Interesting conversation last evening about the price of iPods specifically, and ecommerce differences in general between the States and Belgium. Check this: 80 Gig iPod: $350 or €399 With the current exchange rate, that makes the European price tag: $529 Dang. For that price, it’d be worth flying to the States and loading up a …
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
Old World Smells
The first breath of air as I stepped off the plane brought a big smile to my face. The air here is a little mustier. A little earthier. A little more natural. The increased intensity of the smell are one of my favorite things about Belgium (and the Netherlands and Germany). The onions chopped for …
Failed Ideas as Fuel
“Ideas are easy, so let’s have lots of them.” “Invest in them incrementally.” “Make sure that the ideas we invest in can be “recycled” by adding to the collective intelligence and business capabilities, so that if they don’t work out individually we have created food for other groups to use.” – Adam Richardson
Brussel Me
We landed in Brussels a couple hours ago. Smoothest trip we could have imagined. I let out a jet-lagged giggle at the ‘inspected by the TSA’ sticker on the car seat we checked.
Unlock-in
“The US copyright office will permit mobile phone subscribers to unlock their phones, allowing them to be used by rival network providers.” – Andrew Orlowski, The Register “The exemptions become effective on 27 November 2006 and will only remain in effect for three years.” – Tim Finn “This is really only applicable to Cingular and …
Conversion Rate on Joy
We caught the “Heretics” episode of the This American Life last week on the drive back from Wisconsin. A superb listen – about Reverend Carlton Pearson and his New Dimensions church – best I’ve heard from public radio in quite a while (not that I’ve been able to stand listening that much). Pearson’s philosophy of …
Going Long
Realism is just idealism stretched over time. – Thomas P. M. Barnett There really isn’t much a of ‘short run’. It quickly becomes yesterday. The long run, on the other hand, sticks around for quite a while. – Seth Godin
First Crack 92. Curbly.com – The Home Improvement Social Network
Bruno Bornsztein, Ben Moore, and I talk about their recently launched project – Curbly.com – a social networking site for sharing DIY projects, tips, and finding help. After we run through the site, we talk about; Using agile web development processes and what Ben calls WWIBAN (What Would I Bitch About Next) to be “one …
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Don’t Hold Your Breath
While Darren’s post is specific the challenges of high-profile, pro-bike racing, the messed up relationship he describes is evident in so many other industries, the major entertainment publishers come to mind immediately (music, books, etc). While I admittedly don’t know the specifics of the issues within bike racing (Darren’s the expert here, and I could …
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.