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competitive shopping

A friend was telling me about Gilt.com today, and its version of "entertainment shopping." Every day Gilt offers up a limited set of curated fashion inventory at deeply discounted prices. They kick off the sale at 12 noon eastern / 9 a.m. pacific with a rush of traffic...and here's the kicker: if you put an item in your cart you only have 10 minutes to complete the transaction, otherwise it gets removed and becomes available for someone else.

It's like Filene's Basement for the web.

I'd love this to become even more competitive. How about this scenario: You find an item you like, but it's already been placed into someone else's cart. You then have the opportunity to challenge them for the right to purchase it. In Gilt's case, that challenge could be in the form of a fast-paced fashion quiz, where you have to correctly identify the designers of a certain set of pieces (perhaps from that day's set of available inventory). You wouldn't want to scare off newbies, so you'd need to have the right incentives to play, including discounts on future purchases if you lose, a limited number of "deny this challenge" (get out of jail free) chits, etc.

Ebay of course pioneered ecommerce as entertainment; but sites like Swoopo and Gilt are the next rev of "entertainment shopping," and I'd love to see more competitive game mechanics integrated (beyond the auction, that is) into niche e-commerce sites.

Thought experiment: how could sellers use the Zynga gaming platform to merchandise their inventory?

what would tinker bell do?

Steve Jobs is having an impact on Disney's retail overhaul. From the NY Times:

Mr. Jobs provided access to proprietary information about the development and operation of Apple’s highly successful stores, and Disney executives visited Apple’s research operation in Cupertino, Calif. Mr. Jobs, who declined to comment, also insisted that Disney build a prototype store to work out kinks, a costly endeavor that most retailers skip.

The company followed his advice, working for the last year on a full-scale, fully stocked store inside an unmarked warehouse in Glendale, Calif. The prototype was crucial to shaping an overall philosophy, Mr. Fielding said, noting that he discovered the shops needed more “Pixar-esque winks and nods.” To that end, one sales area is now labeled “WWTD: What Would Tinker Bell Do?”

Just so happens that we read a version of Peter Pan before bedtime in our house tonight, and I had forgotten what an odd character Tinker Bell is. Wikipedia...

Though sometimes ill-tempered and vindictive (getting the Lost Boys to shoot arrows at Wendy), at other times she is helpful and kind to Peter. The extremes in her personality are explained in-story by the fact that a fairy's size prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time, so when she is angry she has no counterbalancing compassion.

So really. What would Tinker Bell do in a retail environment?

because you can't spell innovation without t.o.s.

So Sarah Lacy tees off on the startups that demo'd at TechCrunch50 this week:

Not enough passion, not enough swinging for the fences, not enough trying to change the world. There were too many people building safe businesses, too many companies just trying to make existing things slightly better, and too many people wanting to be the next Mint.com, not the next Google.

I wasn't there, and I only half-heartedly followed along in blogotwitland, so I'll take Sarah's word for it -- she's smart, she's great writer, and she does a good video interview.

But! I think there's one company -- Udorse -- that is pushing the boundaries in an area where we haven't seen much innovation lately...the all-important terms of service.

First, some background: Udorse is a "visual endorsement engine" that lets you tag photos of you and your friends with endorsements of the products in those photos. Here's Robin Wauters' Techcrunch description of the demo (or you can just go watch it):

Udorse co-founder Geoffrey Lewis picked a photo of him and a friend who works as a fahion designer. Endorsing in this case is done by selecting an item – the dress she’s wearing – and identifying it with a description and associated brand name, with the extra ability to add links and commentary to the highlighted item. Every time someone sees the photo and clicks the associated Udorse icon or link, they are able to gather more information about the product or directly be referred to the website where it can be bought.

I know. So good, right? It gets better, though. The real innovation lies in their terms of service. Most of the TOS is the typical stuff about your account and limitations of liability and content ownership and all the things that no one ever reads.

But check out section C, titled "Udorsement Rules."

By Udorsing a photo (a "Udorsed Photo"), you represent and warrant that (1) you have the written consent of each and every identifiable natural person in the Udorsed Photo to use such person's likeness in the manner contemplated by the Service and this Agreement, and each such person has released you from any liability that may arise in relation to such use; ...

I know. "Written consent." So good, right?

Wait -- before you roll your eyes, think of the opportunity they're creating: if Udorse takes off, there's a huge need for a marketplace of third party developers of workflow solutions that help you quickly and easily get consent from all your friends in your Udorsed photographs!

In the meantime, I've Udorsed a photo of this TastyKake truck, since it's not a natural person.

