High Holy Mass of Contradictions

links for 2008-07-05

2008-07-05T11:31:18Z

100 Shops you must visit 2008: Retail Week

Great list of great stores as selected by retailers.

(tags: shopping stores retail)
i had a nightmare « Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Cutest LOLkitten ever. I will be revisiting this page often to die of cuteness.

(tags: cute lolcats kittens!)

Originally published at The Bee Hive. You can comment here or there.

kateo @ 2008-07-04T21:14:00

2008-07-05T02:30:55Z

Standing on a bridge being told off by a cop for wanting to watch the fireworks from said bridge. Celebrating our freedom, indeed!

kateo @ 2008-07-04T19:54:00

2008-07-05T01:10:37Z

Sitting at a cookout downtown, waiting for fireworks, listening to a conversation about the best uses for various drugs.

kateo @ 2008-07-04T16:30:00

2008-07-04T21:46:02Z

is about to hop on a bike and head downtown for the rest of the evening - crowds, drunks, honky tonks, fireworks, and all.

kateo @ 2008-07-04T15:11:00

2008-07-04T20:27:18Z

had spicy nachos for lunch. my mouth is on fire!

Update from Amazon.com

2008-07-04T00:45:27Z

I got an email response from Amazon customer service:

Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.

I’m sorry for the trouble you had with your shopping cart.

I’ve reported the problem, and our technical team is working on taking care of it right now.

Often these errors are corrected after only a short time, so please try again after two or three days.

I understand that this might be causing you lot of inconvenience. Please understand that we are doing our best to resolve this problem, but technical glitches cannot be predicted and at times it is unmanageable.

Thanks for your patience while we fix this problem and thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.

[…]

Best regards,

Muzeeb
Amazon.com Customer Service

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A wordle of my own

2008-07-03T22:26:02Z

I’ve seen some cool wordles, but it wasn’t until a friend posted one she created using a recent research paper that I got inspired to create one of my own. This wordle uses my “manifesto,” which was a 37-page, 6,889-word document outlining a proposed strategy for how we at Magazines.com interact with our customers to optimize lifetime value.

No surprise that “email” and “customers” are the prominent words for a visualization of a document describing, essentially, how best to communicate with our customers.

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links for 2008-07-02

2008-07-02T11:32:22Z

Maghound.com: Think Netflix, but for magazines : Ben Patterson : Yahoo! Tech

Ooh, this is a good one. Note particularly the first part of the sentence: “And while I can’t say I’ve often had the urge to switch out subscriptions once I’ve settled on my favorites … given the chance, I just might (I’m looking at you, Esquire).”

(tags: maghound magazines)
Netflix-like model to work for magazine lovers? | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

No long tail on this dog: “…The results won’t be nearly as deep as Netflix, which… has a library of more than 100,000 titles and a veritable arms race … to build better algorithms. Maghound is starting out with just less than 300 magazines… .”

(tags: maghound magazines)
Maghound to launch this September | Editechial

“…Netflix was able to gain their dominance… by being the largest online advertiser for years in a row, they essiantially “bought” market share and customers. I don’t believe Maghound has the funding Netflix had…” It’s Time Inc. Not enough fund

(tags: maghound magazines netflix)
Maghound adopts the Netflix model for magazines « Curiously Persistent

“Interestingly, the auditing bodies will be viewing these as single-sale copies.” I do think that’s one of the more interesting wrinkles in the whole model — it’s not technically a subscription, from an Audit Bureau standpoint.

(tags: maghound magazines)

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Customer experience done right (yes, even though it’s late)

2008-06-30T22:19:00Z

Yes, they screwed up by announcing they would take away the Profiles feature. But then, when it became clear that customers were upset with the announcement — and by upset, I mean ready to cancel their accounts — Netflix retracted their decision, and sent one of the best apology emails I’ve seen.

We Are Keeping Netflix Profiles

Dear Kate,

You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.

We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.

-Your friends at Netflix

Short and sweet, and to the point. “You spoke, and we listened.” That’s the essence of managing customer experience, even when it happens a little after it could have. Well done, Netflix.

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links for 2008-06-30

2008-06-30T11:30:42Z

Readers Pick: 16 Sites for Web Design Inspiration

(tags: webdesign inspiration design galleries)
Using CSS to Fix Anything: 20+ Common Bugs and Fixes

(tags: css webdesign tips hacks design)

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Yawn.

2008-06-29T15:12:11Z

I had stress dreams all night about work. Not just work, but, um, well, strategic issues that influence the future of the company.

Maybe I already need another vacation?

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links for 2008-06-29

2008-06-29T11:30:27Z

16 Ways to Harness the Power of Pictures

Certainly not all of these apply to all e-commerce catalogs — a good many of them would make little sense with magazines, for example — but this is a good list and should help spark some creative ideas about how to showcase products.

(tags: ecommerce webdesign photography)

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links for 2008-06-28

2008-06-28T11:30:28Z

Can A New Netflix-Like Service Save Magazine Industry? - Media Money with Julia Boorstin - CNBC.com
“I can imagine using it– I like not being locked into any commitments and it could be fun to try out magazines that are hard to find in ordinary airport newsstands. […] While working on home construction I’d sign up for all interior design magazines.”

(tags: maghound magazines)
Kevin Allman: Desperate times in the newspaper & magazine industries
“The whole point of magazine subscriptions is the set-it-and-forget-it model, which is why they always try to entice readers with steeply discounted 2- and 3-year plans.”

(tags: maghound magazines)
Your choice of magazines « Lou Heldman on the News Media
“Some major challenges would seem to be: Rising paper and postal costs. The magazine industry’s traditionally slow execution starting new subscriptions. More and more magazine content being accessed on the Web.”

