Print is Dead?

Yesterday, Amazon announced the launch of it’s wireless book and news reader. It’s targeted to travelers, which makes sense, since it sucks to read a paper on a plane, and no one wants a receipt or handful of loose change after purchasing a magazine at the airport. This isn’t the first wireless/electronic reader to be launched, but perhaps one will break through as a must-have in the next few years.

1 Million Inches

Brendon Keenan at Resource Interactive contributed to this effort from Pantene Pro-V: the goal of 1 million inches of hair to assist women who experience hair loss due to cancer treatment. Certainly a worthy cause and money well-spent, a place more brands should be. And it beats seeing a 30 second spot with an effeminate hairdresser talk about why you’ll get more bounce and volume.

View it here: http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/index_home.jsp

Post Office of the Future

Behold, the Post Office of the Future. A pleasing retail experience; open space, free wi-fi, leather chairs and work stations for the small business owner.  Clear signage, open layout. Much better than waiting in an informal line at FedEx and paying too much.

Score on more for the Davids

Today I’m in Argo Tea Cafe, which has 5 Chicagoland locations. They offer free refills, though it’s not widely publicized. Last time a Starbucks barista gave someone a free refill, Howard Schultz had their legs broken.

Davids & Goliaths

Chicago has one of the highest urban concentrations of Starbucks, and I never thought many mom & pop or traditional places could survive. I myself love their coffee (black, no frills). Dunkin’ Donuts is planning more expansion into Chicago with it’s newer focus on coffee promotion. But there are a growing number of traditional coffee and tea shops in Chicago, and business is good. I’m sitting in one right now, on a leather couch, Radiohead is playing,  on free wi-fi, and art for sale is hanging on exposed brick walls. It’s extremely spacious and chill. Sure the coffee isn’t quite as good…but it’s still a B+. How funny that there’s actually room in this market–while Starbucks focuses on branded entertainment, and Dunkin airs commercials mocking their “French/Italian” drink sizes.