Seriously, I really do love TastyKakes of most varieties.

i was hoping to see the pink shirt

Sam Altman, CEO of Loopt, was on Charlie Rose last night, talking about the company, mobile stuff, location stuff, etc. Yay for Sam (!), though I was disappointed that he wasn't wearing the trademark pink polo he wore last year at WWDC...

a twist in the fairey case

The AmLaw Daily reports that freelance photographer Mannie Garcia -- the man behind the photo that became the Shepard Fairey / Barack Obama "HOPE" poster -- has filed a memorandum of law to intervene in the suit filed by the Associated Press. Garcia's claiming that he owns the copyright on those images, since he wasn't actually an employee of the AP at the time.

You can read the entire memo in support of Mr. Garcia's motion to intervene, but here's a relevant snippet / screenshot:

Oh, and Garcia is represented by none other than Boies, Schiller & Flexner. This is getting very, very interesting.

b'eau pal from the yes men

Five years ago The Yes Men temporarily knocked a couple of billion dollars off of Dow Chemical's market cap by hoaxing the BBC into this interview, where they claimed that Dow would take responsibility for the 1984 Bhopal disaster. (Dow acquired Union Carbide in 2001.)

Today, the Yes Men attempted a special delivery of a new brand of bottled water -- "B'eau Pal" to Dow Chemical's London office.

Twenty Bhopal activists, including Sathyu Sarangi of the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, showed up at Dow headquarters near London to find that the entire building had been vacated. ... The attractive yet toxic product, developed by the Bhopal Medical Appeal and the Yes Men with pro-bono help from top London creative design firm Kennedy Monk, highlights Dow's continued refusal to take responsibility for the disaster.

And because nothing shall go under-documented, here's the making-of video re. the design of the bottle...

a tropicana followup

A quick followup on February's post re. the Tropicana repackaging debacle. A few weeks ago my eight year old daughter and I were in the local grocery store and when she passed the o.j. section there were some cartons of Tropicana with the new packaging -- the ones that I thought had been recalled...the ones with the screwtop that looks and feels like an orange.

"Oh my God, Dad!" she shouted. "Check this out! The top! Of this orange juice! It's like an orange! That's so cool!"

I just wanted to squeeze her tight.

albums plus apps

Listening to the stream of the new U2 record last week, I was struck by how the most interesting bits of the album were the atmospherics -- not necessarily the usual chiming guitars or Bono's falsetto, but the electronic blips and chimes and patterns and samples that build the intros and undercurrents of tracks like Moment of Surrender and Unknown Caller. I kept thinking to myself "wow, that little bit right there? That would make a great ringtone."

And of course, all of those bleeps and blips will end up as ringtones, legit or not. But it points to an interesting bundling opportunity that Apple's in a unique position to take advantage of: albums plus apps.

As the iTunes music store faces more and more competition from Amazon and other online sources (Facebook + Lala, anyone?), and the core deliverable of the music purchase becomes undifferentiated (DRM-free MP3 256kbps MP3 files), Apple's going to need to compete on a different angle. The device integration angle isn't as strong as it once was (the Amazon MP3 downloader / iTunes integration is pretty damned seamless), and competing on price is difficult when most of what you're selling is available online for free.

Today, Apple's offering digital add ons to album sales through iTunes -- typically these are things like PDF booklets, add-on videos, behind the scenes footage, etc.. But what I keep waiting for are the iPhone specific bundles that provide a platform specific experience for the fan that's tied into the Apple product line. There's no need to sell pre-loaded hardware with the artist's catalog...instead, develop applications that turn any iPhone / iPod Touch into a platform for fandom, and deliver those either bundled with tracks or a la carte...

Miscellaneous product ideas, in no particular order...

• An app that installs a custom sounds set of ringtones / alert sounds that are based on the sounds from the record.

• An app that provides a front-of-the-line concert ticket purchasing opportunities (think what American Express does, but exclusively for iPhone users), and real time tour info -- dates and locations, of course, but also set lists, photos, notes from the artist, comments from fans, etc...

• An app that provides enhanced access to the band's social web presence. Simple registration, userpic badging, exclusive video content, etc. Couple this with geolocation services and the (yet to be released) push notification service and music marketers can reach specific fans in specific locations at specific times for reaching specific fans in specific locations and encourage, well, specific behaviors.

Steve Rubel recently pointed out on this blog three ways that media is innovating with user interfaces -- mobile being one of them. The music industry has a similar opportunity (and, frankly, motivation) for innovation around how to fans can engage with the artists they love. Browsing through the App Store today, there are very, very few artist-specific music applications available. But I can't imagine it will take long for the labels and Apple to capitalize on the hardware + software + distribution channel combination of the iPhone + iTunes.

peter arnell's remarks on the launch of tropicana packaging

Offered without additional comment is a transcript of the Ad Age video of Peter Arnell from Omnicom's Arnell Group introducing the (now pulled) Tropicana packaging back in January.

