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"Edwards offers vouchers, job training and vows to create a million temporary public-sector jobs. Obama agrees, but takes fuller advantage of home visits, parental counseling, mentoring programs and other relationship-building efforts." Good point...
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From today's NYT editorial.
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A pet issue of mine is addressed in this NYT editorial. What's interesting is that, the supposed nemisis of the industry, Chris Dodd, is not mentioned once.
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Some interesting ideas here, and I'm not sure I agree with is "bureaucracy" comments. Actually, I think he's just a bit inaccurate, but sees that there is a problem.
July 2007 Archives
I'm sure Amazon knows much better than me, but I'm going to pontificate anyway. As anyone who works with me knows, I heavily subscribe to the 37signals-style simplicity movement. Every move I make at work (in product design, etc) is aimed toward simplicity. I'm also a data head (according to my fellow Web Geeks at work), so the idea of divergent data bothers me.
Amazon is fantastic, but I think their Wish List system has gotten much too complicated. Surely you jest, Mr. Palmer! Hear me out.
I went on Amazon today to pick out books to read while in Japan. I picked out five books, all of which I will search for at the used book store tomorrow. So I didn't want to purchase today, but found I had way too many options to defer my purchase. I could add to a Wish List (of which I can have multiples), add to my Cart (and leave it there), add to my Cart then "Save for Later" or add to a Gift List.
See what I mean? Those are just the options to defer my purchase. I haven't even catalogued the methods to actually buy something.
Here's my suggestion (and again, Amazon probably knows better). Pare this down to a combined "intentions" system under the "Wishlist" moniker. Save for Later probably works well because the items are still in your "Cart," so you're more likely to buy them or tack them on to a later purchase. Wish Lists work because they capture an emotional desire to own/consume something, but aren't so intimidating as to make you feel you're putting off a purchase.
The "Save for Later" button in your Cart would add the item to your wish list (rather than keeping it in a separate system), but also lightly suggest it during subsequent checkouts. Why? Because you came closer to buying it, so you're more likely to do so in the future.
That'd be a new feature (I think, right?) - add-on purchase suggestions during checkout. You'd be shown suggestions of items you might want to tack on to your purchase. They wouldn't show you just any items from your wish list, but those that are maybe 20% under your average item cost in addition to "Save for Later" items. If you can hit a sweet spot for add-on purchase prices, sales would increase; it might even be worth it to tie this into the Super-Saver shipping program by suggesting items that would make the transaction qualify for free shipping.
As for Wish Lists, make them simpler! Wish Lists themselves are too complicated. Rate 1-5 how much you'd *really* like to receive this item. What Wish List does this belong in? How do I access my Wish List(s)? Why isn't it easy to add an item from one during checkout?
If only 5% of your customers are using comments and ratings in Wish Lists, get rid of them. I can't imagine a large amount of people use either of those features, and it's usually worth making the system less intimidating for customers. Go back to having one Wish List, but perhaps make it taggable.
Here's the lesson. Every time the web gets simpler, more people use it. The more people use it, the more things people buy. Amazon is the undisputed leader in online commerce, but I think they could create a more useful, but simpler "intentions" system that made customers feel less intimidated and encouraged more purchasing.
But what do you think? Is Amazon too complex?
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This is going to be very similar to our trip.
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You are kidding. You've got to be.
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I'll give this a go in a few hours. I'll probably do terribly.
So, Web 2.0 geeks. What's your favorite way to post journals, memories, and photos of a vacation? I'll be in Japan for several weeks and I'm thinking there's got to be a tool out there to post a good summary and photos.
I'll probably just use this blog combined with Flickr, but is there something better out there that I should try?
I can't believe it - in less than two weeks I'll be in Japan! I still have a lot of work to do to feel ready for the trip, but I'm kind of expecting that I won't feel ready at all.
Matt found this great travelogue of someone who took a similar route to ours. We'll be there a few days longer, but will be going to most of the same cities. Rather than go with a packaged tour, we planned the trip ourselves - I'll let you know how that works out.
We've decided to spend a good portion of our time in Japan staying in traditional Japanese Ryokan Inns, interspersed with western-style hotels.
We're starting off with a few days in Tokyo and then traveling along the west coast of Honshu for a few days in the country. We want to experience Tokyo's famous nightlife and some of the more famous sites, like the Imperial Palace and the national Diet.
We're staying in a traditional grass hut style inn Shirakawa-go, then a night in Kanazawa. By Japanese standards, Kanazawa is considered small, but it's actually not much smaller than DC!
From there, we're spending a few days in each Kyoto and Osaka. I'm looking forward to seeing the ancient Imperial Palace in Kyoto (we'll see the main palace in Tokyo) and we'll also be there for the Gozan no Okuribi, which features giant bonfires on the hills surrounding the city. Osaka is considered the gourmet food capital of Japan, so I'm hoping we find some great regional cuisine there.
After Osaka we're going to go to Hiroshima for a few days. There was some debate as to whether that would be worth it - apparently there's not much there above and beyond the World Heritage Site and the Peace Memorial. It's a bit out of the way, but we decided it was worth it.
