Ready, Fire, Aim! - Mihail's Public Blog - Blogithttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/Mihail helped co-found Blogit -- the first subscription-based, blog-for-pay venue -- but is no longer involved except as a user. He is an entrepreneur and published author who has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, San Jose Mercury News, and on Salon.com and CNN etc. Mihail started this blog on July 15, 2002, and blogs about business models, technology and life in the global technology world. All views in this blog are his personal views.hourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00Augmented Reality on your Windshield?http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/727969While we love our BMW's Head-up Display technology (similar to what fighter jets and planes incorporate) that projects important information on to our windshield such as speed or directions, this story in the Wall Street Journal about "augmented reality" coming to your windshield soon is a little too much -- reminds me of the overlays that so many TV channels now use to interrupt and clutter the television screen with information that has *nothing* to do with what we're watching. BMW's...Texting Turns 20, Pope to start Tweetinghttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/727967According to this Wall Street Journal blog entry here (thanks to the WSJ CIO Journal highlights): It was Dec. 3, 1992, when Neil Papworth, a text engineer in London, first texted “Merry Christmas” to Vodafone VOD.LN -1.71% employee Richard Jarvis, who was at a Christmas party across town. It was possible because the new generation of digital mobile phones incorporated letters on the number pad so that customers could put names of contacts into the phone book on their phones. One year later...Friendster Rebootshttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/696359I'd forgotten I was still a Friendster member. Here's what showed up in my inbox this morning: A Personal Message from Friendster's CEO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dear fellow Friendster members, As many of you may know, Friendster announced that it is re-launching itself as a social gaming portal and launched a beta version of the new Friendster a couple of weeks ago. The beta version was well received. I am pleased to announce that the new Friendster is...More Details on MySpace Salehttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/696326While complete terms of the deal were not disclosed (and News Corp will continue to own a small stake in the company), Specific Media has brought in JT (Justin Timberlake) as part owner and active player in MySpace's future according to this New York Times story: The sale closes a complex chapter in the history of the Internet and of the News Corporation, which was widely envied by other media companies when it acquired MySpace in 2005. At that time, MySpace was the world’s fastest-growing...Bubble Reminder: Remember MySpace?http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/696244So MySpace has finally found a new home. After being acquired by News Corp in 2005 for $580M, when it was the high-flying social networking darling (before Facebook changed the landscape), News Corp was on a tear to sell its acquisition before the end of its financial year according to this Wall Steet Journal story: Ad-targeting firm Specific Media on Wednesday said it agreed to buy News Corp.'s struggling social-media site Myspace. Specific Media will pay $35 million in stock and cash for...Death of Customer Service: Delta Airlines to Silver Medallion: Screw Youhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/655773So just when I was about to write an update about Delta Airlines to commend them from the changes and improvement in customer service agents, Delta slams its loyal customers -- without warning -- with a new program that screws even those Delta fliers who had Silver Medallion status. And Delta gave its "loyal" customers a two-day notice to implement this new program. So, suddenly, those people who purchased a Sky Club membership which gave them access to fast security lines were held holding a...Death of customer service: Delta Airlines (Part 2)http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/602200So what's with Delta selling you tickets without assigning you a seat number? Either Delta has a ticket to sell -- and a seat that goes with it -- or it doesn't. Does anyone understand why it is OK for an airline to inconvenience passengers (beyond making us fly them) by not letting passengers print a boarding pass at home (since there's no seat number for them) even 24 hours before their flight? Instead, they make you print some sort of other document -- which says you have a confirmed...Death of customer service: Delta Airlineshttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/601300Some Delta's customer service personnel should be fired. In this economy, I'm sure there are may other competent folks out there who'd love to have a job and have at least basic customer service skills. Some of the current employees (especially the ones manning the SFO terminal 1 desk around 2 pm on Sunday, March 15) have obviously become too complacent. Their attitude needs a major readjustment -- if not total replacement. As we were walking to the terminal we were informed via telephone...Death of customer service: Virgin Atlantichttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/596197Why has Virgin Atlantic turned its customer service phone system into a convoluted nightmare that makes it impossible to find a live agent at first try? Virgin Atlantic is/was? considered one of the shining stars when it comes to service as I wrote almost two years ago in this blog entry. Is Virgin Atlantic going the same way as most mediocre companies? Unless you're flying Upper Class? Is Customer Service now all about class, too? Try calling Virgin's 1-800 number and you'll understand what...The death of customer servicehttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/596190I'm