We started on a journey approximately five months ago to try to give a new refreshed, a new energy to Tropicana. We thought it would be very very important to bring this brand, to evolve it to a more current or modern state. Emotionally it was very very difficult, and it still remains difficult for everyone to grasp the importance of that change because it's so dramatic.

Historically we always showed the outside of the orange. What was fascinating was that we had never shown the product called the juice. There was a strong drive to bring big messaging on to the carton where the biggest single billboarding was.

Having said that we wanted to take the orange and put it somewhere. We engineered this interesting little squeeze cap here (which you guys can come up and see after) so that the notion of squeezing the orange was implied ergonomically every day when you actually went to the actual carton. The skin of the orange is replicated on the cap, and tooled in to the cap. The idea, of course, is to have a consistency between the purity of the juice (which is coming directly from the orange), the cap (which you squeeze every day), and, of course, the carton.

The reason why that's all important is because, of course, "squeeze" also maintains a certain level of power when it comes to this notion emotionally about what "squeeze" means -- like "my squeeze" or "gimme a squeeze" or the notion of a hug, or the ideas behind the power of love and the idea of transferring that love, or converting the attitude between mom and the kids, right?

so how much did they pay?

The story behind the Google Sync story is this statement from Microsoft...

Earlier today Google announced Google Sync, which is made possible by a patent license they obtained from Microsoft covering Google’s implementation of the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol on Google servers.

So iPhone 2.0 includes ActiveSync support in the client, which makes it work with every ActiveSync-enabled Exchange and non-Exchange server around the world. iPhone 2.0 also does not allow background applications. Google wants background sync for their calendar and address book applications (and you have to believe that Mail will come soon). Background apps can't run in 2.0, but ActiveSync support is there, so, of course, they choose ActiveSync. So Apple's decision re. no background apps benefits Microsoft.

I wonder how much Google is paying for their ActiveSync license. And I wonder how much Apple paid to license ActiveSync for the iPhone. Because there's a reasonable case to be made that Apple's license was (or should have been) close to $0. (And if it was actually $0, that would have been the internal kiss off for the WinMo team, dontcha think?)

in a new york minute

Khoi Vinh on his experience trying to learn just what Ubiquity for Firefox actually does...

Granted, the amount of time I’ve spent absorbing information about Ubiquity, distributed across a few Web browsing, Twitter and RSS sessions, probably totals less than five minutes. That’s not a lot of time in which to make a pitch… except that it’s all that many products get. I happened to know Aza and so I was predisposed to an interest in his work. But in any other instance in which I would have no personal connection with the people behind a product I doubt I would’ve gotten even as far as I did.

Fantastic reminder that when you're marketing a product online, you need to get to the point as quickly as possible.

paging cayce pollard

Via swissmiss comes The Future of MUJI.

MUJI is not a brand. MUJI does not make products of individuality or fashion, nor does MUJI reflect the popularity of its name in its prices. MUJI creates products with a view toward global consumption of the future. This means that we do not create products that lure customers into believing that "this is best" or "I must have this." We would like our customers to feel the rational sense of satisfaction that comes not with "This is best," but with "this is enough.". "Best" becomes "enough".

MUJI is opening stores in the US, most notably (IMHO) the MUJI to Go store at JFK International Airport.

that porsche sure does corner well

Floyd Norris explains Porsche's corner strategy on Volkswagen this week, which will likely end up netting them billions of euros. "If this works, Porsche will have made billions from a car company at a time when cars are not selling very well. ... If it comes to a question of whether regulators step in, Porsche has the advantage of facing off against short-selling hedge funds. There may not be a less popular group of investors, and their losses would provoke little sympathy."

And yes, the post title is deliberately bad.

real time capitalism

That's what I call American ingenuity.

las manitas

I love(d) Las Manitas as much as the next only-occasional Austin interloper, and last time I was there I ate breakfast there each and every day. Yum. And sure, as an only-occasional Austin interloper, it's depressing that the building's being replaced by a new Marriott hotel complex. But, as the Austinist points out, the story's complicated (city council, a proposal of forgivable loans, public outcry, etc.). And, as always, the comments are where it's at...including this gem from Grape Ape:

While having 8 or so Marriot's downtown isn't the best solution, tourism is nice. It does allow for new and existing businesses to grow. If only we could go back to just having all those 1 level dirt parking lots and empty buildings downtown - that would be awesome. Maybe then we could change our motto to "Keep Austin Mediocre and Unsuccessful"

Ouch.

oh thank god

It was about time.

