Gadgetopia

Green Any Site: Here’s a brilliant little idea from long-time Gadgetopia reader Tal Ater.

He’s created a series of affiliate accounts with various online merchants. He donates 100% of the proceeds paid to those affiliates to environmental causes.

So, how does he get people to buy under the affiliate accounts? This is from an email he sent me:

The “green this purchase” link is actually an affiliate link, created in real-time based on where you clicked the bookmarklet from, and leading right back to where you were shopping… So when you click the bookmarklet, you’re basically telling the site that GreenAnySite sent you, and they pay us a commission for referring you… We then donate 100% of the affiliate fees we get to environmental organizations (chosen and voted on by GAS users).

So, if this takes off, Tal has essentially forced retailers to give 10% (or whatever) of their proceeds to the environment, whether they like it or not.

The only danger I can see is that the retailers would figure it out, realize he wasn’t actually driving new traffic, and close his affiliate accounts. But, if enough word gets out about it, perhaps that would be detrimental from a PR perspective?

Regardless, great little idea.

There’s a common saying in business that “it takes three times more effort to get business from a new customer than from an existing customer.” I believe that to be true, regardless of your industry.

Yet, we’re all consumed with pursuing the next deal. Why is this? If your Web development company has dozens of hungry clients, clamoring for your time, why is there always so much emphasis on new business? Why do current clients tend to get neglected or placed in line behind new business which comes in the door?

Last month, I read the fantastic book “Managing the Professional Service Firm” by David Maister. It’s geared toward the traditional professional services — accountants and lawyers, mainly — but the lessons in it are widely applicable to any “I’ll do X for money” type of firm.

Though long, this quote is worth reading, regarding why firms are so obsessive about new business:

I have learned from numerous conversations on this topic with consultants, lawyers, accountants, actuaries, and other professionals that primary among all the reasons for the relative overemphasis on new clients is the simple fact that pursuing and getting a new client is more fun. New clients provide the “thrill of the chase” in a way that maturing existing relationships does not. Pursuing a new client proposal opportunity usually has the characteristics of a well-defined, finite, project with relatively clear tasks and specific deadlines. Nurturing an existing relationship often has few inherent deadlines, little obvious structure, and more ambiguous tasks. Consequently, it is reported to me, it is a less “satisfying” activity: It doesn’t provide the same “rush of adrenaline.”

It’s so true. New projects are perfect, in the sense that everything is theoretical. In your mind, the project is unsullied by reality. You envision perfect execution, and relish the chance to attack a new challenge.

Sadly, it’s a lot like relationships — the grass is always greener and whatnot. New business validates you as a company. Getting new work means someone said, “Yes, you are good enough to hire.” Not getting the new work — even if you have more than enough existing work — is like someone saying, “Stick with what you know. I’m rejecting you in favor of someone else.”

Sometimes, I’m convinced we over-emphasize new work to shore up our self-esteem and sense of worth as professionals.

Acknowledging this fact doesn’t solve the problem, but it makes you more aware of it and how destructive it is. Being cognizant of this — even just for the last month — has positively affected the way I do business.

I’m trying something tonight I’ve been meaning to get around to — I’m streaming movies from Netflix to my son’s X-Box 360. So far, it’s working great.

You have to have an X-Box Live account. Since I didn’t want to do this under my son’s existing account, I had to sign up for my own. But at $50/year, it’s not bad (for now, I paid just $8 for one month).

Then you have to have a Netflix account. I’m on a free trial for the three DVD at-a-time plan which runs $16.99 a month normally.

My X-Box gave me a code I entered on the Netflix Web site, and it was activated. Then I went to the “Watch Instantly” menu on Netflix (on my computer), and added movies to my “Instant” queue. You can stream them right through the computer, or — if you wait 30 seconds — they show up in your X-Box menu.

I picked Miami Vice, Season 1 (true story — if Isabella had been a boy, she was going to be named Sonny). Sure enough, within a few seconds, the DVD cover art appeared on my X-Box menu on the television. I was able to browse the contents of the disc, on which were multiple episodes of Vice (some, however, were marked “Episode available on disc only” — no idea why).

