by Roy Blumenthal on January 24, 2006
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Service: * * *
Food: * * * 1/2
Ambience: * *
Babe Count: * * 1/2
I’m sitting in Europa, Village Walk, sipping decaff cappuccino, munching on a wholewheat bagel with turkey breast on it. (Have I mentioned that since I’ve largely cut out high GI food around four months ago I’ve shed 9 kilograms?)
I’ve had to stop reading the book I’m currently engrossed in. It’s called ACID ALEX, by Al Lovejoy, and it’s his autobiography. One of my closest friends gave me a copy. He’s been buying them wherever he sees them, and is handing them to his friends. It’s a must-read. (Go to Al Lovejoy’s site to buy a copy. He’s at http://www.acidalex.com.)
The reason I’ve had to stop reading is simple and complex. The simple reason is that I can’t see through the tears. The complex reason is that it’s not terribly suave of me to have heaving shoulders and spraying tears at Europa in Village Walk.
So I’ll just eat my bagel now.
by Roy Blumenthal on January 11, 2006
If you listened to any of the Virtual Surf Reports I did for Jon Gericke on SAfm’s ‘Summer’ programme over the festive season, you might want a handy list of all of the blog articles I wrote, along with the podcasts of the radio footage.
To listen to all of the podcasts, go to http://schmucknews.libsyn.com. Otherwise click on the ‘podcast’ link for entries you’re particularly interested in.
Enjoy.
Virtual Surf Report: Bonus Link — Aryan Kaganof’s new film, SMS SUGARMAN, the world’s first feature film shot exclusively using a cellphone
Virtual Surf Report: Charles Kessler’s Cool Tricks & Trinkets Newsletter — a start of the year treat
Virtual Surf Report: Setting Achievable Goals
Virtual Surf Report: Career Change for Beginners and Experts
Virtual Surf Report: Shell Geostar — Plan Your Route Home
Virtual Surf Report: Everyone’s an Expert on SOMETHING… Squidoo
Virtual Surf Report: How To Be a Blogger
Virtual Surf Report: How To Be a Virtual Artist
Virtual Surf Report: Serendipitous Surfing with Stumble-Upon
Virtual Surf Report: The Animated Genius of Han Hoogerbrugge at hoogerbrugge.com
Virtual Surf Report: Overheard in New York
Virtual Surf Report: Magnatune.com and Google Maps
by Roy Blumenthal on January 9, 2006
This is taken verbatim from
Guy Kawasaki’s blog. It’s a good component of the ‘AIM’ portion of my creativity model. When you’re finished first-phase creating, you need to evaluate your ideas. Use Guy’s thinking to see if you’ve got some more creating you still need to do…
“What are the characteristics of a great product?” Here is the answer.
Think: DICEE
* Deep. A great product is deep. It doesn’t run out of features and functionality after a few weeks of use. Its creators have anticipated what you’ll need once you come up to speed. As your demands get more sophisticated, you discover that you don’t need a different product.
* Indulgent. A great product is a luxury. It makes you feel special when you buy it. It’s not the least common denominator, cheapest solution in sight. It’s not necessarily flashy in a Ferrari kind of way, but deep down inside you know you’ve rewarded yourself when you buy a great product.
* Complete. A great product is more than a physical thing. Documentation counts. Customer service counts. Tech support counts. Consultants, OEMS, third-party developers, and VARS count. Blogs about it counts. A great product has a great total user experience—sometimes despite the company that produces it.
* Elegant. A great product has an elegant user interface. Things work the way you’d think they would. A great product doesn’t fight you—it enhances you. (For all of Microsoft’s great success this is why it’s hard to name a Microsoft product that you’d call “great.”) I could make the point that if you want to see if a company’s products are elegant, you need only look at its chairman’s presentations.
* Emotive. A great product incites you to action. It is so deep, indulgent, complete, and elegant that it compels you to tell other people about it. You’re not necessarily an employee or shareholder of the company that produces it. You’re bringing the good news to help others, not yourself.
