Posts Tagged: google

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28
Aug 08

Trying stuff is cheaper than deciding whether to try it

LinuxWorld says:

Google is one of the few large companies that gets one fundamental rule of the Internet: Trying stuff is cheaper than deciding whether to try it. (Compare the cost of paying and feeding someone to do a few weeks of P* hacking to the full cost of the meetings that went into a big company decision.)

Don’t overplan something. Just do it half-assed to start with, then throw more people at it to fix it if it works. Worked for every successful Google project from AdWords to Google Maps.

[via Kottke]

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31
Jul 08

About Phone Support

Sarah from 37signals says phone support is a bad experience:

Phone calls require you to stop what you’re doing, go to a quiet place, and concentrate. It requires waiting on the line, listening to hold music, being transferred and possibly having the call lost, all so you have to start over again. You can’t share a phone call with your colleagues, you can’t get someone else’s input or feedback.

…

We get requests every day from people who don’t think email support will cut it and demand a phone number to call us. Their worries are assuaged when they get a reply from me in less than 15 minutes that is informative, helpful and obviously written by a human being. It’s absolutely 100% possible to provide excellent customer care without a phone or phone number, and our company proves that daily.

Their support ticketing system? Gmail.

 

 

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2
Mar 08

Redux

I posted about these things once, and more than a year later I still think they are every bit as relevant and important as when I first posted them. If you missed them then, perhaps you’ll enjoy them now.

REDUX POSTS FROM JAN and FEB 2007

Use Flickr to share your digital photos with friends and family

Flickr is a “Web 2.0″ site that let’s you share photos. What I like most about it is that it is really easy: after I import photos from my camera, I drop a few in an email and send it to my flickr email address. The photos are then automatically posted to my page without ever needing to open a browser. Picts of my kids are here.

Gmail: A new way of looking at email

Gmail fundamentally changed the way I approach my email – for the better. If you aren’t using this for your home email, check it out. It’ll be weird at first, and then you’ll quickly wonder how you ever did without it. The spam filtering alone is worth it’s weight in gold (it saved me from reading 1706 spams in the last 30 days).


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29
Jan 08

Redux

There are already too many sites reposting stuff they posted a year ago. Flashbacks, yesteryear, and whatnot. I abhor the thought of posting just for the sake of posting, so I do so with some trepidation.

I’ve been thinking about a redux for some time and as I considered it more, I concluded that the reason wasn’t to simply fill a void*, but that it furthered the purpose for the whole site: I’ve found stuff on the internet that I think you’ll find interesting and useful. I posted about these things once, and more than a year later I still think they are every bit as relevant and important as when I first posted them. If you missed them then, perhaps you’ll enjoy them now. Thanks for taking the time!

* I think a lot of redux’s are to fill a void, and this isn’t my problem: I’ve got a backlog of posts that could fill half a year and the ideas keep flowing as I scan some 2500 articles a month.

REDUX POSTS FROM 2006

* Google News can send you email updates when any new information or recent news articles are posted to the internet on a topic of your choice. Click on “News Alerts” on the left side of the web site to set up the scheduled email. Useful for breaking news or keeping up on any topic you want to follow. (11/10/2006)

* Collaborative writeboards, online notes, a calendar, etc with Backpack. All in the fancy web 2.0 style with AJAX. My favorite feature: set a reminder on the site that will text message your cell phone at a preset time so you don’t forget about something. Originally posted on 12/15/2006, and mentioned again “to keep track of the links” on 11/14/07 and yet again on 12/11/07 as “a way to track your to-do’s and other random data that you want to get done.” I’m still using it every day.

* “[Work] below your means. If you can handle three elements, handle only two. If you can handle ten, then handle only five. In that way the ones you do handle, you handle with more ease, more mastery, and you create a feeling of strength in reserve.” [Pablo Picasso] (12/22/2006)

But tell me what you think! Do you already use Google News and Backpack? Is this old news? Did you look into them and decide they were no good? What do you use instead?


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