Don Dodge Digest - top 5 stories

Here are the stories I have found interesting today.

Is Microsoft Dropping Cryptic Hints About A New Gadget?  The New York Times, and several other media outlets, are running stories about rumors of a new consumer device, code named Origami, from Microsoft.

The Web site, www.origamiproject.com, suggests that the introduction of a personalized mobile device that "will change your life" is in the offing, but gives no details. It promises an update on Thursday.

A video clip unearthed by bloggers on the Web site of the video production firm Digital Kitchen appears to be an advertisement for a hand-held, wireless touch-screen computer from Microsoft called Origami.

The Seattle P-I says this about Origami "Actors in the video used the device to listen to music through plugged-in earphones, access the Internet over wireless networks, edit and transmit digital photos, draw sketches, play video games, send messages and control media on a home PC from an outside patio."

Who says Microsoft doesn't know how to create marketing excitement and hype. Maybe a little Google envy? Personally, I have no idea if this is true, and don't care about rumors. I just find it fascinating that the blogosphere can get so hyped up over a rumor about Microsoft.

UPDATE: Robert Scoble knows, but isn't saying what Origami is, and suggests there is too much hype. The rumor is that an official announcement will be made on Thursday.

Google Payments - Look out eBay and PayPal, here comes Googlebase and GooglePay. This is a HUGE business today, and Google may be extending it into micro-payments, payments of a penny or less.

Bill Burnham writes about Google becoming the merchant of record taking in payments from customers and paying proceeds to vendors. Bill says "One point that I feel compelled to elaborate on a bit more is that Google is apparently the merchant of record in these purchases. This is very interesting.

In contrast, EBay has done everything they can not to become the merchant of record for transactions on its site.  Anyone who has purchased something on EBay knows that you settle up with the merchant directly, usually via Pay-Pal, and not through EBay.  In contrast, when you buy something via Google Base, you will pay Google who in turn will pay the merchant."

Google already has a very well developed payment infrastructure for its advertising business. Take a look at this quote from the Google blog "Over the past four years, Google has billed advertisers in 65 countries more than $11.2 billion in 48 currencies, and made payments to advertising partners of more than $3.9 billion. When one of our consumer services requires payment to us, we've also provided users a purchase option."

Angel Investment deal structure Brad Feld has a good post on considerations in structuring a seed stage angel investment before VCs are involved. There are two basic ways to structure the investment; Convertible debt with a discount and/or warrants,  and Preferred Stock. My experience is that the most common approach is convertible debt that converts to preferred stock on the next significant financing round. This makes it easier for VCs to enter later, and avoids the hassle of establishing a pre-money valuation, ownership percentage, liquidation preferences, etc. Let the VC lawyers do all that later.

Fred Wilson talks about a new service called  Personal DNA that is an online personality test somewhat similar to Myers-Briggs. The cool thing is that you can have other people you know take the test to evaluate you, and compare the results side by side, and even publish the results on your blog or web site. The test takes about 20 minutes, and might be a useful job interview test.

When I am bored I sometimes experiment by taking a test like this twice to see if I get the same results. Many of these tests ask such bizarre questions and offer seemingly unrelated multiple choice options. By the end of the test I have forgotten the questions and how I answered them, so when I take it a second time.... Try it sometime. It will give you a view into your multiple personalities...or perhaps the uselessness of such tests.

Can MySpace be Beaten? Robert Young from GigaOm writes "With nearly 60 million registered users, 15 billion page views per month, and more than 150,000 new users signing up every day, MySpace is that rare social networking contagion that keeps spreading and growing. Can this beast be stopped? Is there anyone out there that can challenge the leadership of MySpace?"

I wrote about MySpace last week and how my teenage sons are addicted to it. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought MySpace for $580M last year. They have big plans for extending the service into other areas and monetizing the audience. The big corporate influence could erase some of the edginess and coolness of MySpace...and create an opening for a new player. But, I wouldn't bet on it.

Comments

[Robert Scoble]

Correction: I knew what Origami is, I just didn't know about the marketing campaign.