[From one of ours.]
I am speechless.
I feel as if I am stuck in a box.
Marcel Marceau, the world’s Mime, has achieved pure silence.
When they found him, his face was white as a ghost.
“Say something! Say something!”, they shouted, but they knew it was futile.
He wouldn’t make a sound.

Now, it is as if questions appear from air, flowering from our hearts.
Will we ever be able to make-up a mime as him?

Let us grasp that burden in our hands, and place it upon an imaginary shelf,
lending our minds, instead, to contemplation of a great master.

Tonight is a night to remember Marcel Marceau.
I will relive one of his concerts on tape. It is, alas, only an audio tape. From his album, “Memorex”.

And I will seek video of his art, and try to learn everything I can from him. We all should.
For a mime is a terrible thing to waste.

I sit in awe. Not just from his great object work, but his ability to raise up the value of words, by not using them.
For his craft, he was one of the most beloved artists.
For his silence, he was one of the most beloved Frenchmen.

People claim mime is easy, because all you do is act silently, by not talking.
But actions speak louder than words.
There are no words to describe true mime.

And there are no words to describe Marcel Marceau. A survivor of tragedies, unspeakable tragedies, who showed the world art and love.

Words escape me.

Goodbye, Marcel.

[Quoted from Comedian Ari Teman.]

Many websites request you enter a “password”.

Taking the phrase apart, they’re asking for a “word” that allows you to “pass” into a secure area.

So why do they complain when you enter a “word”? They’re half-right: a single* dictionary word is easily guessed and easily hacked.
They should ask for a “passcode”.

We’ll leave the rest of this discussion to William Safire.

——————-

* While a single dictionary word is insecure, current theories suggest “Thisisareallylongpasswordforawebsite” is more secure than “password123″. It’s also easier to remember: just pick a favorite phrase or joke. Don’t forget the punchline.

Cheap computers are coming to rural China.  Like the fax in the USSR, but faster, this will empower and encourage free thinking. Censorship will be futile.

There’s no need for bullets, communism will die from bytes.

Can your product change the world?

“Nails and More”

“Mailboxes, Etc.”

“Not Just Nuts!”

Who has seen “More” and thought, “That’s what I’m looking for!”?

Has anyone ever looked under “Etc.” in the phonebook?

When I’m buying candy, do I think “A nut store that sells other things”?

These are lame names.

Where’s the story?

Your interactions with customers define their perception of your product’s quality. The best designers in the world cannot overpower a jerk salesman or inept tech support worker. People will become confused, and things will break – they will call. Having a knowledgeable, empowered person to take their calls is what turns an ordinary product into an extraordinary experience.

Linksys is amazing at this. Networking is tricky – standards change, passwords get forgotten, and devices interfere. No problem, every time we call, someone (yes, in India) picks up and walks us through to a solution. Taking a customer from raging to raving in 5 minutes seconds – can your call center do that?

Here are some suggestions:

1. Build a vast, easy to navigate knowledgebase. Enable customers to use and update this database, at least by interacting, asking questions, and rating answers.
2. Train your employees to use the knowledgebase as humans, a point of reference – not a script!
3. Empower your employees: Let them take a customer’s number so they can call back if needed, let them investigate the issues and ask questions of the user (Linksys reps make us follow steps we take for granted – they are always right).
4. Go beyond – solve problems caused by systems other than your own. If the client thinks it’s related to your problem, then in their mind, you’re the problem. Fix that. Companies that help their clients, get helped in return.

“This gift certificate is valid for 18 months, followed by a 6-month grace period, after which it will expire.”

It would be efficient, technical, and correct to say “24 months” or “two years”.

However, it wouldn’t be more human.

By giving a grace period with their gift certificates, Amazon.com is saying, “you’d better shop soon,” but, “hey, if you forget, we’re adding some extra time for you.”

Amazon.com, again, shows you don’t need a geriatric greeter to make your shopping experience more human.

“Gurus” around the world are blogging on why people don’t make the logical choice to switch from incandescent to “compact fluorescent” bulbs.

This is retarded. Since when do people make logical choices? Nobody hires us to help them reason with consumers – you have 3 seconds to convince some overworked, under-informed housewife or apartment dweller that she should buy your product. Logic can’t get up off its bum in that time.

Here are the problems with the compact bulb:

1. The swirl – is this an ice cream parlor? Why would I want that shape in my fixtures? It looks like something you’d find in Dr. Frankenstein’s lab.
2. The packaging – if I need to stab at a package to extrude a fragile glass contraption, someone is an idiot. The guy who designed the package, or me for spilling the inevitable glass shards.
3. You cannot dim the things and they blow if you accidentally do!
4. The glass shard producing bulb – seriously, have you tried to unscrew one of these things from its socket? (Perhaps because it wont dim?) The glass snaps off the fat plastic base! Please try not to bleed on my lamp shades.
5. The fat plastic base: The ballast (square)! doesn’t fit into designer lamps, which were created for normal lightbulbs (round!). Overhead sockets are also iffy.

The first three problems describe why you wont buy one: they look odd, are a pain to open, and lack the versatility of a regular bulb.

If your message is “It’s as easy as an ordinary bulb, but will save you $60”, MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN ORDINARY BULB:

1. Put it in a cardboard box! For crying out loud, nobody wants to see that swirl – it’s scary.

2. Better: blow a round bulb around the swirl – just like you hid the filament, hide the swirl.

Then, tax incandescent bulbs. Really, if they’re costing everyone so much through pollution, why not recoup the costs? Consider it a gas-guzzler tax.

Then, stay at the drawing board, because, really, saving money is cool, but these bulbs are ‘beta’ at best.

“Remember, it’s not a TiVo unless it’s a TiVo.”

So says the woman on the radio commercial selling that brand of digital video recorder.

I wonder if her script was Xeroxed on a Toshiba copier, or if she refreshed her throat with a cold glass of something from her GE Frigadaire. Maybe she brought her lunch in one of those new Glad-brand Tupperware containers.

All of the italicised brands had their names turned into commodities - because everyone else sold the same thing!

If a product is not a TiVo unless it’s got certain exclusive features, then every DVR becomes a TiVo. The line should be: “Remember if it’s not a TiVo it doesn’t have Feature-X”.

When product design is lame, the lameness flows through to their marketing. This type of advertising is, well, a Band-Aid.

There are many messages out there telling you to click for a prize. They’re digital Ed McMahon’s. You don’t believe them, and you wouldn’t share them with friends. Here’s an e-mail that’s different:

Dear all:

In honor of World AIDS Day, Bristol-Myers will donate one dollar to the National AIDS Fund for every person who clicks the link below and moves the match to light the candle. There is no cost to you in doing this, other than the brief amount of time it takes.

https://www.lighttounite.org/

I hope you will take a moment to light one, and pass the word on.

Thanks for your time,

You should remove all pets and birds from the area.

You shouldn’t re-enter the area for fifteen minutes after you’ve sprayed.

These instructions on the Raid brand bug-killing spray make it clear:

It’s poison. Don’t inhale it.
So why does their label advertise it has an “Outdoor Fresh” scent?

And why (try to) give it such a fragrance?