We'll spend a night in Nara before returning to Tokyo for a few days. In Nara, we're apparently staying at one of the nicest Ryokan Inns around, which should be fantastic. Ryokans are known for their gourmet food, gardens, hot springs, and luxurious accommodations. I'm looking forward to seeing that all in Nara, as well as the apparently enormous deer population that wanders around the city.
Finally, we're spending three days at the Intercontinental in Tokyo, just basically relaxing and enjoying our final few days in Japan before the ridiculously long flight back to the States.
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Joe argues that nothing's going to change the student loan business, but I'd argue that the Miller bill, if passed, will provide much needed help to students.
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I really enjoyed this video. These guys go out and give lectures pretending to be someone else. The vast majority of the time, the organizations believe their satirical performances.
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Was anyone else unaware of this story?
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Nope, it's not in the Onion.
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Getting dirty...
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"If you believe that water flows uphill and fish have wings, then Asian stocks can keep rallying and ignore the expanding housing and credit problems spreading out from the U.S.,"
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Nooooooo! The Bethlehem Club has closed! (Side note: I've long thought that Lehigh should purchase this and make it an alumni club.)
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"I'd argue that it was central spark to launching a movement that has now acquired extraordinary popular groundwell." I'd argue that the Nation, and vanden Heuval in particular, *LOVE* to take credit for "sparking" movements of all sorts.
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Yeah, I was gonna say, blaming this redesign on the Chicago Tribune isn't quite right. All Tribune properties now sport this lackluster design. You can't tell the different between chicagotribune.com and my hometown paper, mcall.com.
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It's a good argument. I think Marshall should read up extensively on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and the subsequent impeachments of administration officials at that time.
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I think the bigger problem is Obama criticizing something he never had to vote on. It's easy to say I would or wouldn't have voted on something if you were never in a position to do so.
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Yep, I think this is a good idea. "Things I can kick out in an hour." I might do this to KP tonight, or over the weekend.
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(via Justin)
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Yep, it's true, our broadband is badly crippled in this country.
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This is scary. I've been dieting and running some mornings.
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Not surprising at all.
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This is really comprehensive. CNN is pretending there's no "shadow bias" in their reporting by saying "we stuck to the facts." That's technically true, though the tone of Gupta's report made it clear they were attacking Moore's film.
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Liking this article on project estimates.
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Worth reading.
Originally uploaded by thegreatmp
My brother Matt has posted some of his first photos of his semester in New Zealand. Looks beautiful!
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Interesting stuff. I'm not quite this obsessive, but I probably should be.
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Good to know...
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Hmmm we might want this for work. I'm unhappy with current input options.
As always, I'm uber-impressed with PBS's news and documentary branch and with their online efforts. The number of times a week I tell people "Hey, I saw something about that on [insert NOW, Bill Moyers, or Frontline here)" is astounding. PBS is one of the few, and perhaps the only, reliable source of in-depth, long-format journalism on television.
Take the time to watch Frontline's "The Secret History of Credit Cards." You might find, as I did, that you learn something about how this industry developed into the behemoth it is today. I also learned a lot about how people get mired in credit card debt and the techniques used to keep them there.
(via Kottke from a few weeks ago - weekends are my catchup time, as you know)
"I often have to arrange talks years in advance. If I am asked for a title, I suggest 'The Current Crisis in the Middle East.' It has yet to fail." -Noam Chomsky
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Condi: "I don't know what I'll do long-term. I'm a terrible long-term planner." Really?
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"Over drinks a few days ago at power-burger restaurant J.G. Melons in Manhattan, I noted three pairs of madras shorts, two loud Lacoste shirts, a Nantucket Reds T-shirt, and one Vineyard Vines canvas tote" MELONS!
...but this photo is incredible. And I'll be there in three weeks!! Can't wait!
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Cots! Love it!
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She's fantastic.
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If there's ever a sign that this standard will pass the House, I suspect this is it.
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"I suggest that customers refuse to sit at a table or look at a menu. We should sit at the bar and ask the chef questions about everything — what he wants to make us and how we should eat it." YES!!!!!
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"Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags a year, recycling less than 1 percent of them, according to the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research and advocacy group in Washington." I use canvas. They hold more, too.
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Some great ideas
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Yeah, this is true.
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A) I can't figure out what this site is about, despite the description and hype. B) Many local and state sites get more traffic than this. = C) Is OpenLeft a dud?
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Hey, I like ties! (Does that make me a male politician?)
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"Still, there's a good lesson here that's often missed; pay attention to what users are doing with the provided system and by unblocking minor bottlenecks you can become the hero." This is what users want. They pay YOU to think about the issues.
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"Everyone in the tech/media space who has suddenly discovered Facebook is running around singing its praises as if it were designed for them, but they’re all just trying to look hip." HAHAHAHAHA
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Nice find, Rob. Good article.
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This is a good question.
