Google GrandCentral

I've been using the GrandCentral BETA, recently acquired by Google, for a few days now, and I keep discovering new features that make life easier.

What you should know about GrandCentral:

1. It's a free personal phone operator that forwards incoming calls to the right number at any point depending on time (business hours or not), and the person calling.

2. You get a free, permanent, personal phone number that will never change, even when you change jobs, transfer to a new network, or move to a new state.

3. You get a unified voicemail inbox manageable online or through any phone, with virtually unlimited storage for your voice mails. Voice mails can be e-mailed, forwarded, replayed, downloaded, tagged, etc.

4. You can do cool stuff like recording calls, screening calls, listen in on voicemail messages being recorded, and switch from cell phone to home phone without losing the call.

5. You can customize your ring tone settings, voicemail settings, forwarding settings, to fit different groups like Friends, Family, Work, and Others.

6. You can protect yourself by blocking callers, sending certain callers to voicemail always, and marking unwanted sales callers as spam.

7. You can create a WebCall button, and have people call you directly from a web site without revealing your phone number.

My experience over the past few days has been very positive. The user interface is simple and very attractive. Everything seems to run very smoothly.

I can comment about a rather small sample of ringtones, less than complete control over forwarding rules (I would love to have more control over different forwarding times, etc), and the fact that there is no option yet to transfer your existing number over to GrandCentral.

Also, if someone calls who's not used to hearing ring tones other than the standard "ring ring", he may get confused by the different tones and hang up (that happened to me). It would be nice if I could have a short message always play before the tone, saying "GrandCentral is trying to reach the subscriber."

At this stage the service is in its exclusive BETA stage, which means you'll have to get an invitation from someone who already has an account to start using it immediately. However, you can reserve a GrandCentral number even without an invitation, as GrandCentral periodically releases more accounts as well as more invitations.

Despite these small improvements I'd still like to see, I think GrandCentral has done an extremely good job overall in making personal phone call management simultaneously powerful and friendly.

Minesweeper: The Movie

No Jerk Policy

A recent McKinsey Quarterly report argues that jerks in the workplace are more than a social problem. They "hinder recruiting and retention, raise levels of client churn, damage reputations, and diminish the confidence of investors."

Perhaps more importantly:

"Companies that harbor jerks may also suffer from reduced levels of creativity and innovation, as well as impaired or dysfunctional cooperation, within and outside the organization. That is no small matter in an increasingly networked world."

Amen to that!

Creationist WOM vs. Evolutionist WOM

This video discusses two approaches to Word of Mouth marketing. One that makes marketing extraordinary and have people talk about it, and one that makes products and experiences extraordinary, thus making people talk about the product:



As I see it, it's not really a matter of choosing between the two, so much as them being two different phases in a product life-cycle. There is no doubt that you should make the experience and the product as compelling in themselves as possible. There is also no doubt that if your product is extraordinary enough (such as Google and TiVo which are mentioned), very little marketing is required to get the buzz going.

But what if you're selling car insurance, like Geico? What if yours is a low margin, low innovation, high competition market - and you're trying to create awareness? Worse - what if you're literally in the fashion business, where you are actually selling image, perception, and style more than a measurable, easily communicated benefit?

That's where marketers wit, creativity, and style become major determinants of market success. It might not be the ideal business situation to be in, but let's remember that marketing executives can only realistically change so much about the products and experience, yet they are still hired to produce results. If, in that kind of situation, a marketer uses his wit and creativity to create enough buzz and affect the bottom line of his company, despite having little to rely on in terms of quantifiable benefits - all the more power to him!

China Announces Media Crackdown

Isn't it just lovely?

HONG KONG, Aug. 15 — China today disclosed a crackdown on “false news reports, unauthorized publications and bogus journalists,” two months before the opening of the politically sensitive Communist Party congress, which is held once every five years.

The crackdown, confirmed by the government’s official web site, comes after a television journalist was given a one-year prison sentence and a $130 fine on Sunday for allegedly fabricating a story about Beijing dumpling makers that were said to use cardboard as filler.

According to The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and the State Press and Publication Administration together warned that, “Those who intentionally fabricated news that caused public anxiety and tarnished the nation’s image would be harshly dealt with or even prosecuted if they broke the law.”

Governments never claim the right to suppress the truth. Only dangerous, vicious lies. Of course, oppressive governments do claim the right to decide for their subjects what constitutes the truth, and what constitutes dangerous, vicious lies.

Seize the Day!

If you're a freelancer, or work from home often like I do, you'll find these ten tips for making the most out of your day useful:

Ever have a day go by, or week go by, and wonder what you got done? And how the day went by so quickly without any real achievements?

We all have days like that, of course, but not every day has to be that way. Learn to make your days great, and get the most out of them, by applying a few simple tips.

(Source: Freelance Switch)

Get a (Second) Life!

Okay, so I had to try Second Life just to see what the buzz is about. I know people who were sucked into it and lost more and more of their real life (read: "RL") to this virtual one (read: "SL").

The experience was fascinating. While I don't see myself getting lost in this virtual reality world (my RL being too interesting), I can see the appeal of it, and understand better why people are so mesmerized by it.

People tend to be emotionally invested in the avatars they create. These are not just random characters, they represent the way they perceive themselves or wish they were. My avatar was taller, leaner, and green-eyed (I always liked green eyes). He also had better hair.

After seeing various islands and worlds through the eyes of this guy, I became quite attached to him. And in interacting with others (I met a girl from Spain, a girl from California, and a guy from Australia - all in a single city square), it was hard to differentiate myself from the avatar. After all, wasn't his appearance, so carefully selected by me, more me in a sense than the accidental genetic makeup dictating my RL appearance?

But I'm afraid that's exactly the kind of thinking that leads some very pasty teenagers into locking themselves in their room, spending more and more time in SL, and completely neglecting their actual bodies and actual life.

Bottom line, cute. Even potentially useful. But it can get ridiculous.

Fifty - Flat!

I just remembered this incident from a few months back:

A taxi driver took me home from the airport, for the agreed price of $50. When time came to charge my card, he said: "And the price will be fifty five..." waiting to hear my response.

ME: "We agreed on fifty."

TAXI DRIVER: "Yeah, that's what I said - fifty, flat!"
(Yeah, because FLAT and FIVE sound exactly the same!)

This tactic may sound ridiculous, but I bet the driver thought that the risk of ruining his reputation with me (whom he's unlikely to ever see again), is worth it for the chance that I may not notice, or not protest this 10% hike from the agreed price. If followed consistently, a certain percentage of passengers won't notice, which adds up to a nice little extra income.

Given the nature of his job, this might be quite a profitable, though morally questionable, tactic. What worries me is not so much that an airport taxi driver uses this tactic, but that I've seen many big, established corporations using very similar tactics - basically alienating 98% of their clients for the profits that the 2% stupidest clients may unwittingly bring in.

Basically, whenever a company tries to make you agree to something without you noticing it - by pretending that it's free, or by pretending you already agreed, or by bundling it together with what you actually want, and not telling you about it upfront - they are trying to pull the "fifty-flat" trick.