The always interesting, Random Good Stuff, links to one of the coolest footballs I’ve ever seen. A sensor in the ball determines the distance thrown. I would have loved one of these in high school or college….or NOW!
The 45 yards you see on currently see on the ball was a throw by Ty Detmer with a very favorable wind.
It sounds like a small number of Costco members took advantage of this policy to return big ticket electronics like big screen TVs in order to take advantage of large price drops.
It will be interesting to see if this policy change actually helps the bottom line which is the reason they made the change in the first place. A number of friends and family have purchased large item electronics at Costco because of their lenient return policy. I doubt that very few of them returned items to save a few bucks on a newer model. Will these people look elsewhere now that they won’t feel so safe making a large purchase?
Will the amount saved by taking fewer returns be offset by the number of customers that take their wallets to Best Buy, CompUSA or Wal-Mart? Only time will tell, but this sounds like a defensive move to offset the behavior of a select few at the expense of many.
The HorsePigCow blog points to a quote from Khoi Vinh that I really like:
“Most features are for experts, but most users are intermediates”
I was reminded of this very thing as I researched Digital SLR cameras. Even the cheapest point and shoot cameras had features that would enable anyone to take excellent pictures. Made me wonder how many people spend $1500 on a DSLR and lens just to put the camera in automatic mode?
Is the product you or your company are creating for the experts or for the rest of us? As long as the answer was factored into creating the product, you should be fine. It’s the company that doesn’t know the answer that will produce an unsuccessful product or service.
Have you ever been at the doctor’s office and run into this scenario? The doctor finishes up with you, writes some stuff down and leaves the room. You put your clothes back on, jump off the table, open the door and have absolutely no idea where to go? This has happened to me several times and nearly always the first time I visit a new doctor.
Well, today I went to a doctor that took care of the problem. My doctor wrote up a prescription, said goodbye and then took off. I opened the door and started walking down the hall hoping to find the door leading me back to the reception area. Only this time I noticed large white signs that included arrows saying, “This way to CHECK OUT”. What a great idea! Maybe it was overkill having so many signs but there was no way anyone could get confused and not find his/her way back to the reception.
Kudos to Auburn Family Medical Center!
According to Jeff Jarvis the answer is no, you can’t. The answer is interesting to me because I work for a successful, profitable service company that is attempting to create a software product. Jarvis nails my primary concern when he says:
You can’t be a software company and a service company under one roof, for you will inevitably end up competing with your customers.
Over the next year we’ll see if we can prove him wrong.
Stewart Alsop details how his new Prius treats him like an idiot. I can’t imagine how Alsop went from driving a Mini which is such a fun car to driving the homely Prius. If I were him I’d sell the Prius to some tree-hugger on Craigslist and pull the Mini out of the garage and get back to driving a fun car.
A few reasons why I’ll never own a Prius:
1. Next to the Aztec, it’s the ugliest car on the road.
2. It’s built by Toyota, the maker of some of the most bland cars ever made
3. The people who drive them can be a bit too preachy. We know you’re saving the planet but enough already.
4. Stars like Donny Osmond, Natalie Portman, Angelina Jolie and many more stars drive them to make us think they care about the planet. They don’t.
It doesn’t feel like it’s been six years ago since Grandpa Nordquist passed away.
It’s hard not to think of Grandpa whenever I watch an NFL game and hear Pat Summerall’s voice. When we’d visit his house on a Sunday he’d be kicked back in his La-Z-Boy recliner watching football. I’d run downstairs and open the door to what felt like a cold dark cave. I’d find a seat on the couch and watch football with Grandpa while he’d ask me questions about the last game I’d played. I don’t remember him having a favorite team but he knew a lot about the Dallas Cowboy and SF 49’ers. He’d follow the careers of those players that went to the the University of Utah or BYU and would know how they played that week.
The game would eventually end and I’d we’d watch All in the Family before Grandma would call for us to come upstairs. Whenever I hear Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton belt the first few lines of the theme song I’m reminded of Grandpa Nordquist and those fun times down in the basement.
“Boy, the way Glen Miller played. Songs that made the Hit Parade. Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days!
