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October 31, 2006

Play Ball - Basketbawl

As the NBA season tips off tonight, I'd love to say I'm caught up in the usual anticipation. Will Shaq's health hold up so the Heat can repeat? Can Detroit win without Ben Wallace? Can the Bulls lose with Wallace? Who will win the next NBA lottery, my hometown Hawks or the Knicks?

For now, though, I'm distracted by a far more intriguing question: How long will the new ball last? The NBA is introducing a new ball this year, the first such change in 35 years, and the players are embracing it with an enthusiasm not seen since New Coke dribbled out of the soda tap. Spalding says the microfiber material is superior to good old leather. It stays dry when sweaty, has a more consistent feel, a better bounce. It's a slam dunk.

To which the players - and Shaq, in particular - say, sorry, it's an air ball (and given the big guy's free-throw difficulties, he should know). The synthetic surface becomes too slippery or too sticky. It's also too bouncy. Worse, it lacks the great touch of a worn-in ball that shooters count on (Mavs owner Mark Cuban even waxed about the old leather ball recently).

Spalding says it tested the ball thoroughly. But given the huge outcry from the players, it certainly doesn't sound like the players were consulted enough. And that's a terrible game plan, by Spalding and the NBA. Earlier this month, league commissioner David Stern back-tracked and said the ball could be replaced if further testing reveals that it does, in fact, become slippery when wet. If stars like Steve Nash and Tracy McGrady continue to complain, my prediction is the new ball becomes the old ball by mid-season, and the latest example of a high-profile product failure.

Posted by Chuck Salter at 6:26 PM | 1 Comment

Posh Porta-potty

Another tinkle in this week's Bathroom Blogfest.:

I’m heading to New York from Boston by bus. Yes, it’s true: I lead a very glam life. But this is a very special bus. It’s the LimoLiner, a sort of ritzy rig, with big leather seats, wi-fi, a ‘flight’ attendant, TV, and snacks…a sort of Jet Blue on wheels.

One of the best things about this bus? The bathroom. It’s a clean, well-lighted, spacious place, with full length mirrors, Silestone counter tops, a hammered nickel sink, and get this: fresh flowers! Yes, they’re tired-looking carnations in water that is none too fresh, but I’m not complaining.

If they can do this on a bus, what’s the airlines’ excuse?

Other participating bloggers:
Customer Experience Crossroads

What I Do for a Living

The Curious Shopper

Church of the Customer

Customers Are Always

Experienceology

Flooring the Consumer

Technorati tag
ladiesrooms

Posted by Linda Tischler at 2:00 PM | Add Comment

Newspaper Circulation Falling Faster and Faster

Gone are the days of the smoking-jacketed man with his armchair, pipe and evening paper.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations reported a 2.8 percent decline for weekday circulation and 3.4 percent decline in Sunday circulation for the six months ending in September. This marks an increasingly fast decline in newspaper readership.

And growing online media is only making things harder for an industry that has been struggling with changing readership patterns for decades. According to an Associated Press article on the topic, U.S. newspaper circulation has been dropping steadily since 1987, well before the Internet was widely adopted by the public.

The nation's three largest papers (USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times) all saw declines, and circulation at The Los Angeles Times -- the nation's fourth largest paper -- dropped a startling 8 percent. The New York Post was one of few papers large papers to see a gain in readership.

Granted, newspapers aren't the household staple they once were, but will they ever really become obsolete? Crossword puzzles aside, can they still offer anything that television and the Internet can't? Do you still read them?

For more about how online media should complement its print counterpart, check out David Lidsky's blog, where he asks "What Do You Want From A Magazine Website"?

Posted by Peter Hoy at 12:20 PM | 4 Comments

October 30, 2006

Do Not Fear Downloadable Movies

Although Amazon and Apple have gotten a lot of buzz for recent forays into downloadable movies, the startup Guba.com is, in fact, quietly doing more and doing better than its much-hyped counterparts. Here's a Fast Talk from this month's issue with Guba CEO Thomas McInerney that tells his story. It's hard not to root for the guy.

The latest news is that Guba is launching an on-demand horror channel with Comcast, Sony and Lions Gate (obviously timed for Halloween). It's a video-on-demand channel for Comcast customers, a Web offering, and a mobile play (FearNet Mobile).

So check out our piece and then download A Clockwork Orange or Dial M for Murder. And let us know what you like and don't like about the digital video movie experience.

Posted by David Lidsky at 5:18 PM | Add Comment

The Princesses and the Pee: A Customer Experience Fable

"Would you want your wife to pee in this place?”

Several years ago, the noted retail anthropologist Paco Underhill brought down the house at a Fast Company event when he posed that question. It was, he said, the one he most liked to ask store executives when he toured their establishments.

As was Fast Company’s practice at the time, we hurriedly had our team of graphic designers, standing ready behind the scenes, cobble together a poster featuring the slogan, and we slapped them up on walls outside the ballroom where he was speaking. When the audience exited, they were displayed in all their lurid glory. But they didn’t stay up for long. The irreverent flyers quickly became one of the hottest take-home mementos of the conference. Underhill had clearly touched a nerve.

That was the first bathroom story that came to mind when I was asked to participate in one of the pre-eminent blogging events of the season: the first annual Bathroom Blogfest. The gala blogathon, the brainchild of Stephanie Weaver, consultant and author of the upcoming Visitor Experience Handbook, and Susan Abbott, a consumer researcher in Toronto, is designed to celebrate, vilify, elucidate, and educate readers on the the current state of global restrooms (one of my fellow bloggers hails from India, which should make for some mighty interesting cross cultural bathroom anthropology.) The fest coincides with National Kitchen and Bath Month.

