It’s a pretty sensationalistic headline to get you to read the magazine, but with the recession and employment around 10%, I wonder how many hiring managers are literally looking to knowingly hire someone off the streets.
DailyMail.co.UK: KFC introduces ‘sandwich’ with buns made of CHICKEN instead of bread
Thank goodness health care reform has passed, because KFC has issued a new challenge to the hearts of Americans everywhere. It’s the Double Down, your personal Exxon Valdez.
The Vancouver Sun newspaper estimated that the sandwich clocks in at an artery-clogging 1,228 calories – far above the 540 calories that KFC claims it contains. The grilled option comes in at 460 calories.
…
But nutritionists are more concerned that the Double Down contains 1,380 milligrams of salt and ten grams of saturated fat. That is 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively of the U.S. government’s recommended daily intake.
Is the notoriety and free publicity that KFC is getting worth the unhealthy label that comes with it?
It’s bad enough that Spirit
Airlines is charging for carry on luggage. Now Ryanair is planning
on charging for the use of the toilets.
USAToday.com: Ryanair pushes ahead with plan for toilet fee
The Daily Mail of London writes “no-frills [Ryanair] is working with Boeing to redesign the cabin and develop coin-operated toilets on 168 of its planes. Not content with charging passengers for use of the facilities, the airline is also looking at reducing the number of toilets on board, leaving just one available cubicle for up to 189 passengers.”
I predict bad things happening if there’s only one toilet for 189 passengers. Redundancy is the key.
I’ve flown Ryanair twice and it’s actually not a bad airline. Ryanair is different from other airlines because they’ve always nickel and dimed passengers for every little service, but in return offered shockingly low prices. Right now they’re offering fares as low as 9.99 euros or ($13.36).
If Spirit offered $15 tickets, maybe people would understand charges for luggage. But $45 dollars for a bag in the overhead bin is tough to swallow. I hope this charge comes back to bite Spirit big time. Because if this works, every airline is going to adopt it.
Related Article
Havard Business Review: Why the Spirit Airlines Baggage Fee Won’t Fly
From NYTimes.com: Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: Lucas Plans ‘Star Wars’ Comedy Series
“It’s like a sitcom set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe,” Mr. Senreich said. “Single cam, if you will.”
I’ve got a perfect scene for this sitcom, George Lucas being digested by the Saarlac. Lots of laughs.
It’s common to see new and improved on products, but “Now! Better Tasting!” on Jimmy Dean sausages sounds like an admission that the product was previously not as tasty.
What does a consumer think when they see “Now! Better Tasting!” on the box?
Here are some of my iPad first impressions after using it all weekend.
iPad Hardware
Size
Most people’s reaction when they first see it is that it’s smaller than they expected. But, after you use it, it seems to be the right size. I find it solidly built, maybe a bit heavier than I would like. Most of the time I have it resting against something, my belly, the desk, the bed, etc.
Screen
The screen is sharp and beautiful, but picks up fingerprints like crazy. Fingerprints are a lot more noticeable than on the iPhone. I think I’m going to have to invest in some lint-free cloths to wipe down the screen. The cloth that I used over the weekend wasn’t quite lint free and now I have dust on the edges of the iPad case.
The screen is extremely glossy so glare can also be an issue. I might try buying a matte screen protector to cut down on glare and fingerprints.
Speaker
The speaker is louder than I expected and works well for watching videos.
Battery Life
The battery life is so long that I don’t really think about charging it. Normally when I use my Macbook Pro, I’m always thinking about when or where I can plug it back in. But with my iPad, I wouldn’t be afraid to head out for the day leaving the charger and cords at home.
The iPad won’t recharge when connected to my Macbook Pro or my Mac Pro. Both of my computers are a few years old and do not provide enough power through the USB ports to charge the iPad. The small iPod charger did charge iPad battery overnight, but probably slower than the 10V charger it comes with.
Apple Case
I like the Apple case a lot. It’s got a nice rubberized feeling when holding it in your hands. I haven’t used the stand much, but it feels a little wobbly when I’ve tried it. The case is matte and seems to pick up dirt pretty easily. (between the screen and the case, I’m beginning to think my place is really dusty.)
Software
Safari
Safari for the iPad is a killer app like it was for the iPhone. But it is some much nicer with the extra real estate. It’s amazing to see the difference in web pages between this and the iPhone. It’s so good that you wonder why some companies are bothering creating iPad apps for their websites.
Some sites that do work, have a few problems. The Google Reader RSS website seems slow and somehow less responsive. The Google Reader website has multiple columns that require the use of a two finger motion to get the columns to scroll.
Twitter client
I’ve tried both Tweetdeck and Twitteriffic. I like how Tweetdeck shows multiple columns by I don’t like how it wastes half the screen for the Tweetdeck icon.
eBay App
eBay tried to differentiate their app from the website by showing for sale items in gallery format- like a store. I find this app totally unusable without having the ability of showing search results as lists. I also don’t like the fact that it does have the saved searches from the website. I’d much rather use the eBay web page than this.
Scrabble
Scrabble looks amazing. Problem is that the iPad keeps beating me. If you have iPhones or iPod touches, you can download an App that allows you to use your iPhone as a letter tray while using the iPad as the board.
Marvel Comics App
It shows comics in two ways, traditional panels or a more cinematic, frame by frame way. This is one you really need to see. Comics can be bought through the App for $2.00 a comic. If they every came out with a Netflix like monthly fee, this might be worth it. Otherwise, I’ll pass.
Numbers
Haven’t played with this much, because getting files in and out seems a little awkward.
“The future starts today”- or yes, I did buy an iPad.