Before I was old enough to land a real job I’d take the bus from Ogden to downtown Bountiful to mow his lawn. From there I’d run all the way up 5th south to Grandpa’s house where he’d be waiting for me in the shade on those teal colored outdoor chairs. I could always count on Grandpa to be a bit antsy if there were even a single cloud in the sky. I’d better fire up the mower before the rest of the clouds moved in.
When I’d finish mowing, edging and sweeping grandpa would have grandma retrieve a Coke from the basement. This was a real treat and I loved feeling like a bit of rebel knowing I was downing a full days supply of caffeine. Grandpa was a good man whose heart softened in the later stages of his life. He had a vulnerability mixed in among an, at times, tough exterior. I’ve thought about him often over the past six years and remember the good times we had together.
My grandfather once told me that “a car is an appliance that gets one from point A to point B and nothing more”. He gave me this advice as I was showing him the new Acura Integra I had just purchased. To my grandfather, whether or not a car was fun to drive played no part in the purchasing decision. Every 7 to 10 years he’d pickup a used Toyota from a local mechanic and drive it until my grandma urged him to upgrade.
Each time I’ve purchased a car I’ve thought about my grandfather’s advice. If a car is merely the device to get from point A to point B then nearly any old car will do. Just find a reliable used Camry or Accord and call it good for the next 10 years. According to many personal finance books and magazines like Consumer Reports this is sound advice, especially when you consider that most cars depreciate at such a swift rate.
But here’s my dilemma: I enjoy driving. In fact I enjoy it so much that oftentimes I don’t have a point B to reach. When I first moved to Seattle, I traded in a red Mazda Miata (spare me the “chick car” emails) for a new VW Passat GLX with sweet VR6 engine matched to a 5 speed manual. This car was an absolute blast to drive and become the only car I ever reached 100 MPH in while driving from Salt Lake to St. George, UT. When I think of this car I recall so many good times driving home late at night from Redmond over the I90 bridge cranking “Champagne Supernova” till my ears hurt.
But the Passat also turned me on to German cars and their impeccable road manners and driver involvement. I’ve had an Acura Integra and Subaru Outback that were more reliable and less costly to maintain. But they didn’t put a smile on my face during a down shift around a sharp corner like the Passat would. They were practical, reliable and just not very exciting. I never found myself looking to take the long way home. They were all about getting to point B.
Well, this week the fun is back as we purchased a BMW 325i sedan. I test drove a number of cars many of which had more room, more power and more features. But none were as outright fun to drive as the BMW. Everything about this car is geared toward the driver. I love how the dash it angled towards the driver. I love how the only knob on the door is to adjust my outside mirrors. I love the *thud* sound the door makes when closed. It’s as if a bunch of driving enthusiasts got together and created a serious driving machine and intentionally excluded any features that took away from the driving experience. I’m surprised it has two cup-holders.
If my grandfather were still around I’m sure he’d be giving me the point A to point B speech. Then again, he never had the opportunity to throw a BMW hard into a turn and try to wipe that grin off his face.
Google rocks most of the time. But sometimes you’re looking for a result that’s hard to express in words. Maybe the lyrics to a song, an actor in a movie you can’t recall or even the appropriate birthday gift for your spouse. This is where a new type of search comes in called ChaCha. If you can use Google, you can use ChaCha so the learning curve isn’t a problem. The main feature of ChaCha is that when you type a word or phrase into its engine, a small pane off to the left shows up and you’re assigned a “guide” who will assist you with your search. The pane resides in your browser so it’s easy to chat with your guide while the results they locate show up in the center pane. As you see results show up, you are able to start searching immediately while the guide continues in the background. This allows you to give feedback in real time which can help the guide drill down to what you’re after. They have done a nice job with the UI.
I’ve been trying this service out for a few days and although I feel like I know many tricks for getting the best results from Google, I was surprised at how helpful these guides can be. I did a search for “2002 BMW 325i reviews” and a guide took me to several that were better than what I’d found on my own. I also found the guides to be very friendly and fast.
Give it a try the next time Google isn’t spitting out what you’re after. If you like it you may want to install the ChaCha toolbar which makes it easy to start up a session with a guide. Once your sessions is finished you’ll be asked to rate your guide. From what I understand, guides are paid between five and ten dollars an hour. Both guides I’ve used where very helpful.
One last item: I had trouble getting the guide results to show up when using Firefox the first time I tried it. I didn’t have the same problems using IE 7.
Nordquist Blog 