How to Create a Better Mousetrap?

By Mark Evans in Main Page 1 Comment

Within the “Web 2.0″ world, one of the more interesting spectator sports is watching start-ups launch a new service that is already widely available in the market. A good example is video-sharing in which a steady flow of start-ups continue to emerge despite YouTube’s dominance. You could say the same thing about search engines, which has seen a steady parade of new players, and many other online markets.

The question is how do you create a better mousetrap? How do you create a service or product that captures the imagination of users/consumers even though there is a perfectly good product/service already available. It clearly helps if a new product is better and it is easier to use. Great design, strong branding and price are also important.

An interesting case study when it come to the launch of me-too products will be the Dyson Airblade, a new hand dryer from the people who make Dyson vacuum cleaners. Over the years, hand dryers haven’t change that much. You put your hands under a blast of hot air for a few second before drying your hands on your pants.

James Dyson says this scenario always “annoyed” him – hence the Airblade. Here’s the marketing blurb:

The Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer works in just 12 seconds – scraping water from hands like a windshield wiper. It’s the fastest hand dryer, powered by the unique Dyson digital motor. A HEPA filter cleans the air before blowing it onto hands, so it’s also hygienic. And it uses up to 80% less energy than warm air hand dryers.

It’s left to be seen whether the Airblade will be successful but the idea is definitely interesting given it’s entering a market where there has been little innovation. The question is whether the hand dryer market is ripe for change or whether the status quo will continue to rule the day.

It’s a No Filter Digital Culture

By Mark Evans in Social Media 3 Comments Tags: , , ,

Having been actively engaged with social media for the past five years, one of the more fascinating phenomena is how it has become an anything goes medium. No matter what’s on your mind, you can say it, and many people say it on a regular basis with astounding bluntness and honesty about their professional and personal lives.

Many people seem to have a complete lack of personal digital filters. There doesn’t seem to be a “pause” button before they hit the “submit” or “enter” button. Whether it’s a blog post, Facebook update or tweet, these unfiltered thoughts are propelled into the digital ether with nary a thought of their impact.

A high-profile case in point is Twitter lead developer Alex Payne, who wrote critical review of his two years in San Francisco, describing it “dirty”, “filthy” and “disgusting”. Payne’s assessment may, in fact, be accurate and he has the right to criticize San Francisco but his post makes me wonder about how there could be an “up side” to making a public proclamation.

Of course, Payne’s blog post is mild compared with some of the things that many people reveal via social media. There’s information to be shared with friends and family, and there’s information to be shared with everyone, but many people seem to have forgotten the difference.

We’re living amid fascinating times when the ability to publish your thoughts and ideas has never been easier. But just because you can publish any of your thoughts and ideas doesn’t mean you should.

If there’s an enterprising developer out there, they should create an auto-delay feature for blogs, Facebook and Twitter that keeps a message/post from appearing for five minutes. This would give people some time to reflect on what they had done before it hits the public domain.

What do you think? Am I being hyper-sensitive?

More: Gawker has more on Payne’s blog post. Another good example of someone who paid the consequences for blabbing via social media was a woman named in “Lindsay” in the U.K., who came home after a bad day at work, and then talked about it on Facebook. Not surprisingly, she was fired.

Is Twitter’s Data a Goldmine?

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , , ,

The blogosphere was abuzz yesterday when it was disclosedt that Twitter is having discussions with Google and Microsoft about giving them access to the firehose of data generated by Twitter users, including links.

There were enthusiastic discussions about whether these potential deals would finally mean Twitter would be able to create a viable business model given Google and Microsoft may be willing to pay millions of dollars for access to the data. My first thought was that Google pays Firefox millions of dollars in referral fees to drive traffic so striking a data deal with Twitter could see the same kind of financial return.

While a deal with Google and/or Microsoft is definitely interesting, a far more intriguing story comes from Silicon Valley Insider, which reports that Twitter is already selling its “firehose” of data, typically between $1,500 to $3,000 a month.

