‘Stanford On ITunes’ Is For Everybody - Forbes.com
In brief, there are a lot of Stanford lectures available via iTunes, for free. Now if Apple would just release iTunes for Linux, we could all learn together… *sigh*
Monthly Archive for January, 2006
For awhile now, I’ve been a fan of Gel-ink pens; you probably know the sort. They’re a ballpoint variation with “gel ink” (whatever that is), and produce a slick, solid line. They’re great pens… unless you happen to be left handed.
The problem with them is that the ink remains wet for some time after writing; maybe only 5-10 seconds (maybe longer), but long enough to drag your hand over the text as you continue scribbling furiously, and smudge your latest greatest thoughts or notes-to-self. That is, if you happen to be left-handed. Or maybe if you’re right-handed, but write from right to left…
So I’ve gone back to using “regular” ballpoint pens; not quite so smooth of a line, but the ink seems to dry quicker and not smudge so easily.
Anyone out there know of any good pens whose ink dries quickly? ;-)
If you’re familiar with Slashdot, you know they have many topic-specific subdomains; linux.slashdot.org, games.slashdot.org, etc. Often these subdomains will have stories appear which are not deemed to have enough “general interest” to make the front page.
Recently, Slashdot began adding links to these, sans the full write-up, just the one-line headline. I think it’s a smart compromise; good addition to the site.
Yes, more stylesheet modifications; this time going to a single column, and a few other smaller changes.
I didn’t actually use Paul’s method; I chose to use CSS to move the “sidebar” to the bottom. There are quite a few blogs using this layout now, and I think it’s pretty handy, actually.
Supr.c.ilio.us bills itself as the world’s first Social “Social Tagging Site” Tagging Site. Not only is this silly, it’s also a great example of USE/MENTION distinction, as found in the classic Hofstadter dialogue wherein “Yields falsehood when repeated” yields falsehood when repeated.1
This appears to be a fully functioning piece of practical humor. I’m impressed. What could be more “web 2.0″ than a site to tag other social tagging sites? ;-)
1 Which is a modified version of Quine’s “‘Yields falsehood when appended to its own quotation’ yields falsehood when appended to its own quotation.”
Customer Service is not your business. It’s how you stay in business.
“Customer service” is, by definition, serving your customers. Customer is a key word here; if the person is not your customer, then what you are doing is not customer service.
Let me put it another way; customer service is distinct and separate from whatever your actual product or service is; it is the service you provide to someone who has become your customer (notice the keywords) by purchasing whatever your main product is. For example, you may sell widgets (and what man or woman among us has not dreamed of being the wealthy CEO of a widget empire?) — your customer service then, is the way you aid your customers who have bought (or are buying) your widgets; how you handle returns, complaints, problems, questions, and sundry other issues.
So forget, for a moment, the adage that customer service is your business. It isn’t; now, it may well be what keeps you in business, but it isn’t the business itself.
You still don’t believe me; okay, here’s an example…
Continue reading ‘Customer Service is not your business’
Blogger pqs has reached the same conclusion that I have: bitsenbloc » Blog Archive » Why I preffer Reddit to Digg
Yahoo! gives up quest for search dominance
In other words, We are not number one in search, but that’s not our goal anymore.
Is this the business equivalent of saying “Screw you guys, I’m going home!”?
Customizing k2, part 3, from Paul.
In this Paul talks about how to accomplished the sidebar-less designs featured in blogs like binary bonsai and many other blogs. I may incorporate something like that, as I think it is actually an interesting way to organize information. Anyways, if WordPress and K2 are your thing, check it out.
