YakShaving

Yak•Shaving (noun) Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing you to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows you to solve a larger problem

Month: August, 2009

Seth is always prescient…

It’s like I don’t even have to go around with original content… I can just use marketing geniuses like Seth Godin to make the case for BettrAt as a superior long tail based marketing tool (what we’ve been calling content heavy advertorials for the web) that fit into someone’s SuggestBar. It’s about time service providers, [...]

Walmart: “Girl scouts are stealing our market share”

Recently, I stopped by the new Whole Foods in Lincoln Park here in Chicago. Immediately after stepping into the massive space, I was impressed by its ability to stay and feel fresh, and more like a marketplace that you might see in another country. Because it was so big, it contributed to a feel of [...]

As Mr. Burns would say, “exxxxxxcccccccccellent”

As Mr. Burns from the Simpson’s would say, “Exxxxxccccccellent”. Check out this great New York times article. I’ll keep quiet and curate the best stuff for you. In a Digital Future, Textbooks Are History Textbooks have not gone the way of the scroll yet, but many educators say that it will not be long before [...]

I never saved anything for the swim back

This is embarrassing, but I have to admit a remarkably cheesy thing about myself. When you’re working on a somewhat crazy, new to the world idea, and your primary intention is to “make meaning” and to improve people’s lives, people doubt you a lot. “Why would I use that? That doesn’t make sense to me… [...]

Some fun photos from my latest Beijing trip

A spice fiend’s dream I traveled Korean airlines, and they gave these tubes of hot sauce for the Bibimbap. (Awww, snap) I tried to snag an extra one. I love spicy food. I might even be tempted to use it AS toothpaste… Perhaps its best I didn’t get one, huh? Neato, a Skype store at [...]

Bettr@ as the classroom of the future?

It’s funny that I just posted about the NYTimes being one of the few newspapers I read online. Especially when they have great content like this. Laptop? Check. Student Playlist? Check. Classroom of the Future? Check. …The program, conducted in a converted library, consists mainly of students working individually or in small groups on laptop [...]

Content is the new advertising

At Bettr@, we believe that content will be the new advertising. We hope we’re not martyrs on this one, because the current state of web browsing really sucks. Look around, and you’ll see that most of the stuff that’s out there is so irrelevant. I mean…it’s painstakingly obvious that we’re going to be adblind when [...]

Two cents on the New York Times

Mark Sigal, blogging over at O’Reilly radar has an interesting post about the breakdown of analog media business models, as does Fred Wilson (A VC), and Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch. I thought I’d add my few cents to the discussion. Mark hits pretty close to home as he discusses the New York Times, which [...]

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