossi played a role in the firm getting tax work. In looking for business leads, Madigan wrote, the firm keeps an eye on City Council zoning decisions.

In Chicago, aldermen have near-total control over zoning decisions in their wards. Asked whether Madigan talks with his former aide Reilly about potential clients, Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said Madigan “talks to a range of people” who know developers.

“And aldermen could be part of that group,” Brown said.

Reilly, alderman for the 42nd Ward since 2007, said he and Madigan still talk about politics, but not about zoning matters.

The client list for Madigan & Getzendanner includes some of the most prestigious skyscrapers in Chicago’s famous skyline — from the John Hancock Center on Michigan Avenue to the Prudential Plaza towers across from Millennium Park.

In 2006, the last reassessment year in which full statistics are available, Madigan’s firm won enough appeals to cut more than $183 million from the taxable value of the top high-rises it represented, the Tribune examination shows.

Most of that success was at the Board of Review, where Madigan ally Berrios is one of three elected members. The panel was established as a separate avenue of appeal to contest the assessor’s decisions.

The assessed value for top properties represented by Madigan & Getzendanner clients in the 2006 tax year was cut by more than 11.5 percent at the Board of Review, among the best results of the city’s major law firms.

At the assessor’s office, the assessed value for those same properties was reduced by less than 1 percent — the worst result compared with those same major law firms, the records show.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Global Demand for U.S. Assets Rose in November, Treasury Says – By Vincent Del Giudice – (Bloomberg) — International demand for long-term U.S. stocks, bonds and financial assets rose in November as private investors purchased a record amount of government securities, a Treasury Department report showed.  Net buying of long-term equities, notes and bonds totaled $126.8 billion for the month, compared with net buying of $19.3 billion in October, the Treasury said in Washington. – BusinessWeek

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What the Yield Curve Is Telling Us About Financial Markets – Matteo Radaelli – …. However, equity markets recorded their highest returns when the spread between the long term rates and the short term rates was above 1% but below 2%. … Finally, we should consider the predictive power of the yield slope with respect to the government bond market. A very steep yield curve has usually been followed by a decline in long term rates and an increase in short term rates. … – Seeking Alpha

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Printing More Money as a Capital Illusion – by JACOB GAFFNEY – good summary – HousingWire

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CHINESE GDP SOARS TO 10.7%, INFLATION FEARS RISE – TPC – Chinese GDP surprised to the upside as the government reported 10.7% growth.  Analysts had been expecting 10.5% growth.  The data was met with mixed reactions.  While the growth is certainly encouraging there are increasing fears of overheating as consumer prices increased 1.9%. – The Pragmatic Capitalist

good charts – MORGAN STANLEY: THE DOLLAR COULD SOAR 10% – – TPC – Byron Wien and Gary Shilling aren’t the only ones betting on a dollar rally in 2009.  A recent research piece from Morgan Stanley’s FX team says the dollar rally could continue and rally as much as 10% as it appears attractive compared to most other G4 currencies.  Based on Morgan Stanley’s valuation metrics the dollar is now substantially below its fair value – The Pragmatic Capitalist
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Tipping Point for Greece – Sovereign risk is still lurking around the corner.  As we hear about large states like Illinois entering into insolvency, we should probably keep an eye on the bigger picture.   Unfortunately for Greece, they have not been able to leave the spotlight.  With a sovereign CDS level spiking to 343 bps, traders are speculating that there is about a 25% chance they will default within the next five years. – Surly Trader

The Asian Tiger – Foreign Policy Magazine had a nice editorial article titled “Think Again: Asia’s Rise” that goes against the sentiment that Asia, and specifically China, will reign as the global juggernaut within a few decades.  Among the insightful datapoints: The region produces 30% of global economic output, but per capita GDP is $5,800 vs $48,000 in the United States – has 9 more points – Surly Trader

