Archive for the ‘How cool is this?’ Category

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Experiments in business

April 20, 2009

Michael Giberson

“The level of experimentation is abysmal,” says Prof List. “These firms do not take full advantage of feedback opportunities they’re presented with. After seeing example after example, we sat down and said, ‘We have to try to do something to stop this.’ One change we could make is to teach 75 to 100 of the best MBA students in the world how to think about feedback opportunities and how to think about designing their own field experiments to learn something that can make their company better.”

From a story in the Financial Times about a class by Steven Levitt and John List, “Using experiments in firms,” taught in the business school at the University of Chicago.

“We’re on a proselytising mission of bringing a different way of thinking,” says Prof Levitt.“We’re trying to bring about a revolution in business….”

(HT to Steven Levitt at Freakonomics)

Posted in Economics, How cool is this? | Tagged , | Comments Off

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Hey, someone in Bakersfield just bought purple Converse hi-tops!

April 9, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

Alex Tabarrok and Zappos FTW!!!!! Check out this ridiculously fun real-time map of Zappos shoe sales. I am sure that this has some massively important implications for social networking, fashion trends, and so on, but it’s also just.darn.cool.

Posted in Economics, How cool is this?, Shoes!, Technology | 2 Comments »

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Vampire killers

April 8, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

No, this is not a post about Buffy, this is about all of those electronic devices that use electricity in standby mode, or device chargers that you leave plugged in when you take your cell phone anad head to work. This very cool vampure graphic from Good points out the worst culprits: plasma TV (by a long shot!), game console, computer, laptop, laser printer. These data may not be definitive, but it’s certainly true that plasma TVs and game consoles are major standby power users in the home.

Today’s Lifehacker has a post on a power strip to help you suffocate those vampires — a mechanical off switch for each outlet on the strip. Simple but effective; leave your vampires plugged in, but turn off the outlet while leaving other devices on the strip plugged in and running.

Here’s my simple-minded smart grid engineering question: does it have to be a mechanical switch to turn off the individual outlets? Why not a software switch? If there’s digital embedded intelligence in the strip, then I can tell my strip and the devices simple rules to follow … such as turning off the power to the outlet once the device is fully charged, or specifying a time when the outlet powers on and therefore powers whatever is plugged into it.

And I bet we could come up with cool things to do with a Bluetooth-enabled power strip …

Posted in Electricity, How cool is this? | 2 Comments »

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Smart flora

March 26, 2009

Michael Giberson

Via Reuters:

Researchers at New York University’s interactive telecommunications program have come up with a device that allows plants to tell owners when they need water or if they’ve had too much via the social network blogging service Twitter.

If only I had had such a device last August, maybe I wouldn’t have overwatered two large pots of Prairie Blazing Stars. Even at $99, the Botanicalls device might save me money over a year or so.

But really, why not cut out the middleman and just teach the plants to call for a drip or two of water when they get thirsty? That would be some smart flora.

Prairie Blazing Star

Posted in House and garden, How cool is this?, Technology | Tagged , | Comments Off

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Coffee shop builds business with Twitter

February 17, 2009

Michael Giberson

Unlike Lynne, I don’t Twitter.  (No Facebook or Myspace, either.  I don’t text from my phone – well, only to reply when my kids text me first; I used to IM, but I don’t anymore.)  I do have a LinkedIn profile, but other than blogging here and responding to the occasional email, that is about as close to ‘social media’ as I get these days.

But I am, as you might say, Twitter-curious.  This story about a Houston coffee house that used Twitter to build business caught my eye.

An excerpt:

On October 31st, 2008 Sean Stoner (@maslowbeer) was hungry. As a regular customer at CoffeeGroundz he sent the following Twitter to Cohen:

sean

Cohen quickly replied and Sean went through the drive-thru at CoffeeGroundz to pick up his burrito.

coffeeground

This simple exchange got a lot of coverage on Twitter and was hailed as potentially the first time that Twitter had ever been used to place a To-Go Order. Seeing an opportunity, Cohen started taking to-go orders via direct message from any of his Twitter Clientele.

CoffeeGroundz offers free Wi-Fi, plenty of outlets, and they serve beer and wine – making it a cross between a Coffee House and a Lounge. Today, customers can order beverages and tasty bites from the comfort of their seat using Direct Messages to @coffeegroundz. How cool is that? You don’t even have to stop working to walk to the counter and order a coffee.

Hat tip to Texas Coffee People.

(By the way, I think the best place in Lubbock to get coffee is Sugar Brown’s, on 50th Street.  They have a Myspace page, but no Twitter so far as I can tell.)

Posted in How cool is this?, Miscellany | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

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Eric Morris: Why you’ll love paying for roads that you don’t pay for now

January 14, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

Eric Morris, guest-blogging at Freakonomics, has two guest posts (one) and (two) on road congestion pricing. Congestion pricing is a much-discussed topic here at KP, and the two Morris posts are excellent discussions of the benefits of congestion pricing. In his first post he explains how variable tolling can generate the optimal level of congestion:

To make tolling truly effective, the price must be right. Too high a price drives away too many cars and the road does not function at its capacity. Too low a price and congestion isn’t licked.

