Black metallers SECRETS OF THE MOON recently returned from their first ever North American tour with Moonspell and Divine Heresy. Guitarist/vocalist sG issued the following update:

“Friends and foes: After nearly 50 shows we played across this planet, I am back home, feeling utterly dead in the most positive sense. The past two months have been an amazing, yet really raw experience for the band. Ups and downs, sickness, storm; no calmness. We spent the last month touring North America and Canada with Moonspell and Divine Heresy. Both bands are truly professional and cool guys. We salute them and our fantastic crew: Cartel – tour manager, Phil – stagehand, Ringo  – bus driver and most important: the amazing Jorge Pina for his massive technical support! Moreover we want to thank all the fans (present and future) we met out there, who believe in what we are doing. It’s been a groundbreaking experience to meet people on the other side of planet earth so familiar with and dedicated to our music… an excuse to the people in Kansas City and Denver: I couldn’t bring forth 100% due to the flu that hit me. Actually I don’t have any memories from these shows besides lying dead in my bunk. What is to come until the end of the year? Nothing but creating music. A new album is already in the making, too many ideas storm our minds these days… We’ll be back with another European tour in spring 2010, heading out to some countries we’ve never brought our sickness before. Watch out! — sG.”

SECRETS OF THE MOON recently released their first full-length in over three years. Privilegivm offers a unique mix of classic black metal with elements of rock. That album is available from http://www.lethalconflict.com.
Upcoming Kolonized Magazine will feature interview with sG done before the tour.

Here’s the latest update from my  morning email on getting my novel into distribution, straight from the horse’s (that is to say, Lulu’s) mouth:

“Debbi, as you are now in receipt of the 100 books and they look fine you will need to, once again, approve the books for submission into the distribution channel.  [Again????] Please log in to your account on lulu.com, click on Identity Crisis in the list of Projects, then click the Approve/Deny Book button.  Please follow the steps to approve this book for distribution. [Okay, okay . . . done. So . . . ?]

“Once you have done this our distribution team will verify the book to see if it meets all of the distribution requirements [But . . . I thought we'd already gone through this! Apparently, I was wrong.] (http://www.lulu.com/en/help/index.php?fSymbol=distro_requirements) and then submit it to our distribution network.  The entire process from approval to appearance in retail channels takes about 6 to 8 weeks. [Just in time to miss Christmas. Great.]

“I hope this helps.”

Uh huh.

Anne and Bill are a wonderful example of parents being prepared.  Both are in their mid-seventies, in relatively good health, have two children, several grandchildren, and are geographically remote from their family.  They knew that if, or when, something happens to them, their children would have to journey to get there and assist.  Wanting to make life easier for their kids, they decided to make sure their children understood their wishes.

This couple has been married 52 years, very hard working middle class, who saved a great deal of their money, invested it, and wanted their assets protected.  When it came time to downsize their home to move into a smaller one, they de-cluttered their home, sold most of their belongings, and lived comfortably on what they needed.  Anne no longer has a need for all the silver plate, china, etc. and preferred the space to the clutter.

They hired a financial advisor to assist them with decisions, an estate planning attorney to create a revocable trust, and told their children that everything is in writing and gave them each a copy.  The trust clearly states who is the executor, and who is the health care power of attorney.  Both children were clear on their part of the responsibility.  It was very difficult for their children to listen to what their parents’ last wishes were.  Yet, they knew they owed that to their parents.

Each child has a file containing all the vital information of their parents’ estate and guidelines within, even down to funeral arrangements, music to be played, and how many death certificates to order.  This file remains in their file cabinets, hopefully for many years to come, but is easily accessible if (and when) the fateful phone call comes.

Do you see the ease with which the children have already been prepared, thanks to this wonderful set of parents?  For parents to give this much thought into their own mortality cannot be easy from anyone’s perspective.  Their actions toward their children were kind, generous, accepting, and loving.  Their only wish was to ease their children’s burdens, when they were in the midst of grief, estate dissolution, selling the home, travel, etc.

These are two very fortunate children to have everything spelled out for them when a time of crisis occurs.  I should know, as Anne and Bill are my parents!  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for loving us that much!

DIY DAYS LA: DIY AND WHY (video).

