On Tuesday Bloomberg financial newswire decided to update their 17-page obituary for Steve Jobs, and in the process they accidentally published it. Ooops. Some investors were shaken after having seen the obit cross the wires and then immediately disappear.

Investors had reason to be concerned as well, considering Jobs' battle with pancreatic cancer and recent speculation over his health. The obituary contained nothing that would indicate that Bloomberg has any new information on Steve Jobs' health, but will undoubtedly fuel further speculation.

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Thanks to Janko for pointing this one out. Rep. Tim Ryan and Youngstown State University have teamed up to create a program that encourages "YSU Alumni business owners, company decision makers" and entrepreneurs to stay in step with what resources the area has to offer them in growing their business.

Starting off at the Grow Home Web page, www.ysugrowhome.com, YSU alumni can link to the Regional Chamber’s economic development database at www.regionalchamber.com/economicdevelopment.asp to find details about state and regional business incentives available in the Mahoning Valley.

The site also includes demographics data, information on the region’s technology companies and programs, its labor force, educational resources, available commercial and industrial sites, infrastructure and telecommunications.

Great idea! It's these small steps and these small business that will indeed grow Youngstown now and in the future. We may get lucky someday and land a corporate headquarters, but if we cross our fingers and wait for that, we'll starve in the meantime. Keep up the great work, Tim and YSU!

Today I signed up for ProQuo.com an online service that allows you to put a stop to credit card offers, junk mail and unwanted catalogs.  Its like a dream come true, if only it also had a STOP BILLS feature than it would truly be flawless. It is super easy and user friendly.  Just register (standard [...]

Nina Frye had an idea one day to create an ecommerce store (LTDChix.com).

The problem was, she was a mom who had never done it before and had zero idea how to get it done. Fast forward now to years later and now Nina has a fully-functional, successful store. So, how did she get there? What lessons did she learn along the way?

If you’ve ever thought about starting up your own online store, you MUST listen to this podcast of me talking to LTDChix.com. Nina gives all of her lessons and advice on how she got started, as well as mistakes made and tips. She dishes it all. GREAT interview and you will learn a lot. Please leave feedback in the comments.

Here are the show notes:

The story of how we got started. Moms overwhelmed!
Target a niche!
How did you start the site? Steep learning curve.
Worked with Score. Did a test market first. Found local place to print, spent $2500. Took to a local fair and test marketed to moms. Sold out!
Sent out press release to local newspaper. Simple news release.
Signed up to mom blogs and pitched them. Giveaways work! 2 or 3 or month.
It’s expensive to run a website. Find a good local web guy/gal who you can trust.
Startupnation.com helped a lot. Gave me media lists, help me find a pr person. Got on MSN.com through contest.
Go to retail stores. Promote that on your site. Cold call them. Looked to see where your competitors are, and called the stores they are at one by one.
Setup a wholesale price. Setup a sales sheet, not your website, an order sheet they can fill out and send back.
Use coupon codes. Make shopping cart easy to buy. Use authorize.net for merchant account.
Google Adwords and converting at 60% sometimes.
Learned how to be an ecommerce expert by reading.
Cafepress.com is a great place to try out custom artwork sales.
Going to license artwork for overseas sales. Mom humor on all kinds of products.
We went to show in NYC and found licensing companies to approach. Pitched them. Got a lot of no’s.
What would you do differently now two years later? Spent too much doing website the wrong way first time.
We copyrighted the images using us trademark government.

Better for you? Not really. Better for the environment? Maybe, maybe not, since you would have to balance the increased acreage requirements of organics against the costs of the fertilizers and pesticides used to boost yields in traditional methods.

But organics certainly cost more, probably related to the poorer productivity of organic farms, combined with the need to market organics as an upscale / quality good.

I heard it at the post office - what can I tell you? Fannie, Bernie, Isaac, Vince, Pervez.  World gone mad. From the Plain Dealer:

Cleveland contractor Vincent Carbone pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy and money laundering for paying more than $200,000 in bribes in 1999 to get work on the Lorain County Justice Center.

Carbone will serve six months in prison and cooperate in the corruption case against former Lorain County Commissioner Michael Ross under the terms of the plea agreement. Charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and bribery against Carbone were dropped, said Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will and Roger Synenberg, Carbone’s lawyer.

“It was one horrible mistake in judgment in an otherwise exemplary life,” Synenberg said.

Carbone had worked for his grandfather’s company, R.P. Carbone Construction, since high school but is no longer involved with the company, Synenberg said.

No charges will be brought against the company, which has done numerous projects in Northeast Ohio, according to the plea agreement.

Carbone, 56, of Pepper Pike, resigned Monday from the Orange school board, Synenberg said.

As of July 2nd this year, I am no longer employed by General Electric. Also, I am also no longer a mechanical engineer.

What have I been doing with myself?

I have been voraciously developing the best fantasy football software website on the internet.

