At Least One Ammendment Was Left Intact

Here is the story that Alberto Gonzales’ liaison to the White House, Monica GOODling, is BAD. She announced today that she will be evoking her 5th amendment right to not incriminate herself  during the upcoming Senate hearings. For translation, this means that she did something that could send her to jail and now she is refusing to tell us what she did.

The real question here is, Is this serendipity or was it planned to leave the fifth amendment intact specifically for a day like this? After years of trouncing on American citizens’ civil liberties you would think this discussion would have come up. Then again, given this administration’s track record nothing is certain.

Answering Age Old Questions

Anyone that has ever worked in a restaurant knows what “86″ means, but how many people know where the term originated? Well at least one person knows, sort of.

Supposedly, “86″ started at Chumley’s, one of the oldest and hardest to find bars in New York. It’s located at 86 Bedford St. – read the whole story by clicking through the link below.

Thanks Clipmarks.

clipped from www.forgotten-ny.com According to legend (which party pooper McDermott disputes) the term “86 it” for “kill it” or “forget about it” comes from a warning the cops would give, phoning ahead to Chumley to let him know they were on the way and customers should “86″ or book out the entrance/exit. Photos: Eric Weaver.

Starbucks (How to Dilute A Brand)

I’ve noticed a few things at my local Starbucks since Howard Schultz announced that he felt the brand was diluted. Here are two ways they have proved the above announcement to me.

1. Crossing the line to make that extra dollar. In the picture to the left there are two CDs next to each other. On the left is the James Morrison CD (he is already crossing the line being a musician with that name) and on the right is a Doors CD. Sure, anyone buying a CD should know that James Morrison is not Jim Morrison from the Doors. That being said, I don’t believe it is just coincidence that the discs are on the same POP display. Its dubious to place these discs together to get an extra sale.

2. Not really caring. Here is a pic of the unusual lid they put on my cup of coffee. The lid ripped and annoyed me as I drank the coffee. The bad part? There wasn’t a reason to use this lid. When I saw the unusual coffee lid I asked about it and she gave me a standard lid also. It wasn’t a problem that they were out of the regular lids.

Is your business stepping over the line or not really caring? If so, let’s hope you have Starbucks name recognition and assets to correct the problem.

Mega Modest Mouse Mania

I know its old school, but I actually ordered the new Modest Mouse CD from Amazon.  I am extremely excited because it should be arriving today. At the same time I feel bad because all the cool kids have downloaded it already. If you have any reviews please leave them in the comments.

I haven’t been this excited for a CD since the new Arcade Fire album that I bought two days ago.

Blogging with Clipmarks

Here is a quote that I clipped from the Internet using a new site called clipmarks. CM allows you to grab a piece of text from the Internet and then automatically post it to your blog, email it or save it.

The clip of text appears on the CM site which has some social capabilities. There are a few snafu’s, but I think we’re in an early Beta. I think this will really take off once I can clip and automatically paste to a number of sheets not just my blog. Soon enough I’m sure.

clipped from dilbertblog.typepad.com Experts say that the most loyal customers are not the ones who had a flawless experience, but the ones who had a problem that was resolved. I think they’re right. I would use that hotel again in a heartbeat.

Sorry, Most Web 2.0 Companies (How to Build a Bubble)

I work at a web 2.0 company and when I am not working I am probably reading about or meeting other 2.0 entrepreneurs. I love most things about the people and the web sites that we call 2.0,but there is 1 thing that troubles me, advertising.

The ads themselves don’t bother me, the fact that innovative, well intentioned and useful sites are betting their future on revenue from ads. Sites are mainly choosing ads instead of creating sell-able products. There are big problems with this approach.

1. Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN earn 92% of Internet ad revenue. Good Luck. Additionally, these companies have-

• Tracking Systems
• Name Recognition
• More Traffic than you
• More resources
• Bigger and Smaller Verticles

2. If you do get advertisers you are solving your short term problem (cash) with their long term problem (performance of your members). Remember advertisers can track your site’s referral traffic and conversion rates. If you have a first penny problem do you really think that those users will spend enough money with the advertisers to justify your costs? Josh Kopelman of Redeye VC  says

it makes sense to consider shifting from a pay model to a free model. In these cases, asking “who would pay to reach these consumers” (or “who can subsidize these users) creates an opportunity to build a more valuable business through the combination of exponential growth and targeted advertising.

He means it differently, but I would ask, “who would pay to reach these consumers (if you can’t get them to spend the first penny)?”

3. And finally, Google just raised the stakes by entering the Cost Per Action market. To me this means that the value of a click through just dropped.

I think that ad sales + trackability can be great, but it also helps create bubbles. When the Internet becomes hot (1st or 2nd G) people rush in. Everyday I see large (old) companies paying WAY to much for Internet ads. That junior level media buyer that purchases these ads is putting money in our pockets, but at the same time we’re being screwed. Sooner or later his boss is going to need to see the ROI.

I’m worried that it won’t be there. When that happens, and traffic is worth less – what will we have to sell?

Frucall – Mobile Shopping

Wow, I really got off track reviewing Mobile 2.0 companies. If you find this interesting please click to my Squidoo MoCo20 page.

For the second installment I am going to try Frucall. This may be one of the best ideas for the Mobile Web. Frucall works like this-

1. Find something you want to buy in a store.
2. Call Frucall (1.888.DO.FRUCALL) and enter the UPC Number
3. Frucall will tell you if there is a lower price for the same item on the internet
4. You can purchase the item over the phone, bookmark it and purchase later or decide that you want to buy it now from the store you are in.

Simple and brilliant right? We’ll see.

If anyone already uses Frucall please leave a comment.

Great New Products are Harder to Sell

Take a look at your standard bell curve for a new product. It’s literally a double edge sword.

There are a lot of people in the middle of the curve. If you have a product ready for the mass like mp3 players, there are a lot of people that can buy your product, but why wouldn’t they buy an iPod? Almost everyone is a possible customer.

Let’s say you have a new product. I’m sorry to say that you really can’t sell to the middle of the curve. The middle doesn’t buy from you. They buy when their early adopter and innovator friends tell them that the product is worthwhile. The simple fact is that not everyone can be your customer (yet). Don’t worry this is good news.

I realized this at a trade show this afternoon. We have a great product which everyone loves. Why do some people that love the idea not buy? They don’t want to be the first one.

You have to move along this curve left to right, no skipping. Trying to sell your new cutting edge product to the middle of the curve is just as useless as selling a 20 gig iPod to an early adopter.

How is this good news?

You don’t have to waste your time chasing the millions. Sure, as an entrepreneur you want to tell everyone about your idea just don’t forget to target that 2% that can actually help you.

My New Neon Bible Comes with Friends

2007 will be a great year for music. Not only is the iPhone coming out (which will give me sooo many reasons not to listen to the person talking on the other end of the phone) but all the kids are releasing new albums.

I just bookmarked this Amazon Page. Not only am I buying the featured Arcade Fire disc, I am also getting most of the “Customers who bought this…” recommendations. Wilco also has a release not to mention the new Don’t Look Back reissue. All I need is a new Bright Eyes album and the year is over. This just in, there is a Bright Eyes release scheduled. Killers, your turn.