Category: Uncategorized

In many parts of the States, the kids are off school this week (originally as part of the Presidents Day holiday, now simply referred to as “ski week.”) After many years of frustration with being part of the cattle herd in places like Colorado and Utah, have been spending an increasing amount of time in Montana, where the skiing is just as good, the lift lines are short and, most importantly, the idea of “service” still seems to have solid root in the community.

Example: Went down to the rental shop to get skis for the little guy yesterday. Rented the skis and boots for the day, and we were in-and-out of the rental shop in about 15 minutes. Piece of cake. Then, as we were leaving, I mentioned that, although we had only rented the equipment for the day, we were probably going to be needing the equipment for the rest of the week as well (but hadn’t filled out any paperwork, nor even paid for it yet).

Was I greeted with a sneer? No.
Was I greeted with a long list of other forms to fill out? No.
Was I forced to change our reservation, or go through any red tape? No.

What I was told: “Cool…no problem. Whenever you’re done with them at the end of the week, just bring us the little coupons from the ski school for whatever days you used them.”

Yes, that’s right. They just gave us the skis with a handshake and a request to just bring them back whenever we’re done with them. Sweet. Big props to the folks at Big Mountain for a great start of the week.

(pic credit: Big Mountain)

Network World’s Paul McNamara interviews Versai’s Paul McNamara.

Link to the recursive interview here. In the article Paul (NetworkWorld) refers to Paul (Versai) as “The Other One.”

Most importantly…the Other One also gives a hint of what he’s up to…

“Regarding the new company, here’s what I can tell you: We are a software-as-a-service company with a twist. We empower businesspeople to easily create and use custom-tailored SaaS applications…”

(Apparently, this has happened before…and the attribution of quotes in the article led to much hi-larity…)

As a recovering product manager, Jeremy’s post (drawn from this one by Tom Coates) on the “Future of Web Apps” rang true in many ways. The key point:

“Build for normal users, developers, and machines : Make whatever you build easy to use, easy to hack, and make it emit useful data in a structured form.”

If you’re involved in the technical design of any application that you hope to be successful over the next couple of years, it’s a good checklist of things to think about.

Between two of the sessions at the TechMart yesterday, I slipped next door to the Santa Clara Hyatt to snarf some wi-fi in their lobby, as well as ask for directions. Following the script I’d used a million times before, I went up to the front desk to ask for directions to the restaurant where we were supposed to meet for dinner. The helpful gentleman at the front desk said: “I’m not sure where the restaurant is…but you can ask our virtual concierge across the lobby.”

Virtual concierge? Huh?

I walk across the lobby to see this:

(click to enlarge)

A little bit disconcerting to say the least. But, rolling with it, I walked up.

“Hello, how can I help you?” the woman in the screen asked. (The concierge is real, not an avatar. It’s a video-conference setup.)

I gave her the name of the restaurant.

“They have a number of restaurants in the area. Do you want directions to the one on Santana Row?”

“Yes, please,” I said to the screen.

The fax whirred, and out came my directions.

“By the way, there are two sets of directions printing; you should use the ones for ‘during traffic’ because it will save you some time. Will there be anything else?” she asked, pleasantly.

“No, thank you.”

An interesting exchange all around, but now I’ve got a bunch of questions. Where is the concierge physically located? Is this just for the Santa Clara Hyatt, or does one concierge handle multiple hotels? What was the business driver for doing this?

Anyone know the answers?

In case you are irretrievably out of the loop didn’t see the news, the new BlogHer community launched yesterday, and was ushered in via a fine, fine shindig at the Thirsty Bear.

A couple of things are notable:

• This is an incredible example of bottom-up creation of something significant. The idea behind BlogHer did not exist twelve months ago. It’s gone from concept to conference to community in just over a year.
• This is not a walled garden. There are over sixty editors covering every topic imaginable…and they are sending readers out of the BlogHer site to individual blogs. Smart.
• There are no ruts. For example, I know Toby Bloomberg best for her amazing work at DivaMarketing and our shared work over at the Corante Marketing Hub. Toby is an editor on the BlogHer network…covering Food and Drink.

A great idea, well executed. Nicely done.

Quote of the evening: “I will now do a medley of my hit.”

(Actually last night was a great set. Maybe 200 people in the audience, and RDL is a small venue. First time he’s played out since 1988, and first time he’s done a one-man show since 1981. He’s tuning up for a tour…)

A few shots from last night’s SXSW Reception at 111 Minna in San Francisco. Click ’em to make them larger, etc.

    

    

(Happily, was too busy being social to take very many.)

The 111 Minna space is currently featuring an exhibition called A Year and a Day, and their archives of past exhibitions can be found here.

tags: sxsw

(hat tip: hidden persuader, photo credit: claudia)

Seth, get a fact-checker, would ya? He says:

“Chicago, it turns out, isn’t so windy. They call it that because when they were bidding for the World’s Fair in the 1800s, Chicagoans were bragging so much, they were ‘windy.'” (link)

The name predates the World’s Fair bid by over a decade, and was in use as early as 1876-1877.

This is Part 2. Part 1 is here.

Link to video with docent explaning the seals twice-yearly migration…amazing (20MB video). Here’s a map from sealexperience.com.