michael coates, a pragmatic evangelist
October 31, 2005 1 Comment
Ran across a CNN article “Where’s ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ creator?”. Calvin and Hobbes was (and is) my favorite comic strip of all time, and is a big hit with my Connor and Hunter. While we’re glad to have all of his collections, we miss his hijinks.
Thanks to Bill for such a wonderful creation.
October 16, 2005 1 Comment
I’ve been watching the chatter going on about search these days. Lots of voices have joined the conversation, and out of it, I think we’ll all be better searchers.
Robert Scoble writes: “There goes Scoble again talking about search”, a follow-up to several of his search-related articles. However, it was in one of Robert’s earlier posts, “Search for Toshiba music player demonstrates search engine weakness” he hit on a lot of what’s “wrong” with search, citing issues with the relevance of the results.
Robert found some support and took some good-natured hits from others in the blogosphere, but more importantly, he got people thinking about search and relevance. MSN has been keeping Robert posted on search developments, and he’s kind enough to share on his blog. Oh. MSN Search has a blog; in one post they discuss “Where’s my instant answer?”.
I’m actually pretty happy with the way I search: I don’t expect miracles from it. Like anything else, it’s a tool, and like any tool, can make the work easier or harder, depending on your use. “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” is among my favorite quotes. It applies here as well.
The engine cannot possibly derive your intent for a search unless you give it enough information. Simply putting in a product, like “HDTV” or “Toshiba Gigabeat” isn’t enough to tell an engine what you’re planning on doing with the information. In these cases (mostly because of sponsored links), you’re likely to get link intermediaries. This MSN Search for HDTV returns two manufacturing sites and one retailer (your mileage may differ as MSN is continually improving their relevance).
Including something more specific in MSN Search like “HDTV specifications” is a little better; it returns one retailer who actually links to a find and compare page. Not bad, but have we yet asked the correct question?
What are you doing with the HDTV? Buying? Getting repair? Learning about it? The simple inclusion of a verb works wonders for a search. Check these out:
My search methodology (simple and potentially flawed as it may be) is to include the item I’m searching (a noun) and a verb identifying what I want to do and a location. You can see the fun I had with MSN search in my “Cool Treats with MSN Search” and “Cool Treats with MSN Search – Part Two” posts. Want to know one of the best things about MSN Search? Location, location, location.
MSN is detecting the location of my IP and using that as a component to search relevance. Hence:
BUY HDTV LAKE FOREST PARK gives me a helpful linked statement “Were you looking for ‘buy hdtv’ near Lake Forest Park, WA”, which, lo and behold, gives me a long list of retailers, some of whom are near Lake Forest Park. It also gives me a new web form, containing my ‘buy hdtv’ in the search box and a ‘local’ box containing ‘Lake Forest Park, WA’. But wait, the filter is set to “all”, and there’s a handy-dandy “Business Listings” link. Well, since I’m looking for someone to sell me an HDTV (hence the verb ‘buy’), I’m sure I can find a business to help me with this.
Whoops. Now the wind is out of my sails. The link returns “we couldn’t find any results”. How can this be? I know there’s a Best Buy, just up the road from me, right across the street from a Circuit City and down the block (I’m not kidding) from Video Only (which is where I bought my HDTV last December).
So, a few more clicks, a few more browser windows and I’m at the store locators for each of the companies. This should be easier than this.
Original Post: October 16, 2005
October 14, 2005 Leave a comment
I learned something new today. Okay, I learn something new every day. However, one of my favorite things is knowing the back story of a situation. In this case the email that reads:
“I’m the former wife / employee / son / attorney of a deposed / deported / deceased official of the department of treasury / banking. I need your help in recovering ELEVENTY MILLION, TWELVITY HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars / pounds / kruggerands which were seized when my husband / employer / father / client was removed from office / removed from the country / vaporized by a toilet seat from a space station. I cannot reach these funds without outside assistance as they must be moved to a neutral country, blah, blah, blah”.
These scams promise recovering riches from an individual which can only be retrieved with your help. They involve your calling or writing someone, and at one point, you’re asked for your credit card: more than once (from what I hear).