Since signing on to this conclave (which includes posting from seven other bloggers with bladders) I’ve been paying more than usual attention to the conditions under which I relieve myself in public places. And let me tell you: even in New York City, the conditions range from extremely posh (the Mandarin Oriental), to extremely dark (the cave-like conditions at Lever House), to extremely skinny (the Manhattan Theater Club), to extremely grubby (the gas station near JFK.)

To Paco Underhill's point: women, especially, care about these things. My impression of 20 Pine, a luxury condo development in the financial district whose lobby and fixtures are by Armani Casa, instantly went down a couple notches when I was directed to a bare-bones ladies room behind a black curtain that lacked paper towels and smelled of disinfectant. Alternatively, I am always grateful when I discover a department store whose well-kept restrooms offer hooks for handbags (especially following the recent report on all the germs women’s purses pick up from bathroom floors!) and shopping bags, and enough tissue so I’m not forced to throw myself on the kindness of the woman in the next stall..

If customer experience is the new retail mantra -- the frontier on which companies can distinguish themselves from their competitors -- then ladies’ rooms should be high on the list of zones targeted for attention. (so, too, should be dressing rooms, but that’s a blog for another day.)

Retail executives of the Y chromosome persuasion should be as vigilant about the state of their ladies lounges as they are about their store windows. If it takes sending wives, daughters, or random shoppers, graced with 20% off coupons for their trouble, to get the honest dish on conditions in the loo, then consider it time and money well spent.

And if your wife reports back that she doesn’t want to pee in that place, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Other participating bloggers:
Customer Experience Crossroads

What I Do for a Living

The Curious Shopper

Church of the Customer

Customers Are Always

Experienceology

Flooring the Consumer

Technorati tag
ladiesrooms

Posted by Linda Tischler at 4:33 PM | 6 Comments

Trans Fat Freedom

Yum Brands, Inc. announced this morning that its 5,500 U.S. KFC stores will replace partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in most menu items (it hasn’t found a good alternative for biscuits) with soybean oil by April 2007. That means cutting out most trans fat, a big step for a big industry. (Yum had revenue of more than $9 billion in the last year.)

Yum said its other properties, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s, and A&W, are also looking into eliminating trans fats. Wendy’s already went trans-fat free, and McDonald’s is continuing to “test in earnest” for alternatives. Fast food may be the final frontier of trans fat, which contributes to coronary heart disease and which Harvard researchers estimate causes 30,000 U.S. deaths a year.

Starting January 1, 2006, the FDA required trans fat content to be listed on nutritional labels. And today, New York City’s Board of Health is holding a hearing to decide if it should be the first city to ban trans fat in its restaurants.

Posted by Josie Swindler at 3:17 PM | 5 Comments

What Do You Want From A Magazine Website?

Interesting article today in today's Wall Street Journal about Time Inc. and its latest attempt at a coherent Web strategy. The piece raises some important issues about what we want from our print media's online forays. Perhaps the most telling paragraph is this one, highlighting what Time Inc has planned for some of its flagship titles:

Time Inc. plans to invest millions of dollars in coming months to build up its biggest sites. The enhancements will include more professional video and portfolio tools for investors at CNNMoney. The company is considering making acquisitions to expand SI.com into social networking and user-generated content. And at People.com, the publisher plans to invest in blogs, video and other features.

Do you want more video from your print titles? Do you want more tools or an opportunity to hang out? Or do you do those things elsewhere? It's a good story to read after this month's Fast Company feature on the digital newspaper guru Rob Curley.

So what do you want from the Web version of your favorite magazines (yes, including Fast Company)?

Posted by David Lidsky at 2:28 PM | 5 Comments

A New Take on Hot Pants

Well, actually they're heated pants -- dual zone heated cargo pants to be exact. A pair of trousers with two heated zones: 1)lower back; 2)pockets -- and three temperature settings. Rechargeable, battery-operated, fleece lined pants featuring lightweight, carbon fiber thermal heating elements. (Brookstone; $150) - Via Sci Fi Tech

My only concern with these pants would be the lithium-ion battery. Who'd want their hot pants, errr heated pants, to become on fire pants?

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 2:23 PM | Add Comment

Fertility Phones

We expect our mobile phones to do everything these days--make calls, take photos, and play music. But, a new phone from Japan's NTT DoCoMo does even more than the most feature-laden phone. It comes with a unique new function--fertility aid.

Would-be mothers enter data about their menstruation dates into the phone which then rings to remind them the dates they are most likely to conceive. Based on the average monthly reproductive cycle, the phone alerts the woman three days before ovulation and on the most likely day of ovulation.

The pastel paisley phone was designed by Momoko Ikuta and features other functions, such as a recipe database, geared towards women. Plus, there is a feature that could be useful for the woman who wants an excuse to duck out of a meeting so she can take advantage of her peak fertility window--a button that allows the user to pretend to receive a call.

While I suspect the fertility alert is a useful tool for many women, I find the packaging of so called female-friendly features a little disconcerting. As a woman, I sometimes feel alienated by packaging that "girls up" an essentially gender neutral object.

One year my friend's mom sent her a tool kit which contained a hammer and screwdrivers with pastel pink handles. They came in a pink plastic case labeled "Ladies Tools." While my friend did find the gift useful, she was scandalized to receive such a gift from her typically feminist mother.

Women-what do you think about products designed to appeal to your gender? Do the marketers usually offer something that is designed for your true needs or do you find "girly" products designed for perceived female needs in a way that feels vaguely chauvinistic?

