Susan.Calvin

Asimo being shipped off to Disneyland

susan.calvin — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:20:00 GMT

You have to hand it to Honda. Their cuddly little robot, Asimo, is back in the news. This time he's been out there conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to market the $1m donation Honda has made to an educational music fund. It's a bit of smoke and mirrors this time as Asimo can't actually "hear" or respond to the musicians (he's mimicking the movements of a conductor they prepared earlier). But it's made all the papers here and in the US. According to Honda's website, Asimo's being shipped off to Disneyland where's he's to embark on a grueling, daily live show. Makes me want to weep.

Janet from Kansas knows a thing or two about user experience

susan.calvin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:42:00 GMT

It's not often that I get a newsletter from Janet in Kansas, but when I do, she never fails to lift my spirits. I don't know her personally. I brought a vintage sewing pattern from her website once. Janet has a style that's all her own. Her site may look dated, but it works. I've spent hours there choosing patterns. Big brands take note: Janet could teach you a thing or two about engaging your audience.

Subject: Lanetz Living Sewing Patterns 25% off Sale

Hello All,

This newsletter is to announce that once again I am off on a pleasure business trip to Mexico with my husband. He has a very fun and exciting job and I am thrilled that I get to attend this trip with him.

As usual I am running a sale while I am gone. Take 25% off on all orders from now until I return next Tuesday. Sale will end at Midnight (CST) on 5/6/08. Use the coupon discount code "Mexico25". It needs to be entered on the shipping page and as one word. If you try to put a space between Mexico and 25 it will not work. Free shipping with 3 or more will still apply!! woo hoo.

Good news is that the shipping department will still ship out orders while I am gone. Bad news is there will not be any new listings. That is my job as I hand select everything that goes on the website. Thanks for all your business and signing up for this newsletter.

If you wish to unsubscribe just use the link below my signature. You can go to the site now by using this link http://lanetzliving.net/?xtr=mexico

Blessings to all, Janet

The email I got as shopping confirmation was fantastic (her exuberance makes up for the spelling mistakes!)

Woo Hoo! Thanks for your order!!

Your order will ship within 24-48 business hours. I will send you an email to let you know the order was processes and is on its way. If you requested a paypal invoice, PLEASE NOTE: payment must be recieved within 24 hours of receipt.

I delete the pattern pictures pretty quick that sell, to make room for more inventory, so be sure to right click and save to your computers any pics you want for your records.

Blessings from the Wheatfields of Kanas

I’ll have a shot of ugc with my latte

susan.calvin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:01:00 GMT

Struggling US coffee giant, Starbucks, has turned to an interesting source for inspiration – its customers.

The brand has recently launched www.mystarbucksidea.com. The premise is simple – utilise people power to suggest new ideas to improve Starbucks. Once a proposal has been submitted, the community gets to discuss and vote on each idea. Even better, visitors can check on the most popular ideas and monitor their progress and (hopefully) implementation.

I must confess that the site gets my vote. It’s easy to use and customers seem keen to contribute. What’s more, it doesn't appear to be a piece of PR fluff - Starbucks seems to be listening and is posting comments and updates against suggestions.

As an example of how a brand can invite customer insights and benefit from their expertise, it certainly hits the mark. I guess the proof of the pudding will be in how many proposals are finally implemented and whether the site can survive the initial surge of suggestions but I will be watching with interest to see if any other brands will be copying this example.

In the meantime, I’m almost tempted to take my laptop to Starbucks, order a latte and join in. If only they could make their milk a little less sweet... Hmmm, now I know what I can do with that idea.

Dear hilaryfortnum.co.uk

susan.calvin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:39:00 GMT

Dear Hilary,

As a comedy blog, I think you’ve got a lot going for you. Big persona – bit Colonel Merryweather/silver surfer, bit Yorkshire [is there a local A1 café you pop into? Or an RAF station?], bit faded design as in retired male putting web page together. Using the medium to the full - lots of Web 2.0 apps – I quite liked the larky soup vs vomit interactive [though once will do, thanks]. Niche community – well, extremely niche actually as I think it would be Dad’s army meets those Green people who meet in pubs to fess up to their carbon useage. Full media reach – book, though no podcast yet? So what lies in store? Radio? Could be a bit too intense? Advertising – could get some good contextual ads in there possibly?

Well done Hilary, though speaking also as a transgendered persona, I think you could be a bit more in touch with yr feminine side. Susan.

Keeping it short and tweet

susan.calvin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:39:00 GMT

After news that a US journalist was following the nomination race over the pond via Twitter (http://twitter.com/anamariecox), it seems that UK politicians are getting in on the act.

No 10 has launched its own channel (https://twitter.com/DowningStreet) while Brian Paddick http://twitter.com/brianpaddick) has gone one step further. As part of his bid to unseat Ken and become Lib Dem Mayor for London, he’s said that he’ll answer questions by Twitter throughout his campaign.

Now, I’m all for cutting out the waffle and prevarication that play such a part in politics but I wonder if Mr Paddick has really thought this through.

Me: So, Mr Paddick can you tell us how you’re planning to cut teen-on-teen violent crime in the capital – in 140 characters?

BP: Ah, erm, yes...

What's in a name?

susan.calvin — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:07:00 GMT

I read two articles over the long weekend that made me choke on my cornflakes (not very lady-like I know, but what’s a girl to do).

The Guardian revealed that Katie Price (aka Jordan) has been nominated for a children’s book award for Perfect Ponies, a book she didn’t write. At the same time, The Times included Kerry Katona with five other authors in a piece about the return of the Bonkbuster in a piece where she admits to using a ghostwriter.