Seems Nigeria has had enough of these “419” scams (named after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes); they’ve been around since the early 1980s in one form or another. News.com: “Nigeria enlists Microsoft to fight spam scammers”.
October 11, 2005 1 Comment
Interesting proposal from Comcast; they’re talking about offering a Pay-Per-View (PPV) movie with a DVD in the mail a few days later. The price is looking like about US$17, which isn’t far from the going rate of most DVDs.
CDFreaks just posted “Comcast proposes video on demand with a DVD follow-up”.
This isn’t far from my thinking in my “Theatre and DVD: Mind the Gap” last month. I was noticing the early releases of DVDs are typically “bare bones” (i.e., lacking significant special features), with a follow-on DVD around the holidaze. The studios get to piggyback on the marketing programs, folks like me get the DVD in our hot little hands and if the special features are good enough the next time around, I might pick up another copy.
Comcast’s idea is interesting to me, though. Instant gratification, and a DVD trophy for my shelf.
October 1, 2005 Leave a comment
If Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_PORT")=80 Then
Dim strQUERY_STRING
Dim strSecureURL
Dim strWork‘ Get server variables
strQUERY_STRING = Request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING") ‘response.write(strQUERY_STRING)
‘ Fix the query string:
strWork = Replace(strQUERY_STRING,"http","https")
strWork = Replace(strWork,"403;","")
strWork = Replace(strWork,":80","") ‘response.write(strWork)‘ Now, set the new, secure URL:
strSecureURL = strWork ‘response.write(strSecureURL)
Response.Redirect strSecureURL
End If
An inclusive rewrite from the comments:
<%@Language=VBScript %>
<%
‘response.write("Request.ServerVariables(""HTTPS"")=" + Request.ServerVariables("HTTPS") + "<br />")
If Request.ServerVariables("HTTPS")="off" Then
Dim strSecureURL
Dim strPortNum
strSecureURL = "https://" + Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_NAME")
‘response.write("Redirect URL:" + strSecureURL + "<br />")
strPortNum = Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_PORT")
if strPortNum <> "80" and strPortNum <> "443" then
strSecureURL += ":" + strPortNum
end if
‘response.write("Redirect URL:" + strSecureURL + "<br />")
strSecureURL += Request.ServerVariables("URL")
‘response.write("Redirect URL:" + strSecureURL + "<br />")
if Request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING") <> "" then
strSecureURL += "?" + Request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING")
end if
‘response.write("Redirect URL:" + strSecureURL + "<br />")
Response.Redirect (strSecureURL)
End If
%>
Another comment: a file-based solution:
<%
If Request.ServerVariables("HTTPS") = "off" Then
Response.Redirect "https://" & Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_NAME") & Request.ServerVariables("URL")
End If
%>
September 30, 2005 1 Comment
I just love knowing the back stories. We’ve seen a variety of sample documents generated in Office applications containing readable, yet unintelligible text, beginning with “Lorem Ipsum”.
Lipsum.com tells us what “Lorem Ipsum” is (dummy text, originally used by the typesetting industry), and why (readers can be distracted by printed content) it exists.
The site features a page to generate some for yourself!
Original Posting: September 2, 2005
August 31, 2005 1 Comment
I link to a range of topics in this forum. These references represent events and trends I’ve observed in my day-to-day work. While some links may appear to be in the weeds, many were acquired through a purposeful search, although, likely on a tangential topic. I post them because they “relate”; albeit mostly in my own warped little mind.
In this mode, I am tracking and doing work on several unrelated competitive issues and consumer opportunities. I wish to state that a real (and I consider reliable) way to determine consumer trends is to monitor the pocketbook of your target demographics: on what are they spending their money?
Case in point: a rise in pop and hip-hop music, Britney Spears and American Idol resulted in an opportunity for the Bratz dolls to compete head-to-head with Mattel’s Barbie (Baseline, August 2005, Case 177, “Barbie Lost Her Groove, Competitors Picked It Up”). The Bratz created a market amounting to nearly 50% of Barbie’s annual sales share in under four years, while Barbie’s sales were steady to lower.