The system briefly checked my connection speed, and then — voila — “Calderone’s Return, Part 2” in all its synthesized 80s glory.

Video quality on my 46-inch LCD was great (according to the Wikipedia page, HD is available on a few hundred movies now). I downloaded as many big files as I could find from the PC, and even did some bandwidth tests (which involve large-ish files), but the TV image never stuttered or wavered.

The on-screen playback controls were standard and simple. You manipulate them with the X-Box controller. It even tells you how much of the show you watched (in percent), and let’s you rate the show right from the TV.

I’m trying to figure out the catch, but having trouble. Here’s an excerpt from the Netflix Help:

Instant watching is included with all Netflix plans.

Your current 3 at-a-time (Unlimited) plan provides unlimited hours for watching instantly. You can watch as many hours as you like, and there’s no additional charge for watching.

Your DVD plan is unchanged. Watching movies instantly online will not affect the number of DVDs you can receive or how quickly you can exchange discs.

So, I could actually back-off to the one DVD at-a-time plan ($5.99/month) and still get as much instant watching on my TV as I wanted. And still get DVDs in the mail on top of that.

The only drawback appears to be movie selection. Netflix stocks 100,000 titles, but only 10% of them are available instantly. Nevertheless, I found lots of recent releases like Ratatouille, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Dan in Real Life, No Country for Old Men, etc. Lots of TV too — every season of Heroes, The Office, CSI, Law and Order (all three variants), etc.

I’ll continue to post about it here, while I try it out. But, on first glance, this is fantastic.

the crowbar arrived at CERN, Freeman received it, world saved: In one of the LHC promotional pictures from a while back was a guy who looked a lot like Gordon Freeman. Hilarity ensued.

As scientists at CERN prepared to turn on the LHC for the first time, the gaming reddit community realized the significance of this historic scientific event: a resonance cascade and dimensional tear, followed by alien invasion.

One of our quick-thinking redditors suggested a plan to save mankind. We’d send CERN a crowbar. Just to be safe, we made it a wrecking bar, threw in a headcrab hat (for training purposes) and Fark donated a Half-life strategy guide to the cause.

The guys at CERN had a sense of humor, and sent back some pics of the crowbar in action.

Boston College Will Stop Offering New Students E-Mail Accounts: I’m actually a little surprised colleges were still doing this. I wonder what percentage of incoming students don’t have email anymore?

Many students don’t even want a college e-mail address these days because they already have well-established digital identities before they arrive on campus. That’s the conclusion that officials at Boston College came to in a recent review of their online services. So the college recently decided to stop offering full e-mail accounts to incoming students starting next fall.

I’ve read two articles in the last couple days about Japanese automakers — Toyota and Honda. Both were complimentary about their training and engineering practices. Both are worth reading:

• Engineers Rule
  At American auto companies, finance guys and marketers rise to the top. Not at Honda.

• What Toyota knows that GM doesn’t
  […] while … employees were not manufacturing automobiles, they were in training. They were doing safety drills, participating in productivity improvement exercises, attending presentations on material handling and workplace hazards, taking diversity and ethics classes, attending maintenance education and taking a stream of online tests to measure and record their skill improvements.

The second one, about Toyota, really speaks to me. I truly believe that the great companies spend downturns tooling up for the recovery. This is when you invest in training, R&D, and innovation. The economy will recover, and if Blend experiences a slowdown, we’ll won’t spend it sitting around.

Obama may have to give up e-messaging: What is the issue with presidents and email?

Bill Clinton supposedly only sent two emails. And it’s said that John McCain has never touched a computer (although other sources say it’s because war wounds make it impossible for him to type).

Now Obama may have to give his email up? When will the madness end!?

The president’s e-mail can be subpoenaed by Congress and courts and may be subject to public records laws, so if a president doesn’t want his e-mail public, he shouldn’t e-mail, experts said. And there may be security issues about carrying around trackable cell phones.

