I just love these “I know everything” quotes some people try to make.

In 1899 it was “Everything that can be invented has already been invented.” by Charles H. Duell, director of the U.S. Patent Office.

In 1943 chairman of IBM claimed that “there is a world market for maybe five computers”.

Bill Gates was sure that “640k ought to be enough for anybody” in 1981 (I am pretty sure it’s not enough for his dog’s computer).

Today I found another nice claim reading about permission marketing: “I guarantee you that by the year 2000, Internet banner ads will be gone. They don’t work.” (Permission marketing)

My question is: why are they still here?

I wonder if to-do lists and post-it notes all over work as good motivators for many people. It certainly works for me. That’s why having such wall in my future office would be my dream:

writing down each teeny job (like “not to forget to take of done post-its”)

taking then one by one

and redecorating wall all the time.

I wonder if anyone has this done in their office…

(source: http://www.duncan-wilson.com/duncan_wilson_work_pixelnotes.htm )

Time is definitely becoming the most precious thing in the world. I don’t know what others think about that, but in my opinion, not everything can be used to count such preciousness. That is probably the reason why watches are more expensive and more a sign of luxury than let’s say socks. Walking is not something so valuable anymore.

Back to topic, what inspired this entry was interesting finding on (surely, how without that)  the internet:

This cool thing is called “Font clock” As the name says, it shows time and date in few different fonts and is supposed (I guess) to be a good present to graphic designers in order to get inspirations every morning (or any other time of the day).

Cool, I guess. Comes in three sizes, many fonts. Just the price is a bit overdoing it.

$1,280.00

Here, I said it. Now if the price seems very normal for you, go and buy here.

No, I do not mean bills.

Maybe - maybe! - there is a card.

www.jackcards.com

Recently I was given a link to a website which provides happy mailbox-moment for people who are too busy to do anyhting but working, eating and sleeping. They send you the cards you pic in advance a week before you have to send them to someone who’s having birthday, wedding etc.  Actually I was pretty surprised to see that the selection of cards is pretty… well, pretty. They are not usual flower in a vase or christmas tree with a big bulb, or a gift box.

Anyway, what I was interested in was the idea of offering people not to go to the store, nto even to buy something in an e-store, but to buy and get the good only at certain time, which you - of course - choose yourself.

For some, time is money, for some time factor is a way to make money.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

I don’t remember how I came to this site but since the first day I became addicted to it. Apparently, not only I. Counting the comments, there are over 100 people that not only see but also write something about each post.
The concept is easy as a cheeseburger: website is loaded with funny pictures of cats and other animals. In addition to all the cuteness most ot these pictures have captures that are incredibly funny. Spelling was a bit strange from the very first look, but now it became part of cultural background, together with most popular movies, books and expressions. “Ceiling cat” and “fud” is understandable and quite well used phraze in conversations with some of my friends.

All in all, website is highly recommendable as a daily dose of humour.

That is probably why it managed to grow into a business of selling funny cute things, t-shirts and similar stuff. I believe it sells. I have seen many people voluntarily advertising the LOLcats website and I believe many would walk wearing t-shirts with cats in funny positions saying some kind of nonsense.

It seems that nowadays having a successful business is not about making the cost as low as possible. It is not about optimizing activities, not about endless advertising. It’s about having right ideas and offering them to the right persons.

So that is what FOX IN A BOX will be about: interesting concepts, strange (but successful) ideas,  positioning that nobody else would have ever come to. There will also be (I believe) examples of something way too strange to work, something that is just mildly changed but looks nearly new, something that is so hopeless it works. Everything is possible, right?