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I wish he'd discuss methods a bit more. I'm thinking that since the top 1% is such a small number with a huge income diversity, the average tax bill and tax rate aren't really relavent, but I'd need to research that some more.
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Yeah, this is cool!
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"This rising divergence in political involvement is a result of voluntary consumption decisions." The newsies versus the Entertainment Tonight fans.
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Thank you, Kevin! This is one of the most important shadow issues in Congress.
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Google and Yahoo lost ground to Microsoft. MS picked up 2.9 points? Really? That's an enormous shift. (Yeah, I know they're still a very distant third)
I was reading the latest issue of "Public CIO" (being that I work for the government) and ran across these fascinating statistics on New York City's "311" service. New Yorkers can dial 311 to access any number of government services. It's basically a central hotline for connecting with your government. Cool.
2004 Calls: 10.4 Million
2005 Calls: 14 Million
Total Number of Calls: 50 Million
Average Daily Calls: 40,000
Languages Available: 170
That's incredible. In any of 170 languages, over 40,000 calls a day are answered regarding government services. And from what I've seen, the praise is near universal.
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“What people don’t realize is that the private equity managers, the investment bankers, all the financial intermediaries, are in control of their own taxation and so the debate in Washington about what tax rate to pay misses the big picture.”
My favorite review of Sicko yet:
"I walked out of Sicko with an overwhelming pride for sharing a nationality with Michael Moore as he may be one of the greatest American patriots of our time."
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Hopefully in part because of our work this week.
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Back near my hometown, a city councilman was caught with a prostitute.
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It's a mini Foleygate!
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Yay!
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I think it's fascinating that the UK just got a Freedom of Information law and we're seeing challenges and how it's playing out. It's very cool to see citizens gain the ability to see government records for the first time.
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Remember, there is more than one avenue of recourse against Contempt of Congress.
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I wonder how you solve a problem like this? On the one hand, government should use technology to enhance processes and services. On the other, how do you prevent electronic records from become evidence constantly?
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"U.P.S. specifically is collaborating with the F.A.A. on a system — formally, Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, but usually just called A.D.S.B. — that may make conventional radar obsolete."
I like the Times of London's fairly recent redesign, but one thing that appears on every page of the site annoys the heck outta me.
In the upper right hand corner, the Times invites you to "Send your views" and contribute to the site. Cool. Except there's no link to the article they're asking to respond to; clicking on the "Send your views" link takes you to the comment area, forcing you to scroll up to read the article.
It's a small thing, but details make the difference. The quote should link to the article.
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A win!
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Great.
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CNN sucks.
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I second that!
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"Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, told the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he had a “gut feeling” about a new period of increased risk." Fantastic.
I saw Sicko on Friday night. It's fantastic and moving; I highly suggest you see it. As an amateur media watchdog (I see all sorts of their antics at work), I've been closely watching the debate between CNN and Michael Moore.
Here's the first clip, where Moore (rightly!) attacks Wolf Blitzer, Sanjay Gupta, and CNN for their poor reporting of not only Sicko, but of the entire health care crisis:
Moore agreed to do an unedited follow-up interview that CNN aired on the next day's edition of The Situation Room.* The second half of the interview plays like the first half should have. It's a bit more in depth and really talks about Moore's motivations and decisions in the film-making process. If only CNN were like this all the time, they might have better ratings:
* CNN advertised this show with door hangers that say "Don't Interrupt: I'm in the Situation Room." Ha! Please, does anyone consider Wolf Blitzer essential viewing?
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This is cool.
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This is interesting. OpenLeft is an interesting.
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"Can we get back to what really matters to Americans, like John Edwards' haircut and probing investigations of his stylist?"
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This is interesting
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This is a good first step.
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Again, a good first step from John Wonderlich
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Late to notice this, but it's very cool. Can't wait to see what they come up with.
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"Prof Michie was a researcher in artificial intelligence who worked as part of the British code-breaking group at Bletchley Park during World War II." Quite sad.
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You knew she couldn't stay away for too long...
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Hmmm.
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Very interesting
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"If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be: An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws..."
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"Now comes the hard part — facing up to the need for a new Congressional integrity office to help the moribund ethics committee enforce anticorruption rules."
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"The latest additions to local lore include a story about members of an inebriated group at the Palmer Vineyards here who hopped off a hayride and began gallivanting naked through the vines." Super-classy.
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Sounds like "The Wire."
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OpenDNS - I'm a big fan.
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"Bryan Caplan, an economist who teaches at George Mason University, thinks that increasing voter participation is a bad thing." Big surprise, an economist at uber-conservative GMU thinks (a) people are dumb and thus (b) people shouldn't vote.
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"Chatroom users will be required to register with their real names after an internet campaign mobilised 10,000 people to join a protest march" Interesting democratic action here.
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Whaaaat?
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"For these new 20-something workers, the line between work and home doesn't really exist. They just want to spend their time in meaningful and useful ways, no matter where they are." Yes, I quite like that idea.
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This is really cool...but I don't have T-Mobile.
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"Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for the heart and general health than eating conventionally grown crops, new research has f