Posts
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
The NFL Network is m
The NFL Network is missing their opportunity - new blog post - http://htxt.it/sSog
Monday, December 14, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Livescribe has the coolest pen computer around
There was an article in Ad Age this week - ‘Can you imagine a business card or a print magazine page that can actually send an e-mail or facilitate the transaction of an online sale? Livescribe’s Pulse Smartpen -- which is a real pen containing a full-powered, internet-accessing computer -- is a tool that makes such actions conveniently possible’.
My family got me a Livescribe pen computer earlier this summer. After initially fooling around with it I became too busy to really dig in and figure out how to get the most out of it. This week I was visiting a client for meetings and brought the pen and notebook and used it to write notes and record (with my client’s full knowledge) some of the proceedings. When I began to distill the notes and recordings I finally realized the power of this great product.
It has a 2MB or 4MB drive in the pen itself and the intelligence of the unit far exceeds my own expectations. T here is also a USB port for syncing to a computer. College students are adopting the Livescribe pen as it is so much easier to carry around than a laptop and has the recording function for lectures as well.
Livescribe Chairman Jim Margraff spoke recently at the IDEA conference in NYC last month and expounded on the power and breadth of the capabilities of Livescribe. AdAge did a nice 3 minute sum-up of his talk and where this is all going is both interesting and exciting. Interactive business cards, print advertisements are something I had not even been thinking about but the folks at Livescribe are doing a great job of taking cool and useful technology and coming up with creative new uses for the device.
The device costs about $200 and you should really check it out. You will see me using it all the time from now on. Here’s a link to AdAge’s 3 minute video on the product.
http://adage.com/video/article?article_id=140864
Bet you want one now.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Will Facebook destroy the class reunion business?
I had the ‘pleasure’ of attending my wife’s high school reunion recently. We both went to the same high school but graduated in different years. There were more than 330 students in my wife’s graduating class (way back in the late 1970’s). 75 people showed up for the reunion and that number included spouses and significant others. It was set up by one of what appears to be several companies that specialize in setting up class reunions. They did an ok job but it was expensive (buffet dinner and open bar was included) and most of the attendees spent their time within 50 feet of the bar and a sad DJ was playing music from the ‘70’s and ’80’s,
I heard several people mention that all that was really needed was a big room with drinks without food. Tracking down people has never been easier and one would think Facebook could even consider getting into the business of helping set up reunions – if people still want to go to reunions in the first place.
After 30 years it is interesting to see how people have turned out even if only 15% of your classmates were able to attend. But social networking has put people back together on a much more personal level (at least initially). One of my still under 30 nieces said she does not even think she’d go to a reunion since she is in touch with the people she wants to be in touch with via FB.
Remember Classmates.com? They are still around but that might not be the case much longer. They too have been undone by Facebook and to a lesser degree MySpace. Same problem. I had a friend tell me that when he was contacted by someone he had not heard from in more than 25 years it was awkward. He said the reason that he hadn’t been in touch with that person was NOT because he could not find him!
Still, I maintain that there is nothing like being there.
But the notion of reunions every ten years (is that really necessary?) seems to me to be a dying proposition. Maybe 25 year and 50 year reunion s (for those that are still around) will survive but I think the heyday of class reunions has come and gone.
What do you think?
I heard several people mention that all that was really needed was a big room with drinks without food. Tracking down people has never been easier and one would think Facebook could even consider getting into the business of helping set up reunions – if people still want to go to reunions in the first place.
After 30 years it is interesting to see how people have turned out even if only 15% of your classmates were able to attend. But social networking has put people back together on a much more personal level (at least initially). One of my still under 30 nieces said she does not even think she’d go to a reunion since she is in touch with the people she wants to be in touch with via FB.
Remember Classmates.com? They are still around but that might not be the case much longer. They too have been undone by Facebook and to a lesser degree MySpace. Same problem. I had a friend tell me that when he was contacted by someone he had not heard from in more than 25 years it was awkward. He said the reason that he hadn’t been in touch with that person was NOT because he could not find him!
Still, I maintain that there is nothing like being there.
But the notion of reunions every ten years (is that really necessary?) seems to me to be a dying proposition. Maybe 25 year and 50 year reunion s (for those that are still around) will survive but I think the heyday of class reunions has come and gone.
What do you think?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
An unusual yet high value dinner experience in Amsterdam
In addition to doing the touristy things and drinking what seemed to be a boatload of Heineken, my wife Michele and I enjoyed some very good dining while in Amsterdam over the weekend. A sleek new restaurant called Envy Friday night, (which had a very nightclub-like feel but NO music – it was very strange and we asked the server about it and she rolled her eyes and said she thought the same thing – it was strange), and a Michelin one star restaurant called Vermeer, Saturday night (the 5 course vegetable inspired tasting menu was great paired with wine although there was a scallop in there along the way).
But we went for something completely different (ode to Monty Python) Sunday night. I had heard of but never experienced a ‘house’ dinner. They apparently exist all over the world but I had little knowledge of how they worked (or why for that matter). Through a friend of one of my wife’s friends we were told to go and have dinner at Angelo Agnello’s outside the city center. His reputation as a chef was glowing from those that eaten there. The Hotel Pulitzer where we stayed had not heard of him at all. It sounded interesting if not a bit daring. It was much more than that.