back. And ready to start talking about a growing issue that I've faced as a customer: The death of customer service. The only silver lining to this economic downturn, combined with the growth of user-generated content such as blogs, is that we as customers finally have power to really make businesses hurt if they treat us unprofessionally. I'm tired of restaurants and stores and airlines thinking that they can continue to get our business -- and refer us to some web page to provide...The definition of luxury -- great service http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/460544According to this WSJ story (subscription required), Guy Salter, deputy chairman of the British luxury-industry organization Walpole, says that "unless you're in the sweet spot 18-to-34 demographic -- or you're a new-luxury consumer in China or India -- you're probably getting better attention from brands like Apple, J. Crew, Amazon, Virgin Airlines and Starbucks, which are providing innovative new products coupled with great customer service -- the stuff that was once the purview of luxury."...The Haute in Couturehttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/460541This falls into the category of I had no idea! This year a mere ten designers still qualify as purveyors of haute couture according to this WSJ story (subscription required). "The term "haute couture" is protected under law by the French Ministry of Industry, and only those designated by the Chamber as couturiers can use the term -- which translates loosely as "high fashion," though the word couture technically means "sewing." (The legal protection does not extend to the use of the word...Unprofessional Lieberman Research Worldwide at 1-800-GO-FU** yourself?http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/457434On Friday, April 6, 2007 we got a call in the evening at our home in the Bay Area from a cold caller who said he was calling from Lieberman Research Worldwide and wanted to ask us some questions related to DVDs. When I declined and asked him to remove us from his calling list he said he would do that only after we finished the 2 minute questionnaire. When I asked him for the phone number he was calling from -- he responded that the phone number was 1-800-943-GO FU** YOURSELF. Considering that...Gozoof recommendations on getting book publishedhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/404799This Gozoof page has several recommendations from Gozoof users on resources for getting books published including literary agents guides, tips from authors etc.Star power?http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/401044This New York Times story (registration required) evaluates the value of a star, in the aftermath of the Tom Cruise-Sumner Redstone fireworks: “There is no statistical correlation between stars and success,” said S. Abraham Ravid, a professor of economics and finance at Rutgers University, who, in a 1999 study of almost 200 films released between 1991 and 1993, found that once one considered other factors influencing the success of a film, a star had no impact on its rate of return. Employing...Doing GOODhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/389836According to this WSJ story (subscription required), one heir is trying to do GOOD. I think it's a great idea who's time has come, and if done right, the publication could reach many younger people (rich and not so rich) who want to do good with however much money they have to give. We're not philanthropists. We're not just wanting to give away money for the sake of giving money, nor for the social or other benefits some giving brings. We want our money put to good use. We want to see change....Netflix impassehttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/389807Just as I've been thinking of this problem...related to the last film we received, "Good Night, and Good Luck" which has sat on our entertainment center for weeks...while we've paid for and watched a handful of other fluff/commedies. According to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required): Netflix Inc., which boasts nearly five million members, often trumpets how its all-you-can-eat rental model is changing the way people are watching movies. But Netflix may also be changing the...The long tail of Netflixhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/378182According to this New York Times story on Netflix, which has over 1 billion movie ratings in its system (since it doesn't get rid of the movies you rate even when you leave and then return much later) and some five million households with accounts it is the long tail that's important (just as on eBay, Blogit and many other web services...the idea that there's a small market for every kind of item): Out of the 60,000 titles in Netflix's inventory, I ask, how many do you think are rented at...Newspaper print readers down, website readers uphttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/370660Although their online advertising is growing at a rate of 25-30%, newspapers still earn only about 5% of their advertising revenue from online ads. And while the larger newspapers kept or increased their circulation for the most part, newspapers' weekday daily circulation on average is down in the six months ending in March (about the same as the previous six months) according to this AP story in the New York Times (registration required): The Newspaper Association of America, analyzing data...Super wealthy behind estate tax repealhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/readyfireaim/368586According to this New York Times story: THE watchdog group Public Citizen ( citizen.org ) and the advocacy group United for a Fair Economy ( faireconomy.org ) issued a report this week [ available here ] saying that 18 superwealthy families are largely responsible for financing the lobbying campaign aimed at repealing the estate tax; the Senate is scheduled to take up repeal next month. The families, worth $185.5 billion, have financed and coordinated the campaign and have, until now, managed...