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If the Public Has Its Way, Expect Recession or Stagflation – Kimball Corson – If the Massachusetts vote is any indication of public sentiment at large – and many believe it is — and our Congressional representatives understand and react to that sentiment, we may yet face renewed recession or perhaps, more likely, stagflation. There are significant probabilities for these events. Here is why?  – Wandering the Oceans

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DJ Reit Index at Support – Chart of the Day – … While REITs have been trending up sharply for ten months, REITs currently trade 50% below their February 2007 peak. As today’s chart illustrates, the Dow Jones Wilshire REIT Index has just broken below support (green line) of its upward sloping trend channel. … – Chart of the Day

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Russian Central Bank Ditches The USA And Dives Into Canadian Dollar Reserves – Vincent Fernando – Money Game at Business Insider

Last week was quite scary. Markets don’t like uncertainty, especially when it is man-made. 

The main point of each article below is BOLDED IN RED.

The future of Fannie and Freddie- Tim Iacono –  Wow. Elected officials are really getting carried away in their response to the loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts. There’s reform in the air all over the nation’s capital, Bloomberg now reporting that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is recommending that wards of the state Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be abolished … Wasn’t it Barney Frank who said a couple years back that the GSEs needed to do more to help the housing market recover (on a temporary basis)…. – The Mess That Greenspan Made

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2 important points – Tim and Barney – Adios! – Submitted by Bruce Krasting – …I bring this up because quite frankly I am mad this evening. Two important things took place today regarding the Agencies. Both of them upset me. In the fray of a three-day, 5% drop in the market; I think the implications were lost. … – Zero Hedge

strategic discussion – Guest Post: Bernanke: All about the Cloture Vote – Submitted by Tyler Durden – … I’m no Senate parliamentarian but it is important for us to understand some of the subtleties of this matter, … The important take home here folks is that if less than 60 Senators vote yes for cloture, that means debate is open endlessly.  If this were to happen, it is most likely the end for Bernanke due to the January 31 conclusion of Bernanke’s term as well as the perception (correctly so), which will be amplified to enormous extremes by the media, that the political support is simply not there for Bernanke and Obama will have to make that phone call to Bernanke that he is toast. … – Zero Hedge

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The Role of Government Affordable Housing Policy in Creating the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 – This 26 page congressional report written in July 2009 will make you ill. –  U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform  arrell Issa (CA-49), Ranking Member – Heritage.org
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The Anti-Bernanke Politicians Are Hypocrites – Megan McArdle – Everything he did for the banks is what they were too scared to do themselves – Clusterstock at Business Insider

Is It Just Us, Or Did Tim Geithner Get Fired Yesterday? – Henry Blodget – … Recall the opening words of Obama’s short speech:  Good morning, everybody. I just had a very productive meeting with two members of my Economic Recovery Advisory Board: Paul Volcker, who is the former chair of the Federal Reserve Board, and Bill Donaldson, previously the head of the SEC. … What Obama was telling America was “I just had a meeting with two new advisors, and, based on what they said, I’m launching a new policy.” … – Clusterstock at Business Insider

Obama’s Blunder: Forgetting Politics Is All About Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, And More Jobs – Joe Weisenthal –  Clusterstock at Business Insider 
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Obama’s Bank Plan Is Doomed To Failure – Peter Schiff – Once again, President Obama completely missed the mark … What he fails to acknowledge is that this behavior was the direct result of the cheap credit supplied by the Federal Reserve and the moral hazard supplied by government regulations and subsidies. – Peter Schiff Blog

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Volcker:  Resetting the Moral Compass – By GRETCHEN MORGENSON –  IT was great to see President Obama renew his focus on financial reform last week, even if it looked like an attempt to distract voters from his party’s stunning loss of the Senate election in Massachusetts. Even so, by promoting the ideas of Paul Volcker — the esteemed former Federal Reserve chairman — the White House is finally elevating the discourse on how best to rein in risky behavior at banks and protect beleaguered taxpayers from future bailouts of Wall Street. … – NY Times

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Will Obama Whack Geithner and Anoint Volcker? – Larry Doyle – Sense on Cents

For the lovers of toys and Jake Gyllenhaal, the Prince of Persia: Sands of time movie will be accompanied by plaything merchandise.
 
