This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago. Visit the Product Blog for more information on our products.
“We asked organizations to tell us how they’re creating evangelists for their cause, product or service. From the submissions we received, we selected examples from companies that represent software, sports, education, non-profits, training, and free agents.”
“On the contrary, put your best people on it. People love getting a personal response from somebody that knows what they’re talking about. You’ll reap the benefits in trust, patience and tremendous value in terms of feedback to the process of continually improving the user experience.”
“It helps to have design buddies. In this case, we called on Cameron Moll, Greg Storey and JD Hooge to clean up our latest sketch. Solve this problem. Keep that. Make this work. Explore. Each influenced our final design.” Cameron chimes in on his involvement.
“just pull the plug. Crawl out from beneath the reams of data. Stand firm against the torrent of information. HIS methods include practicing “selective ignorance” — tuning out pointless communiqués, random Twitters, and even world affairs (Mr. Ferriss says he gets most of his news by asking waiters). Work crisis? Pay someone else to worry about it — ideally in Bangalore. On a bet, [Timothy] Ferriss even hired low-paid, high-skilled workers abroad to find him dates online. (It worked.)”
“My fish monger in Grand Central has started placing signs in front of each fish. They describe exactly where the fish came from, whether it’s healthy and how endangered it is. You’ll never see fine print saying ‘previously frozen.’ They don’t have any fine print. The first few times you visit the stand, it’s actually off putting. It takes the romance and pleasure out of buying the fish, because you realize that there’s a cost to it. The meat guy across the way doesn’t have pictures of cows being slaughtered, does he? But after a while, because the information is out there, because smart fish buyers already know some fish is endangered, the signs give you power. They allow you to make smart choices. They send a message to the customer about the honesty and intent of the seller. They build trust.”
“Some argue these developments are moving faster than users really want. Mr Fried at 37signals says they are a product of the competitive race among technology companies, not a response to customers’ needs. ‘I think that to say you should work everywhere is a sad notion,’ he says. ‘You should work at the office, or at home.’ Eventually, internet access will extend everywhere, turning all applications into ‘live’ services – but for now, he says, enjoy the freedom while you still can.”
“Establishing a secure wireless link between two gadgets could soon be purely a matter of holding them together and applying a vigorous shake. UK researchers have developed prototype software that allows cellphones that connect this way. They claim it is both easier and more secure than selecting a device name from a list or entering a security code, as users must currently do.”
“As easy to use as a Mac. Bento organizes all your important information in one place. So you can manage your contacts, coordinate events, track projects, prioritize tasks, and more — faster and easier than ever before.”
“This site converts bitmap images to vector art – it’s an online auto-tracer. Just upload your image and we will vectorize it for you. Vector art is useful because it allows you to scale an image without making it blurry or pixelated.” [via Photojojo]
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Over 1 million people use 37signals' simple web-based software to collaborate on projects, track contacts, and organize their business with an intranet.
How unfortunate that the Seattle SuperSonics are included in Testify! given the new ownership and their recent announcement that they plan to relocate the team to Oklahoma City.
james16 Nov 07
On “Don’t outsource your tech support”
Everyone would agree that the best support is from those who have the most knowledge. But at the large software company where I used to be a support rep, the call volumes were so high that if all of the most knowledgeable people were put on the support lines…a) support would be awesome for the 3 days before all the best people realized they could have more money and job satisfaction applying their amazing knowledge and skills to something other than phone support, and therefore resign, or b) support would be awesome and no customers would be able to afford it, or b) support would be free and the company would be bankrupt, d) no software would ever get written because all of the brains were always on the phone.
P.S. Another Sonics fan hoping the NBA comes to their senses and stops the madness…
levon16 Nov 07
Did anybody try highlighting a word in one of the articles in NYTimes and right-clicking? NYTimes pops up a dictionary definition of that word. That’s EXACTLY what I wanted! :)
Its a risky thing of course(another popup), but works for me! I wonder how much time they spent arguing about making this decision.
“The most important three feet of real estate in retail—or in many industries—is the distance between the customer and the sales associate or individual who is serving that customer.” – Jeffrey Pfeffer
the double-click on nyt is maddening. i surf by double-clicking paragraphs, lines, and words to highlight my progress. even when trying very hard not to do so, i can’t. it’s an ingrained habit. which makes the nyt unreadable to me unless the content is really great and not available elsewhere. which is a shame for both of us, i enjoy the paper.
is there a toggle to turn that off? i haven’t found one.
Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, Sarah Hatter, Ryan Singer, Sam Stephenson, Jamie Dihiansan, and Michael Berger in Chicago, Matt Linderman in NYC, Mark Imbriaco in Wake Forest, North Carolina, Jeremy Kemper in Pasadena, California, Jeffrey Hardy in Ontario, Canada, Joshua Sierles in Granada, Spain, Jason Zimdars in Oklahoma City, and Mr. Jamis Buck in Caldwell, Idaho.
Over 1 million people use 37signals' simple web-based software to collaborate on projects, track contacts, and organize their business with an intranet.
6 comments so far
Benjy 16 Nov 07
How unfortunate that the Seattle SuperSonics are included in Testify! given the new ownership and their recent announcement that they plan to relocate the team to Oklahoma City.
james 16 Nov 07
On “Don’t outsource your tech support” Everyone would agree that the best support is from those who have the most knowledge. But at the large software company where I used to be a support rep, the call volumes were so high that if all of the most knowledgeable people were put on the support lines…a) support would be awesome for the 3 days before all the best people realized they could have more money and job satisfaction applying their amazing knowledge and skills to something other than phone support, and therefore resign, or b) support would be awesome and no customers would be able to afford it, or b) support would be free and the company would be bankrupt, d) no software would ever get written because all of the brains were always on the phone.
P.S. Another Sonics fan hoping the NBA comes to their senses and stops the madness…
levon 16 Nov 07
Did anybody try highlighting a word in one of the articles in NYTimes and right-clicking? NYTimes pops up a dictionary definition of that word. That’s EXACTLY what I wanted! :)
Its a risky thing of course(another popup), but works for me! I wonder how much time they spent arguing about making this decision.
Good call nytimes!
levon 16 Nov 07
fyi, i guess you just need to double click.
Nivi 19 Nov 07
Re outsourcing support:
“The most important three feet of real estate in retail—or in many industries—is the distance between the customer and the sales associate or individual who is serving that customer.” – Jeffrey Pfeffer
sb 20 Nov 07
the double-click on nyt is maddening. i surf by double-clicking paragraphs, lines, and words to highlight my progress. even when trying very hard not to do so, i can’t. it’s an ingrained habit. which makes the nyt unreadable to me unless the content is really great and not available elsewhere. which is a shame for both of us, i enjoy the paper.
is there a toggle to turn that off? i haven’t found one.
am i the only one that does this? just curious.
Comments are closed