I stumbled upon this site by David Hudd while looking up some of Bridget Riley’s excellent art today.

It is a site for disgruntled users of Apple PowerBooks with faulty screens to post their grievances in spite of Apple’s efforts at censoring these complaints on their official sites.

“Apple constantly close down, lock or delete any threads containing manufactoring[sic] information, photographs or links …

In smaller businesses or teams with low-rise hierarchies (a flat organisation), I have noticed that there is a higher risk for certain personalities to take on perceived responsibilities for beyond their official capacity.

Examples: A junior programmer feels responsible for the financial welfare of the company. A manager feels responsible for the quality of an employee’s personal life.

This can be especially true for those personalities with a tendency for …

I received this great thank you note from a client recently. the card and envelope was designed by her young son. How great is that! Talk about a personal touch.

Thank you Karen and Harrison!

This post on 437signals will come as a surprise to some. The MacBook Air, despite all its lacks, is selling well.

The soft stuff, the emotive stuff, is what matters. A huge part of any purchase decision is emotive and irrational.

From a completely rational viewpoint, the MacBook Air should not be selling so well. After all, many have complained loudly about the lack of various “essential” technical …

“People say that a joy shared is a joy doubled. And a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved. So what happens when you share something with the entire world?”

This is the premise of i-confide. Go look, and confide something.

(Disclosure: I was the designer of this application)

These are my highlights from Dacher Keltner’s article The Power Paradox which takes a more humane and positive look at the idea of power, contrary to the Machiavellian views of Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power.

[The belief] that attaining power requires force, deception, manipulation, and coercion … [is] dead wrong.

Instead, a new science of power has revealed that power is wielded most effectively when it’s …

Guy Kawasaki’s post Power 3.0: Kinder, Gentler, and Better discusses the idea of “power” in business.

Conventional business practice tends to promote the idea that power = aggression, founded on the myth that everyone is out to get you, that the fittest win. This is the sort of power that is based on fear - fear of punishment and deprivation. This sort of “power” leads to sociopathy.

Guy …

Penguin has a series of books with blank white covers. You can design your own covers. Express yourself. Turn one into a unique gift and so forth.

Some customers will enjoy this level of customisation and participation. So how can you adapt this to your business?

Many examples exist in the tangible products world – you can buy “draw on me” versions of mugs, mouse mats, t-shirts …

I gave a talk this week to several hundred high school students at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research where the Eating Disorders Foundation had their Youth Forum. My talk was about body image – specifically how fantasies are literally manufactured in the media, advertising and the fashion industry.

Eating disorders aside, there is no doubt that being constantly bombarded with impossible and unattainable ideals will negatively affect self …

“Lost in the rush towards technical innovation are the human dimensions of the relationship between people.”

On Being a therapist, Kottler J A, 1993