 
 

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There are few rougher rides in the world, I am confident of it, and it begins about an hour or so outside the border of Haiti. If you survive this trek, you get a very clear understanding why trucking in supplies to this earthquake-ravaged region remains nearly impossible and wont likely change anytime soon.

The road from the Capital of Santo Domingo begins prosperously. Four lanes divided highway with a surface smoother than most roads I traverse in California. However, as you move towards the border and further away from the city, the road gradually becomes more similar to a U.S. farm road, with no centerline or shoulder. Small towns begin to be split by the “highway” and you get a real look at the heart and soul of the Dominican Republic. Colorful small homes, many people who live very modestly. At times it looks to be a tough life, but people seem welcoming and generally happy.

About an hour and a half outside of Haiti the road begins to beat you and your vehicle of choice. Potholes and speed bumps appear seemingly every few feet and the road goes from paved to unpaved and then back and forth all the way to the border. The roadway also seems narrower at this point and cars fight for space with a few larger trucks and of course smaller motorcycles with people sometimes sitting three to a seat. Military checkpoints begin to appear, fourteen of them at last count and each time you have to stop, only slowing our trip that much more.

As we arrive at the gate to Haiti, and that’s exactly how it is, there is only one way to explain the chalky, white, rigid road that connects “La Dominica” with its Hispanola neighbor and that is deplorable. If your back and backside has made it this far, it may not be too happy with the coming two hours that now lies ahead into this earthquake ravaged country.

The crossing itself is only two gates side by side. They are wrought iron twin gates controlled and opened manually by Dominican troops, one for cars and the the other for vehicles of all standards…some barely moving. This area has burgeoned in the last week and a half since the disaster and now relief supplies flow, are loaded and unloaded, all while volunteers on busses and in cars of every type cram through such a small crossing. You can also find all sorts of media, changing cars sometimes as Dominican drivers hand off to their neighbors who have come from the Haitian capital.

There are people of all colors and means scattering and moving in every direction and Dominican soldiers armed with machine guns. A couple of Haitian personnel are seen on their side of the border, but they neither control the gate, nor check people coming and going. There is an urgency for so many different reasons. People working to get in, people fighting to get out and aid workers, volunteers and media loaded down in with intentions of both.

The drive from this border into Port-au-Prince used to take an hour, but you can triple that now. Once inside the border gate, a small village of metal shanties now sells food that is sanitarily challenged. Refugees wait in line to cross and relatives meet and head in both directions. I have to say, the Dominican Republic has done a great job in handling this situation so far, especially since the two nations have had their diplomatic issues over the years. One man I meet from New York (you can see him in my Kyte video on my main page) has come here to get his son. For several days the boy was missing after the quake as he was spending time with relatives. Now his father has made the rough journey to thankfully and gratefully reunite and bring his son back home to the states.

Once through the shanty village on the Haitian side of the border, the chalky road weaves around mountains with massive chunks missing like misshapen slices out of a cake, as workers from Port-au-Prince come steal the rocks and soil for construction. Bordering the other side of the road is a lake that looks stunning, but smells like it has become somewhat of a cesspool. Trucks and cars bounce in all directions and dodge massive potholes the size of VW bugs, easily a foot deep in some places and most filled with water. In amazement I see busses and cars with little clearance and ragged conditions barely make the drive, their slow pace causing a flurry of horns and cars darting into the opposite rocky lane of traffic to pass.

Eventually the chalky road becomes a paved and narrow farm road on the Haitian side. Again no shoulder and mostly lined all the way into the city with rundown masonite block buildings and metal shacks. People are walking riding and standing everywhere and animals also get in the way. I would call it controlled chaos, if it was controlled, but with cars driving in all directions and in all lanes and even on makeshift sidewalks in the wrong direction, this could be the most dangerous journey I have ever taken.

