Random Articles

• How Netflix Could Use Recommendations To Increase Subscriptions One of the challenges of highly customer-driven systems like the iPod, Tivo, and Netflix is the keeping it fresh. I wrote about my experience with this problem last fall (New, Unexpected Music on Your iPod). I’m sensing the same “2,000 songs and nothing’s on” wall with Netflix. Sure, there are 50 discs in our queue
• Crazed Small World Just found out the very cool crazedlist.org (persistent Craigslist searching) is run by the same Andrew Payne I’ve been working somewhat indirectly with for about a year now. Proving again: The world actually is pretty small. Every good web developer/designer has a really cool side project.
• A Suggestion for Shareware-ing TV and Movies I’ve got a handful of password-protected PDF files. I can share those files with anyone, back them up on as many computers or discs as I’d like. If I want to actually read them, I need the password. The password cost me a $10 or $50 or what have you. I’d like to see this model
• Fortune Cookie Actually Relevant At today’s MNteractive PowerLunch I received the following fortune cookie message: “Explore the backroads of the north with a new friend.” It seemed fantastically relevant to last weekend’s journey. If you haven’t been to the Sawatadee in St. Paul, the service is fantastic. I haven’t been there for months and the waitress recognized me, remembered what I ordered
• What Price Garbage Avoidance We’ve got a Rainbow Foods just south of us and a Cub Foods just north of us. Both are just on the border of walking-distance away (that’s a different story). At both stores, I’m struck by how much of we don’t see, how many aisles we don’t walk down, and how much crap we don’t