Obama transition officials haven’t made a decision on what the new president will or will not carry, but those who have been there say it’s unlikely he’ll carry his BlackBerry and he may be in for some withdrawal pains.

The YouTube Presidency: I just tweeted about this the other day.

Today, President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video — a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama’s transition site, Change.gov, once the radio address is made public on Saturday morning.

What This Country Needs is a Chief Technology Officer: This would be an exciting thing, but who would you possibly get to fill this role? Who could bridge the gap between all the stakeholders to make this position work?

I’ve read in a few places recently that president-elect Obama plans to appoint a Chief Technology Officer for America, perhaps as a cabinet-level position. This is one of those brilliant ideas that seems glaringly obvious in retrospect — of course the most technically advanced, innovative, and computer intensive economy on the planet should have a high-ranking official in the federal government dedicated to technology issues! Why haven’t we had one since the dawn of the mainframe, PC, or Internet Eras? Still, much better late than never.

Six Apart Hit by Downturn, Lays Off 8% of Staff: This is discouraging.

Six Apart, the producer of blogging platform Movable Type, has announced layoffs of up to 8% of its full time staff.

In addition to laying off 16 employees, the entire management staff is taking a 15% pay cut.

Local Mini Nuclear Reactors to Power US Homes within 5 Years: Will it actually happen? Who knows? Is it a good idea? Tougher question.

A New Mexico based company have started production on hot tub-sized nuclear generators designed to power communities across America.

[…] Powered by low-enriched uranium fuel, each Hyperion Power Module will produce enough clean, safe and environmentally friendly energy to reliably power 20,000 standard American homes for 10cents per watt.

[…] To add to their eco credentials, each module will produce a mere softball-sized amount of recyclable waste every five years and will release nothing in the way of greenhouse gas emissions, unlike ‘traditional’ fossil fuels.

Stop the insanity: CNN’s ‘hologram’ was horrendous: I agree that the term “hologram” was totally mis-used here. I’ve heard from several sources that it was actually a tomogram.

First off, let me say that it wasn’t even real “hologram” technology, which annoys me from the start. Don’t say it’s a “hologram” technology unless it really is. If CNN was truly using a “hologram,” it would not have employed a green screen and overlay images. Instead, it would have captured scattered light and then reconstructed it back in the studio.

Oh, and it probably would have bankrupted CNN too.

Still, I think the technology was neat. It could be a way to get a bunch of people to look like they’re in the same room to the people at home, and there’s some value in that.

CNN has the nasty habit of posting a lot of video. If you look at the image, all those news stories with the little camera next to them are video clips. (And the t-shirt icon means they’re…t-shirts. Seriously.)

I hate this. It’s frustrating. Video on a news site blows.

I am not begrudging the YouTubes and Hulus of the world, but with those sites, I want and expect to see video. With CNN, I’m looking for news. Quickly.

With video, I have to:

1. Wait for it to load
2. Turn on my speakers (and irritate the people around me)
3. Sit through an ad
4. Wait for whomever is speaking to get around to their point

Text is good. Text is fast. The inverted pyramid style has been around for years, and it works. I can read the first couple of paragraphs and get the gist of what the story is about.

In a lot of ways, the difference between text and video is like the differences between email and phone, and I still like text for the same reasons. Rich media is cool, but text will never die.

When I see a headline on CNN that I want to read and it has a little camera next to it, I often get irritated enough to go to Google News, search for some terms, and see if anyone has written anything about it. I do that 2-3 times a week.

Rant over.

Has using the “@” symbol to address people in serial conversation threads become a standard? You see it in Twitter, of course, but I’m seeing it more and more in blog comments, and people use the syntax over in CNN’s comment threads all the time.

Just wondering.

More proof that Hulu is working is that it’s rapidly becoming a clearing house for lots of media — even shows that aren’t on Hulu are being cataloged there. Consider:

• The Amazing Race
• Mad Men

Neither are on Hulu, but rather at the sites of their home networks (CBS and AMC). But Hulu is becoming so popular, they’re in the navigation there, linked through to their actual location.