Jason del Rey wrote an article for Recode titled Inside the conflict at Walmart that’s threatening its high-stakes race with Amazon. Continue reading “Walmart e-commerce sees red”
groundwater pumping is drying up Arizona rivers
An Arizona Republic article reports, “Groundwater pumping has caused stream flow in U.S. rivers to decline by as much as half over the last century, according to new research by a University of Arizona hydrologist that strengthens the connection between groundwater and surface water.” Continue reading “groundwater pumping is drying up Arizona rivers”
Chuck Peddle and the worst deal Bill Gates ever made
Chuck Peddle, inventor of 6502 microprocessor (which powered Apple II; Commodore PET,Vic20,C64; Atari 400,800), negotiated a perpetual license for BASIC; Bill Gates “would readily acknowledge it was probably the worst deal he ever made.”
Chumocracy
I love the terms “chumocracy” and “chumocrat” used in this NYT Opinion piece (Jan. 17, 2019). The Malign Incompetence of the British Ruling Class
“Such a pattern of egotistic and destructive behavior by the British elite flabbergasts many people today. But it was already manifest seven decades ago during Britain’s rash exit from India.”
Brainstorming and divergent thinking
Amy Nauiokas wrote an article for Quartz titled We’ve Been Structuring Brainstorm Sessions All Wrong.
“Rather than encouraging convergent thinking, as traditional brainstorm sessions do, the goal should be to encourage divergent thinking: the practice of finding new ways to look at a problem and generating multiple solutions. In divergent thinking, the emphasis isn’t to agree on the best idea—it’s to get as far away as possible from the most obvious answer.” Continue reading “Brainstorming and divergent thinking”
Amazon Prime Day Emails are a Dumpster Fire
Ranee Soundara wrote an article titled Amazon Prime Day Emails are a Dumpster Fire. The article was prompted by some promotional emails from Amazon pitching very lame personalized product selections. With the vast amount of big data that Amazon has available about past purchases as well as searching and browsing history, she notes that Amazon was promoting products remarkably off base—a major marketing failure for a company for a company whose profits come from selling purportedly leading-edge AI/ML technology through AWS. Continue reading “Amazon Prime Day Emails are a Dumpster Fire”
Snickers turnaround
Here is a YouTube video in which Mark Ritson explains a remarkable turnaround story of the Snicker brand, by focusing on distinctive assets. Continue reading “Snickers turnaround”
The Math Behind The New Energy Economy: An Exercise in Magical Thinking
Mark P. Mills wrote piece titled The Math Behind The New Energy Economy: An Exercise in Magical Thinking. 100% green energy is an undeniably desirable objective, but achieving this may be much messier than some proponents acknowledge. Continue reading “The Math Behind The New Energy Economy: An Exercise in Magical Thinking”
Cultural Imprinting
Kevin Simler posted article called Ads Don’t Work That Way explaining the how cultural imprinting works in advertising. « Cultural imprinting is the mechanism whereby an ad, rather than trying to change our minds individually, instead changes the landscape of cultural meanings — which in turn changes how we are perceived by others when we use a product. » Continue reading “Cultural Imprinting”
beehive management consultants
A humorous Twitter thread about a beehive which hires management consultants.
Articles of Interest 