Bruce Sterling: “if you can explain what
Bruce Sterling: “if you can explain what you are doing with any conventional terminology, you’ve already been outsourced to India”.
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kottke.org posts about business
It’s so easy for people to get
It’s so easy for people to get all ranty and unbalanced about the MPAA, movie piracy, and copyright issues…Derek has a refreshingly clear and steady take on the issues involved and how the industry middlemen are making things hard for everyone but themselves.
The myth of cheap hardware. “The problem
The myth of cheap hardware. “The problem is, the cost of hardware is an insignificant part of running a computer system. See, the myth of cheap hardware is a myth because hardware (cheap) is not that cheap. It’s not 5 times cheaper, it’s half the price, or 3/4. And it’s not just slightly less reliable, it’s a good deal less reliable.” (via bp)
The lively pulse of New York’s new
The lively pulse of New York’s new media scene. There’s something about the companies that started during the bust. They’re healthier, more efficient, the ideas behind them are more solid…they had to be to survive.
What’s wrong with the Gap? Daniel Gross
What’s wrong with the Gap? Daniel Gross approaches it from an economic standpoint (with a Jared Diamond analogy, no less) while Lucinda Rosenfeld examines the retailer’s clothing woes.
Part 2 of the Bill Simmons/Malcolm Gladwell
Part 2 of the Bill Simmons/Malcolm Gladwell conversation is even better than part 1. They really rip into what Isiah Thomas has done as GM of the Knicks. “The mess [Thomas] is creating right now in New York will be studied by business school students 50 years from now alongside Enron and pets.com.”
DIY book publishing
37signals has published their latest book, Getting Real, as a PDF download that they are distributing themselves. After more than a day, they’ve sold over 1750 copies at $19 apiece:
That’s exciting. These numbers demolish the sales pace of our first book, Defensive Design for the Web, which was released through the traditional publisher/bookstore model. DIY publishing: There’s a new sheriff in town.
If you do the math, that’s ~$33,000 in sales in one day. I don’t know what the advance would be on a book like that, but they’ve got to be approaching it, and if/when they reach that figure, the profit margin on subsequent sales will be much higher than the royalties paid by a publishing company. Interesting experiment.
Meghann Marco, the woman who was upset
Meghann Marco, the woman who was upset at her publishing company for 1) not putting her book on Google Print, and 2) instead suing Google, has finally gotten her book listed on Google Print.
When restaurants are in beta, should they
When restaurants are in beta, should they be charging you full price for dinner?
The story of downtown San Francisco’s failed
The story of downtown San Francisco’s failed Metreon. A mall by any other name is still a mall.
Unknown (relatively speaking) indie rock bands are
Unknown (relatively speaking) indie rock bands are turning down large sums of money from GM for licensing their music for Hummer ads. “It had to be the worst product you could give a song to. It was a really easy decision. How could we go on after soundtracking Hummer? It’s just so evil.” (via rw)
The fashion industry doesn’t try to control
The fashion industry doesn’t try to control its creativity the way that the music and film industries do. “The fashion world recognizes that creativity cannot be bridled and controlled and that obsessive quests to do so will only diminish its vitality. Other content industries would do well to heed this wisdom.”
Decent article about blogs (a rarity these
Decent article about blogs (a rarity these days) from the Financial Times. “Each blogger was his, or her, own printing press, spontaneously exercising their freedom to criticise. Which is great. But along the way, opinion became the new pornography on the internet.”
Big brands growing unpopular with teens
Some big brands like Coke, McDonald’s, and Disney are growing more unpopular with “global teens”. “What applies to young people is ‘Did it break? And did my friends say it was cool?’ [It’s an] opinion process that goes on through IMs and text-messaging, and it applies to everything from movies to cargo pants.” (thx, stan)
Local competition
Church of the Customer takes a look at how a Northern California restaurant called Cyrus competes with The French Laundry in attracting local customers, particularly those from wineries with big expense accounts for entertaining clients:
1. Match your competitor’s exceptional quality.
The food at both restaurants was cooked perfectly and beautifully presented. Both delivered flawless service. By matching the quality of its better-known competitor, Cyrus removes the primary barriers of opposition.2. Allow your customers to customize.