Filmmaker Jon Reiss speaks about the new models of film distribution in the changing market.  Very fascinating stuff.

IRVINE, Calif., November 23, 2009  — PSIGEN Software, Inc., the innovative leader in advanced capture and scanning solutions, today announced it has signed a distribution agreement with Datafinity, a leading distributor of Document Management, Capture and Scanning Software in the United Kingdom.

“The addition of a distributor with great capture expertise, and a strong reseller base, will provide a local presence for PSIGEN in a market demanding our products,” said Stephen Boals, VP of Sales for PSIGEN. “Datafinity expands our European network, and is a key component in our strategic global distribution plans.”

“We are excited about our new partnership with PSIGEN and looking forward to offering the UK reseller market a new document capture solution that is both powerful and affordable. With document capture prices on the increase, it is refreshing to find a company that offers such a good return on investment for companies of all sizes. In particular, PSIGEN’s tight integration with Microsoft SharePoint provides this rapidly growing sector of the ECM market with the perfect document capture solution.” said Andy Dawson, Managing Director of Datafinity.

About PSIGEN

PSIGEN Software is the innovative leader in advanced capture, scanning and document management solutions. For more than 14 years, PSIGEN has provided software to improve all the processes around the conversion of paper to digital documents. The solutions focus on cost reduction, flexibility, standardization, and improved efficiency.   PSIGEN delivers these solutions through a network of resellers and distributors in the US and abroad. For more information, visit www.psigen.com.

“PSIGEN” is a registered trademark in the US, the EU and other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

CONTACT: PSIGEN Sales and Marketing: Stephen Boals, Vice President of Sales, 949-916-7700 x230.

About Datafinity

Datafinity delivers leading-edge document and data capture solutions for companies that need to improve the efficiency of business and document processes within their organization.  By providing a combination of innovative market leading technologies and expertise from trusted integration partners, Datafinity helps improve efficiency, save costs and enhance customer service whilst achieving a return on investment often within one year.  Visit www.datafinity.co.uk for more details.

Contact: Andy Dawson, Datafinity Ltd. Tel: +44 1428 776471. email: info@datafinity.co.uk

  8 novembre 2009

La firme californienne de multimédias Apple a ouvert ce samedi 7 novembre sa première boutique dans l’Hexagone, à Paris plus précisément. Cette boutique, qui s’étend sur 750 m² face à la pyramide du Louvre, offre aux clients la possibilité de découvrir et de tester les produits phares de la marque. Cela passe par les ordinateurs Mac, les baladeurs iPod ainsi que les téléphones portables iPhone et le tout dans un cadre de style épuré qui met le produit en valeur. Pour info la boutique est ouverte tous les jours de 10 à 20 heures.

Dans le même temps le co-fondateur de la marque Apple, Steve Jobs, se voit octroyé le titre de ”patron de la décennie” par le magazine américain Fortune. Selon le magazine, l’homme d’affaires a changé la donne sur le marché des multimédias grâce à ses produits et a fait passer la valeur de l’entreprise de 5 milliards de $ en 2000 à 170 milliards aujourd’hui. Apple ne cesse d’innover et compte bientôt insérer une caméra dans son petit baladeur iPod Nano.

Malgré cela la firme américaine est confrontée aux problèmes de fiabilité de son téléphone portable iPhone qui explose lors de son utilisation en cas de surchauffe. Un coup dur pour son image de marque puisque ce n’est pas le premier cas recensé dans le monde. De plus, le lancement commercial de l’iPhone par l’opérateur Unicom en Chine est décevant. En cause, l’absence de wifi, désactivé afin d’être en règle avec le régime de Pékin, et la forte concurrence comme l’operateur China Mobile qui propose son propre “smart phone”, l’Ophone. Il faut insister aussi sur le fait que la Chine, même si elle est le plus grand marché du monde, reste un pays où il y a encore beaucoup d’appareils de contrebande et qu’un portable à 340 € reste inaccessible pour une grande majorité de la population.

