In no particular order

• I spent the morning over at Microsoft today, and 100% of people polled are stunned w/ embarrassment by the aforementioned most painful Microsoft video ever.  It should be a reminder that even though the company is large and its decisions sometimes questionable, there are still plenty of smart and reflective people there.  And they do give some of the best feedback you can get about an app.
• I know that Google makes some really smart technology to serve relevant ads to you, but why in the world does their algorithm think I want recipes for Spam Quiche?!?!  The Treadaway family name is not of Hawaiian origin, I swear.
• So far we have served 6,207 impressions of our first ad running on Facebook.  We’re advertising to people in the "Microsoft" network between the ages of 27-65 in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.  Total cost?  91 cents.  Total.  An effective CPM of around $0.15.  Note that even in the bust of 2001-2003, you would pay about a $1 CPM for run of network banners and such across the web.  For 1/6th the cost, I’m isolating Microsoft employees.  Short-term, I’m going to run ads on this ad-infinitum.  It’s a ridiculously cheap branding exercise.  I’m going to put up a series of other ads for things to experiment.  And when I have a moment to reflect, say on a walk around the block, I’m also going to think about what this means to me as an entrepreneur.  Longer-term, I’m going to figure out what businesses we can build by taking advantage of this fire sale.  It won’t last long, but it’s there now and it will stay until the agencies invade.  It’s clear that they haven’t yet.
• I can’t help but think that we’re not quite done with the carnage in the equity markets.  Lots of folks I know are flocking to agriculture, metals, and energy, which means the end of the line for those is probably nearer than conventional wisdom would indicate.  That said, this time I am not fighting the wisdom of the crowd.
• Hi5 claims to have 80m + users on its social network.  Have any of you ever met one?
• A friend of mine just told me of his great experience with Time Machine.  It made me step back & think of tech innovation over the last five years… is it just me or has Apple cornered the market on innovation?  The Microsoft of 2008 is built around scale — the importance to make businesses scale to every corner of the world.  I will post an entry to explain this in more detail say this weekend.  In the interim though, is it possible to a company so focused on scale to *ever* innovate again?  i.e. amidst all the Apple hype, are we near a tipping point where the weight of innovations w/ the iPod, iPhone, and Mac computer start really hurting Microsoft?  I think it’s possible.