MOMOKO MASHUPS

USPS: From Bankruptcy Woes To A Digital World

In 2011 the U.S. Postal Service announced that it is on its way off the fiscal cliff. The troubled institution is beginning to shutter offices across the country to stem an ever-growing $9.2 billion dollar deficit meanwhile the entire agency expects to lose another $14 billion dollars by the end of this year. As it struggles with near bankruptcy, the USPS is reacting with several measures to stop the financial bleeding. Some proposed solutions include cutting Saturday service to a 5-day delivery system, increasing the price of stamps to 46 cents for First Class Delivery, and asking Congress to restructure their health and retirement systems so USPS may have more control over labor operations.

The problem is Congress stands in the way of reform. The agency is currently lobbying a bill to gain independence from Congress so that it may start to make business decisions independently and pursue more aggressive cuts. As soon as the agency can begin to operate like a private business, it can cut back on brick-and-mortar locations to reach financial solvency and invest in digital innovation.

The next major challenge moving forward is how USPS can stay relevant in the modern world, where communication moves at the speed of mega bits per second on high speed broadband and 4G LTE networks and thanks to emergence of new communication technologies like texting, file sharing, and the rise of social networks in the recent decades. We are accustomed to connecting with friends and family, and getting the information we need instantaneously. An overwhelming 86% of Americans (ages 12-69) use email over “snail” mail. The postal service currently relies on the sales of First Class mail stamps as a major revenue stream. This financial model is broken and USPS must think about how they can leverage existing assets, such as improving service and using its large network of addresses and distribution routes to merge these with opportunities in the digital world.

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DVF Debuts Google Project Glass On The Runway

Fashion’s heavyweight, Diane von Furstenberg and Google may be one of the most interesting matches this season. At this year’s New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013, Google teamed up with the celebrated fashion designer to showcase Google’s Project Glasses.

The eyewear worn by some of DVF’s models are actual prototypes and were shown in various colors that matched the silhouettes, sculpted ruffles, polka dots, and color-blocking of each ensemble. Backstage the designer was wearing pair of glasses herself as she ushered the models onto the runway. The glasses have a built-in camera on the right-side of the eye that will record the entire show.

It’s apparent that Google is taking steps toward branding its geeky gadget as a must-have wearable high fashion accessory, especially with one of fashion’s biggest influencers. Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, says:

“We were at a conference together and we were testing out a prototype,” Brin said of the collaboration. “I talked about it to her and she [Diane von Furstenberg] loved it. We thought about it. It’s really a perfect combination. What we really have been going for is style and comfort, and I can’t really think of a brand that signifies that better than Diane’s.” 

Project Glass’s appearance at Fashion Week is its first officially endorsed appearance after its concept reveal early this year. Sergey Brin adds,

“It’s been under development for over two years now, and the goal is to really connect you to digital life without really taking you away from real life,” Brin said. It looked like he was wearing a pair of sporty blue-and-gray sunglasses without the lenses. “You can [record] video, still [images], get text messages — reply to them and things like that,” Brin said. “We have hundreds of ideas, we just only have so much time to implement them now.”

The device will likely include navigation functionality and photo capabilities. It is slated to sell at less than $1,500 when it hits the market in 2013.

The footage recorded on the runway will be featured in a short film called, “DVF Through Glass,” and also gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look into DVF’s creative process in bringing her collections to life. The film will be released on September 13 on the designer’s Google+ page and YouTube channel.

Future of Retail: Gilt Groupe’s Launch Into Content

Aside from focusing on social media to engage brands, the future of engagement for retail brands will consist of not only the e-commerce platform, but another platform that informs, entertains, and spreads culture to its target audiences. This article from WSJ elaborates:

“The trend comes as the e-commerce and media industries are searching for new sources of growth. For America’s $140 billion online retail industry, which has largely built itself on convenience and price, adding entertainment and information to the mix offers powerful new lures. Media companies are embracing e-commerce as a supplement to online advertising, whose growth has slowed and which is being spread across a widening number of sites.“

A recent beautiful example is Gilt Groupe, the online flash sale site that has changed the way e-commerce shopping works. Instead of showcasing infinite products for an infinite time period (like Amazon) that relies on the longtail approach, Gilt hosts sales of specific items for a max of 24 hours, and the products manage to sell out. The next day at noon is another sale where there are new products, giving the repeat shopper an incentive to come back ever more frequently.

It’s not only about the uber hot luxury brands they feature on its e-commerce site, it’s about Gilt, the retailer.

Gilt created the Gilt MANual, The Daily Guide for Permanent Style: Men’s Fashion, Gear, Travel to strengthen the retail brand as well as be an authority in men’s fashion, design trends, and a place where guys can seek style advice. This is another way to really engage in the target audience, the blog is not only re-enforcing the retail brand story, but also providing more personality, and ultimately entertaining the Gilt shopper for top-of-mind brand awareness.

Will Airtime Revolutionize Video Chat?

When Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning first teamed up in the late 1990s, they changed the way people share and discover music, with Napster. They’re hoping to be similarly disruptive with their new startup, Airtime, which lets users conduct video chats with Facebook friends and like-minded strangers over the Web. Parker and Fanning, who themselves met in an online chat room, unveiled the service Tuesday at a New York event that included celebrity guests and technical glitches, as several attempts at Airtime calls failed in front of the crowd.

Airtime, which requires users to have a Facebook account and a computer with a webcam, has long been in the works, with little known about it previously beyond that it would be a social video company. Though it may sound a lot like the online video chat service Chatroulette, which went viral in 2010 but has since stagnated, the serendipity built into Airtime is more controlled, since you’re matched up with strangers according to shared interests and location (and users who are under 18 are only matched with each other). The site also lets you “watch” YouTube videos with chat partners, and the company says it will soon add additional ways to share media. The company’s founders are betting that this approach will bring in new users in an already crowded online video space, which includes services like Skype, Hangouts on Google+, and Ustream, and keep them coming back. (more on MIT Technology Review)

The big idea 

In a hope to restore “surprise and serendipity in the Internet,” Sean Parker co-founded Airtime because he felt that the current repertoire of social web experiences were ‘boring.’ Parker does have a point on this one since mosts social networks like Facebook actually prevents you from meeting someone new. The ability to pair video chat partners with shared interests and age group, and watch Youtube with your chat partner are the latest new features. Will these features be revolutionary enough to combat services like Skype and Google + Hangouts? For now the majority of users are male with start-up backgrounds and it can be a serendipitous place to network with entrepreneur super stars, like the Zuck.

An Afterthought on Experience and Creativity

Bob McKim is a Professor of Design at Stanford University, heading the Joint Program in Design, one of the most prestigious design schools in the world (since its creation in 1958, the program has only had about 300 graduates).

McKim highly researched creativity, the process and nature of it, and one of his most famous experiments was deceptively simple.

He gave a group of adults a pencil and paper and asked them to draw the person next to them in about 30 seconds, as best they could.

After they were finished, they were told to share their results with the person they drew. In almost every session, the adults would be embarrassed, apologizing to the person they drew for the drawing.

Bob would do the same exact test on a group of children, with much different results. The children weren’t embarrassed about their drawings one bit and didn’t apologize. They were proud of their drawings and would boastfully show it to everyone in the groups.

Our experiences as we grow into adults makes us sensitive to the opinions of others, and this is what stops us from pursuing our desires.

Lets not forget what it means to be a kid.

(Source: ted.com)

via theessentialman