Sidney Reilly has the strongest claim on the title of the “real James Bond”. For decades historians have tried to unpick the knotty threads of his life but much of it remains tangled in legend and mystery. Born in 1873 in Russia with the name Rosenblum, Reilly found himself in London having: a) stowed away on a British ship bound for Brazil after faking his own death when the Russians fingered him as a revolutionary, later winning a British passport after saving the life of a visiting intelligence officer during an attack by natives; or, b) fled a suburb of Paris where he and an accomplice called Voitek acquired large amounts of cash from two Italian anarchists later found stabbed to death.
In London, where he ran with the first story, Reilly quickly ingratiated himself into high society, satisfying his weakness for casinos, women and fast living. With a new identity and passport, the debonair playboy returned to Russia, where he spied for Britain and Japan.
In 1909, Reilly learned to weld and, disguised as a Baltic shipyard worker, found employment at a German weapons plant. He strangled a foreman who caught him stealing weapons plans before feeling the country with the designs. In the same year, according to one biography, Reilly posed as a pilot at the Frankfurt Airshow and removed a sophisticated magneto (generator) from a German plane. With an accomplice, he made detailed drawings of the device before replacing it.
Reilly’s biggest triumph came in 1918 when he plotted to depose the Bolshevik Government and assassinate Lenin. When men loyal to the communist leader infiltrated the scheme, Reilly fled back to Britain via Finland and Sweden and was sentenced to death in absentia.
In 1925, he was lured into a bogus anti-communist group run by Russian agents. One later said of Reilly: “His dark eyes expressed something biting and cruel; his lower lip drooped deeply and was too slick – the neat black hair, the demonstratively elegant suit ? Everything in his manner expressed something haughtily indifferent to his surroundings.” Reilly, known as the “Ace of Spies”, was shot and killed, leaving behind a string of wives who unsuccessfully pursued MI6 for compensation. They included an actress by the name of Pepita Bobadilla.
"Now that the medium is evaporating, publishers have nothing left to sell. Some seem to think they’re going to sell content—that they were always in the content business, really. But they weren’t, and it’s unclear whether anyone could be."
Rafer sez: Content is like technology. The people specifically in charge of producing it mistake it for enterprise value whereas the value is always in sales and distribution.
"Since its first round of funding and at its current $1 billion valuation, Twitter’s worth has grown by $1,223,990 per day. If you start with the day of Twitter’s inception (the first tweet from Twitter’s Inventor and Chairman, Jack Dorsey), then Twitter’s worth has grown by around $772,797 per day."
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and other fun stats related to Twitter’s recent funding from Mashable. (via brycedotvc)
I hope that this leads people to call bullshit. I love Twitter but I don’t believe that it’s created $1.2mm of value per day since its first round of funding closed. I believe it’s created an enormous amount of value. Just not that much. Venture math doesn’t have to reflect reality, though. The only time reality has to come to Twitter’s valuation is when it either sells or floats on the public markets.
And the reason Apple and RIM have done so well in the last 2 years is they were not sucking at this Ringtone teat.
All the other carriers locked the apps down on their platforms as long as possible to squeeze every last penny out of this type of captive audience spending. In 2005 it was clear the ringtone cats and apps would be out of the MP3 and java bag in another 12 months, but the dominant carriers dug their heads deeper in the piles of money they were temporarily making.
I predict in 10 years or less there will be a business maxim that says the minute you can see your primary revenue stream becoming disintermediated, you’re already running out of time to find your new revenue model.
"No longer will T-Pain be your only salvation on trains, during lunch, and through all the other empty gaps in a day; allow the Small Chair to fill your moments of solitude, moments of togetherness, moments of intolerable boredom."
— McSweeney made an iPhone app. And my own version of “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)” now got some competition for attention.
What are we looking at? It’s a group of students enrolled at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, circa 1931. One of them is still famous today—though in the strangest way.
Top row, second from right. The big smile. It’s Zhang Chongren, the basis for the Tintin character Chang. Okay, so maybe you don’t know who Chang is, but to some people, in some parts of the world, the Tintin series is Star Wars, which makes Chang, what? Han Solo? There’s a daring rescue mission, and even a Rancor equivalent.
"Traditional media conglomerates own 100 percent of their core businesses. They reward talent (actors, directors, producers, etc.) with contractually determined compensation. But that model fails when the talent are writing code. The best alternative is for the key talent to own equity in their venture. Perhaps this structure is an interim step toward a day when star engineers take home $10 million paychecks, or a “share of the gross.” In any event, the most valuable company in the near term is one that will own less than 100 percent of its constituent businesses."
The Miracle in July is probably the most badass use of Wordpress I’ve ever seen. It’s a modern love story told via a vibrant set of photos, music and maps. You should dive in.
