GPS receivers are too expensive. The price point needs to be $100 instead of $300-500. At $100, everyone will buy GPS. Otherwise, they will wait until it is incorporated in every vehicle, computer, and cellphone as it will some day. The GPS manufacturers like Garmin could offset this lower cost by providing location-based advertising. When you get near a Starbucks, for example, the GPS receiver could display a small advertisement alongside your map with a special offer for coffee. It would be like AdSense advertising for presence.
General
03
May 07
Coffee vultures
No one likes to make coffee in our office and I think I know why. Today I set the coffee maker to brew enough for ten cups. I go back ten minutes later to get a cup and there’s one cup left. If there are 6-7 people who regularly drink coffee and each of them knows that someone will eventually blink and make coffee, the ideal strategy is to wait. In most situations in life, the person who acts first benefits first, but not so in the world of office coffee. The person who starts the coffee is guaranteed nothing. So, if you’re a coffee drinker and you’re running your life in the most efficient way possible, you will get your coffee at the optimal time, later in the morning, when it is most likely that someone will have given in.
02
May 07
Padre Island Debauchery
This was my cousin last weekend on the fishing boat where we spent 8 hours. We all went down to Padre Island for his bachelor party drink fest / fishing trip. After two to three hours of sleep, we tried to get up and go fishing. It was grueling. Several of the guys were laid up in the ship’s cabin the entire time.
There are two types of people in the world: those who get seasick and those who don’t. I’m the type that gets seasick. I was sick the entire eight hours. I would get sick, throw some bloody squid parts on the hook, fish, then get sick again.
I caught five red snapper, but none were big enough to keep.
01
May 07
A new way of living
Matt Haughey of Metafilter fame has started an interesting new blog called Fortuitous where he will be sharing tips on how to run your business online. He will be writing a new essay every Monday. It will no doubt be worth following.
The Internet is changing the way we live. Over the past couple of years web applications have matured and the Internet has expanded into every corner of our lives through smartphones and laptops, providing a new way to life for millions of people. A life where you can use technology to make yourself more efficient, more connected, and more mobile.
The great thing about technology is that is has benefited so many. In recent years, the number of one person businesses has exploded. With the use of the Internet, automation, and virtual assistants, one person can run a successful business anywhere in the world. As Timothy Ferriss says in his book, The 4-Hour Work Week: “Fun things happen when you earn dollars, live on pesos, and compensate in rupees, but that’s just the beginning.”
If you really want to be free of the grind, you can do it. You have everything you need. You just need to go for it.
25
Apr 07
Tumblelogs with tumblr
Tumblelogs are a good way to annotate and clip items from the Internet. Now, with a service called tumblr you can make a scrapbook like blog of interesting videos, photos, quotes, and links from your journeys around the web. Tumblr automatically pulls down your del.icio.us items and posts those, too, if you’d like to keep everything centralized. Check out the letterneversent tumblelog for an example.
25
Apr 07
Cool stuff you can do with Google Spreadsheets
I’ve been using Google Docs for a while now. I love the concept of easy online document management and collaboration. I’ve tried to set up wiki-based solutions, content management systems, etc. for collaboration in the past, but Google Docs does exactly what I need it to do. It just works.
The only problem I’ve add is getting anyone else to use it. For some reason, no matter what I do, the people I work with find it too difficult to use. I’ll share a document with a coworker and they’ll never use it or open it. So, I’ve stuck to using it for tasks of my own or for people who work for me.
I use the word processing app, formerly known as Writely, from time to time, but I use Google Spreadsheets the most. I’m always finding new things I can do with it and since it’s online I can access it from any computer.
Here are some of the things I use it for:
- Timesheets: I have a few freelancers I work with on a regular basis. It used to be that they would write down their hours over a few weeks and then submit an invoice at the end of the billing period. Now I just have them add their hours directly into a spreadsheet. It autoformats the various columns, calculates total hours and pay, and allows me to stay on top of our progress on various projects.
- Asset logging: At work we often have to purchase equipment for our centers. I use Google Spreadsheets to keep track of all the various information related to company equipment: serial numbers, assignments, etc.
- Invoice tracking: If you have invoices that need to be paid or invoices that you need to submit to your clients, an online spreadsheet is a good way to keep track of them. Just list the invoices with invoice numbers, amounts, and the date submitted and you’ll have an easier time following up on them.
