January 18th 2010
Even though I’ve made fun of their airport ads, Zappos absolutely knows how to sell shoes. Now, according to Business Week, it’s hoping to profit from people’s fascination with its friendly, antics-filled business model. After all, if an entrepreneur creates a successful business, why not sell the concept to other entrepreneurs interested in starting up […]
January 15th 2010
This evening, Facebook rolled out a feature that lets users repost each other ’s shared items, with a “via” link attached for attribution back to your friend. All you do is find a posted item in your news feed and click “share” as shown to the right just below my post. This adds a post […]
January 13th 2010
Back in 2007, I suggested that snitching was one of the killer apps of Web 2.0. Since then, WikiLeaks.org, the site for snitching secrets about governments and corporations, has been a success. How do you measure success? Perhaps by the zeal with which legislators seek to investigate the website. Of course, judges have quickly raised […]
December 31st 2009
Last month I went way off-topic to berate the British Biscuit Threat Index, and to stake out D.H. Lawrence’s premise that comparatively “the American soul is hard, isolate, stoic and a killer. It has never yet melted.” Consider, if you will: The British food chain, Asda, has begun printing the warning “contains milk” on its […]
December 28th 2009
What will they know of China, who only “.cn” know? The Associated Press reports that China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has posted requirements that all “.cn” china domains be issued only to registered businesses. AP’s coverage also says that any sites that have not registered with the ministry will be “taken off the […]
December 27th 2009
There’s pent-up demand on both the buy and sell side for fast growing tech firms to IPO. I say this while noting that my favorite local search company, ReachLocal, has filed for a $100M IPO. (see Reuters coverage.) This shouldn’t be a surprise. They were #1 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™(PDF). Their investors, VantagePoint Venture […]
December 26th 2009
Mistresses and Mothers-In-Law are getting in line at Lloyd Platt & Co which says they have had hundreds of inquiries since offering discounted vouchers for half-hour or hour-long divorce planning sessions with their lawyers. The firm also has a recipe section, so you can get cooking tips from your divorce attorney. See details in Reuters […]
December 20th 2009
With huge props to Andy Sweet it only follows that if personal injury lawsuits for robot injury is in our future, so must be an ad by Sam Waterstone selling Robot Attack insurance to to scared old people. Its funny, and strikes home to those of us in the lead generation business. Thanks, Andy!
December 12th 2009
Robots are real. We know this at some level. MIT is developing robot lets that can run and jump, the Christian Science Monitor describes how some can recover from stumbles. Imagine how that might help in fighting fires or battles. Now imagine what go wrong. There is a level of “Danger, Will Robinson”, and lawyers […]
December 4th 2009
Not one, but two of the fantastic people I get to work with on our digital team are getting married. You’ll probably not see either of them do this, but this couple pulls a bit of a social media stunt as part of their nuptials. Of course there are worse things one can do at […]
The future of digital experiences will be built by strategists who grasp the full array of emerging business, social, and technical models. Specialties in user experience, branding, application design, and data science are laying the foundation for richer user experiences and business models breakthrough products and revenue based marketing.
UsefulArts is a soapbox to discuss the front line of digital experience, and the agencies and platforms that enable it. Digital business needs a cadre of leaders who can connect c-level enterprise thinking with the ways these new interaction models can help organizations to matter more to their most important stakeholders.