Just a note - I have moved my blog postings to www.colemanjolley.com - please check me out there!

Image by via CrunchBaseAs the horrific attack in Mumbai exploded onto news feeds, I noticed a lot of traffic on FriendFeed from Twitter posts that were particularly unusual. Commenters pointed to news sources of all stripes - Flickr photo streams, bloggers writting from the scene and other Twits as they came out from the scene.

It quickly overtook mainstream news as the go-to source for at-the-scene information, while larger news outlets took up the task of providing official background - though often that was dissected and dismissed by those at the scene. CNN in particular seemed unsure of where to go or how to handle reporting.

When the larger news networks went blank at the requests of government forces, online sources kept on providing information. I think it was a watershed event for online news, when it bypassed the traditional reporter organizations with an open-source approach to reporting that they were never able to match.

Do you think they took commercial flights to DC for the weekend? I don't. And yet, they get $25billion cash, while laying off 50k.

Meanwhile, Obama's advisor Axelrod makes snarky comments about automakers traveling to DC on private jets in order to save over 1 million jobs. And they get nothing. To paraphrase Sigorney Weaver, who do I have to fuck to get a loan around here?

Or perhaps, better to ask: which lobbyists do we need to pay to be treated like Citibank while we protect even MORE jobs.

Oh, one more thing. The phrase "hit the ground running" is now officially retired from conversations of thought and good taste. Expect to hear it repeatedly from the lips of Wolf Blitzer for the next 90 days.

Image via WikipediaAnother Sunday, another backroom deal to guarantee assets of the wealthy with tax dollars. It must be the U.S. banking system at stake, yet again.

No surprises here, Citibank lobbies successfully for another chunk of the Troubled Assets fund, with little given up in return. Obama, hoping for an economy left to salvage, says relatively little but promises a relief package in the $400bn range upon taking office. Hope we can make it til then.

Despite the FDIC guarantee of over $300bn in deposits, no discussion among the media about Citibank's consumer credit card holdings. This is what is really at stake here. As millions are still without jobs, they long ago turned to credit cards as a way to supplement the inadequate government assistance of unemployment or welfare, much of it gutted by the Clinton administration currying favor with Reagan Democrats. (Oddly enough, they tended to represent the South which has been disproportionately hit by all of the destruction of "trickle down" economics, but that is for another posting.)

Now, as banks face their own liquidity issues and are tightening credit terms, many consumers are faced with the choice of paying down credit bills or buying food. Obviously they are choosing food. Defaults on unsecuritized debt held by banks are starting to trend upwards and - while little discussion has reached the mainstream media - the banks, analysts, economists and lobbyists are assuredly noticing. Sunday's giveaway to Citibank is a pro-active measure, not a remedy.

And despite all of this, retailers are putting on their game face and promising steep discounts on Black Friday. But, truthfully, they know that there won't be any buying on the busiest shopping day of the year. Already traders are lining up contacts within retail chains like Federated to hear early reports of the carnage so they can base their trading accordingly.

Image via CrunchBaseThere's a rumour floating around NYC today that Google is in talks with Citibank about a stake or ownership or some kind of deal. If so, not only does it create an interesting marriage of technology driving investment methodology, but perhaps signals a first blast across the bow for Google as it crosses into non-Internet related business models.

Discuss.

Jerry Yang stepped down from running Yahoo yesterday, after the markets closed. I'm sure you can find an AP release somewhere with all the approved details.

It isn't really important in the big picture - Mr. Yang, who started the "company" as a student with friend David Filo, was never really meant to hold the position anyways. It was a temporary assignment while they were finding someone else after they ditched their Hollywood CEO. He just overstayed his welcome. And in the end, his bungling of the Microsoft deal cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and a chance to assign a legacy to his work. Oh well, he still has lots of money.

What's important about Yang leaving is really the emergence of Google and its business plan as the archetype for the Internet Remixed.

Google dominates through assignment of revenue towards building new technology. Simply to build it. They cut and paste what others do - mail, video, IM, APIs, blogs, pictures, you name it - and they put it up for people to use. Without any concern about ROI or whether anyone will use it. They know that if they build it for developers, they will come.

And from that, they create a monetization path where any visitor, every visitor is a potential consumer of their services. Does Search drive it? Sure. For now. But they are solidly building an associative path that every visitor will commit to. It is a new kind of brand debranding if you will.

There are still great pieces to Yahoo - I still think its mail application is superior to Googles which suffers from a poor interface that only engineers could love. And Yahoo understands at a cultural level what media is and what people are attracted to in it. Google barely understands YouTube and has let it languish to the point that competitors (Hulu, Sling, Brightcove) are bypassing it much the same way that Google bypassed Yahoo. They might index content, but they don't particularly like it.

Imagine a world where you can organize your pictures with an eye towards sharing them simply with friends, send them an email even if they aren't on your "social network" site, find a coffee shop closeby and read the New Yorker while you collaborate on a spreadsheet in real time with a co-worker in India. On the same screen. Where any piece of any web site/service can be added to your customized screen.

That's the internet, Remixed.

Paulson today back pedaled on the $350 billion he still had left to spend. It won't be going to secure mortgage backed assets, he said. Interesting how things can change when the Republican of your choice (and UBS supporter) doesn't win. Hoping to secure a cash out for his Davos buddies, he took it all back.

Meanwhile, Obama showed up at the White House to get a tour and talk about fixing the economy with Bush. "We need to get started now". "Sure, if you give me free trade with Columbia". Who said this was a negotiation? Oh, just get out now.

Disturbing that Democrats have been silent about the whole 2 Trillion Dollar mystery loan executed by the Fed. An open secret that it was a well known back. But transparency is essential, regardless of its impact. Not the way to get a new deal started.