You’re reading Signal v. Noise, a publication about the web by Basecamp since 1999. Happy !
Now: The creator of Vooza, "the Spinal Tap of startups." Previously: Employee #1 at 37signals and co-author of the books Rework and Getting Real.
What size rolling luggage to buy? Shopping at Amazon, it feels like a shot in the dark.
Lots of closeups of handles and wheels, but what’s the difference between a 19” or 22” bag? There’s no real guidance.
This is the kind of situation where a site that focuses on a specific niche can really shine.
Luggage Online offers a size chart (and Carry-On Luggage Regulations for each airline too).
eBags also offers a Rolling Luggage Size Guide.
Sometimes, a little context makes all the difference.
Spotted at The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Build something that flies = big problem. So the Wright Brothers broke it down into smaller chunks: 1) wings, 2) controls, and 3) propulsion. Nice historical precedent for the idea of dividing problems into smaller and smaller pieces until you’re able to digest them. “The Wright Brothers – Inventing a Flying Machine” offers more details.
I have a friend whose house was designed using some of the principles set forth by [Christopher] Alexander. For example, one important idea is to go to the site and look at it and its surroundings, and situate the structure to take advantage of the site. Her architect built a wall framed with wood and covered with cardboard, with the windows cut out, that was the size and shape of the main living area wall. He and an assistant held the wall in place as my friend looked through the window, standing and seated, in the center of what would be the living room. They moved the wall this way and that, trying various angles, until the mountains in the distrance were framed in the window to my friend’s satisfaction. And that defined the location [of] that wall and its windows, and thus the living room and main house.
[The Congressional oversight panel’s first report on the spending of the $700 billion of bailout money] is tough and it’s fast. And I think fast was important here too. An ordinary Congressional panel would’ve taken three months to get up and running and would’ve fooled around with hiring staff and deciding who had what tasks and setting up deadlines and timelines and so on. We didn’t do that. In 13 days, we produced a hard-biting document that pushes hard for some real answers. We don’t have a phone, we don’t have a photocopier, we don’t have a coffee maker yet, but we have a very strong report. And there’s another report coming in 30 days and another one 30 days after that and another one 30 days after that. And I think that sets the stage.
Bible Illuminated (the #1 selling bible at Amazon) sets the text in a magazine format with paragraphs, headlines, pull quotes, photos, etc. [via JK]
I just recently finished reading “Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance” by Dean Wareham, ex-frontman for the band Luna (review). Great read. I’m a big fan of the man’s music, but I think even non-fans will enjoy his frank descriptions of internal band conflicts, the creative process, life on the road, etc.
It also got to me thinking that Wareham, a smart guy, and his bandmates really did a wise job of exhausting potential revenue streams for the band, while simultaneously making its hardcore fanbase happy.
For one thing, they released a 2006 documentary, “Luna – Tell Me Do You Miss Me,” of its farewell tour. It’s not just a celebratory feelgood flick though. It really takes you inside the disappointments and strains of the band. You don’t often see a band that’s willing to reveal the depressing side of trying to make it as a musician…what it’s like to be approaching 40, touring around in the back of a van, and having people constantly tell you, “I don’t know why you guys aren’t bigger.” Amazon’s summary:
In Tell Me Do You Miss Me, the four members of the celebrated New York-based indie-rock band Luna confront the ceiling of their ambition, the harsh realities of their modest success, and their conflicted feelings about each other as they embark on their final world tour and uncertain futures. Laced with moments of both humor and melancholia, Tell Me Do You Miss Me earnestly exposes the underbelly of a touring rock band in their final days together. Supported sonically with Luna’s dreamy catalog of indie-pop and visually with lush travelogue footage—with adventurous stops in England, Japan, and Spain—Tell Me Do You Miss Me is an elegy for an era.
The book and movie are both surprisingly raw and open. That admirable level of honesty will probably continue to draw in fans (and non-fans) even after the band is gone.
