Of course my contact info is on the back.
March 22, 2010
August 24, 2009
This blog is on hiatus.
This blog is now on hiatus. You can continue following me on twitter:
July 16, 2009
Joseph Campbell
“We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us – the labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.” -Joseph Campbell
June 15, 2009
Soft Speed Bump Stunt
Hat Tip: http://tinsiders.blogspot.com/
May 31, 2009
The Kindle
I am loving my new kindle.
It slices, it dices.
Before buying it, I knew I could buy books and get free access to wikipedia on the device, but I didn’t know that it provides you with free unlimited internet access to all sites. I’ve used it for my gmail and yahoo emails and did some shopping online. Unlike the web on my phone, there is no fee to access the web with the Kindle. But a drawback is that the web is a bit slower on the kindle than on my smartphone.
With the kindle, if I am reading a technical or scientific word I am not sure the meaning of, just by putting the cursor on it, a definition comes up at the bottom.
Not only is the products features and service revolutionary, but the design is beautiful and it is very user friendly. This is the iPod of books.
I’ve always thought of Netflix as being a fun innovation that will become obsolete as internet tv bandwidth improves, but I never applied that same concept to books. I suspect that the business of mailing dead trees with ink on it in the mail will decrease in the medium term future on items where the content is more important than the design focused books as ebook readers become more popular.
Today you can write a book without a publisher and market it directly to readers via amazon.
Here is a breakdown of the types of content people are buying on the Kindle.
The New York Public Library also allows digital downloads of tens of thousands of ebooks and audiobooks at www.nypl.org/digital I am curious to see if the downloaded books will work on the kindle.
Patterns that work
Josh Kaufman of www.personalmba.com compiled a short list of patterns that describe how the vast majority of businesses make money:
* Product: make a physical product, then sell and deliver it for more than it cost.
* Service: provide a useful service, then charge a fee.
* Shared Resource: create a shared resource that can be used by many people (like a gym), then charge for access.
* Subscription: offer an ongoing subscription, then charge a recurring fee.
* Insurance: write an insurance policy against some specific bad thing happening, collect premium payments up-front, then pay out claims only when the bad thing happens.
* Resale: acquire an asset, then sell the asset to another buyer at a higher price.
* Lease: acquire an asset, then allow another person to use that asset for a certain amount of time in exchange for a fee.
* Audience Aggregation: create and distribute information that appeals to a specific set of people, then sell access to that audience (advertising, direct mail, etc.) to an interested third-party.
* Commission: sell an asset you don’t own on behalf of a third-party, then collect a percentage of the sale price as a fee.
* Dividend: purchase an ownership stake in a business, then collect a corresponding portion of that business’ profit over time as a dividend.
You can describe 99% of all businesses – past and present – using one (or more) of these core patterns. If you want to create a successful new venture, start looking for ways to do one (or more) of these things.
May 26, 2009
Bermuda
I just got back from a meeting in Bermuda.
Incredibly relaxing.
I was there for only a weekend, but felt like a week.
My client flew me out and we had champagne and food on his yacht with a few of his friends on board. Life is very good.
Bermuda has the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever experienced.
The sand is amazingly soft. Unlike most sand around the world, it isn’t made from little pieces of granite or rocks, the sand in Bermuda is made from coral, and it is pink. It is like superfine sugar.
Because the sand grains are so small, it is more compact and hard to stand on but when you run your fingers and feet through it, it feels like heaven.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
April 11, 2009
What is art?
Let Paul Rand explain.
Hat tip: Bad Banana
April 10, 2009
Tim Siedell
Tim Siedell is hilarious and brilliant. His blog shows design, advertising and marketing at its best.
He is a fun twitterer, and just did a blog post with the best business card design I’ve seen; for a dentist no less. Certainly better than this guys card.
His post on ballet lessons and bike lane posts are masterful. Silent world and Library of Dust took my breath away.
