from the comments
I have a long list — I’m very much a place-oriented girl, I suppose. I still miss the original Sears Roebuck stores (particularly those of El Paso and Dallas). They had a particular light and smell that I want back. I’m about to cry thinking of old 5 & Dime stores–Winn’s in El Paso, M.E. Moses in Dallas. They sold live birds and oilcloth and hairnets and chocolate covered cherries and fake diamond rings. They always had the best linoleum floors. I miss the old Eckerd drugstore that was just around the corner from where we live now. It was dingy and cramped, and I loved it. Oh, and Kress in downtown El Paso! It had the best counter bar in the world. As a small child I got knocked down the stairs there by a woman who exited through an entrance door.
I would drive 200 miles to revisit any of the places above.
Dear Clusterflock
This may have been asked before, but: What place of business have you been most heartbroken to see close its doors for good?
Harvard Book Store gets Espresso Book Machine
What forward-thinking authors and publishers are after is a means of leveraging the “long tail” principle, which holds that declining distribution and inventory costs have made it possible to profit by selling tiny quantities of many different products rather than—as was formerly the rule—immense quantities of only a few products. By bridging the still-pronounced divide between electronic and “tangible” publishing, advances like the Espresso Book Machine could represent the realization of this model in the familiar space of the bookstore. “Even with conservative assumptions about demand, we will profit from this service,” Heather Gain, marketing manager of the Harvard Book Store, told Bookselling This Week.
See Poets & Writers article here. Heads up, Andrew–although you have probably already seen this article.
Penny Arcade Not Feeling It
The guys from Penny Arcade had a horrible experience with Jesse Thorn recently, going so far as to call him a “serial killer waiting to happen.”
I looked him up online, in an attempt to figure out what his deal was exactly, because actually being around him did nothing to illuminate his character. I stumbled upon a manifesto entitled The New Sincerity, and if you’re wondering what that could possibly mean, let me tell you. The New Sincerity is simply The Old Irony, with better PR.
for instance
The guy who won Apple’s 10 billionth song promotion downloaded “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash.
“That’s where it all began,” Ventola said.
The media reported that black-tar heroin was sweeping through town, killing users. That “made people want it more,” said Paul Hunter, a Huntington police narcotics officer. “Addicts are always looking for the best high.”
From a series of articles in the LA Times about Xalisco Mexico, middle-class America, black-tar heroin, decentralized business models, and addiction.
Dead Theory
Did anyone happen to catch the feature in The Atlantic about The Grateful Dead? Apparently management theorists and academics are using the band as a sociological case-study for business strategy and brand identity:
[The] musicians who constituted the Dead were anything but naive about their business. They incorporated early on, and established a board of directors (with a rotating CEO position) consisting of the band, road crew, and other members of the Dead organization. They founded a profitable merchandising division and, peace and love notwithstanding, did not hesitate to sue those who violated their copyrights. But they weren’t greedy, and they adapted well. They famously permitted fans to tape their shows, ceding a major revenue source in potential record sales. According to Barnes, the decision was not entirely selfless: it reflected a shrewd assessment that tape sharing would widen their audience, a ban would be unenforceable, and anyone inclined to tape a show would probably spend money elsewhere, such as on merchandise or tickets. The Dead became one of the most profitable bands of all time.
Most enjoyable.
the rare earth crisis of 2009
China is the only country capable at the moment of mining and processing the rare earth elements used in dozens of emerging technologies. With China’s increase in consumption, however, manufacturers around the world are concerned China may limit or halt the export of such materials.
Europium: This extremely rare but critical chemical makes the red color for television monitors and energy-efficient LED light bulbs. China is the only country today that produces europium, dysprosium and terbium, which are necessary for either boosting the efficient operating temperature of magnets or for producing red in color displays. In December, USGS scientists discovered Alaskan deposits of europium, but even the few U.S. companies that mine rare earth elements must send the resources to China for processing.
Lanthanum: A primary component of the nickel-metal hydride battery in Toyota’s popular hybrid car, Prius. The Prius also incorporates neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. Lifton estimates that Toyota may use as much as 7,500 tons of lanthanum and 1,000 tons of neodymium per year to build its Prius cars. That dependence on rare earth elements has prompted the company to search for alternative sources outside China.
Neodymium: This represents a main component of the permanent magnets at the heart of the most efficient wind turbines. China’s own wind production efforts could consume all the available neodymium production and leave nothing for the rest of the world’s booming wind industry, Lifton notes in a recent report titled “The Rare Earth Crisis of 2009.” Neodymium is also used in the glass of incandescent light bulbs produced by General Electric, which has unsurprisingly invested in both Chinese and alternative sources of rare earth elements.
this unique 18-minute genre has its own requirements
From a Wired article on how to ace a TED Talk:
“I’m surprised to see that half the people here know my career in some detail and the other half don’t know who I am,” he says.
