First, it was an inkling of an idea…

Then, it was a lil’ Web app that the techies lurked on…

Then, it was experiencing some early growing pains as more mainstream Web users landed on it…

Then, it became notorious during the 2008 election year and has continued to even earlier this year, as various politicians got in trouble for spending too much time using Twitter and spilling the ‘beans, but not enough time focusing on the business at hand…

… And then the TV media got wind of it, and all sorts of folks (and their moms) got onto the service to see what it was all about…

More recently, the Twitter heads have been making the rounds of various get-togethers, like this week’s D Conference…

And now: Twitter makes its splash on CNBC, with Evan Williams taking a few minutes to chat with Julia Boorstin, and some more time getting questioned by the CNBC lunch-time roundtable. Fortunately, Evan spent some time letting the public know a brief summary of Twitter’s history, including its character limit and how it has helped, rather than hurt, the service.

Plenty of talk about who would buy Twitter, how long Twitter will last independently, how will Twitter get monetized (if at all), where is Twitter really going… These are things that buy-out folks are always looking toward, despite Twitter remaining a privately-owned company. Although Evan was playing the interview game fairly close to his proverbial vest, it is very clear that Twitter as a brand has a lot of perceived value at this time.

Is there anything that Twitter can’t do?

There have been rumblings about some sort of newer eco-vehicle collaboration between Segway and some automaker for several years.

Finally, with the threat of impending bankruptcy on the horizon, General Motors [GM] has come clean with its work with Segway to mass-produce a two-person battery-powered two-wheeled vehicle. CNBC reports details concerning this interesting tidbit.

Management Perspective

Without announcing any pricing details or further technical details concerning the product, it is difficult to say whether this will be GM’s saving grace. But perhaps this is the sincere gesture, as well as a genuine product development attempt, that will reverse the lack of faith that consumers and the stock market have about a company that has been plagued by mounting debt, rising costs, public suspicions about corporate and labor performance issues, and lackluster interest for its goods in light of the poor economic conditions worldwide.

In “bad times”, there is plenty of blame to go around, and many people spend a considerable amount of time looking for scapegoats (justified or not). This is very counterproductive, particularly for companies who are already operating on borrowed time. Instead, it is a recommended strategy to seek innovation and produce quality products that the target audiences will want/need.

While the general sentiment is mixed concerning GM’s future, it would be interesting to see the automaker slim down to become a new, re-invented company focused on highly-sought vehicles in a particular consumer segment. This would be analogous to becoming the Apple [AAPL] of the automobile world, instead of trying to be the Microsoft [MSFT]. This may be accomplished in a straightforward manner by divesting of most of the auto divisions except for the Saturn brand, for instance, and then designing and implementing the key new announcements, such as the Segway collaboration and the Volt and new econo-designs that people have been seeking at other automakers when GM did not deliver over the past several years. The key is to better define the target audience, understand why that audience has historically shunned the manufacturer and purchased products from competitors despite the known problems with those other items, and then build upon stable, performant platforms to create the new product lines. Of course, this requires a strong and aggressive visionary stance, and this is certainly not a job for most people: a firm advocate of innovation with an iron will, guts of steel, and clarity of vision is needed at the helm.

N.B.

Other title candidates:

• Segway and GM: Finally Unveiling the New Eco(no)-Wheelie?

Margaret Brennan was reporting earlier today on CNBC (there may be some videos on the web site later today on this feature) that the economic climate, reaching as far south as the Palm Beaches in Florida (she happened to be reporting in Palm Beach itself, along Worth Avenue– so if you see her, wave to her and tell her “Hi from Steve at Javamancy!”).

Her story: the rich are trying to sell off their prized yachts, cars, gadgets, clothes, and objets d’art (and perhaps even just random junk). The consignment shops, used car dealers, etc. are chock-full of stuff to sell, and bargain hunters are apparently taking advantage of that.

Huh?

But if you’re wealthy, how wealthy do you need to be, in order to avoid this casual sell-off of your stuff?

And how much of a discount for “gently used” things would a bargain hunter be getting for, say, an 60-foot yacht?

Remember that lil’ ol’ stock trading game that CNBC [GE] has had on a few previous occasions?

Well, it’s baaaack, starting today!

Earlier, I’d mentioned that Flip is already ramping up his blog to handle the new game; with the new rules, he’s devised a new system for crowdsourcing, hopefully to get some readers into the winners’ bunch this time around.

Need to check out the official game site? If you’re not sure, you probably, especially given the change in rules.

N.B.

