How Groupon makes unsubscribing fun

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Coby Chapple

Recently I signed up for Groupon to see what all the fuss was about. Even though they don’t offer services to any cities on this side of the world yet, I can see that they’ve got a great business model going on. Since then I’ve been receiving daily emails from them but nothing relevant to me being outside the US. So I finally got around to unsubscribing today and the page I landed on once I’d unsubscribed let me punish someone! They have an interactive tool that lets you take your revenge on the guy who thought it would be a good idea to send you the emails. It’s not real of course, but it’s fun, memorable and lets you know that they’re on your side. Check it out for yourself without having to subscribe.

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Flipping Evolution: Apple’s Magic Trackpad

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Coby Chapple

The way mice used to beAt first, there was the humble mouse. Then, as the concept of laptop computers came around, the trackpad was conceived as a replacement for the mouse. Many people would typically rather use a mouse than a trackpad any-day, but Apple seems to be changing that – and changing it quickly.

Apple laptop trackpadBy enhancing the trackpads built-in to their laptops, Apple have created many new and more useful ways to interact with trackpads. Their multi-touch technology has allowed new manipulations such as scrolling, swiping, and pinching to become part of the way we interact with our computers physically. This evolution has taken what was originally a poor alternative for a mouse, and transformed it into a device that is actually better in many ways.

Apple magic trackpadAnd now for the killer: they’re bringing trackpads to desktop computers. That’s right – they’re flipping the evolution of this device by letting this new way of interacting replace the mouse on your desktop mac. Makes you wonder: can you do something similar with your product?

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Build your sites for the right audience

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Coby Chapple

So you’ve build your website with your existing, regular, enthusiastic customers in mind, and you’ve given them everything they need to help you sell to them. Great. The trap many businesses fall into next is this: they try and turn the same site into a way to attract new customers too – so they add a whole bunch of content targeted at many varied groups of potential customer demographics on each page. Not-so-great.

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Is technology slowing you down?

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Coby Chapple

Technology can make our lives easier in ways we could have never imagined ten (or even five) years ago, and for this reason it is almost exclusively portrayed as a good thing. There’s a problem here though, and that is this: technology is created to solve problems, but what happens when technology causes problems? The solution that most people turn to: more technology.

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