Microsoft wants to open a retail store in Times Square? (Registration req.,use bugmenot.)

"Those who do not learn from history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them."

An Apple store is more than just a retail store, it's an extension of the Apple experience. What, praytell, is the Microsoft experience?

Update: "If at first you don't succeed..."

And how much was today's? And tomorrow, how much will you pay for lunch?

May I suggest you join me in taking the money for this week's lunches, and give it to disaster relief for victims of Katrina so they may eat as well?

Here's one place to donate.

And here's another.

Thanks.

"Ringback ads" ?

Someone's going to burn in hell for this one.

when I was eleven?

Custom Lego Kits.

Yep, it's definitely an on-demand world now.

"Blogs are often portrayed as a phenomenon of internet technology. They are not. Blogs are an technological expression of that fundamental aspect of human nature - the desire for one's voice to be heard."

Who'd have thought there'd be marketing tips in a comedian's blog?

Lots of good tips here on how to show off the talents of those around you, and by doing so, make yourself even more valuable to your client.

I've been quite narrow in my focus (no pun intended...) on this blog, as I want it to be more work-oriented. I'll leave the other stuff for other times.

But.

A good story is a good story, and this is some of the best combat writing I've ever read.

Another spammer, locked up.

fresh...fish. fresh...fish. fresh...fish.

The good news is, everyone's visible online. The bad news is, we're all three inches tall.

If he didn't say that, he should have.

Are ego ads and "We have to have advertise here because all our competitors do" reason enough to be one of the 691 fish in the pond? What if you didn't, and went all-web for your next ad buy. Wouldn't that be a story in itself?

Just thinking....

Luxury toilet paper?

WAVE 3.0 - Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator.

A window in the sleeve of a DVD-R showing how much space is left.

That, my friends, is Good Design.

(Which implies that there's such a thing as necessary roughness. I digress...)

One of our favorite movies is Shrek 2, and we went ahead and purchased the DVD earlier this year, which has a long (3 minute+) trailer/ad for Madagascar which you must watch every time you play the disc. No skipping, no other menus, no nothing.

Every stinkin' time.

I'm sure Dreamworks was thinking along the lines of "well, they gotta watch trailers and ads before they see it in a theater, why not do the same on the DVD?"

Short-sighted thinking there, people. When I see a movie in a theater, I expect and am accustomed to trailers which both reflect upcoming releases and are different each time I go. This ad for Madagascar (did I mention it plays every time you put the disc in? Did I?) never changes, and advertises a movie that's already out of the theaters. Two years from now, heck, 2 months from now, I won't care about it, it'll be long gone, but I'll still have to watch this ad if I want to see Shrek 2. And to make matters worse, there's no warning on the packaging or option to but a version without the ad. Which plays every time you play the disc.

So in return for a short-term goal of boosting ticket sales, Dreamworks has damaged the relationship they have with their customers. I'll think twice about buying the DVD for Madagascar or any other Dreamworks DVD, as I know they're okay with forcing their message on me when I don't want it.

You don't think their policy of non-skippable ads had anything to do with this, do you?

Naaah.

Maybe they'll learn their lesson. Maybe they won't. But I know I'm now going to read the reviews of any Dreamworks DVD first before I buy it.

12.8 Megapixels. *Full-frame* 35mm sensor. Lists at $3,300.

Daddy want.

I've been kicking around the idea of a consumer blogsphere movement for a while now.

Looks like Jeff Jarvis' excellent Buzzmachine blog has led the way in starting one.

Against Dell, no less.

At last count, there was 67 marketing podcasts and 15 photo podcasts over on the iTunes Music Store. My fav so far is 2 Minute Photoshop Tricks (iTunes req.), aimed more at the beginner, but with some good stuff nevertheless

Canadians get iPods for flying United. Not Canadians living in the U.S., though. :-( .

Give blood, get an iPod.

Join the club, get an iPod.

See a trend here?

Yet Another Good Blog About Marketing

Creating Passionate Users Blog.

O'Reilly's MacDevCenter looks into Web App development on a Mac using LAMP.

Cool.

Due to growing up with a train-crazy father, I was into O. Winston Link long before most people were. To think that he lit everything without Polaroid or strobes...

Incredible.

But this is nuts, even for me. Those iBooks weren't much better than my old 700mhz G3, and I was glad to get rid of that one.

In-sane.

So true.

C|Net looks at why more women aren't "geeks".

I'm not sure if a) that's a bad thing and b) more math and science is the right cure. It won't change (at least here) until there's a shift in what society says women should be. Maybe we need to come out with Madame Curie Barbie or something.

(Though the thought of a Madame Curie Bratz doll fills me with glee. :-) )

A carpet for the little giant inside each of us.

Rethinking the umbrella.

Yawn. (Actually, if I start to think about how many thousands of dollars were spent on that boring P.O.S. logo, I'll raise my blood pressure up to unacceptable levels, so I'll just let it pass...)

I'm moving to Singapore.

The joy Stevie Ray Vaughn and Dick Dale had playing together just explodes from this track .

Miss you, Stevie.

