Nov 2006
Why I Don't Self Checkout at Stores
30 November 2006 02:00 PM | Peeves and
Irritations| Permalink
I
was at a Jewel Food Store
today
buying groceries. The lines at the regular
checkout lanes were a bit backed up and since I
only had a few things a helpful clerk suggested I
might try the self serve checkout. I politely
said, "No no, only if you are going to pay me to
do your work for you. I'm not going to pay you and
then do all the work too." That was the end of
that.
To me, self checkout lanes sends the message that the retailer does not care enough about the customer to even bother assigning a real human being to take his money.
To me, self checkout lanes sends the message that the retailer does not care enough about the customer to even bother assigning a real human being to take his money.
|
Scheduled Television is Dead
28 November 2006 06:48 AM | Peeves and
Irritations| Permalink
I
recently became a Comcast cable
TV customer. Comcast has a feature called On
Demand, as part of their digital cable offering.
To use On Demand, you select a clip, TV show or
movie from a menu and it starts playing. If you
get interupted in the middle of watching, it will
remember were you left off for about 12 to 24
hours. Nice. What is even better is that a lot of
the content is available for free. Did you miss
the NBC or CBS news? You can watch it when you
want on demand, not on the television network's
schedule but when it is convenient for you.
There is nothing new about on demand television. People have been using Tivo and other digital recorders to time shift TV programs for some time. But frankly I would not use such a device because there is not enough good programming left on TV to justify the extra expense of a digital recorder. With few exceptions, I no longer actively seek out particular shows for watching - I just sort of channel surf until I find something good, which is sort of a passive approach.
I guess there will always be some demand for scheduled television, but as we all get busier with our lives, I suspect that on demand TV, delivered either by digital recorder, DVD, cable or iPod will become the growth market for video entertainment in the future.
There is nothing new about on demand television. People have been using Tivo and other digital recorders to time shift TV programs for some time. But frankly I would not use such a device because there is not enough good programming left on TV to justify the extra expense of a digital recorder. With few exceptions, I no longer actively seek out particular shows for watching - I just sort of channel surf until I find something good, which is sort of a passive approach.
I guess there will always be some demand for scheduled television, but as we all get busier with our lives, I suspect that on demand TV, delivered either by digital recorder, DVD, cable or iPod will become the growth market for video entertainment in the future.
Nick Wilson is Podcasting
Nick Wilson is podcasting and
blogging about
tech stuff and web development again. Nick Wilson
(NickW) is the founder of Threadwatch.org
and
co-founder of Performancing.com.
I've listened to his podcasts and they are quiet good and worth a listen. Nick talks just like he writes so if you were a fan of his forum and Threadwatch posts you will probably enjoy his podcasts. When Nick sold Threadwatch and opened Performancing.com he never really quit blogging. However while his posts on Performancing were always very thought provoking and helpful, they always felt very corporate and constrained by the narrow focus of Performancing. Nick has a lot of interests and it is good for him to have a venue to comment on broader interests.
Good luck Nick.
I've listened to his podcasts and they are quiet good and worth a listen. Nick talks just like he writes so if you were a fan of his forum and Threadwatch posts you will probably enjoy his podcasts. When Nick sold Threadwatch and opened Performancing.com he never really quit blogging. However while his posts on Performancing were always very thought provoking and helpful, they always felt very corporate and constrained by the narrow focus of Performancing. Nick has a lot of interests and it is good for him to have a venue to comment on broader interests.
Good luck Nick.
Ho Hum - Somebody Scraped Me
21 November 2006 06:43 AM | Web Directories -
Portals| Permalink
I've
been building niche directories, mostly as a hobby,
since 1999. I build them the hard way, by hand,
searching and finding sites that I think are worth
including and also letting webmasters submit their
sites for free. I guess it is a measure of
success/bad luck/perseverance/fame that some MLM
type, self proclaimed "marketing guru" comes along
and blatantly copies (scrapes) my web directory so he
can hang Google Adsense
ads
on it.
Looking at this "guru's" network of sites I have this feeling that he's not going to comply with my polite emails asking him to remove my content. I have little faith that the major search engines will pay any attention to spam reports about this guy. So I'm wondering what the best course of action is - out this guy and his phony web network publicly, DCMA him, sue him, or just ignore him?
Looking at this "guru's" network of sites I have this feeling that he's not going to comply with my polite emails asking him to remove my content. I have little faith that the major search engines will pay any attention to spam reports about this guy. So I'm wondering what the best course of action is - out this guy and his phony web network publicly, DCMA him, sue him, or just ignore him?
Do You Buy Local?
I'm
trying to buy more things from locally owned
businesses. I am in the process of moving into a new
house in a new town and I had the choice in buying
things like appliances from Big Box Stores
or
buying form a local mom and pop store. Frankly I
could have saved some significant money by going
big box but with them, if something goes wrong,
I'm on my own whereas the local dealer sevices
what they sell.
Another factor is, the local dealer cares about your business. They want to make you happy so you will refer others to them. The big national retail chains, particularly the big box stores, don't really care about you the individual customer. You are just a demographic to them, a trend, part of a numbers game, because they have no emotional investment in the business. What you get from big corporation is bureaucracy not good service and the more layers you are away from the decision makers the worse the service.
I will still buy some things from the big boxes - electronics mostly since that stuff becomes obsolete or after a few years disposable rather than repairable. Electronics all seem the same to me no matter were you buy so I might as well buy on the basis of best price not service.
What do you prefer, big box or local?
Another factor is, the local dealer cares about your business. They want to make you happy so you will refer others to them. The big national retail chains, particularly the big box stores, don't really care about you the individual customer. You are just a demographic to them, a trend, part of a numbers game, because they have no emotional investment in the business. What you get from big corporation is bureaucracy not good service and the more layers you are away from the decision makers the worse the service.
I will still buy some things from the big boxes - electronics mostly since that stuff becomes obsolete or after a few years disposable rather than repairable. Electronics all seem the same to me no matter were you buy so I might as well buy on the basis of best price not service.
What do you prefer, big box or local?