Fantasy Football Calculator is now hosting 1,500 live mock drafts every day. I’ve also launched three new products within the past two months: the Lineup Calculator, Draft Calculator, and Draft Simulator.

To keep up with the high traffic volume during the NFL pre-season, I’ve had to scale the site from one server to four. That process wasn’t fun, but the site is now running smoothly even during peak hours.

I’ve also started a blog on that site, which is another reason I’ve been neglecting this one. I’m going to start posting here again because I do have non-fantasy football related thoughts now and then.

American Airlines has, until now, waived the $15 first checked bag fee and the $25 second fee, but not the $100 third checked bagged fee. They explained that they had "always understood that soldiers traveling on duty were reimbursed by the military for the fees on required excess baggage." After numerous complaints from soldiers traveling, American Airlines has caved, and will no longer charge soldiers en route to training or deployment for their third checked bag.

American Airlines issued a press release stating, "The choice for us to forgo payment for a third checked bag from the Department of Defense was clear."

Military personnel are supposed to receive vouchers and reimbursement for any baggage fees they incur, but this wasn't always happening.

American Airlines explained the new policy:

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If only it were so. As noted here, ExxonMobil’s performance can only be described as somewhere between “middling” and “disappointing”.

Interesting that conservatives are always being bashed by progressives as lacking in nuance, unable to understand context, seeing things in black & white, blah, blah, blah.

But waive a simple concept like “earnings per share”, or “profit margin” in front of them, and you might as well be trying to explain calculus to someone whose math is what he can count on his fingers and toes.

A well placed source confirms that Allegiant Medical Equipment, of 737 Broadway Ave. in Lorain, has been purchased by Cornerstone Medical Services in Akron and will be vacating its Lorain offices this month. With approximately $1.3 Million (US) in sales, Allegiant is a growing company and was expanding into the sleep apnea market.

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Demonstrating an on-going commitment to Northeast Ohio, Dollar Bank is opening its new Ohio headquarters in Cleveland on Tuesday, August 12. The new, two-story glass-enclosed facility is located in the Galleria at Erieview, at East Ninth and St. Clair.

The new structure measures 21,000 sq. ft., which brings the bank's total structure up to 50,000 sq. ft. The new area includes the headquarters branch, a Private Banking Center, a training facility, and retail operational support.

Dollar Bank, the largest independent mutual bank in the US, operates 24 branches and two loan centers in the Cleveland metro area. In the past year, the Pittsburg-based company has opened new three facilities in the area, with the most recent being in the historic Park Building on Public Square.

Dollar Bank employs more than 300 people in the region, and has deposits of nearly $1.5 billion.

Andrew Devonshire, president of Dollar Bank Ohio, said: "Our expanding presence demonstrates our ongoing commitment to Cleveland and northeastern Ohio. We have great confidence in the future economic vitality of this region."

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And a major contributor will be “Ohioans for Healthy Families”.

Perhaps a more adequate moniker for the group would be “Ohioans Seeking to Kill of Small Business Growth”, because that’s the likely upshot of their proposal to mandate 7 paid sick days for workers in companies of more than 25 employees.

As for Governor Strickland, it’s too late to avoid further tarnishing Ohio with the “Ohio Hates Business” label – if this gets on the ballot and passes, or if there’s some compromise that accomplishes the same thing, costs of employing workers in Ohio will increase.

Employer mandated benefits are not free. Mandated sick days will potentially increase costs to employers for additional staff, lost work, additional training, and lower productivity. Most employers simply do not have the profits to be able to absorb the ever increasing burden of regulation without increasing prices, cutting costs, or both.

Especially in the face of an economy who’s performance can either be described as “mixed” to “recession” to “Worst Since 1929”, depending on your political leanings this fall.

The unions funding this are certainly going to get their money’s worth – there’s nothing they hate more than small business since they are a) tough to organize; b) the owner is typically involved in management, so managers aren’t giving away someone else’s money; and c) generally don’t have the margins or the market clout to pay the extorted union scale.

You can no more repeal the laws of economics than you can the laws of physics. And one of those laws has a particularly vicious and hidden impact in cases like these. As noted earlier, it’s time to meet Mr. Marginal Cost, and his cousin, Mr. Barrier to Entry:

“The most obvious consequence is the cost associated with hiring the 26th employee. Consider: Employees 1 through 25 have no mandated sick days. Let’s say the business has a 5 day per year policy. Once employee number 26 comes on, the business is now forced to pay for 182 sick days (26 * 7), and increase from the prior cost of 130 days (26 * 5). That’s an increase of 52 days, or 40%.

Let’s say that the business already provides for 10 holiday days (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Labor day, etc.), and 2 weeks of vacation. On an average year, that leaves 240 working days (52 * 5 = 260 – 10 (holiday) – 10 (vacation) = 240).

