Customers with a ShopRite loyalty card will be able to log into a Web site at home and type in their grocery lists; when they get to the store and swipe their card on the MediaCart console, the list will appear. As shoppers scan their items and place them in their cart, the console gives a running price tally and checks items off the shopping list.
I just wonder if it will really be as cool as it sounds.
They needed research to confirm this?! I could have told you this years ago.
NEW YORK – Think twice before you copy someone on an e-mail or hit "reply all." Such practices have made today’s workers less productive, a research firm concludes.
After years of naming a product or person of the year, Basex Inc. decided to forecast "information overload" as problem of the year for 2008.
‘Reply all’ can lower worker productivity – Careers- msnbc.com
Having grown up near Boston, and now living on the west coast, I’m consistently confronted with the "age-old" debate about East Coat vs. West Coast (west sieeeed! <insert white-girl finger gestures here>).
The generalization I’ve always made is this:
On the west coast people are really friendly and it’s really easy to approach a perfect stranger, but it’s not often that you ever get to a deeper friendship or relationships. Natives, especially, aren’t that interested in bringing you "into their fold". There isn’t a pervasive sense of community support, it’s a bit more isolating and a more of a "you do what you want, i’ll do what i want, and we’ll kindly stay out of eachother’s business."
Comparatively, on the east coast it’s really hard to make initial contact and people aren’t immediately that friendly. But, once you’ve spent enough time with people to become friends, you’re as good as family. You’re community will know you and support you and they’ll also know what time you take a piss and gossip about it no matter what.
I won’t weigh in on one being better than the other. I’ve grown with both long enough to say it’s just different and this video says a lot about "my people back home". On Disability Awareness Day a man, with Autism, was singing the National Anthem at Fenway and go the giggle. The Boston Community rose to the occasion:
The phrase, "It takes a village" comes to mind.
Love you Boston.
Thanks Maureen for sending this.
BUY LESS. No, seriously. Think about this:
Fast Company wrote that the National Retail Federation predicts that Americans will spend almost $475 billion dollars this holiday season.
On November 7th I listened to Dr. Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada, President of the Global Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speak about how healthcare in the United States is a $2 billion dollar institution and any organization, or individual, that attempts to improve the healthcare system in the United States would need more than $2 billion dollars based on how the business of market impact works today.
What about $475 billion dollars? Does that sound like enough?
Think about if we all bought half as much. That’s about $237 billion dollars.
What problems could we fix if we had $237 billion dollars?
According to Dr. Yamada, we have a shot with healthcare. But there is also education, national disaster relief and debt to consider – among many other broken institutions. Not only would we have $237 billion dollars to spend on significant issue in our society, but also reap the benefits of less consumerism: we would create a lot less trash from our all gift garbage (have you been to a landfill lately?), we would need less oil for the shipping trucks and our cars to transport all the gifts, and – best of all – you’ll probably be spared receiving that handful or crap gifts from co-workers, friends and relatives that feel obliged to give everyone something. Oh, and you’ll be spared needing to rush out with the holiday crowd to get gifts for them. See? Everybody wins!!
So next time you’re thinking about joining the droves of holiday shoppers this year, think about the gift of giving and what that could mean for you and your family this year if you bought less.
Where to Start (Update)
Ann (Grease Girl) made an excellent suggestion for a web site that has a great assortment of non-material gift suggestions: http://www.changingthepresent.org/:
Our gift registries and wish lists are a wonderful way to let your friends know just how you would like to commemorate a birthday, wedding, memorial, or any special event. Whether you ask them to provide a child with her first book, fund an hour of cancer research, or dig a well in Kenya, your friends can make a donation and send you a beautiful, personalized greeting card to announce the gift.
I smell a theme here. One that I like a lot! I think "National Telecommute Week" is hilarious and a great idea!
"The best part of telework is that it improves the quality of life for all," Wolf said in his written statement Tuesday. "Nearly 20 million Americans telework today, and according to experts, at least 40% of American jobs are compatible with telework. Telework reduces traffic congestion and air pollution. It reduces gas consumption and our dependency on foreign oil."
Wolf said telework provides parents with flexibility to meet personal and professional demands, increases opportunities for people with disabilities, and helps fill the nation’s labor market shortage. He also said that companies reap benefits, including cost savings, lower absentee rates, increased retention, higher productivity, and improved morale.
‘National Telework Week’ Gets A Show Of Congressional Support — Telecommuting — InformationWeek
Anyone who tries to hold their corporate "flexible work policy" in front of this as an equal comparison is lying to everyone, including themselves.
I have always wondered if there will ever be a day where America, and the rest of the world, created a social structure would allow people to pick their heads up from trying so hard to earn the life they want and actually be able to live the life they want.
There is a trickle-down affect that everyone will appreciate when you allow people to take care of their families and get out in the world. Suddenly, magically, everyone gets more of what they need (including businesses getting more money).
Best Buy is making a gutsy move and I completely applaud them.
I was sitting in a re-org meeting today when the person answering the "rude Q&A" said that we need to be "planful" about what we’re doing as we approach how we work in the new organization. Fairly certain that "planful" was not a real word, I consulted the web to verify my thinking. I first went to wikipedia to see if the web had made the word "planful" a "wikiality". While many variations on the word "plan" were returned, even wikipedia turned up no result for "planful". I then did a search on the word "planful" with my trusty little Windows Live Toolbar and, to my complete delight found this page:
Link to It Ought To Be Simple: Manuscripts
Hysterical that I am not the only one suffering from this ridiculous business-speak. This is as annoying as adding the prefix "super" on everything as in, "I’m super-excited about the opportunity we have with this new organization."
There are days where I feel like corporate America is making me dumber and dumber. This is total proof.
Screen shot of the Windows Live Toolbar doing a "definition" look up of the word "planful"
I’m always fascinated by population segmentation and generation labeling that helps people explain what is happening in the world. Whoever is in charge of defining this kind of stuff is creating some crazy social movements. Johnathan Pontell (http://www.jonathanpontell.com/index.htm) seems to be one of those people.
Generation Jones is the segmentation of people born between 1954 and 1965, and don’t feel like they are part of The Baby Boom Generation nor Generation X. There’s a whole explanation for why they flew under the radar and why they are emerging now: http://www.generationjones.com/files/weare/home1.htm.
Who knew?