To make matters worse, when a bus or large truck decides to stop, everything joins-in because there is no room to pass and again no shoulder and the horns begin to blare. That’s unless a driver gets impatient and figures he’ll just drive against traffic and hope people get out of the way, cars and pedestrians included. When that doesn’t work and there is no place to swerve, everything halts and with so many roads damaged, partially blocked, or people clogged with no place to go, coming to a standstill has become the norm in much of the city.

Especially on the only supply road into town from the Dominican. It help explains why the port is so important and why the helicopters are essential in helping to save and sustain so many people in need.

In the day of the ubiquitous coupon — they are everywhere from your newspaper and in-box, to Facebook and your cell phone — the last thing we seem to need is a coupon Web site.

But the site Groupon.com puts a new spin on saving that’s caught the attention of venture capitalists and users alike.

It boasts nearly 2 million subscribers nationwide.

Here’s how it works:

Groupon.com offers a single deal per day that becomes valid only when enough people buy in.

Consumers drum up support for the deals using Facebook and Twitter to make sure the magic number is met.

If the deal goes through, and the vast majority do, your credit card is charged, and you’re e-mailed a print-out coupon to use. If the deal fails, as about one in 50 do, your card is not charged.

Since its launch 15 months ago, the company has sold 1.2 million Groupons, saving users more than $60 million. Daily deals are featured in 30 U.S. cities, with plans to add 20 more U.S. cities and locations in Canada and Europe by year-end.

Most of the businesses featured are small and locally owned. Offers tend to have a social component — dining with friends, working out, trying a new activity such as in-line skating or singing lessons.

And if you’re planning a trip, you can head to Groupon for discounts as well as research on where to eat and hang out in your destination.

Founder Andrew Mason, who dropped out of graduate school at the University of Chicago to nurture the company, says Groupon is about more than saving money.

“The idea for Groupon came as a way to cut through all the noise, focus on one really interesting thing to do every day and then using a great deal through the power of collective buying to nudge consumers toward trying something,” Mason said.

Michael Vanden Oever, 24, is not a coupon clipper. But he and his wife have been trying new restaurants on the cheap using the printed offers. He likes that most Groupons don’t expire for months or longer and that they tend to have fewer catches.

Still, there are some. For example, the entire Groupon must be used on one visit. Taxes and gratuity aren’t typically included and you usually can’t buy an unlimited amount of one deal for yourself.

Merchants work with Groupon to design unique deals, so details vary, and reading the fine print, as usual, is recommended.

Vanden Oever’s only complaint: “I would like more offers.”

But Mason is convinced that the limited nature of the deals cinch Groupon’s success. Too many options, he says, and finding discounts almost becomes work. “Make it too hard and when the economy takes off, so will coupon users.”

Groupon takes 30 percent to 50 percent of each deal sold. Merchants get the rest of the cash earned from the deal, new customers and a lot of exposure.

The company is on track to make more than $100 million in revenue this year. It’s been profitable since June. Groupon caught the eye of venture capitalists; much of the $35 million the company has raised comes from Facebook angel investor Accel Partners.

Other entrepreneurs are launching similar concepts, including Eden Prairie, Minn.,-based Dealstork.com, which is focused on the Twin Cities market.

Katie Greeman, owner of Spill the Wine, sold 860 Groupons on Dec. 30 for her restaurant two blocks from the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

For merchants, Groupons have the same appeal as gift cards — she gets the cash right away and some people never redeem them.

“For me it was just a really quick way to spread the word about who we are in a really short amount of time, with no upfront cost,” Greeman said.

Think about it: E-mails go out to 43,000 people announcing the deal, friends share it on Facebook, followers retweet it on Twitter. Even if people didn’t buy the Groupon, “there was potentially 100,000 people inside of one day that had Spill the Wine come across their inbox,” Greeman said. And the restaurant received a $12,000 cut on top of that free advertising.

