We stayed at La Banane, which is really a great hotel. Very nice people here, who still know what is "service". We felt at home! On the other side, the hotel was renovated in 2000 and it is amazing. Just 9 bungalows, but … hey, great ones. We were *very very* happy with our choice :-)
Umh, Google seems to launch a new “beta product” for geek, called Google Gulp :-) A FAQ is also accessible, if you *really* want to know more. Hilarous.
Think fruity. Think refreshing.
Think a DNA scanner embedded in the lip of your bottle reading all 3 gigabytes of your base pair genetic data in a fraction of a second, fine-tuning your individual hormonal cocktail in real time using our patented Auto-Drink™ technology, and slamming a truckload of electrolytic neurotransmitter smart-drug stimulants past the blood-brain barrier to achieve maximum optimization of your soon-to-be-grateful cerebral cortex. Plus, it’s low in carbs! And with flavors ranging from Beta Carroty to Glutamate Grape, you’ll never run out of ways to quench your thirst for knowledge.
How to get Gulped?
You can pick up your own supply of this “limited release” product simply by turning in a used Gulp Cap at your local grocery store. How to get a Gulp Cap? Well, if you know someone who’s already been “gulped,” they can give you one. And if you don’t know anyone who can give you one, don’t worry – that just means you aren’t cool. But very, very (very!) soon, you will be.
Google Gulp and Your Privacy
From time to time, in order to improve Google Gulp’s usefulness for our users, Google Gulp will send packets of data related to your usage of this product from a wireless transmitter embedded in the base of your Google Gulp bottle to the GulpPlex™, a heavily guarded, massively parallel server farm whose location is known only to Eric Schmidt, who carries its GPS coordinates on a 64-bit-encrypted smart card locked in a stainless-steel briefcase handcuffed to his right wrist. No personally identifiable information of any kind related to your consumption of Google Gulp or any other current or future Google Foods product will ever be given, sold, bartered, auctioned off, tossed into a late-night poker pot, or otherwise transferred in any way to any untrustworthy third party, ever, we swear.
[via Seth]
Good illustrations from Seth Godin of the “First who, then what” idea of Jim Collins.
I can’t think of one world class service organization (whether it’s someone selling million dollar computers to corporations or Starbucks) that has figured out how to replace great people with great systems.
The best organizations have principles and guidelines and even, yes, scripts. But time and again, they fall back to, “Use your best judgment” or “Do what’s right for the customer” or “Make something magical happen” or “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”
When a hotel chain empowers a maid to spend up to $500 to make it right (using her own discretion), that’s not a system, that’s trusting great people to do the right thing.
The problems with systems?
1. if you rely on them too much, your people stop trying, and your hiring people realize they don’t have to get such great people.
2. sooner or later, it’s going to get copied by the competition. It’s a lot easier to copy a system than it is to get great people.Yes, if you can automate it in a way that increases satisfaction, do it right away. Use an ATM system instead of the front desk at the hotel. Use an automated wake up call system. But then put the money you save into wonderful people at the concierge desk.
Today, Google is celebrating the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh (30 March 1853) with this beautiful logo.
[via BetaNews]
While some artists battle online file sharing networks, others have embraced the new market for digital music. Bruce Springsteen is launching the first single off his upcoming album, “Devils & Dust,” exclusively on the Internet via AOL Music and Apple’s iTunes Music Store.
“Devils & Dust” won’t be available in stores until April 26, but will feature special content using the DualDisc format, which functions as a CD on one side and a DVD on the other. Apple isn’t the only company shoring up exclusive tracks; Microsoft recently announced it had signed Mariah Carey to debut her new single on MSN Music.
[via BetaNews]
Google will acquire Urchin, the web analytics company. We are using Urchin for a while, really a great tool, very stable and performant, lots of functionalities, far better than WebTrends.
