http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/technology/07about.html?ex=1336190400&en=469aa235ab908be2&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Meanwhile, in the middle of negotiating my
company's sale, I happened to catch wind of and
acquire $150,000 of syncro specific drivetrain
and transmission-related parts headed for a
landfill in Europe, and I made a production run
of another 100 of CV-900 wheels for all the list
members who have been emailing me and asking for them.
In the coming weeks (for the wheels) and starting
in the fall (for the syncro specific drivetrain
and transmission parts) I hope to catalog and
price these parts, and then let them out into the
community. I understand that supplies of
syncro-specific parts will begin going NLA at the
dealers soon. I purchased these parts for us.
Unfortunately, I cannot take any email requests
about them before the fall because I have other
priority issues to handle. In fact, if you don't
hear much about what parts are available until
next Thanksgiving, don't be surprised.
After all of this is over, I hope to get back to
spending more of my time in syncro-land.
Red Herring Article
NY Times Goes Shopping
Seeking growth, media firm buys ConsumerSearch.com.
May 7, 2007
By Ken Schachter
Just weeks after facing down a shareholder
uprising, The New York Times went shopping,
snapping up 7-year-old ConsumerSearch.com for $33 million on Monday.
ConsumerSearch, which rates products ranging from
leaf blowers to MP3 players by distilling
published product reviews, will be incorporated into the Times’ About.com unit.
The move puts About.com into competition with a
host of online product review services, including
shopping search engines like E.W. Scripps’
Shopzilla, where consumers can render their
opinions; Epinions, a unit of eBay that posts
consumer reviews; and specialty publications like
CNET, whose reviewers rate the latest cell phones and printers.
The deal—About.com’s third in the past eight
months—represents a vindication for the
minimalist approach of ConsumerSearch.com, which
outlasted well-financed rivals like Productopia.
While Productopia burned through $22 million in
venture capital, ConsumerSearch raised only $1.25
million in an angel/venture round. In October
2000, ConsumerSearch bought the assets of Productopia.
“We built the business so it could be matched to
the size of the market opportunity,” co-founder
and Chief Executive Derek Drew said of his
six-person company. “We didn’t hire a director of
human resources. We didn’t do things a lot of
competitors around us were doing.”
Scott Meyer, About.com chief executive, said the
company hopes to extend the brand of
ConsumerSearch. “By acquiring them, we could accelerate their growth,” he said.
ConsumerSearch has been edging toward a buy-out
since February, when Mr. Drew decided that his
talent for developing product reviewers was being
crimped by his time spent looking at spreadsheets
and fielding calls from venture capitalists. He
went to Bank of America Securities to arrange an
auction for the company, closing the deal with About.com on Friday.
________________________________________________________
Derek Drew Washington, DC
derekdrew@derekmail.com (NEW 4/2006) Phone 202-966-7907
(derekdrew@rcn.com is old and should be changed to the above)
Email me for viscous coupling s (Cell 703-408-1532)
'90 Syncro Westfalia...
...seen off-road at
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/Syncro_Madness_Area.htm
...seen with 30.5" tall tires at
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/dereks245_75_16.jpg
Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are:
http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro
http://www.vanagon.com
http://www.syncro.org
Many of my Syncro list postings consolidated
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/messagesearch?query=212-580-6486
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/messagesearch?query=202-966-7907
My refrigerator article:
http://www.vanagon.com/info/articles/Refrigerator/Reefer_Madness.htm
All About 16" Wheels And The CV-900.htm
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/All_About_16-Wheels_And_The_CV_900.htm
All About Viscous Couplings
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/viscous_couplings_vanagon_syncro.htm
Grab rates vs rpm of VCs
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/17172
Notes on off-roading and decouplers
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/24615
How To Live With Heavy List Volume--Mail Filters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7403
My tutorial on how to strengthen your skid plates for off-road driving
http://www.syncro.photosite.com/ and after clicking on that click
on the image that says Skid Plates / Reinforcements and work your way
through the 10 photos. BE SURE to notice
the text that is below some of the
pictures, as it clarifies what the point of some of the pictures is.
My article that shows how to deal with insurance companies:
http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/auto-insurance-madness.html
To read some material about how to add a front differential lock to your syncro
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/13105
To view Wolfgang's incredibly informative wheel article
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm
To view Tim Smith's incredibly useful gearing calculator
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/syncrotireandgearratios.xls
To view two articles about how to think about
improving your gears at transmission rebuild time
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7207
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7221
To view an overview article about choices in larger sized tires see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/11535
To view some 16" Trailing Arms that enable much larger tires see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syncrolist/files/Wheels%2C%20Tires%20%26%20Gearing/Wheel%20%26%20Tire%20Photos/16_Inch_Trailing_Arm.jpg
My article about belt protectors and CV joint protectors
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/6112
SYNCRO OWNERS WHO DRIVE OFF THE ROAD:
You only get to change your ring and pinions once every 10 years
because that's how long the average syncro transmission goes before
its next rebuild. If you want bigger tires and more ground clearance
start planning your higher number ring
and pinion sets right now so you
can take advantage of your next trans rebuild.
Vanagon Vendors For Parts To Consider At Problem Time
www.van-cafe.com (parts and repairs too)