text:
The Washington Post
Vicksburg, 1863by Winston Groom
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In this thrilling narrative history of the Civil War's most strategically important campaign, Winston Groom describes the bloody two-year grind that started when Ulysses S. Grant began taking a series of Confederate strongholds in 1861, climaxing with the siege of Vicksburg two years later. For Grant and the Union it was a crucial success that captured the Mississippi River, divided the South in half, and set the stage for eventual victory. Vicksburg, 1863 brings the battles and the protagonists of this struggle to life: we see Grant in all his grim determination, Sherman with his feistiness and talent for war, and Confederate leaders from Jefferson Davis to Joe Johnston to John Pemberton. It is an epic account by a masterful writer and historian.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Editorial Reviews
The Washington Post
Groom's approach to the Civil War follows the examples of Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote. It features learning lightly worn presented in a narrative format that engages even though the outcome is known. Groom's conclusion that the Confederacy was best advised to seek terms after Vicksburg's fall sealed the rebels' fate is reasonable. But it is eclipsed by his compelling depiction of two improvised armies, each fighting, in James McPherson's words, "for cause and comrades." Both had to learn the craft of war, and blood was the price of ignorance. Personalities like William Tecumseh Sherman and John Pemberton, the Confederate general from Pennsylvania, vie for place with Benjamin Grierson's dramatic cavalry raid through Mississippi and the death grapple of Union and Confederate Missourians at Vicksburg. Grant, however, remains the central figure. His approach was a combination of improvisations. If something failed, like the costly attack on Chickasaw Bluffs, he tried something else until he finally put in place the siege that decided the Civil War. Groom presents grand events from a human perspective, introducing a spectrum of colorful characters. Maps. (Apr. 9)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Groom (1942: The Year That Tried Men's Souls), a superb storyteller most famous for his novel Forrest Gump, seems to have researched his topic well, so it's a real disservice that his book lacks footnotes or endnotes or even a full bibliography. His thesis is that the Battle of Vicksburg was strategically the Civil War's most important one, at the end of which the Confederacy could not win the war and was foolish to fight on. The book's greatest strength is that, instead of getting bogged down in the minutiae, it places the battle within the context of the western theater of the war, emphasizing the personalities behind the battles rather than tactics and logistics. This approach makes the book accessible to general readers less familiar with Civil War history. Many will disagree with some of Groom's political conclusions, which show a bias toward the Southern cause; he does seem prone to offering opinion without evidence. There's no shortage of books on this battle, so librarians may choose to skip Groom's, especially if they have Michael Ballard's Vicksburg: The Campaign That Opened the Mississippi. However, Vicksburg, 1863 is engaging, and many will find it an enjoyable read. Recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ12/08.]
Michael Farrell
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Brilliantly described. . . . Rarely has the story of such a lengthy and complicated campaign been told with such clarity and grace. . . . Groom's book is full of such authentically rendered excitement. . . . He proves again that facts skillfully woven can be more moving than the products of the busiest imagination. . . . With Vicksburg, 1863, he has fully arrived as a narrative historian."
—The Washington Post
"Groom's mastery of plot and storytelling leaves him inordinately well-disposed to piece together the tangled mass of major battles and peashooter skirmishes . . . that made up the Vicksburg campaign. . . . "If Vicksburg seems like a very old story to tell, Groom's lively account has a frighteningly contemporary sheen."
—The Chicago Tribune
"Unique. . . . Offers fresh insights on the human costs of the war and what it meant to the nation. . . . Groom brings the novelist's touch to history, personalizing characters . . . in an easily relatable way for the average reader."
—The Associated Press
"A masterful telling of the pivotal Civil War siege and battle."
—New York Post
"Illuminating. . . . Groom can help any reader understand and appreciate that when North met South in combat the issues weren't one-dimensional and the outcome wasn't a foregone conclusion."
