Download SmartRSS Plugin[$] What ever happened to chunkfs?
Guest author Valerie Aurora is frequently asked about chunkfs, which is a prototype file system implementing “repair-driven” file system features. Her answer: “Chunkfs works, the overheadis reasonable, and it is only practical if it is part of the filesystem design from the beginning, not tacked on after the fact. Ijust need to write up the paper summarizing all the data.” That paper is now available, subscribers only, from this week’s Kernel page.
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Based on that what are these numbers telling us? First, they are from the equivalent of a century ago but they are simply validation that things have been bad and all of the complaining may have some merit. In fact, to hear TNS’s senior vice president of research, Jon Swallen, put it “We are now in the record books with the worst quarter in a decade.”So are we looking at a turnaround anytime soon? Swallen continuesA recovery in the media business may take time. “So far it looks like second-quarter spending is starting pretty much the same way the first quarter ended. There are hopeful signs of general economic indicators bottoming out, but the advertising sector still appears to be lagging behind”.Had enough doom and gloom for the day. Take heart Internet marketers. TNS , unlike other reports, is saying that online display advertising, which includes banners, was actually UP 8.2%. You can rub your eyes and scream “Typo!” if you want but please don’t shoot the messenger in the comment section. PricewaterhouseCoopers just reported last week a 5.5% drop in online display advertising. So who’s right? Are either right? Shall we just meet close to the middle and call it a draw for online display ads as compared to Q1 for 2008?As for Q2? Most are saying that it looks like it could be just as bad, if not worse, but there may be sentiment shifting toward some recovery in the second half of the year.Before we all bemoan the state of the advertising world across the board it is important to take in one last piece of dataTNS said the ad market was hampered by double-digit pullbacks in spending by big industries like autos and financial services.Ad spending in the automotive category slid 28%, with local car-dealer ad spending taking the biggest hit, falling almost 50%. Spending by financial services companies fell 18%.Now one wonders what actually happened in other sectors that weren’t in the news for receiving bundles of bailout cash and a lot of negative publicity for their relative incompetence. As with all studies and data it is interesting to track an overall trend but if there is no attention given to the details about specific industries that affect your line of business directly you could be missing the point or, even worse, some opportunity.Marketing Pilgrim readers work in all areas of business. What are you seeing in your industry? Are you in the doldrums like the auto and finance industries or are you seeing a light at the end of this tunnel (and you are reasonably sure it’s not a train)? Maybe a street level sampling can add something to the big picture. At least you may find out you’re not alone.Comments
Yesterday it was announced that AOL’s CTO (chief technology officer) was getting off the boat. Considering that this journey isn’t even two months old yet this is not the kind of sign investors and others would like to see. All Things Digital tells us moreWhile AOL denied a report last week suggesting that CTO Ted Cahall is leaving, he actually is, um, leaving.Oops!Sources at AOL said the company thought Cahall was staying when it issued a statement saying he was not leaving. Cahall apparently had other plans.Part of my job here at Marketing Pilgrim is to interpret news events. I do this from the point of view of the “everyman”. In other words, I am a regular guy like many who are readers here. So here I go with my opinion on this kind of a move at this point in time of the development of AOL as it moves into the future: OUCH! That’s gonna leave a mark.Either something is seriously wrong there or, I don’t know…… you tell me. This is not a good thing to have happen and one has to suspect that we are not going to know just why this happened. The official word to employees from the main C-level guy at AOL, Tim Armstrong, reads like this.Ted Cahall took on the role of CTO after I had asked him to move into that position from a broader business role at the company. Ted is the person who drove the complete replacement of our publishing systems and took AOL deeper into open-source technology, among many other accomplishments. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for the work he has done. Ted has decided to move back into the business side of technology and feels it’s the right time to move on from AOL. Ted has been a strong leader at AOL and agreed to transition the company to a new CTO. We are aggressively searching for a new CTO and we believe AOL is a very attractive opportunity for the right candidate.Armstrong has been the CEO for less than a year and one of the guys he asked to move into this position has jumped ship. To make it even more odd is that AOL was denying this was even happening right before Cahall made his move.You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to read between the lines here. So for all of you CTO types looking for your next gig, Tim says that AOL believes that it is a very attractive opportunity for the right candidate. I guess Cahall wasn’t the right one and one has to suspect that anyone who steps into that role in the future has a soft spot for Kool-Aid.Comments
Henry Blodget penned a column over at Ad Age that can be summed up neatly in its headline “Sorry, There’s No Way to Save the TV Business; It Should Take Its Cues From What Happened to Newspapers”.The traditional TV industry — cable companies, networks and broadcasters — is where the newspaper industry was about five years ago: in denial.If this is even half true the folks on the TV side of the ledger better wake up and smell the erosion. The erosion of their leverage, profits and influence is taking place but it is believed that the arrogance that led to the dismantling of the newspaper industry is just as active in the TV world.Specifically, the TV industry’s attitude is the same as the newspaper industry’s attitude was circa 2002 to 2003: Stop calling us dinosaurs. We get digital; we’re growing our digital businesses; we’re investing in digital platforms; people still recall ads even when they fast-forward through them on DVRs; there’s no substitute for TV ads. And traditional TV isn’t going away: Just look at our revenue and profits!Blodget posits that the Internet still represents such a small percentage of profits and revenue of TV today but as it continues to grow the tide will quickly turn. As a result, the traditional broadcast industry will buckle and eventually crumble under the weight of its own in cost structure. Sounds painful.So why is TV still successful? The old model may still have some legs but it is certainly aging out fast. Less and less people are dependent on TV of their information and entertainment. A quick comparison shows the following:Television Depends OnFew options at home other than TVNo way to get video content other than TVOnly broadcast, cable and satellite options to get TV contentChoke points for delivery give inordinate control to those who own the access pointsReality IsMore and more simple fun options including games, Internet, social media etc.New ways to get traditional TV content like Hulu, YouTube, iTunes etc.More options for video content including telcos and cable companies providing broadbandThe Internet is everywhere. You can connect more easily, more often than ever and that will only get betterSo how has the TV industry responded?Thus far, the TV industry has reacted to these changes the way most people would: by trying to port its existing model to the new world and maintain its hold on power and money. This is why we’re getting so many ridiculous, consumer-unfriendly TV solutionsThese solutions include, but are not exclusive to, market-based control over what can or can’t be watched, single episode downloads that expire after 24 hours and time shifting of popular shows.So Blodget’s conclusion is as you may have guessed; TV is headed for the gallows and a slow death from their own ignorance and arrogance.You won’t have five channels, or 50 channels, or 500 channels. You’ll have millions of channels. You’ll be able to watch anything you want, live or taped. You’ll be able to watch it wherever you want — TV, computer, mobile device. You won’t have to sorry about “slinging” video content around or programming your DVR. You’ll just plug a pipe (internet) into a box (device) and watch.So all of folks in TV land better take heed. The same day that you reach for your morning paper that no longer exists at your desk in the corporate office could be the same day that your control is handed over your viewers and they leave you for greener pastures. Then what?Comments
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