Amazon knows I have Richard Morgan’s whole bibliography.

Amazon knows I just bought a Kindle.

So why do I have to fork over more than $10 per book I already own?

The only sensible way to go here, is to sent customers their Kindle already preloaded with all the books they’ve ever ordered on Amazon. There simply is no other alternative.

As I’ve been aching for a dislike button in Facebook for some time, this article seductively titled “Should Facebook add a dislike button?” instantly caught my attention; after all, why would anyone doubt that?

And mostly, I agree with the Pete, in that companies certainly wouldn’t want anybody to comparatively weight the Likes versus the Dislikes on their page. In a way, I think it’s somewhat short-sighted of them (as getting feedback from consumers is the golden rule to improving how you are perceived), but on the other hand, simple Likes/Dislikes don’t give out much information, and I’m pretty sure Facebook comments cannot be considered as constructive feedback.

To sum up, a Dislike button may or may not be in Facebook’s and in advertiser’s interests, from a business perspective.

But how about the user perspective? Here’s a quote that I strongly disagree with:

Like buttons are about connection; Dislike buttons are about division.

No they’re not.

Disliking something is just as connecting a statement as liking something. Electric car activists are not connected to one another by their fondness of electrons flowing through copper wire: they are because they dislike fossil fuel cars. The Wikipedia team brought hundreds of thousands of contributors together because of their collective distaste of the old way of doing things (too restrictive, not evolving fast enough, etc).

And this is how social signaling works, too: who we are is defined by what we dislike just as much as it is by what we do like.

Facebook is still about social interactions, right? Or has it morphed into an advertising platform already?

As a follow-up to Seth Godin’s Linchpin, I’ve been probing my life for linchpin moments I might have had. If you’re not familiar with the book, I can only advise you to order it: It will most likely change you in a subtle but strong way. If you need a little bit more convincing, go read the the manifesto (okay, if you really need more convincing, go to Amazon and check out the raving reviews, or head over to Seth’s blog to know more about what the Man is about).

Anyway, there was this one time I was at the movie theater:

I was definitely late, and my movie was about to start. Only one register opened, maybe 30 people ahead of me, this wasn’t looking good. As I was (not-so-patiently) waiting, I checked out the schedule: 3 movies were starting in the next few minutes, while the rest didn’t start for another half-hour. Based on people’s attitude, you could definitely tell the ones in line for a movie that was about to start apart from the ones who weren’t in a hurry.

And then this clerk came up the line, asking people if they intended to pay by card; if they did, he’d take them away to another counter and would speed things up, which was a good idea (whether if was a spontaneous one or not). However, using the means of payment seemed like a somewhat irrelevant criteria. What he could/should have done, is simply walk up to people and ask them what movies they were about to see; if it wasn’t about to start, politely ask them if they’d mind waiting 10 minutes to help expedite things for those in a hurry.

And you know what, I could have done it, too. But we’re not used to putting ourselves on the line like this, and I just waited, hoping the situation would somehow fix itself. It didn’t, and I missed my movie. And this is an important shortcoming: to put it in Seth’s own words, a linchpin doesn’t simply think outside of the box, he acts out of the damn box.

Guess I’ll have to wait for the next occasion to pin an orange lizard to my chest.

It’s always been one of Seth Godin’s argument that handling properly the discontents was the key to good public relations, and I couldn’t agree more.

During my upcoming trip,  I’m going to make a half-dozen hops across North America. That’s as many flights to book. I went and used the portal I regularly go to (fast and clear interface, and, up to now, no problems). I started with the 2 flights with fixed dates. I got the reservation for the first flight immediately, and a mail regarding the other one: the fare I had selected wasn’t available anymore, and so I was supposed to call myself (and pay for the call) to fix the problem.

So I called, and the person on the other end asked me if she could call me back 10 minutes later, so they’d have time to recalculate the price of the fare (hum?). So I waited. And finally she called back.

Turns out the fare had increased by a steep 69€, so I promptly canceled the flight. It got me thinking, though: had the fare increase been only a couple of euros, what would have happened? Probably the same hassle, and only for a couple of euros!

I’ve been using this website for some time now, a fact they have to know because I log in every time. Out of good faith, this intermediary could pay the difference (with a limit of course) and just notify me. How I wish they’d sent this type of mail:

“Wow, just in time!

As you were making your reservation, the price of your flight went up by X€, but we’re covering that charge for you. Consider it a gift from our part. Please enjoy your trip to Y for us!”

This situation is probably a rare occurrence; not much money would be lost in the process, and wow! would that make a great impression! I’d be a customer for life, as opposed to the present situation, where I’m going to finish my bookings on a website with up-to-date pricing.

