Scott Muni died yesterday.  He was 74.  Anyone who "cut their teeth" about life, love and rock n' roll  around the NYC area in the decade between 65' and 75' feels a little bit empty today. 

Although there was Vietnam, the gas crisis (I remember having to walk to school in the dark) and the Nixon resignation, there was a certain innocense about that time that I think we'll never feel again.

We had no worries about AIDS, terrorism, global warming, toxic mold, mad cow disease-yadda yadda yadda.  WE were loose, carefree and we loved our music.  You probably have at least one memory of drivin' around in your dad's Chevy, packed with your friends singing along to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody or hangin in your bedroom with a black light on and zoning out to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

You would turn on WNEW FM and there he was, the "professor"...Scott Muni.  He was 20 to 30 years older than most of us, but he was like that "cool" dad you wish you had. 

He played our music and understood what we wanted outta life.  Let us do our thing as long as we didn't hurt anybody else (including ourselves).

Those days are done.  We'll miss the man with the scruffy voice yakkin' about his  knowledge of music, giving us direction and playin' our songs.  We'll always remember him.

Rick Contrata  

Http://www.devnic.com                                                      

Google registered the domain name gbrowser.com in April, 2004.  Some forward thinking “amigos” are speculating a Google web browser might be in the works, or maybe “pasted” to some white board as a list of possible future products.

Speculation is good.  It’s what keeps markets liquid and ideas flowing, so let’s take a poke at the possibility of a Google browser.

Microsoft is expert at “steal and deliver.”  At one point Netscape controlled most of the web browser market.  Microsoft saw the explosion of the internet and was determined to take part in the fun.  Today, Netscape is barely hangin’ onto a tiny piece of the browser market.   Microsoft “put a fork in em.”

Heck, Microsoft seems to arrive at the prom late, but they always get to leave the party with the prom queen.  Is that luck, stealth piracy, or a very strategic business plan?

There’s no secret that Microsoft has seen enough with the search engine market to know that they’re leaving big money on the table if they just sit on the sidelines as Google continues to increase its dominance.  With PPC, there’s a huge revenue stream for search engine companies.  Their search engine is almost ready for prime time. So what’s this have to do with speculation on a Google browser?

Google might be thinking this through in political terms.  Not Politics per se`, but political campaign marketing.  One of the most effective political strategies is to tap into your competitor’s base and make them fight to retain what was easily theirs by default.  Forcing them to devote resources to shore up their base instead of trying to “steal and deliver” on the competition’s turf.

Google is now flush with cash and should be looking to expand its markets.  Netscape is proof that you can’t survive as a “one trick pony.”  Even AOL couldn’t save it.  Is this a good place to start?...Maybe, maybe not…One thing is for sure, wherever they attempt to take on Microsoft, it should be fun to watch.

Rick Contrata http://www.DevNIC.com  Domain Name Registration, Web Hosting, Articles, Tutorials, Internet Business Resource Directory.  Coming soon.....Blogware

Hey…Have any of you guys/gals come across someone/anyone that really blows you away to the point you just can’t keep your yap shut about them?  Sure there are talented folks out there… Some are extremely talented and dominate their respective fields.  Entrepreneurs, athletes, celebrities, politicians and yes, even marketing “gurus.” 

How many of them are be able to take a world-class act and repackage it to mentor a green-as-frog rookie?.....You’ve seen it before, unbelievably talented people that  just can’t teach.  They’re great at what they do, but they can’t duplicate their thought process and project that aura in a teaching environment; At least not to the point where the student is fully able to grasp it in the same way as the mentor.  Sometimes lousy athletes make great coaches and great athletes can’t coach to save their life…..Know what I mean?

I think I found us a great copywriting/marketing “player” that can coach……John Carlton.  He’s billed as a world-class copywriter hell-bent on being a marketing rebel and an industry “secret weapon.”  Take 10 minutes outta your frenzied life and just cat-scan his newsletter “the Marketing Rebel Rant.”  You can get the first 11 issues free at www.marketingrebelrant.com 

I guarantee you your brain will explode as you magically absorb his mindset.  You’ll experience 20 different emotions from euphoria to bein so pissed off at yourself for being a dumb-ass, you’ll think you’re gonna need a rabies shot.  In Issue 1, Volume 1 your first assignment is to “put the 8 page newsletter down and go find something fun to do for five minutes.”  That’s lesson #1. If you can’t come up with something “fun” to do for “five’ minutes, it will open your eyes to the fact that your life is “on the fritz.”….Yours truly failed Lesson #1 miserably.

He takes you on a wild ride as he mixes industry smarts with a “streetwise” mentality about life, love and achieving wealth that the “average joe” can relate to.  There’s no rah rah “headshrinker horsesh#t” about getting motivated or whining about the cards you’ve been dealt in life.  He won’t blow sunshine up your butt when you’re screwin’ up and he’ll “cyber-slap” you right in the head if you think you’ve conquered the universe.

Just take his medicine for starting, running and maintaining a successful business with his attitude about achieving success, facing failure and pluggin’ the holes in life that mess most of us up.  Don’t be afraid.  The pain of finding out the truth    will help cure the “anti-success” disease that paralyzes us into doing nothing. You’ll be saying to yourself, “holy sh#t he’s right, I’ve done that, I’ve neglected to do that, I’ve let other people unnecessarily influence me about that.  Go ahead, check it out and then whack yourself with a rolled up newspaper, I did!

Tip of the day:  What God gave us in mind and body, nature slowly takes away…Use-it-or lose-it.

Rick  Contrata http://www.devNIC.com Domain name registration, Web hosting, Tutorials, Articles...Coming Soon......blogWARE

It's a somewhat typical fall afternoon here in NY.  What's left of 'killer" huricane Ivan is lazily passing through.  I'm checkin' out some of the college football games and trying to clean up the yard around this "chicken coop" house in between the downpours, but some very untypical winds a swirling around right now.

The firestorm created this week by from the "memogate"  controversy at CBS is a shot across the bow for the mainstream media.

Whether it's from the right or the left, what the media reports is no longer like "a street in the Bronx...One Way."  They  should expect and prepare to be challenged on what is dispensed as newsworthy and accurate or risk exstinction.  Blogs and bloggers have come full circle and made the news media interactive, whether they like it or not. 

The media can bang their heads against the wall, kick and scream all they want, but if they don't adapt to blogs and the new wave of interactive media, it's gonna get even uglier.  Blogs are the "gum under their shoe."

How the heck did all this happen?

Blogs were once considered the "web toy" of techno-geeks until the cat got outta the bag. In reality they're one of the most non-technical tools on the web. Unlike a standard website, you can literally have a blog up and running in minutes and your monthly "nut" is about the price of a Big Mac. 

The Benefits a clear

> Blogs are easy to use...If you can send an email, then you can publish a blog.

> Blogs have a simple structure.  Users can add content from any web browser 24/7, including pictures and links.

> Blogs generate XML data.  RSS (real simple syndication) feeds will circulate the content whenever it's updated.

> Search engines spiders feed on good updated content..

Blogs will someday outnumber websites

In today's rushed "I gotta go, my car is running" society, everbody wants things quick, easy and cheap so they can move on to the other 37 things on their daily agenda.  Blogs are the "fast food" of interactive media.  Love em' or hate em'...but blogs are here to stay.

Rick  Contrata http://www.devNIC.com Domain name registration, Web hosting, Tutorials, Articles...Coming Soon......blogWARE