The article describes how Barbie is in danger of being seen as a “baby toy”; as “age compression” (kids are growing up faster) takes its toll. This is interesting as well: my sons are knee-deep in “Half Life 2” for the balance of their summer vacation (only a few days left); one is twelve (going on sixteen), the other is seven. The seven-year-old has been immersed in first-person shooter (FPS) games for three years. That’s a long way from playing with Hasbro’s G.I. Joe.
Mattel’s response included the “American Idol” and “My Scene” dolls (the latter are coincidentally covered in makeup and injected with a bit of collagen). To further reach, the My Scene gang has several “webisodes” already. In fact, they’re planning a trip to Hollywood (to be released on DVD). My six-year-old daughter just scored one of the “American Idol” models for her birthday (she got to make her own selection when visiting her grandmother).
As Bratz stuffed a platform shoe in the door opened by the pop culture opportunity, other competitors have risen (Janay and Friends from Integrity and the Princess line from Disney, among others), and the market is getting crowded. Is Mattel out of the woods? Not yet, really, but they’ve learned some lessons and can potentially make good progress.
Let’s look at technology in this light. On what are the geeks and freaks spending their allowance? Some of their purchases are obvious, falling in the realm of “low-hanging fruit”. Gadgets are big; hand-held devices and beefy cell phones, albeit lacking standardized features for interoperability and access. Games like “Half-Life” and “Halo” dominate the market, spawning a number of wannabes. However, the wannabes in both zones rarely rise to the top: you need cachet to disrupt markets, much like Apple’s success with the iPod.
Now, how do you explain a game like Katamari Damacy? This implausible, first-person, immersive, non-shooter, roll-and-gather game thrives on the console platform, emptying piggy banks and wallets as it goes. The graphics are a bit on the cheesy side, but it has kids in the 6-14 age range captivated. The game describes well-defined goals and gives the player the means to make and track their progress. Is goal completion, i.e., “beating the game” all that matters?
I’ve taken a liking to Freelancer lately. I’ve even set up a server so I could play with my sons and their friends. This is a game that allows the player to behave in a mostly independent manner within a well-structured and highly-graphical universe. The player decides how they’d like to earn their keep and advance: as a hero, a trader, a pirate or more. There’s a lot of exploring, ship-to-ship combat and trading opportunities. There’s a story that serves as a tutorial to get the player up to speed (memo to the Freelancer team: I miss my Juni). You’ve seen this before: anyone who has played a multi-user dungeon (MUD) or any of the massively multiplayer games is aware of how attractive a virtual can be.
Yet, with all these interesting attributes, this game is mostly unheard of. It’s still played (released in 2002) and has a robust community who host forums and mods, but it’s not something you hear discussed at McDonald’s.
What of the business user? Well, there’s low-hanging fruit there as well, but solving a business problem doesn’t necessarily come in the form of a specific product, but rather integrated solutions. The baseline of a business user is pretty consistent, and likely includes: security, stability, productivity, scalability, and low TCO (business will refine the order of these bits to meet their needs). That said, what are the “wow” factors? I wrote an article on evoking a “wow” from a business user some time ago.
George Day, a Marketing professional at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton school recently wrote a Harvard Business Review article about scanning the periphery. In this paper, he cites several examples, including the effect of the “personal beer” experience: the rise of microbreweries and the effect on the majors. This article is referenced heavily in Baseline Magazine magazine (referenced above).
He also states that not all competitive risks come from rivals. Politics, society, shifts in the economy and disruptive technology can catch a market leader unprepared.
During the 1980s, Weyerhaeuser was doing business as usual: harvesting wood from forests in the Northwest and supplying the products to an increasingly-hungry building market. Environmentalists frequently (and accurately) accused the company of "clear cutting", thus disrupting the ecosystem and wildlife, and increasing the risk of erosion.
Amid a growing public relations crisis, the company adopted and made public their practice of replanting forests with saplings. The saplings would save the soil and provide haven and food for displaced fauna. Over time, the saplings would grow to trees, the result of which is a renewable resource to be harvested at a later date.
The company posted signs in the regions that identified the dates the forests were harvested and replanted. This tactic provided passers-by the means to admire the company’s forward-thinking handiwork. Their new slogan: “The future is growing”. Very nice, don’t you think?