  5 novembre 2009

Il n’est pas si loin le temps où nous, consommateurs, avions exclusivement affaire à une personne lors d’un achat. Le pompiste à la station essence, le guichetier dans une gare, la caissière au supermarché, l’employé des autoroutes pour les péages, le banquier pour retirer de l’argent,  louer une casette à la vidéothèque,… Depuis quelques années cela change. Les entreprises ont de plus en plus recourt à l’automatisation des tâches qui sont effectuées par le client. Elles remplacent en partie leurs personnels par des automates dont certains services sont même disponibles 24h/24.  Les gares mettent à la disposition des voyageurs des guichets automatiques, les grandes surfaces ouvrent des self-caisses, commander ou louer par internet ou encore pouvoir manger à n’importe quelle heure du jour ou de la nuit, tout devient possible.

Dernier exemple en date à Marseille, où l’entreprise de franchise  NuovaVDE France a ouvert un magasin “Free Shop” tout automatisé ouvert 24h/24. Le magasin self-service qui offre la possibilité aux clients de s’acheter à boire et à manger. Dans cet exemple, le plus étonnant, c’est que l’on peut acheter des plats préparés de pâtes à réchauffer dans les micro-ondes du magasin et non plus uniquement de snacks ou des sandwiches. Ce concept de vente libre de produits multiples a été importé des Etats-Unis. L’ouverture de ce type de magasin demande un investissement de départ assez important, environ 70 mille euros.

Il n’est pas rare de voir chez nous en Belgique dans les lieux publics des villes des distributeurs automatiques Selecta ou Autobar. Il est intéressant de voir que la robotisation permet un gain de temps pour le client et d’argent pour l’entreprise cela nécessite moins de mains-d’œuvre. Pour autant il ne faut pas négliger le fait qu’il y a un risque de panne, de dégradation et que ces distributeurs doivent subir des entretiens techniques.

Un autre aspect est celui de la déshumanisation des services. Faut-il la déplorer? Je pense pour ma part que dans une société de plus en plus individualiste, les consommateurs vont de plus en plus s’habituer à ce mode de consommation. Il est de plus en plus fréquent de voir les gens scanner eux-mêmes leurs articles ou acheter leur billet de train dans une gare afin d’éviter de devoir faire la queue. Néanmoins il faut insister sur le fait que les entreprises doivent maintenir un minimum la relation, le contact humain puisque ces machines automatiques excluent les aveugles, les personnes qui désirent juste parler à quelqu’un pour avoir plus ample information, ceux qui n’ont pas de carte bancaire ou tout simplement les gens qui ne savent pas s’en servir.

  29 octobre 2009

D’après le magazine Test-Achats, les Belges paneraient trop cher leur connexion ADSL par rapport aux tarifs en vigueurs dans les pays voisins. Une étude comparative réalisée par l’association de décence des consommateurs montre que l’utilisateur belge paie un prix final moyen de 44 euros par mois pour avoir accès à l’ internet haut débit. Cet accès serait moins rapide que chez nos voisins européens. Toujours selon Test-Achats la moyenne européenne ne dépasserait pas les 37 euros. De plus le magazine critique le manque de concurrence flagrant sur le marché belge puisque les entreprises Belgacom et Telenet se partagent à eux seuls 90% des 2,4 millions de connections du pays. L’association voudrait aussi voir supprimer la limitation de quotas pour le téléchargement. Test-achats a décidé de mettre en ligne une pétition contre l’internet trop cher.

Pourquoi une telle disparité au niveau des prix? Cela serait dû au fait que le régulateur IBPT ( Institut belge des services postaux et des télécommunications) aurait laissé l’opérateur historique Belgacom ( Part de l’Etat : 53,5% du capital) prendre les parts de marché sans agir pour la protection de la concurrence. Le régulateur des télécoms se défend en déclarant que Belgacom couvre uniquement 50% du marché et que les tarifs de l’enquête se basent sur ceux les plus bas dans les pays frontaliers. La qualité du service s’est améliorée grâce à accès plus rapide et un plus grand volume de téléchargement pour un prix fixe. De son côté l’entreprise Belgacom annonce que ses tarifs ont baissé de 33% et que le client internet moyen paie 33 euros par mois.

