Travel
Hiking Maggie’s Peaks Near Lake Tahoe
My oldest son, Nick, flew home to surprise us with a visit a few days ago. He’s been missing our mountains, forests, and the hikes we always take as a family. So, yesterday, we drove to South Lake Tahoe to a trailhead near Emerald Bay. Xander is home for the weekend from college, too. We…
Read MoreAuditory Bliss at 30,000 feet
I have always been interested in trying noise-cancelling headphones when I fly. But, I prefer the portability and comfort of in-ear headphones. So, until recently, there weren’t many desirable options. Then I discovered the audio-technica ATH-ANC3 in-ear noise-cancelling headphones at my local Apple Store. 
From the audio-technica site:
Read MoreElectronics in the control box create a noise-cancelling wave that is 180° out of phase with the ambient noise. This wave acts like a noise eraser: it cancels out the annoying sounds that surround you without diminishing the audio you want to hear. The result…a peaceful enclave to enjoy the music or movies of your choice.
Yahoo! Search Launching Great New Features
It has been a while since I have posted. If you head on over to Yahoo! Search, you will see why I’ve been a little busy lately. We’ve been working on a ton of great new ideas for our Search experience and some of them are now ready for you! It is all about giving consumers a much better experience when they are searching, so that they find exactly what they are looking for faster and are happier with the results. Check out what we’ve been up to and I think you will agree.
Read full article…
Transformational Experience
So many of us love a cup of coffee in our favorite cafe, but I don’t think many would call that a “transformational experience”. However, having a cup of coffee in a small cafe on the edge of the caldera at sunset in Santorini? Yes, a transformational experience that created a memory that I will never forget. What price do you put on such a cup of coffee?
The book “The Experience Economy” briefly mentions a key example that helps explain how a simple good can be economically transformed into an experience for which a customer is willing to pay one thousand times more. The following table outlines this transformation for the simple coffee bean. Read full article…
Read MoreThe Business of Experience
Commoditization. It happens in every industry as it matures. As companies struggle to compete and differentiate themselves, they succumb to pricing pressure and feature wars. We’ve all seen it happen with both goods and services. And, we’ve seen it happen in the technology industry too. Software with even more features than the competitor with the requisite feature chart on the back of the box. Internet access pricing being driven down to almost “free” levels. Web hosting for absurdly low monthly fees with an ever-increasing set of available features.
So, what is a company to do? Well, some have spent time understanding their customers and what it is that creates loyalty. Those companies have learned that earning the loyalty of a customer goes way beyond offering the lowest prices or the most features. In fact, loyal customers will often spend more for less. As a very loyal customer of Apple Computer, I can attest to that. Why? Because we value the holistic experience of that brand and what it provides us. Read full article…
Read More