Sachin’s Posterous

I was talking to Aviraj last week, trying to convince him to get an iPhone. Aviraj had a common complaint, he didn't want to switch to AT&T. Ok, I'm not going to tell anyone that they should switch to a cell phone carrier that doesn't have the features they want, the coverage they need, or the price they can afford. 

But I did point this out to Aviraj: why are people so damn passionate about the cell phone carrier they use? Most people use shitty Dell computers, drive crappy, broken down cars, and buy the lowest quality, but cheap, products they can from Walmart.

Yet more than anything else, people put their foot down when it comes to picking a cell carrier. For 5 years before the iPhone came out, I was happy with T-Mobile. It probably has the weakest network in this country, but it had what I wanted: it was GSM so I could use phones imported from Japan, and it was cheap.

Think about this: you have a device in your pocket that can let you call anyone in the world, access anything on the internet. Yet if it doesn't work that one time, when you are at that one dude's house, who lives on the top of that random mountain in Santa Cruz... well, life must really suck.

To that point, Aviraj sent me this hilarious video of Louis CK on Conan O' Brian. "Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy"

Kate said it well when we were watching one of the Verizon commercials last night with the weak AT&T map: why do I care about that unless I live in one of those other states?

(and let the die hard Verizon customers start commenting now :) )

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We went to Sears a couple weeks ago to buy a washer and dryer. We need a ventless dryer, which means we really only have one option and it's only sold at Sears. Simple, right? We walk into the store, which is dirty and claustrophobic, and make our way to the appliances section. The area is packed with sales people in blue shirts, just like in the TV commercials. Ok, great.

The salesman knows nothing He's muttering and pointing at things aimlessly, the whole time with this creepy, unnatural smile, probably because Sears tells their staff to "smile a lot." I'm not too worried since I know we have to buy one particular unit. If we had more options, Sears would be the wrong store to shop at.

There are price discrepancies vs Sears.com I make him adjust for. I find out there's a sale starting in 3 *HOURS* so I tell him he has to give me that discount as well (if I hadn't seen the sales flyer, he wouldn't have said anything). He tries to sell me installation kits and other extras that he can't even show me or tell me why I need them. (It's an electric, ventless dryer. I don't need a gas pipe or vent hose).

I get a rebate for free delivery, and another from the city for water saving machines. I pay 20% less than the advertised (sale) price, not including the rebates. Most people would have paid the posted price. I walked out with a great deal, but the experience was appalling.

I signed up for Comcast service last weekend, the first time I'm personally signing up for cable, ever. Unbelievably bad experience. If you just compare Comcast's service, plans, website, satisfaction ratings, pricing with DirecTV or Dish Network, the difference is ridiculous.

I spoke to someone on the phone for an hour who, again, KNEW NOTHING. She was trying to up-sell me from the starter to preferred package. "You get 50 more channels." "Which channels?" "I don't know." Are you kidding me? And people sign up for this shit?

Their promotions are confusing, the pricing doesn't add up. They nickel and dime you for everything. Hidden fees left and right. Their whole process is designed to confuse you, overcharge you, and dupe unknowing customers.

When I ask for the price on something, I get a range. "$15-20." Ummm, why can't you tell me how much it is? Do you order at a restaurant given a price range? Their computers must be wildly out of date.

When scheduling installation, I'm asked to have a check or money order for the installation fee (which I eventually argued out of). Money order? Are you kidding me? Just send me a bill. Put it on my credit card. What year is this??

The crazy thing is that both Sears and Comcast are *trying* to claim they're improving their customer service. Sears has the "sears blue appliance crew" and Comcast has their @comcastcares twitter handle. You know, instead of trying to tell the world that they are improving their customer service, maybe they should start by actually making it better.

I'm not asking for much. Just someone who knows something about the product they are selling, and pricing that is clear and fair. Come on guys, your competition is killing you here. I am giving you my money simply because I have no other choice. If I did, you would be dead to me.

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The Milk is a gorgeous, minimalist desk designed specific for Macs. It doesn't get any cleaner or sexier than this. Unfortunately it's $5000 and not available in this country. You HAVE to check out their website: http://www.milk.dk

         

Click here to download:

Im_looking_for_a_new_desk._The.zip (410 KB)

Another interesting (but still too pricey) option, the OneLessDesk: http://hecklerdesign.com/onelessdesk 

Anyone have other recommendations? Office Depot and Ikea desks are so boring! I just want something simple, no drawers, but designed for computers (hidden wire compartments, etc).

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Kate and I went to Las Vegas last month. I've always loved Vegas, and Kate had never been, so we really did it up. Room at the Wynn, Love Cirque du Soleil, brunch at The Country Club, dinners at Sushisamba and L'atelier, gondolda ride, New York rollercoaster... And of course all the random shopping and hotel touring.

You can see all our pictures from there trip here.

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Click here to download:

Steve_Jobs_is_CEO_of_the_decad.zip (1130 KB)

Even with my 13+ year obsession with Apple and Steve Jobs, I'm seeing many of these photos for the first time.

Congratulations, Steve. You've had a major impact on computing, design, and my life.

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Being able to post to Posterous without an account was something we designed for from day one, even before the name "Posterous" existed. I didn't want there to be hurdles like registration forms and email confirmations for new users.

Emailing to Posterous without an account is actually great for us in a couple different ways. First is the typical "try before you buy" scenario. It makes more sense for a user to *use* the service and see how great it is, before we ask them to sign up. But obviously, most of our users do eventually sign up to get access to all our advanced features.

But sign-up free posting is also great for group sites. When you setup a group Posterous site, you add contributors by adding their email address in site settings. Those people can now email post@sitename.posterous.com with no account. We do see these people engage with Posterous in the long term with no account, especially users who aren't tech savvy.

Using Posterous without an account isn't just some gimmick we did with email, it's something we believe in through and through. Registrations forms and other hurdles slow down adoption. We want to prove to you how valuable our service is *before* we ask you to sign up. That's why we allow this flow not just through email, but through our Twitter posting API and even our iPhone application.

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I was in Vegas last week for Blog World Expo, a fairly small convention for bloggers and other social media pros. Most conferences we go to are a complete waste of time, so I was hesitant to go. But it turned out to be one of the coolest, most valuable tech meet ups I've attended

Blog World Expo is a gathering of bloggers, *our users*. I was able to meet a ton of Posterous users, people who should be on Posterous, and lots of people who teach blogging for a living. It was a great way to see how people blog and what features they need.

Blog World Expo felt more "real" than conferences like SXSW. The sessions were actually useful, people were actually there to share and learn. People were talking about Twitter and how best to use Twitter, but they weren't blinded by Twitter.

I particularly enjoyed listening to Jay Thompson talk about how he uses social media. "Don’t write for the search engines, write for your readers." Trying to get more page views and more followers is just ego.

SXSW, on the other hand, is all about networking. It's about meeting people and going to parties. That's definitely fun, but it's not clear to me why we all need to travel to Austin for this, or why we need to spend money on the conference, or how people can afford to take so much time off.

Posterous will definitely be at Blog World Expo in the coming years, probably with a booth next year. Doesn't hurt that I totally love Vegas :).

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