Alors qui faut-il croire au final? Il faut savoir que l’Etat belge détient 53,5% du capital du groupe Belgacom donc il a intérêt à ce que le groupe de télécoms reste dominant sur le marché belge afin de faire un maximum de profit. De plus l’IBPT est un organe géré par le Fédéral. De ce fait il y a peut-être un manque de transparence ou de volonté politique sur le sujet.

Dans l’enquête de Test-Achats, Belgacom est toujours celui qui offre le service le plus cher par rapport à ses concurrents. Ayant ADSL de Belgacom à la maison j’ai posé la question à mon père afin de savoir combien il payait réellement afin d’être fixé. Il m’a répondu que la connexion internet à haut débit coûte 34,5 euros chaque mois. Mais à cela il faut ajouter la TVA de 21% qui est de 7,245 euros. Au total cela fait 41,75 euros par mois ce qui correspond au tarif  Belgacom le plus élevé pour une connexion. En clair Test-Achats a raison d’annoncer que Belgacom pratique des tarifs excessifs en regard de la moyenne européenne.

  22 octobre 2009

Suite aux revendications du secteur agricole dans notre pays, quelques producteurs de lait ont pris l’initiative de se rendre à Halle au siège du groupe Colruyt. Après le blocage des dépôts dû à la crise du lait, le directeur Luc Rogge est venu à la rencontre des fermiers afin d’entendre leurs souhaits. Il a été décidé pour un contrat d’une durée d’un an que le groupe s’engage à acheter le produit fini à quelques fermiers wallons. Le lait vendu par le distributeur sera un lait de pasteurisation haute proche du lait cru mais conservable durant 24 jours au lieu des 6 mois pour le lait traité en UHT. Pour ce qui est du prix, les agriculteurs ont directement négocié avec le distributeur flamand. Une clause de confidentialité a été signé entre les producteurs et le groupe Colruyt. Il semblerait que le prix d’achat du lait serait au-delà des 33 cents le litre au lieu des 20,5 cents actuellement. Ce niveau de prix correspond au prix de revient. Le nouveau lait est désormais vendu en Belgique dans la plupart des magasins du groupe pour un prix de 1,09 euro le litre au lieu des 0,57 cents pour le produit blanc. Le directeur justifie ce prix par le fait que ce soit un produit haut de gamme, d’être une occasion de soutenir le secteur agricole et pour Colruyt de se démarquer de ses concurrents.

L’initiative de ces trois agriculteurs wallons doit être saluée et encouragée. Cela montre qu’il est tout à fait possible de réduire le nombre d’intermédiaires dans le circuit de distribution. Comme on l’ a vu au cours l’an dernier, le circuit ultra court permet d’augmenter ses marges et d’offrir un produit à un prix plus compétitif. Même si ici le but n’est pas d’offrir un produit le plus bon marché, il a le mérite d’offrir aux producteurs de lait un prix plus juste pour leur travail. C’est un premier pas…

Deux points sont tout de même à critiquer :

Le volume de ce lait plus équitable reste très limité par rapport à la production annuelle en Belgique. L’ensemble du secteur agricole laitier produit 3 milliards 300 millions de litres par an alors que le contrat avec Colruyt est fixé à 200.000 litres. A eux trois, les agriculteurs à l’origine de l’initiative produisent 2 millions de litres par an, donc ce contrat ne représente que 10% de lait pour le circuit équitable. C’est très peu, pour preuve je me suis rendu au Colruyt de Vilvoorde où il n’y avait que 12 litres disponibles…

Selon une étude, 60% des Belge sont prêts à payer plus cher leur lait pour soutenir les producteurs laitiers mais on ne dit pas de combien. Le nouveau lait est vendu 1,09 euro du litre soit encore plus cher que les marques. En ce temps de crise économique de plus en plus de familles se tournent vers des produits moins chers et pour cause la fréquentation des Colruyt est en nette hausse. Je me demande si les gens seront vraiment prêts à faire l’effort de payer plus.

Au final c’est le consommateur final qui paye et Colruyt qui s’offre une image positive auprès du public.

1. 
2. I’m pretty sure I can legally redistribute this under the fair use provision of the copyright act, but just in case wordpress takes it offline, download it and re-up it in ya own time

Although I love writing about info-products and writing, I also love to write about what’s going on currently during the time of year. At this time of year, I especially love to write about gratitude because I know and understand the power of the attitude of gratitude.

