Some cool fashion online store images:
Bezos’ Iconic Laugh
Image by jurvetson
From the ENCORE awards, where I enjoyed dinner with Bezos….
I’ll start with my favorite dialog of the evening:
Q: What makes you lose sleep at night?
“I happen to sleep very well at night, but I tell our investors that should not be a signal of solace. I mainly worry about details, like the in-stock levels for this Holiday season. The big issue for me is How do we maintain our culture as we continue to grow? I see a big company in our neighborhood losing its culture, and the people are mystified by it.
Executives value social cohesion more than truth. From our evolution, I don’t think we are truth-seeking animals but social cohesion animals. In the primitive tribe, it can be dangerous to be right. Jealous others may kill you in the night. It is easier to propagate your genes if you are easy to get along with. But when you are under attack, and survival is at stake, then people prefer the truth.”
“If forced to choose between a retailer and a tech company, I’d say we are a tech company. We like to invent and think long term.”
“AWS and Kindle are like bookends on our strategy. AWS takes our skill set moving forward. Kindle takes customer needs backward. And that is much scarier. We have to learn new skills, like how to build a hardware device. Kindle was three years in development. We hired smart people to help us, but you also need what I call an ‘institutional skill’ to make it gel.”
“There are so many institutional no’s. I ask why not? For our roadmap conversations each year, we have three filters: it is differentiated, with a good ROIC, and the scale is large. It doesn’t have to work though. But if it does, will it meet the three criteria.”
Q: What impact will the iPad have?
“People often think about the Kindle when asking that question, but I think about our B of retail sales. Window shopping laying on the sofa is easier on the iPad than a laptop. As I think about people laying down on the sofa and shopping, I may hyperventilate. I think people are going to have a lot of screens. They will be lightweight and thin. When you travel, you will bring them all. When you go on a date, you’ll just bring the smart phone… or you won’t have a second date!”
Q: How is China going?
“The metrics are improving, such as customer contacts per unit sold. Each country is different. We ship using bicycles and take cash on delivery with portable counterfeit detection machines.
Jack Ma told me ‘Why do so many U.S. companies fail in China? The Chinese country manager is trying to keep the U.S. boss happy not the Chinese customers happy.’ So when I go to China, I always ask who is happy, and I am told “yes, yes, not you. The Chinese customer.”
Q: Did you ever think you would be this successful?
“B is crazy. It took a lot of luck in scaling. In 1997-98, we thought we might become worth B, and maybe B if we had enough beer.
I remember during our quiet period, B&N sued us and then announced that they were going to hold a press event announcing their online store. All this during our IPO quiet period when they knew we couldn’t respond. So I thought we should attend their event all dressed as mimes. We would be quiet, but our presence would remind people about us. Well, just about everyone tried to talk me out of it. Even if you have not had a drink for a year, if five people say you’re drunk, you still should lie down.”
Tag Game: Last Doll 2012
Image by Hegemony77 doll clothes
Feel free to tag yourself!
What was your last doll for 2012? The doll may have arrived Dec.31. He/she may have been a clearance bargain at your local store.
You may have bought the doll in May; and then not another doll for all of 2012 in which case we are all jealous of your willpower! :)
Perhaps he/she is an Xmas gift; but whatever the case this was you FINAL DOLL PURCHASE OF 2012!
My last doll in 2012:
10th Anniversary Veronique Perrin FR2 Forever Doll
You can see my unboxing video with her:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPA3e3fnVzY
I brought her online on 11-22-2012 directly from integritytoys.com with
USPS Express Mail International delivery method (this features
delivery in 3 to 5 business days "for many major markets") and she arrived on 12-21-2012 :D
Image by dbking
my.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/first-web-reporter-cover-white-...
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Newspapers Sell Like Hotcakes as People Seek Mementos
By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 6, 2008
In this Twittering, podcasting digital age, the morning after America's presidential election found thousands of people clamoring for something more old-fashioned and tangible: extra copies of the morning paper.
"You can't put a computer screen into a scrapbook," said Joyce Mutcherson-Ridley, 56, an office manager who came to The Washington Post's 15th Street NW headquarters only to learn that the paper's first printing, reporting the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first black president, had sold out by 11 a.m.
The scenario was repeated from coast to coast as newspapers found themselves scrambling to meet unparalleled demand. Some newsstands were cleaned out before dawn. A few papers made it onto eBay (as much as 0 a copy, with the bidding still going) or Craigslist (, "still in plastic bag"). And some were rolled out in additional batches all day, sold to folks in lines that snaked down blocks and around buildings.
People who stayed up late, bleary-eyed from television or online page clicking, woke up needing something to touch. They sought physical proof that it wasn't all just a dream from a computer monitor's blue glow.
"You can't show your children your BlackBerry or your computer screen," said Merwyn Scott, 39, a lobbyist who carefully covered his newspapers in plastic wrap against the drizzle after waiting in line outside The Post for more than an hour. "In 30 years, my children will be able to touch and feel these papers when I tell them all about this historic day."
The Post printed 30 percent more copies for single sales but sold out within hours. An additional 350,000 commemorative edition copies were to be available at local retailers yesterday evening and today, said David Dadisman, vice president of circulation. Copies, as well as framed front pages, will be available at The Post's online store.
Similar scenes played out across the country as people tried to get their own little piece of history.
Papers sold out in Atlanta, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Detroit, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles, among other cities. Some newspapers sold extra editions on the streets or special commemorative copies online. Others began offering front pages laminated or mounted on marble or wood.
The Los Angeles Times ran 40,000 extra copies, sold them all and began printing a second run of 30,000. The New York Times printed 50,000 extra copies; the Chicago Tribune, an extra 200,000. In Atlanta, the newspapers set up tables on the street to sell three extra printings: 40,000, then 60,000 and then a last run of 50,000.
Many were willing to pay almost any price to get a copy without having to stand in line. One man said someone on a bus offered him for his Post. A man stood at 17th and L streets last night selling copies of The Post for , shouting, "Barack makes history!"
At The Post, circulation officials finally closed the office doors and posted a sign saying, "SOLD OUT."
"I wanted a copy for my kids. I have a newborn son who won't remember this, but I want him to know about the history that was made here, how important this is for us as African Americans," said Samantha Crawford, 35. "I want him to hold the paper in his hand and read about it someday."
Michael Meeks, 57, stood in a long line at a newsstand in Chicago.
"I'm buying as many newspapers as I can find so I can have a little piece of [Tuesday] night to keep with me forever," said Meeks, a communications consultant from Chicago's South Side. "Every decade or so, something happens so historic that you want to be able to say, 'I was there. I was alive.' "
Staff writers Eli Saslow and Lena H. Sun contributed to this report