Posted by Leslie Taylor at 1:32 PM | 2 Comments

Bringing Home the Gold, and Silver

I've been a little remiss in sharing that a week ago Fast Company brought home two Folio Awards. We won the Gold Eddie for best consumer business magazine (beating Fortune and Black Enterprise), and the Silver Ozzie for best overall design of a consumer magazine. More on the 2006 Folio Awards here.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 11:24 AM | Add Comment

October 27, 2006

eCommerce Success

"Paid search has quickly become more than just another marketing tool; rather because of the far flung reach of such search engines as Google and Yahoo!, paid search keywords are in the process of remaking many long standing marketing concepts," says Technology Resource Center Columnist Evan Goldberg, founder, chief technology officer and chairman of the board of NetSuite.

Read more to learn about the challenges of using keywords to increase traffic, and how to combat them.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 1:09 PM | 4 Comments

Don't Mess Up

There are 10 things that smart leaders do to help them cope, but those very actions could mess up their companies, careers, and lives, says Leadership Resource Columnist Mark Goulston, M.D., and author of Get Out of Your Own Way at Work...and Help Others Do the Same.

Read more to learn what coping strategies that you currently employ that could end up destroying you -- and how to avoid them.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 12:33 PM | Add Comment

October 26, 2006

In Today's Papers

You know your work day gets crazy when you can't read the news until after work:

• Bangalore Latest Indian City to Drop English Name
  "High-tech capital to be 'Bengaluru,' but not everyone likes the switch"
• Chief of Wipro Says US Faces Bigger Skills Gap Than India (Registration required)
  How outsourcing might -- should -- lead to insourcing
• The Digital Revolution Transforms Learning (Registration required)
  "Education has been a technological laggard but observers now expect it to embrace the 21st century"
• Hotels Ditch Imposing Desks for Friendly 'Pods'
  "Smaller stations make check-in more personal"
• Renegade Roadside Relievers Hit New Delhi's Bottom Line
  When the "long tail" isn't something you want to see from a train window
• Students, Officials Locking Horns over Blogs
  "What is posted from home brings punishment at school"
• Teenage Customers Put to the Test (Registration required)
  "Karen Goel has put up an online service that gives children an edge in a cut-throat education system"
• Yearning for Privacy Begins to Take Hold in Cyberspace (Registration required)
  "Blogging and networking sites are suddenly facing new challenges"

Posted by Heath Row at 10:39 PM | 1 Comment

Internet TV Making Strides

A recent survey by the Consumer Internet Barometer found a dramatic increase in the popularity of Internet TV viewing. One out of every ten online consumers now chooses to catch news or TV highlights while surfing the web. Given the convenience of Internet broadcasts, it’s no surprise. Consumers can now have their entertainment delivered TiVo style, on demand and relatively commercial-free.

Another perk of Internet TV viewing is its universal accessibility. I can view my favorite programs at the office, in my bedroom, or an Internet café in San Paolo. It’s much easier for me find out who was eliminated from this week’s Bachelor in a 60 second clip (while I check my MySpace account at work) than it is for me to sit through 15 minutes worth of commercials to view the hour-long program in its entirety. Although many shows offered on the Web come with a commercial or two inserted before the broadcast, ads that interrupt the continuity of traditional television viewing are a thing of the past.

Although one in ten hardly constitutes a rampant phenomenon, more than two-thirds of online consumers use the Web daily for entertainment purposes, proving that the Internet is increasingly becoming a one-stop-shop for all forms of news and entertainment. Does this mean the days of traditional TVs are numbered? The Internet and iPod-like devices have led consumers to expect -- even demand -- their entertainment anytime, anywhere. Let’s face it: TV just doesn’t cut it when it comes to portability and live 24 hour requests for media variety.

Most online viewers maintain that they’re still watching just as much traditional television as before, but I can’t say I agree with that. I’ve found that I get more news and entertainment on my computer at work than I do on my television at home. What are your personal findings? Are you the one in ten who gets most of your entertainment from the Web, or is traditional TV still your favorite medium? Furthermore, what should we call Internet Television? I-TV? NetVision? This new phenomenon needs a name!

Posted by Kathryn Tuggle at 3:03 PM | 4 Comments

Sony's Loss, Our Gain?

Sony execs must be longing for the good 'ole days of "batteries not included."

The electronics giant announced today that profits tumbled 94 percent to $14.3 million over the July-September quarter following a global recall of 9.6 million of its laptop battery packs earlier this year.

The loss was also attributed to its videogame division, which was hit by delays and higher-than-expected start-up costs for the PlayStation 3, set to be released in the U.S. next month.

Sony's lithium-ion batteries were recalled in August by most major laptop computer makers after complaints that they were overheating and bursting into flames.

The recall cost the company more than $450 million over the second quarter.

On Tuesday, Sony said it would recall some 250,000 batteries from its own laptop computers.

What does all this mean to us? How about cheaper PlayStations? Sony has already dropped prices in Japan by 20 percent to win back angry customers.

Posted by Angus Loten at 2:48 PM | 1 Comment

Credit For All

For Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, access to credit is a human right. Providing credit to the world’s poor, Yunus believes, clashes with the profit-maximizing goal of conventional banks. However, entrepreneurs, such as eBay chairman Pierre Omidyar, are looking to transform microfinance institutions into revenue-driven businesses that raise money in the capital markets instead of depending on donations.

That conflict – between "pure do-gooders and profit-minded do-gooders" – is the focus of Connie Bruck’s article “Millions for Millions” in the latest issue of The New Yorker.

There’s nothing wrong with the desire to both help the poor and make money doing it. However, as Bruck’s article points out, the microfinance debate transcends the question of motivation and comes down to whether the core mission of microfinance institutions -- alleviating poverty -- can be distorted by the pursuit of higher profits. “The Yunus faction worries about “mission drift,” saying that, as the drive for profitability increases, only the so-called “less poor” (as opposed to the very poor) will qualify for loans,” Bruck wrote.

