Lipstick on a Pig

As I think about the failure of Song the airline, I wonder haven't their been enough failures in this business where something like this shouldn't happen. Delta a struggling airline set aside planes and routes to run under the Song banner replacing its low cost division Delta Express. Same pig with new lipstick. There must be some database building with all these different failures so no one would repeat them. Today any individual or business gets to stand on the shoulders of others through their triumphs and mistakes. We all get to pretend to be very smart, why not take advantage of it.

Add Song to the ever growing database. Some Canadian airline failures to add.

The Persuaders

I recently heard about the failure of Song the airline and there has been alot of discussions about why it failed. A PBS program called The Persuaders mentions Song and a variety of other interesting issues happening in the marketing world. It's a great program and you can watch it online.

Links via Brand Autopsy

Mommy, the Bay is shit

This has to be one of the best stories I heard. My dad was at the mall and he overheard a conversion. A little girl no more than ten years old was coming out of The Bay with her mom and said "Mommy, the Bay is shit". The Bay is a Canadian department store which I think is "tard central" and has been given a junk bond status by analysts. Why can a little girl see that this place sucks and why can't management (grown men and women) get it right.

I think they should hire that ten year to give them some advice. Isn't that the problem, lack of communication between the company and customers as to what they want? What will this little girl think when she is grown up, this company is really doomed!

Technorati Tags: The Bay

Cool Illusion

This is a really interesting illusion, check it out. All the pinks dots disappeared when I viewed it.

Cyborg cells

I love science fiction and when you read news about how a living cell has been incorporated into a electronic circuit I don't know if we should be excited or scared. Not only do we have to worry about the Avian flu but this too. Last time I watched BattleStar Galactica those cylons didn't seem very nice :) read

Link via SmartMobs

Design Outsourcing in India

The only thing that they can't outsource is crime so I think the future belongs to the criminals.

"David Kohler, the group president of that great bath and kitchen appliance maker (and award winner) that goes by his great, great grandfather's name writes from India to say it is booming way beyond software and business process outsourcing. He says it's time for US companies to catch the wave and get into the huge marketplace now." read

Firefox User Profile Problem

Today I launch my browser and I get a small window pop open asking me to choose a User Profile. After making a new profile I start and I have lost all my links, bookmarks etc., I was pissed and frustrated. So here is the solution if you ever encounter this problem. First close all browser windows, then go to Start> Run and type: firefox.exe -p

If that doesn't work first try right clicking in the taskbar and select Task Manager and then the Processes tab and select firefox.exe and click on End Process. Select Yes in the warning window and then try typing firefox.exe -p in the Run command.

Quote

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
- Albert Einstein

Skype, what's that?

A recent conversation with five teenagers revealed some interesting facts. Some of the quotes:

I have 10 paid songs out of 1500 on my iPod… I never pay for downloading a song, I go to a friend'’s house to get their music.

QUESTION: What comes to mind when I say Yahoo? Answer: didn'’t really exist until recently when I met a couple guys who use Yahoo Messenger.

Link via Signal vs. Noise

What Is Web 2.0

Here is an article from O'Reilly about Web 2.0.

Mashups

You have probably used then but didn't know they are called Mashups. Wikipedia: A Mashup is a web application created using the public interface or API of two or more third party applications.

Here is a list of different Mashups.

del.icio.us LiveMarks

View what others are bookmarking at del.icio.us in real time at LiveMarks.

Apple Insights

With less than 1% of the iPod Nano screens having any problems the storm that swept across blogs made it appear larger mostly due to passionate users. A former Apple employee gives some insights as to how things used to be done to better respond to problems. read

"When I was at Apple we had two built-in checks to ensure that everyone was well tuned to customer feedback. The first was called "the out-of-box experience" where customers were literally filmed opening and setting up a piece of Apple equipment. Many a red faced engineer went back to the drawing board after viewing those.

The second was to have product managers sit on the customer care phone lines over the first few weeks of a new product's launch. This was also a very effective way to gauge issues and to feed them back quickly and effectively to management."

Ruby on Rails

This is the first time I have heard about Ruby on Rails. I like to keep on top of new things just out of curiosity, but there are so many things happenings. If you want to know about Ruby on Rails read this and view real world examples.