jonathan harris

we feel fine is actually now an old project by jonathan harris. it tracks human emotion by tracking the word 'I feel' and how it's used on millions of blogs. The concept itself is very cool, but what I want to talk about is the site...I love the design of this site and the way the information is presented. Definitely worth checking out!

Also, you can play around in universe, his new project.

via joshspear.com

ps- don't forget shutdown day this Satruday!

joost tokens

Joost tokens anyone? I've given them to friends already and have some left over..I know I know, I'm just falling for their clever marketing ploy, but hey, if people really want to see a preview why not spread it around?

First come first serve...who wants'em??

recycle + get paid

Saw this one on springwise - who says you can't pay people to do good things..this is a great idea for increasing recycling and giving people a tangible benefit. Seems more like a good marketing strategy by RecycleBank that already has the vertical integration in place, but that doesn't mean this type of service can't be set up on its own to be offered by different types of eco-based companies.

stuff in your hood..

Tupalo is a cool little service that lets people share tips on finding the best places in their city - I like the branding and the concept a lot. I wonder how this can be combined with city surf ;)

What I'm really wondering these days is how many social networking sites is too many - I mean how many different sites does one want to belong to, where you have to login and actually be an active member? Is there an aggregator of all these network sites somewhere that I don't know about, because I'm starting to lose track..

TXT..

..doe anyone know a good text meage oftware program/provider? asnyones


Sorry..does anyone know a good text message software program/provider? anyone?

the new mcdonalds?

saw a snippet of this article a while back but here is the full piece - it shows great examples of companies trying to scale their charm and personality and at the end delivering a bland and processsed consumer experience.

I live near bay and bloor in toronto - there are 7, yes, 7 Starbucks within a four block radius of my place - is that really necessary? oh sorry, the 8th is coming soon! (underground near holts)..

david vs...tiny goliath...

Had the most ridiculous customer experience at jackdaw antiques today on queen west. Amazing how some small businesses can treat their customers and think they just can!

Whoever reads this, pass it on, and actually, email them at info@jackdaw.ca and ask about their amazing customer service policies. If you feel up to it, boycott them...for life.

My goal would be to flood their email address with messages about the post to show them that they can't treat customers like this just because they think they can.

why you ask?

It all started with a Xmas present that needed to be returned..a chandelier that I bought for $199, not a huge sum of money. My girlfriend and I, receipt in hand, went to the store to return it to either find something else or see if we could get a refund. We ended up asking for a refund because we couldn't find anything in the store. The store owner said not too happily "If you can't find anything else..sure, but I'll have to write a cheque because you paid by debit" - seemed like not a big deal. Her assistant writes the cheque.

Fast forward 2 hours - I get a call from the assistant. She tells me that the store owner said that I lied about the date on the receipt and didn't tell them that I bought it in December and that they will have to cancel that refund cheque and can only give me store credit but will take a 20% re-stocking fee out first. umm..what?

After the store hanging up on me twice on me...and calling me a liar (still not sure what I lied about), she agreed to send me a refund cheque and still keep the 20% re-stocking fee (what is a re-stocking fee exactly?). More details below...

She ended the conversation by saying "No, I'll keep the 20% because I can".

.......
More details - apparently someone else bought the same chandelier yesterday from the store. the store owner thought I was that person returning it today, although she said she wasn't in the store so she just assumed that person was me. I found out in our conversation that they have a return policy of 24 hours, or store credit (with 20% re-stocking fee taken off of course). She admitted mistakenly assuming I had bought the piece yesterday but still would not change her mind.

ad space

...my days in advertising are numbered :) looking foward to moving on to better (not necessarily bigger) things.