Musings of a Marketing Maven

Christine Thompson> What's on my mind: life and work

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Entries Tagged as 'Tools & Technology'

“Open Table” for Yoga Bookings?

February 3rd, 2010 · 4 Comments · Tools & Technology, Yoga

As a busy yoga enthusiast, I sometimes wonder what would happen if yoga studios within a given metro area agreed to an “Open Table” model for class bookings. (Open Table is a centralized reservation service for restaurants that operates in major cities, including iPhone and other smartphone apps.)
In an ideal world I’d take 6-8 weekly [...]

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Mortgage Refinancing: A Brave New World

February 3rd, 2010 · No Comments · Back to Basics, Tools & Technology

We’re in the midst of refinancing our home, to take advantage of the current attractive rates. It’s been an eye-opening experience to see how the process has evolved since we last refinanced 5-8 years ago.
The lenders’ reliance upon web-based data collection services has certainly eased our burden,

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Following Through on New Year’s Resolutions

December 30th, 2009 · No Comments · Back to Basics, Creativity, Tools & Technology

It’s that time of year again, time to review what worked (and what didn’t) in 2009, imagine new possibilities, dream, and set intentions for the coming year. I’ve been enjoying the process of setting some actionable goals for 2010, while identifying some larger aspirations that I’d like to translate into action.
To prepare my plan for [...]

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Are Digital Models Influencing the Business of Yoga?

December 17th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Tools & Technology, Yoga

My Seattle yoga studio is undergoing what its founder calls a “rebirth,” overhauling its web presence, expanding the class roster, and offering online class registration and payment options. Finally!
This is a smart decision, as they have limited space, a growing number of qualified teachers, and increasing demand for their classes and workshops. On one noteworthy [...]

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Falling Out of Love with QuickBooks

October 30th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Brand Matters, Tools & Technology

For years I’ve loved QuickBooks – a tool that made managing my company’s money remarkably pleasant. I used to rave about it to colleagues. But over the past several product releases I’ve become disenchanted; I think Intuit has lost its way, and has lost sight of whose interest it was pursuing.
No longer customer centered
With its [...]

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Visualizing Your Digital Persona

October 13th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Brand Matters, Tools & Technology

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have released an online tool that  attempts to characterize your digital persona based on data mining of online resources.
Right now the tool is in the fun and exploratory phase, but it offers food for thought. Have you ever wondered what your digital fingerprints might look like, if there [...]

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Nice Update from TweetDeck

September 25th, 2009 · No Comments · Social Media for Business, Tools & Technology

My PC now sports a nice update from TweetDeck. It’s smart enough to shorten URLs automatically, and supports drag-and-drop of photos to Twitter, Facebook or MySpace.
Nice time-saving features…

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Why Don’t They Listen to Their Customers?

September 24th, 2009 · No Comments · Back to Basics, Tools & Technology

The idea of phone companies listening to their customers is perhaps an oxymoron, but I haven’t given up hope.
Browsing Verizon’s list of supported cell phones, I was struck by their obvious lack of needs-based segmentation. Like most carriers, they seem

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Sharing Can Be Addictive

July 14th, 2009 · No Comments · Creativity, Tools & Technology

My family is getting ready to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday. We decided to create a “memory book” in which we’d collect family photos, stories, family recipes. At the end of this process she’ll end up with:

a printed book of photos and images, courtesy of Shutterfly (or equivalent service)
a printed booklet of stories and recipes
perhaps [...]

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Working with Windows 7

July 1st, 2009 · 1 Comment · Tools & Technology

Alright, I confess: I’m a closet geek (or at least my husband says so). The latest evidence? Yesterday I installed the release candidate for Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro under Boot Camp.
Ironically it took me as long to install Windows 7 RC1 as it took the plumber

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