Hiring the additional worker now only generates roughly 60 - 65% of an additional worker-year. The business is now paying full time wages and fringes for a slightly over half time employee. That one new worker comes with a pretty steep cost curve. Consequently, they won’t be hired, or the employment mix will change to use more part time and less full time help.

Conversely, if your business employs slightly more than 26 – say 30 or so – there’s an immediate incentive to layoff those workers to get below the 26 employee threshold.

So, small businesses will be provided with extremely steep costs associated with growth. From the “big” business perspective, that’s a plus for this legislation, since it means less competition. And there’s nothing business hates more than competition (well, they do like it when their suppliers have to compete, not so much when they have to compete for customers).

From the union perspective, this has advantages as well. Smaller companies are tougher to organize – mostly because they’re small, and there are significant fixed costs associated with an organizing campaign. Additionally, with smaller companies, the ownership usually has a stronger management interest, and is more sensitive to the long run corrosive impact of unionization. Ownership and management is also usually much closer to the employee at small firms. Where everyone knows everyone else, it’s easier (at least theoretically) to manage discontent before it builds to the ‘let’s get a union’ stage. So the union interest is often synonymous with big business – keep out the competition, have only a few entities to negotiate with, and protect your share.

Hmmm, state enforced high marginal cost per employee… leads to less employment… leads to increased union agitation for more intervention… leads to another round of lower employment.Sure sounds like a recipe for a healthy economy.”

A mystery Russian billionaire has outspent the richest of the rich, breaking a world record in splashing out $748 million on one of the most gorgeous villas on the French Riviera. The final sale price of the Villa Leopold, a Belle Époque mansion on the heights of Villefrance, has amazed real estate agents. On the otherhand, locals worry about the invasion of Russian money on the Côte d'Azur, and wonder if it is getting out of hand.

Russian oligarchs have been funnelling in money, and snapping up seaside properites at Cap Ferrat, Cap d'Antibes, Saint-Tropez and other playgrounds along the Riveria since the early 1990's. But none have come even close to what the unnamed Russian billionaire just paid for the Villa Leopold.

The mystery Russian just closed the deal with Lily Safra, widow of Edmond Safra, a Lebanese banker killed by an arsonist's fire in Switzerland in 2003. Safra is said to have held out for months as the buyer raised his bid for the villa.

Villa Leopold, located between Nice and Monaco, was acquired by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1902.

found through treehugger.com a2a_linkname="just sayin’ is all"; a2a_linkurl="http://gogreen.roomservicecleveland.com/?p=33"; a2a_show_title=1;

A new study of civil lawsuits shows that the majority of the plaintiffs who decided to pass on a setttlement offer and ended up going to trial got less money than if they had taken the offer.

According to the study, defendants made the wrong decision far less often, in just 24% of cases. Plaintiffs let greed get the best of them and made the wrong choice in 61% of cases. In only 15% of cases, both sides were right to go to trial, which means that the defendant paid less than the plaintiff wanted, but the plaintiff got more than the defendant offered.

A large majority of cases, estimated at 80 to 92%, do settle before heading to trial. But according to Randall L. Kiser, co-author of the study and a principal analyst at DecisionSet, a consulting firm that advises clients on litigation decisions, there's no way to know how either side in those cases might have fared at trial.

The study looked at 2,054 cases that went to trial from 2002 to 2005, and will published in the September issue of the Journal of Emperical Legal Studies.

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Having failed to comply with a new law aimed at "raising the standards" of the mortgage lending industry, 40% of Indiana's mortgage brokers have lost their licenses. Ouch.

The new law requires mortgage brokerages to "name a principal broker with at least three years experience who has passed a state exam and will oversee his company's business affairs." It sounds reasonable enough, but was quite a drastic change from the low entrance barrier that was previously in place in the Indiana mortgage industry.

Mike Monaco, president of the Indiana Association of Mortgage Brokers said: "Make no mistake about it, we had one of the easiest entrance barriers in the country." Furthermore, the states formerly low standards was amongst the factors which lead Indiana to consistently have one off the 10 highest foreclosure rates in the country. Monaco also said that many of the brokers who lost their licenses had likely already left the business due to the downturn of the housing industry.

Taking into account the 143 brokerages who voluntarily gave up their licenses, the total number of mortgage brokerages in the state of Indiana has been halved since July 1st.

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In the continuing evolution of business and collaborative developments with Hungary (our "Building Bridges" series), the latest unfolding chapter in the stream of opportunities is reflected below. Our thanks again to Istvan Toth for his vigilance in pursuing these, and...

The fate of the $1 double cheeseburger at McDonalds' is in peril due to the rising costs of food. Just over a week ago, Mickey D's COO Ralph Alvarez revealed that changes were in store for the dollar menu, and in particular the double cheeseburger.

