Infinite Web Design

The world is not always the way we wish. I wrote a few days ago about how the state of Digital Rights Management (DRM) for music and movies is not where we want it. Andrew McLaughlin, senior policy counsel at Google, write today about the launch of Google.cn in China. He wrote about the fact that Google will not be offering Gmail and Blogger in China and will be filtering search results to remove some content at the behest of the Chinese government. Google is not happy about making this choice.

I had a long talk with Brad yesterday about my disappointment about not having the perfect solution for distributing online media while protecting the content from illegal copying. I’m an idealist about these things while Brad is a pragmatist. he pointed out that a lot of bright people are working hard to find that solution, but that consumers can see some benefit from using what is available right now. When I read about Google’s decision to offer limited service in China I thought about his arguments about DRM. We can’t always get where we want in one step. Sometimes we have to make a compromise and offer less than ideal service to get things started.
Continue reading Tough Choices and Making Progress

On January 25th on Woot.com you would have found a Pioneer 1000 watt 5.1 surround sound system.

Sounds of the Pioneers

Oh, give me a home theatre with 5.1 speakers… despite the name, you won’t find these Pioneers sitting around a campfire amid sagebrush and manure, unless you’ve got really eccentric taste in interior design. No, this 1000-watt surround-sound system is equally at home in urban, suburban, semi-urban, exurban, and rural settings – anywhere people crave lifelike theatre sound on a cramped budget, anywhere where home theatre owners have more enthusiasm than dollars.

If you are one of the few people left who hasn’t heard of woot.com then here is a little background. Woot.com is a basic website that sells one product each day at bargain basement prices. They have a limited quantity and they tend to sell out before i’ve had my morning coffee. A new product is posted each day at 12 am; which seems to be the busiest hour for woot.com. To me the best part of woot.com are the witty product descriptions. They are always amusing, well written, and sometimes down right hilarious. Which is partly why i return to woot.com every morning. The other reason being i am a complete electronics junky and am always looking for the next cool gizmo i have to buy even though i didn’t know it existed.

The reason why i am writing today about woot.com is simply how impressive they are compared to their competition. If you bother to take the time to check out www.onedealoneday.com you will find that they are currently on hiatus because they can’t find anything to sell. When you are a company that specializes in selling one thing each day and someone comes to your site and you don’t have anything for them to buy they are not coming back. It’s not rocket science.

Reliability is a trait that is vital to any e-commerce business. Woot.com is reliable. They consistently post a new product each night at midnight. They ship products on time. They correct mistakes quickly when they are made. They have a clear mission statement and convey to their customers exactly how they do business. They go as far as to give detailed statistics each day on how much money they made per hour, the percentage of products purchased each hour, and more . They do e-commerce the way it should be done. online advice loan securedfriend money advice to a loaningloans personal affordableloans car affordable usedbankruptcy one loan home year afterautomobile loan agreement sample contract texasloan personal free agreementauto credit loan bad alabama Map2126 ringtone tracfonefree nokia ringtone usa 3390nokia apps game ringtone 76508200 ringtone sanyoa300 ringtones free samsungrealtones ringtones free allcell ringtone upload phone mp3 alltelringtone a900 samsung mp3 Mapblack famous pornstar namesstars british porn famousporn famous cartoon videoscelebrities famous free pornfamous of pornography definitionpornstars female famousgay famous stars pornstars famous hispanix porn Mapamore porn alexis eskimoalexis fake bledel pornvideos alexis porn carringtonporn alexis laureealexis bio pornstar lovemay alexis porn galleriesvideo porn alexis ramirezporn alexis star texas Mapgirls indigoscreaming sexfuckers assdoggie sexporn nastyspanish asseuro girlssex outside Map

The old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind,” is very applicable to the business world. That is why maintaining a good relationship with your customers is key to getting repeat and referral business. Older clients can be a gold mine, you just have to find a simple way to keep your company in the back of their mind. Then when the client does need more work done they won’t open the phonebook to find someone else to do it, they will just pick up the phone and call you up. Here are some easy ways to keep those older clients thinking of you:

• monthly newsletters sent via E-mail
• set them up with an RSS feed to your blog
• every few months send out a small present to your main contact person at each company i.e. free sports tickets, restaurant gift certificate

A monthly newsletter is a great way to keep your clients informed of what you are up to. By showcasing what you are doing with new clients you may peak the interest of some of your older clients and get them interested in the new things you have to offer. The downside of a monthly newsletter sent via E-mail is that it can be easily ignored, so you have to keep the content relevent and meaningful.

