Nine Shift

100 Years Ago - The Panic of 1907

NineShifter Heather Smart of Irvine, California, sends us this message and link.

Hello Bill and Julie,

I came across the article below and thought of you.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7050529.stm

Thanks Heather!

The long tail changes economics

The long tail is changing the economics of business in the 21st century.

Three different speakers, including yours truly, talked about the Long Tail economics at the big LERN conference in Orlando last month.

Peter Day summarized it this way. In the last century we had dozens of products for millions of people. In this century we have millions of products for dozens of people.

Another way of looking it. In the last century we had a few products (in green) that made money and supported the hundreds of other products that either lost money or didn't even make it to the shelves.

In this century, however, you can make money even with the sale of just one item. Take Amazon, music on MySpace, EBay and other online retailers for example. 

With millions of products, they can be customized to small audiences.  That's just one implication for how the economics of the long tail is changing the economics of this century. More later.

First snowfall

Maybe in the 21st century we will enjoy more the changes in nature.

Today the first snowfall here in Wisconsin. Everyone's excited.
- People all outside running around in the snow.
- Dogs getting loose from their owners and running through the white stuff.
- Kids slipping on sidewalks and screatching with delight at the new peril.
- Grownups trying to find where they put mittens and scarves last April.
- Christmas decorations sprouting up within hours.
- Yesterday the humming of Christmas carols seemed out-of-season or premature; all of a sudden they are now timely and appropriate.
- Last night Julie said a southerner getting off the plane said she saw "smoke coming from my mouth" down the jetway.
- First timers aghast that it actually does snow and get cold, dashing around with insufficient jackets.

And the wonderful comforting sound of the snow plow coming down the street.
For the next four months if I happen to wake at 3 or 4 a.m. I might hear the snow plow coming down the street, both reassuring (the street will be driveable) and exciting (there's more snow coming down).

It's so nice to be in touch with the seasons, the changing weather, and the flowers, birds and changes in life that go with it, no matter where you live.
(photo: bird feeders on our deck this morning)