An interesting number from Black Friday.
Despite all this growth, online purchases remain a very small portion of retail sales. Mr. Martin of ShopperTrak said that more than 90 percent of all United States retail commerce still takes place in physical stores. Continue reading “Black Friday”
When it’s not busy putting brick and mortar stores out of business, Amazon does exercise a pretty good sense of humor. Continue reading Amazon’s Sense of Humor
If The Graduate is any indication, there’s a great future in plastics, and Apple seems to think so, too. In its ad for the new iPhone 5C, “Plastic Perfected,” Apple seeks to emphasize the new phone’s “unapologetic” plasticity. Continue reading “Just One Word: Plastics”
As someone who recently stole inherited his father’s pants, circa 1985, this article seems pretty darn true. My initial surprise was replaced by a stark realization: as a 30-something skinnyish urban male there’s almost nothing I can wear that won’t make me look like a hipster. Such is the pervasiveness of hipster culture that virtually … Continue reading Hipsterdom
Microsoft is acquiring the phone part of Nokia for a cool $7.2 Billion. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is staying on board, which, I think will fuel rumors that he was a corporate trojan horse – leaving Microsoft for Nokia, only to oversee the latter’s sale to his former employer – and that he is in the running to fill Ballmer’s shoes. To that end, if will be very interesting to see if, in fact, Elop does get the promotion, because it would be indicative of Microsoft’s pivot from a PC and Office-based company to a mobile-oriented one. Continue reading “Microkia”
Here’s our first episode of the Bondcast, where, true to our mission, we “make self-aggrandizing statements on things that we’re wholly unqualified to make statements about.” A brief breakdown of the ‘cast goes as follows:
MediaBistro drew our attention to the fact that, at least according to Google, the word “literally” is defined the way we all (incorrectly) use it – as an expression of strong feeling or inclination. No word yet on whether or not Parks and Rec was a deciding factor. Continue reading Literally
Blackberry’s chairman announced that the former smartphone heavyweight will begin exploring “strategic alternatives” to address its dwindling market share and placate unhappy shareholders. As I’ve said before, it ultimately makes sense for Blackberry to ditch its OS team, adopt Android, and just concentrate on two businesses: hardware and enterprise services like encrypted email and messaging. It seems logical for a few reasons: Continue reading “Strategic Alternatives”
The Times ran an excellent article yesterday, detailing how Israeli hospitals take in some of those wounded in the Syrian conflict, despite the fact that the two countries are technically at war. But what’s chilling is the extent to which Israel needs to protect the identities of those it treats, lest they eventually suffer recriminations for having been treated in an Israeli hospital. The article notes: Continue reading “Recriminations”
From the Wall Street Journal, on Jeff Bezos’s purchase of the Washington Post: At Amazon, Mr. Bezos has instilled a culture of extreme focus on customer service and low prices. Amazon executives fly coach class, and some desks at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters are fashioned out of repurposed doors to remind employees to be frugal. Those … Continue reading
Silicon Spatula 