As a follow-up on my internet access in hotels/hostels post, here’s a thought:

When access to the Internet is free, most people regulate themselves: they’ll check their mails and facebook, maybe have a whiff of what’s going on in the world, and that’s about it. If someone is waiting around, the current user will let them take over.

When people are paying for their Internet access though, it’s different. You don’t want to throw money away (after all ,you paid for that time), so you want to make the most of it, and end up checking the special offers on Amazon. While others are waiting.

Take me for instance: I’m smack in the middle of a 3-week vacation in Japan, and here I am blogging about internet access and hostels, just to make sure I’m not throwing 20￥away.

Forget about bank robbers, serial killers and international terrorists; the guy at the top of the Most Wanted list is the poor schmuck that a court will manage to hold accountable for the world changing around us. If you find him, the RIAA and MPAA want him. Major actors in the software industry want a shot at him. Everyone in the newspaper industry wants him, too.

That fucker, how dare he?

Following the settlement of an absurd lawsuit against them (filled by their production company for failing to deliver a 3rd album on time), 30 Seconds to Mars probably decided that it was good time to take matters  into their own hands. Heavily community-oriented from the get-go with their “Echelon” fanbase, the band pulled out all the stops for their 3rd album “This is War”: right along with Techdirt/Floor64’s motto “Connect with fans”, 30STM organized “The Summit”, a gathering of fans in the LA area, where recordings were made for some tracks on their upcoming album. Several summits were subsequently organized throughout the world (although the band couldn’t attend).

Far from stopping here, 30 Seconds to Mars announced “The Ride”:

This Sunday night, October 11th and Monday night, October 12th we will be filming a one of a kind night time mass bicycle ride through the streets of Los Angeles as part of the short film for Thirty Seconds to Mars’ new single “KINGS + QUEENS”.

We would love to invite you to join us for The Ride.

Its a one of a kind adventure and we will be shutting down streets, tunnels, bridges, Santa Monica Pier and even Hollywood Blvd.

[...]

If you’ve never experienced a night ride with hundreds of people it is sure to be a night you will not soon forget!

Let’s take back the city for a night, or two.

That’s right. The band will close some of the most popular avenues and places in LA, delivering a unique experience to their fans. Just wish they’d wait for next year, so I could have joined.

Funny how some companies apply the proverb “under promise, over deliver” completely backward.

Sales people make dubious promises to clients about some wonderfull technology that doesn’t exist. R&D has to step up, but under impossible constraints and schedule. The clients are not happy with what they see.

And everyone ends up really bummed.

Quick! Let’s start the cycle again!

Wow, long time without a post! I need to get more serious about posting frequency.

So here I am, back from a road trip across California, with yet another example of dusty business models that make you want to shake your head. In a little more than two weeks, I’ve seen more than a dozen hotels, hostels and motels. In each and everyone of them, my friend Steven tried to access the Internet through WiFi, and,  finding myself without anything better to do at those times, I started noticing the following trend: Full fledged hotels want to make you pay for WiFi access, while youth hostels and model don’t. Without any kind of insider information, I can only guess how this came:

When the new and expensive wireless technology became available, large hotels were the only/first ones able to afford it. Smelling the possibility of adding value to their customers’ experience, they proposed a service that clients liked and were glad to pay for.

Fast forward for couple of years to a world were wireless Internet technology is much more affordable. Smaller businesses (motels, youth hostels), in an effort to stand out, decided to offer the very same service, except for free. Now that it cost almost nothing, it wouldn’t impede their margin much, and would make for a nice gesture for their clients; after all, nobody likes to stay away from news and mail, nowadays. And sitting all the way across the ring are the hotels, used to take that money from their customers, who still don’t see why it would ever change.

Too bad for them of course, as they are now comparatively under-serving their customers. All of this just because they were busy looking the other way (voluntarily or otherwise) while free internet access became the norm.

Of course not. But that’s what lobbyists and lawmakers around the world are trying to shove down our throats with blind propaganda and obsolete moves.

Question: at a time when music was only performed by live bands, what kind of reception do you think phonographs received? “People are going to play the same music over and over! We live musician always improvise a little bit and will be out of business! It’s going to kill music!” It didn’t.

Fast forward to the invention of the radio. I’m sure the advent of a box that could broadcast music all over the world for no additional cost and without the intervention of an artist generated an outcry. And when audio cassettes came up, the industry whined that it helped hordes of shameless pirates record music, killing it as a result. It didn’t.

It’s time people learned not to listen to those alarmist cry babies. Of course they aren’t going to cheer the arrival of this (r)evolution: during a transition, only the smartest from the “before” will manage to make a buck in the “after”. Just remember that it doesn’t matter: by using their reasoning (change = bad), we wouldn’t have what we have - and love.

Music will always be alive and well; so will be the musicians. The people in the middle, peddling the stuff at a steep price, will have to adapt or disappear - it’s the golden rule of both evolution and business.