For your clients out there that are more tech savvy you can set them up with an RSS feed to your blog. This will allow them to easily and quickly keep up with what’s new. The only problem with this option is that many people do not know what an RSS feed is, much less how to use one. So it may be worthwhile to provide a monthly newsletter via E-mail and also an RSS feed from your blog.

The last option is more expensive, and should be used with more discretion. This may be one of the most effective methods since you create a large amount of goodwill by surprising an old client with even a small gift.

You never know when maintaining business relationships will pay off, if ever, but are you really willing to take risk of not doing it?

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Volkher Hofmann is boycotting Sony BMG, Blue Note, and EMI. Why? Because he is sick and tired of paying to be disrespected by those labels and their intrusive Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes. And he’s not alone. The audiophiles and film buffs who spend the most on music and movies are the ones who are most insulted and turned off by DRM.

As media conglomerates push DRM more and more and technology companies that produce computers, DVD, CD, and MP3 players build DRM support into their products consumers are growing more aware of DRM. And the more they know the more they bristle at the restricted playback of legally purchased music and movies, incompatible hardware and software, inability to backup their data, and other hassles. Bought that music on iTunes? Then you had better not want to play it in Windows Media Player. Bought that DVD on your trip to Europe? Then you can’t play it when you get back to the States, but you have a shiny new coaster.

Media producers and distributors argue that highly restrictive DRM is the only way to prevent piracy. And in theory it may be a swell idea, but in practice it is a hassle for the general public. Most people are not tech savvy, they don’t want to keep track of incompatible DRM schemes and deal with media that plays on their Mac but not their PC or on their iPod but not their PSP. It’s just annoying, and then insulting when they discover that they can’t watch their movie in their living room because Sony assumes they are a criminal. DRM is based on the premise that all consumers are criminals and is antithetical to the American sense of justice and fairness.
Continue reading R-E-S-P-E-C-T…

PDF files are the bane of the web surfer. Often unmarked they stall your browsing for a virtual eternity while Adobe’s kludgy Reader fires up. In the meantime your browser freezes and sometimes crashes, your computer slows to a crawl, and you start to hate life. Well, I’ve found a way to hate life a little but less — the Free Foxit Reader (via Lifehacker). PDF files are still terrible for web users most of the time, but at least this makes them less of a hated annoyance when they are encountered.

QUICK TIPS: If you are responsible for posting PDF files to a web site please mark them clearly. Use an icon and indicate next to any PDF links both that it is a PDF file and the file size. For example, Our PDF Document (PDF, 1.25MB). This helps prevent visitors from clicking unknowingly on the large PDF file and getting stuck waiting. Better yet, turn it into an HTML document and ditch the PDF hooey. Not always possible, but certainly preferable.affect of prime sub loansin agriculture florida loanssupplies interest aircraft rate loansand loan calculator airplaneamerican all loans home floridapayday all aproved loanamerican credit bad car ok loanloans consolidaton charege american Mapringtone tracfone 2126free nokia ringtone 3390 usanokia apps 7650 game ringtone8200 ringtone sanyofree a300 samsung ringtonesrealtones ringtones free allringtone phone cell alltel mp3 uploadsamsung a900 ringtone mp3 Mapscenes nude in movie best aporn big dick moviesbitchin moviesmovies blonde xxxmovies boobiebreast torture moviescdgirls free moviesmovies free nude celebrity Mapsloane sheviloan signature student consolidationinterest loans simple pay early offsinaloan300.00 six month loan ofada faucets sloansloan and associatessloan carter Map

We are pleased to announce that Motorbilly.com is now online and that Ann Arbor based DJ Del Villarreal is happily posting fresh content there for your enjoyment. The content is being gradually added as Del has time, but he has already started to add announcements, links, and other material. The launch is what we refer to as a “soft launch”. The site is ready to go but the content is being added gradually. The benefit of this is that while Del is not yet publicizing the web site much on his radio show or at concerts or dances the search engines are starting to pick up the site and add it to their indexes.

