Context matters. This is obvious, but all it takes is something a little unexpected, from an odd or previously unimagined source, to completely revamp how something is seen or experienced.

Coldplay's "Fix You" is done beautifully here by a guy who needs oxygen, in a wavering baritone as a group of senior citizens back him up.

http://docopenhagen.blogspot.com/2006/11/ill-man-doing-cover-of-coldplays-fix.html

A vivid and unforgettable panorama of paris by night. Take some time to look a the detail on Notre Dame.

http://framboise78.free.fr/Paris.htm

Labels: Design

Not too long ago, I lost my phone in Chicago. The replacement phone that I got from Sprint took a while to get used to. One of the nice features, I discovered, was that it was Bluetooth ready.

At first, I was reluctant to get a headset because I didn’t want to join the talking zombie phenomenon… you know what I am talking about… when you see someone marching along a city street, talking determinately and alone… it's just strange.

Then, a friend just gave me one. And I ended up really liking it. I am now a talking zombie… and I don’t care. In fact, I enjoy freaking people out.

Anyway, did you know “Bluetooth” is the nickname of a 10^th century king? “[Bluetooth is]named after a 10th century king of Denmark who enjoyed eating blueberries a bit too much, resulting in blue stained teeth. Harold "Bluetooth" Gormson helped to unite Sweden, Norway, and Denmark much like the way Bluetooth helps to unite your wireless gadgets under a single standard.”

This site fashions a relatively useless but funny Bluetooth device, the “Bluetooth Retro Handset.”

This set off a search for cool Bluetooth gadgets and here is what I came up with:

Citizen watch… look at your watch to see the “time” but really see who is calling when you have your phone set to vibrate. This could come in handy at meetings… but be careful, you might give people the wrong impression when you get a lot of calls.

Stereo Headphones… I have major headphone envy. Ben has this one, and he trolls around the office while still listening to his iTunes. I want it.

Your computer CAN have Bluetooth, if you don’t already have it… this adapter allows you to do so. Get it if you don’t already have Bluetooth. It’s cool.

I heart Bluetooth.

John Dodds over at "make marketing history" has written a several-paragraphs-long response to the cluetrain, called the j-train, that is worth praise for both is brevity and in its seriousness. My favorite of his points is below:

"Marketing Is Not A Department.
Marketing is a combination of elements that creates the environment in which it is possible to meet a customer need (starting right back at product development). It operates online and off and should inform and occupy every aspect and department of an organisation. More than ever before, it is everybody's job."

http://makemarketinghistory.blogspot.com/2006/11/j-train-marketing-20-minifesto.html

Labels: advertising

The wall street journal had this to say today:

"Internet Ad Spending Is Set to Top '05 High

NEW YORK -- Internet ad sales for the first nine months of the year are close to the amount spent during 2005, setting up the likelihood of another record year, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said.

At this rate, Internet advertising spending should reach $16 billion in 2006, which would eclipse last year's record of $12.5 billion, the IAB says. The IAB reported that the amount spent on Internet advertising from January to the end of September was $12.1 billion.

In the third quarter, $4.2 billion was spent on Internet advertising, representing a 33% increase from the year-earlier period. The third-quarter's ad revenues represent the largest ever spent on Internet advertising in any three-month period, according to the IAB, ekeing past the most recent record of $4.1 billion set in the second quarter of 2006."

See if this link will work for you:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB116356296940023604-lMyQjAxMDE2NjEzNTUxNjUyWj.html

After almost a year of Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink” sitting on my bookshelf, begging to be read, I finally found the time to plow through it.

It was fantastic!

As I was reading it, I kept telling myself, “There are so many parallels between what he is saying and web design.”

Once I was done reading the book, I was about to write out these parallels, but something told me to search on it first. So, I did. And found that that I wasn’t the only one who saw the parallels – it turns out, I am about a year too late!

Edbatista.com saved me from about two days of writing. So thank you.

I highly recommend to all people doing web design to read the book and then to read the three part series in edbatista.com.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Maybe. All indications say that it will. Reviews aren’t good. But I am still hopeful. I like competition. It forces hardware and software to be less lazy and more ingenious with their strategies. And in the case of Apple, perhaps even cooperative.

In the end, consumers benefit when there is healthy competition. They benefit both in price and product.

A good argument could be made that content rules our economy. Not software. Not devices. Not the “fed.” Content. Think about it… how successful would the iPod be if it had no songs or movies to sell? How successful would Yahoo! be if they didn’t have articles, weather, email, and everything-else-content imaginable? How many people would tune-in to watch TV if there wasn’t anything good on? Radio? Newspaper? Why do investors subscribe to Bloomberg?

So, wouldn’t it make sense that the company providing the best content is positioned for greater rewards? Not necessarily. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink” says that there is such a thing as “Sensation Transference” – which basically means that the package is the product.

This being the case, Zune’s business model is well positioned to have the upper hand. Microsoft is working hard to create win-win arrangements with content providers. Whereas Apple is not. They own the distribution channel, so they have the power to be stubborn and closed. On the other hand, Zuen as a device is nice but not extraordinary – as is the iPod.

So, despite all the bad press and poor reviews, I have high hopes for Zune. I hope they carve out a nice piece of the market – if for nothing else, to nudge Apple a little bit. Thier ads are nice enough. It might happen. The best thing that could happen is that they will get into a feature and price war with one another. In that case, we the consumers win.