When Yunus started giving out credit to the poor, he didn’t discriminate between the “very poor” and those “less poor.” The bank he founded serves everyone, beggars included. And it’s essential for microfinance institutions, whether commercial or nonprofit, to make that same commitment and never default on it.

Posted by Polya Lesova at 2:41 PM | 1 Comment

Legends of the fall

For a design writer, being at the annual AIGA Legends gala is like being a sportswriter at the All Star Game. Oh, look, there’s Paula Scher! Wow – behind that potted palm – it’s Massimo Vignelli. Don’t turn around, but there’s Michael Vanderbyl!

The Legends gala is the American Institute of Graphic Arts’s annual lovefest/knighting ceremony, in which the industry’s best and brightest get their medals and earn a standing O from their peers. As these things go, it’s a very sweet event, with enough wacky characters in the room to deflate most tendencies toward pomposity.

Last night, three new Legends were named: Pentagram’s Michael Bierut, Thirst’s Rick Valicenti, and Green Dragon Office's Lorraine Wild. There were two corporate tributes as well, one for Target (amazing that it’s taken until 2006 for them to be named) and one for MTV Networks (rumor has it that Tom Freston was supposed to be the guy showing up to accept. Whoops.)

Among the high (and low) lights of the evening:

The location: Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers. A stunning view of the Hudson, although partygoers were mostly too busy meeting, greeting, and air kissing to notice.

The drinks: tres cool apple martinis, with little slices of apple floating on top. Like apple cider with a kick.

The décor: Lighted, Macy’s balloon-like columns, inscribed with previous legends’ names and years lined the corridor to the reception. Giant, star-shaped fixtures overhung the dining room. White lilies on the tables. Programs wrapped in black paper with a gold AIGA medal seal. Glam, but not glitz.

The duds: Some folks wore all black. Some wore mostly black. You could count the un-black on the fingers of one hand.

The vibe: a high school reunion, of all the kids from the art geeks’ table who grew up and got even.

The speeches: Pretty windy stuff for folks who are all about images. The highlight was Paula Scher’s introduction of her Pentagram partner, Michael Bierut, in which she noted his garbage-like brain, which sucks up information like a Dyson vacuum cleaner, then parcels it out to appropriate friends and colleagues as effectively as a Google Adword. Equally touching, Bierut’s tribute to Scher, whom he called “the sister he never had.” Ahhh. Even better, though, was the montage of 2006 Legends’ work. Tip for next year: more pictures, fewer words. And this from a wordsmith.

The most inspiring newcomer: Deborah Adler, whose SVA project (in a class taught by Fast Company’s own Master of Design Brian Collins) of a redesigned prescription bottle is one of Target’s biggest recent hits.

The food: prettier than it was tasty. Appetizer was a pyramid of red and yellow beets (nice autumnal colors) with a side of frisee (the world’s most annoying salad leaf) and goat cheese. The entrée was an overcooked fish (see windy speeches, above) resting on a bed of what appeared to be wasabi mashed potatoes, but turned out to be some mashed pea thing. Dessert, however, was an unqualified success: a giant slice of ice cream cake with caramel sauce. Yum.

Most awe-inspiring moment: the annual class photo at the end, when all the previous Legends gather on stage. This year’s shot included the aforementioned Scher, Bierut, Vignellis, Vanderbyl, and Valicenti, plus Deborah Sussman, Joe Duffy (full disclosure: I was there as Duffy’s guest), Steven Heller, Seymour Chwast, and plenty more. I just wish I had brought a Pantone color book for them to autograph.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 12:08 PM | 1 Comments

October 25, 2006

Search Engine Showdown

Ask.com, formerly AskJeeves.com, has been touting itself lately in commercials as a better search than Google. The company, owned by IAC, points to its special algorithm, its "narrow search" categories, and its topic clusters. Since I do research and reporting for Fast Company, I decided to conduct an experiment. Last week, I changed my homepage at the office to Ask.com.

At first it was disconcerting to see the red logo pop up. However, many times I found what I was looking for, and those "narrow search" categories can be somewhat useful, even if there are too few of them. But I lost track of the times I had to default to the little Google toolbar in my browser for complex searches when Ask.com didn't deliver. In those cases, Google got me closer to what I wanted. Sure, like the Ask.com ads say, there is a more civilized way of searching. Neither company has nailed it, though. The sheer page rank volume of Google--"Google bombs" and all--still outweighs Ask.com. Sadly, I ended up searching on Google for the Ask.com ads to find what I was looking for.

Now, if Google were to buy Ask.com and incorporate some of the technology into its search capabilities, that would be a promising experiment.

Posted by Alyssa Danigelis at 4:29 PM | 2 Comments

Crocs Feast on New Acquisitions

Shoe manufacturer Crocs Inc. continues to gobble up manufacturing companies in a worldwide acquisition spree. The Colorado-based clog and boot producer recently purchased EXO Italia S.r.I. based in Padova, Italy, and plans to acquire another Boulder, Colorado based company, Jibbitz, LLC. in December.

Crocs’ acquisition of EXO Italia and Jibbitz makes sense—both companies produce Crocs-related items. EXO Italia produces EVA products made from a glossy polymer used in shoe soles and sports padding. Jibbitz, more interestingly, produces Croc decorations. Sort of a cross between mini-buttons and snap beads, Jibbitz plug into the holes found on the tops of Crocs shoes. Featuring designs from American Flags to skull and crossbones, Jibbitz are colorful kid-friendly additions for the lightweight footwear.

Crocs will pay $10 million for Jibbitz, and walk away with a truly wonderful addition to the Crocs family. Imagine the practicality of this acquisition: Not only will Crocs sell shoes with holes in them, they’ll soon sell the decorative plugs to stop them up. Soon Nike will be jumping on the bandwagon with disclaimered tennis shoes: Sole sold separately.