- Task / change requests: When you work on a project with other people you’ll often need to keep track of change requests or suggested revisions.
What kind of things do you do in spreadsheets?
24
Apr 07
Prehistoric giants
Can someone provide a satisfactory answer as to why the earth’s fossil record includes evidence of so many enormous creatures? Is it higher oxygen levels? Larger landmasses?
23
Apr 07
Thoughts on Virginia Tech and tragedy in general
The Virginia Tech massacre is upsetting on many levels.
One, it is troubling to think that there are people so deranged and miserable that their preferred solution to life’s suffering is to perpetuate mortal violence on others who have done them no actual harm. Insanity can be the only rationale behind such stupidity. Insanity is stupidity, in a sense, ie. being out of touch with Reality / Truth.
Two, we have no adequate solutions for the insane / dangerously stupid. We only do something about it after something bad happens. Virginia Tech should be a wake up call that we need to get more involved in detecting these people before they kill. On the other hand, there is no real way to prevent this sort of thing. The mass murderers of the world act by violating the most basic principles of Society. There is no way to legislate against someone who is willing to violate the very concept of morality, you can only make it more difficult to do so.
Three, I am glad to see the flags at half-mast for the victims of Virginia Tech. It is a heartening symbol of respect. However, it must be difficult for the families of the victims, not only for their terrible loss, but also because the world eventually moves on and forgets, leaving them to their grief, which can never be forgotten.
18
Apr 07
Pizza Wars: Pizza Patron and Pizza Hut
There’s a pizza war brewing between two Dallas-based chains, Pizza Hut, and a much smaller and newer entrant, Pizza Patron. It is not a battle of equals, but it is interesting to see how competition plays out.
Pizza Patron markets directly to low-income Latinos with an eye toward low-end take-out pizza market, similar to Little Caesar’s Pizza, which is big in other parts of the country. Pizza Patron locates its franchises in largely Hispanic areas, serving a population that is growing more quickly (good growth prospects) than any other due to illegal immigration and higher birth rates. Marketing exclusively to Latinos is a bold move even in this age of rapid demographic change.
Pizza Patron was in the news recently with a program publicity stunt aimed squarely at Latinos called “Pizza por Pesos.” As expected, this generated outrage among some Americans and probably some mirth among the ascendant Mexican population here in Texas.
Interestingly, Pizza Patron seems to draw much of its identity from Pizza Hut. In the image above, notice how both the Pizza Hut roof / hat and the Pizza Patron chulo hat seem to share a similar shape. Also, notice the similar fonts and the similarities between the dotted “i” and the accented “o”.
The pizza business is very competitive because it’s such a simple model: cheap ingredients, simple kitchen prep, minimal retail space, and low labor costs. All this equals healthy margins if you make a good product and can market it.
Anyway, Pizza Patron advertises a $4.99 pizza. This is their hallmark. They call it “Pizza Lista”, ready pizza. This means low-income families can enjoy a quick, cheap dinner. Pizza is the ideal family food; you just call it in and pick it up. I’m guessing Pizza Hut is eager to make it difficult for competitors like Pizza Patron because these cheap prepared pizzas compete directly with them and their efforts to expand their franchises, which do really well in poor areas despite the premium price (Pizza Hut is not cheap). The other day I noticed that Pizza Hut launched a program called “Pizza Mia” here in Dallas. The approach is very similar to Pizza Lista: 3 one topping pizzas for $5.00 each. The part that I found really clever was the name: Pizza Mia. In Spanish, of course, this means My Pizza, but the best part is that Pizza Mia also sounds Italian. It’s a two for one phrase, although in researching, I noticed that several other restaurants already go by Pizza Mia, so maybe they saw the same angle and stole the idea for themselves.
It’ll be interesting to see if Pizza Patron keeps growing and how Pizza Hut addresses competition on their flank.
Franchise cost comparison:
- Pizza Patron – Franchise fee: $20,000 Basic royalty: 5% gross sales #. Total start up cost: $122,800 to $176,050.
- Pizza Hut – Franchise fee: $25,000 Start-up cost: $218,500 to $1.3 million Basic royalty: 6.5% #
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