At the time Alvarez revealed that they were doing tests in some markets with an increased price slapped on the double cheeseburger. Today, however, Don Thompson, president of McDonald's U.S. business, told the Wall Street Journal that they are testing out some other options as well:

Some restaurants are selling it with one slice of cheese instead of two, and billing it as a "double hamburger with cheese." Others are offering a double hamburger without cheese. Some are selling the traditional double cheeseburger at prices ranging from $1.09 to $1.19.

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Or so says the Sunday Business Post. Essentially, Branson stands accused of making a large environmental pledge (1.9 billion euros over 10 years), but then using that money to develop his biofuels business.

How this differs from normal environmentalist rent seeking isn’t immediately clear, since most of this legislation seems designed to steer money to the politically connected at the expense of the rest of us.

Or, for that matter, Al Gore’s venture capital business? Kinda puts Al in a position to get on the inside track to make big piles of money once the Congress gets serious about prosperity proofing the economy through endless miles of “green” regulations, mandates, and subsidies.

Branson may be a hypocrite, but he’s hardly alone in the green arena.

Norwalk Furniture has resumed full operations today as the 106 year old company's assets were purchased by IRG Capital Group with the backing of Blackbird Capital. This comes just two weeks after the historic company was in peril and looked like it may have shuttered its doors forever.

Governor Ted Strickland and Lt. Governor put together an emergency $2 Million low interest loan from the state that helped keep the company in business. The company was also aided by city of Fulton, Mississippi, and the Mississippi county of Itawamba.

"Lt. Gov. Fisher, the Ohio Department of Development, the city of Fulton, Mississippi, and the Mississippi county of Itawamba were all instrumental in making this work for investors, while preserving the company's long-term future," Domenic Aversa, acting CEO of the company said. "The unions and all our employees were very supportive throughout this difficult transition."

"We are happy to offer assistance and to help facilitate a public-private partnership that will enable Norwalk Furniture to remain a strong business now and in the future," said Lt. Governor Fisher, who also serves as Director of the Ohio Department of Development. "We are committed to their success."

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The junior rabbi in my synagogue wrote the following column in this month’s newsletter (for my synagogue) that very clearly states why the behavior of Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking facility in Iowa, is so, to be blunt, not only unkosher but actually sinful.

Then, today, the senior rabbi’s sermon explicitly called for a boycott of Agriprocessor products.  It was one of the most ardent, forceful, blunt, actitivist and political sermons I think I’ve ever heard from him in the seven or so years we’ve been at this synagogue.

Here’s an article from Boston.com that explains more of what’s going on:

The raid on Agriprocessors’ Iowa plant has sparked debate in the Jewish community about the role of ethical considerations in the production of kosher food and sets the backdrop against which the moderate Conservative movement will issue guidelines Thursday for an ambitious new “hekhsher tzedek,” Hebrew for “certificate of righteousness.” The additional stamp would identify producers of kosher foods that meet its standards regarding working conditions, treatment of animals, and the environment.

In rolling out the new certification, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly, two national umbrella organizations, join a wave of socially conscious buying that has led many consumers to seek fair-trade coffee and sneakers not made by children.

To Conservative Jewish leaders, the new certification symbolizes the embrace of tradition and modern social concerns that defines the denomination.

“Hekhsher tzedek reminds us that kosher is not just about rituals,” said Rabbi Barry Starr of Temple Israel in Sharon, where Cetlin is a member. “That’s a very powerful niche for the Conservative movement.”

My synagogue will be posting the guidelines that were issued on Thursday, but you can also find them at the Hekhsher Tzedek site and, in particular, that site’s blog.

These actions are not of little consequence to the individuals and families and institutions that keep kosher (which I don’t) but also to those of us who expect our religion and its leaders to maintaint the highest standards.

I’m proud of my rabbi’s stand behind the boycott, but as someone who doesn’t keep kosher, I can’t say how powerful that really is.

I'm willing to bet then when you sit there happily munching on a bag of potato chips, the last thing you think you're ingesting is a cancer-causing agent. Unfortunately, potato chips manufactured by many of the major food companies contain carcinogens. On the brighter side, they've now agreed to a settlement and will begin using less.

Four major potato chip makers - Frito-Lay, Heinz, Lance Inc., and Kettle Foods - have agreed to use less of the carcinogen Arcylamide. They will also pay a $3 million fine for ignoring state laws that require companies to put warning labels on food products with carcinogens.

The chemical arcylamide naturally forms when starchy foods are baked or fried, and studies have shown that it causes cancer in lab animals and nerve damage to workers that are exposed to it in high levels. The FDA is currently researching whether or not acrylamide in food is a health risk.

Not included in the settlement is Pringles because they are not considered potato chips. Proctor & Gamble, McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and KFC agreed to "properly label their products or lower levels of the chemical" back in 2005.

And other economic silliness from Senator Obama.

So, Obama’s solution to energy costs is to:

a) discourage production by penalizing oil companies and their shareholders
b) encourage energy use by subsidizing consumption
c) promising a massive public works program to further waste the taxpayer’s money
d) all of the above

Of course, it’s all of the above.