I use this daily because it’s the antidote for complaints and excuses. If I’m complaining that I don’t have enough work, I turn that around to say I’m grateful for the work I do have. If I’m complaining that I don’t want to go for a walk because the weather is cool and cloudy, I just remember to be grateful that it never gets much below 50 degrees in Southern California. If I make an excuse that I don’t have time to exercise, I remind myself to be grateful that I work for myself and my time is my own.

If you’re complaining about the economy, be grateful you have a job. If you’ve lost your job, be grateful you have your health. If your health is suffering, be grateful for your supportive family. There’s ALWAYS someone or something you can find in your life to be grateful for.

Do you see how this works? Gratitude can turn the negative into a positive. And from all my years of reading and study, I’ve learned that a positive grateful attitude is more likely to receive more good things in life than a complaining and blaming one!

You can say your gratitudes every morning when you arise or just before going to bed. You can write them in a gratitude journal and read them every day. Or you can share them with a good friend over the phone or email.

So what do you have to be grateful about? How about your great family members who you don’t often take the time to tell them how much you appreciate them? Or your special friends, colleagues, or employees? What about being grateful for your car, your cat or dog, your house, and your healthy body? Sure you may be 20 lbs overweight, but everything is working.

Gratitude forces you to turn away from what you don’t really want to spend time focusing on and to realize that you really don’t have it all that bad. If you can spare a few minutes, I’d love for you to leave a comment and let everyone know what you’re grateful for this year.

HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!

Happy info-products profits,
Andrea

Andrea Susan Glass
www.WritersWay.com

The Vision Bleak: Title of upcoming album revealed

“Set Sail To Mystery” will be the title of the fourth studio album by The Vision Bleak. This was confirmed by the band just recently. The album release is tentatively scheduled for March 2010. More information soon!
http://www.the-vision-bleak.de/
http://www.myspace.com/thevisionbleak
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Vision+Bleak
http://irc-galleria.net/community/810071-the-vision-bleak

While it won’t move the needle much on its content library, IFC Entertainment announced yesterday that it will offer 53 films through Netflix’s (s NFLX) Watch Instantly streaming service, reports Variety.

True, that’s not a very large number, but it marks the first time IFC is providing its content to a subscription streaming service. Up until now, the company has placed films from its 300-title library on EST destinations like Amazon (s AMZN), iTunes (s AAPL) and Blockbuster (s BBI).

IFC titles heading to Netflix’s streaming service include Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line and John Sayles’ Return of the Secaucus Seven.

As we’ve written before, Netflix’s Achilles’ heel is its streaming content library. Though it has over 17,000 titles, it needs to make sure that service is robust enough so that the number of subscribers using the service keeps growing. Check out Om’s recent talk with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings at our recent NewTeeVee Live Conference for more on his company’s streaming efforts.

Separately, though we didn’t see anything official announced, it looks like Netflix also just got a whole boatload of Saturday Night Live content in this week, including seasons 1 – 5.

To learn more about streaming directly to TVs, check out the report on The Evolution of Over-the-Top Video over at our subscription research service, GigaOM Pro.

UPDATED: Babelgum is closing down its Dublin headquarters and an office in Nice, according to a report in paidContent, moves that could signal the end is near for the online video site.

Babelgum says the cuts will allow it to streamline its business to “ensure continued growth.” The company told paidContent that it will continue to develop applications from other locations, spreading the operations from its shuttered offices across those in London, Milan and New York. But there are questions as to whether Babelgum will continue to develop technology or keep focusing on content investment.

Babelgum is backed by deep-pocketed billionaire investor Silvio Scaglia; he invested €50 million ($73 milllion) in the company in 2008, and has said he plans to spend €40- €60 million annually on the company over the next 2-3 years. But the recent cuts could mean he’s losing patience while waiting for a return on that initial investment.

The office closures come not long after a Babelgum executive detailed plans for an extensive — and expensive — plan to spend many millions of dollars obtaining and developing exclusive, original content. Then-executive vice president and chief revenue officer Michael Rosen told NewTeeVee in October that Babelgum had ramped up operations in the U.S. and that it had a “mandate to launch 10-15 content initiatives per month.” Rosen has reportedly since left the company, according to paidContent.