But the holes in Crocs (and the cute little stoppers) raise an interesting question. Crocs are strictly a summer shoe, designed for letting air, water, sand and dirt flow freely. Fashion companies that don’t provide consumers with options for seasonal transition often find the winter to be an especially frigid time of year. Furthermore, how much of Crocs popularity is just a passing fad?

Crocs started in 1999 in Niwot, Colorado as Western Brands, LLC. They went public as Crocs Inc. in February of this year, and in nine months have already experienced stock highs and lows ranging from $20.32 to $39.25. Crocs recent acquisitions seem to suggest that the shoes have potential to become a classic footwear staple like Birkenstocks. But fashion trends are anything but dependable.

Twenty million pairs of Crocs are expected to be sold this year, raising sales from $108.6 million to $300 million. The company also produces T-shirts, socks, and kayak seats.

What do you think? Do Crocs have what it takes to stand the test of time and passing fashion fads? Or are the recent acquisitions going to leave Crocs hungry?

Posted by Kathryn Tuggle at 4:09 PM | 5 Comments

In Today's Papers

Reading and ripping:

• Boss Does It All at This Paper
  "At 86, Vinnie Wiliams still writes up a storm, and some lightning, for her Georgia weekly"
• In Limbo, Bidders Asked, "How Low Can You Go?"
  "Auction helps marketers build buzz"
• Ocean Tomo Makes Splash in Patent Market
  "Auctions of high-value intellectual property require personal trust and interaction"
• Staples Founder Sees a Play in Rec Room
  Is a small Chicago-area retailer ready for the bigger time?
• Stores Rave About Web Reviews
  "Online analysis provides instant feedback and maybe new customers"
• This Coffee Costs $103.90 a Pound. Is It Worth It?
  The potential of a premium price on a premium product
• Who Needs a Bowling League to Make Friends When There's the Web?
  Why niches aren't a nice to have, but a need to have

Posted by Heath Row at 11:21 AM | Add Comment

October 24, 2006

A Silver Lining for Ford

It's no secret that American auto manufacturers are in tough shape. Ford's third quarter losses totaled $5.8 billion -- about 30 times what they were a year ago.

But the Internal Revenue Service had some good news for Ford this week: the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid has been certified for the Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 made thousands of dollars in tax credits available for people who purchase a hybrid vehicle from a list of IRS certified cars and trucks. Honda and Toyota dominated the list from the beginning, but American makes such as Ford, GMC, and Chevrolet are slowly finding their way on.

The 2006 Escape Hybrid was certified earlier this year, but this week's announcement should help sell some of the unsold 2005 models piling up in dealership lots. People who buy the Ford SUV will be eligible for the largest alternative vehicle tax credit to date: $2,600 for the 2WD model and $1,950 for the 4WD model.

Will it make any impact for the struggling automotive giant? Or is this a meager reminder that the company should have started focusing on fuel efficiency back when its Asian competitors did?

Posted by Peter Hoy at 3:29 PM | 3 Comments

Old Media Wants Its Piece of the Pie

Traditional media companies, such as the Tribune Co., NBC Universal, and CBS told the FCC yesterday that its restrictions on who can own what media property where have to be eased if newspapers and broadcast outlets are to survive in the face of cable and Internet competition.

In its filing to the FCC, CBS wrote:

"Four years ago, when the FCC last reviewed its broadcast-ownership rules, the YouTube.com domain name had not even been registered, the first Windows version of the audio iPod was just rolling out, Google was only a search engine, cable companies sold primarily video packages, and telephone companies sold primarily voice service. And NBC was the most popular broadcast network thanks to its high-rated sitcom 'Friends' airing in the first hour of primetime."

"Today, just four years later, Google is preparing to acquire 18-month-old video-sharing Web site YouTube for more than $1.65 billion (which will increase Google's market capitalization by less than 2%), Apple has had its fifth-generation video iPod on the market for more than a year, and cable and telephone companies now sell packages of video, voice, broadband and wireless services. Cell phones double as TV receivers for multichannel video services operated by new entrants such as Qualcomm using broadcast-type technology on spectrum allotted to broadcasters. And NBC announced last week that it was making drastic cuts in its television operations, including phasing out costly scripted dramas and comedies during the first hour of primetime."

In contest, a coalition of consumer-interest groups submitted more than 800 pages of comments backing up their position, including a set of new studies that claim easing the rules would allow a handful of people to dominate news coverage in communities nationwide.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 2:00 PM | 5 Comments

In Today's Papers

Short but sweet:

• At Wrigley, Business Savvy Trumps Lineage
  A notable succession at a long-running family business
• Design Gone Bad
  "Six of the worst fads that haunt auto designers"
• Linguist Inventoried Indigenous U.S. Languages (Registration required)
  "Karuk tribe made him honorary member for his work, calling him Uhyanapatanvaanich, or 'little word-asker'"
• "Natural Short Sleepers"
  "Less time in bed can put you on the path to success"

Posted by Heath Row at 11:14 AM | Add Comment

October 23, 2006

In Today's Papers

Better late than never, reading and ripping:

• Best Buy's Geek Squad Steps up Laptop Repair
  An interesting new business development -- and model
• Dumbledore: An Example to Us All
  "Delight in the attitudes of the man who dominates Hogwarts"
• Fantasy Sports? Child’s Play. Here, Politics Is the Game
  Role playing for the policy wonk set
• 'Reluctant Guru' Pens Best Sellers For Readers Bored by Business Books
  On the work of a consultant turned author turned... consultant?
• Scourge of Business Schools Slams "Leadership Teaching"
  The main essay isn't online, apparently, but Henry Mintzberg calls for community-ship rather than a culture of individual leaders
• The 10 Biggest Problems with Wireless
  "Missed calls, dead zones, surprise charges. What are cellphone companies doing about them?"
• We Don't Need More Managers
  Why leaders need employees who don't just listen and execute -- but challenge
• Why This Ghastly Jobseeker Is a Model Corporate Candidate
  "Mr. Vayner's work-hard, play-hard line and his fitness obsession are standard for all employers of alphas"