—The Vicksburg Post
"A galvanizing and harrowing account. . . . Relying on southern sensibilities, historical scrupulousness and a novelist's feel for a good yarn, Groom plunges into this cauldron with a presentation that gives full vent to the cost in human lives and the enormous stakes for both sides."
—The New Jersey Star-Ledger
"Groom's command of the military facts, and his extraordinary mixture of vignettes big and small, brings this distant, chaotic, and shockingly violent episode to life."
—The Weekly Standard
"With [Vicksburg, 1863] Groom attains the stratospheric narrative heights heretofore enjoyed by such popular-history masters as Bruce Catton, Shelby Foote and James M. McPherson. His pacing is so good, his attention to detail so riveting, and his flair for action writing so pitch-perfect that the reader is utterly absorbed and inexorably swept along. . . . There have been many books about Vicksburg, but none better than this."
—Mobile Press-Register (Alabama)
"Civil-war buffs will be most interested in Winston Groom's contribution to the contentious debate on whether General Joseph Johnston, the Confederate commander in the West, could and should have done more to relieve the defender of Vicksburg, General John Pemberton. Others will be struck more by the archaic nature of the Vicksburg campaign. The tactics of the besiegers and the sufferings of the besieged bring to mind medieval, or even Roman, times rather than mid-19th-century America."
—The Economist
"Winston Groom bids fair to assume the mantle of the late Shelby Foote as a most eloquent and moving storyteller of the Civil War. His prose is unbeatable . . . while his pen portraits of individuals are crisp and incisive. The feel and smell and hardship of soldiers and civilians alike in a siege are all here in Vicksburg, 1863."
—William C. Davis, author of Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America
"An exciting, balanced account of what may have been the most decisive campaign of the Civil War. . . . It is all there—bravery and cowardice, competence and folly, fear and endurance, all with the constant, imponderable undertow of dumb luck, good and bad."
—Stephen Fox, author of Wolf of the Deep
"[Groom] has delivered another tour de force. . . . Beautifully written, he places us in the minds and hearts of the citizens and soldiers who lived the battles and endured the hardships of war in the besieged city. This is a must read!"
—Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum
Product Details
- 9780307271495
- Publisher:
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Publication date:
- 04/07/2009
- Sold by:
- Random House
- Format:
- NOOK Book
- Pages:
- 496
- Sales rank:
- 301,523
- File size:
Read an Excerpt
Admiral Porter had his own ideas for the Rebels' undoing, which presently had nothing to do with armies or canals or amphibious landings. Instead, after correctly identifying the two main objectives of the Mississippi campaign, he just as correctly proceeded to separate them. One, of course, was to reopen the river to commercial traffic from the Midwest to the Gulf and thence to ports far and wide. Desirable as this was, it would still require the reduction of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, which only the army could accomplish, and they weren't getting anywhere fast. From a purely military standpoint, however, the second goal was even more vital, and that was to sever the Confederate connection between the bountiful lands of the trans- Mississippi, since the ultimate destination of their bounty was the Rebel armies of Virginia, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
In sheer size, the trans- Mississippi was nearly as large as the rest of the Confederacy east of the river. Up until then it had provided the South with more than 100,000 soldiers, about 30 percent of the number presently serving under arms. Perhaps even more significantly, the trans- Mississippi was an inexhaustible granary that supplied much of the beef, corn, hogs, rice, wheat, and staples that filled stockpiles in Atlanta and Richmond. Not only that, but because of the blockade it also was a major conduit of European arms, munitions, and medical supplies through supposedly neutral Mexico. Cut off the supplies, Porter reasoned, and the enemy armies would begin to wither and starve. His view was later shared by no less an authority than the Harvard historian and philosopher John Fiske, who wrote in 1900, "To sever from the Confederacy its three trans- Mississippi states was an object of paramount importance. It would destroy nearly half its resisting power."
