Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Rain drops keep falling on my head

This is why I spent the entire Md/NCSU game with water streaming on me.

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Here's what I get when I try LinkedIn's new Google Presentation App





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Yeah, a lot of nothing.


This sounded really cool, and seems to have failed from the giddy up.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Is there a way to use Yahoo! Pipes to get an "oldest first" feed from Google Reader Mobile?

I use Google Reader Mobile, a lot. To the point my wife told me to knock it off (I was being rude, but no longer).

But Google Reader Mobile is rather limited in its content presentation options. You can look at your newest items first, you can view specific tags (newest first), or specific feeds (newest post first). That's it.

The simplest thing I can ask for: being able to look at the oldest unread items first.

Why would I want to do something like that? Uh, because I don't want to have to click through 15 pages of items to get to the first item on the market this morning, or on a baseball game, etc. There tends to be a flow of posts from blogs, and only being able to read the newest item first interrupts that.

Another request - let me again request that you can share items in Google Reader Mobile. It wouldn't be hard.

Just one other request - let me click to the previous unread post (like the next unread post), it'd make navigation simpler.

Why no Google Labs in Google Apps?

I can use the super sweet new Calendar and Docs Labs app in Gmail, but not with my corporate account. Why is this?

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Do kids perceive branding, or associate their senses with experiences?

Trent of The Simple Dollar, relayed a story of his son getting a bit worked up when he didn't get his Fruity Cheerios from the "red box".

The next morning, my son requested Fruity Cheerios and I pulled out the bag of generic cereal. He got fairly upset, informing me that he wanted the “red box,” even after I poured him the bowl of cereal.


The entire post is interesting, as are his concluding thoughts, worth a read.

Here is my comment that I left:

I think you misinterpret his desires with "some of my son’s enjoyment of Fruity Cheerios comes from the branding".

He couldn't care less if it is red or blue or brown. What he cares about is that the "real" cheerios have always come from box X, and how he's presented with box (or bag) Y. He wants X, whatever it is. The branding has become intrinsically linked to his perception of the product, but his enjoyment isn't tied to the branding, merely his association of the "true" product with how it is presented to him.

Had you previously given him real cheerios with box colors a, b and c then you could have gotten away with d and e and f.

It's routine. Same reason your child prefers certain routines and rituals during his day. Routine breeds comfort, and the routine of the red box conveys to him he's getting his real cheerios.

You are obviously taking a number of great steps to make him less biased by branding, which is great. Make sure that you get the grandparents in on the act (heck, let them know that they can give him the generic cereal so they can save money, cereal is crazy expensive).

It's hard to severe experiences from "branding". You son might have a favorite park, which has the brand of a certain route to get there, certain signage once you arrive, certain playground pieces once there, etc.

Branding isn't always branding, it is associations of the senses to experiences.
I love all the kids in my family, and I've seen similar experiences to this quite often. Routine matters. You have to read a bedtime story the way Mom or Dad does (it's a big hurdle to overcome to just be allowed to replace Mom/Dad with storytelling), you have to help dress the kid the way it is done every morning, etc. Routines help kids cultivate comfort and feel at ease (it's why having a routine the first time you drop your kid off at school is important, as is explaining to them ahead of time what will happen).

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Reading girl

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My kiddo boots

Wore the heels very well. And have a picture of me in them on a magazine cover.

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PY Sketch

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Coinstar fun

About $30 of "found" money from pennies and a few dimes (one dollar coin). At least $10 is "good girl" money for K, which hopefully means some Starbucks for my sweetie.

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My sweetheart

A super cutie, she sleeps after having 25+ guests over today.

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