We all know that celebrities have turned to writing books in the past (think of Fergie’s Budgie the Helicopter and Madonna’s publishing attempts – examples that literally summon up the phrase ‘read it and weep’) but these stories raised numerous questions in my mind.

Does it matter who actually writes a book? Are living brands more powerful than authors? Would you buy these books?

Btw, if you think Katie Price deserves a prize, you can vote for her here:

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/Voting/RichardAndJudyChildrensBookOfTheYear.aspx

If you think she doesn’t deserve a prize, you can vote for someone else at the same place.

Starfishes live on

susan.calvin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:59:00 GMT

So how did the Apaches resist the same Spanish who had wiped out the Aztecs and the Incas? By not having pyramids and leaders and being decentralised. Pretty much like the P2P music sharing sites like the later versions of Napster and Kazoo such as eDonkey which is so decentralised the lawyers couldn't find them to sue them.

This is the idea of The Starfish and The Spider - a book about open, decentralised organisations. Starfish, suggest the two authors [both entrepreneurs from silicon valley] can more than survive losing a limb, in fact the severed leg turns into an entirely new starfish. Spiders, in contrast, die, if their head is cut off. The idea is that while spiders represent top-down, command-and-control organisations, starfish are much more like the widipedias, the ebays and craigslist, of the internet - no heirarchy but peer-to-peer relationships.

It's an entertaining, easy read with good analysis - such as their notion of eBay as a hybrid organisation, a centralised company that decentralises the customer experience. Well worth reading for a good overview of the last 9 years [when Shawn Fanning set up Napster] and of the factors that are going to keep change happening.

The Starfish and The Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom.

Extraordinary photography

susan.calvin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:22:00 GMT

Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, who were both editors of the influential COLORS magazine, now collaborate to make extraordinary work. Ghetto (published 2003), for example is their journey through 12 modern ghettos, from South Africa to Patagonia. In each place the inhabitants were asked the same questions - 'How did you get here? Who is in power? Where do you go to be alone?' In a South African gaol, they photographed and interviewed members of the different gangs who to all intent and purpose run the prisons: to claim membership of a specific gang, each individual has to have memorised the intricate detail of an imaginary military uniform that they can recount - down to the positioning of buttons on cuffs.

Looking at the portraits of each prisoner with the text in which they give the precise account of their rank and status through the description of the uniform they carry in their head is to be given a third image - of someone who knows their precise rank and status within the institution.

It is really powerful work - as interesting for the way they create really powerful and relevant documentary stories with words and images as for the way they work together. Really worth looking at - and reading!

Red House is a collection of photographs of marks and drawings made on the Red House in Sulaymaniyah in Kurdish northern Iraq - originally the HQ of the Ba'athist party and a place of torture and death for many of the oppressed Kurds.

The duo, who are South African, based in London, are showing films and giving a talk on March 4th at 6.15 at the Gate Cinema in Notting Hill - catch it if you can! [Look for the Picturehouse ArtSpace].

You pay peanuts...

susan.calvin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:55:00 GMT

So DailyArticle.com claims to offer "high-quality, original" articles to boost your website's search engine optimisation.

Interesting business model. The writers upload their "professionally" written articles and if you purchase them, they're yours to keep forever. No fuss and no rights to manage, no meddlesome copyright issues. Which isn't suprising really. Reading through some of them, they sound like they’ve been translated from another language with joys like "room of improvement…”

You get what you pay for I guess. $20 for 450 mediocre words on sheds or a light meal for an upset stomach (I kid you not). It's sold as helping you raise your search rating - so seems to be the equivalent of spam. Not sure anyone would ever come back to your site for info (or more worryingly, advice) once they’d stumbled on this type of content! I really don’t see the value. You could get tailored content from any half decent copywriter that would hit the SEO mark as well as being interesting and 'on brand'.

I hope there's no future in it. But then I'm a copywriter.

my nomadic life

susan.calvin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:22:00 GMT

Jooce (sounds just like "Joost", doesn't it?) has developed a virtual desktop that you can access from anywhere. They say they're targeting "cybernomads" - those who don't own a computer and use cyber cafes instead.

The interface looks just like the iPhone - sigh - and therefore like every other newbie digital brand.

Interesting - perhaps we don't need to own any of this stuff any more. We'll let someone else look after it. So my family tree is on Genes Reunited, my music is on last.fm, my photos are on flickr, my friends are on facebook, my gossip is on twitter... this seems like the logical next step...

More details from the BBC News website here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7267534.stm

Free gigs from the comfort of your own home...

susan.calvin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:34:00 GMT

FabChannel and Universal Music have joined forces to bring live gigs from Universal artists to new audiences free of charge.

FabChannel.com is a simple, nicely put together site that had me browsing for some time. It's not perfect - the sign up process is too long and the error message was displayed underneath the 'sign up' and 'cancel' buttons so I couldn't read it; it asks me if I want to sign up when I'm already signed in. And the terms and conditions are displayed in a box with both vertical and horizontal scroll bars - you'd think that perhaps there was something there they didn't want you to read! But I guess we tend to forgive that stuff if we're getting something for free.

The search is nicely done - if not new, and it's easy to find artists. And the quality of the video is pretty good. It'll be interesting to see if it makes money. I suspect that you'd be easily tipped over into purchasing - it took me straight through to iTunes to buy tracks - albeit in Dutch right now.