Posted by Heath Row at 11:14 PM | 3 Comments

Leading Ideas: Don't Let Talk Parade as Action

"One of the main barriers to turning knowledge into action is the tendency to treat talking about something as equivalent to doing something about it." -- Jeffery Pfeffer & Robert Sutton, The Knowing-Doing Gap

Consider This:

It's subtle and pervasive in many corporate cultures. Talk substituting for action. I've often found a frequent offender to be the manager who's gung-ho about a new management book. He likes the concepts. He talks about them often. He gets others to read the book. They like them too. The book's jargon makes its way into their everyday language. Everyone's excited to be on board with the latest management thinking. Amidst the excitement, everyone fails to realize a simple fact. They're not actually putting the concepts into practice. They're just talking about them. Eventually cynicism follows the delusion because nothing really changes. The book is put on the shelf. Then someone finds a new book...

Continue reading "Leading Ideas: Don't Let Talk Parade as Action"

Posted by Doug Sundheim at 3:34 PM | 6 Comments

Web 2.0 University

IBM and The University of Arizona are developing a course that will teach Management Information Systems and Marketing students to build online communities and social network systems using Web 2.0 technologies. The IBM/University of Arizona partnership is the first of its kind to bring these principles to the classroom, giving students early exposure to influential, emerging technologies. This is also the first in a new suite of courses from the MIS Department related to managing and marketing online services. The new course is designed to reinvigorate undergraduate student interest in information technology. Most students are already familiar with and have used sites like YouTube and MySpace, but this course will aide them with applying such knowledge to developing businesses.

The analyst firm Gartner Group predicts that by 2008, the majority of Global 1,000 companies will quickly adopt several technology-related aspects of Web 2.0 to advance their businesses. As companies increase their reliance on new Web-based technologies to capitalize on new business opportunities, the industry is showing greater demand for technology experts who can build and manage Web 2.0 resources including BitTorrent sites, wikis, blogs, podcasts, user groups and forums.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 2:20 PM | 7 Comments

What the Pop!Tech Gurus Read

The bibliography of books written by this year’s Pop!Tech speakers is pretty staggering, from Richard Dawkins’s new book, The God Delusion, to Thomas Barnett’s Blueprint for Action, to Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat, to Bruce Sterling’s Visionary in Residence , and on and on.

But what interested me was what books these big thinkers said inspired them. So I started keeping a list.

Here’s a partial bibliography (in no particular order) of the works that the brainiacs go to for fresh thinking.
Bruce Sterling:
World Changing: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century by Alex Steffen

Alex Steffen
The Hydrogen Economy by Jeremy Rifkin

Juan Enriquez
1776 by David McCullough

Thomas Barnett
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel Huntington
The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman

Richard Dawkins
The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes and Its Implications by David Deutsch
Creation: Life and How to Make It by Steve Grand

Will Wright
Managing the Commons by John A. Baden and Douglas S. Noonan
Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language by Robin Dunbar
The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander

Stewart Brand
The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity by James Lovelock, J. E. Lovelock, and Crispin Tickell
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond

Thomas Barnett
The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama

Kevin Kelly
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Posted by Linda Tischler at 2:14 PM | 1 Comment

October 20, 2006

Pop!Tech Tackles Faith, Science, Arrogance...

Richard Dawkins, evolutionary theorist and author of The God Delusion, stepped to the podium at Pop!Tech this afternoon and asked a dangerous question in a world riven by religious conflict: Why is it, he says, that our society has brought into the idea that faith should be immune to criticism, and be treated with undue respect?

Pointing out the difference between the humility of science, and the arrogance of faith, he makes a radical suggestion. It’s time we started criticizing faith. Without convention of good manners, he says, it couldn’t withstand criticism.

“We’re glad to criticize people’s views on politics, football teams, fashion,” he says, “why not religion?”

Well, he might be reminded, look what happened to the Pope.

Dawkins wasn’t just talking Muslims here, though. Fundamentalisms of all stripes, he thinks, are dangerous.

As an evolutionary theorist, he was understandably bitter about the attacks in this country on the idea that evolution is only a theory. “It’s one of the crosses we have to bear,” he says, with puckish irony.

It was pure Dawkinism. But perhaps the most stunning moment in his talk came in response to a question from the audience from a man who asked Dawkins to explain why, in a moment of personal crisis, he had found strength from his belief in a higher power.

“Your mind is a powerful thing,” Dawkins told the guy. “So I’m guessing your mind created the sense that an external force was doing the guiding.”

Don’t tell that to the ayatollah…or the Pope.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 5:17 PM | 14 Comments

2007 Fast 50 Nominations Open

THIS YEAR'S FOCUS: Our sixth annual global readers challenge will spotlight businesses that are helping to save the world. We're looking for profit -- driven problem solvers-people and companies out to address the planet's woes and make money at the same time. Tell us about yourself, someone you admire, or someone you work with. But make sure your nominee is using new strategies, new ideas or new technologies to tackle issues like global warming, pollution, sustainability, access to healthcare, poverty, trade impact, child labor, and other concerns. No charities, please. We believe that business -- capitalist business -- is a profound force for positive change. Help us prove it.

