WTF of the week - stunt or poor judgement?

I've been trying to understand the potential acquisition of The Pirate Bay, but now I'm leaning towards it being a PR stunt (Global Gaming Factory gets international press, but don't think they'll raise the funds) or being a poor business decision (no sense about ad sales nor about getting content licenses and likely being sued out of existence if non-licensed material is available and if it is not users will leave and The Pirate Bay site loses its value).

reboot by jumping around

Twingly's Martin Källström did this video with reboot participants jumping more or less graciously. I must admit it brought a smile to my face. A fair amount of Swedish online and social media people in the video.

Vote in TechCrunch's Europas awards

Don't forget to vote for the great Swedish and Nordic companies that are nominated in TechCrunch's Europas awards.

Some of the companies nominated are King.com, Polar Rose, Rebtel, Silobreaker, Spotify, Stardoll, Twingly and Videoplaza (please add the Swedish ones I missed as well as the Norwegian, Finnish and Danish companies I know I missed).

Shopping is dead, revisited

In March I blogged about the increasing U.S. savings rate and some possible implications. In the last couple of months it has continued to increase, and in May it was at 6.9 %. That is a far more sustainable level than the bizarre no or negative savings level the U.S. has had in the last few years, but it also means that consumption-driven recovery will likely take more time than many hoped.

First it is about customers, then about people

Business really is about people once you figured out a half-decent thing to do for your customers.

Terrorists Under CCTV

Du bist Terrorist (You are a Terrorist) english subtitles from alexanderlehmann on Vimeo.

Somewhat related, although a year old or so, One Nation Under CCTV.

Sim Workplace

Very interesting interview with The Sims-creator Will Wright on management, motivating people and getting teams to work.

Another good interview from the same series in The New York Times with eBay CEO John Donahoe

Hype Cycle

I think Twitter is overhyped and Facebook underhyped.

US online ad spend sinks 5 % in Q1 2009

IAB Reports 5 Percent Decline in U.S. Online Ad Revenues For First Quarter 2009, compared to first quarter 2008. Flat might be the new (slightly) up, but -20 % is not the new flat.

Videoplaza breaks into the UK

The Videoplaza team continues building a great company and the company's ad server is now used by Incisive Media and Factory Media, two British publishers (press release). Big congratulations to getting a foothold in Europe's most important online advertising market!

Also noteworthy is that leading online video blog NewTeeVee, part of the GigaOm blog network, has written and article on Videoplaza.

Disclosure: I'm sitting on Videoplaza's board.

Martin Sorrell of WPP interviewed by Charlie Rose

Charlie Rose interviews Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP. Surprisingly plain-spoken.