In June 2005, I wrote about World of Warcraft (WoW): Conservatively, there was a one-time revenue stream of just under $100 million dollars, and an on-going monthly revenue of just under $26 million (just under $312 million annually). They are opening the game up in China soon, where there are 500,000 players in the open […]
September 1, 2006
From the Mailbag
Here’s a hot one, in its entirety: Dear Friend, I need a partner for $14 million deal, for more details please contact me immediately . Thanks, Mike Wilcox. I’m on it.
August 30, 2006
Trapping Telemarketers
Rather cruel for the telemarketing employee, but genius nonetheless. A little while ago I put together a little application on our phone system so that when a telemarketer calls in, I can transfer them to this extension and annoy the hell out of them. I thought about it a bit more and decided to make […]
August 27, 2006
Rail Trail to Twigs
Most readers of this blog will be shocked to hear that I rode my bicycle 14 miles yesterday. I have owned this bike for ten years, and on yesterday’s one ride I probably doubled it’s total lifetime miles. One of the draws was the Rail Trail, a reclaimed railroad bed turned into a flat, well-maintained […]
August 24, 2006
Now In Clogs
On May 10 I cracked a sole on my Birkenstock Chicago shoes. No biggie, they were six years old, and it was my second pair. The first pair failed the same way at about the same time. Not so bad: Spend $200 on shoes and wear them almost every day and they last six years. […]
August 21, 2006
Continuing Examples of Music Industry Stupidity
This is worth a lengthy quote: NY Times: Now the Music Industry Wants Guitarists to Stop Sharing Lauren Keiser, president of the Music Publishers’ Association, says guitar tablature Web sites reduce the earnings of songwriters. In the last few months, trade groups representing music publishers have used the threat of copyright lawsuits to shut down […]
August 13, 2006
What Is Lingr?
Coming soon… Now live: “Lingr is the place for chat on the web. That’s it, seriously- nothing could be simpler.”
August 9, 2006
Declaring First Use
I want to take this moment to claim first use and moral rights on the following trademarks. * Governance for Design and Technology™ * Feed-Forward Governance™ * Strategic Website Leadership™ * People, Process, and Positive Feedback™ * Feed-Forward Methods for People and Process™ * Proportional Budget Matrix™ * Factor-Based Peer Review™ * Weighted-Factor Competitive Review™ […]
August 9, 2006
That’s Odd
Sticker found on bananas: “Eat five a day for good health.” Five bananas a day?? Wow. How do you know it’s early August? You receive the Eddie Bauer Holiday Preview catalog in the mail. That is so, like, in sync! I have been thinking about Christmas gifts and winter clothing recently, haven’t you? The world […]
August 4, 2006
Bogus Mail List Data
Today in the mail I received three identical computer catalogs from Hewlett-Packard (Holliston, MA office). The interesting thing was the people they were addressed to: * Ms. Roxanne Waldner, Executive Director * Mr. Bill Bitzer, Executive Director * Ms. Beth A. Milardo, Manager So? Well, I don’t have any employees, first of all. But those […]
August 3, 2006
Small-Scale Music Marketing
Last weekend I recorded my friend Chris and his band, testing out the new gadget. I sat in the second row and held the recorder in my hand on my thigh. Considering the situation, the recording is surprisingly good. I gave Chris copies of the audio and the .wav file, and encouraged him to post […]
August 1, 2006
A Cooperative Solution
An excellent 3,300 word article in Strategy + Business on the cooperative advantage. A very good read. Cooperatives are often assumed to be merely local affiliations of small and midsized companies, and therefore limited in scope and reach. But their deep roots in their countries of origin — as well as their surprising pervasiveness and […]
July 28, 2006
RMA Please
Dear Andrew, I’d like an RMA to return the microphone stand purchased on order #L23298760, invoice #6098612. The reason for the return is that the metal boom of the stand, when delivered, had two stickers on it, put there by the manufacturer. One was a white paper UPC bar code sticker. The other was a […]
July 26, 2006
Dynamic Scenarios
My friends Anika Schriefer and Michael Sales have published an article describing their work at the intersection of systems thinking and scenario planning, which they call dynamic scenarios. I have watched them develop their thinking over the past 18 months, and have contributed ever so slightly to some conversations along the way. I find this […]
July 26, 2006
Tesla Roadster
Now here’s an electric car worth waiting for. Lots of new here. It will be sold over the web starting next summer. According to their blog they have engaged Lotus for key contract engineering skills.
July 25, 2006
Good Work If You Can Get It
It’s all good, for BP: The company announced a profit of $7.27 billion in the second quarter, 30 percent more than the comparable period a year ago and the equivalent of more than $55,000 a minute. Now that’s some profit! Simply amazing, this world we live in.
July 21, 2006
Perfect Music Marketing
This whole weblog thing is pretty amazing. I wrote that post the other day on finding music – it was a toss-off, essentially, a cool service that made me think about how I used to find music and how much harder it is now (for me). Then, in the comments, this: Hello Michael J. I […]
July 20, 2006
Things Managers Say
I can’t exactly read what it says on that flip-chart over there but I disagree with it.
July 19, 2006
Modern Business Realities
Lunchtime banter: You can buy better but you can’t pay more. This [$300] pen works as well as the cheap ones. We’re not happy until you’re not happy. The food was bad and the portions were much too small.
July 18, 2006
Finding Music
Finding enjoyable new music is hard. [Is that “is” of predication or “is” of identity?] Radio gave up the ghost years ago due to industry consolidation. Now all we have on the dial are programmed playlists driven by payola. I can drive for hours and hear the same manufactured songs over and over regardless of […]