Rafe's Blog

My laptop can't breathe

I wrote a post on CNET about my ThinkPad not working in airplanes. A few readers responded with interesting information about hard disk air bearings and how they can crap out at the pressures inside an airplane cabin.

PC Forum startups

I saw a bunch of cool startups at PC Forum. My fave was SpotRunner. Just a brilliant business idea: Resell leftover TV advertising spots to local small businesses. 

I had to reverse my initial opinion on Bitty Browser. I went from perplexed to "this has potential."

Most eagerly-awaited launch: the photo search service Riya. I saw this company at Demo, too. See video. Still waiting to get my hands on the beta!

All my writeups are on the CNET Alpha Blog. There is complete coverage on CNET News.com.

Too much choice

I'm at PC Forum, listening to Barry Schwartz talk. He's author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less.  The data he's rolling off is frightening: The same store that offers 29 jams sells less jam than when it offers six.  For every ten 401(k) options funds a company makes availalbe to its employees, participation in the plan itself goes down 2%. Too much choice, Schwartz says, leads to paralysis, which leads to misery. Which leads to bad business, obviously.

Although people want choice (he has data to prove that, too), it makes them unhappy and lowers engagement in life and in commerce.

"The secret to happiness," Schwarz says, "is modest expectations."

So one secret to good business is a defined, reasonable product set. Don't bludgeon people with choice when it's not necessary. Focus on function and design (iPod), not feature bloat (Microsoft's Origami). To that end, at CNET we should probably take a very hard look at our own crowded front page...

[Cross-posted to the CNET Alpha Blog.]

For sale: Tannoy S6C center channel speaker

For sale: One barely used Tannoy S6C Center Channel Speaker. $225 obo.

* Black ash cabinet.
* No scratches or imperfections, grille in perfect condition.
* In original box with original packing material.
* Used for a month a few years ago, kept in storage since then.
* The speaker is part of Tannoy's Saturn line.

Email me if interested.

Note: This item really is for sale, but this post is mainly to test Edgeio's new classified slurping service, which I'm considering writing about for my next Rafe's Radar column.

Tag: listing

edgeio-key: d754f11545c3ed051b61ef7bc9479ef276115392