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July 31, 2001 +
Scott McCloud's graphic essay on micropayments is perfect except for one detail: Few consumers care about where their money goes. Jane Doe buying the Madonna CD knows nothing about who gets what cash; she simply assumes the artist is a millionaire. People in media and design are far more sensitive about this than average consumers. That doesn't lessen the power of his argument, though.
McCloud is dead on with his other observations, especially those on convenience and not wanting to think too hard. I love his analogies. Don't miss this piece.
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July 30, 2001 +
My friend Adrienne has started keeping a weblog in her IM info box. How crafty! Blogging without Blogger. Or a web site. Call it an imlog.
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All I know is, if I were a musician struggling to make a living off my craft, and Assistant Producer from Really Big Ad Conglomerate offered me tens of thousands of dollars to co-opt a 30-second instrumental snippet of my work to sell stonewashed jeans, I'd sell out.
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July 27, 2001 +
Cool stuff: Billboard started publishing an Electronic Albums chart. The only problem with this is SoundScan, which tabulates the data, doesn't reach into most independent music stores, where the more obscure and compelling electronica is sold. So Basement Jaxx shows up, as it should, but the next Autechre CD probably won't.
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According to Jupiter Media Metrix, the only success X10 had with its pop-under ads was in pissing people off.
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$44.8 billion!?
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And I thought my locker theft was bad: Immediately after stealing women's purses from a New York Sports Club locker, the thieves called the club pretending to be policemen and got several women's personal information, including Social Security numbers and ATM PINs. Chalk up yet another dark day for NYSC security. (from Adam)
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July 26, 2001 +
Heeb. What is it, besides a misspelled ethnic slur, you ask? Why, it's a culture magazine, of course. "About cool Jews," according to the New York Observer. I can't tell if this is fun, funny, or wrong. I definitely want to see the first issue, though, if only to find out if Heeb is truly cultural and hip or if it's some sort of Hillel House Does Cosmo oddity.
Remember, folks, Jews can be cool. David Lee Roth, for example.
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Good piece on Tomato Nation (with typical Tomato Nation sass) about what comprises good customer service.
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July 25, 2001 +
How to detect counterfeit money. Because I could have used this knowledge the other day.
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July 24, 2001 +
Companies are increasingly discovering the desire for quiet personal space (read: offices) among their employees. Pshaw. I've never had an office in my professional career. Right now I have a corner desk with two four-foot-high cubicle partitions, one made of see-through plastic. And lemme tell ya about the time I shared a 10x18 conference room with two of my three employees....
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July 20, 2001 +
[insert four-day weekend in Martha's Vineyard here]
While I'm away, you can exact your revenge by making the Ideapad look really ugly.
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July 19, 2001 +
Remember the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature? Back before we all thought the Web held the answers to all our questions, we used to go to the library, and the Reader's Guide was the bible of magazine research.
All that old material is not necessarily online, but the Reader's Guide is, as a searchable database. Of course, you'll still have to go to the library to get the magazine holding the information you're fetching, but the Internet is once again making life a little bit more usable.
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Today's article of note: Good software takes 10 years to complete, according to Joel on Software. This is a terrible state of affairs. But Joel's greater point -- that software companies need to know when they're through perfecting a project -- is worth noting.
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"I've got on green socks." I don't pay much attention to the Webby Awards, but I still enjoy the five-word acceptance speech rule. This year's winners came up with some fun speeches, like the Onion: "To advertise call Phil Meyer." Nice.
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I'm gonna build me one of them web sites someday, yessiree. Full'a them whiz-bang doodads, like that Flash thingamajigger. An' I'm gonna do it for less'n two hunderd bucks!
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July 18, 2001 +
Dunderheaded executive plans 101: AT&T is hedging its broadband bets, edging its way into DSL services in case the mothership sells the cable unit.
As a current cable customer and (very) recent DSL subscriber, I'm not buying T stock anytime soon. DSL is far slower than cable, more difficult to set up, requires logins (cable is instant-on) and suffers outages way too often. Now that cable companies have caught up to the technology, installing and using a cable modem is as easy as setting up cable television. Does AT&T expect to convert customers to a slower and less reliable system?
Reportedly, the maneuver is to compete with local phone services providing DSL, but one would expect AT&T to find more success selling cable television-and-modem access. The Comcast broadband bid must have spooked someone on the board.
