Green Box: Pizza Box Turns into Plates & Storage Unit

This disposable packaging design has potential since every bit of reduced consumption helps.  From Environmentally Conscious Organization:

The pizza box design has remained unchanged for the past thirty years. For your customers, the box is too unwieldy to store uneaten pizza and takes up too much space in the trash can and is totally environmentally unfriendly.  For your company, it is an underutilized marketing tool that until now, ignored the time and attention paid to it by customers. With the introduction of our revolutionary new environmentally friendly box manufactured from 100% recycled material the Green Box (United States Patent 7,051,919), these issues have finally been addressed and overcome!

Form Follows Function and Features Follow Flexibility

Louis Sullivan

 ”Form follows function” was made famous by Louis Sullivan, stating that the shape of a building is driven by it’s purpose.  From a technology perspective, the phrase “features follow flexibility” is equally appropriate.  I believe that a gadget’s many individual features are ultimately less important than the overall flexibilty it offers.  

Let’s use my iPhone as an example.  Its touchscreen is OK, the email app is rough around the edges, and the lack of cut & paste is brutal.  So then, even with these shortfalls why has Steve’s Jesus phone outsold the wildly popular Motorola RAZR?  Flexibility.  It multi-functions as a calendar, media player, web browser, and phone.  It’s a single platform that takes care of all my communication and productivity needs when I’m away from my computer.  Each atomic feature enhances the overall value of the iPhone. 

Consumers tend to buy based on feature lists, and it’s OK to want a gadget that’s smaller, faster, and jammed with more features.  Unfortunately, business owners make technology purchasing decisions based on a subconscious attraction to the bells and whistles- and without assessing the overall flexibility of the technology. Business owners must not buy based on features because they’ll end up with technology for technlogy’s sake. 

That’s an ironic statement since what I do at M5 Networks (an on-demand phone system provider) is help build new features into our core platform.  A softswitch must have key features and functionality to be competitive, yet it’s the flexibility of our platform that delivers the business impact to our clients.  Here’s an example- each of our phones is a network device with an IP address which means that it can be used anywhere with a cable/DSL connection.  Unlike traditional office phones, our clients relocate our phones as easily as laptops.  

The significance is that anyone can easily (and for free) relocate an office phone to a home office, effectively extending the workplace and eliminating commute time.  Also worth mentioning is that notebook sales surpassed PCs for first time in US.   Now my laptop and M5 phone has useful features, however it’s the overall flexibility which freed me from my office and increased my effectiveness at home- a win for any business.

Business Phone System Innovations

My company, M5 Networks, provides an outsourced business phone system.  If you work in a office, then you’ve used a business phone system (or PBX).  Your office phone, and the “brains” that it’s connected to, enables you to get your work done.  Fortune 1000 companies have understood that well-run phone systems can transform their businesses.  But mid-sized businesses have difficulty realizing similar transformations.  That’s because business phone systems are complex and require an army of techs- a luxury for mid-sized companies.  M5 Networks has changed that.

How is M5 Networks able to bring this enterprise-class phone system to the mid-sized business?  We do it by reinventing the delivery model.  M5 delivers Voice as a Service.  We run a hosted phone system platform and deliver voice services to our clients over a private IP network optimized for voice.

All of our clients have thrown out their phone systems and opted for M5’s Voice as a Service.  Over the next weeks, I’ll highlight reasons why clients choose us.  Specifically, we help them in 10 business impact areas.

Green Milk is Good

Consumers complained when Walmart/Sam’s Club replaced the instantly-recognizable one gallon milk jug with this new design.  

This package design has several benefits.  From Walmart’s press release:

Today’s new square or case-less milk jugs do not require crates or racks for shipping and storage. Instead, the newly designed milk gallon is self stacking because the spout is flatter and each gallon can rest on another during transport, as well as while on display.

Importantly, the redesigned milk container is much greener.  Just how much greener?  See this NY Times graphic for the full story.  Also,

They pack much tighter, fitting nearly three times as many in every cooler, saving money and energy, and requiring 60% fewer trucks.

say Andrew Winston’s Leading Green blog.

It’s inspiring to see packaging innovation that has a positive impact on the environment.  Changing consumer behavior is challenging, but who says green milk can’t be good?

Dropbox: Another Storage Service in the Cloud

If you’re looking for an online storage service, consider Dropbox.  It’s elegant and simply works as advertised.  Dropbox is:

… the easiest way to store and share files in the cloud, combining online sync, sharing and backup into a single interface that’s seamlessly integrated into your operating system. It’s the only truly cross-platform cloud storage solution, with support for Windows, Mac OS X and now Linux.

Dropbox presented at TechCrunch50, here’s the screencast. 

Installing Dropbox is straightforward.  Download, configure a few settings, and then either choose a folder for Dropbox to use or accept their default. Then you drag and drop files to the Dropbox folder just like a any other folder on your PC. Files automagically sync to the cloud.  Other nice-to-have features include a web interface and the ability to create shared folders to collaborate with others.  Full tour here.

Behind the scenes, Dropbox encrypts and then stores your files on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3).  Many web 2.0 companies use Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) as their core infrastructure too.  And many of these were impacted by the outages earlier this year.  Since Dropbox relies on Amazon, you rely on Amazon.  You need to be OK with that.  