We took a fifteen minute taxi ride to get there. A nondescript apartment building in a non-descript Amsterdam suburban neighborhood. Up three flights of narrow, twisting stairs and we met Angelo. And he offered a memorable dinner and show. Just the two of us. No menu. He did ask Michele on the phone if we liked curry. Hmmm. No pricing (he told us to leave whatever we thought we wanted to pay – the Priceline model of eating dinner).
Starting with caviar and crème fraiche, prawns in a mild garlic and olive oil reduction, salad with tomatoes and homemade feta cheese, a spicy chicken curry, a wonderful lemon tart with meringue, and the offer of cheese (which we simply could not eat). Two bottles of wine (a Greek red and French Red) as well as a glass of port which he got from friends in Portugal.
But what was more interesting was the conversation. Angelo claimed to have lived in 16 countries, spoke 7 languages (he grew up in Mozambique and is of Indian descent), played professional soccer (injuring himself which ended his career) and has cooked in London, France and a host of other places. He has cooked for dignitaries and people from all over the world. He had just catered (all by himself) a dinner for 150 people. Angelo told us that he normally does not sit down with people but we had asked him to join us and he felt comfortable enough to do so. Music played in the background (he regularly asked if we liked the music). Dinner was a 4 ½ hour deal.
We left what we felt was a fair price for the dinner. He seemed quite pleased. In addition to making the feta and cooking the whole meal, Angelo gave us a bottle of the Porto, a host of the Dutch wafer cookies (that he made himself), a bottle of the French red and tried to send us off with a bunch of other parting gifts which we politely declined.
The experience of not knowing what to pay and putting down what we felt was a fair value was truly interesting. My wife and I both felt there was a fair amount of embellishment by Angelo of his exploits. And yet that did not take away from the charm of the evening – it added to it. In fact in one conversation Angelo offered to show us around Amsterdam Saturday night (we declined) and was ready to walk us back to our hotel (we declined that too) after showing us the park that Anne Frank played in near her actual home which was far from where she was hiding in 1942-1944.
I feel that those people that have dinner at Angelo’s miss out on an unusual yet deeply memorable experience. I hope we get the chance to meet Angelo again. And I wonder if there is a model there for name your own price dining? Would you be willing to offer customers the opportunity to pay what they think is fair for your service? Would I? I can’t say I am completely comfortable with the notion but it is interesting to consider.
If ever you get the chance to dine at a local’s house when traveling I suggest you say yes. It will be weird at times but an experience you will never forget.
Happy Thanksgiving.
But we went for something completely different (ode to Monty Python) Sunday night. I had heard of but never experienced a ‘house’ dinner. They apparently exist all over the world but I had little knowledge of how they worked (or why for that matter). Through a friend of one of my wife’s friends we were told to go and have dinner at Angelo Agnello’s outside the city center. His reputation as a chef was glowing from those that eaten there. The Hotel Pulitzer where we stayed had not heard of him at all. It sounded interesting if not a bit daring. It was much more than that.
We took a fifteen minute taxi ride to get there. A nondescript apartment building in a non-descript Amsterdam suburban neighborhood. Up three flights of narrow, twisting stairs and we met Angelo. And he offered a memorable dinner and show. Just the two of us. No menu. He did ask Michele on the phone if we liked curry. Hmmm. No pricing (he told us to leave whatever we thought we wanted to pay – the Priceline model of eating dinner).
Starting with caviar and crème fraiche, prawns in a mild garlic and olive oil reduction, salad with tomatoes and homemade feta cheese, a spicy chicken curry, a wonderful lemon tart with meringue, and the offer of cheese (which we simply could not eat). Two bottles of wine (a Greek red and French Red) as well as a glass of port which he got from friends in Portugal.
But what was more interesting was the conversation. Angelo claimed to have lived in 16 countries, spoke 7 languages (he grew up in Mozambique and is of Indian descent), played professional soccer (injuring himself which ended his career) and has cooked in London, France and a host of other places. He has cooked for dignitaries and people from all over the world. He had just catered (all by himself) a dinner for 150 people. Angelo told us that he normally does not sit down with people but we had asked him to join us and he felt comfortable enough to do so. Music played in the background (he regularly asked if we liked the music). Dinner was a 4 ½ hour deal.
We left what we felt was a fair price for the dinner. He seemed quite pleased. In addition to making the feta and cooking the whole meal, Angelo gave us a bottle of the Porto, a host of the Dutch wafer cookies (that he made himself), a bottle of the French red and tried to send us off with a bunch of other parting gifts which we politely declined.
The experience of not knowing what to pay and putting down what we felt was a fair value was truly interesting. My wife and I both felt there was a fair amount of embellishment by Angelo of his exploits. And yet that did not take away from the charm of the evening – it added to it. In fact in one conversation Angelo offered to show us around Amsterdam Saturday night (we declined) and was ready to walk us back to our hotel (we declined that too) after showing us the park that Anne Frank played in near her actual home which was far from where she was hiding in 1942-1944.
I feel that those people that have dinner at Angelo’s miss out on an unusual yet deeply memorable experience. I hope we get the chance to meet Angelo again. And I wonder if there is a model there for name your own price dining? Would you be willing to offer customers the opportunity to pay what they think is fair for your service? Would I? I can’t say I am completely comfortable with the notion but it is interesting to consider.
If ever you get the chance to dine at a local’s house when traveling I suggest you say yes. It will be weird at times but an experience you will never forget.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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