Interesting Innovation

3.31.2010

I saw this article on Fast Company's website about a new innovation in the coffee shop world.



Pretty interesting.

I think the stuff that will hold it back will be that companies will be reluctant to give up their brand image being so clear. As much as Starbucks likes you to save the environment by bringing your own mug in to use, there is limited to no brand value in hoarding of people parading around with travel mugs.


Personally, the minute I see someone with a distinguishable Starbucks cup or Dunkin Donuts, I'm craving coffee. (Sorry Pete's Coffee... its just not the same with you). Companies use the additional coffee sleeves for advertising dollars and delivering messages to their customers.

 I'm sure that the innovator behind this product can come up with a way to meet the needs of the environment, cost savings, and merchants with a little more money in the R&D budget.
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The World is all a Twitter

I find the concept of Twitter to be a bit confusing at times to be honest.

I joined Twitter originally last Spring (2009) and was so freaked out by my lack of control over the information flow that I quit. I like to manage my digital identity and I felt like I couldn't get a grip on what I needed to do to feel comfortable with Twitter.

This Winter (2010), I decided that I was ready to give it another go. So that's what I'm doing. I've realized you don't have to post things you don't want to - I know shocking right? I don't need to include my social activities or whereabouts. I don't need to include my latest friendship revival. None of those shenanigans that Kim Kardashian or Sam Ronson seem to be up to these days.

So, I post links and sometimes make connections with those silly @ and # signs. I'm constantly mystified by this weird language that pops up when I refresh my twitter feed. Last week, I tweeted to a popular Boston twitter-er (is that a word?) a link to a local sushi place. I got 100+ hits on my website that day. The power of Twitter is pretty crazy ... which brings me to my actual point.

Today I elected to "follow" the Boston Police. Not that I was ever really reckless, but I guess this is a testament to getting older. I never would have followed a police department in my younger years. I was pretty intrigued by the stuff they had to say this morning.

In addition to the messages you see here, they also followed up with someone who lost a wallet. I've heard of Comcast writing to people on Twitter, but the Boston Police? Really? 

I was really surprised when I got this direct message from the Boston Police in my email last night. My first thought? What did I do? Did I post something? Did I leave something somewhere? Then I realized that despite my Twitter name BPD has no idea who I really am (or at least so I think). Upon reading the note, I was initially appreciative of the fact that they sent a thank you note for something so simple... and then perplexed by society when they indicated you shouldn't tweet emergencies.... you still need to call 911.

Really America? Who is "tweeting" emergencies instead of picking up the phone?
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Small thoughts...

3.30.2010

I've blogged recently about my new found love of Greek Yogurt. I've also admitted that I have no preference and little to zero knowledge about how to buy yogurt. You'd think after stating this twice (if not more), I would have done some research. Nope.

Well today, I'm in Philadelphia and I stopped at a 7-11 on my way to my boyfriend's apartment. I like to have an afternoon snack and I didn't want to risk that in the middle of the current rainstorm I'd be forced to leave the comfort of my afternoon nap for yogurt. So, I just pick up 3 yogurts for the time that I'm here.

So far in my yogurt explorations, I've been minorly critical of a few brands - but haven't really developed any allegiances. This brand though - Oikos by Stonyfield Farms - is not on my shopping list anymore. Not only do I not like the taste as much as the others.... I find the packaging terribly annoying.

Let me elaborate.

This container looks normal - right? Yes, you are right. See, here I am with the container. Yes, I know the words are backwards... that's what happens when you use your webcam to take pictures.

My complaint is that ... Oikos decided to get fancy with their container... and they made some weird Greek letters - or some other pattern... on the rim of the container. This would be fine if you didn't like to leave your containers spotless like I do.

Because of this pattern, I feel like I left some precious little bits of tasty (moderately tasty), over-priced yogurt behind. This embellishment on the container clearly costs money to do, and I bet that nobody would care if it was missing.

I know I sound crazy. I know this is a bit ridiculous - but if they had asked me as a product tester what I thought about this, I would have told them their yogurt was fine and their container was annoying. Too many nooks and crannies.

(and now I sound like a granny...)

(I hope you noticed that I rhymed that last part)
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Ponder this...

I'm sitting on the train right now and they have just passed out snack mix. I know for certain that that woman across from me does not like almonds or the little weird nutty cracker strips. I also know that she likes all the parts of the mix that I don't like. Thankfully, we both like the peanuts.

Imagine how much less snack mix would be wasted if instead of getting these mass snack mixs, we could pick what was in them. I know that this is totally inefficient and more expensive considering the low cost of snack mix .... but still.

Here is my snack mix after I picked it clean of all my favorites:
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Everybody needs goals

I have a significant soft spot for statistics.

Wait, let me be clear. I have a soft spot for reading and reporting statistics - not the statistics that tormented me my sophomore year of college.

So, when you have access to the code of a website you can get install Google Analytics code on the website to see info on the traffic coming to your website. I have become moderately addicted to checking the stats on my website (hopelesslytechie.com).

As I've been blogging more, its been exciting to see visitors pop up in different states and to see the patterns of returning users. (Don't worry, I can't see who specifically returns or when... just the frequency of traffic). The picture below shows the states that visited the site (the darker color signifies increased traffic)



So my goal is to have a visitor from each state by September 1st - with the hopes of having more than that of course. It'd be great to have some international traffic too ... but perhaps my interest in videotaping broken elevators, dogs, and talking about my afternoon snack only interests Americans. There's also the potential that not even Americans find me entertaining ... and all of this traffic is a fluke :)
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... and then my friend came to visit

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a special visitor at my apartment for a few hours. My friend's Dave and Lara have this incredible dog named Dwight. He was an awesome dog when I first met him more than a year ago, and an even better dog now that he has only 3 legs.

For no really good reason, Dave let me play with Dwight for a few hours yesterday and it was awesome. The day was super rainy and gross. I was having a really hard time motivating to do anything that I should be doing (laundry, cleaning, reading, etc).  I can't say that I got much done yesterday even with the renewed energy from playing with a puppy ... but it was definitely a worthwhile day.

Here's some flip video I shot when Dwight was visiting. It's embarrassing how much video we took ... as a result you can consider this 1 minute and 50 second video short :)

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Lost Kitty :(

3.27.2010

I'm sure you'll tired at some point of me talking about my building and the daily events.

But I probably wouldn't stop, even if you told me.

Yesterday there was a lost cat in my building and I was so taken aback by its presence that I went and got my flipcam so I could capture the moment. Shocked I know?



Building maintenance did nothing about it  - surprise again! But when I got home from dinner, the cat was gone. The optimistic side of me wants to believe that it was with its rightful owner. I'm sure it was.
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What really?

3.26.2010

This girl makes me feel like an underachiever.



I need to work on learning to balance 15 books on my head, solving a Rubik's Cube, and reciting the pi bizness.

Don't worry. I'll continue to post videos of home fix-it projects, lost cats, and broken elevators...
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