The downside? She’s comping a lot of food. The deal was to spend $30 for $65 worth of food and wine. The restaurant has already given $4,550 worth of food away with only a fraction of the Groupons redeemed. But the average check has been higher.

“People are ordering up … ordering maybe a nicer bottle of wine that they would normally or saying ‘I’m going to get the tenderloin instead of the chicken,’ ” she said. She’s been on the other side of the transaction too, having recently purchased dental exams for herself and her husband.

Jodi Garber of Minneapolis has Groupon to thank for a massage, a girls’ night out and a spray tan for her work Christmas party. Such splurges had been sidelined after Garber, 32, became a mom, but Groupons have “made some of the perks in life a little more affordable,” she said.

Garber takes advantage of a deal two to three times a week. “I would hate to see that total bill, but I love getting that bargain.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

We don’t know about you, but back in 1983 we were still playing in the mud with sticks and learning how to read. Frog Design, on the other hand, well, they were busy creating zany gadget prototypes. The company — which helped create such august products as the Apple IIc (which was unleashed in 1984) — also worked on a tablet pc for Apple around that same time, and its recently let slip some photos of what might have been. The tablet you see in the photos (there’s another after the break) was called Bashful, and it’s a pretty slim character considering its birth date, boasting a full physical keyboard and stylus to boot. Several prototypes of this little lover were made, including one with a disk drive and even one with a phone. So that means, by our count, Apple’s been mulling this whole tablet deal for… twenty-six years. Hit the source link for even more photos.

Continue reading Frog Design outs the Apple tablet that could have been… in 1983

Frog Design outs the Apple tablet that could have been… in 1983 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone who has been following the God of War series would know how Kratos came to be the bad-ass god-slayer that he is now. He’s always pissed, always throwing fits, and always looking for new ways to

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No, we’re not inviting you to dinner. We’ve just updated our team page, complete with some pretty horrendous pictures!

Our team includes a somewhat random, yet incredibly cool, group of professionals. Besides all our tech qualifications we’ve got a philosopher, a former Time Inc. staffer, a former Navy nuclear electrician, a double-jointed man, and even a fraud analyst (so don’t try anything funny), and that’s just for starters!

So if you have a second, check us out. You’ll discover our professional qualifications, our likes and dislikes, and gleam some insight into the minds behind TUAW (notice I didn’t say brains?).

Don’t be afraid to tell us “hi” yourself in the comments!

TUAWMeet the minds behind The Unofficial Apple Weblog originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An old idea applied to a whole new generation and its bag of fresh tools. That’s how you could describe Beezag, a service from the eponymous New York startup, that was launched in private beta a couple of months ago.

Dubbed a ‘real-time targeted video advertising service’ by the company, Beezag’s business model is basically to force-feed young adults with video ads in exchange for cash and coupons (which is not to say it won’t work; more on that later).

And they’ve just raised over $2.5 million (on top of an earlier $750k founding round) from a group of angel investors, so time for us to take a closer look.

Currently, the only way to get in to Beezag is to have an invite code or exercise some patience after signing up for the waiting list. Once you get in, you’ll get a bracelet with a PIN sent to you and you’re supposed to let the company know more about what interests you the most. Based on your profile, Beezag will then start offering you selected coupons, rewards and discounts, straight from advertisers.

In addition, registered users get video advertising sent to their iPhones or Facebook accounts based on their profiles, and every time they watch ads completely, their iTunes or PayPal accounts get a little bigger. The way Beezag makes sure users pay enough attention to the video ads is by adding floating digits to the stream which users have to enter on the site to get the dollars.

In the future, more mobile and even interactive TV platforms will be added to the fray.

Now, call me crazy, but I actually think this might work out well considering the startup’s target audience: 18 to 24-year olds (generally strapped for cash but flush with enough free time to watch ads). Of course, a lot will depend on the actual pay-out rates, but according to the company clients like Dr. Pepper, Dentyne, Starbucks Shop, Skull Candy and Mandee have already signed up for campaigns.

