What the heck happened to Krispy Kreme?
What the heck happened to Krispy Kreme?. “How could a company in business for nearly 70 years, with an almost legendary product and a loyal customer base, fall from grace so quickly?”
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kottke.org posts about business
No more free pretzels on Northwest Airlines
No more free pretzels on Northwest Airlines. They’ll save 10s of dollars!
Seattle coffee shop shuts down free wifi
Seattle coffee shop shuts down free wifi on weekends to liven up the place.
Some good thoughts from Paul Ford on
Some good thoughts from Paul Ford on the recent announcement from the NY Times about their TimesSelect offering. “The web should serve the needs of its users, not the needs of a few hundred advertisers. If that ends up costing money, so be it; this medium is not inherently free.”
Cringely on the future plans of Microsoft, Apple, and Google
Cringely on the future plans of Microsoft, Apple, and Google. MS is shipping their own PC, Apple is pushing into video on demand, and Google is building a massive supercomputer with the help of their customers.
John Battelle has some interesting thoughts on
John Battelle has some interesting thoughts on the NYTimes’ move to charge for some of its content. “The Times stated reason for doing this is to diversify its revenue mix, and I buy that logic. It’s scary to be totally leveraged over advertising.”
Why we shouldn’t pay that much attention
Why we shouldn’t pay that much attention to the box office gross. “Ticket sales from theaters provided 100 percent of the studios’ revenues in 1948; in 2003, they accounted for less than 20 percent.” And he doesn’t even mention inflation…Gone With the Wind is still the highest grossing film in history when you adjust for inflation.
There’s a rumor that Blockbuster may stop offering online rentals
There’s a rumor that Blockbuster may stop offering online rentals. The folks at Netflix must be beside themselves with glee.
Kansas man is renting out his prairie
Kansas man is renting out his prairie land for people to burn; $100 a pop. Having lived in a rural area and burned grass like this, I can tell you that it’s great fun.
Teams are successful when they’re made up
Teams are successful when they’re made up of a mixture of old and new members. “You need someone new to get the creative juices going so you don’t get trapped in the same ideas over and over again.”
Design and the art of bullshitting
Design and the art of bullshitting. In my experience, a designer’s job entails coming up with a solution that works (which takes 20% of the time and energy) and then selling it to the client (which takes the remaining 80% of the time/energy, sometimes more).
Pixar’s profits tripled since last year
Pixar’s profits tripled since last year. And it sounds like a Disney reconciliation might happen as well.
The Economist on the Long Tail, the
The Economist on the Long Tail, the current buzzphrase du jour. It’ll be interesting to see if the Long Tail idea will be “over” by the time the book comes out or if it’s got legs. Either way, it’s still an interesting way to think about your business.
Hire different…diversity is important in your workforce
Hire different…diversity is important in your workforce. She mentions Google as an example…I’ve always thought that their Ph.D hiring fetish is a little worrying.
Profile of Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet
Profile of Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet. The Lonely Planet guides are changing to cater to richer folks while their original “shoestring” series makes up a tiny portion of their current sales.
A list of US-based spyware companies and
A list of US-based spyware companies and the investment firms supporting them.
Michael Moore made himself and Disney lots
Michael Moore made himself and Disney lots of money by stirring up controversy for Fahrenheit 9/11. I’m confused though…where’s the link between Disney and Fellowship Adventure Group? Surely the Weinstein’s didn’t purchase the film from Disney for the $78 million? How did Disney get that money back?
A quick take on Apple’s control freakishness
A quick take on Apple’s control freakishness. “Running a tightly controlled company has worked well for Jobs. But being a little out of control can pay dividends, too - by fostering creative freedom, not to mention goodwill. Jobs need only look at his own slogans. Life Is Random. Enjoy Uncertainty. At Apple, this is marketing, not a way of life.”
How Sprint PCS loses customers
How Sprint PCS loses customers. Sprint wanted Cam to sign a 2-year contract just to switch plans, even though he had been a customer of theirs for 7 years. He switched to T-Mobile and got a new phone in the process.
John Gruber’s plain English version of the
John Gruber’s plain English version of the Adobe/Macromedia Acquisition FAQ. “Please also note that PDF is an excellent format for sending out resumes.”
Whoa! Adobe to buy Macromedia?!!?!?!
Whoa! Adobe to buy Macromedia?!!?!?!. Wow! ??!!?!??!! I don’t think there’s enough room in my MT database for all the question marks and exclamation points I want to use here.
Both Starbucks and Nike are on the
Both Starbucks and Nike are on the Business Ethics 100 list this year.
Study: tall, slender, beautiful people get paid more
Study: tall, slender, beautiful people get paid more. “They showed that women who were obese…earned 17 percent lower wages on average than women [of recommended weight]”. 17%! That’s quite a disparity.
Henry Blodget goes DVD shopping in Shanghai
Henry Blodget goes DVD shopping in Shanghai at a fake restaurant. That reminds me, I should write up my Beijing CD-ROM shopping experience sometime.
Venture capital is flowing back into Internet companies
Venture capital is flowing back into Internet companies. “It is too early to say whether the flush environment heralds another tech investment bubble, but there are echoes of the dotcom boom.”
Michael Lewis on social responsible business practices
Michael Lewis on socially responsible business practices. I have so much to write about this issue, but a quick link will have to do for now.
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