Posted on August 29, 2010
Was excited to see a neat little bit of news about innovation in the coffee world in Darren Barefoot's blog the other day - it's the SmartCup Xpress Lid. You order coffee and get a disposable/recyclable lid, rod and press - ta-da - single-use french press coffee where ever you are.
Darren says the cups were given out at the recent Gnomedex technology conference. There's a great example of a company hitting their target market head-on - perpetual caffeine-seekers who love new gizmos.
Would you try it? I sure would.
Posted on August 5, 2010
We were in a rush – or so we thought. I dashed into the coffee shop near our Kelowna hotel and ordered a double espresso – “to go please” I added.
The owner appeared out of nowhere. “I'm sorry but no,” he said. I was a bit startled. He went on: “You can't take espresso to go – you have to drink it here. There's no such thing as espresso to go.”
It's unconventional customer relations, but I had to laugh and agree. Cup, saucer and tiny Italian cookie in hand I informed my waiting husband that we'd be sticking around for a few minutes. He took one look at my lovely coffee, then went and ordered his own.
We paused and enjoyed our espressos - the way it should be.
It was a timely reminder of what coffee culture is really about.
By the ...
Posted on July 30, 2010
Funny what can happen with quotes. Reading Chris Anderson's latest book Free: The Future of a Radical Price I came across his version of the now-famous line "the information wants to be free" - often used to define the digital era. The author of this line is Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalogue, author and, with Ken Kesey, one of the Merry Pranksters. What Brand apparently said was:
On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand , information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.
I interpret this as when info is a commodity and can be distributed at ...
Posted on July 27, 2010
I just had a lovely cup of coffee – dark, aromatic, with a smooth finish – no bitterness. Made it in my own Bodum with beans I bought the other day from Whistler Roasting Company. Co-owner Mark Beaven showed my sister and me the roastery snugged into in a former mudroom of his Whistler home and told us about establishing the biz as a way to spend more time with his young family. He'd been a chef until then and clearly the hours weren't going to work well with two young ones at home.Mark's Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is freshness – raw beans arrive on a truck from a supplier (“in a bag that weighs more than I do”) and he sets to roasting. He then delivers the bags to Whistler and area restaurants and grocery stores. He's also the ...
Posted on July 9, 2010
With the sun out and the Tour de France well underway through picturesque European mountain passes
I remembered a blog post I wrote last year about the sort of wacky way the Tour gets covered. Check it out here.
Whatever you are getting up to this summer, be safe!
Posted on June 14, 2010
We read good things about it in the paper – so off we went.
Ahh the power of a good media review. My husband and I found ourselves at the Summer Night Market on the weekend based on this review in the Vancouver Sun. And I'm glad we did.
First stop was Hurricane Potatoes. These are a treat. They're fried-but-not-greasy, full of flavour and fun to eat. Next, through the sea of humanity, to Sumo Bites.
I noticed they had a laminated copy of the Vancouver Sun review prominently displayed. I love it when I see this - it reminds me of the value of media relations.
Sumo Bites serve mini burgers in a rice bun. Unusual and really tasty.
It's a fun adventure for a summer evening. Felt a lot like being in Asia - but with health inspectors.
Posted on May 17, 2010
IKEA, I heard recently, has announced plans to expand its already-vast store in Richmond B.C. Business is booming.
I learned some intriguing things about the company while reading Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture this week.
The author, Ellen Ruppel Shell, takes a close look at the massive retailer in this 2009 book about the real price of low price.
I suppose I knew this unconsciously, but IKEA aims to discourage sentimentality. Rid yourself of that solid oak heirloom dining room table full of memories of family dinners – buy our fresh, stylish BJÖRKUDDEN Dining table for $129.99 instead.
This ad by Spike Jonze illustrates the company's position on nostalgia in a fun way using a disconsolate discarded lamp.
Interesting positioning. I hadn’t thought of the company that way, but can see how it works for them!
The book is an easy read with some ...
Posted on May 6, 2010
I had a word with my accountant yesterday. He said was slowly recovering from Tax Time. He spoke darkly about the rush he deals with every year and humans’ ingrained propensity to procrastinate. He would know!
Procrastination is addressed – and studied - in Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, an entrancing book by Israeli Dan Ariely.
[caption id="attachment_266" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Read these and you won't lie for a while"][/caption]
The author also examines:
- Why we are happy to do things, but not when we are being paid to do them
- Why recalling the Ten Commandments will make us less likely to lie
- Why we’d walk a block to save $7 on a $25 pen but not walk that same block to save $7 on a $450 suit.
Ariely, a professor at MIT, concocts some fascinating experiments to test various hypotheses. ...
Posted on April 22, 2010
Maybe I’m missing something but is this guy ever cranky. Andrew Keen, in Cult of the Amateur, is in a permanently bad mood. He’s mad at citizen journalists, anyone who contributes to Wikipedia, anyone who reads Wikipedia, Second Life, craigslist… just Web 2.0 all ‘round.
I worked my way through the book (published in 2007 – which means of course it’s an ancient tract), read some of his blog posts and then decided perhaps his words are a healthy warning to us.
This in his chapter called solutions:
“Our challenge… is to protect the legacy of our mainstream media and two hundred years of copyright protections within the context of twenty-first century digital technology. Our goal should be to preserve our culture and our values, while enjoying the benefits of today’s Internet capabilities. We need to find a way to balance the best ...
Posted on April 8, 2010
I eagerly tripped on down to F5 Expo yesterday morning excited at the prospect of learning more about online technologies. Like about 300 others, I was dismayed to be greeted in the Convention Centre lobby by a huge, snaking, unmoving line-up to register. Time crept along. Now and again a hapless employee would walk past the line and apologize about the computers being down. Of course the irony of this, at a technology conference, was almost too much to bear and the crowd was not happy.
But it ended up being a lesson in adept crisis management. I give full, unbridled credit to organizer Lindsay Smith. Just before the event was due to start - and apparently with no solution in sight - she walked out into the middle of the teeming lobby and called for our attention. She said she ...
