Tasting Room - Wine buying that makes sense

We've all done it before. You're in Napa or Sonoma and caught up in the moment at the splendor and general awesome of the vinyard or winery you're visiting. And after the tasting from that very knowledgeable foreign-born, lovely-accented wine guide, you join the club.

Two months later boxes of wine bottles are being dropped off at your desk or in front of your home and...

• you're not in the mood, or
• the bottles are fancy and you want to save them, or
• this stuff is good but the season's changed and you want something different.
• You realise that you don't really know what you like, but its certainly not whatever their sending you

The list goes on and on. 

That's why Tasting Room makes sense. 

They ask you questions and send you stuff based on those preferences. They're not locked int one winery or set of vineyards. They give you discounts based on your willingness to participate and that leaves you feeling pretty good.

In an age where everything's becoming ore data driven while at the same time people are craving more and more products that feel less mass produced, Tasting Room is using the available tech, a friendly attitude and some nice choices to engage users in what's often an intimidating experience-- choosing wine. What I like most? 

I don't have to be a wine expert-- I just have to be an expert on what I like.

iMedia: Marketing jargon translated for normal people

While I really dislike nearly all corporate lingo, (AKA Corporatese), tech and the ad world are changing so fast you cant help but speak in neologisms.

This article's not bad at teasing out real meaning from the knots of adlife.

They are missing one of my favorites though. Meme-jacking is a lot like news-jacking, but if done right, it's a lot more fun for your audience.

This Weekend Give Russell Brand a Chance

He's bright. Political, spiritual and free of his old persona (the rock star uber-drunk image). 

Here's Brand promoting his tour and making fun of MSNBC

http://www.break.com/video/russell-brand-mocking-msnbc-2464665

And here he is speaking to  BBC reporter on current political power systems and why he believes they don't work for many.

http://youtu.be/3YR4CseY9pk

It's not that I agree with him on all counts. It's that he makes compelling and entertaining arguments. 

--

Sent from my iPhone

Nothing Says Zeitgeist Like PBS Portrayed on the Cover of the New Yorker

Apple and e-books: what's the big deal?

Breakdown of the Apple e-book anti-trust suit: This is basically all you need know:

Rather than a retail book selling model, where retailers pay a wholesale cost and set prices on their own, Apple was convinced to adopt an agency model, where publishers set the price and where the distributor, Apple, takes a percentage. You've seen this with the 30% iTunes Store and App Store. The problem for Apple then, is Amazon's book prices, which stayed at $9.99 despite the publishers using the agency model to sell the same books through Apple for $14.99 and up. For obvious reasons, Apple didn't want to be undercut. Now to the verbatim quote:

http://tidbits.com/article/13912

An open question is why Apple was so interested in eliminating price competition. There’s some indication that Apple didn’t want to compete with Amazon’s loss-leader strategy, but Apple’s cash hoard would certainly have enabled it to win a price war with Amazon, which doesn’t have nearly Apple’s resources.

How this is an antitrust violation?

Again, there is nothing inherently illegal with the agency model, price caps, or an MFN clause. And there isn’t even anything wrong with combining them in negotiation with a single company. The problem comes when they’re combined in negotiation with six publishers that between them control nearly 50 percent of the book market, and over 90 percent of the New York Times bestsellers.

TidBITS: Explaining the Apple Ebook Price Fixing Suit

http://tidbits.com/article/13912                     

Frontier's New Policy

Frontier putting the smack down on Carry Ons:

Carry-on Baggage
In response to customer complaints that finding overhead bin space for carry-on bags has become increasingly difficult, we will be introducing a fee for carry-on bags for customers who buy Basic fares through third-party websites starting this summer. All customers who purchase tickets directly qonFlyFrontier.com will continue to receive a free carry-on bag in the overhead bin. All Basic fare tickets booked before this policy change takes effect, which will be announced at a later date, will not incur a carry-on fee regardless of travel date.

Making The Case for Tesla

Steven Johnson has something to say about the car company that's focused on changing it all. Forgive me-- not the car company-- the tech company. It just happens to make cars.

The thing is, he's right. When you look at Tesla as a tech company rather than an auto company they come across as far more than a curiosity-- they begin to look like disruption incarnate. Here are the deets from Johnson's article at Medium.com:

https://medium.com/the-tesla-collection-1/e36e6e21b2c

"The Model T introduced in 1908 got roughly 25 miles to the gallon of gasoline. One hundred years later, the average new American vehicle got 20.8 MPG. Where fuel efficiency is concerned, we managed to go backwards over that century. The automobile business simply hasn’t had to confront radical innovation (or it has deliberately suppressed it.) And so the old model continues, unchallenged."

So here's what we know of Tesla's Model S:
90 miles to the gallon.
0-60 in under 5 seconds
Seats 7
Turns on a dime.

When I was a kid, they said that we would have flying cars by The Year 2000. With Musk at the wheel, that dream may only be about 15 years away.