It's silly, but what if this crazy idea worked? Save an Alien, an Israeli Facebook app hopes to create the "million dollar page" effect through an extra terrestrial plot. If 10M people adopt an alien...

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I have long believed that it would become increasingly difficult to charge for content and there was only direction in which this was headed: all content (well, almost) becoming “officially” free.

Two recent developments look like nails being driven into the coffin of paid-for content:

1. Beta testing begins for Hulu and

2. How Radiohead killed the record labels 

Many of you must have also read about Prince’s giveaway and FT’s about-turn 

…and at least some of you would find this interesting:  Why Newspapers Are Screwed

Thoughts & comments welcome…as always.

P.S. The alert amongst you must have noticed that I have switched AdSense off - more on that later.

After almost becoming the CEO of SAP global, Shai Agassi now aims to reinvent 'the pump' - for battery powered all-electric cars. With a $200M investment in his pocket, Shai Agassi is planning to...

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Last night I spent approximately 10 minutes poking around my right eye, attempting to remove a contact lens that, as it turns out, actually fell out on my first try. You really haven't lived until you've tried to pinch your iris. (Grooming tip: clip your fingernails beforehand. Your cornea knows when you've made an effort.) Damn you and your ultra-thin lenses, Acuvue!

Like me, startups can get all squinty-eyed once they've signed a term sheet to sell the business. They will allow wide-ranging access to their files and records so that due diligence can be completed as quickly as possible. This is a flawed and potentially dangerous strategy. Due diligence is rarely the reason why acquisitions proceed slowly or grind to a halt. The larger the acquiror, the more cumbersome the approval process. Until draft documents start crossing your doorway, it's best to provide phased, careful disclosure.

Consider what could happen if a deal falls apart once an acquiror has seen your customer lists and your customer contracts. What if the acquiror starts contacting your customers? As The Register reports, in a lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court this summer this is exactly what Sunrocket claims happened to it after Vonage ended negotiations to buy the business. You can read more about the allegations, and Vonage's response over at The Register's site.

Other issues: What happens if, in the course of due diligence, your acquiror's team discovers infringing technology? Or trade secrets that are similar to their own? Can these form the basis for an infringement action once the deal is off? In larger transactions, using an outside entity to perform technolgy due diligence can remove this risk, but this is not a tactic regularly used in smaller deals. It should be, if there's a chance of overlapping technologies.

I spend a lot of time on the non disclosure provisions in offers to buy to try and deal with some of these issues. But the best protection, in my view, is controlled, phased due diligence. Don't let someone else stick a finger in your eye. Goodness only knows what might start oozing out.

Business Today has an article on the management recast at the infrastructure focused GMR Group. The company is looking at other segments to expand its global reach; it is eyeing coal mines in both South East Asia and South Africa to integrate its power business backwards and it is also eyeing other airport projects in West Asia and other fast growing economies. "The competition is much tougher on

The following article, by Anand Sunderji, originally appeared in the latest quarterly India VC Report. Recently, a well known venture fund announced their India plans. However, further information revealed that while the fund plans to be loyal to its venture capital strategy offshore, in India they would largely concentrate on growth capital. Needless to say, something about India makes

Business Today has an article on the business and economics of integrated townships. At present, there is no one format that is being adopted by developers, although the key drivers seem to be common: It is either mass housing requirements or demand for commercial space. Therefore, the townships promise to come in all shapes and sizes. The 390-acre Kolkata West International City in West Howrah

The following article, by N. Sriram, originally appeared in the latest quarterly India VC Report On May 4, 2006, when all commercial activity in Bangalore came to a standstill thanks to a general strike (“bandh”), Rajiv Mody, Chairman and CEO of Sasken Communication, and Sudhir Sethi, Managing Partner of IDG Ventures India, met to discuss an innovative idea: is it possible to spot product areas

Business Today has a cover story on the 8-year-old company, which enjoys a market cap of over Rs.29,000 crores, is rapidly expanding into territories beyond its original domain of online broking. "The consumer finance business is 10 times the size of broking. If corporate growth is expected at 15 per cent, financial services will grow at 30 per cent. And in the next 10 years we will grow 10