To nominate yourself or someone else, visit the 2007 Fast 50 Application.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 3:36 PM | 1 Comment

In Today's Papers

Friday afternoon conversation fodder:

• Ambitions of India's Retail Revolutionary (Registration required)
  "Mukesh Ambani, one of the country's most powerful businessmen, has big plans for a sector dominated by small shopkeepers"
• Critical Thinking: Part Skill, Part Mindset and Entirely up to You
  Some talents, you can choose not to use
• Hallmark of Quality Care: Efficiency
  "N.J. hospital leads the way to streamlined, effective teamwork
• New Creations Personalize Cremation
  Businesses bank on the fact that the long gone don't need to prompt long yawns
• New Instruments That Call the Tune
  "In a dramatically transformed investment world, ever greater innovations not only spread the risk but also drive change"
• One U.S. Chain's Unlikely Goal: Pitching Chinese Food in China
  "Yum Brands, Owner of KFC, Pegs Hopes on Efficiency; No Room for Dumplings; Melding Eight Types of Cuisine"
• A Tale of Several Cities
  "Why do some cities flourish while others fail?"
• You Can’t Use That Tax Idea. It’s Patented.
  One reason the patent office might want to rethink allowing business method patents

Posted by Heath Row at 2:53 PM | Add Comment

Next Time, Skip the Valet

Early adopters and Knight-Rider fans rejoice. Lexus is releasing its 2007 line of luxury sedans this month, and you can get one that parks itself.

Toyota's Lexus LS comes with an optional Advanced Parking Guidance System that is designed to parallel park and reverse into a parking spot on its own.

While other makes and models have offered parking assistance tools -- from sensors to alarms to cameras -- the LS actually turns the wheel for you. It stands as a reminder that even in its toughest times, the auto industry is still evolving and commercializing new and innovative ideas.

Admittedly, the system is a little temperamental. It requires a more than comfortably-sized parking spot, and the car must stay at a certain speed and on a certain pitch. The $70,000 price tag might also leave you wishing you'd paid more attention in Driver's Ed, where I if remember correctly, they tried to teach you how to park a car.

So even if the Lexus LS is no match for Hasselhoff's talking Trans Am, the self-park feature is still a cool idea. And if you're already paying that much for a car, why not spend a little extra to impress your friends.

Posted by Peter Hoy at 1:33 PM | 2 Comments

Pop!Tech: A Website to Rejigger Your Brain

Shake up your thinking before you read today’s news. Think you know who really controls the Middle East? Think again. HBS prof Juan Enriquez kicked off this morning’s Pop!Tech by screening a remarkable Web site: mapsofwar.com. Boot it up, and mull the fate of the Mongols.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 9:35 AM | 1 Comment

October 19, 2006

Pop!Tech: Friedman On the New Patriotism

He didn’t have a velvet jacket. He didn’t play thrash guitar. But Thomas Friedman managed to grip the post-lunch audience at Pop!Tech with a straightforward message: This is not your parents’ energy crisis. Friedman’s genius is his simplicity (that theme again)” He makes his case so compellingly that you want to run screaming from the Opera House, head straight to Washington, march up to Congress and the Administration, shake them, and say, “Wake up, you turkeys! What is it about our current energy crisis don’t you get???”

Many of his themes are familiar to regular readers of his columns in the Times. For those who don’t have the luck to read him a couple times a week, here’s what he says.

We are in a war on terrorism, funded and fueled by our energy purchases. We are funding both sides -- our own troops with our tax dollars, and Islamic jihad, Iran, and Hamas with our gas purchases. But we rarely connect the dots. In short, our consumption of energy is related to the geopolitical predicament we’re in.

The World is flat. With the emergence of China and India as economic powers, three billion new consumers walked on the playing field. They can not only compete, connect and collaborate with our kids, but they all want what we want: a car, fridge, PC, and printer. If we don’t find an alternative to fossil fuels, our combined consumption of energy will smoke up this planet even faster than Al Gore predicts.

Green power will be the growth industry of the 21st Century.

Continue reading "Pop!Tech: Friedman On the New Patriotism"

Posted by Linda Tischler at 4:57 PM | 2 Comments

Disney Says "No" to Transfats and Sex

Just days after Disney announced its healthy food initiative comes the news that Mickey, Minnie, and a snowman have engaged in a threesome at Euro Disney.

Apparently, staff members at Euro Disney made a video of the costumed characters simulating sex acts and then distributed the recording, only to have it appear on YouTube.com and other video Websites.

Although currently focused on launching healthy food selections in theme parks, Disney’s P.R. department sprang into action at news of the sex tape, and issued a statement protesting such an outrageous video. Disneyland Paris has now begun an investigation into the Mickey and Minnie (and snowman) sexcapade, all of which was filmed by Disney employees on Euro Disney park grounds.

There’s no doubt that Disney officials will soon uncover the video-making offenders, but I do wonder if the American public will ever hear of the situation again. Now that it’s in Disney’s hands, this inappropriate event will likely disappear -- just like magic. We can chalk it up to Disney’s excellent P.R. department, which knows how to make health food in the park seem more interesting than a rodent spanking.

If you take a look at Disney’s corporate website, you’ll be impressed with the responsible measures they’re taking to ensure that children who visit the parks receive the appropriate caloric intake and avoid unhealthy transfats. But what about the company’s corporate responsibility to keep the public informed of less appropriate news? It’s fine if Disney wants to keep everyone inside park walls happily oblivious to all things negative, but they can’t continue to ignore those on the outside who want to know what’s really happening.

Most companies Disney’s size have a corporate responsibility blog, or some sort of un-touched news feed where consumers and executives can interact with one another on some plane. But Disney just clings to their P.R. department to put the right spin on everything.

What do you think? Do you prefer to imagine Disney as a true wonderland with no faults, no scandals and no humping mice? Or does Disney need to wake up and deal with real-world corporate problems? Disney is a big player, and they need to keep in mind that it’s a small world, after all.

