"Oil Glut" in U.S. still means we need a loan to fill-up.

I've spent some time in the commodities markets, but when I see articles like this one in today's WSJ, everyone should wonder about the reasons we're given for the high costs at the gas pump.  Here in the U.S. we have too much oil sitting in one place, so refiners need to go out and buy oil somewhere else at a "scary world, over-speculated" price??? Then they pass that on to consumers here ??? I've heard some "doozies" before, but come on.

I know Mr. T.Boone Pickens will make a lot of money, but it's time for us to have another way of filling-up.  Natural gas, electricity.  Bring it on. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577249382206200386.html?KEYWORDS=pipeline

Old School- It might be a digital revolution, but still need to keep customer happy.

Here's the final paragraph that sums up the McKinsey paper, copy and pasted directly here, because I'm very customer focused:

"The digital revolution has upended business as usual in almost all industries, and travel is no exception. Consumers are empowered by information: they have near-instant access to their flight, hotel, and car-rental options; virtual price transparency; and the ability to play suppliers off against one another. The game is now about delivering a superior customer experience. If players can do that, the investment returns will follow."

Industry still trying to make sense of all the data that's already being collected, and now new mobile technologies gives them a chance to have very personalized information.  The trick for all of us is to understand what the data is telling us, with the focus on how to better serve our customers. 

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Transportation/Strategy_Analysis/The_trouble_with_travel_distribution_2932

VC Li : "Mobile Phones -best data-capture device, ever."

VC Ping Li of Accel Partners' has $100m to spend through his Big Data fund. Goes with the theme of many of the posts here and a main driver behind my event ticket start-up, Fricket.  (I recently acquired the Fricket.com domain and will be using this for my "concumer focused data driven app.")  Companies and customers need to see the numbers to make better decisions.  Data collection continues to become more personal, and people seem to be getting used to it, as long as they see the value in sharing. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/us-venture-bigdata-idUSTRE81G1HO20120221

Branding : Being fresh and relevant is better than overly polished.

Good article by Dan Gershenson in Crain's about how important it is for your company's social media content to not just be high quality, but also  "regular and consistent."  The old days of polishing the brand till it's ready, takes too long and "the story" risks becoming irrelavant shortly after release.  We want it all fresh! Like we want our tickets, fresh tickets from Fricket!

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120215/BLOGS06/120219879/abb-always-be-in-beta

Crunchie winner Pinterest is posterizing some of the big boys.

Another good article from Techcrunch on the quick growth of Pinterest and possible ways for businesses to add it to their marketing channel.  My college senior daughter loves it, and I love it how she found some great dessert recipes there.  It's probably me, but am I the only one that has trouble spelling/saying it correctly?  12million unique monthly visitors is hard to ignore.  We look for the unique and unusual places to advertise.  Get on board early!

http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/12/five-ways-brands-can-leverage-pinterest/

Neil Young Still Sounds Good Even in High Resolution.

Nothing beats live entertainment, but we should be able to listen to better audio when we can't be there. 

Need a "rich guy" according to Neil.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577195252709906484.html

And PCMag in a follow-up article breaks it down a bit:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399710,00.asp