It’s also worth pointing out that the two co-founders of Beezag, Richard Smullen and Laurent Alhadeff, have managed to convince two savvy people to join the management team: six-year Google vet and former Lime Wire business development exec Brian Dick (as Chief Revenue Officer) and former-Upoc/Dada Entertainment CEO/CTO Steven Spencer (as Chief Operating Officer).

The fresh financing round comes from Bruellan Wealth Management (Geneva), whose MD Antoinne Spillmann led the round on behalf of clients that included four undisclosed angel investors.

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Jason Calacanis, our partner over the years on the TechCrunch50 conference, wrote quite a rant yesterday about analytics company Comscore. His argument: that Comscore has vastly undercounted traffic and visitors over the years, and is now formalizing “their extortion ring” by offering to track traffic more directly (and the numbers are generally much higher) via tracking pixels for a $10,000/year fee.

You can read the whole post over at Calacanis.com. He doesn’t pull any punches (in fact he goes on a tangent about punching bullies in the face as a kid) He suggests that companies refuse to pay Comscore for the service, and that investors short the stock.

Comscore investor Fred Wilson laid into Jason with a couple of comments on a copy of the post on Posterous. He also randomly dragged me into the argument (I think he’s still mad about the Zynga stuff):

jason, since you’ve slandered me, i’ll respond here.
you don’t know what you are talking about. comscore (SCOR) is a public company. you can go look at their financials. they aren’t exactly printing money. it’s hard to measure the internet and they spend well over $100mm per year doing just that. they aren’t “shaking down” anyone. their move to a hybrid model is a reaction to many of the criticisms that people have had of their panel model over the years. but it isn’t cheap to manage that data either. someone has to pay for this. or of course we could all just let google do it for free. we know how that will play out. eric schmidt has said “analytics are infinitely monetizable” well for google they are. if we want a third party keeping everyone honest, the market has to pay something for it. as i said, go look at comscore’s financials and you’ll see they aren’t exactly getting rich doing that.

and the “huge venture return i made in comscore” is in your imagination. i have not ever made any money personally on my comscore investment.

please don’t spew lies about me jason. with “friends” like you, who needs enemies?

and

hey Karl, i bet if you and i sat down and had a coffee or a beer and talked for a half hour or an hour you’d come away with a different perspective. if you get your data on me and my investments from Jason and his friend Mike Arrington, of course you are going to come away with an impression that isn’t correct. they like to sling mud at me and my investments. i am not going to get into a pissing match with them online. but i am “kinda sad” that you are getting the wrong impression. i don’t know where you live but if we are ever in the same town, give me that half hour and i bet you’ll have a different and better opinion.

Comscore’s CMO Linda Abraham also weighed into the argument on Posterous:

Jason:
You really need to get your facts straight.

1) First of all, we measure Unique People rather than Unique Cookies which web analytics systems erroneously can unique visitors. I would challenge you to find any kind of server side measurement system that measures people, not machines or cookies. To show you how absurd server side numbers are, AOL Inc. had about 259 MM Unique cookies which gives it over 125% reach compared to a true reach of 54%. The inflation is driven by cookie deletion, multiple browsers, multiple machines for the same users, multiple devices etc… Large companies do not complain about their numbers because they know their server side numbers are flawed as obviously evident by the AOL metrics, not because ‘comScore fixes your number”. This dynamic is less obvious with smaller sites—they don’t realize how inflated their numbers are until their reach starts exceeding 100%.

2) Our Hybrid measurement is not mere pixel tracking as you assert. Our panel, which allows us to distinguish people from cookies, is a central part of the system used to correct for the inflation of cookie based server-side measurement.

