Flotsam Picnic

Plane Car VS Shark Boat- Vote!

seth — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:18:28 +0000

Read the this article about a new car that can also fly as a plane and watch this video about a new shark boat and then vote which you would rather own.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

If you are driven…

seth — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:40:28 +0000

If you are driven at all to push yourself, then you must listen to this fantastic RadioLab.org piece on limits- of human mind, body and knowledge.

$.99 ala carte TV vs ad revenue- does not compute

seth — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:43:36 +0000

Something doesn’t add up here for ads.

Let’s look at the simple math: current model for CPM based advertising on network TV is a $15-40 CPM with about 16×30 second ads shown (that’s 22 minutes of content and 8 minutes of ads, 6 national and 2 local).

If you take the top range of all of this $40CPMx16 ads you get $.64 of ad revenue. Content producers are now proposing to charge $.99 per episode to watch ala carte which is an almost 55% increase in the cost to the viewer (and a hard cash cost, not a soft time cost).

Granted content producers (and networks) also pick up revenue from cable and other providers as content fees which increases the $.64, and probably substantially, but at $.99 per episode, even with a hefty distribution cut to Apple or others this still just doesn’t seem like a good value for viewers, especially given then can already time shift the shows and skip all the ads effectively bringing their cost to pennies.

Consumers want on demand content, but at what price?

Additional posts:
Top Droid Apps | Nike+ vs Cardiotrainer accuracy

How to Compete with Groupon et all

seth — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:14:39 +0000

Groupon, Buy With Me, Living Social- they all have strong growing user bases and advertisers/merchants supplying them with offers. So how will the burgeoning set of upstarts compete with the big boys who have such a head of steam? Maybe they can’t if they try and go after them head on.

There are several ways to skin a cat. There is no supply side driven piece of the market, sure big players will draw in advertisers but where is the self serve for merchants? Building a simple bidded market for social shopping offers that is geo-centric would produce a steady stream of high quality offers with maximum user value. Allowing merchants to up their offer, lower their price or overall increase the value to consumers is a no brainier- let the best deals rise to the top. Plus it would allow for easy replication across all cities and towns with minimal sales overhead cost- that money would go to marketing to merchants, but once a city is established those costs can be taken out and applied to new markets.

The second part is to aggregate all the small and mid-sized sites and supply them with deals thus delivering huge volume for advertisers as well as a virtual sales team for sites. There is a reason online publishers use ad networks to supplement their sales. Social shopping should do the same. Roll up remnant inventory in the social shopping space: provide deals in cities not currently served by sites and augment existing cities with more/better deals. End of the day you’ve built a massive distribution engine as well as deal engine but with diversification- and maybe bigger than any single site.

Creating Photobooks

seth — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:45:22 +0000

Trying to figure out the best site/company/tool to print photobooks is brutal. Here’s a great summary review of the major photo book players in details, very helpful.

Unplugging WERS

seth — Fri, 28 May 2010 20:01:46 +0000

I’ve been a long time listener and supporter (financially) of WERS, Emerson College’s radio station. But I’m more or less done with them now. There are still a couple programs I will listen too on the weekends, but they’ve clearly made the decision to move away from more cutting edge and low play music to a more mainstream selection. Yes, they still play lots of new indie music, but increasingly I hear classic rock tunes and other cuts that make the mix- and not that it is the end of the world, but I no longer find the overall play list compelling. Oh well.

MGMT Congratulations

seth — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:07:07 +0000

Title track off of the new MGMT album Congratulations. Love it.

Life on Discovery

seth — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:36:49 +0000

Not sure how much I like the new Life series on Discovery. Planet Earth was epic, but somehow I can’t quite get into Life as much as I would like. We’ll see, only two episodes in.

Run Hunters: A Strategy for Distance Run Hunting

seth — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:45:03 +0000

I’ve been inspired by Born to Run, a great book by Christopher McDougall about ultra distance runners and the evolution of man. Setting aside for a moment whether or not one of the fundamental premises of the book is accurate or not (that man evolved for endurance running, not speed) there is a fantastic story about how humans can actually run an antelope to death. Summary: man can breathe faster and dissipate heat better than most mammals and therefore certain animals (antelope) can be chased until they collapse from exhaustion, despite being considerably faster in short spurts then humans. Apparently some of the Bushmen of the Kalahari in the most remote sections still (or recently use to) retain this ability and knowledge known as Persistence Hunting.

My humble suggestion: let’s give it a try- with the help of some modern technology. I suggest more than a hunt, almost and expedition. So, here is a proposed outline for a modern day “run hunt”:

1. Teamwork. I think for this to be effective (and fun) a decent sized group would be needed to chase and coral the target. Specifically as well we need a largish team to make sure we have enough of a quorum push to the “finish” at the end of what might be a very long hot run. Therefore, I also suggest a buddy system for the hunt whereby each runner runs with a buddy for company, support and fun.

2. Speed Requirements. I am guessing that the minimum fitness requirements for the run (more analysis to be done) is probably the ability to run 20 miles at 7:30-8ish minute miles over uneven trails/terrain. Item 3 below will help guide overall fitness requirements.

3. Deer Analysis. I assume that different deer are easier or harder quarry and some work should be done to figure out what the actual easiest animal would be to run down. As well terrain plays a role, it would be much better to be out in the open and on plains than in some dense forest or rocky gorge, so natural habitat will also weigh in. IF one wanted to actually run an antelope down (apparently antelope are only native to Africa) I suppose a stocked exotic ranch in Texas would be the place to go, though somehow I think the risk of getting shot seems high.

4. Location & Local Guide. Once a location and species have selected we need a local guide. Someone who can actually FIND the animal for us, knows the terrain etc. The local guide presumably will help guide the whole expedition toward success and can coordinate many of the logistics in advance. The guide could also take care of euthanizing the animal when it collapses and cleaning it.

5. Tagging & Target. Even with a local guide I doubt we could ever track a deer with the kind of accuracy and efficiency needed to run to actually succeed. So, I suggest a little bit of modern technology be employed. Once a target quarry is identified the guide will actually shoot it with a small GPS tracking device and possibly a dart/tag marker of some sort to make it easier to both quickly identify the quarry if he heads into a herd and also to find him should visual contact be lost for too long.

6. Backup Support. I suggest several ATVs trail the group at some moderate distance (1 mile?) and maintain contact with walkie talkies. The support team would haul gear for the crew including medical supplies, water, food, clothing etc. As well, They could bring tents, sleeping bags and cooking supplies to camp out after the hunt or at least provide some comfort. The support team would maintain contact with the group as well as monitor the GPS device and give guidance to the team. It could give a lift to stragglers and bring them back up with the pack if they fall back or need a rest and ensure that we don’t end up spread out over 10 miles.

7. Permits. Based on a very cursory review of a couple mid-western states it does not appear that a permit would be needed since we would not be “hunting” with: a firearm, archery or muzzleloader, though we probably would need to secure landowner permission and access for an area. It might also be beneficial to try and find an area either devoid of other hunters or even try and reserve an area if possible in advance.

Perhaps I’m crazy, but this seems not only doable, but like a totally fun activity. If you like to run, love adventure and had a good group, what a great way to spend a couple days.

Fantastic new chrome extension: extension.fm

seth — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:07:13 +0000

I’m a huge convert to chrome with the extension.fm extension. As you surf the web it allows you grab all the audio mp3 tracks from a site and add them to your “library”. It doesn’t download them, just builds an itunes style directory of them for you at extension.fm so you can at any time browse the music and play by site, artist etc. It is a phenomenal music experience to keep track of and play music from sites you visit.