It’s the season for predictions, so I thought I’d offer you my predictions about wearables in 2014. Wearables will continue to be nerd porn in 2014 (in other words, when you say “wearable devices”, most normal people will respond, “what?”) Many wearable devices will be proposed by vendors. Too many of those will actually make it to market. A few of those will be useful. A handful of those will be aesthetically pleasing. A minute number (possibly 0) of those…
I want you to think for a second about the key you use most. Whether it’s for your house, your apartment, your car, or your office, just think about it for a moment. Now, this key you’re thinking of is going to have a few basic properties. It consists of metal, has a blade extending out of it that has grooves along one or both sides, and either a single set of teeth cut into the bottom, or two sets…
As I posted on Facebook earlier today. Don’t worry, FB, I’m still not using G+ either, as you two rapidly collide into each other. I’m not going to make this complicated, Facebook. It’s not me, it’s you. I liked it when we first met, I thought it was cool how you’d help me find friends, family, co-workers I hadn’t talked to for years, even some people I’ve known since preschool. That was nice, and you didn’t try to grab my…
Jefferson, Thomas Nov. 16. 1793 Germantown Eli Whitney Whitney, Eli TO ELI WHITNEY J. MSS. Germantown, Nov. 16. 1793. Sir, — Your favor of Oct. 15. inclosing a drawing of your cotton gin, was received on the 6th inst. The only requisite of the law now uncomplied with is the forwarding a model, which being received your patent may be made out delivered to your order immediately. As the state of Virginia, of which I am, carries on household manufactures…
“I said that the two great complaints were that the national debt was unnecessarily increased, that it had furnished the means of corrupting both branches of the legislature. That he must know everybody knew there was a considerable squadron in both whose votes were devoted to the paper stock-jobbing interest, that the names of a weighty number were known several others suspected on good grounds. That on examining the votes of these men they would be found uniformly for every…
Last night, my youngest child and I were talking, and I wound up telling her about the scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey where the HAL 9000 computer, as he is being disassembled, sings the old song Daisy to Dave Bowman. My child loves music, and didn’t see the irony in immediately asking me, “How does the song go?” So I taught her – she hadn’t ever heard it before. At the time I didn’t get the irony in doing that…
“The first thing I do when I start to look into the affairs of a failing company is to study the personnel of the organization and the individuality of the men. I am concerned first of all with executives, because if their principles are not right it is useless to look for results from the men. When I have measured up in my own mind the capacity of the executives, I get out into the operation of the plant and…
In general, the 60 Minutes interview of Jeff Bezos felt largely like a marketing piece. But what Bezos says at 13:30 is great. “Companies have short lifespans… And Amazon will be disrupted one day… I don’t worry about it because I know it is inevitable. Companies come and go. And the companies that are the shiniest and most important of any era, you wait a few decades and they’re gone.” – Jeff Bezos on 60 Minutes, Dec. 1, 2013 …
The vocal minority. You’ve heard of them, but who are they? Companies often seek to change their status quo by modifying how they do business. Generally, this is a nice way of saying just they want more. More what, you ask? Traditionally, it would have meant they simply want more money, as in raising the cost of the goods they are selling (or lowering the cost that they will pay to suppliers or partners). These of course are done to…
Have you recently updated an app your computer or your smartphone (or accessed your favorite Web app), and been faced with the arrival of: New features out of the blue Changed behavior for existing features A release that removes or breaks a feature you frequently use A user interface change that completely modifies the way the app works? If so, you might be a victim of mutually assured distraction (MAD). MAD can also alternatively be referred to as competitive cheese moving. Once…