If any doubt remains that the sales of CD's and traditional record stores will soon be a memory, the news that several record companies have stopped shipping to Tower Records should make it clear.

While the reason for the suspension of shipments is clear, the deeper meaning is less certain. The companies have stopped supplying albums because of lack of payment. Whether the venerable Tower Records is out of cash or is attempting to force better terms remains unclear. What is more certain is that the last vestiges of the former record distribution chain will be completely gone within a few years.

Not long ago the communications plan seemed simple. At the house there is only one cellular carrier that has  a signal. DirecWay satellite is increasingly poor and the time has come to do something different for interent connectivity. For several months we tried, unsuccessfully, to get the local wireless co-op to hook us up. Terribly long story short they're not a serious contender. It all seemed so simple. EvDO on the Sprint connection and we're good to go. Sprint has the best-in-class price for EvDO at $15 a month on a cell phone or $50 for a standalone wireless card. Then the plan goes to pieces. Cingular goes and puts up a tower in town. Now there are other options and yet fewer options at the same time. The problem now is the waiting game. Do we wait for Cingular to get their permanent tower up? What about Cingular not having EvDO.Then out of the blue comes another option. Looking around the net WildBlue seems to have a pretty good reputation and not have all the same problems as DirecWay. Seemingly overnight the problem has gone from too few options to too many. The problem being that each of the options requires a contract to make the up-front price palatable. Which way to jump?

An article in eWeek yesterday says what many of us in technology leadership roles have long known. Namely, technical knowledge, communication and customer service skills are more important than a string of certification letters behind your name. Foote Partners released a study on Wednesday that shows this is being reflected in compensation for tech workers. Employers "are finding other qualities of IT professionals more critical to
their businesses going forward, and they are willing to pay more for
those," David Foote said in a statement.This comes as no surprise as someone who has interviewed and hired dozens of employees in the technology arena. It is far easier to teach technical skills to a great employee than to teach work ethic to a great technician.

Make no mistake about it: AOL is about to commit suicide. Their risky plan to make senders pay for email delivery is a bone-headed idea if there ever was one. Though in the grand scheme of things it is not unexpected. AOL has long held on to its naive view that it can own people's connection to information. For the longest time they tried to ignore and then later awkwardly accepted the presence of the Internet.

Indeed at one time the company's services were popular enough to have their trademark new-mail phrase associated with a mass market movie. But then along came the internet. AOL reacted and put a little "view" of the internet into their product but seemed to keep digging the hole that was their online service. Now with strong opposition to their latest scheme their spokesperson refers to the broad coalition of opponents without respect.