Del is a great DJ and a good guy so if you have an interest in rockabilly, swing, or classic rock n’ roll be sure to visit his site and check out what he is up to.about products credit watchcredit america card expresscard laws credit 2007cards credit 0 ratecredit american reportunion credit 7first american credita credit and t card t Mapmerchant casino internet offshore texas accountaccount merchant casino offshore texascasinos slots allminimum online $10 casino depositmerchant credit card account bank gamblingagainst gamblingbill casino $10 superstitioncharles st mo casino ameristar in Mapsch ringtone 630 samsungmonophonic ringtone nokia 6340iringtone free a680 samsung sprintkeypress samsung ringtone a300amc south barrington theatersouth dating adult in barrington illinoistheaters amc barringtoncdm alltel audiovox 8910 ringtone Mapcity casinos alantic ratingsand hotel allegheny casinocasino allstar lanescasino caliente agua rancho miragecasino kappa mountain stone 1993albuquerque casino amccasinos $1 blackjackgambling adolescents addictions Mapdbz chichi bulma pornon chick chick pornchicken pornchicks porn lesbianchid pornochidren ics pornchile pornographypornstars chilean Map

Job Descriptions can be useful tools during the hiring process. They help employers specify their needs and they help potential employees identify positions that they are qualified for. Without a clear description of the skills needed to do a job and the responsibilities associated with that job it would be nearly impossible to hire a qualified accountant, engineer, programmer, or sales associate. So what could possibly be bad about a Job Description?

Job Descriptions limit people. They place barriers on the potential aspirations and actions an employee may take. Job Descriptions play a crucial role in the “not my job” syndrome, where employees don’t really care what happens around them as long as they don’t get blamed. Employers are often at fault for this when they push employees to be so focused on their assigned tasks and following their instructions that the employees feel the only path to success is blind obedience and adherence to existing protocols.
Continue reading Are Job Descriptions Bad For Business?

E-commerce is a great term. It’s the commerce we’ve all grown to know and love but with a twist. That little “e–” changes so much. The way we communicate with customers, their expectations for service, the way they find us, the way we fit into the marketplace — it’s all different.

Communication

Doing business online means that customers expect better, faster, and easier communication with your company. It’s no longer the norm to be open Monday through Friday 8-5 and to answer your phone when a customer calls. Now we need email, contact forms, support forums, online chat, phone, fax, and occasionally smoke signals. Customers expect you to respond quickly even if you’re 5 time zones away and it’s Saturday night. It can be hard to make the transition and meet customer expectations. There are some ways to make it easier:

• Know how to use the technologies - email, caller ID, call waiting, instant messaging, and online forums are great if used properly. But they are frustrating and stressful if you don’t. Either teach yourself about them, find someone to explain it to you, or hire people who get it.
• Turn it off - sometimes it’s okay not to respond. Just because you got a message asking about product sizes on Saturday at 3am doesn’t mean you need to respond then. Wait until Sunday or Monday to do it. Just make sure that when you respond your answers are clear, courteous, and helpful. Don’t ignore people, but for your own sanity know when to take a break.
• Communicate more often - Start an email newsletter, a blog, or a mailing list for discussion. Talk to your customers often about the thing you are passionate about - your business. Take time each day or week to tell people about what you can do to make them great, to make them happier, to make their lives easier. Tell them about your products and services. Tell them about your triumphs and sometimes even your failures. Build a relationship with your customers.

Continue reading Changing Your Business Model

“We build web sites”. That’s how I describe our business to people I meet and my Grandma. It’s simple, too simple really since that’s just scratching the surface of what we do. We guide our clients in how the use their web sites, we build the sites, and we educate them in how to make the web site an integral part of the business. We look at their business processes and explore how they use technology throughout the organization. We really work in the realm of information systems: how people, information, and technology interact. A web site on its own is really not very exciting. It’s how a web site conveys information to people or to other computer systems that is really of interest. It’s making a web site part of an integral part of a larger cohesive business that is really useful. But getting to the point where you realize this fact tends to take a while.
Continue reading A Mature Approach to Your Web Site

I had a terrible experience today with DIRECTV. I recently ordered a Phillips DIRECTV DVR with TiVo. On the website it described all of the wonderful features available and I had been happy with the service at my parents’ house where they use an old RCA UltimateTV. I have setup my new DVR and started using it only to find that the software is outdated and the hardware is crippled. The software is TiVo version 3.1, which would be fine if the current version of TiVo wasn’t 7. DIRECTV says on their website that they are rolling out upgrades to version 6.2 but they shipped me a new box without the upgrade, f’ing brilliant. They also failed to mention that all of the cool home networking features were disabled and the USB and other ports would not work on the box I got. Nothing better than paying for hardware that might as well be a shiny river rock.
Continue reading Tell the Truth Upfront