I really cannot recall how I came across Headsprout, but I am glad I did. It is an incredible online reading program for K-5. My pre-K son, Shane, took to it right away, and as a parent, I am very impressed with the results. Shane went from being interested in books to actively reading after completing the 80th lesson of Early Reading.
The program does a great job of providing active feedback while teaching the student. Shane’s mouse skills and computer confidence have soared. The add-on flash cards and download-able books help reinforce the lessons and the characters and worlds are great. His reading is constantly improving as is his interest in books. As a parent, I could not be more impressed.
Being based in Seattle, Shane had an opportunity to help Headsprout with usability testing on a future product. He got to meet the people who made Scout, Fling, Trish and has favorite characters as well as the muscians who made the music that makes the lessons fun.
If you have an young reader, check out Headsprout.
Disclaimer: No compensation, just a happy customer.
Joke: “Why did it take God 7 days to create the Earth?”
Answer: “Because He did not have the install base.”
This “joke” was all too common in my house growing up. Dad ran an enterprise software company.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google are all competing for the cloud. Each is taking a different approach. Google is targeting the enterprise through its application suites and the ability to host email through Gmail. It is a very cool feature that I use and love. It is much more consistent than the Microsoft offering that I also use to access my University of Washington accounts. I do have to question the readiness of the enterprise and the cloud; however, when I see advertisements from Google touting their enterprise presence with a customer list full of universities. It is more likely that the raw horsepower of the cloud that Amazon provides is the immediate future of the enterprise. Applications will evolve from that. Interestingly enough Amazon launched Simple Email Service (SES) into the AWS family this week.
Bob Feller passed last week and so did a little of baseball history. Richard Goldstein’s NY Times article is the best write up on the pitching legend.
In my youth, my father and I bonded over baseball like so many Americans. We had a different twist in that we also collected autographed baseballs from Hall of Famers. From the ages of 10-12, I was able to collect every living member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Bob Feller was one of the first and the first autograph I paid for. It was at a baseball card show at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. Mr. Feller was sitting at a folding table with several different 8×10 photos purchase and he would autograph for an extra dollar. Yes, $1. I am pretty sure the photo and the signature totaled $5. I remember my dad explaining on the way home that players from his era did not make what they did today (this was in 1983 or 84). They did not have a pension or any of those other benefits. What I really remember was how personal he made each signature. He talked to me and wanted to know my name and what position I played. He spent a good 4-5 minutes with everyone who wanted his signature. I remember it so well because I would come to learn that experience was the exception, like Bob Feller was most of his life, rather than the rule.
It seems like I am always talking to people about buying eyeglasses online. This is an update of a previous post.
Almost 2 years ago, I realized that I needed glasses. The 20/10′s of my youth were done. I got a very nice pair at one of the cool places in Seattle. They fit great and looked really good, but they were not me 24/7. I came across the sites below and thought it would be interesting to try. At the same time, a friend who really needs glasses had his last pair broken for him (that is another story). I sent him these links and he ended up getting a couple of pairs. They looked great. Worked great, even bifocals. Encouraged, I took the plunge and have been very satisfied. To date, I have ordered from Zenni, Coastal Contacts and EyeBuyDirect.
What you need
You need your prescription and pupillary distance. Also you need to know the frame dimensions that work on your face. For the first couple of pairs, I mirrored my expensive, very nice, cool store pair. After that I learned what would work and branched out from there. I have about 4 pairs that I rotate and 2 $8 pairs for backup.
Where I have bought
Zenni Optical Dirt cheap prices and solid quality. Only $5 to ship, but can take up awhile to deliver.
Coastal Contacts More designer frames than other sites and prices range accordingly. Super fast shipping.
EyeBuyDirect Great turnaround. I had my order within 7 days. My current favorite pair is from here.
Check these sites for more information
GlassyEyes Definitive Blog
43 Folders: Adventures in $40 eyeglasses
Lifehacker: Save Bundles of Cash by Buying Eyeglasses Online
Overall, I wear the EyeBuyDirect and Coastal Contact pairs all the time. They are more pricey compared to Zenni, but look great and arrive quickly. If you have glasses, give any of the three a shot.
Happy weekend.
Remember when Bill Gates openly mocked IBM for sponsoring the “OS/2 Bowl”?
Engadget: Microsoft to spend one billion dollars
Came across this and found it interesting. Happy Summer.
The Double Think:The Value of Stories
The 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) are the standard Marketing Mix. This is not just “marketing fluff” the P’s are where the rubber meets the road in CRM, namely quote generation. The 5th P (Problems) still exist with quote generation today.
Product and pricing data are integrated with ERP systems. Promotions live with CRM and for the enterprise are often customer specific. Place in the CRM parlance is the here and now. Sales is looking to book revenue today. The revenue pipeline needs to flow so that the company can grow. It is amazing to me that 5th P (problems) still exist with product and pricing. These problems are identical to problems faced by CRM over a decade ago. Customer-specific pricing is everywhere and is not going away, yet the complexities of this pricing makes quote generation in CRMs nearly impossible. Too many companies have this problem and no one really solves it. Why? Likely the P (price) to fix the P (problem) is way to high and no P (product) or P (promotion) have incentives to fix it in the P (place).
One thing I know about myself is that I am better when I have a full plate. To stay busy, I enrolled in the Evening MBA program at University of Washington’s Foster School of Business last fall. I have been impressed with the curriculum and faculty.
The Blue Ocean Strategy was a recent assignment. The concept is about value innovation. “Red” oceans are known industries and markets. The competition is constantly trying to outperform rivals and the waters bloody. “Blue” oceans are industries and markets that are unknown today. Demand is created rather than fought over with ample opportunity for growth and profit. Blue oceans are often created from red oceans. A competitor finds an opening to create value and finds their blue ocean. Several examples are cited.
The authors, Kim and Mauborgne, are too dismissive of red ocean companies. They state that corporate strategy is heavily influenced by its roots in military strategy. Competition, confronting the opponent and driving him from the battlefield are listed; however this is not military strategy. It is the goal of a direct attack. It made me think how the blue ocean strategy would compare to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy.
Here are some select passages from The Art of War that conflict with the red ocean view of corporate/military strategy:
1) All warfare is based on deception.
2) In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
3) Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
Clearly, Sun Tzu would not advocate a red ocean. In contrast, The Art of War is blue ocean:
You can only be sure of succeeding in your attacks is you only attack places that are undefended.
Pretty clear talk of finding uncontested market space, capturing new demand and making the competition irrelevant. In contrast, red oceans are prolonged fights exploiting differentiation or cost. These are commodity markets, not drivers of innovation. Blue oceans are value innovators and clearly have roots in military strategy from the 6th century BC.
When you know your customer (KYC), good things happen.
– Example, Client A increased user adoption to 70% of total call volume. ROI increase 25% in one quarter.
When you know your customer, you can spot trouble a mile away.
– Example, Client B re-organized and has a new executive sponsor. He has called the ROI model into question.
When you know your customer, the relationship goes beyond business.
– Example, Client C asks for advice on improving the ROI model and photography equipment for his vacation.
