Mar 10, 2010 0
Reading Rework, the new book by 37Signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, is an education in the power of asking the right questions.
Take their chapter, “Reasons to Quit.” It’s two pages of very simple questions, with a little explanation. But ask those questions of your product, your business, or your life, and you’ll be well on your way to thinking more clearly about each.
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 9, 2010 0
Mar 8, 2010 0
Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
The European Union is currently writing its strategic plan for the next decade. That should be an encouraging sign. Finally, you would think, Europe would begin dealing with their entitlements and debt issues, especially with the Greek crisis a harbinger of things to come.
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 7, 2010 0
There’s an old joke about economics. “An economist is walking down the street. He comes across a dollar bill laying in the road. He decides to walk on without picking it up. Why? Because if the dollar bill was really there, someone would have already picked it up.”
Yeah, I know. That’s more droll than funny.
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 6, 2010 0
The ever innovative Sony is apparently preparing to respond to the competitive threat they face from … iTunes, first released in 2001. According to eWeek:
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Mar 5, 2010 0
Why has Microsoft become increasingly irrelevant?
One view argues that the reason is Google. They’ve figured out a way to effectively monetize the Internet, the new frontier of computing. And this enables them to give away content, software, and now an OS for free. And Microsoft can’t use bundling to kill software that’s already free (the way they killed Netscape).
The other view points to Steve Jobs, and his genius for beautiful, easy-to-use devices and his savvy for media. By making the most elegant and beautiful media players and computers, and by providing a solution to the paid distribution of digital media, Apple has achieved cultural relevance that Microsoft could only dreamif. And their ads are cool too.
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 4, 2010 0
Here’s a nugget from a good interview with Omniture founder Josh James.
We had 80 competitors in 2003. We saw that someone just won a deal from United Airlines. They didn’t even call us. So we bought a 10-minute spot for $15,000 at a trade show. We had this sales guy say, “Everyone stand up, because we are going to play rock, paper, scissors. And the winner gets a Hummer. But instead of saying ‘rock, paper, scissors,’ we’re going to say ‘Om-ni-ture.’ ” So you got 1,500 people chanting “Om-ni-ture.” Ever since that day, there really haven’t been any RFPs that we didn’t get an invite to.Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 3, 2010 0
What can drug traffickers learn from Walmart and McDonald’s? Quite a lot, it turns out.
A recent LA Times series profiled the Xilisco network that has taken over the heroin trade the US. What accounts for their success? Efficient violence? Intimidation? Bribes? No. Rarely using guns or intimidation, the Xilisco network has conquered the heroin trade with a better retail business model, providing high quality goods at fair prices with excellent customer service.
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Mar 2, 2010 0
To Wired’s report of Porsche’s plug-in hybrid concept car, I say, “Bring it on.” If the future of green motoring looks like this (and something like it is available at less than half the price), it will be an attractive and fun future indeed.
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