Posted by Kathryn Tuggle at 4:41 PM | 4 Comments

Musical interlude from Pop!Tech

It’s hard to imagine a situation where Thomas Friedman would have a hard act to follow. I just witnessed it at Poptech! A pair of young Mexican musicians called Rodrigo and Gabriella. The most sensational guitar performance I’ve ever heard in my life. A sort of flamenco meets heavy metal, utterly mind blowing. Evidently now the number one CD in Ireland.

Today’s musical tip from Poptech. Music for geeks and non-geeks alike.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 2:46 PM | Add Comment

Pop!Tech: Inside Brian Eno's Brain

It’s opening morning at Pop!Tech, and if you think it was hard to get an opening night ticket to Madame Butterfly at the Met, it was nothing compared to getting a seat at this Camden conference.

The Opera House here is packed to the rafters with a glitterati of geeks, and the folks who love them. A
moshpit of people drawn together by their shared passion to know: What’s Next????

In customary fashion, the kick-off presentation is a mind blower.

Brian Eno, the sonic wizard behind Roxy Music and the father of modern ambient music (thank you, Wikipedia!), steps to the stage, a bald, British guy in a plush plum velvet jacket. I loved the man instantly when he announced that he wanted to talk about simplicity –- one of my favorite topics -- and how, as Darwin pointed out, simplicity generates complexity. “Complexity and intelligence grow from simplicity,” he says, “ not from greater complexity.” Guess that’s why it’s hard to find a simple remote.

Eno said that two things interested him as an artist: Why people want to be artists, and why others want to see what they do. What is it about art, he wondered, that changes people’s minds, makes them think differently?

Continue reading "Pop!Tech: Inside Brian Eno's Brain"

Posted by Linda Tischler at 1:39 PM | Add Comment

In Today's Papers

Reading and ripping:

• The Cheap-Sneaker Challenge
  "Growing Roster of Sports Shoes Under $40 Takes On Giants; 'I Ran in It ... It Wasn't Awful'"
• Company Cards Can Hurt Credit
  When a benefit becomes a liability
• From Hongda to Wumart, Brand Names In China Have Familiar, if Off-Key, Ring
  "In China, where branding is in its infancy, many product names bear a resemblance -- often striking -- to foreign trade names. For the most part, the foreigners aren't amused."
• The Top Pickers vs. the Pack
  "Sites Want Users to Buy Into the 'Genius' Factor"
• A Virtual World, but Real Money
  "An online service called Second Life is fast becoming a three-dimensional test bed for corporate marketers."
• What Zaha Hadid Has Done for Architecture
  "When the world has no place for her original creations, then she'll just reinvent the world."

Posted by Heath Row at 10:46 AM | Add Comment

October 18, 2006

Brand Yourself

How do you become a public expert?

Keith Ferrazzi, CEO of FerrazziGreenlight, a consulting and training and development company, author of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets To Success, One Relationship At A Time, and Fast Company Networking Resource Center columnist, outlines the steps for furthering your individual career and the success of your company through writing and speaking.

In his latest installment, Ferrazzi says, first, you have to build expertise. That's the easy part. The more difficult aspect is getting people to recognize it.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 7:04 PM | 4 Comments

Universal Sues Grouper and Bolt.com

Vivendi-owned Universal Music Group filed a lawsuit Monday against video-sharing YouTube rival Websites Grouper.com and Bolt.com, accusing the sites of hosting pirated versions of Universal music videos.

Universal maintains that the two sites allowed users to view, share, and swap illegal versions of videos by Universal artists including Gwen Stefani, Kanye West and Sheryl Crow.

Thousands of such pirated videos have been viewed on both Grouper and Bolt.com on a daily basis. With Universal seeking damages for as much as $150,000 for each incident of copyright infringement, this case could prove to be one of the most costly in the history of copyright infringement. And really, is that entirely fair? At the end of the day, Universal could just as easily view the whole situation as free advertising for their artists. Universal may have a difficult time proving that Grouper and Bolt have damaged them (or their artists) financially in any way.

Interestingly, Sony Pictures Entertainment signed an agreement to purchase Grouper Network, Inc. in August. As a result, the pending lawsuit states that Universal retains the right to add Sony Pictures to the suit once the case proceeds. Bolt.com is privately held, but both sites are accused of exploiting copyrighted material to bolster their own image as popular video sites.

One of Bolt’s owners posted this message on the Bolt.com homepage earlier today:
“We understand the love you have for your favorite musical artists, but Bolt respects the rights of copyright owners such as Universal Music and their artists, and we ask that you please do so as well by not uploading their videos to Bolt. You can still watch your favorite music videos by visiting your favorite bands websites. Bear with us - we hope to sort this out soon!”

Allegations in the case are so serious that Grouper and Bolt are now being compared to Napster and Kazaa, the original music-sharing sites that set the precedent for the illegal exploitation of copyrighted material. If Universal does win the case, it will mark the end of Grouper and Bolt, but I have a feeling that this digital art from (like all others) will find a way to come streaming into our homes illegally once again.

What do you think? Is complete copyright protection too much to ask in this digital age? Universal and other media corporations need to face the truth: If it’s out there, we’re going to find it, and we’re going to share it.

Posted by Kathryn Tuggle at 6:04 PM | Add Comment

Take Me Out to the...Cable TV Network?!

What to do about sagging network television ratings? Why of course! Move the programming to cable, where even fewer people will see it.

At least that’s Major League Baseball’s plan. Since the lead-up to the Fall Classic isn’t what it once was, baseball is wearing its proverbial rally cap. Its new deal with Turner Broadcasting, seven years at an estimated $45 mil