Day: August 9, 2008

Categories
Issues and Actions

Major Magazines For Free

As you know, “the future of everything is free”.  Certainly in the digital world, if you want anyone to read anything, you have to give it away.  It brightens my day to be able to get any major publication for nothing, even when they are magazines I wouldn’t normally read.  Now if someone will only give me the time it takes it look at them.

Fortunately, the device I found allows me to look at magazines on my iPhone, so the next time I am stuck with nothing to do (when was the last time that happened?), I can browse NME, Technology Today, or even Playboy.  Check out:   .  It’s very simple to set up when you do it directly from your iPhone.
Digital Inspiration also has a neat simple hack to be able to do it from your computer if you like a bigger screen.
Categories
The Next Good Idea

Selling Good Habits

The NY Times (7/13/08) had a great article featuring Val Curtis’ efforts to bring hygiene where there hasn’t been much.  Curtis essentially hacked the marketing world’s methods and used it sell health as opposed to material goods.

A FEW years ago, a self-described “militant liberal” named Val Curtis decided that it was time to save millions of children from death and disease. So Dr. Curtis, an anthropologist then living in the African nation of Burkina Faso, contacted some of the largest multinational corporations and asked them, in effect, to teach her how to manipulate consumer habits worldwide.

“For example, the urge to check e-mail or to grab a cookie is likely a habit with a specific prompt. Researchers found that most cues fall into four broad categories: a specific location or time of day, a certain series of actions, particular moods, or the company of specific people. The e-mail urge, for instance, probably occurs after you’ve finished reading a document or completed a certain kind of task. The cookie grab probably occurs when you’re walking out of the cafeteria, or feeling sluggish or blue.”


The article is filled with many useful observations, like: “Habits are formed when the memory associates specific actions with specific places or moods.” 
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Monsters Are Cool

Sure every city has a good zoo — well, many of them — but how come there isn’t a single Monster Zoo to be found.  What’s wrong with this planet?

At least you can get a daily eye-diet of monsters here.  There’s also a related blog of monsters by the same guy with lots of fun fan submissions like these.