New house

We're working through a deal to buy a new house here in Vancouver. Did I say house? I meant "tiny little 71 m² condo". Have a look at it. Note: in real life, the building is finished.

Web 2.0 valuations

If you saw my post about LinkedIn, you saw how I thought it was taking off. Yes, but is anybody paying for its services?

By the way, the combined cash flow of Spot Runner, LinkedIn and Facebook is less than that of one Costco store. -- Carl Bialik, WSJ.

Swimming in Brown

Due to recent shipping issues, I'm afraid I'll have to dissuade friends from shipping things to me here in Canada through UPS. Though I've always been impressed by UPS customer service in the states, here in Canada they really miss the mark. Between customs difficulties and the apparent inability to put a note on a door, or to recover well from either of these situations, I recommend using one of these three services instead: USPS/Postes Canada Post, FedEx, or Purolator/DHL.

James Brown Is Dead

Too bad he's dead... the Bush White House will need another spokesman after Tony Snow loses steam, and this guy can avoid a question like nobody else.

LinkedIn

This was recommended to me today, and I was somewhat dubious. Ah, another Friendster clone, I thought. Well, yes, in fact, it is -- but built for business. This is the sort of thing that, if done right, could wipe out ACT! and take over the contact management market. Hell, if it synced to my cell phones I'd even shell out actual money for it. What really surprised me was that in my first pass through my address book 34 people I knew were already members. Some of them actually even seem to have used it (though there were only about 8 of them with more than 2 contacts). An old friend even found me, though he has ~400 contacts and probably takes it pretty seriously.