Science is fine, but not when it messes with our illusions.
If she had included solar power and African child warriors, it would have been so perfect a TED talk that there would have been no need for others.
Wolfram wraps his talk by saying that when it comes to trying to boil down the universe to a simple algorithm, “it’s almost embarrassing not to at least try.”
“Just because someone has an ego,” he says, citing a writer whose name I can’t read from my scribbled notes, “doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
Magnum archives sold to Dell, curated by the Ransom Center
The famed Magnum photojournalism archive (the rights to the photos are still owned by the photographers) has been sold to Michael Dell and will be curated, for the next five years, at the Henry Harry Ransom Center in Austin.
The boxes are marked with three-initial codes. I haven’t quite broken the codes that correspond to all the photographers. Robert Capa is CAR but then also BOB which is funny. Bob.
“This is very strange to me.”
Bill Gates’ email to Microsoft employees after Apple launched iTunes.
However I think we need some plan to prove that even though Jobs has us a bit flat footed again we move quick and both match and do stuff better.
color me ceo
For example, the color test shows that the typical CEO is more sensitive and private than the typical person and is less likely to be a perfectionist or to be dominant and more likely to be emotionally unstable.
Steve Jobs on Monopolies
Apple had a monopoly on the graphical user interface for almost 10 years. That’s a long time. And how are monopolies lost? Think about it. Some very good product people invent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren’t the ones that drive the company forward anymore. It’s the marketing guys or the ones who expand the business into Latin America or whatever. Because what’s the point of focusing on making the product even better when the only company you can take business from is yourself? So a different group of people start to move up. And who usually ends up running the show? The sales guy… Then one day, the monopoly expires for whatever reason. But by then the best product people have left, or they’re no longer listened to. And so the company goes through this tumultuous time, and it either survives or it doesn’t.
The Necker Nymph
Richard Branson has commissioned an underwater airplane.
“Gliding on the water’s surface like an aeroplane on a runway, one of the three pilots will operate the joystick to smoothly dive down.”
Disney has closed Miramax
Founded by producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein back in 1979, Miramax flourished as an independent distribution and production outfit, before becoming part of the Disney empire in 1993…. During its heyday, Miramax was regarded as arguably the industry’s most respected and influential production company. But in recent years its output has been downscaled by Disney, and its demise was predicted long before today’s closure of its offices in LA.The six Miramax pictures that are currently awaiting distribution – including John Madden’s The Debt and Last Night, starring Keira Knightley – now face an uncertain future.
Well that’s a pity.
the cat’s — out of the bag
Yeah, very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now is we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.
This from the CEO of McGraw-Hill. Tomorrow should be interesting. Steve Jobs is pissed.
After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday’s Web Site
Wah wah wah waaaaah (as in sad trombone)
UPDATE: See, also, the web game, Paywall!
Yours Truly
(via)
Seriously? This Just Happened?
Did anyone catch this?
Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case removes all limits on large corporations to finance and influence federal elections. In its ruling the Court reverse a decades old ruling barring companies from using their general funds to fund political campaign, and guts pieces of the popular McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation. In so doing the Court implicitly embraces a 125 year-old precedent in the case of Santa Clara v. Santa Fe, where the Court first developed the legal doctrine of corporate personhood, explicitly granting corporations the same political and civil rights granted to human beings.
I would be concerned, but I tend to only care about whether the gays can marry.
NYT paywall
This won’t affect me since I read the hard print copy at my local café, but it’s still dumb:
Taking a step that has tempted and terrified much of the newspaper industry, The New York Times announced on Wednesday that it would charge some frequent readers for access to its Web site — news that drew ample reaction from media analysts and consumers, ranging from enthusiastic to withering.
I foresee a bleak, copy-and-paste future for the news organization with my email inbox filled with entire NYT articles from friends who actually shell out the cash for a subscription.
from the dissent
While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.
No Substitutions
The couple wanted to start a business that reflected their values: a neighborhood shop that purchases top-quality ingredients directly from farmers, makes every pizza by hand and serves great food at affordable prices. They also wanted to make sure their business did not take over their lives.
I love this business concept.
We Make Prints
We Make Prints From Your Digitalsmmnhrhuf is how it looked to me.
I spend too much time blissing out in the Wal-Mart parking lot.
Do people ever read the Bibles in their hotel rooms?
Yes! Each Bible placed in a hotel room has the potential to reach up to 2,300 people in its estimated six-year life span. Research from the hotel industry tells us [The Gideons] that approximately 25% of travelers read the Bibles in their hotel rooms.
the pedestrian is in the store before entering it
The new store’s façade is planned to be completely transparent at street level, with large skylights allowing trees to grow inside the store, thus minimizing the transition from outside to inside and drawing customers in.