One of my favorite past-times is to dissect competitors within a business sector. Sometimes the pairings are obvious (Barnes & Noble vs. Borders, Honda vs Toyota), other times I’m less confident (Target vs. Wal-Mart3, Facebook vs. Twitter). These pairings (or groupings) point as much at commonality across market offerings as they do project the direction …
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
Secret Project 09Q02A
I dig it when my client’s enthusiasm for the project infects me. And why not – this project has all the qualities of a project I’d really like. It even has that extra bit – an approach I credit to Chad Fowler – of taking something you don’t like and doing it in a way …
How Could the National Pork Board Have Better Responded?
If you listen to Minnesota Public Radio, perhaps you’ve caught the promotional spot from the National Pork Board declaring “cooked pork is safe” from the recent flu outbreak. I already assumed cooked pork was safe. Now, an organization financed by pork producers is telling me it’s safe – the conflict of interest and dismissive tone …
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Arik Jones on Failbox
I’m please to see Arik Jones keeping the Failbox torch burning – in a post on the need for a smarter email client ” However, it could group todays messages in a “top 25 most important” list. That’s all I’d ever see for an inbox. Talk about getting your email priorities straight.” – Arik Jones …
What’s that Sound?
As a kid, I watched The Right Stuff more times than I can count. It’s a fun story about the beginnings of the NASA space program and test pilots. But mostly it’s about egos. Lately, the opening’s been stuck in my head. “There was a demon that lived in the thin air; they said anyone …
I Ask Tim Quirk About Wonderlick’s New Album
Over at the First Crack Podcast, I ask Tim Quirk about the forthcoming Wonderlick album ‘Topless at the Arco Arena’, the pay-what-you-want models, and music’s changing landscape. [mp3]
First Crack 120. Wonderlick’s Tim Quirk on Truth Through Music
I’ve been a fan of Tim Quirk’s music for 20 years – easy. The playful melancholy in throughout his songwriting continually resonates with me. When he announced the new Wonderlick album was in the works and available for ‘name-your-price’ pre-order – I jumped on the opportunity. When I started hearing about how successful the campaign …
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Garrick’s SXSW 2009 Showcasing Artists Picks
5 Stars Cable TV by Fol Chen Poppy beats and seductive vocals about doing absolutely nothing. Except watching cable tv. An prime example of the oft overlooked SlackerRock genre. Nothing At All by Madi Diaz Like chasing a butterflies through a field on a summer day. Winona by Totally Michael A love song to Winona …
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Kindle 2.0 USB Cable Died, Not Charging
My Kindle‘s been dead since yesterday. My initial thought was that maybe it no longer liked being charged from the USB hub. I plugged it into the wall and the charge light didn’t come on. Hmmm. Thankfully, it’s USB so I’ve got plenty of cables lying around to test. I grabbed the USB cable from …
DickensURL.com – Extra Short Stories
There’s lots of silly URL shorteners. Some of my favorites – not just because of their silliness, but because they offer some interesting potential; GiantURL – takes a regular URL and transforms it into a multi-line, unreadable, hash. Potentially, the information you’re sharing could be encoded into the hash, rather than redirected. Hmmm. what’s the …