On the Exxon Mobil “windfall profits” front, keep in mind that for all of the wailing about a quarterly profit of $11.7 billion, that’s on sales of $138 billion. And a pretty anemic $2.22 per share.

Just to simplify, that’s only 8.4 cents of after tax profit per dollar of sales.

Google, on the other hand, made only $1.25 billion on revenue of $5.37 billion in sales. That’s a return of 23.3 cents on each dollar of sales. If you look at just Google’s after revenue split with advertisers, the return jumps to 32.1.

We anxiously await word of the Lightworker’s proposed internet advertising windfall profits tax.

So, we’re going to get busy and hamper energy production. That will help prices. Go up. But Sen. Obama is already on record as supporting higher gas prices, assuming that that position hasn’t passed its ‘sell by’ date.

Providing energy price subsidies can only be a bad thing. Among others it encourages waste. People who have to pay for the full price of gasoline are more likely to conserve it that people who have the government using tax money to pay for some of their consumption.

Another is that it encourages further dependence on government. But in the progressive world, that’s a feature, not a bug.

Still no word on what the Senator might condescend to do to encourage energy production. Apparently looking for more oil or building additional nuclear plants are out of the question. About the only thing he’s suggested is throwing tax dollars at politically connected solar and wind power companies. And increasing your taxes, but that’s another story

Cleveland Browns legendary running back Jim Brown is fuming mad at Sony and Electronic Arts. The NFL great is suing the pair for using his likeness in the video game John Madden Football 2009. Sony helps distribute the game while EA Sports is the maker of the popular franchise

Brown's name is not used in the games, which are not mentioned by name in the suit, but it is clear to fans of the sport who the person is suppose to be that wears "#32" on the All Time Greatest Browns roster.

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H. Freedlander Co., the oldest independently owned downtown department store in the country located in Wooster, Ohio, announced this week that they be closing their doors at the start of 2009. Stanley Gault, the store's owner, said that the store was ceasing business after the holiday shopping season because there is not enough consumer demand to keep it in operation.

Freedlanders was founded in 1884 by David Freedlander, who established a general merchandise store known as Buffalo One Price Clothing Store. When David died in 1898, his son Herman took over managing the store for the next 76 years, and Herman's son Harold took over after his in 1974. In 1990 the store was bought by a group of local investors who ran the store until Gault purchased it in 1999.

Gault said that in more recent years, more than half of the store's business came from out-of-towners. Harold Freedlander too must have seen the decline, because it is also said that he had planned to close and liquidate the store, which is why the group of investors had bought it in 1990. Gault purchased it hoping to keep such an iconic, historic place alive, and to save the jobs of its employees.

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I will be the first to admit that I am an Apple addict.  It is probably an unhealthy obsession at some times, just ask my wife.  In other words, I am a typical Apple customer.  I own more Apple gear than most high schools (but less than Al Gore).  My MacPro, MacBook Pro and iPhone make me especially happy and productive.

However, I cannot quite understand how a company like Apple, who can successfully focus so much time and energy on the User Experience, can fail so miserably at servicing their customers.

The Desktop Replacement

3 years ago I bought a 17″ Powerbook G4 from CompUSA.  At the time, it was a top of the line laptop.  I was using it as a desktop replacement with a 24″ cinema display and took it with me when I traveled.  It was a great laptop and served me well for quite a while.

In late-2006 the DVI-out connection died on me.  I probably could have had it serviced under warranty, but decided to instead purchase a MacPro desktop and make the move to an Intel Based mac.  The laptop still made it’s way with me on a few vacations and trips home to New Jersey.

My purchase of the MacPro was my first negative experience with Apple.  It was when I first learned that the Apple store only stocks a few select items with any real volume.

If you want an iPod, great, they have 10,000 of those in stock, but if you want any kind of professional grade Mac, you will end up walking out empty handed.  In fact, I worked with a salesperson to pick out the machine I wanted.  He went into the stock room and reserved one for me.  I looked around for about 15 more minutes for accessories and then went to checkout.

Long story short, they sold the MacPro I had reserved out from underneath me.  The lady at checkout told me that they don’t take reservations and that everything is sold “first come, first serve.”

We proceeded to order one online for delivery, but they were expected to ship within 40 days, so I nix’d that idea.  I went to my local Guitar Center and walked out with one that day.

The Laptop Servicing

A few months ago my old trusty Powerbook started to suffer fundamental problems.  The fans died, the screen was flickering and it became unbearably hot.  Now, I’m overdue for a new laptop - this ones almost 3 years old - but it was still under my 3 year full service warranty.  I took it to see a “Mac Genius,” who told me the grave news.  The logic board (Apple’s mother board) was dying.  The fans were not working and it was overheating something fierce.  On top of that, we speculated that the display cabling was bad too, which was causing the screen flicker.

