On Voting – Bond Measures
There were a variety of referendums and other ballot measures this election. In Fairfax County there were four separate bond measures and each passed with a wide margin. Surely each of these are “good” and “needed,” but on seeing the results I questioned if most voters understand how municipal bond issues work. There are two primary […]
The Future of Subscription Services
Amazon is testing a $7.99 monthly price point for Prime which currently only offers a $79 annual option. As I’ve written on in the past, Amazon has added a variety of services and offerings to Prime. While Prime started with a focus on shipping options, it has blossomed into much more While many have focused on […]
Thoughts on DEMO Fall 2012
I went through some of the DEMO 2012 companies. Here are the ones I find most interesting: YouBetMe: Facilitates betting on anything with your friends RecBob: app/platform for managing recreational sports The Taploid: turns your facebook feeds into Onion-esque tabloids ube: app/platform for managing multiple connected devices
2012 CES Trends: Windows 8 Hardware Innovation
Over the last two weeks we’ve seen massive promotions and much fanfare around the Windows 8 launch. Here are just a few of the circulars and email promotions I’ve caught over this time. One thing somewhat unique about this Windows launch compared to previous Windows launches is hardware innovation. Of course there is always some hardware […]
2013 CES Trends: Introduction
There are just 65 days until the 46th Annual International CES official opens its’ doors. Over the next roughly nine weeks, I’ll try to summarize and write extensively about some of the things I expect to see.
Holiday 2012: Part VII
For more of my holiday expectations: Holiday 2012: Part I Holiday 2012: Part II Holiday 2012: Part III Holiday 2012: Part IV Holiday 2012: Part V Holiday 2012: Part VI As I predicted in my earlier writings, a survey last week from Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., found that online […]
United Fares
In order to book an upgradable fare on United you have to buy a ticket in fare class W or higher. Here are the fare classes above W. V Q H U E M B Y Only airlines could convolute something so simple as the ordering of the alphabet.
The Fallacy of the First-Mover Advantage
In a recent article in strategy + business entitled “the Value of Being Second,” Oded Shenkar, author of “Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge,” introduces an excerpt on the wisdom of entering markets after first movers from “The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking,” by Eli Broad. The myth of […]
Another Once-in-a-Century Event….
The East Coast is set to welcome tropical storm Sandy this week. The potential damage is expected to be especially pronounced in the the Mid-Atlantic and New York tri-state areas. Here are a few of the recent headlines: This storm adds to the dozens (if not hundreds) of natural disaster events over the last 24 to 36 […]
The Changing Landscape of Entertainment on the Web
Yesterday I was Los Angeles to participate in an event announcing several new additions to Entertainment Matters at CES which is entering it’s third year at CES. In 2013, Entertainment matters will feature a variety of events and conference sessions, including: TweetHouse Presents, Innovations in Social Business, Digital Hollywood, Content in the Cloud, Variety‘s Entertainment Summit: Film […]