I’m using Dropbox on several PCs with no issues.  Previously, I used Xdrive for almost a year, and it was plagued with overall sluggishness.  I switched back to a keychain USB before I took the leap again with Dropbox.

The main benefit to storing your files with Dropbox is that you have access to them anywhere. My only complaint is the storage capacity.  With a service that just works, 2GB of storage is a tease.  Wait- did I mention it’s free?

Download Dropbox here.

Ta-da Lists + iPhone = GTD Nirvana

 

 

Problem:
You and your spouse are busy professionals.  The two of you share the responsibility to pick up groceries depending on who can swing by the supermarket first.  You don’t want to duplicate shopping efforts and it’s tricky keeping shopping lists in sync when you scribble items on Post-its. 

Solution:
Ta-da Lists on an iPhone.

How it works:
Go to Ta-da Lists, make a grocery list and share it with your spouse.   When either of you are at the supermarket, access the list from your iPhone and check off the items you buy.  Since the list is updated in real-time on the web server, and not just on your iPhone, you’ll both have the lastest.

No mess, no fuss, and no paper- todo lists that reside in the cloud.

Ta-da Lists is from 37signals and is free.

Ta-da List is the web’s easiest to-do list tool. Make lists for yourself or share them with others. It couldn’t be simpler.

“GTD” is David Allen’s Getting Things Done action managment methodology.

M5 Networks makes the 2nd Annual Inc. 5000

 

The Inc. 5000 is an expansion of the Inc. 500, which Inc. introduced in 1982. The Inc. 5000 includes the Inc. 500 but digs deeper to offer the most comprehensive look ever at the entrepreneurial engine driving the U.S. economy. 

We’re excited that our company, M5 Networks, is included among a short list of dynamic private companies. We ranked No. 2,065 on Inc. 5000 The Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.  And we made No. 62 in the Top 100 Telecommunications Companies. 

Last year we made #1,845, and in 2006 M5 Networks made it’s first appearance ranked No. 272 on the Inc. magazine’s 25th annual Inc. 500 list.  

Recognition by Inc. magazine is always fantastic,  yet the real excitement is knowing that we’re changing the way companies purchase business phones.  Read what our CEO, Dan Hoffman, says on Inc.com’s blog Reinventing Business: Voice as a Service.  

Next: The wonderful simplicity of Ta-da Lists and how it has simplified our lives, GTD-style.

Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 Is Warming Up

It’s true. Here Comes Kindle 2.0 says BusinessWeek’s Peter Burrows.

Design and feature refinements should make the Amazon Kindle 2.0 a more attractive e-book reader.   However, as I discussed in my post (Will Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 Ignite the Fire?) it’s the initial cost of the device that’s preventing mass appeal.  Burrow’s sources say that Amazon has responded by offering the Kindle 2.0 for $299 or even $249.

Reasonable price(s) for a device- what about content?   Monthly subscription plans similar to Audible.com’s would be attractive and make sense.  Let’s connect the dots. Since Amazon purchased Audible.com in January for $300 million, neither Amazon nor Audible.com have announced any strategic plans.  The only mention of Audible.com is one sentence on the Kindle product page under the heading “Audiobooks” (halfway down).

Amazon understands books and publishers- and it already owns Audible.com, a subscription-based books on-demand service.  You can bet that my Amazon Christmas wish list will have a Kindle 2.0 with a subscription bundle.

Thanks to Eric for Gizmodo’s Kindle Rumors Say Next Version Coming Fall Will Be Thinner, Cheaper, Much More Stylish.

Come Fly the Nickel and Dime Skies

JetBlue starts selling blankets and pillows.

Yes, JetBlue.

Although they are new and you purchase, not rent them- JetBlue has already taken a reputation hit. Other major airlines are also charging for items from soda to checked luggage. See Airline Fees: Who’s the Stingiest? for a full rundown.

So, why is there a backlash against JetBlue?

Because for travelers, JetBlue represents the non-airline option. And for JetBlue loyalists, who religiously stood by even after their flights were canceled last winter, this latest revenue-generating tactic did not jive with their brand.

JetBlue customers expect the company they rave about to be consistent- in service and brand authenticity. Especially, since charging for pillows is inconsistent with their Happy Jetting campaign which evokes the notion that air travel is glamorous.

JetBlue can increase prices for refundable tickets, just don’t charge for DIRECTV next.

Blockbuster Predicts the Future

DALLAS/DAYTON, Ohio, Aug. 4, 2008 – Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI, BBI.B), a leading global provider of media entertainment, and NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), a global leader in self-service and assisted-service technology, have entered into an agreement to deploy Blockbuster-branded, state-of-the-art DVD vending kiosks in a pilot program that could be the first step of a national rollout of thousands of units.

“Consumers can now leave the comfort of their homes, drive several miles to a retail location and get a DVD without speaking to a human” said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and CEO. He adds, “Why would we allow our consumers to download movies instantly? Standing in line at one of our retail locations on Friday evening is integral to the entertainment experience” He cites Apple’s iTunes as a horrible experience.

Select Blockbuster retail stores will also offer hot popcorn from Hello Kitty vending machines and other  conveniences.

In an effort to stay one step ahead, both Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery, simultaneously issued press releases announcing by the end of the year they will begin offering customers the ability to rent Video Home System cassettes (VHS) tapes.

Full (and Official) Press Release
Blockbuster and NCR Announce Strategic Alliance To Launch DVD Vending Kiosks