inquisity

Usually engineers win out in a battle with the design folks.  Apparently this time it’s the other way around for the new version of the iPod Shuffle:

The decision to put the controls on the headphones means that unless Apple opens up the controls to third parties, you can’t even play music on the iPod without using Apple’s own earbuds. What happens if, as is also not unheard of, Apple’s stock earbuds break? Your iPod is completely useless until you get another pair of approved headphones. (full article)

Like many people, the regular Apple headphones don’t stay in my ears if I’m doing anything other than sitting down, so I have a different pair for when I work out.  This makes the new generation of Shuffles worthless to me (and many others).  Needless to say I will be buying the previous generation.

I bet that Apple: a) opens up the design specs so other companies can make compliant headphones, and/or b) has buttons on the actual unit in the next generation of Shuffles.

Listen to this short 3 minute report from NPR.  Apparently the Louisiana State Ethics Board has clarified that state employees cannot accept any gifts whatsoever.  On the outset this makes sense, but this also applies to librarians.  From now on, if a Librarian accepts a Christmas cookie or something of the like, they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

My favorite part:  “We had a patron who came in to give the staff some cookies, and after he was told that the cookies couldn’t be accepted, he left the plate and literally ran out the door because he wanted the staff to have the cookies.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

Apparently you can now get pasta at Pizza Hut. This is very confusing for a company that previously marketed itself as the place for best pizza. Check out this commercial:

I’m guessing Pizza Hut is looking to diversify and capture a new market. While there may indeed be an opportunity in delivery Italian-style food (pizza, pasta, calzone, etc.), a brand with the name pizza in it won’t be very successful. The name “Pizza Hut” clearly communicates that they sell pizza (not rocket science here).

It’s further confusing to the customer with the spin-off of the pizza hut logo:

The problem is this only appears in commercials, and isn’t actually a brand that they are building. Mixed messages will only hurt the Pizza Hut brand.

Stanford University has an awesome annual conference called Startup School, which has talks about how to start a successful company from famous entrepreneurs, lawyers, and venture capitalists. I’ve watched every single one, and my favorite by far is the talk by David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails:

A few great points from his speech and my two cents:

1. It’s ok to not have a goal of making billions.

We constantly hold up the creators of great companies (like Bill Gates) in the highest regard and laud them for making billions of dollars (and they deserve it). But they are a very small fraction of entrepreneurs and businesses, and statistically you have a much better chance at making a million than a billion. Making a million is a fantastic success, even though it’s not as sexy as a billion.

2. You don’t need to be the next Google, Facebook, or Craigslist.

Don’t obsess about being the “next big thing.” There are tons of successful, profitable companies out there that come about simply from solving problems. In fact, David Heinemeier Hansson became successful because he ran into a problem that many other people had, and created a solution for that problem. Sometimes we’re married to the idea about being the “next big thing” when really we just need to step back, take a look at the world around us, and develop a solution to a problem that a bunch of other people have too.

3. It’s possible to treat your customers well AND charge them a price.

Many developers passionate about democratizing content online, and that’s great. But if you want a successful company that is financially viable, you should probably charge a price. In the age of open-source, it’s important to remember that businesses do charge for their products and services. Seems like a no-brainer, but I think a lot of entrepreneurs think that they can just build a great product and maybe get some VC funding for it. The bottom line is there needs to be financial viability for the long run (something Facebook and Youtube are having problems with).

4. Having a limited amount of time every day to work on something really focuses your energy.

I’ve always got a bunch of projects going on at the same time, and invariably one doesn’t progress as fast as I want. By sitting down and blocking out specific times to work on specific projects, I’ve had more luck ensuring all my projects keep moving forward.