It's not like this is anything new. It might be new in the sense that it is open to the public, but don't think they had to do some huge database rewrite to put out the information.
It's easier to sell someone something if you know that they already want it. The more you understand your customer, the more you can appeal to him/her. One of the advantages of advertising on a specialty cable channel is you already know the kinds of people who watch it. If you want to sell sports memorabelia, go to your local cable company and get on ESPN, rather thatn going to your local bradcast station.
So how narrow can you define your market? Realize the ideal situation of being able to keep track of everything everyone buys is becoming more real every day. When you go to the grocery store, they might tell you that if you have a card, you get special discounts. What is the purpose of this card? To define "special customers"? No. Credit card machines and check verification devices have been integrated into databases to keep track of customer purchases, but what about cash? These cards are there to be able to monitor everyone's purchases.
Now, instead of sending you a general flyer, they can send you one more likely to bring you in, according to whatever category you fit in (He buys food like a bachelor, let's send him some Hamburger Helper coupons, or ramen 10/$1).
Why does this bother me? It seems to give the seller too much control over the average buyer. Most people don't really want to have to search to find some things, especially books or music which is what Amazon.com started out in. By keeping track of the fact I bought a book on knitting last week, the next time I come to amazon I get to see 5 more books on knitting. I like knitting (ok, not really) so maybe I buy another. I like a lot of things, which I might have decided to choose a book about, but I'm lazy. Or worse, maybe crocheting isn't something I've really been interested, but it's a bit of a fad right now. I never would have been exposed to crocheting, but amazon knows I like knitting, and think knitting=crocheting, so bombard me with crocheting until I finally buy a book in crocheting, perpetuating a lame (IM imaginary HO) fad.
Which brings me to why I think this move is obvious. Amazon.com has profiles on millions of purchasers and their buying habits, worth who knows how much money. I believe they are:
A. (and I hope) just flaunting their resources to show what a powerful company they are.
or
B. (and I hope not) flaunting the database that they plan to sell to whoever wants to give them tons of money.
As a footnote, I would like to discourage anyone from using those "digital wallet" things. If you use one of those, the company you use would know every purchase you made, and has much less obligation to your privacy than say a credit card company. Just don't use them. Really.
I first heard about this through a marketing survey. It seems that you just give your information (Name, credit card number, etc.) and when you want to buy something, you just let your trusty third party company (and who is more trustworthy than Microsoft?) handle the dibursement of your name, credit card number, etc. for you.
Can you imagine the money you could make selling information on what products a person buys, if you know that person logs all exchanges through you? I think I can handle the burden of retyping my credit card number each time I use a different business.
An open source standard wouldn't do anything. This is pure capitalism.
Re:Someone Wanna Grab that Palm Pilot?
on
Password Overload
·
· Score: 1
How secure is anything? If I leave my planner in the seat of a taxi or a restaraunt table the lucky person gets my money, my credit cards, my address, and knowledge of when I won't be home. To me, that's a lot scarier than someone finding out what my root password is. I can change that. Changing a business trip is a little harder.
It's almost impossible to protect yourself from your own stupidity. If you put your passwords in your pilot, just be sure to recognize it's value and don't leave it in the back of a taxi.
While I have only used PTC's technical support once, I thought it was pretty good. Especially considering that I am a student and have given the company no money at all.
"I gambled I would lose...I guess I win" Joe Henry
Slashdot Mirror
It's not like this is anything new. It might be new in the sense that it is open to the public, but don't think they had to do some huge database rewrite to put out the information.
It's easier to sell someone something if you know that they already want it. The more you understand your customer, the more you can appeal to him/her. One of the advantages of advertising on a specialty cable channel is you already know the kinds of people who watch it. If you want to sell sports memorabelia, go to your local cable company and get on ESPN, rather thatn going to your local bradcast station.
So how narrow can you define your market? Realize the ideal situation of being able to keep track of everything everyone buys is becoming more real every day. When you go to the grocery store, they might tell you that if you have a card, you get special discounts. What is the purpose of this card? To define "special customers"? No. Credit card machines and check verification devices have been integrated into databases to keep track of customer purchases, but what about cash? These cards are there to be able to monitor everyone's purchases.
Now, instead of sending you a general flyer, they can send you one more likely to bring you in, according to whatever category you fit in (He buys food like a bachelor, let's send him some Hamburger Helper coupons, or ramen 10/$1).
Why does this bother me? It seems to give the seller too much control over the average buyer. Most people don't really want to have to search to find some things, especially books or music which is what Amazon.com started out in. By keeping track of the fact I bought a book on knitting last week, the next time I come to amazon I get to see 5 more books on knitting. I like knitting (ok, not really) so maybe I buy another. I like a lot of things, which I might have decided to choose a book about, but I'm lazy. Or worse, maybe crocheting isn't something I've really been interested, but it's a bit of a fad right now. I never would have been exposed to crocheting, but amazon knows I like knitting, and think knitting=crocheting, so bombard me with crocheting until I finally buy a book in crocheting, perpetuating a lame (IM imaginary HO) fad.
Which brings me to why I think this move is obvious. Amazon.com has profiles on millions of purchasers and their buying habits, worth who knows how much money. I believe they are:
A. (and I hope) just flaunting their resources to show what a powerful company they are.
or
B. (and I hope not) flaunting the database that they plan to sell to whoever wants to give them tons of money.
As a footnote, I would like to discourage anyone from using those "digital wallet" things. If you use one of those, the company you use would know every purchase you made, and has much less obligation to your privacy than say a credit card company. Just don't use them. Really.
Flathead
I first heard about this through a marketing survey. It seems that you just give your information (Name, credit card number, etc.) and when you want to buy something, you just let your trusty third party company (and who is more trustworthy than Microsoft?) handle the dibursement of your name, credit card number, etc. for you.
Can you imagine the money you could make selling information on what products a person buys, if you know that person logs all exchanges through you? I think I can handle the burden of retyping my credit card number each time I use a different business.
An open source standard wouldn't do anything. This is pure capitalism.
How secure is anything? If I leave my planner in the seat of a taxi or a restaraunt table the lucky person gets my money, my credit cards, my address, and knowledge of when I won't be home. To me, that's a lot scarier than someone finding out what my root password is. I can change that. Changing a business trip is a little harder.
It's almost impossible to protect yourself from your own stupidity. If you put your passwords in your pilot, just be sure to recognize it's value and don't leave it in the back of a taxi.
While I have only used PTC's technical support once, I thought it was pretty good. Especially considering that I am a student and have given the company no money at all.
"I gambled I would lose...I guess I win" Joe Henry