Bio Bytes


I love covering biotech. It's futuristic, controversial, and one of those fields where high profits and good works often go hand in hand. It's one thing to report on a stock spike because of surprising chip or software sales, something else to report on a stock spike because a company just made inroads in the fight against cancer or AIDS.

A couple of biotech moves barely made ripples in the news as this week wrapped up, but they're moves that may pay big dividends down the road. Both involve Silicon Valley companies.

First, news that Affymetrix will offer genotyping services, via its gene chips, in China. The Santa Clara company says it will work with others to help track down genes that may be involved in disease or drug response. The gene chips Affymetrix makes are still a mystery to many investors and casual biotech watchers, but gene mapping gets a lot of attention, and if the gene chips can help scientists drill down to what's helping and harming people (in a population as large as China), could there be a chance that some diseases could be stopped before they spread?

That's also the idea behind a new plan to try and fight Bird Flu. A teenager was recently killed in Thailand .. the culprit said to be the H5N1 virus, also known as the Avian (or Bird) Flu. It's the first human case in Thailand found this year, and has sparked more fear about what may lie ahead.

But once again, a Bay Area company is on the leading edge of fighting back. Gilead Sciences of Foster City is one of the companies (again, a common theme in the Biotech industry of working together) working on Tamiflu, a drug that, while not enough to cure the Bird Flu, seems to be able to help patients survive. Gilead's drug is part of what seems to be inspiring Asian countries to work together to fight back against the deadly virus .. not sure if there will be lowered prices involved, but there is hope because of Tamiflu, and that's usually step one.

It's too early to call this latest news groundbreaking, but as Biotech investors (and patients) know, these things take a lot of time, a lot of investment, a lot of work, and a lot of patience. Perhaps we'll look back on this weekend as a time when a couple of local companies made inroads that would someday make a difference.

Stock .. Options?


Stock options are, for a sports fan like me, wonderful to follow. I've never had any, but I've never been able to hit a curveball, either, and that never stopped me from reading baseball box scores. Simply put, when you're wrapped up in the high-tech world of the Silicon Valley, there's just something sexy about stock options. Maybe it's their limitless potential, their incentive to convince tech workers to keep trying, or just the fact that they make the Valley a little different than most places.

So, to see options come under fire once again is a little disheartening. After all, it wasn't that long ago Silicon Valley tech companies were taken to the woodshed over the issue of expensing options. Do companies need to include the expense of employee stock options as part of their quarterly earnings? The feeling of the companies was, let us handle it, we'll be honest about it, and we'll make sure everything is out in the open.

Seemed like a good plan. Until they blew it.

We have, of course, recently learned that some tech companies played things a bit loose when it came to the part about being transparent. "Backdating" has become the buzzword in the Valley, as companies have been found to actually go backwards in history to price employee stock options so they'll be worth more money later. It's kind of like the immortal wish to "know then, what we know now." Problem is, the rest of us average investors can't backdate our stock buys .. we're left with the original price we paid.

Now, I ask the question: Besides the unfair part of it (i.e., your Brocade stock is underwater, but some employee is making money thanks to backdating), how big of a crime is this? Is it, as one tech worker argued to me recently, a victimless crime? After all, she said, such options keep employees happy, keep them from seeking to jump ship, and give them the incentive to continue working long hours without unions, overtime, etc. Who, after all, really suffers when a company like Brocade gives its employees a little extra from the stock option kitty?

It's a good question .. and I pose it to you. Please let me know your thoughts on the issue, by writing me at scott.budman@nbc.com

I'm curious .. stock options are something that, for the Valley's health and innovation, should probably not go away. But if the tech industry gets the reputation as being fast and loose with the truth, there may be big Enron-like problems in the not-too-distant future.

Where do you stand?

The Show Must Go On


I admit, I don't get to nearly as many concerts as I used to (having young children will do that to you), but I still do when I can, and this is shaping up to be a great summer for shows in the Bay Area (check Josh K's blog for the who/what/when/where).

It was at last weekend's Pearl Jam show at the Bill Graham Civic that I was suddenly struck by the thought that no matter how much technology comes along to affect how we hear, and trade, and buy music, nothing can replace the thrill of the live show. It's something to think, and even be careful about. Yes, we may have given up on vinyl, or even the record store, but that's because technology has made things easier and more convenient. The live show? There's just no substitute, and no amount of technology can change that.