Need to catch up on the previous Javamancy posts about this game? Try these below, presented in reverse chronological order:

• Flip is Back… at Flipping
• Return of the CNBC $1M Challenge

And here are some past related posts on Javamancy from the previous game (in reverse chronological order):

• Last Days of the CNBC $1M Challenge
• Trouble in CNBC $1M Challenge Paradise?
• Flippantly Suitably Flip
• Countdown to Currency Trading (CNBC $1M Challenge)
• CNBC $1M Challenge

… at least, game-wise (in the CNBC $1M Challenge game).

It looks like, about the same time as my post about the ‘game, Flip is getting back into the action with this third iteration of the game. This will probably be an interesting 10 weeks of twisty-turny nausea (and maybe even a bit of vomiting), so we all need somebody to keep us informed.

Check out Flip’s post on the ‘game.

N.B.

Maybe we should probably ask Flip for some sort of nifty icon/smallpic for posts here… it’d be fun!

Ah, well.

In light of Apple’s [AAPL] fantastic reported performance in the last quarter, a lot of financial analysts have grumbled about the huge warchest that Steve & Co. are sitting on and why it hasn’t been been used to buttress the stock value against the hordes of crazed speculators and economic downturn volatility.

Here’s an example: Jim Goldman (CNBC) posted earlier today about this very subject, even mentioning an earlier post he wrote last March on the same topic. At this point, it could even be argued that a mass stock buyback now would be even more efficacious than last March.

But you know: if Apple does buy back enough stocks, it may fire a bunch of triggers that speculators may have set to start dumping.

Go figure.

So the big question is: how to reward the loyal shareholders while keeping da goodz away from the meany-mealy speculators?

It’s been a few months already since the close of the infamous CNBC $1,000,000 Challenge game. Remember the last item on Javamancy about the game?

Well…

It’s baaaack!

You can sign up now to get ready for the action, which starts November 17, 2008. At this time, the currency trading part of the game is playable in demo mode, so you can play around with it.

N.B.

Can’t remember the last foray into the ‘game?

Check out the previous related posts on Javamancy (in reverse chronological order):

• Last Days of the CNBC $1M Challenge
• Trouble in CNBC $1M Challenge Paradise?
• Flippantly Suitably Flip
• Countdown to Currency Trading (CNBC $1M Challenge)
• CNBC $1M Challenge

Well, not exactly…

“Er, what?”

I was minding my own business, alternating between playing Saints Row (since Xbox LIVE has been brought back online earlier today) and following CNBC [GE] coverage of the ongoing financial disaster, when I inadvertently flipped to a random TV channel and saw Felicia dressed in a funny blue shirt and white pants.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Our Cheetos Girl has appeared in another TV spot, this time for the “Blue Appliance Crew” advertising campaign that Sears [SHLD] is touting for their appliances sales in its bid to regain favor with major household consumer appliance buying audiences.

The Sears Angle

For several years, Sears has tried to break into the “softer side” of the household goods segment, with mixed success but ever-increasing pressure from retailers above and discounters below. At the same time, it abdicated its traditional home improvement segment to the H/I superstores like Home Depot [HD] and Lowe’s [LOW].

Now, there seems to be an opportunity to go head-to-head against the giant of appliances sales, Best Buy [BBY], as the latter is apparently easing itself back toward consumer electronics, media, gaming, and other entertainment.

But the current financial turmoil across multiple sectors has thrown a wrench into this new strategy because of widespread consumer clampdown on purchasing. We’ll have to keep monitoring how this scenario plays through.

The Felicia Angle

Felicia has been showing up in a surprising range of traditional broadcast and online places.

Over-exposed? Dunno.

Career-expanding? Maybe.

Fun? Apparently so.

N.B.

Other related Javamancy posts (in reverse chronological order):

• Felicia Day on Felicia Day
• Felicia Day to be on House M.D. Episode
• Felicia Day on House M.D. Season Premiere?
• Penny Arcade Expo 2008
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

A Little Bit:

Reuters is reporting that LinkedIn has finalized a deal with CNBC to offer integrations between their business-social-networking site with CNBC.com. This is intended to improve collaboration and socialization between LinkedIn users and to draw them onto the CNBC.com portal, while CNBC users can view the goings-on of some of the more active LinkedIn members.

A Little Bit:

Reuters has an update, via CNBC, on the U.S. investigation against a identity theft ring that targeted computer systems of major retail chains, including:

• Barnes & Noble [BKS]
• BJ’s Wholesale Club [BJ]
• Boston Market
• DSW [DSW]
• Forever 21
• OfficeMax [OMX]
• Sports Authority
• TJX, Inc. [TJX]

The ringleader appears to be a Miami man named Albert Gonzalez, and thus far 11 persons have been identified, including 3 in the U.S., 3 from the Ukraine, 1 from Belarus, 1 from Estonia, and 2 from China.