Here’s a picture of me holding 64 gig iPad at the Kenwood Apple Store after my 2 1/2 hour wait in line.
Waiting in line was kind of my fault as I could have pre-ordered it and had it sent to my home or had one reserved for me at the store. For a while, I thought about waiting for the next model, but realistically, that was never an option. I truly do believe that the iPad is the future of computing so why wait when you can have the future today?
The Apple shopping experience is unlike any other. First, there’s the line. You really won’t find a line anywhere of friendlier people. It really is kind of like a party. Apple employees had carts with coffee, tea, or bottled water.
Once you get to the front of the line, an Apple employee would come shake your hand, ask your name, and then act as your person concierge for your entire visit to the Apple store. The Apple employee offered to demo a unit for me and to setup the iPad for me after I purchased it. No rushing to move to the next customer whatsoever. For me, I would have been happy with a giant stack of iPads for me to pick up and take to checkout, but for someone new to Apple, this kind of service would make a world of difference.
SI.com: Sushi … in Cincinnati … at baseball games? You can’t be serious
An article like this shows how backwater Cincinnati can be at times to new ideas and change. Paul Daugherty thinks that selling sushi at Reds Games is somehow a questionable idea because it’s Cincinnati and we don’t do that kind of thing here.
This is the home office of paid baseball, established 1876. Johnny Bench slept here. We eat hot dogs and their various kinfolk: Mettwurst, bratwurst, all the wursts. We drink beer. It’s who we are. Buy me some su-shi and char-donnay? I don’t think so.
Wake up Paul, it’s 2010 and times are changing. What’s wrong with offering customers a choice? It’s not like someone is forcing you to eat sushi when going to the ballpark. But, Daugherty is thinking like a 10 year old- that somehow what you eat defines you as a fan.
The NFL doesn’t do this, because it doesn’t have to and no meat-eating
NFL fan would be caught dead with a piece of raw mackerel between his
thumb and forefinger. Except maybe in San Francisco.
But, he’s wrong here too. A simple Googling shows that at least the Houston Texans of the NFL has sushi available. I’m sure there are others too, I’m just not bothering to do more research, just like Paul Daugherty.
Real baseball fans don’t come to the yard to eat ahi and slurp cuba libres. They just don’t. Problem is, there aren’t enough real baseball fans. You should see the cynical, smirky grins I provoke when I walk to my seat with my scorebook and pencil. All I need is a hat with a propeller.
There definitely aren’t enough of the fans that Daugherty describes, because well, they’re mostly dead. But, there are plenty of other fans, just not as many as the Reds would like. The Reds averaged 21,579 last year, 14th out of 16 National League teams. It seems like the strategy for catering to just “real fans” is a losing one. Speaking of “real fans”, I drove by Miller Park in Milwaukee one weekend day after they were out of the race, and there were a lot of people tailgating for a Brewers game. It’s time to stop talking about how great the fans of Cincinnati are. We have dedicated fans and we have fair-weather fans, just like any city.
The Reds need more fans, not less fans. So, what is wrong with the Reds trying to appeal to more people and create new fans? Will “real fans” not show up because there’s someone eating sushi next them?
Isn’t being a fan, about loving the sport and loving the team? I love Baseball, the Reds, and sushi. I also love hot dogs, just not the cadaver-like ones they sell at the stadium. (I like Nathan’s hot dogs).
It’s nice to see the Reds offer choice. Now, maybe the Reds can get some decent Mexican food, and no those day-glo nachos don’t count.
I flipped over the package to check out the ingredients to see how natural these are and noticed that the bar was made in China. 
These days I know we’re all used to having every toaster and computer made in China, but are we ready to have our food products made there?
I was more concerned about the ingredients being from China, but I found out that Mrs. May sources 60% of the ingredients here in the United States, but
ships it to China for processing and then back to the United States for
sale. The last 40% of the ingredients are sourced from Vietnam. Mrs. May moved production from Orange County, California to China 5 years ago according to this article.
AllBusiness.com: Nuts and Boats: Mrs. May’s Naturals Ships Food Materials to China to Process, then Back to the U.S. for Sale
Abbye Freiman, a food manufacturing consultant based in Torrance, said
that she knows of no other food company that ships raw materials to Asia
for manufacturing and gets finished products sent back to the United
States for sales.
…
“It comes down to basically cost of labor,” said James Kim. “The amount of money that it will cost us to hire 50 people in China for a month is equivalent to one person’s monthly salary here. It is not like we are underpaying them; it is the going rate. It’s like having 200 people at the factory at the cost of four or five here.”
The minimum wage in California is $8/hour. A person’s yearly salary at that rate, working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year $16,640 or $1387 per month. If Mrs. May is hiring 50 people for that amount, each employee is making $27.74 a month. If you give weekends off, which is a questionable premise since it is common for factories in China to give employees only a couple of days off month, employees are making making $1.27 a day or $.16/hour assuming 8 hour days. This may be the prevalent wage, but is it a fair one?
Can you blame Mrs. May for moving production to China when labor costs are this low? This is raw capitalism.
When people say that the government should stay out of businesses way, this is what we get. Companies maximizing profit without accepting societal or environmental consequences.
CNNMoney.com: Apple is No. 3, closing in on Microsoft
On Tuesday March 30, following a report that it was building an iPhone for Verizon, its stock rose 1.5% to $235.85, its market cap hit $213.9 billion, and it overtook Wal-Mart once again to begin closing in on No. 2 Microsoft (MSFT). (See chart below the fold.)
The only two companies with a current larger market valuation than Apple are Exxon Mobile and Microsoft.