For my two young daughters, music is already drastically different that what I grew up with. No vinyl in the stores (that goes without saying), and while the just-turned 6 year old knows about CDs, she also knows what's where on the MP3 player. For our 2-year old, the computer is the place where music comes from. She doesn't ask for a CD, or the radio. She points to the computer monitor and asks for music. She even knows when music arrives from, say, LaLa.com in the mail.

OK, so technology is mixing with music in their lives already. That's cool. But your favorite music, I've always thought, is best shared with others, live. It can be an intimate venue, or an arena. Whatever you like best. There's just nothing like a live show to experience, then talk about, and remember. Kind of like a movie theatre. Yes, we rent a lot, but when I can take my daughter to the movies for that big screen popcorn experience, I know it's something special for both of us.

So .. I vow to make sure they know not just music, but live music. I can't wait to take them to concerts. Sure, we'll probably end up starting with Laurie Berkner, then segueing into Gwen Stefani or something. Whatever. As long as they get the live experience of band and crowd interacting.

Can I get an amen? Let me know at scott.budman@nbc.com.

GAME ON!
It's a cliche to say there's a new game in town .. especially here in the Silicon Valley where, as of this week, there are about 30 new games in town.

It's a good week to be a gamer, or a shareholder in, say, Electronic Arts (ERTS). While the rest of the world is watching the Middle East, and violence is translating into instability, higher oil prices, and hand-wringing about the future; the game industry is literally seeing Christmas in July.

Christmas, of course, being the boom time for video game sales, but this is the week when Electronic Arts gives us in the business & tech press a chance to preview the upcoming releases. Good news if you like racing, hockey, and (of course) shooting games .. strategy is also coming on strong, and the world will be thanking "Sims" creator Will Wright for a long time.

The games are cool, very lifelike, and, like the movies so many of them emulate, give us a break from reality. If the 9-10 dollars per movie ticket is getting to you, games also give you a chance to escape from the comfort of your own couch, or computer.

The designers at EA tell us this is no coincidence .. they make video games to give gamers a movie-like experience. And the technology lets them do it. Try standing thirty feet away from the latest "Madden" title .. it looks like you're watching football on TV. Love it.

It's not just gamers who are jumping in (representing all ages, by the way), investors love the distraction, too. On a day when stocks are crumbling under the weight of war, oil, and uncertainty, Electronic Arts shares are rising. Game on, indeed.

Rocketboom, R.I.P.


You may have missed the announcement about Rocketboom .. in fact, if you're like most people, you probably missed Rocketboom. That's OK. But if you're interested in online video (which is growing like crazy these days), check it out at www.rocketboom.com. It may or may not be around much longer, but somehow its funky legacy, I think, will be,

Rocketboom, as I understand it, was the brainchild of two people, Michael Baron and Amanda Cogdon. Watch some of their "newscasts," and you can tell pretty quickly that these two, like the writers of "The Daily Show," watched a lot of TV news, and found it mockable. And, like "The Daily Show," they did a good job of mocking it.

Amanda, known far and wide by the dot com set, was the Rocketboom anchor, filing her reports that were knowingly cheesy, yet still smoothly produced, until this morning. That's when the news came out that Baron and Cogdon decided to go their seperate ways. Cogdon's way, apparently, leads to Los Angeles, and an acting career. It'll be interesting to read the reports when she makes it. Perhaps she'll be hailed as the first actress to come from the dot com world .. maybe, the press will be more cynical and just remind us that she's pretty, and talented. Either way, we know the roots. Putting on an online show.

As we've talked about before, both on TV and in this blog, the computer screen and the TV screen are coming together. The dot com content is getting better by the day, and you know companies like YouTube are scouring the land looking for advertising dollars. I hope things work out for Rocketboom online, just like I hope things work out for Amanda Cogdon in LA. It seems that in the not-too-distant future, success in Hollywood and success online won't be mutually exclusive. An actor's resume could easily include real-time acting work, voice-over work in a Pixar or Dreamworks movie, and a stint online.

And we, the viewers, will be switching back and forth, TiVo-ing everything.