Listening to: Nu Steppa - Salmonella Dub

Found on the Unofficial
Apple Weblog. Into
the Mac trap - the Apple store compared to a car dealership:

After a quick (“This is it?”) tour around the first floor, where the
polycarbonate-encased parts, software cables, and digital cameras were displayed,
I was drawn to an intimidating, neo-mansion-like glass staircase leading to the second
floor. All I could see from below was a dark and empty theater at the top; high walls
blocked my view of everything else. Was I supposed to go up there? Oddly, there were
no signs beckoning.

It reminds me of of Seth Goldin’s tale of
being on the Yahoo sales team:

So, now I was at Yahoo, playing for the winning team, and I was invited to go
along on a sales call. I was vibrating in my shoes in anticipation.

You’ve probably already guessed the punchline. It was one of the single most inept
sales presentations I’d ever seen. A lousy powerpoint. A non-charismatic, non-empathetic
salesperson who faced the wall and read the fine print on the slides aloud. At the
end of the presentation, he mumbled something about being able to take a check.

A few minutes later, the prospect handed over four million dollars.

Yikes!

Sometimes it seems like the very best stuff sells itself. That explains why some
car dealerships have waiting lists and sell stuff for a premium, while others look
like ghost towns.

Sometimes, salesmanship is overrated. What matters more is real marketing, marketing
that involves making the right product, not hyping it.

Listening to: Wait for God - Tricky

My aggregator presented the following combination
of articles this morning. They reinforced one another in a very nice theory and
practice kind of way. First Bob
Lutz on the Saturn line of vehicles:

What would you do if you had a brand whose customer
service reputation was that high for that long despite having a narrow,
aging product lineup? I, for one, would first get down on my knees and thank the Maker
for the finest retail network in the industry. Then, I would set to work replenishing
the product portfolio.

That’s exactly what we’re doing with Saturn. And that’s precisely why my hopes
for the brand are so high. We won’t let the brand fall victim to the tyranny of the
“or.” It’s not a case of having a great retail and customer care program or having
great products. It’s possible to have both, and we plan to do so. Finally.

Then Hugh Macleod
on Lovemarks:

A Mark Love™ is basically a term for a product that was made with a disproportionately
high amount of love and respect for the end user.

Unlike the Love Mark, it’s not about what the consumer thinks of the product.
It’s about what you think of the consumer, and how your product acts as a conduit
to express that. It’s 180 degrees from the Love Mark.The energy travels from the product
(i.e. you) to the end user, not the other way around.

It’s about Values. Purpose. Belief. Integrity. Compassion. All that good stuff.

Listening to: Funky Monks - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

To ‘coincide’ with the eminent release of ‘Meet the Fockers’ TV2 played ‘Meet the
Parents’ last night. I have only ever been able to watch parts of the movie in the
past. I forced (and I am not using that term lightly) myself to watch the movie end-to-end.
I was exhausted by the time the closing credits rolled round. I think the neighbours
must’ve thought I was doing very odd things because the movie regularly caused me
to scream “No!!!!!!!” It was truely the visual rendering of nails down
the black board.

On the topic of lie detection Mind Hacks has an interesting
post on the increased ability of people with aphasia (an impairment in the processing
of others speech, leading to difficulties in comprehending spoken language) to detect
lies.

Listening to:  The chuckles of half a dozen 25 13
year olds

Here’s my Gizmodo Digest:

The
Quattro Clock

Pinstripe
goodness

Hanging
Alarm Clock

Listening to:  Come Undone - Duran Duran

Day 77 of the
King Kong production diary is up. Lots’o'New York action.

Listening to: Come Undone - Duran Duran

From Gapingvoid:

Look after your fans first. It’s so simple it hurts.

Of course, I can hear the naysayers kvetching, “That works if you have something
like Microsoft or Mercedes. But what if it’s more prosaic, like toilet paper or shaving
cream?”

Well, having been sent, aged 10, to a Scottish boarding school where they didn’t
believe in soft & fluffy toilet paper, where they believed instead in hard, crinkly,
Army Surplus toilet paper, I can truthfully say that soft & fluffy toilet paper
fans do exist. Thank god for Proctor & Gamble, is all I can say.

Listening to:  Unadrumma - Pitch Black

The first two issues (Vol 2) of The
Economists’ Voice are out. Articles include:

• Going Soft on Microsoft? The EU’s
  Antitrust Case and Remedy

• Putin, the Oligarchs & the
  End of Political Liberalization

Prefect reading material for long and lonely nights.

Listening to:  Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

After a quiet week of posting… where I wasn’t terribly enthused about a lot of stuff
(let alone a blog) I plan to ramp up to my usual, vigorous, schedule over the next
week.

I have also added a list of NZ Artists who have impressed me over the past year or
so. The list is located on the right under, my Flickr panel.
In most cases these people have impressed me enough to shell out for some of their
work.

• Sam Broad

• Otis Chamberlain aka Mephisto Jones

• Richard Minson

• Simon Morse
  

Listening to:  Space - The Beta Band

I mentioned that I have started watching the blog of a bespoke tailor Thomas
Mahon. He recently wrote about his shears:

These shears were given to me by head cutter, Mr. Hallberry on his retirement,
after forty years with Anderson & Sheppard. They were the original shears used
by Mr. Sheppard of Anderson & Sheppard, which first opened its doors in 1905.
Mr Sheppard gave them to Mr Hallberry, decades ago, when he retired. And doubtless
I’ll pass them on to some young turk when my turn to step down arrives.

That’s 100 years of history in a pair of scissors! The tools of his trade are marinated
in a deep collective history… being a software guy (where history == COBOL) this
is just amazing.

Listening to:  Space - The Beta Band

Found this on Rod’s Blog. USABox …
a US postal address.