Each time I go to Target to stock up on things, it seems like I get less and less value from the experience. In particular, the money I save compared to buying the same things at the closest grocery store or online seems less important. It’s not that I value the money any differently now […]

After visiting several stores and restaurants this past weekend, I was reminded of the differences between staff who are genuinely nice, and those who are just pretending to be nice. The first group actually cares about your experience at their restaurant, store, or other venue. But the second group is only reading the script and […]

Like many modern highrises, the building where I live has digital signage displays in the elevators. And it’s not even the fancy kind that folks like Captivate and OMN provide. Nope, ours are the low-tech variety, with just a series of slides about building info and events. I really didn’t pay any special attention to […]

It’s bad enough that online stores automatically send you a catalog after the first order, without asking your permission. It’s even worse that they rarely honor your list removal requests, or they just subscribe you again next time. But another recent trend really pisses me off: printing your name in places besides the address label. […]

Do you remember those tests in elementary school that were supposed to help you learn about following directions? Typically, the test would ask dozens of long questions only to have the last question say “Skip all the other questions and write ‘Done’ on the page”. The idea, of course, was to teach the importance of […]

A lot of people get carried away with the CC feature when sending emails, seemingly including everyone from their boss to their coworkers to last year’s summer interns. Usually, the idea is to prevent anyone from saying they weren’t kept in the loop. But the result is that you end up generating a ton of […]

It’s amazing how much the weather forecast for the same future period can change from one day to the next. For instance, they originally expected this past weekend in Chicago to be in the mid-90s, but they revised the forecast a few days later to the mid-80s. And when the weekend actually came around, it […]

If you have a broadband Internet connection at home, you’re probably familiar with the seemingly universal troubleshooting process for when problems arise. Can’t connect? Sites loading slowly? Just power cycle the modem and router. These steps are so deeply ingrained in the tech support process that you can be sure the support rep will ask […]

I’m no expert on the TV business. But when I see a series getting cancelled after the first season, I would guess it’s because the show didn’t generate adequate ratings or ad sales. With this in mind, it’s surprising that the DVD sets for these orphaned series often sell for premium prices. For instance, HBO’s […]

Many computers and electronic devices have a cooling fan. Most of these fans can run at different speeds, depending on the ambient temperature and how hard the innards of the device are working at any given time. But these same devices are really bad at warning you when they run into trouble, e.g. the room […]