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Apple's retail stores are drawing visitors but not generating sales, with a disappointing conversion rate so far. Apple doesn't blame its sales clerks: "Apple stressed Mac expertise — not salesmanship — when it trained them.
. . . But now Apple plans to beef up its instruction to teach clerks how to close the deal." But
John Manzione isn't so sure: when visiting a local
Apple Store, he found that "[w]ho I was dealing with here were Mac enthusiasts who cared more about being around the product than selling it."
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 10:47 AM on February 21, 2002
(42 comments)
Wacky news is on the rise, and not just here at MetaFilter: it's showing up more and more on mainstream news media sites desperate for your attention (and in traditional print and broadcast media, too). For better or for worse, it's not just for
FARK anymore. We've discussed many a weird news item here (much to mathowie's annoyance); what about weird news as a trend?
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 11:46 AM on February 16, 2002
(13 comments)
Newspapers lose the web war. While newspapers recognized the risk the web posed to their core business, they often erred by forcing their new online ventures into the mold set by their pre-existing business model. A look at what made newspapers succeed or fail online from a Harvard Business School professor. (Warning: business-speak; via CNet.) Has your local newspaper done a good job on the web?
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 9:06 AM on February 1, 2002
(8 comments)
érrorplan is a web site apparently set up by unhappy top-tier
Aeroplan members documenting
Air Canada's poor service and diminishing benefits to their best customers. Air Canada, as you might imagine, is none too happy about it — especially since
thousands of érrorplan brochures have been found in their airplanes and airport lounges around the world. (Frequent fliers indeed.) The airline is
trying to track them down and stop them — on the grounds that érrorplan is using their intellectual property. Bye bye, air miles.
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 8:21 AM on January 23, 2002
(2 comments)
The trouble with "orphan diseases": "most people with orphan diseases are treated only with horribly blunt instruments. The dearth of drug treatments for them is a reflection of basic economics. The profit-driven pharmaceutical industry has little incentive to pour research money into discoveries that will not return big dividends. Small patient populations hold out little potential reward." An orphan disease is a
rare disorder that affects fewer than one in 20,000 people; there are apparently more than 6,000 of them.
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 6:37 AM on January 22, 2002
(17 comments)
This is ground zero of the worst epidemic in the history of humanity. The Globe and Mail reports on AIDS in Botswana, where 38.5% of the adult population is infected (
52% of those between 19 and 29). And yet, even here, there is reason to hope: a mobilized population, a government on-side, and ambitious research programs.
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 10:21 AM on December 1, 2001
(4 comments)
The religious language used by the terrorists may suggest what they are really thinking, argues Robert Wisnovsky in
Slate. His conclusions might not be what you expected: one, they're not particularly Islamic, but rather use Islamic terms to "
attempt to lend religious weight to what is basically a political ideology
"; and two, their real target is not America or the West (except indirectly), but the monarchies of the Arabian peninsula. Interesting insights from a linguistic perspective.
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 12:57 PM on October 24, 2001
(21 comments)
Admiral Yamamoto never said "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" (or something like that) after Pearl Harbor. That line came from
Tora! Tora! Tora! Worth noting because an innumerable number of newspaper columnists have been "quoting" Yamamoto in light of the WTC attack.
posted to MetaFilter by mcwetboy
at 12:52 PM on September 17, 2001
(12 comments)