This is one of those "you have to see to believe" things. Sure, the furniture looks Dr. Seuss goofy, but the sheer ingenuity of the design and manufacturing process leaves me breathless - isn't this star trek level technology or something?

In simple language, two industrial designers drew furniture, which motion capture recorded, which was then "built" into 3d with a 3d-printer.

"The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined. Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture."

Go here to see the movie.

Answer: Not the S&P 500. Not the consumer price index. Not the prime interest rate or inflation. Not the unemployment rate or inflation.

They know they have job security when a new internet browser is released.

With new browser releases, websites break because the browsers often interprets code differently than its earlier version. Problems are minimized when browser makers follow the standards everyone uses to develop.

There is a little organization called the W3C. This organization’s job is to create standards for the web. All browser vendors need to do is follow their guidelines, which are standard and reasonable, and there wouldn’t be a problem.

But what would a world without rogue browser makers look like for web developers?

Well, for starters, we wouldn’t have that much to do. Most of our time is spent hacking at code for browser compatibility. So, we might end up spending more time on usability design, or even making sites more engaging and polished.

Also, without rogue browser makers, our jobs would become more trivialized than they already are. I have sat in meetings where people tell me that their thirteen year old cousin’s neighbor can make a “home page.” Followed by, why should I pay you to do it? My typical answer to such rubbish wouldn't be that meaningful anymore: "Oh yeah? Maybe! but can that zit-popping lank make it work across platforms, browsers and browser versions?" Never mind strategic web communications marketing, strategy, and advertising … ok, ok, that’s a rant for another day.

So, why would a browser maker go completely out of their way to ignore standards? Because they want developers coding to their platform, and through this, capturing more of the market.

There is nothing new about browser wars. These wars are almost as old as the image tag. First there was Mosaic, then Netscape. Some time after Netscape captured the market, Microsoft came out with Microsoft Internet Explorer and in no time at all completely cannibalized Netscape’s slice of the pie. Then, Microsoft was the only big player for a while until FireFox joined the fight.

FireFox has gained a lot of ground with web users and developers - Mac, PC and Linux alike. Why? They follow standards. Go figure!

So, thank you Microsoft for releasing a new browser that doesn’t follow standards. Thank you for breaking the web. And thank you for making sure that web designers stay in business.

Now, how do we explain to our clients that their sites are broken because Microsoft is sloppy and greedy?

What do women want?
Well, to start, what women want are power tools, dishwashers, digital cameras, automobiles and houses. Not surprising to those who are counting, women make 80% of household buying decisions in the United States.

This quote from corante's Total Experience sums it up nicely: "women [are] better informed, more inquisitive, and ultimately the people who made the buying decision. Males in couples often stood on the sidelines while their female partners did the bargaining -- hard. The show host speculated that men don't want to be one-upped by salespeople, which is how they feel if they have to ask for advice. The same is true, it might be observed, for couples on the road or traveling overseas: who wanders endlessly, and who asks the questions that gets the couple where they're going? You got it: the gal. "

And why the hell do so many marketers focus on the 18-35 male market? Probably because those consumers watch tv, play video games and go to movies, and are the benficiaries of everything advertisied, but is the acutal purchaser of less than 20% of it. If you are selling beer and pizza, you might want to appeal to men - well scratch that, apparently most men prefer women to call and order pizza. Why is anyone worried that men arne't watching as much tv?

Some facts:
Women bring home 55% of income, so they are more than empowered enough to make purchasing decisions on their own.

1 out of 4 households in the United States are headed by a single woman.

83% of US households have 1 checkbook that is handled by the woman.

22% of homes are owned by single women (cmpared to 12% of single men).

The prognosis is on the upswing: Women for the last five-ten years have brought home the majority of business, law and overall degrees. (57% of bachelors degrees go to women, and an ASTONISHING 46% of medical degrees go to women.)

The 80% number is more conventional wisdom than hard number's but the 80% figure originates from some serious stats on female purchasing decisions. For instance, women make:
92% of grocery decisions
62% of new car decisions (40% of trucks!)
55% of consumer electronics

The Total Experience blog gleaned three points worth repeating here:

• Experiences are almost certainly different for men and women, categorically, outweighing individual differences. Designed experiences must be tested for these differences.

• Any experience design for a mixed audience must be designed with the assumption that the women's experiences will be decisive, if the point of the experience is a subsequent action on the part of the “experiencers.”

• Teams of experience designers will benefit by including women who see things in a context that men may not share -- and by taking their advice.

and here are my additions:

• Women are fantastic reasearchers. Don't over simplify for your female audience or inadvertantly condescend, they want know all the facts and want to know why each fact is relevant.

• If a woman has a bad experience, she will tell 20 of her friends for the next 20 years. Learn this and leanr it well: While a positive experience for women can be pretty good for your brand, a bad experience for women can be horrific.

• Women want to be respected, particularly in historically male-dominated areas such as financial services and automobile purchasing.

• Women pride themselves on SAVING money as well as spending it wisely. An intelligent promotional point might be to highlight what can be saved as well as why the purchase is otherwise prudent.

To hear the full show:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6423213

Labels: advertising