For a while I've had ongoing conversations within my group of business friends about core businesses.  The conversation goes like this:  companies say they do Y but act like a company that does Z.  It's a discrepancy in perception (or public relations) and actuality (which usually isn't so public).  I was reminded of this topic this morning when I read a message from Hugh MacLeod, who said that Wal-Mart is a tech company.  Very true.

I replied to him with my two favorite examples: Amazon.com is a tech company and Fandango.com is a research company (try it... http://fandangoresearch.com).  I have more... AAA is a research company, NASCAR is a marketing platform not a sport, etc.

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Last Thursday I received an email from a friend, George Colombo, that pointed me to an article that Apple had filed a patent for "customized podcasts."  I was immediately surprised and dismayed, quite frankly, because my business partner, Matt Thompson, and I had actually developed the technology (we called it Modcast) and implemented it on our former podcast, The Cubicle Escape Pod, back in June 2005.  I wasn't miffed at Apple for filing the patent, though with very little research they could've figured out there was prior art, but I was upset because I started to have second thoughts and regrets about why we didn't push our concept harder.

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I was on my way home work tonight when I stopped at a Exxon/Mobil gas station, surprised to see the above sticker plastered on the pump.  I immediately thought that it was very odd.  In my limited experience with merchant accounts and credit card processing, I thought this sort of practice was not acceptable per the credit card companies and merchant services.

A rather boring topic for my first post in three months, but whatever.  Has anyone seen something like this before?  Doesn't this break some terms of service with merchant services?  Is it even ethical?  I don't know.

On a completely different note, I'm testing the upgrades I made to my blogging software, so that's the real reason for this post :)

Today Radiohead announced their new album, In Rainbows, is available for pre-order. It will be released on October 10th without the distribution arm of one of the major record labels. Radiohead is thumbing their collective nose at the record industry's tried and tired business model, putting their ingenuity and faith into the goodness of their fans. How much is the new Radiohead album worth to you? Figure that number then head over to www.inrainbows.com and name your price.

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Every year, apparently, there's a new golf course.  I'm not talking about the actual golf course where people hit little white balls into small holes in the ground.  I'm talking about the so-called place where business deals are made.  Over the last few years I've heard that motorcycles, cigar bars, power breakfasts/lunches, World of Warcraft (the most outrageous of them all) and most recently, NASCAR are all new golf courses.

Maybe this is where my conservatism shines through, but I think board rooms and plain old offices are the original and current golf courses.  Sure, enjoy your day sweating your balls off at a NASCAR race, talk a little business and such, but on Monday, the phones, email and fax machines (people still use them) light up and the real deals are made using old-fashioned statistical and market analysis, risk assessment and management and financial forecasting.