Babelgum isn’t the only web video aggregator trying to differentiate itself in a market dominated by YouTube (s GOOG), which still delivers about 40 percent of all online video streams in the U.S. Veoh, which was founded around the same time as Babelgum, laid off a number of employees earlier this year as it shifted its focus to developing its video compass technology from that of content. In the meantime others, like Dailymotion and Metacafe, have been trying to cash in on the growing consumption of online video.

Babelgum has also suffered from a lack of strategic focus. On the technology side, the company began as a P2P-based streaming provider, but shifted to browser-based Adobe (s ADBE) Flash streaming earlier this year. Like Joost, which also launched as a P2P-based video provider, the slowness with which it moved from proprietary technology to streaming based on a widely adopted video platform may have also held it back from attracting wider user adoption.

Update: Babelgum issued the following statement after our story ran.

This week Babelgum announced to its staff that it would be consolidating its operations into its London, Milan and New York locations. This decision is a natural response to the company’s growing focus on content and viewers, following Babelgum’s commercial launch earlier this year.

Despite the current economic climate, Babelgum remains one of the very few aggressive players in the new media arena. In the past two months, Babelgum has: 1) pioneered the release of Sally Potter’s “Rage” – the first time a narrative feature film with A-list talent premiered on a mobile video application; 2) launched the innovative Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize (chaired by Isabella Rossellini)  to seek out the world’s best and edgiest video artists; 3) launched numerous new series – including Hayden Black’s “The Occulterers” – originally created, and exclusively produced, for its mobile and online platforms; 4) premiered the latest Weezer video “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” as an exclusive; and 5) entered into a partnership agreement with RingTales to exclusively premiere the new Dilbert and New Yorker animated series.

The company continues to streamline its approach and improve its cost effectiveness to ensure its continued growth in future years. Other major content and partnership deals will be announced before the close of 2009.

BBC Gives Technical Details of Its New iPlayer On the Wii; the U.K. broadcaster has encoded streams using H.264 at a 700 kbps bit rate, compared to 1.5 Mbps for regular TV or even 3.2 Mbps for HD. (BBC) Speaking of British TV, the U.K. version of YouTube debuted its new site section that hosts roughly 4,000 full-length programs. (Variety)

Silverlight 4 Beta Launches for Developers; new features include out-of-browser capabilities, advanced business application development, and native multicast and offline DRM support for video. (Ars Technica)

Sony Announces Plans for Digital Media Store; new Sony Online Service will sell music, movies, books, and other downloadable applications for mobile devices. (BusinessWeek)

Disney Launches Its First Branded Entertainment Channel; “The Possibility Shop” will be exclusively sponsored by Clorox and promote Clorox products. (Ad Age)

Blu-ray, DVD Sales Expected to Stabilize in 2010; high-definition Blu-ray DVD sales have yet to make up for the decline in standard def DVD sales in 2009. (Video Business)

Digiboo Does Partnership with Movie Gallery; deal will put 100 Digiboo movie kiosks (see previous coverage) in retail locations. (Video Business)

Grey’s Anatomy Gets a Web Spin-Off; Seattle Grace: On Call will be a six episode run that’s on immediately after Grey’s is aired. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Henrik Thorsman väntar på svar.

Jag och Henrik Thorsman från Film i Värmland träffade Zoran Slavic på Voddler. I sammanhanget representerade vi Regionala Resurscentrums samarbetsråd.

Mötet gav mycket intressanta diskussioner kring distribution av kort- och dokumentärfilm via deras system.

Fascinerande att det äntligen tycks finnas en reell möjlighet att tjäna lite pengar på kort- och dokumentärfilmsproduktion.

Voddler har stora ambitioner med sin verksamhet och det är glädjande att konstatera att vi kan mötas inom flera områden.

Nu går vi vidare med att jobba fram förslag på avtal.