If you think about all the companies that have been created within the Twitter ecosystem that have Twitter data at the heart of what they do, selling data – even to small customers – could be a good source of revenue. It’s a volume business but Twitter controls the keys to the kingdom so it could also be lucrative.

Maybe selling data is Twitter’s financial salvation – much like Google stumbled upon the idea of AdSense while it was searching for a way to make money. (Truth be told, Google borrowed the concept from Overture).

In the past, I’ve suggested Twitter should/could charge high-volume users of its API – a concept that always generated healthy pushback. Data, however, could be a more appealing and palatable option.

The New Battle: Free vs. Fee

By Mark Evans in Media 2 Comments Tags: , , , ,

It is becoming increasingly clear that a business model built on offering free online content supported by advertising isn’t working. It’s economically unworkable – at least as the only way to generate revenue – and unless something more viable emerges, the disappearance of magazines and newspapers will continue to happen.

The cracks within the free model are starting to become more obvious. The Economist, for example, has announced that articles older than 90 days old will only be available to subscribers. It’s not a radical move but a small step towards embracing a business model that makes sense for The Economist and its readers.

The Economist’s move comes shortly after Gourmet magazine closed on Monday after 70 years in business. It will now continue as an online-only entity.

While newspapers will continue to struggle with free vs. fee, my sense is the magazine industry will start to embrace fee. It’s a market that is more fee-friendly because many magazines are not producing content that’s a commodity. In many cases, the writing offers unique perspective and insight, which people should be willing to pay to read.

The “C” Word”: Consultants

By Mark Evans in Main Page 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

Since launching ME Consulting in January, I have struggled with describing myself as a “consultant”. In many ways, “consultant” is seen as a dirty word because it evokes images of hiring people who over bill and over charge, under deliver, and leave you feeling unhappy about the whole experience.

Of course, there are many consultants who provide great service and terrific value but the profession’s reputation becomes quickly tarnished when high-profile issues such as Ontario’s $1-billion e-health fiasco emerges – a situation in which consultants were paid huge amounts of money but apparently generated little to show for it.

My approach to consulting is a combination of strategic and tactical services – I provide insight to clients about what to do, and I’m help them do it. It’s a hands-on approach that has everything to do with making sure a client gets what they want. My work isn’t about chalking up more billable hours because I believe financial success happens as a result of making your clients happy by doing great work.

For more thoughts on consults, check out this blog post by David Crow. His argument is it’s difficult to make a lot of money because consulting doesn’t scale well. I would argue there are other benefits to being a consultant that have little to do with money.

Sure, this may comes across as either idealistic or slick salesmanship but it’s approach that works for me and, hopefully, works for clients as well. At the end of the day, doing good work makes it easy for clients to pay you, it makes it easy to use you again, and it encourages them to recommend you.

Update: Here’s a definition of a “prosultant” from David Isenberg, which sounds good to me.

A Shout Out to CBL Data Recovery

By Mark Evans in Main Page 2 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Picture 2A few weeks ago, my two-year-old MacBook blew a gasket when I tried to update the OS to Snow Leopard. This included the dreaded blue screen of death, and the realization that thousands of photos were in danger of disappearing into thin air.

So what do you do when your hard drive craps out on you? Other than cursing and/or feeling stupid for not backing up your data, you go on to Twitter to see if anyone can help you.

In my case, I was lucky that Gary Hilson saw my tweet. Gary used to do some public relations work with CBL Data Recovery Technologies so he pinged their CEO Bill Margeson to see if there was anything they could do. Within minutes, Bill sent me an e-mail offering to if CBL’s labs could come to the rescue.

When the package from CBL arrived via courier today, I opened the box like it was Christmas, and plugged the enclosed external hard drive into my MacBook Pro. To discover that all the data had been recovered was, in fact, like getting an early Christmas present.

A few lessons learned:

1. Back up your data on a regular basis
2. If your hard drive does get compromised or damaged, sent it to CBL Data Recovery.

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