(tags: maghound magazines)
Finally! Mix-and-match magazine subscriptions : Carolyn Erickson
“I’ve been waiting for this. While I hate to pay the newstand price for magazines, I often do. Why do I pay $4.95 for a single issue when I could subscribe for about $15 per year?”

(tags: maghound magazines)
Maghound Sniffing for Long Tail | Media Industry Blog | BNET
“But, unless I’m missing something, we have a small problem here, and it has to do with the length of the magazine-lover’s best-friend’s tail. The company says it has 280 magazines signed up so far, and hopes to have 300 by launch.”

(tags: maghound magazines)

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The definition of summer cool

2008-06-27T20:18:08Z

is a Blue Coast veggie burrito followed by a blueberry chocolate chip paleta. I’d be supremely relaxed right now if 1) I didn’t have so much crap to do, and 2) I hadn’t eaten quite so much of said food.

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links for 2008-06-27

2008-06-27T11:34:09Z

Behavioral Marketing for Audience Development

My co-presenter posted the slides from our presentation out to SlideShare. Not sure how meaningful they are without the narrative, but here they are.

(tags: marketing presentations behavioral_targeting conferences)

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Letter from a jilted lover

2008-06-26T22:15:58Z

My colleague pointed me to a letter a friend of his wrote to American Airlines, “breaking up” with them.

Dear American Airlines,

I don’t think we should see each other any more.

I know that’s hard to hear. But you’re not the same airline I met a few years ago. You’ve changed. And not for the better. Sure, you say you love me… that you’ll take care of me… that I am “Elite” in your eyes… but those words just seem empty now. I need you to show me that your love is genuine.

There’s more. Lots more. And it’s brilliant. Check it out.

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Originally published at The Bee Hive. You can comment here or there.

Greening Nashville

2008-06-23T15:30:48Z

I sure hope this comes to be:

The mayor has called on the committee to identify goals and develop a plan of action that would help Nashville to first become the greenest city in the Southeast, and later one of the greenest cities in the nation.

As the article points out, there’s plenty of work to be done, from outdated stormwater infrastructure (as evidenced by the turrets of water that run down our street when it rains) to sorely lacking mass transit options, with recycling and air quality in between — but it all seems manageable in the long term. I’m glad to see attention being paid to the gaps that need to be addressed.

Now if they would just get moving on a mass transit option that would take me from Nashville to Franklin. I’m getting a little tired of these $60 tanks of gas.

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Originally published at The Bee Hive. You can comment here or there.

Wow, George Carlin is dead.

2008-06-23T05:25:14Z

Celebrity deaths don’t often prompt a reaction in me, but this one made me gasp. Not because it was so very unexpected, really, but because no matter how old he got or how sickly he was looking, I guess it’s hard to believe someone so smartassed could really die.

He’ll be missed.

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A little nerve-wracking, sure

2008-06-22T20:41:08Z

I’m in Chicago to speak at a pretty big conference, and my co-presenter is a guy I’ve never met, and our topic is one I know a thing or two about but have never spoken on before. We still haven’t finished writing the content of the presentation. Our session is three days away, and he doesn’t get into town until late the afternoon before.

And yet I’m strangely relaxed today. I’m either completely delusional, or I know what I’m doing enough to feel like we’re going to pull this off anyway.

Or maybe a little of both.

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Exciting but mysterious

2008-06-21T18:16:09Z

The publisher of “Mango Sun” emailed us this morning to let us know he has “major” interest in the song.

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Please don’t cry

2008-06-19T17:23:32Z

Please don’t cry

Originally uploaded by Kate O’
My coworker Andy told me a sad story about a coyote killing a cat, and then left me a little chin-up note to counteract it. This place is nutty.

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Because really, how often will I get to say something like this?

2008-06-18T22:43:25Z

My work day today consisted of almost 6 hours of driving, an hour and a half of meetings, and two hours of watching a minor league baseball game. (Our team won.)

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links for 2008-06-16

2008-06-16T11:33:52Z

A Practical Guide to Branding

Great high-level summary of the importance of branding and the difference between branding, advertising, and marketing - often misunderstood concepts.

(tags: branding marketing)
2008 Design Trends

A good compilation of some of what’s showing up repeatedly in various sites around the web.

(tags: webdesign trends inspiration 2008 layout graphics)

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Originally published at The Bee Hive. You can comment here or there.

Priorities

2008-06-15T13:17:07Z

Karsten and I have often talked about disaster preparedness, and a lot of our concern has to do with our six cats. In an emergency, we want to be able to get everyone to safety, of course. That seems marginally feasible with six, but having now seen this picture, I’m so glad I haven’t had to try. My heart goes out to both of the men shown in this picture, as of course it does to all the Iowans trying to make life right again, but I feel a special kinship with this man who appears to put saving his cats above saving anything else in his home. I suspect I’d be that person, too.

(I also can’t help but think that those terrified cats are probably scratching the hell out of him, poor guy!)

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links for 2008-06-13

2008-06-13T11:30:56Z

Maghound: a Netflix for Magazines? - Advertising Age - MediaWorks

(tags: magazines maghound)
cabel.name: Maghound Mystery

The folks at cabel.name detect price testing at the Maghound site. The comments on this blog post are as good as the entry itself.

(tags: maghound testing)
Maghound: Time To Offer Flexible Magazine Subscriptions

Consumerist’s take on Maghound

(tags: magazines maghound)

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Originally published at The Bee Hive. You can comment here or there.