/Martin Eneborg

CAVEAT: After decades of client-side leadership, we understand how easy it is for 3rd party observers to offer up opinions on marketing initiatives without any clue regarding the strategies, realities, opportunities or constraints leading up to it.  In fact, we were once chastized for besmirching an honorable family name in a national print campaign – according to the letter we received from Mr. Zilch.  So we’re sensitive about what we say and who it affects.  That said, some things make us think twice – for better or worse – and might be worth some conversation. 

Apparently, Costco has tossed Coca-Cola out.

Seems Coke wasn’t willing to give the big box giant “competitive pricing”, which Costco says is a key commitment to its members.

Well, we say they both deserve a big “hoorah” for sticking to their strategies and customer value commitments.  In this “too big to fail” economy, elephants like Coke and Costco usually dance around each other, threatening, bluffing, and ultimately compromising.  They need each other, the thinking goes.  Can’t afford not to be there / have that.

In this case, though, a mutual insistence on creating value and ensuring brand integrity won out.

Costco knew that negotiating with all of its other vendors could be compromised if it gave in to Coke.  If that happened, prices would start to rise and their competitive boogeyman – WalMart/Sam’sClub – would look even better to value-driven shoppers. 

On the other hand, Coke has been knee-deep in the cola wars for longer than we’ve been alive and needed to protect its shelf price flexibility at a bazillion other distribution points.

So high fives for both of them.  As Costco customers, we love their strategy, their selection and their pricing.  Not to mention those awesome ice cream treats dipped in dark chocolate and almonds…

And as Coke loyalists, who cares if we have to wait on the 4-12packs-for-$10.00 promotion at Piggly Wiggly?  We’re going there anyway.

CODE666 release 10th Anniversary Album “Better Undead Than Alive 2″

here’s what label manager Emiliano Lanzoni had to say about this special album, featuring brand new unreleased and exclusive tracks from Negura Bunget, Fen, The Axis Of Perdition, Davide Tiso, Diabolicum, Void Of Silence and many more: ” It’s no use denying it, actually the label compilations are nearly always boring and useless: a jumble of pieces from  albums to-come, or, at best, a couple of unpublished tracks or remastered versions of old ones – nothing worth spending money on, not worth listening to even if they are given you free. So you will be wondering why Code666 has decided to celebrate its 10th birthday producing a compilation of its bands…. well, for a lot of reasons: First, this is NOT a “standard” compilation of our bands, this is actually a 79 minutes concept-album written by 35 different musicians; secondly, because all the music that you will hear has been composed expressly and exclusively for this CD…. and finally because we decided to resort to the talent of Davide Tiso, mastermind of avantgarde metal giants Ephel Duath, whose task has been to assemble, edit and merge the various tracks by means of little songs and interludes acting as links. The record, in this way, goes beyond the summing up of each piece and becomes an unprecedented concept album, a record with a meaningful course both as a whole and in each song. We are proud of it as it represents in the best possible way the ideas and the passion that have characterized Code666 for ten years”

OFFICIAL TRACKLIST:

1 Davide Tiso – Well
2 Minethorn – Icons ( of the cursed Earth)
3 Davide Tiso – Done!
4 The Axis of perdition – Chained in the Damnation Asylum
5 Davide Tiso – We Have
6 Dsd – Abandoned Emptiness
7 Davide Tiso – Been Good
8 Diabolicum – Salvation Through Vengeance
9 Void of Silence – Instrumental Void
10 Davide Tiso – At
11 Herrschaft – Abyssal Wounds
12 Davide Tiso – Holding On
13 The Oath – Abstract Emotion
14 Davide Tiso – it Was
15 The Prophecy – Adrift
16 Davide Tiso – Worth
17 Negura Bunget – Cumpana
19 Davide Tiso – It
19 Fen – Twilight Descends (Eulogy)

cover artwork preview by “temno un.art” available below:

Better Undead than Alive is scheduled for Xmass 2009 on code666 records

www.myspace.com/code666records

• 3 novembre 2009 : Valérie Manceau / Dominique Bach / AMarie Fabien
• 10 novembre 2009 : Gilberte Lenormand / Valérie Manceau / Bérénice Vanesson
• 17 novembre 2009 : Cédric Madoire / AMarie Fabien
• 24 novembre 2009 : Pauline Landel / Stéphane Rutard / Florence Martin
• 1er décembre 2009 : Pauline Landel / Marie Cremet / Judith Humery ou Sébastien Fauveau
• 8 décembre 2009 : Lucie Kalmar / Christine Tasson / Françoise Touitu ou Mr. Cornu
• 15 décembre 2009 : Lucie Kalmar / Charlotte Poye / Gilberte Lenormand
• 22 décembre 2009 : Lucie Kalmar / Julien Leplaideur / Emilie Rozier
• 29 décembre 2009 : Florence Martin / Emilie Rozier / Gilberte Lenormand
• 5 janvier 2010 : Chantal Fredet / Stéphane Rutard
• 12 janvier 2010 : Julien Leplaideur / Nathalie Goossens / Thomas Balladur
• 19 janvier 2010 : Marie Kock / Anne-Laure Walter
• 26 janvier 2010 : Julien Leplaideur
• 2 février 2010 : Judith Humery / Sébastien Fauveau
• 9 février 2010 :
• 16 février 2010 :
• 23 février 2010 :
• 2 mars 2010 :
• 9 mars 2010 : Nathalie Goossens / Thomas Balladur / Marie Cremet
• 16 mars 2010 : Judith Humery / Caroline Lacombe
• 23 mars 2010 : Charlotte Poye
• 30 mars 2010 : Sylvaine Camelin / Nathalie Côme
• 6 avril 2010
• 13 avril 2010 : Chantal Fredet
• 20 avril 2010 : Cécile et Sébastien Assouline-Boulaire
• 27 avril 2010 :

DirecTV and EchoStar Get New CEOs; Michael Dugan to come out of retirement to run EchoStar, while Michael White is leaving Pepsi to head up DirecTV. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Spot Runner Intros a Web Platform; company says the Malibu Media Platform helps to algorithmically match ad buyers and sellers. (MediaWeek)

Report: Vivendi Wants More Cash from GE; company wants a bigger portion in cash for its 20 percent stake in NBC in regards to the Comcast deal. (Bloomberg)

Lawyers Launch Class-Action Redbox Site; RedboxLateFees.com let’s people figure out if they are eligible to join the lawsuit. (Video Business)

GlideTV Intros On-Screen Keyboard App for Macs; the GlideTV OSK links the living room to popular application and web sites when used with the GlideTV Navigator. (GlideTV)

CoolIris Now on TV.com; TV portal now using the 3-D visual interface in its “Shows” section. (TechCrunch)

Which HD TV is Right for You? HDGuru provides a walk-through when picking a new set. (HDGuru)

Situationist Contributor Aaron Kay is an Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Professor Kay’s research has focused on the integration of implicit social-cognitive processes with the study of broad social issues. In his primary line of work, he investigates the myriad ways by which people cope with, adapt to, and rationalize social inequalities. At the moment, this research program addresses questions such as: (1) How do people rationalize and justify their good fortune and bad fortune, others’ good fortune and bad fortune, and the social systems that dictate these outcomes? (2) What are the psychological tools employed in aiding people to cope with the internal conflict produced from participating in social systems that are, in many objective ways, unfair and capricious?

At the second annual conference on Law and Mind Sciences, which took place im March of 2008, Professor Kay’s remarkable presentation was titled “The Psychological Power of the Status Quo.”  Here’s the abstract:

Although people tend to view their beliefs, values, and ideology as entirely the product of thoughtful deliberation, it is becoming increasingly clear that such a view is largely mistaken. In this talk, I will describe how the motivation to perceive the current status quo as just, legitimate, and desirable — an implicit motive known as “system justification” — exerts powerful and consequential effects on social perception and judgment.  My remarks will focus particularly on the role of system justification in maintaining social inequalities.

His talk was videotaped (though with poor lighting), and you can watch it on the three (roughly 9-minute) videos below.

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For more information about the Project on Law and Mind Sciences, click here.  For a sample of related Situationist posts, see “The Motivated Situation of Inequality and Discrimination,”Thanksgiving as “System Justification”?,” “Cheering for the Underdog,”The Unconscious Situation of our Consciousness – Part IV,” and “The (Unconscious) Situation of our Consciousness – Part III.”  To review all of the Situationist posts that discuss system justification motive, click here. “