And the DVD landed in stores the same day as The Best of Luna, a greatest-hits CD. Previously, Luna put out a live album too. Both of those are good examples of how a band can make money without having to write new songs and return to the studio. And of course there’s the usual merch stuff like ringtones and tshirts (which was actually the only way the band made money on tour after covering costs).
Revenue is like water going into a dam. The more holes you can poke in that dam, the more ways the money has to trickle through to you. Plus, it gives fans more ways to connect with you and interact with you (especially if you’re willing to be open and honest). When that’s true, everyone wins.
Lead singers aren’t supposed to write books. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea though. What are you not supposed to do that’s actually a pretty good idea?
Related:
There’s more than one way to skin the revenue cat [SvN]
Hanson: Still at it and more successful than ever [SvN]
The goal with products is to give people a great story to tell, so they can tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on. Being new is a great advantage on this front. Would you go tell a friend about Pepsi? No, because they’ve been around too long. That’s the advantage of being David in the David and Goliath story.
Talk to someone who runs a successful business and ask them, “When was the last time you looked at your business plan?” Chances are they don’t even know where to find it.
“Three Start-Ups, a Year Later” [NY Times] gives some examples of how little the original plan for a business matters once you’re actually doing something.
Tina Ericson recently shut down her online T-shirt store, Mamaisms Gear, in Wilmington, N.C., overwhelmed by the strains it was putting on her corporate job. “It seems like it was only yesterday that we were discussing our plans to make $100,000 in revenue the first year,” Ms. Ericson said. “We made some very expensive mistakes.”…
She predicted sales in 2008 of $100,000 at Mamaisms Gear, which intended to offer a broad line of T-shirts and other products with “Mama Says” slogans like “Quit Whining.” She also talked about creating a Web site for women and starting a consulting company for the financial services industry…
But by June, with economic growth slowing, all three business owners were scaling back their ambitions. Ms. Ericson had abandoned her plans to create an Internet community for women and to start a consulting firm to concentrate on marketing her T-shirts to boutiques.
The other two business profiled are still alive but have also completely rethought their original plans. They’ve changed focus, services, salaries, partnership arrangements, etc.
Sure, you can blame the economy. But this type of thing is par for the course even when things are going fine. Businesses, like armies, always have to adjust to the facts on the ground. If these companies’ one year projections were so far off, imagine how worthless those year three (or five) projections turned out to be.
It begs the question: What’s the point of a business plan if it’s obviously a fantasy that has nothing to do with reality? If these projections are just numbers pulled out of thin air, why pay any attention to them? Wishful thinking doesn’t really benefit you in any way.
It seems like most people write business plans just because they think they’re supposed to. They’ve been told a business plan is what a “real” business needs so they go ahead and start making shit up. Then reality happens and the whole thing goes out the window.
Sure, thinking about the future can help. But writing it down and thinking it’s any sort of plan is foolish. The truth is you’re not going to know what to do until you’re actually doing it.
Bill Moriarty, record producer and Highrise customer (case study), offers some interesting advice to other producers at his blog: Mix Records on Crap Speakers.
“It’s the very naive producer who works only on optimum systems.” -Brian Eno
It’s unlikely whoever is buying your records has anything better than an average hi-fi, boombox, car stereo, or ipod. I’d bet they don’t have studio monitors.
Recording & mixing solely on studio monitors is foolish. All that low end in the guitar? It’s useless in the small speakers. It’s just taking up frequencies the bass or drums or organs or tenor instruments can occupy. You have to be ruthless in cutting away useless frequencies so the record is loud & jumps out of all speakers. Make the record sound outstanding on little crap speakers since that’s where most people will hear it. I’ve found when I do this it still sounds great on the fancy speakers.
Love this. It’s not about the gear. In fact, gear can distract you from the essence of what you’re working on. Strip what you’re doing down to its bare essentials and evaluate that. If that comes off great, then it will work as it gets louder, starts to grow, or whatever. (And web designers can definitely apply the same idea to bandwidth speed, screen size, etc.)