Facebook Privacy: A Bewildering Tangle of Options – Graphic – NYTimes.com

This is fantastic. Note — two of the most important privacy options in Facebook are not actually available on the Facebook User Profile Privacy Settings page. How would someone just *know* that?

And, say what you will about Facebook transparency, there’s just no excuse for a privacy statement to be longer than the Constitution (minus amendments).

Global ad industry grapples with new spending trends
| Reuters

This is a message from the immediate future for small to medium-sized businesses, too. Big companies are recognizing the power of their own sites and the agility they have in creating content they control, and they’re spending money accordingly. The same can be true for smaller players.

“Technology is enabling companies to communicate in ever more sophisticated ways directly with their customers, while social networks like Facebook and Twitter offer ways for users to multiply the effect of corporate messages.

Chuck Richard, lead analyst at information advisory and research firm Outsell, says companies now spend more than half their online marketing budgets on their own sites. ‘It’s been 50 percent or more for the last three years,’ he says.”

Special Report: Can that guy in Ironman 2 whip IBM in real life?
| Reuters

Great article in Reuters today on Ellison’s involvement in the restructuring at Sun. He pokes fun at Schwartz’ blogging addiction, which is a treat to read. But more importantly, this bit on sales strategy:

“More infuriating, says Ellison, is that Sun routinely sold equipment at a loss because it was more focused on boosting revenue than generating profits.

The sales staff was compensated based on deal size, not profit. So the commission on a $1 million sale that generated $500,000 in profit was the same as one that cost the company $100,000, he said. ‘The sales force could care less if they sold things that lost money because the commission was the same in either case,’ he said. Ellison added that Sun also lost money when it resold high-end storage equipment from Hitachi Ltd, storage software from Symantec Corp and consulting services from other companies. Oracle is ending those deals.”

This, right here, is why companies like Apple are succeeding right now. They care first and foremost about profitability per unit. Market share means nothing if you’re not making enough to keep the lights on.

New Seattle’s Best: Best-er or Worse?

I quite like the new logo, but while it seems a departure for Seattle’s Best, it seems like more of an alignment with Starbuck’s (Best’s parent). I’m not sure that’s a wholly good thing.

In other news, the agency responsible — Creature — has a hyper-flashed-out site, which keeps forcing me to Adobe to download some new plug-ing after I’ve already downloaded it. So, I can’t see their fancy site. Which is aggravating, if you’re me.

The Most Corrupt States – The Daily Beast

Tennessee is number 1? That’s crazy-talk. At least a little interesting that the most corrupt states in the Union are south, deep south, and more south until you get to Nevada at #7. And congrats to New York and New Jersey for being right at the top of the bell curve.

Spoiler: Really want to escape corruption? Head to New Hampshire.

Here’s a quick link to the gallery of states in order of corruption.

The first time I played Portal, I did it in two sittings. I think my children had to eat or something, but their tiny collective