3) You are confused about our pricing, so let me explain it to you:

• We charge a one-time setup fee of $5,000 that enables us to audit the beacon implementation and make sure we are measuring everyone consistently. This means auditing beacons on every page to identify pages with multiple beacons that result in over-counting, and pages with no beacon that result in undercounting. We have found about 15% of sites have placed multiple beacons on a page, and over 30% of sites that have missed a number of pages on their site. This auditing function is crucial to protect the system from being gamed. Imagine what happens, if unchecked, sites start cross beaconing each other to inflate their audience. The ‘free’ services do not incur this cost because not much is expected of them. We have seen many sites where the Quantcast beacons ‘fire’ up to 7 times from a single page!
• The initial $5,000 setup fee pays for that audit and gives you access to our reports on comScore Direct $5K for 6 month period.
• The $10K annual price is for ongoing access to our comScore Direct reporting system. However, you don’t have to subscribe to continue being measured using the hybrid methodology. As long as you maintain your beacons we will measure you with our hybrid methodology FREE of charge.

4) You may be upset because you don’t get a free subscription to the reports. We make no apologies for charging for access to our reporting system. That is the only revenue source we have to cover our costs. In doing so, we make a ‘mafia like’ pre-tax margin of less than 9% . Google and Quantcast offer metrics for ‘free’ because they have an advertising supported model. They use the data they collect from users or publishers to sell targeted advertising. We chose not to have a business model based on selling advertising, because we do not want to compete with our clients who make a living selling advertising, and who need a neutral third party to provide audience data that is free from conflicts of interest.

5) As for the free trial offer we made you, you need to get your facts straight. When we rolled out this new hybrid system, we needed some sites to beacon with us early to test it out and get user feedback .This is a common practice you might have heard of—it’s called ‘free beta.’ You chose not to participate, which is fine. But there was no attempt to ‘buy your silence’ and we challenge you to prove otherwise.

We provide a valuable service and we are proud of it. We offer the most accurate 3rd audience measurement tools available which are paid for in real dollars by more than 1,200 companies who, unlike you, freely choose them despite available ‘free’ services.

It’s unfortunate that you were picked on as a child. It must have been difficult to you. But you’re an adult now. If you want to debate, please do so with facts, not just blind fury.

My take – Abraham is right. Comscore is by far the best analytics service available. Alexa, Compete and Hitwise are seriously flawed (I may dive into this more in a future post). Quantcast has its own issues and is subject to abuse, which we’ve seen directly. Comscore uses panels and statistical analysis to generate traffic estimates. The new product measure traffic directly off of website servers and should provide nearly perfect data.

And the fact is that the company probably does need to charge to do this properly, as Abraham argues. If a competitor can provide the same service for less (or free), God Bless Them and I’ll support them all the way. Until then, the market will bear what it can bear.

We always choose to use Comscore data first when its available, and will continue to do so. Here’s an example of how useful it can be.

So in this case I respectfully disagree with Jason on the merits of his argument. And I ask Fred Wilson to try to keep me out of his various fights.

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Italian motorcycle manufacturer Aprilia announced its intent to recall a limited number of RSV4 motorcycles for engine replacement. Aprilia conducted various tests and verifications until it finally assessed that one component in a small group of engines assembled during a specific time period had failed to meet stringent factory quality standards, resulting in a risk of future engine failures.

Only a small number of production units are affected, but the recall impacts all RSV4 motorcycles del… (read more)

So Rogers and HTC have worked with the kind of hustle you don’t normally see from carriers or manufacturers to fix a rather dangerous glitch in their branded versions of the Dream and Magic causing calls to 911 to fail with GPS enabled — and needless to say, you’re going to want to apply the upgrade on the double. Why? Well, the problem’s so dangerous that Rogers has taken the unusual step of vowing to disable internet access altogether for anyone failing to apply the “mandatory” patch by 6AM today (but don’t worry, you should get it back as soon as you’ve upgraded). For their troubles, affected customers will be credited one month’s worth of data — and Magic owners will be delighted to discover that their phones have magically received HTC’s Sense UI as a result of this whole ordeal. All’s well that ends well, right?

Rogers rolls out fixes for 911 problems with Dream and Magic, cuts off data for non-upgraders originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 06:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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