Kjetil Holmefjord

Calling @UPS Denmark. But never again.

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:35:03 -0400

Experienced some real reluctance against new business today:

Me: Hi, I’m considering starting up a webshop and would like to know what prices you are offering to businesses. I know it’s possible to calculate prices on your website, but that’s only for private persons. I would like to know more about your volume pricing, to see if my business model is economically feasible.

UPS: Yes no problem - just give me your organization number and I’ll have one of our sales reps contact you.

Me: But I don’t have an organization number as I don’t know if my business model is feasible. By giving me information about your volume pricing I will probably know more about this.

UPS: You can’t speak to a sales rep before you have an organization number. That’s impossible

Me: …..

Crazy…

3 reasons why I'm no longer a Spotify-fan

Mon, 20 May 2013 06:46:00 -0400

I’ve been using Spotify since “the early days” (2007), which has mostly been a pleasant experience. I‘ve loved the range in their music library, the collaborative playlists, the iPad-app, the offline playlists, their design, their social layer and so on… And I still do. But other parts of their service are starting to really annoy me, and I’m considering changing streaming service if I find something better. In this post I’ll briefly touch upon some of the annoying parts of Spotify:

Design of desktop-client:
The desktop-client has only deteriorated since I started using it. Their recent update, with new “artist-pages” removed the option of searching through cmd/ctrl+f, and forces users to use the small search field in the top-left corner. Completely unnecessary.

Furthermore, the font/text on these new artist-pages are loaded as images and not text. And these images are not optimized for high-resolution displays like the one on Macbook Pro Retina. Some might say this is a minor detail, but a company like Spotify should not get such a detail wrong. Amateurish…

Release dates:
Spotify-founder Daniel Ek was eagerly promoting that Daft Punk’s single Get Lucky was immediately available on Spotify, but he’s been quiet about how the album was available on iTunes (and torrents) a week before they released it. I’ve had to go elsewhere to find the three albums I’m currently listening to (The National, Vampire Weekend, Daft Punk).

I know this isn’t entirely Spotify’s fault, as other stakeholders (record companies) also have their say, but after operating for 7 years and more than 5 million paying users I expect them to have more negotiating power.

Integration of other online services
Companies have understood that a lot of innovation happens externally, and record companies should also understand that a lot of music is created by individuals and freely distributed. It’s unbelievable that I still can’t add a stream/URL from YouTube to a Spotify playlist, but instead have to switch between browser and Spotify if my favourite songs available free online. Other services like turntable and musicplayr have managed to do this, why hasn’t Spotify?

These are the top three reasons why I’m no longer a Spotify-fan, but rather just a user. If any of their competitors (Rdio, Google, iTunes, Deezer etc) manages to fix these issues, I’ll gladly take the time to copy all my Spotify-playlists and leave. But even more, I hope Spotify takes action and persuades me to stay!

Awesome!

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:35:46 -0400

Awesome!

Why Path isn't my solution

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:54:01 -0400

Disagree w/ @hugoamsellem. I share differently with different groups. My solution isn’t Path, rather FB groups medium.com/adventures-in-…
— Kjetil Holmefjord (@kjetil1) May 5, 2013

I read this article about replacing Facebook with Path, talking about how Facebook is for showing while Path is about sharing. I disagree, which I first expressed on Twitter (above).

The trend among my closest friends is different. I checked 10 of my closest friends’ timeline, and the last public post from any of us was the 27th of April (9 days ago). We neither show nor share on Facebook, and this unwillingness to share has steadily grown since the hype around Facebook calmed down (like 2009 in Norway). However, there is more activity than ever before on our private groups. I have separate private groups for college classmate, childhood friends, work (and e-mail).

When we’re away from the computer, we say and act differently in different arenas - depending on whether you’re talking with your boss, parents, girlfriend or an old acquaintance Facebook allows me to have all these different conversations at the same place, and at the same time have the possibility to stay updated on/keep in touch with (old) friends.

Therefore, you don’t see me switching to Path anytime soon….

Vampire Weekend - Ya HeyReally looking forward to their new...

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:31:59 -0400

Vampire Weekend - Ya Hey
Really looking forward to their new album (coming May 12th)!

Thoughts on the 'Snapchat social graph'

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:37:45 -0400

Earlier I tweeted about how the ‘Snapchat social graph’ could be what Path really wants/needs. I see Path as a social network for techies, and I believe they (will) have the same growth issues as Foursquare. Still, I believe the demand for a new and more intimate/personal social graph (like the one Path is trying to build) is growing rapidly.

This got me thinking:
Snapchat, unlike Path, is being rapidly adopted by ‘normal people’. And users are not ‘importing Facebook friends’, they’re slowly building a new (more intimate) social graph. I know Snapchat has stated that they’re planning to monetize through ads, but couldn’t this also be a really really really good opportunity to expand/pivot into a (more intimate) social network?

Found this image on Quora today. Stunning!

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:37:32 -0400

Found this image on Quora today. Stunning!

Photo

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:26:50 -0400

alexcarantza: Decision tree for using a QR code

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:01:33 -0400

alexcarantza:

Decision tree for using a QR code

"What I believe is that all clear-minded people should remain two things throughout their lifetimes:..."

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 03:19:25 -0400

“What I believe is that all clear-minded people should remain two things throughout their lifetimes: curious and teachable.”

- http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/13-things-roger-ebert-said-better-than-anybody-else

Management/Success/Leadership: Mostly Bullshit

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:54:00 -0400

Management/Success/Leadership: Mostly Bullshit:

…success happens when you have a coincidence of talent, resources, and timing.

Great viewpoints about causality from mr Dilbert, Scott Adams

"The fields of management/success/leadership are a lot like the finance industry in the sense that..."

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:46:34 -0400

“The fields of management/success/leadership are a lot like the finance industry in the sense that much of it is based on confusing correlation and chance with causation. We humans like to feel as if we understand and control our environments. We don’t like to think of ourselves as helpless leaves blowing in the wind of chance. So we clutch at any ridiculous explanation of how things work.”

- Scott Adams… taken from the always interesting Monday Note

littlebigdetails: Google Drive - An expanding hover interface...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:57:32 -0500

littlebigdetails:

Google Drive - An expanding hover interface allows you to choose the desired amount of rows and columns in a new table.

/via Kjetil Holmefjord

Photo

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:36:59 -0500

devidsketchbook: JAILHOUSES BY FELIPE LUCHI Brazil, Sao...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 11:50:32 -0500

Art Director Felipe Luchi | Posted by devidsketchbook.com

Art Director Felipe Luchi | Posted by devidsketchbook.com

Art Director Felipe Luchi | Posted by devidsketchbook.com

devidsketchbook: