I usually come up with ideas when I'm not expecting them. Yesterday, when walking back from The UPS Store, after having a great conversation with the manager Neal about customer service, a thought popped into my head about JetBlue’s woes with people being stranded on their planes. So David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue, I offer this one to you for free, though I am not sure why you didn’t think of it earlier.

Whenever the status of a flight changes, or whenever it does not change within an acceptable time period, you get an email message. I am willing to bet US$1.00 that you have a BlackBerry (or if you are smart, a Treo 680!) and you are probably on it all day as it is. For example, if a flight does not take off within an hour of its scheduled departure time, you would know, and then you could find out why, and take appropriate action. This would surely have prevented people from being stuck on the tarmac for all of those hours.

Hopefully you are already receiving these emails as I write this. Many of the things we as people and businesses do are in reaction to something. If not, then a simple thank you reply in the blog is all I ask, though now that you are flying into Chicago...

Business • (3) Comments • Permalink

I don’t believe there is hope for the United States Postal Service, an oxymoron of a name if there ever was one. And this is not just me, as the Chicago Sun-Times has reported on the lack of service, delivery and accountability this past weekend. I will spare you my own mail debacle stories, for now at least.

About the only smart thing the post office has come up with is so-called "forever stamps" where once you buy the stamp, you can use it whenever, and it will be valid at the current rate at that time. So if you buy a 39-cent stamp the day before the rate increase and use it a week later, you do not need to add additional postage. After witnessing the insanity at Chicago’s Loop post office on the day of the last stamp price increase last year – where they literally ran out of two-cent stamps – I am actually surprised that the same organization came up with this idea.

This article from spudart.org on the historic stamp price increases has a cool stamp design they should consider for the first forever stamp!

Business • Diversions • (4) Comments • Permalink

As other bloggers have commented over the past few days on how they read blogs, I have decided to chime in, as well as make a public declaration not only of how I read them, but how many I will read.

Google Reader is my feed reader of choice. I say "feed" as I subscribe to feeds that are not necessarily blogs, such as the news headlines from Web sites. It has worked well for me, both on my PC and my Treo 680. I browse through all of the new feeds in a big list, and do not use any of the other features, including folders. This is acceptable to me as I have a variety of feeds, both business and personal, and going through the list and reading the mix is a good break in the day for me.

Last week I decided to keep the number of feeds I subscribe to fewer than 200. I have found that I don’t put too much thought into a blog or Web site when I subscribe to the feed. If I happen upon the site for whatever reason and find some useful information, I will just subscribe. It is not until I subscribe that I see what the feed gives me. If the content is no longer relevant to me, duplicate of something else I am reading or if there are too many posts, I will unsubscribe.

Two hundred has actually been the cap I have been using all along, noticing it when I manage my feeds. Do you have a magic number for your feeds?

Technology • (7) Comments • Permalink

In the event you haven’t heard already, this Saturday night in the US we switch into Daylight Savings Time (DST), earlier than in the past. This law was passed last year to conserve energy, with the thinking that the more natural light you have, the less energy you consume. Of course our technically-challenged legislators did not take into consideration other costs, including software changes to ensure all is running after the change.

I have run Windows Update on all of my PCs and got the DST patches. Weeks ago I saw on MobileBurn.com that Palm issued a patch for my Treo 680 and patched it then. Interestingly I just got the email directly from Palm this past week – so much for their concern for their customers. And of course I am ready to run around the homestead to change all of the manual clocks.

Are you all patched and ready? I believe I am. Then there are the vendors and merchants that I do business with and only a handful have emailed me to tell me they are ready. A couple of vendors are in Arizona, the only state that does not abide by DST – lucky them.

As the time change is at 2 am on Sunday, the impact should be minimal to me, and I will have time to run tests. Hopefully Monday morning is not a challenge for your and businesses. And hopefully all airline software is in check, otherwise my friend will have a hard time flying back to Europe on Sunday night.

Technology • (7) Comments • Permalink

Recently I bought my aunt a new mobile phone. When I had asked her if she used her previous phone, she said no, as it was too bulky and the buttons were not the most intuitive to her. My aunt can be considered a senior citizen – she may not be tech savvy, but she is extremely worldly and knows the value of a mobile phone, she just had problems using it.

The phone I selected for her was a Motorola model that was a clamshell phone with large buttons. I gave her the new phone already programmed with every number she would need in it. She liked the smaller size and larger buttons. Though she has it mostly for emergencies, she now carries and uses this phone.

You don’t have to do too many Web searches to find content on devices of all ilk that are unusable. For phones, at least in the US, the emphasis seems to be on "cool and hip" rather than more intuitive, robust functionality. Sure, I am pushing 40, but look around the world and see what they’re using in Europe and Asia. And don’t even ask me the difference between a RAZR and KRZR!

Two new phones have emerged – one in the US and one in Europe – that meet the needs of the growing older population using mobile phones. GreatCall has come out with two models of their Jitterbug phone, one with large number buttons, and another without numbers, but has text buttons for making emergency calls. Each phone is US$147.00, however you have to buy their mobile service plan, as they share the short-sidedness of other phone manufacturers and don’t sell the phone unlocked.

Another phone is coming from Austria’s Emporia Telecom. Its EmporiaLife model has a large screen and just 4 buttons on the surface with a full number pad that can slide out. They are not being sold yet, but my guess is that I will be able to get an unlocked version when they do.

Thanks to John Wall of The M Show for clueing me into the Emporia, which led me to the Jitterbug. He refers to them as a "geezer phone" in his latest edition... and the term geezer is one that could easily fit him or I!

Technology • (0) Comments • Permalink