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July 17, 2001 +
Marketing at its most asinine: AOL is now offering "1000 hours free for 45 days." AOL hasn't charged new customers by the hour in years, which makes me wonder.
45 days x 24 hours a day = 1080 hours
What happens if I sign onto AOL with a new account and don't sign off for the full six and a half weeks? Would AOL find a way to charge me for the eighty hours beyond my "1000 hours free?" Would I get kicked offline? Has anyone ever tried this?
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July 16, 2001 +
New York Times Magazine: Perfecting the soft-sell marketing scheme.
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Also in the Times magazine this week is a fascinating piece on a 15-year-old who successfully pretended to be a lawyer on Askme.com. I haven't decided what's more unsettling, the ruse or the way his fans rallied behind him, encouraging him to keep answering their questions.
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Jason McCabe Calacanis: Everything I Know About the Internet I Learned From X10 (or, How to Know When Your Industry Hits Rock Bottom). A winner of an article for its headline alone.
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Much the way I can't deal with dealing with a Palm Pilot, usability expert Don Norman can't deal with home theater setups. I don't blame him. My friends with proper home theater systems took days to assemble them and program their remote controls, and only they can change channels in their homes. I love audio technology but the learning curve is ridiculous.
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July 13, 2001 +
Just why are packages so danged hard to open? This article discusses difficult packaging but never really explains why they're tough. Better stick with the instructions.
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One would hope Forrester Research includes the people responsible for missing this trend. (link lifted, joke and all, from GMSV)
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July 12, 2001 +
"The term 'dot-com' has become something that people love to hate. But you know, a lot of those companies were great. And my life is worse now that they're gone."
The media hype about Web site closings overlooks the loss felt by their former customers. Ad agency Mad Dogs and Englishmen did some research on the subject, and their report, while a bit melodramatic, makes some good points.
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July 11, 2001 +
Sometimes, the big guns get technology to behave the way they want it to, and they create huge consumer benefits.
I got digital television from Time Warner Cable on Sunday. In an instant I went from 75 cable channels to 250, with a ridiculously good information guide, 40 audio signals, and 26 pay movie channels. The DTV upgrade package (which included a new cable modem to replace my DSL) is an extra $20 a month for, essentially, three and a half times as much service. My friends have cable envy.
This morning I got my E-ZPass statement. In email. One click to a cookied login that asks me for a password, and I had my entire statement on screen. E-ZPass refills automatically via my credit card, so the procedure is now paperless and convenient.
Compare these with my long-distance phone company, whose database considered my account delinquent because they owed me $2.02 and I didn't bother to send back my last bill. Smart technology can lead to huge increases in customer satisfaction.
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CBS MarketWatch is moving on from clickthrough rates. Let's hope this starts a trend. Low clickthroughs are the fault of the advertisement as much as the web site, and sites shouldn't be held responsible for poor creative. And an ad that is viewed and not clicked upon is not necessarily ineffective.
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July 10, 2001 +
One more dead dot-com
This one brought you groceries
Never made a cent
Don't miss Webvan death haikus running rampant on FC. (Is this a usual FC thing? Pretty funny.) (from Jeff)
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July 9, 2001 +
Webvan is closing up shop for good. Which begs the question, will former CEO George Shaheen get his loser loot?
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How to do the customer-service turbo. Ah, the Internet. (via Textism)
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Speaking of contacting important people (heh) I've gotten a lot of site feedback in recent weeks. To which I say: Thank you. I run a fairly quiet site, with little promotion or user contact, and it's always nice to hear that my hobby is reaching an appreciative audience.
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July 3, 2001 +
Darwin: The Web changes everything about branding. Experts sound off, and the article comes to no consensus, leaving the reader to contemplate the power, and necessity, of brand strength. I'm still digesting this one.
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Got my powerpopradio.com sticker today. Cool.
Speaking of which, man oh man, I can't say enough how great the new Weezer single, "Island in the Sun," is. Hip hip.
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July 2, 2001 +
They say each Web site will keep its own site and brand name. I say, Yeah, right. Expect HotJobs to be shuttered by December 2002 and Monster.com -- a Web veteran dating to its days as the Monster Board -- to reign as the only job site that matters.
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