All this happened in a “business as usual” environment: increasing sales and product demand, upper management who wasn’t listening to the pulse of the public and poor site selection and management. The site management bears special note: a particularly large clear-cut region was in the Washington state, right around the I-90 corridor through Snoqualmie pass. The bald mountains were enjoyed by around 32,000 cars and trucks on a daily basis, throwing wood on the fire (so to speak).
Even though Weyerhaeuser recovered nicely, they suffered a loss of goodwill with the public. Did this affect sales for those years? Not likely, as building was happening at such a rapid pace that consumers couldn’t get enough wood products. Today, the PR folks are ensuring the public knows about the company’s policies, they’ve published the informative “Roadmap for Sustainability” document on their web site.
While it’s critical to listen to your customers and watch your competitors, it’s also important to monitor community activity around your products and the space in which your products exist. Determine “who” is doing “what” with your products, and “how” are they doing it? How other products in your space the same? How do they differ?
Find the right people in your organization to gather and manage this kind of information. With this information, they can propose competitive responses, partnership strategies and other opportunities. When a threat arises, take heed and resist the urge to shoot the messenger.
Watching isn’t enough, however. You also need to be prepared to act when threats rise to the fore.
August 31, 2005 4 Comments
I took the family to Las Vegas for vacation this year. Due to work schedules and complimentary flight tickets, this occurred in August, by far the hottest (and busiest) time of year. The heat I expected, but candidly, I had no idea it’d be so busy: who the heck goes to Vegas to escape the summer heat of Seattle?
Lots of people, it would seem. We stayed at Circus Circus on the strip; check-in would have taken two hours, if not for “No Wait” check-in. If you stay there, use the service (you have to call their 800 number a day or two before you check in). We got two adjoining rooms (one dark and quiet, one light and noisy) for the five of us.
The Circus is known to be a “kid friendly” hotel, rife with clowns, circus acts and a cool midway (dads: if you’re losing at the craps tables, make yourself feel good by winning a stuffie for your kids). That said, I saw the hotel more as “kid tolerant”; we all know the littles aren’t allowed near the gaming (they can pass through, but must keep moving), but there’s really no other activities to keep them busy.
Well, that’s not entirely fair. There is stuff to do, all at a reasonable cost, with parent supervision. The Circus boasts the Adventuredome, “Five Acres of Indoor Fun”, essentially an indoor theme park with a midway and roller coaster. We did two days at the ‘dome, in air-conditioned comfort. The kids got a little bored after a few hours, so we broke for lunch and naps and returned that evening on those days. I highly recommend the Canyon Blaster (roller coaster); it’s quite a treat: two inverted loops leading in to a corkscrew. Fun, and not as teeth-rattling as the Manhattan Express at New York, New York.
We also did the pool. A lot. For $5 ($2.50 at Target, I’m sure) we procured floating devices and the kids wore themselves out in the warm water. As our three kids are basically transparent, we used sunblock SP-googol to avoid burns.
What the Circus (and Vegas) lacks (well, we didn’t find it) is trusted, reliable and reasonable supervision for the littles so the adults can escape for a few hours. It’s easier to get a call girl to come to the room than a babysitter. We almost considered it. Okay. I’m kidding. It would have been less expensive to drop them off at the brothel 😛
We did our gaming in shifts, and divided and conquered the littles for other walks and magic shows.
Oh. Two words for magic: Lance Burton. See him at the Monte Carlo. Amazing slight-of-hand, tremendous act and very personable. My youngest spent some stage time with him (and about 11 other kids) making a parakeet named Elvis disappear. She still talks about it on a daily basis.
This is part of five articles. While I saw / did enough for ten, these remained a part of my memory by the time I got to the keyboard. Links to all the articles follow:
August 31, 2005 2 Comments
Vegas is an amazing place to watch people. You’ll see glamorous people, trashy people, silly people, desperate people. You might see all of the above attributes (and more) in a single person over a few hours’ viewing. Somewhere, there are some very busy “Dorian Grey” pictures. “What happens in Vegas”, and all that.
