Telus is blaming a strike by the Telecommunication Workers Union for delaying its plans to launch IP-TV and possibly a VOIP service. CEO Darren Entwistle said the IPTV plans, which currently involved testing by 1,800 employees, have been put on hold until the labor situation is resolved. What would be really interesting to know is the technology Telus plans to use for IP-TV. Last month, it announced a deal to use Alcatel equipment in its next-generation IP network, in which IP-TV was referenced. There is no word, however, on whether Telus plans to use Microsoft software or go another route. For all the noise Microsoft is making about IP-TV, it's telling that there hasn't been a commercial launch yet. Swisscom has delayed its service, Telstra has backed away from Microsoft, and there are rumors BellSouth is thinking of dumping Microsoft from set-top boxes it's testing.

So what do you make of Baidu's market debut, which ended trading yesterday at $122.54 - more than four-fold its offering price of $27? Is it dot-com fever/irrationality all over again? Certainly, a look at the multiples compared with Google suggest many investors were afraid of missing out on what they think could be the next Google. While investors have short memories, there are enough of them who remember that Google's IPO was priced at $85 last summer, and now trades at $292. There were a number of reports yesterday offering good perspective on Baidu's IPO, including SmartMoney. The Smart Money story had this wonderful quote from Raymond Lin, a portfolio manager with Tricera Capital in San Francisco, a hedge fund that specializes in Asian markets. "It's a speculative fever right now. It doesn't make any sense. But as we saw in previous bubbles, that doesn't mean it can't keep going and make people money in the short term as they profit off of the greater fool." So how should investors approach Baidu, which had revenue last year of $14.2 million? Probably with plenty of caution. Not only has Baidu been immersed in dot-com enthusiasm but it also has the lure of the huge Chinese market. Both factors are difficult to get a handle on, particularly the "potential" of the Chinese market.

For the last couple of months, I've been somewhat frustrated by the fact the posts rarely were picked up with Technorati's search search spider. It seemed strange to not show up on any search results on a regular basis. Turns out it was a problem with Blogware, which is the blog publishing tool I use. After I sent them an e-mail on a hunch that a problem may exist, they "discovered" an issue and have cleared it up. Your bad, Blogware. You figure this problem was something that should have been picked up earlier!