Hint for useful manuals: cover the features
Jakob Nielsen’s latest post on usability pointed to an interesting article on cellphone “function fatigue.” The USA Today article reports: “Manufacturers have become so enamored of cool features — including cameras, recording devices and...
This week in customer DISservice…
Here’s another tale from the customer service (or should I say, disservice) files, this one from my internet service provider. I was away for five days, and I mean AWAY — no laptop, tablet, not even a cell phone. My voice mail message was clear that I was out of...Blogs and newsletters – separated at birth
E-newsletters and blogs have a lot in common, as Nick Usborne describes (in an e-newsletter about writing; subscribe here): 1. Good newsletters and blogs seek to engage your attention at a personal level. 2. Good newsletters and blogs both deliver timely information....
Customer service tips (which Blue Mountain should read)
If you want to read a refreshing perspective on customer service, read “Seven steps to remarkable customer service” by Joel Spolsky, a software developer in New York City. Reading what his company does about customer service made me want to buy the software, and I...Ragan’s right: Warn readers when a link leads to a PDF
Ragan Communications’ free monthly newsletter, Grapevine (“Tips and tactics from the world of corporate communications”), shares a beef of mine this issue. Among the tips in a story called “What do you want from a Web site?” is avoiding my pet peeve: downloadable...How are advertisers going to reach millennials?
My 20-year-old son is home from university for reading week, and I notice that every time he takes the car out, he changes the radio to CD mode. He says it’s because he has no patience for radio. Two reasons: The stations don’t often play what he wants to...Bedeguar drove me to the dictionary
Now here’s a word you don’t run across very often: bedeguar. I had to search many places to find out it means “a gall produced on rosebushes,” gall being a type of fungus. Looking at that definition, you might be surprised to find out the word was not used in a...
Nora feels bad about her neck
Just had to share another book that recently showed up at my local library (I was 29th on the “hold” list!): Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman. I had read an excerpt in a magazine and found it hugely funny,...