He was happy to send it out for a full repair, with instructions to replace the logic board, reset the display mount and check for other defects.  It was gone for 2 weeks.

When it returned, there was a note in the box which told me that the problems I was having were related to a bad RAM chip as opposed to the logic board problem.  (A faulty RAM chip could in fact cause these problems)  So, instead of replacing the logic board and checking the display, they simply removed the faulty chip and sent it back to me.  Note:  The faulty RAM chip was the factory installed RAM chip, not my cheap Best-Buy add-on RAM.  They did not even replace the faulty part.

They obviously did not power the machine back on after removing the RAM to make sure the problem was remedied. The RAM was not seated correctly and it would not boot up.  I reset the good RAM chip and watched my screen flicker and machine overheat again.

I took the machine back to the Apple Store to have it sent out again, but they refused.  My 3 year warranty had expired during the 2 weeks they took my laptop and did nothing.

The New Laptop

I dealt with the overheating laptop with the dysfunctional screen for a few more months while waiting for the next generation MacBook Pro to replace it with.  When I was ready, I made the hour drive back to the Apple Store.

I came prepared this time.  Armed with the knowledge of my previous shopping experience, I called ahead to make sure they had one in stock.  They said they would “hold it for me until I arrived.”  I agreed, hoping that this one wouldn’t be sold from underneath me again.

When I arrived, I immediately went to checkout.  At least, I think it’s the checkout, after all there isn’t a cash register.  I handed the lady my Credit Card, told her it was for the laptop with my name on it and waited for her to go and find it.  Except, she didn’t go anywhere.  She just stood there and looked at me like I was from Mars.

“I’m sorry sir, I know it sounds ridiculous, but you can’t just walk in here and buy a $3,000 computer.  You need to talk to a salesperson first.”

You’re right… it is ridiculous.  How dare I exchange my money for the product your are selling?  So, I was added to the top of the list for a “Personal Shopping Assistant” (aka, pushy salesperson), who would be happy to help me.  Since these “PSA’s” work by call ahead appointments and - if they have time - walk in customers after that, I waited for over an hour.

Ok, I know this sounds silly.  I stood inside the Apple Store for over an hour with my credit card in my hand.  In fact, I made it obvious that I had a credit card in my hand, but nobody wanted to swipe it for the merchandise I had already decided upon.

“You, in the blue shirt.  Want a commission?  Come swipe this card!” - “Sorry sir, I’m with a customer.”

Eventually I was helped.  The guy tried to up-sell me to buy lots of other things.  I politely refused, and gave him my card.  He gave me the same shocked expression that the girl had an hour previously.  “Just swipe it, I must be on my way.”

What would you do?

I feel like I’m in an awkward position.  I love Apple’s products and will undoubtedly continue to be a loyal customer, but the loyalty certainly isn’t reciprocated.  Of course, I can only speak from my experience with my local Apple store in Legacy Village.

One frustrating experience to buy a fantastic product is certainly better than a delightful experience buying a frustrating PC.

What would you do?  Do you have any similar experiences?

Designing Interactive has grown up a lot over the last 6 years. It has grown from a small freelancing company into a web application development house. We have done a good job of keeping ourselves busy with paid work throughout the years, but this past year was particularly successful.

However, our profitability has started to plateau this year and we need to make some changes to continue growth.

Making money as a consultant is a pretty straight-forward concept. You trade hours for dollars. When you become more in-demand, you raise your prices. However, you do hit a point where you do not have any more time available, and raising your prices any further would turn some of your clients away. The natural response to this is to employ more people, but that is not without its own problems.

There are many designers and developers who are competent as a jack of all trades. For example, a front end person who does design, usability, front-end coding, javascript and basic SQL knowledge. This is very common in design agencies as it’s an economical approach. This produces a good service to the client, although with a painfully average product/service.

The very best designers are not employed. They can make a great living as an independent consultant utilizing the small, but well refined, skill set they have. We have a network of available consultants that we use for these specialized tasks. I work with the same consultants day in and out, so I have a good relationship with them. These independent consultants enjoy the freedom they have, but still have a stable amount of work through their relationships with people like us.

If you are a freelance developer/designers/database-administrator looking to develop a relationship with us, I want to hear from you.

As software developers we often find ourselves running low on time, money or patience. While these constraints often cause frustration, they are actually good things.

Constraints are simple solutions in disguise. When you find yourself working hard on a problem and seem to be progressing slowly, take the constraint as a sign to step back and examine the problem again.

The simplest answer is usually the correct answer.

Occam’s Razor says:

Ignoring Constraints

It’s natural to ignore constraints. After all, they cause us pain and we are taught to keep emotions out of our business. However, ignoring these constraints will lead to software which is counter-intuitive to use.

Resist the urge to throw more money/people/time at the problem to fix it. People under pressure do not work faster and additional funds just provides an excuse to deliver late.

