An intriguing investigation trying to get to the bottom of a tangled network of small dating sites. Strange business practice but apparently very effective.

A nice historical retelling of the Amazon and Ebay stores and their relative successes and failures.

Quoted: I went to the Seed 3 Conference in Chicago. This is the first in a series of posts about the presentations I saw there. Carlos Segura is the founder of Chicago-based Segura Inc and runs a whole host of websites and commercial interests centering around his design expertise and passions. At Seed 3, Carlos took the crowd through a history of his businesses

Jeff Bezos speaking to biz school graduates at Carnegie Mellon.

Quoted: Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, spoke at the Tepper School's 2008 Diploma Ceremonies. The topic of his speech was the pursuit of success via risk and failure.

Apparently Jeff announced that Amazon will be launching Pay-Per-View streaming service next week. I wonder what that entails and if it will work as well as my Tivo 3/Unbox connection right now? Will I also be able to access music subscriptions?

Quoted: Seth Godin's riffs on marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread.

A collection of great business cards. Some of these are really inventive!

You know those military analysts the networks trot out to tell you that we're making progress in the war on terror? Turns out that a number of them are briefed by the Pentagon and have financial interests tied to the war (investments in defense companies). Shocker.

Quoted: Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

Let me translate the letter Ballmer just sent to the Yahoo Board of Directors:

"Bitches. I've given you two months. Step up or prepare to be DOOMED."

Quoted: Microsoft (MSFT) struck while yesterday's propaganda campaign was hot, issuing a direct ultimatum to Yahoo (YHOO): The ultimatum came in the form of a letter from Steve Ballmer to Yahoo's board, and the message was this: Sign merger agreement in three weeks, or we will cut bid and go directly to shareholders.