Category Archives: Business

“Why pay thousands for web design?”

Find out: http://www.designz23.com/
I’ve seen dozens of sites like this over the years and my reaction is always the same: after the initial luls die down, I can’t help but wonder if the joke’s on me, the Professional Web Designer. These sites satisfy a need.

“What happened to my old milk?”

The Times discusses a new milk jug design adopted by Wal-Mart and other big box grocers which cuts distribution costs dramatically. One problem, though. Did anyone try to use it?
But if the milk jug is any indication, some of the changes will take getting used to on the part of consumers. Many spill milk when [...]

Brand Tags reminds me that I am not a typical internet user

Brand Tags asks people to describe a brand with a single word. The results are aggregated, painting a picture of how various brands are perceived.
I was struck by how unaware most people are of some of the most popular internet sites and services. Look for the giant ? symbol:

Wordpress
TechCrunch
Flickr
Gawker

It’s a great reminder to any [...]

Microsoft and the new economy; Alaska Airlines check-in process

Two quick—and only tangentially related—reads for Wednesday morning:

On imagining Steve Ballmer embracing Firefox 3:
But it’s also a nice little “thought exercise.” It is impossible to imagine Ballmer acting with this kind of initiative, imaginative or vision. (I’m not suggesting that what Briggs proposes is a good idea. Only that it is hard to imagine Ballmer [...]

Architecture and the public good

I found myself riveted to this scathing writeup of the MTA’s Hudson Yards plans, announced today.
(For those outside of NYC, the Hudson Yards is a large piece of undeveloped property in Hell’s Kitchen (or “Midtown West”), basically the last large piece of undeveloped property in Manhattan. As you might guess, it’s valuable. The Metropolitan [...]

10 Insights From 11 Months Of Working At Google | Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik

The organizational psychologist in me loves to read insider accounts of life at innovative organizations like Google.
10 Insights From 11 Months Of Working At Google | Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik
Avinash’s blog and book are must-reads for anyone interested in web analytics.

Keynote Index Fund

Steve Jobs gives a legendary keynote at Macworld SF every January, launching products and giving a state of the union view of things at Apple. I wondered what effect the Jobs keynote had on Apple’s (AAPL) stock price in the short term. What if you invested $10,000 the day before the keynote, then sold at [...]

Maybe Hulu should have been more selective with their private beta invites

I’m no marketing expert. But if the goal is to build positive buzz for a product many feel is doomed to fail, perhaps you should only invite people who, oh, I don’t know, are able to use your product.

Episode 9 of House, available nowhere.

The MTA Rider Report Card: C-

I walked into my G train stop Friday morning and noticed that the Rider Report Card placards had arrived, complete with unused surveys littered all over the ground. Hooray! Time to give the MTA some real talk about the much-maligned G train!

Before I get into G train improvements, though, let’s look at the insights we’ve [...]

NBC pulls out of iTunes contract

No more Fat Halpert on iTunes. Like I needed more incentive to download my Tina Fey stories illegally.
Here’s an idea for NBC: if you insist on controlling the distribution of your content, make your upcoming Hulu service good enough to compete with iTunes. Anything else just smacks of insecure desparation. Pissing off your customers: [...]