The best solution is to vary the tolls in real time based on an analysis of current traffic conditions. Pilot toll projects on roads (like the I-394 in Minnesota and the I-15 in Southern California) use sensors embedded in the pavement to monitor the number and speeds of vehicles on the facility.

A simple computer program then determines the number of cars that should be allowed in. The computer then calculates the level of toll that will attract that number of cars — and no more. Prices are then updated every few minutes on electronic message signs. Hi-tech transponders and antenna arrays make waiting at toll booths a thing of the past.

How cool is this? In his second post he’s a little Pollyanna-ish when he says

But is this a bad thing? Our transportation system is in trouble and tolls are a fair way of raising the revenue to maintain it. Shouldn’t users of the transportation system bear the burden of its upkeep?

Even better, paying government to use the roads would get us something for nothing. When you pay a toll, the money is transferred from one party (you) to another (the government). Granted, it is annoying to be the one doing the paying, but at least the money goes to a (presumably) good cause, such as an improved transportation system.

But when you sit stuck in traffic, your time is wasted and no one is benefiting. Better to transfer money from one pocket to another than to let all that time go up in smoke.

But his point is correct that a good congestion pricing system that generates revenue and leads to efficient outcomes is better than the current system.

Posted in Economics, How cool is this? | Tagged , | Comments Off

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A bike-powered phone charger

December 23, 2008

Lynne Kiesling

As a cyclist, I occasionally measure my power output on the bike (you fellow bike weenies know how much attention we pay to wattage!), and wonder about using my work to some beneficial purpose beyond my own enjoyment, health, and sports training. There are gyms here and there that use their stationary bikes to contribute to their electricity supply, but here’s an innovation that makes such a use of cycling work more direct and personal: a way to use your power output to charge your cell phone. In addition to being clever, it’s good for cycling safety, reducing the probability of being out on the road with a dead battery.

Posted in Electricity, How cool is this?, Technology | 3 Comments »

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Tuba Tuba Tuba!

November 21, 2008

Michael Giberson

It is the sort of thing that makes me wish I lived nearer New Orleans and simultaneously wonder whether I’d ever get any work done if I did. From the WWOZ website:

WWOZ broadcasts the second annual Tuba Tuba Tuba music festival featuring a 30-sousaphone second-line, live band performances, and street-corner ensembles. Performers include Kirk Joseph, Anders Osbourne, John “Papa” Gros, Big Sam, Philip Frazier, Big Al Carson, Matt Perrine, Craig Klein, Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove, The Tin Men and many more. Tuba Tuba Tuba will also feature a musical tribute to Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen featuring 16 of New Orleans’ greatest tuba players. The festival will be held all throughout the French Market, starting at 11 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. Check back soon to find out the broadcast times and more details.

Five hours long! A 30-sousaphone second-line! Kirk Joseph! Matt Perrine!

The WWOZ notice is illustrated with a photo of Joseph and Perrine from the 2008 JazzFest “Tuba Woodshed” event (click for “tuba woodshed” tagged photos at Flickr) which was surely the most touching musical lovefest I’ve ever attended that featured sousaphones and was carried out in a large tent in the state of Louisiana.

Posted in How cool is this?, Music | Comments Off

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Off-topic college football haiku

November 3, 2008

Michael Giberson

Texas, 33
yet Texas Tech, 39
Autumn weekend game

Also see column by Ivan Maisel at ESPN.com. More.

Posted in How cool is this?, Miscellany | Comments Off

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Betting on the weather as a way to manage risks

August 25, 2008

Michael Giberson

You’ve heard the old joke about the weather, right? — everybody talks about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it. Well now you* can do more than just talk about the weather, you* can bet** on it.

*By “you” I mean, “accredited investors with a minimum net worth of $1 million,” pursuant to CFTC regulations, according to this story about WeatherBill appearing on Portfolio.com. Which isn’t me, but might be you. Or maybe, by “you” I mean, “businesses, not individuals,” due to Federal Trade Commission rules, according to this Newsweek story on WeatherBill.

**By “bet” I don’t mean to imply gambling is involved, according to the WeatherBill site, their contracts are “commodity contracts intended to be used as risk-management instruments.” So by “bet” I just mean you can take on a risk that, for example, you can use to offset a financial weather-based risk you are already exposed to.

WeatherBill is using a lot of weather data and some complex computer processing to open up the specialized world of customized weather risk management and make it available to more kinds of businesses (and perhaps “accredited investors”, too). As mentioned in the Portfolio.com and Newsweek stories, businesses from car washes to ski resorts to restaurants with patios have used WeatherBill to help hedge their exposure to weather-based risks.

Yahoo computer scientist David Pennock offers additional commentary, describing the operation “as a combinatorial prediction market with an automated market maker”. See also discussion on WeatherBill at MidasOracle, including early skeptical remarks by Eric Zitzewitz which appear not to be borne out by WeatherBill’s early and apparently successful experience.

Posted in Economics, How cool is this? | Comments Off

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