Google announced late Monday it will acquire Urchin Software, a developer of analytic solutions for Web sites. Urchin produces tools to track the performance of marketing, examine the user experience and optimize content. Google intends to offer the tools to Web site owners and marketers as an enticement to use its services.
“This technology will be a valuable addition to Google’s suite of advertising and publishing products,” said Jonathan Rosenberg, vice president of product management at Google. Google expects that the acquisition will close before the end of April. The terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The press release of Urchin.
Surprisingly, we found at St.Barths some of the most amazing beaches we have the chance to visit, including the ones of the Seychelles. There are 14 beaches on the island, all very beautiful and different from each others. We particularly liked two of them : le Gouverneur and Saline.
Generally speaking, no accomodation is really cheap on this island… On the other side, a very high quality of service and beautiful buildings. So it remains somewhat coherent. About half the beds which are available at St.Barths are privately held (villas and apartments). There are a very few number of hotels on the island, all very well integrated in the landscape and…very small. The largest hotel has 76 rooms, the others have half of that.
This destination is completely different as the other Caribbean places :-)
After the great Mixed Tape 5 released in January 2005, Mercedes launched the sixth version of its Mixed Tape last week.
With Mixed Tape 06 Mercedes-Benz presents a brand new instalment of its hugely successful free music compilation: until the 17th of May 05 we invite you to explore, download and enjoy 15 exceptional new tracks by outstanding international newcomers at http://www.mercedes-benz.com/mixedtape.
The current compilation opens with Berlin’s latest singing sensation Maximilian Hecker and his stunningly moving pop gem “Full Of Voices”.In view of the global music scene and true to our maxim “intelligent tracks from around the world” Mixed Tape 06 also introduces Japanese-American Nu Soul discovery Doob, four exceptional artists from the innovative Yosoy label (situated – spiritually and geographically – between Peru, Frankfurt and Malaysia), as well as Berlin’s club favourites Jahcoozi, comprising members from London, Israel and Germany.
Dassault launched its new Falcon 7X mid of February 2005. This plane – really beautiful – is a very important milestone in the virtualization of the concept, prototyping, tests, model and production of the Dassault’s airplanes. A very good example to my mind, how a piece of software can totally change the way an industry is working.
For the first time with the Falcon 7X, Dassault could save the required investment due to the first three prototypes which are normally used as validation and test platforms. The three first Falcon 7X will be simply….sold!
This fast complete virtualization of the conceptual process is based on a software developped by Dassault – Catia. Catia was developped at the beginning of the 70’s by Dassault Systems as a simulation tool. All airplane producers are using Catia, including Boeing and Airbus. 65’000 clients of Catia around the world in 80 different countries. With the last version of Catia, the engineers have the possibility to work directly with the numerical models thanks to 3D-glasses, at a 1:1 scale! This allows for example to check if all the technical elements are accessible easily by the technicians during the maintenance phases…. You can imagine the kind of optimization you can bring in the field of repairing processes. Impressive.
How complexe is it to produce an airplane as the Falcon 7X?
– 27 different companies are integrated and associated to the production process
– the conceptual phase required 18 months, with about 400 engineers from 7 different countries
– they all used Catia (with a central database called Enovia) to work on the concept
– the airplane is made of 40’000 elements, 200’000 fasteners and….25 kilometers of cables
Dassault Systems, with Catia and Enovia, defines a complete Product Lifecycle Management system for:
– the conception of the plane
– the definition of all the technical elements in detail
– the definition of the production industrial process with all the integrated partners
– the management of the final “put-all-these-things-together”
– the definition of the maintenances for the coming….30 years.
The numerical model is also used in the selling process. The potential client has an acces to the virtual plane, can choose the color and leather of the seats, the type of crockery and toilets, etc.
Great example of a piece of software which is changing the complete production and conceptual process of an industry.
Hi all, sorry for not having posted the last days, I’m ill since last Saturday, cannot do anything, beurk… See you in some days, I return to bed ;-)
Update: I enter slowly the normal world again….