bigmoney

States Starting to Realize 'Amazon Tax' Won't Save Them

Amazon rocks, in part due to tax advantage. I'd almost be for sales tax, but guaranteed the state legislatures are just going to pork up even fatter. More bloat, more heartburn, more pepto. Government really needs to go on a diet.

Amazon Opens Kindle to Bloggers, But Will Readers Want to Pay?

so if I spool up the seekingalpha RSS on a Kindle, I will have to pay $2/month? The HORROR !

Peak IT - The Network Industry's Core Challenge

In network management, the trick is getting software tools and infrastructure that efficiently scale. But even then, where the rubber meets the road, its dealing with device by device, and often port by port. Good quality software and infrastructure will facilitate labor de-centralization, which improves scalability, but at the lower levels, it can quickly become a very mind-numbing exercise in data entry.

This is a complex topic, and the first time I have thought of it, but off hand, I'm not sold on the meme of Peak IT. Some network management operations scale to millions of devices. However, I have no idea how much labor is involved, or the costs. One particular organization is publically traded, and generates a profit, so its definitely not Peak. And as far as I know, there is no reliance on "the cloud", other than employees using web email (against company policy )

Amazon Prime Solidifies the Online Retailer's Dominance

I'm also a big fan of Amazon / Prime. Good prices, no tax, endless inventory, consumer reviews, google at the ready when a cross reference is needed. Two day delivery for near instant gratification. And the ability to resell an item back on Amazon, taking advantage of their big marketing machine.

And one intangible, is that I can shop without leaving the house. I don't like shopping retail, because of auto traffic. Seems like I cannot park and walk the 30 seconds into a store, without a 6000 pound car bearing down on me, often times they are impatient, on a cell phone, etc.

Retail does have advantage in a couple of areas. Sometimes, its easier to shop by physically browsing. And stores offer convenient return policies. And you can get instant gratification.