I listed this job under sales and marketing because this job is the continuation of Red Dasher's growth which will be perpetuated by adding new accounts in new markets.  The account manager will help Red Dasher grow by seeking new opportunities with new s......

Many Internet start-ups are foregoing venture capital in their early stages, choosing instead to grow on a shoestring.

“Good news on the MS front as well (it’s officially “public”): Both Microsoft Office System 2007 and Windows Vista have Released to Manufacturing (bits are locked and provided to reproduction facility to begin cranking out hard collateral). Huge milestone in the product lifecycle, and a catalyst for the upcoming WAVE of activity you’ll see around these two revolutionary versions of these products!! More to come - stay tuned for some MASSIVE marketing to land over the coming months. The buzz/excitement on campus is contagious. A historic moment in MS history…”

I received word today, direct from Microsoft’s campus, that the two long-awaited products, Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 are ready. Earlier this year I received demo videos of the Office System and it’s really cool. I have actually enjoyed capabilities of both given I’m using Microsoft 2004 for Mac OSX and of course, Apple’s OSX operating system. As Goomzee’s offices run Windows, we’ll likely be upgrading to the new versions in 2007 as part of our expansion and purchase of new workstations (we’ll see).

The Web company Baidu and Eachnet, the Chinese auction site of eBay, said they had expanded a partnership, in which Baidu will promote PayPal Beibao, the online payments service of eBay in China, and will become the exclusive provider of text-based search advertising on the Eachnet auction site. The alliance expands a partnership that began in 2000 and is intended to shore up eBay’s business in China. The alliance is a challenge to a Chinese auction company, Alibaba.com, a joint venture partner with Yahoo, and another online auction player, Tencent Holdings, which has an agreement with Google.

It can’t touch the iPod’s looks or coolness, but the new Microsoft Zune is certainly more practical.

The Cingular 8525 smartphone looks like a standard P.D.A. but slides open to reveal a full keyboard.

Gresham Outlook Announcement of Shane’s Victory

It was quite the celebration as my cousin, Shane Bemis, won his mayoral campaign in Gresham Oregon. Unlike here in Montana with our senatorial campaign, his did not include the attack ads and bashing which was a breath of fresh air for “the people” and likely further secured his victory. Congrats Shane!

On the note of “attack ads” and “smear campaigns”, I’d like to take a moment and share this link: Gresham Outlook Letters to Editor - scroll down to the last post. I believe that reader’s comments sum up the voters’ point-of-view with the type of campaigning we’ve seen here in Montana with our senatorial race.

In discussing with a friend yesterday, we agreed that the race might not be so close had Jon Tester not lowered himself to Conrad Burns’ level and simply kept quiet about his opponent and focused on what he plans to do for Montana. You’ll read in that last letter that Shane did exactly that and “the people” have spoken. Great campaign! Great guy! Great leader! I’m sure the “great website” was the deciding factor, of course (ha ha) but glad I could help.

I attended the SEMA show with my friends/client, Clutch Masters, this year and it was a lot of fun. SEMA stands for Specialty Equipment Market Association (e.g. aftermarket products for automotive industry). I learned a lot more about the industry and met a lot of talented folks in the automotive industry including racers, publishers, manufacturers and marketers. Below are a couple highlight photos from the show:

E-Bay Motors had a booth set up, just like they did at CES Show for buying/selling except this one was dedicated to Autos. I also saw similar for Yahoo! - both these companies are very active at the tradeshows which is good to learn, especially for Internet technology companies that you wouldn’t expect.

Live editing booth for Speed Vision broadcasting.

Snapshot of one small section of the Central Hall

Another Central Hall snapshot.

As we were visiting Steve Oaks, Sr. of Oaks Racing, we managed to talk his model into posing in front of the Clutch Masters stickers on one of his race cars. Dozens of folks were snapping shots possibly for various magazines so likely some free press for Clutch Masters.

Michelin had a cool exhibit in the South Hall with the world’s fastest street legal cars including this one, the Bugati. Most cars were over $1 million each and a show stopper was also the McLaren F1 - a beautiful car that was suprisingly a 3-seater. The driver sits in the middle with the steering wheel and to the left and right, passengers can come along, slightly offset behind the driver - very cool!

McLaren F1 - Beautiful car and I loved the center cockpit with side passengers - I’ve never seen anything like that before.

What would a trip to Vegas be if I didn’t rub elbows with a few stars? Here I am with rapper/actor Ice-T. The second CD I ever owned (back in 1991) was actually one of his; pretty cool. Actually we ran into a lot and I even met the guys from Good Charlotte during a private party for C16 at Tao (see below) we were invited to.

Mopar booth in South Hall as we headed up escalators to the offroad section

C16 after party on Wednesday night at Tao Nightclub at the Venetian - we were invited to this private party with Good Charlotte guest dj-ing for the latter part of the night. The club had a lounge level, then dining level and the upper level where we were boasted a couple bars and massage room plus main dance area.

The main dance area had raised platforms with gogo dancers and a section that separated some VIP booths and 2 dance floors with a bathtub and throughout the night they had barely-dressed girls dancing in the tub.

On the main club level, you can go into the main dance area (prior picture) or to the massage room or back bar. This is the back bar, complete with statuettes filling the entire wall.

Ice sculpture in the back bar with the C16 logo.

Overlooking the front of Venetian and Strip. From the club, they have a balcony where you can go out (primarily for smokers I think) but we went out for some fresh air and couldn’t resist snapping a couple cool photos.

Good Charlotte was at the party and I met a couple guys. I have an autograph on the back of one of my business cards I may scan in and add to the post - we’ll see.

All-in-all, this was a very fun time and I learned a lot and got to meet with a lot of Clutch Masters’ top customers plus their race team.

Here is a video with a few clips taken during the C16 party at Tao Nightclub in Venetian - Las Vegas SEMA Show 2006. It features the gogo and bathtub dancers with what I felt was an appropriate song. I used MySpace to turn the video into Flash and host it, but used my Mac and iMovie HD to quickly throw together the video. Enjoy!