Happiness is a clean keyboard

by | Jun 27, 2009 | design

The problem with a lot of good design is that it’s a pain to clean it.  Great design includes forethought on the cleaning department, if you ask me.  So every few months, I find that despite my best borderline OCD hand washing, my Apple wireless keyboard needs a...

Fathers day phone near fail with eBay T-Mobile

by | Jun 26, 2009 | technology

Dad wanted a phone “with a camera and internet and keys that aren’t too small to see”, so for Fathers’ Day I picked one up, a 3G flip phone from a major manufacturer with T-Mobile’s mobile web thing.  What dad wanted most was to be able...

Stand on the spot where Stieglitz stood

by | Jun 24, 2009 | photo, urbanism

The Flatiron Building is an iconic landmark in New York City.  When I chanced to walk by this week, I saw many people taking pictures of the building, some tourists snapping themselves next to it, some more serious looking photographers looking for a new angle on the...

The bogusness of B2B vs B2C

by | Jun 23, 2009 | economics, working

I was having a great discussion about all things marketing last week, and it got on the topic of the difference between B2Band B2C marketing approaches. I jumped out on a limb and claimed that they are in fact the same – in each case, the goal is to deliver the...

Paying more, getting less, loving it

by | Jun 17, 2009 | eating, economics

There are some blog posts that can be published only when all the participants are dead, or at least only when one has moved on from that particular job.  This is not one of them. I was browsing the aisles at a local big box store and spied something I had never seen...

Pushing the cafe boundaries at Bread & Lily and Sofra Bakery

by | Jun 14, 2009 | eating

Last weekend I stretched the boundaries of localvorism by visiting two new (to me) cafes, one each in Newton and Belmont. First up, Bread and Lily in Newton, where owner Ben Cutler put on an impressive spread for some food bloggers.  Bread & Lily offers a full...

What's the business model for recipes?

by | Jun 11, 2009 | eating, economics

I was chatting with J about her new venture, CSA Cookbooks (wherein farmers or CSA operators collaborate with her to create a cookbook customized to the ingredients available from that farm or CSA), and I wondered aloud, “does anybody ever pay for a single...

Attack of the carnivorous snails!

by | Jun 7, 2009 | eating, science!

I was half-listening to the radio and I was pretty sure I heard the announcer say, “blah blah blah red tide blah blah surf clams and carnivorous snails…”  Carnivorous snails?? On the rampage and out for blood, causing the tide to run red?? OK,...