Google Desktop 3.0: Ready Yet?

I'm a big fan of the Goog: fast, powerful, and accessible applications, all at the right price (FREE). When Google Desktop hit the scene, I was delighted: email search, and replace that crappy Microsoft search with a real power tool, PLUS Gadgets (widgets)? call me crazy, I thought we had a winner.

Unfortunately, version 1 was VERY resource intensive, and slowed my computer to a crawl. Version 2 took the Gadgets up a notch, but the search was still too limiting: it could only search up to 100K emails (I have easily over 1 million), and had a few security risks. Now version 3 has hit the street, and it adds a whole lotta eye candy. Now, the ubiquitous Sidebar samples your desktop picture, and blends the Gadgets to match. It adds a dramatic touch with gradients and light text on dark backgrounds to the News and RSS modules. The Weather is very cool; the Notepad is cute. And, of course, it uses all of the Gadgets out there.

So what's the verdict? Well, the self learning news and RSS modules were always my favorite, and the stylization that comes with Version 3 makes it truly cool. The Sidebar is definitely now ready for prime time. I'm still hoping they expand the number of emails to index, but I'll survive. In short, I think we finally have a winner.

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Loyalty Review: Kohl's Yes2You

As some of you know, I've spent over 15 years in the customer loyalty space. So, when I come across a new retail loyalty program, I can't help but see the pluses and minuses. After this many years, it's kind of ingrained. Periodically, I'll share my thoughts with you. Today, it's Kohl's turn under the scope. Let's have a look, shall we? I've divided the review up into three sections: what's good about the program, what's bad about the program, and what I'd change about it. That last one has some actual value: I charged hundreds of dollars per hour for loyalty program consulting, and had over a dozen clients, before I moved to JustAnswer FT. But, being a pandemic and all, I'm giving it away for free here. Kohl's, you're welcome. Here we go! The Good Sign up is opt in Seems odd to praise Kohl's for this, but in department store loyalty, this is a rarity, and a smart one. It means the customers who are opted in are already prime...

Revisiting Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1

I recently started rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation from the beginning. I have nothing but fond memories of the original run in the 1980s, given how excited I was for a new Trek series in my lifetime (I had only reruns and the movies to stoke my Trek interest), and it recently occurred to me that, while I diligently consumed every TNG episode, I had not experienced the series since it's original run. Why did I do this? Well, a few reasons: With the triumphant return of Sir Patrick Stewart to the smaller screen as the venerable Jean Luc Picard , I thought it would be interesting to contrast this version with the previous, and see how far he has come. It would add color to the character, as well as Sir Patrick. Frankly, with the COVID19 lockdown, the series I have binged upon have been intense, dark, and disturbing. Combined with the activity of the world, including insane politics, homicidal police who seem to view people of color as "prey," rather than their ch...

2020 CV19 Lockdown: Winners and Losers

It is said that in any time in history, the winners and losers are determined when a unique set of circumstances arises the requires an unprecedented response. How a company responds to those conditions can often propel them to new heights, or sentence them to an ignominious end. This post is meant to be an ongoing and often updated list of those that may come out of the Great 2020 Covid19 Lockdown as champs...or chumps. Winners Zoom How is it that, with all of the video conferencing choices in the market, a relatively obscure one (and a freemium one, to boot!) ran away with the title? Think of it: you had entrenched competitors like Skype and Facebook, as well as work-focused like Microsoft Teams , Google Hangouts , and Amazon Chime , any one of which had far greater reach than Zoom . Yet Zoom won, to the point that they achieved the exalted state of having their product/platform become a verb ("I'll Zoom you later"). More amazingly, they even continued their gro...

Tretakoff Musings

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