I'm no PETA member (mmmmn, lamb), but even if it's used to make a point, promoting a book with a pet-killing game is never cool.

Microsoft wants to see the iPod dead. Again. Still.

Why do the people who inflicted WinME and Bob on us think they know the user experience better than Apple?

But then again, they think this is a useful interface, so I shouldn't be too shocked.

Demand for Macs and Firefox is growing in the enterprise (warning: pdf link).

No, it's not.

Looks like the clue train just went by another station.

Information (and the people who make it) want to be free.

Seth, gapingvoid and FastCompany are in the middle of a great bit of blogpong (Hey! I invented a dumb Internet Catch Phrase!) over the simultaneous death of TV and big brands.

Great reading. It's really, really hard to get the level of intimacy and trust needed to do effective permission-based marketing when people associate your brand with mass media. Our B.S. detectors are pretty good these days.

Awhile ago, I talked about how computers need to move from a hardware-centric view to a data-centric view.

Looks like IBM had the same idea.

I have to admit, for all my love of things Apple, the success of their retail stores is getting in the way of customer service, especially in product support. I had an hour wait last Sunday for my Genius Bar appointment. The spot I reserved was for 4:30, and I was finally helped at 5:30, right before they closed.

Guess how much help I got.

And the people over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog seem to agree. Success may kill off one of the best portals Apple has.

"...and one born to take him."

"Look into my eyes" is a series of photographs that answers the question "What if life were like a video game?"

Good idea, great execution.

Retail chain to stop selling film cameras and go all-digital.

Via /. .

I'm a big fan of webpagesthatsuck.com, and this site has taken suckiness to whole new levels, with hilarious results.

Enjoy.

Who said creativity is dead?

Don blogs about how digital is bringing about the demise of the family camera store, but after working here for 3 years in 1986-89, I saw it coming a long way aways. Wilson Camera had seven stores Valley-wide when I worked from them, now they're done to three small ones in Scottsdale/Mesa. Once Best Buy and Circuit City entered the local scene, the days of the local camera store were numbered. People would regular shop us for answers, resist our every closing attempt, then drive a block and buy the camera they were looking at for $50 less.

Digital certainly is changing the business model of the retail camera store, as photo-finishing is no longer the cash cow it once was. But with every change comes opportunities, and small businesses, due to their ability to adapt and their knowledge of the local market, are still the ones most likely to exploit that change to their advantage.

Proof, once again, that there is nothing so good that people don't want to mess it up.

A buck a song is the sweet spot. Anything more, and people won't go to iTunes or Napster for their music, they'll go here.

But hey, the goose that lays the golden eggs always makes the best pâté de foie gras, non?

Are you a high-volume product photographer?

Do you rely on shooting product on white for your clients?

Then this should keep you awake at night.

15 years ago, one of my photo instructors predicted that the future of photojournalism was going to be a guy with a camera out in the field with an earpiece back to his editor, so the editor could tell him which shots to take and when, much like a TV director does at a live broadcast. The photographer would be reduced to the role of cameraman.

Looks like as far as product on white goes, we're basically there.

The idea of a consumer blogosphere has been bouncing around in my skull for awhile.

Looks like we're there, except minus the blog part.

What if Wal-Mart had a similar customer loyalty program? Would they still offer the same crappy low-cost items they do now?

Wanna bet it was Polaroid behind the recent disappearance of the Polaroidon-izer ?

It's called viral marketing, Polaroid. The photos were already digital, they weren't hurting your sales, and they pushed the distinctive elements of taking a Polaroid into a new medium.

The clue train just went by you, again.

Nice idea.

Control iTunes from any Mac in the house.

But Kevin, I hear you say, why is this useful?

Because the music I have on the iMac in the den far outstrips what I have on my iBook, and with an Airport Express hooked up to the stereo, I can play music from the iMac and control it wirelessly from the iBook.

Cool.

...gets washed away by the tide."

Ok, so it doesn't translate well.

Windows Vista isn't out yet, but there's already five proof of concept viruses for it.

Apple's new Mighty Mouse doesn't impress me. It's got some nice features, but a) it's wired (why?) and b) there's more useful mice out there.

I kinda like this one.

Ceci n'est pas une pomme.

(REALLY busy today, sorry.)

Sorry, Bob :-).

The notion of old media complaining about the fact-checking of blogs pales when things like this go unnoticed for 50 years.

(Via rexblog).

I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, but Castrol's cross-promotion with the Dukes Of Hazzard Movie seems like a waste of ad dollars to me.

*Especially* the radio ads. Guaranteed to make me switch stations.

iBook 12" 1.33GHz Combo $994.00
60GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive (DVD/CD-RW)
512MB DDR333 SDRAM built-in

AppleCare Protection Plan for iBook $183.00

iPod (20GB) - Personalized $269.00
(If you're not me, why are you listening to this?)

Canon PIXMA MP760 Photo All-In-One $249.00

Subtotal : $1,695.00

Less Rebates ($179 off the iPod, $99 off the printer)

Final Total: $1416.00 (before tax)