Exceptions

There are times when constraints are caused by other situations. You may have a more serious problem to deal with if the constraints are caused by:

• Poor planning
• Lazy people
• Bad project management
• Counter productive working atmosphere
• Distractions caused by Twitter

Not too long ago I was an active participant in heated conversations that went something like this:

Person 1: “There aren’t any promising new businesses in Northeast Ohio worth investing in.”

Person 2: “You’re wrong. What’s missing is smart investors willing to take a risk and smart enough to turn a good idea into a great success.”

Being a world-class flip-flopper, I’ve played the role of both Person 1 and 2 in those conversations. But I no longer have such conversations, and I believe it’s because we’ve addressed both concerns (or at least have made significant progress in addressing them).

Turning Technologies, Hyland Software, MemberHealth, NDI Medical etc. have all shown there’s lots of good ideas being turned into high-growth companies in Northeast Ohio.

And today we’re reminded again (this time by the Third Frontier program) that there’s a fair amount of capital available for entrepreneurs to pursue. Importantly, there’s now a new fund being formed to help minority entrepreneurs. Yes, more capital is needed. And so are more entrepreneurs with great ideas. But we’ve moved onto other important conversations, and for that I’m grateful.

While eating an apple today, I noticed a small bruise. I thought nothing of it and continued to eat the apple, leaving the small imperfection behind. Perhaps this is why so many new web companies have adopted the idea of releasing technology as "Beta" to the public, before all the bugs have been worked out. Most people can tolerate a hand full of small defects and still enjoy all the benefits of an unpolished product.

1. Use Skype - a internet based phone service (Voice Over IP), to make calls on the cheap. Skpye is also easy to use and has many options for your business.

2. Use Google Analytics - to help measure your web site activity, track email newsletter sign ups and increase shopping cart conversions. It's fairly easy to set up and fun to use.

3. Make a Stand - take a position on something like the environment or chronic diseases showing the world and your customers that your company is about more than just profits.

4. Use IM and less Email internally - Checking email throughout the day can be a time consuming task. People tend to be shorter and to the point with IM (instant messaging), resolving business issues more quickly.

5. Collaborate on the Web - Take advantage of web collaboration tools such as Basecamp and Writeboard. Using web based collaboration tools allow you to access projects from any internet connection and keep things nicely organized. Nothing is worse than following long email chains or accidentally deleted attachments.

Although the official Startup School was last month at Stanford, there was enough startup activity in Clevleand last week to constitute it’s own mini startup school.

Thursday was Cleveland Startup Drinks, which was a great chance to talk with other startup founders.

Saturday was the SCORE business workshop that was a half-day of informative talks by an accountant, a lawyer, and a bank president about how to develop a business plan, incorporate a business, and finance a business. This was the first time I had heard of SCORE, and it looks like a valuable resource for new businesses. They are a large group of retired business executives that offer free counseling. What could be better than that?

Lastly, on Sunday morning Craig Newmark spoke at the CWRU commencement ceremony. It wasn’t quite as inspriational as the real startup school talks, but it was a taste of Silicon Valley nonetheless.

Tonight I’m going to Startup Drinks at the Bier Markt.

Also, Saturday is a SCORE business class at the U.S. Bank building downtown. The first session covers business plans and legal stuff. The second half is business finance. Only $20.

Really looking forward to both events. Should be fun and educational.

Good luck to the folks at Cuil*, a search start up trying to take on The Google. Google throws of so much cash that they can play in about any segment they choose.

This piece in BusinessWeek may have revealed the plan – get the start up going, try to generate some press, and then sell out to Microsoft. They still have a long way to go, however.

On the plus side, if Cuil doesn’t keep search histories, they won’t be as tempted to sell out dissidents to autocratic governments.

I tried Cuil a couple of times today. Service pretty spotty & unreliable. Gives the sense that it’s either still too close to a beta version, or that nobody bothered to try to stress test the thing.

* Why oh why can’t people come up with decent product names? ‘Cuil’? sheeez.

Granted, “The Boring Made Dull” isn’t the hottest property on the planet, but it’s a straight forward, manly description of what you get here, and truly lives up to the hype.

It’s going to be a dark and snowy weekend here in Ohio, but that never stops us. We’re still partying hard all weekend! If you’re stuck inside though (and even if you’re not), here are some links of stuff from the interblags to keep you entertained.

Create Digital Music (alongside many other blogs this week) talks about Trent Reznor’s new music release under the pay-what-you-want scheme. This is certainly becoming popular among already famous musicians, and from reports coming in he’s already made a handy profit and some of the physical stock is already sold out. More and more already famous musicians I’m sure will be trying this route. I doubt it works quite as well for the yet-to-be famous musicians, though.

