Thursday, January 8, 2009

Try a new OS According to Lifehacker, you can download a beta of Windows 7 Friday. I'm on a Mac and my PC is ancient (by computer standards). If any of you try it out, send me a review. 3:01:57 PM    comment []

Sit or stand to work Last month I wrote about trying a stand up desk. Of course, I cited famous and popular examples such as Winston Churchill and Thomas Jefferson. My friend from Singapore, Bob Gill, couldn't let a good thing pass, though, and commented that ex-US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also uses one. I've set up a trial one in my office at home. I find that I like it for reading news feeds, correspondence and other quick tasks. For more extended writing (say anything over 500 words where I want to actually think), I like my office easy chair with an ottoman where I can prop up my feet. At a normal desk, I like to lean back with the laptop (in the old days the keyboard) in my lap. Don't think they like it when I do that at our Chicago offices, though ;-) There was a product category at one time in the Levenger catalog called "sit and stand." I guess that describe my new work habits. 10:52:00 AM    comment []

Getting aggressive in marketing Here's a New York Times article about how that savvy Pepsico is using this time to begin to push branding awareness and differentiating through aggressive marketing. Downtimes are often a good time to position your company (or yourself) for the coming good times. Oh, and by the way, quality still sells. Not everyone in the world is captivated by the Wal-Mart message of cheap stuff sold cheaply. It's a good time to make sure your quality is up to snuff--unless you're selling commodity stuff, and even then quality counts. 10:40:17 AM    comment []