So here is the question which you should be asking yourself. If you released full digital copies of all of the Star Wars films — with no DRM — allowing anyone to duplicate and distribute to their hearts contents… would sales in the toys, video games, and publishing categories increase by enough to offset the loss in sales from video and DVD?
Templeton: 22 Steps to Successful Investing
1. There is only one long term investment objective, maximum total after tax return. More here.
Parales: The Case Against Coldplay
Jon Pareles takes it to Coldplay:
HERE’S nothing wrong with self-pity. As a spur to songwriting, it’s right up there with lust, anger and greed, and probably better than the remaining deadly sins. There’s nothing wrong, either, with striving for musical grandeur, using every bit of skill and studio illusion to create a sound large enough to get lost in. Male sensitivity, a quality that’s under siege in a pop culture full of unrepentant bullying and machismo, shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand, no matter how risible it can be in practice. And building a sound on the lessons of past bands is virtually unavoidable.
GM Janesville?
GM Chairman Rick Wagner mentioned additional plant closings & layoffs during today’s shareholder’s meeting in Wilmington, DE:
Going forward, in order to achieve full capacity utilization based on conservative volume planning scenarios, we expect to close additional assembly and component plants over the next few years, and to reduce our manufacturing employment levels in the U.S. by 25,000 or more people in the 2005 to 2008 period. We project that these capacity and employment actions will generate annual savings of approximately $2.5 billion.
10 Big Thinkers for Big Business
They work in vastly different fields, but the leaders profiled in the following pages are much alike—they have new takes on old business models, a knack for seeing around corners and an appetite for big risk. A case study of New Thinkers.
Swim Finder
Lands’ End introduced its Swim Finder feature this spring. The online service lets a user view different versions of swimsuits on a three-dimensional body likeness.
The Car Quality Gap?
One debate that never dies is who makes the best cars: the United States, Japan or Germany? U.S. automakers may be closing a perceived quality gap.
Lessons in Gratitude @ the Kitchen Sink
AS I told them, we could do without Hollywood for a century. We could not do without them and their sacrifice for a week. Gratitude. As my pal Phil DeMuth says, it’s the only totally reliable get-rich-quick scheme. Gratitude. Losing the luxury of feeling aggrieved when, if you look closely, you have an opportunity. My father washed dishes at the Sigma Psi house so that he could build an education and a life for the family he did not even have yet.
At my house, I always insist on doing the dishes, and I feel a thrill of gratitude for what washing a dish can do with every swipe of the sponge. Wiping away the selfishness of the moment, building a life for my son. The zen of dishwashing. The zen of gratitude. The zen of riches. Thanks, Pop.
Book: Not a Good Day to Die
I just finished Sean Naylor’s excellent “Not a Good Day to Die“. Major Donald E. Vandergriff reviews the book here.
As Sean so vividly describes, at dawn on March 2, 2002, America’s first major battle of the 21st century began. Soldiers of the 101st Airborne and 10th Mountain Divisions flew into Afghanistan’s Shahikot valley and into heavy enemy defenses. They were about to pay a bloody price for high level strategic miscalculations that underestimated the enemy’s strength and willingness to fight. Sean’s book highlights that despite a mountain of historical evidence that is now available in the 21st Century via the Internet, our nation continues to make strategic and operational mistakes that, fortunately, an enemy has not yet been able to totally exploit.
A must read for those interested in our Foreign Affairs. Lind’s “Of Cabbages & Kings” provides some useful perspective as well. Meanwhile, the war continues in Afghanistan.
Wisconsin Tinkers with the Minimum Wage
Wisconsin this week became the latest state to raise its minimum wage. Wisconsin employers must pay at least $5.70 an hour through June 2006, when the minimum wage rises again to $6.50 an hour. The Federal Minimum wage is $5.15. Fool economics contributor Charlie Wheelan talks about the economics of the minimum wage.