Kevin over at the Scotch Blog rounds up a bunch of answers about the oxidation of whisky once the bottle’s been opened. There are some good answers in there. A nice little reminder that you shouldn’t hold on to the open bottles of scotch all that long.

David McDuff posts the roundup of the first edition of the Wine Book Club. There were many great entries there and a lot of fun takes on the book. I certainly had fun participating, and I look forward to the next round.

Which is being hosted by Winecast this time. Due on April 29th is a review of William Echikson’s Noble Rot. I’ve already place a hold on this book at my friendly neighborhood Cleveland Public Library branch and look forward to getting into this book over the next several weeks. Expect more participation from me in the Wine Book Blogging Bimonthly.

It looks like there’s finally some serious efforts to roll back the ridiculous drinking age of 21 in this country. Anything Wine reports on Vermont’s efforts to allow 18-20 year olds to purchase alcoholic beverages under certain circumstances. Remember, that the drinking age of 21 doesn’t really keep those underage from drinking booze, but it may actually prevent them from drinking booze responsibly and learning about responsible consumption.

Demand for scotch whisky is at an all time high and keeps on rising. Best of Whisky reports that The Macallan has seen sales double in five years and that they’re planning a massive expansion of their distillery. There may be a short supply for a while given that there’s at least a three-year lead time (and often 12, 15, 18 or more years lead time) on scotch whisky production.

Similar to the study that showed expensive wine just tastes better if you know it’s expensive, Science Daily is reporting a study that shows expensive placebos work better than cheap ones. Maybe that’s the real secret of homeopathic medicine. Expensive water might just do the trick.

Resident Advisor gets into what’s coming up with Booka Shade’s upcoming third album (out in May). There’s a nice video interview there that’s worth a watch.

Have a great weekend! I’ll catch you again once I unbury myself from this snow!

You may not have noticed in all of the Obamamania last week, but the government has acted decisively to end the threat of minority teenagers getting jobs.

The minimum wage increased by $0.70 per hour to $6.55. That’s a 12% increase, not bad for an economy teetering on the brink of recession.

Unless, of course, you either a) lose your job, or b) can’t find one. Unfortunately, most of this burden falls on teenagers, especially ones just trying to get their first job.

One of the key mistakes in economic policy is to get confused by the different names that economists use for the prices of the factors of production. Wages paid to labor, interest to capital, rents to land, and profits to entrepreneurship. This has lead to the mistaken notion that the laws of supply and demand do not govern these prices.

Wages are simply the price paid to labor. To the extent that government mandates a price above the market, businesses reduce their consumption of labor hours. Additionally, minimum wage laws introduce rigidity in the market, resulting in more unemployment if the economy goes into recession, and wage rates cannot be adjusted downward.

Wage rates are always determined by the supply of labor, and employer’s ability to use that labor to create value greater than the costs of employment. Artificially increasing the costs reduces the demand.

The laws of economics can no more be repealed than the laws of physics.

As much as I try to support local and small businesses and will continue to do, I often find myself patronizing "big box" merchants for the sake of convenience, selection or cost. I have at times been disappointed with the customer service (or lack thereof) at some of these places. Not so recently. I want to take this opportunity to praise:

• CVS at Ridge Road and Route 82 (Royalton Road) in North Royalton. Last spring, I brought over a picture of my parents to make copies for a Mother's Day present for my mom and both grandmothers. I accidentally left it on the machine and never came back to pick it up. The store manager called me a couple of times this winter to let me know, but for one reason or another, I didn't make it back into the store. Saturday, I finally was able to stop in -- they still had the original plus two sheets of copies, almost a year later. When I asked if I owed them anything, they said no.


• Wal-Mart on Pearl Road in Strongsville. A lady I met recently asked me to take her shopping there, and we took over the Fabric and Crafts department for the better part of an hour. My new friend has mental health issues and some social anxiety and was having trouble making up her mind about what she wanted. May and Barbara, the two ladies working in the department, were extremely professional, patient and friendly with her.


• National City Bank on Royalton Road in North Royalton. Paris, one of the tellers, has pictures of cats and dogs (both her own and other people's) at her work station, with a note that says, "No, they're not all mine!" and arrows pointing to the ones that are hers. Being an animal lover myself, I always appreciate when someone else is.


• National City Bank on East 40th Street and Chester Avenue. I've always had good experiences with that branch, but Jing, my teller on the day that I came in, was particularly friendly and helpful.

Also want to give shout-outs to these small businesses:

• Phoenix Coffee House on Coventry -- Loved the Thai bubble tea and appreciated the recommendation!


• Grog Shop -- Thanks for the canteen of water behind the bar, as opposed to charging outrageous prices for a bottle of water!


• Bier-Markt -- I'm not usually a big fan of thin-crust pizza, but yours totally deserves that "Best Pizza in Cleveland" award you got from Epicure. Loved your "butler" (impossibly cute Wheaton Terrier Tyler), too, even if he did eat one of our antipasto plates.