The French Laundry offers three prix-fixe menus of nine courses each. Cyrus allows its customers to choose their number of courses and the dishes.
Local competition still matters. You usually think of restaurants like The French Laundry as competing on a national or international level. Over the years, Keller’s flagship has made several short lists of the best restaurants in the world. But as this article demonstrates, having to compete for the same pool of local customers can drive competitors to achieve a high level of excellence, higher perhaps than they would have achieved without that competition, and that excellence could lead to wider recognition. Even companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Amazon who compete on a global level and don’t interact with their customers face-to-face still have to vie with each other for local resources, particularly employees.
Connections infographic: celebrities, corporations, and brands
Infographic of the connections between “3 celebrities, 35 corporations, 40 subsidiaries and more than 300 brands”. For a closer look, check out the larger version.
Google buys Measure Map, Jeff Veen leaves
Google buys Measure Map, Jeff Veen leaves Adaptive Path to work at Google.
Marc Andreessen is annoyed by his customers
Marc Andreessen is annoyed by his customers coming to visit the office (the nerve!) so a few of his customers are using his software to organize and pay him a visit tomorrow. My long-held opinion: Marc Andreessen = putz.
ABC (owned by Disney) traded former Monday
ABC (owned by Disney) traded former Monday Night Football announcer Al Michaels to NBC for, in part, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character created by Walt Disney in 1927, pre-Mickey.
Neat counter and waterfall of purchased albums
Neat counter and waterfall of purchased albums as Apple counts down to 1 billion songs purchased on the iTunes Music Store. (thx, scott)
Blockbuster films are getting more expensive and
Blockbuster films are getting more expensive and accounting for less of Hollywood’s box office take…is Hollywood’s emphasis on big movies nearing its end? I’ve always thought it was dumb that the movie industry put so many of its eggs in so few baskets. (ps. Chris Anderson’s Long Tail book is available for preorder on Amazon.)
CEO pay and perks can be a
CEO pay and perks can be a good indicator of how healthy a business is, so it makes sense that investors are interested in just exactly how much chief executives make. “We shouldn’t expect to see a dent in executive compensation anytime soon. But in the long run companies that don’t balance pay with performance tend to suffer where it matters most — in the stock market.”
Esther Dyson: Google is blind evolution, Yahoo
Esther Dyson: Google is blind evolution, Yahoo is intelligent design. I’m not sure that’s the right metaphor to use if you want to put Yahoo on the same level as Google.
The business of selling iPod accessories is
The business of selling iPod accessories is a $1 billion industry. Jesus.
Why do hotels sometimes charge for internet
Why do hotels sometimes charge for internet access and sometimes don’t? My take is that most hotels figure that it’s mostly business travelers that use the internet and therefore it’s the guests’ companies who are footing the bill and since it’s a business necessity for them, the companies pay, no matter what the daily rate. Which sucks for those of us who like a little internet on vacation or want to keep our small business expenditures down.
Larry Ellison spends tens of millions of
Larry Ellison spends tens of millions of dollars in borrowed money every year, which is worrying his accountant, who wants him to diversify by selling some of his Oracle stock.
An account of how Pixar came about
An account of how Pixar came about that goes back a little further (Xerox PARC, circa 1973) than the one I linked to a few days ago.
I can’t believe that paying the NFL $330
I can’t believe that paying the NFL $330 million for being able to use trademarked terms like “Super Bowl” and “Pittsburgh Steelers” in advertising is worth it, particularly when you can use euphemisms like “The Big Game” for absolutely free.
Matt calculates the cost of a la
Matt calculates the cost of a la carte television, i.e. ordering TV shows from iTunes. His yearly cable bill is $648 but the cost of watching all hs favorite shows from iTunes would be $800. I bet the networks love this math, especially since it cuts the cable companies out of the loop. But in an a la carte-only world, how would you discover shows in the first place?
The Pixar model of making creative products: “
The Pixar model of making creative products: “We’ve made the leap from an idea-centered business to a people-centered business. Instead of developing ideas, we develop people. Instead of investing in ideas, we invest in people. We’re trying to create a culture of learning, filled with lifelong learners. It’s no trick for talented people to be interesting, but it’s a gift to be interested. We want an organization filled with interested people.” Pixar University sounds *amazing*.
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