On The Turning Away

Besides market jitters and “the end is nigh” Murdoch-Dow Jones Saga, everybody seems indulging in the summer doldrums. Everybody except Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, that is.

Wales’s “summer of love“, circa 2007, is to take on the all-mighty search juggernaut Google by “chang[ing] the balance of power from the search companies back to the publishers”. His commercial start-up, Wikia, has acquired Grub, a pioneering Web crawler that will enable Wikia’s forthcoming search service to scour the Web to index relevant sites.

We for one have been an avid user of Wikipedia, which stands out in a sea of (dis)information in spite of controversies. “The new Wikia search service will combine computer-driven algorithms and human-assisted editing” and a public version is slated to be launched “toward the end of 2007″.

No better time than the dog days of summer to contemplate issues of gravitas at cable outlets and social networks. If you missed CNN-YouTube presidential debate hosted by Anderson Cooper, the least you can do is to salvage your image by catching the MySpace Town Hall discussions with 2008 candidates.

Rumor has it that News Corp is mulling some “unconventional” hosts, like Ivanka Trump, who, according to Wendi Deng, wife of Rupert Murdoch, “would be a great representative of the young, educated and upwardly mobile voting population”.

If you think otherwise of Ivanka Trump, or Wendi Deng, for that matter, well, maybe it’s time to take a step in the right path to move yourself upward socially, or risk being stuck in the rut.

Ever since iDay, we’ve trained our eyes on the street for that much coveted gadget du jour. Sad to say our straw poll isn’t very encouraging as we’ve only spotted one iPhone on 8th Avenue the other day.

Given media’s hype over the jesus phone and AT&T’s purported activation crunch, you’d think by now the coolest fashion accessory would become ubiquitous among the city sophisticates. Or perhaps those iPhone owners discreetly pack their sleek toy away on their summer holidays? After all, those “early adopters” tend to obsess over existential dread of “where do you summer?”

Or the iPhone phenomenon perhaps took place…in the media? The latest results from its carrier, AT&T, gives a clue. It turns out the wireless operator only activated 146,000 iPhones - against Wall Street’s expectation of 500,000 - during the first weekend the jesus phone was on sale. Apple reported sold close to 200,000 units.
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If tales like this are anything to go by, UPS has failed the Harry Potter crunch miserably. Those Potter enthusiasts who ordered copies months in advance from Amazon suffer at the hands of…UPS. In other words, a logistical glitch deprived many a Potter fan from getting their hands on the last hurrah of Harry & Co.

By graciously refunding those disgruntled customers, Amazon will probably come out of this debacle less scathed, leaving goodwill behind. UPS is , on the other hand, to put it more charitably, run by “lying muggles“?

Since delivery is such a vital part of the supply chain of e-commerce juggernauts like Amazon, it makes sense, does it not, to own your own fleet to cover the “last mile” operation, as opposed to be at the mercy of third-party carriers like UPS.
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Yesterday’s steam pipe explosion not only raised a ruckus in Manhattan midtown east but also elicited concerns over the city’s aging infrastructure. While covering the news in an extended broadcast, WABC anchorman Bill Ritter commented on whether money could’ve been better used to improve the city’s infrastructure than going back to proper owners in the form of tax rebate.

His sentiments were echoed by NYT readers. One berated city hall’s practice of “giving tax breaks to investment bankers and developers to put up new glass towers”, calling it “lipstick on a pig”. Another urged officials to “be proactive in preventing future disasters”.
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Are you a-Twitter? If not, you’re in good company. Despite the hype, Twitter remains a niche community. It drew only 370,000 unique visitors in June in the US, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Twitter-addicts include bloggers and other technology avant-gardists, an ideal group, or so some marketers tend to think, to promote…what else, TV shows. NBC, CBS, ABC Family and MTV are among several networks experimenting with the marketing possibilities of Twitter. What’s less clear is whether the “bombardment” will alienate users.

Earlier:

Strolling past Time Warner Center last night, we noticed hordes of Asian-looking people camping out. Perhaps early birds for the Grand Hallows Ball at Borders on July 20 for the release of the last hurrah of Harry Potter? But they looked too mature to be Potter fanatics. Maybe a limited edition of Nano iPhone for those who missed out on the party on iDay?

The answer, of course, is none of the above. As fashionistas would say, if you had to ask, then you’re sooo out of it: the fashion accessory du jour, “I’m not a plastic bag” canvas tote, was launched this morning at 8am at Whole Foods in New York area. We heard similar reports on Asians huddling up outside Whole Foods at Bowery last night.

Their zeal for the designer tote both obscures and begs the question: are Asians more environment fashion conscious than other ethnic groups, or there’s more of a herd mentality on display?
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While we’re at it - business practice, that is, this recent survey came our way. It found that 87% of U.S. consumers would switch from one brand to another if the other brand was associated with a good cause, up 31% since 1993. So “good is the new black”?

We’re not a big fan of marketing fads, but this “cause marketing” trend striking a chord with consumers is no coincidence. This came as a time when consumers, empowered by technology, are finally taking control. Small wonder “fully two-thirds of Americans consider a company’s business practices when deciding what to buy”. If you’re in the service business, you could do worse than heeding the call.

Regular readers and drive-by onlookers alike will notice that we occasionally rant unpleasant experiences of life in the urban jungle of 8 million souls, because, simply, we couldn’t resist the temptation. Here is another episode of our hapless wicked experience with RCN. The raison d’etre is to name and shame, and to a lesser degree, take comfort in the company of your own misery, related to RCN or otherwise.

A few months ago we were offered a “customer retention” rate for a triple-play package. Mind you, it’s the published rate advertised on RCN website, contrary to what they had us believe.

Fast forward three billing cycles, we’re still being charged the much higher rack rate despite umpteen inquiries to RCN’s customer service. Frankly, we’ve grown weary of their excuse of a lag in processing the “request” and the promise of a backdated credit to our account. Any reputable company with a modicum of business ethics would honor the rate it offers customers, or else.

If you google “RCN” and “complaints”, you’ll find thousand of hits. In particular, this “Assurance of Discontinuance - RCN” from New York State, after the jump.
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At a time when China is in the glaring spotlight for everything tainted, FDA data show that India (black pepper) and Mexico (crabmeat) are no less culpable than China. In fact, in the last year more food shipments from these two countries have been stopped by federal inspectors.

For now, FDA import alerts include “Mexican cantaloupes and basmati rice from India”, among others.

“Salmonella was the top reason that food was rejected from India,
and it was found in products like black pepper, coriander powder
and shrimp. “Filthy” was the primary reason food was stopped
from Mexico, and the rejections included lollipops, crabmeat and
dried chili. Products from the Dominican Republic were mostly
stopped because of pesticides.”

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