Steve Wynn seems to own everything. He built the Bellagio (great fountains, but very adult, artsy-fartsy and classy: no kids allowed except registered guests) and now has a hotel named “Wynn.” (note the period). Like Trump, he thinks it enough to describe the offering in a single-word sentence that resonates with potential customers. Branding is an amazing thing. Oh, Wired picked up the story on this hotel, “Move Over Pyramids, Wynn’s Here”.
Speaking of Trump (the Donald), I read that he’s breaking ground across the street from Wynn. It looked like a residential tower, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t include hotel / gaming.
Speaking of Trump again; Ivana has lent her name to a high-rise called “Ivana”. See “Wynn.” branding notes above.
Walking the Strip is a treat, if the weather isn’t too hot. Note that one day it was still 107 at 6pm, so walks typically occur between casinos to get out of the heat. The bus runs up and down the strip at all hours of day and night, but it can be full at peak hours. It comes often, so is worth a shot if you’re on a budget.
The new monorail is a big bragging point for Las Vegas. Built and funded without public dollars it is a smooth, air-conditioned ride between the Sahara and the MGM, with stops at Bally’s, Flamingo, Harrah’s, the Convention Center and the Las Vegas Hilton in-between. Three dollars for a single ride, $10 for an all-day pass. The all-day pass is a bit spendy and cannot be shared, so we opted for the “ten rides for $20” package and took two trips en masse during the week.
Of course, Seattle is still fighting for our new monorail system. We keep voting for it, but it keeps not getting built. Amazing that we voted down two sports stadiums, twice, and they got built. Only in Washington.
This is part of five articles. While I saw / did enough for ten, these remained a part of my memory by the time I got to the keyboard. Links to all the articles follow:
August 31, 2005 3 Comments
What’s a week in Vegas without an all-nighter? My knee-jerk response is “a week in Vegas? Are you crazy?
However, in that my days were spent keeping the kids entertained, I took a night for myself and had a great time. After the littles were tucked, I got on my way.
The weather was still hot (not quite the 107 we’d seen earlier in the week), but hot enough to drive me into every casino as I wended my way between the Circus Circus and the Aladdin.
Along the way I visited the Stardust, the Frontier, the Venetian, the Mirage, Caesars Forum Shops (which were closed, but the clubs were rocking), Caesars Casino (much larger than the last time I visited), Barbary Coast, Bally’s, MGM Grand and Paris. I noticed a definite “upscale” presence as I moved southward and think we’ll stay at either Treasure Island (now called simply “TI”) or Excalibur the next time we visit. The Monorail map is useful to see the properties.
I also got to play in many of the casinos on the list, taking or losing small amounts. I was really keen to see all the casinos, rather than settle down for a night of craps (but, I would have certainly stuck around for a promising pass). I was up about $200 when I got to the Aladdin (see “The Pink Chip” post). My Craps play is described in my “I play Craps” post.
Walking through the themed casino I saw lush gardens, tony restaurants and posh shops. Vegas is also big on décor, and everything is “just so” in the higher-end properties. Despite the fact I didn’t want to “miss” the Vegas experience, I kept my headset on (I listen to European Trance) while on the street. Dealers will politely request you remove headphones at the tables, as they’re keen to avoid any outside help.
Heh. As if outside help can beat the house. Whatever. Better to comply, rather than be booted. As much as I enjoy the Circus, it’s definitely the bargain end of the Strip. By the time I got to the Mirage and the Forum Shops, I realized it’d be worth a bit more in hotel to stay at the other end.
Returning to the Circus (I chose to walk back), I got to watch the sunrise on another beautiful day. I was not the least bit tired, but keen for a shower (still warm out) and a few hours sleep before we hit the ‘dome. Despite the lights and the traffic, sunrise on the Strip is an amazing transition time: It’s not so much as a transition from night to day; it’s more of a shift from brightly-lit night to tired day, as though the Strip itself wanted a rest from the action. There were a few moments of peace, but they were more of a sigh than rejuvenation.
This is part of five articles. While I saw / did enough for ten, these remained a part of my memory by the time I got to the keyboard. Links to all the articles follow:
OpsanBlog 