Strawberry Shortcake was having an identity crisis. The "it" doll and cartoon star of the 1980s was just not connecting with modern girls. Too candy-obsessed. Too ditzy. Too fond of wearing bloomers. So her owner, American Greetings Properties, worked for a year on what it calls a “fruit-forward” makeover. Strawberry Shortcake, part of a line of scented dolls, now prefers fresh fruit to gumdrops, appears to wear just a dab of lipstick (but no rouge), and spends her time chatting on a cellphone instead of brushing her calico cat, Custard.

In other words... "The Princesses have been kicking us in the ass while those God awful Bratz girls have been kicking us upside the head, so people we have to do something... I know, let's give her a cellphone! That'll make it all better."

infectious!

Kudos to Tim Roberts on launching Infectious, his new company which brings easy-to-apply car art to the masses. They've got simple icons, accent kits, hood pieces, door kits, side kits and full car customization kits -- all installable by normal humans.

Tim first told me about the idea for this company a few years ago (before he was at Odeo, I think?) and I'm really excited to see it come to life. Their site is super fun to explore, and I can imagine all sorts of interesting ways they could drive more artwork into their catalog. Their blog is great, and Michael Arrington had a post a couple of weeks ago with some video of just how easy it is to install the stickers on your car.

Now, to figure out just the right way to spice up the boring gray hybrid...

wsj on the fall of bear stearns

The Journal has been running its three-part series on the fall of Bear Stearns, and it's absolutely worth reading, assuming you have a reasonable amount of stomach lining to spare. Worth quoting at length, this excerpt about the Sunday night conference call between a group of "Wall Street CEOs" (the Journal's words, not mine) discussing the (then) $2 per share buy out of Bear by J.P. Morgan...

Messrs. Geithner and Dimon led off with some brief remarks, noting that J.P. Morgan would be guaranteeing Bear Stearns's debts and that if the pact hadn't come together, the market impact may have been catastrophic. During the question-and-answer session, Citigroup Inc.'s new CEO, Vikram Pandit, spoke up.

Mr. Pandit -- who did not initially identify himself -- asked a shrewd but technical question: How would the deal affect the risk to Bear Stearns's trading partners on certain long-term contracts?

The query irked Mr. Dimon. "Who is this?" he snapped. Mr. Pandit identified himself as "Vikram." Offended that Mr. Pandit was taking up time with what he considered granular inquiries, Mr. Dimon shot back, "Stop being such a jerk." He added that Citigroup "should thank us" for staving off further mayhem on Wall Street.

The online feature has all sorts of video and links to archived stories about the fall.

working overtime

“I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for working over the weekend."
President Bush, thanking Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for, ya know, putting in a few extra hours to prop up the financial markets.

Speaking of which, there was a piece in the Times on Sunday morning before the JP Morgan deal was announced that valued the Bear Stearns tower in midtown at $1 billion.  Compare and contrast that figure with the $270 million purchase price for the firm...including the real estate.

we're here to compete

(Update 3/12/08:  Wow, I guess all this talk about competition struck a nerve.)

Since when does "competing" equal "playing dirty"? 

Yesterday we ran a post on movabletype.com that touts the advantages of Movable Type over the soon-to-be-released (any day now) Wordpress 2.5. Was the title of the post ("A Wordpress 2.5 Upgrade Guide") cheeky? Sure. Was the post timed for the release of 2.5? Of course! But was the post an accurate representation of the capabilities of Movable Type? Absolutely.

In response (as I'm sure you've seen by now if you read TechCrunch), Matt Mullenwegg twittered "six apart is getting desperate - and dirty." 

I don't call our post desperate or dirty -- I call it competing.

At Six Apart we've been working extraordinarily hard on MT, and we're proud of the product. Over the past year it's been great to see the platform energized and have loads of bloggers moving to MT -- and in some cases even coming back after leaving us for a while. And as Anil pointed out in the post, we know we're not done -- we have an ambitious development schedule for the MT platform, which has evolved from a professional blogging tool to a powerful social networking platform.

So yes -- we're going to compete. And we're going to name check our competition in blog posts when we feel it's warranted. Matt shouldn't have a problem with that -- after all, he has a long history of name checking Six Apart and our products...including characterizing one of our most prominent TypePad bloggers as a "sharecropper." (I'll leave the value judgment re. that particular choice of words as an exercise for the reader.)

Finally, if you're a dyed-in-the-wool Wordpress fan and we have no chance of ever convincing you to switch to a Six Apart product, that's fine. But you should recognize that having a strong, healthy and evolving set of alternatives to those provided by Automattic is only good for blogging. As Anil said in his post, all of us at Six Apart are here because we take seriously our responsibility to invent the future of blogging. We're doing that with our products, we're proud of the work we're doing, and we're here to compete.