This Confederate pipeline had already suffered a major blow with the fall of Memphis, and Sherman, before going up the Yazoo to attack Chickasaw Bluffs, had seen to the destruction of the Shreveport and Vicksburg Railroad. While these actions went a long way toward cutting the connection, it still left almost three hundred miles of the Mississippi under Rebel control all the way down to Port Hudson, and it was upon this stretch that Porter cast his nautical eye. He already knew he could get his ironclads past the Vicksburg batteries—albeit with the inevitably heavy damage—and once below there would be no sustainable source of coal, and the fireboxes of the ironclad ships were not designed for burning wood. Porter was still trying to figure a way to solve that problem when a catalyst arrived in the shape of a big Confederate riverboat named City of Vicksburg that steamed up from the South laden with supplies and tied up at the town docks. The brazenness of this prompted the admiral to summon his newest charge, Colonel Charles Rivers Ellet, who a scant six months earlier had been a nineteen- year- old medical cadet. Following the death of his father during the Battle of Memphis, young Ellet now commanded the army ram fleet, which, over the protest of Secretary of War Stanton, had just been turned over to the navy. Porter now wanted to know if Ellet thought it was possible to send in one of his rams to sink the City of Vicksburg, which, to his eternal annoyance and disgust, was lying in plain sight of his flagship.*
Ellet replied that it was not only possible but, with himself in command, it was as good as done. Thus in the early hours of February 2, 1863, Ellet began sneaking downriver in Queen of the West, his best ram, which could burn either coal or wood. Elaborate preparations had been taken according to Porter's instructions, or so the admiral believed. Double bales of cotton had been placed around the decks to fortify against Confederate cannon shot, a nighttime attack had been ordered to minimize the danger from Rebel batteries, and Ellet had been told to strike the City of Vicksburg just aft of her wheel, then blast her with turpentine- encased shot in order to set her ablaze.
Everything was going according to plans until Ellet decided to change them. Told to attack while it was still dark, he dallied around with last- minute preparations so that it was after sunrise before he got into position, and by then the Vicksburg guns were on full alert. As in the ill- fated attempt to ram the Arkansas, a big river eddy caught Queen of the West just as she was bearing in and her blow glanced off. She fired her turpentine balls, setting Vicksburg afire, but the Rebel guns began exacting a stern toll. The cotton bales Ellet had layered around the superstructure caught fire and all hands were ordered out into the hail of enemy fire to shove them overboard. By then it was apparent no more could be done and, while hundreds of Vicksburgians ran onto the bluffs to watch, the Queen, still ablaze and being shot at by every gun in the batteries, bore off toward the western shore where Sherman had some batteries of his own.
After putting out the fire and looking things over, Ellet decided his damage was slight and Porter told him to push on downriver in search of Confederate supply ships. He was accompanied by the unarmed river steamer De Soto, which Sherman had lent him as a support vessel and safety valve, if trouble should occur. The first Rebel boat he caught up with was typical of the haul that was crossing on a daily basis from the trans- Mississippi. She was the steamer A. H. Baker, carrying 110,000 pounds of barreled pork, some five hundred live hogs, several tons of salt, and other sundries, bound for Port Hudson and points east. Thus encouraged, Ellet continued on his rampage.
By then the Confederates had put out the alarm but, even so, a number of their transports failed to get the word and were taken captive, including one boat with a party of women from New Orleans aboard, whose destination seemed to be Port Hudson. Porter floated down a barge of coal for Ellet, which he recovered and hid up a bayou, then began a campaign of pillage on the smaller streams feeding into the Mississippi. At one point he stopped at a plantation near Grand Gulf that had belonged to former president Zachary Taylor and appropriated its cotton. He sent parties of his "marines" ashore with orders to destroy enemy wagon trains and, if fired upon from the banks, burn the plantation homes nearby. After two weeks of this he made his first reckless mistake, violating Porter's orders to stay near the mouth of the Red River.
Full of as much steam as his boilers, Ellet took the Queen eighty miles up the Red River to see about a big gun the Confederates were rumored to be landing there. On the way he captured a steamer with 4,500 bushels of corn, a number of Confederate soldiers, and a German with $32,000 in his pocket. When he arrived at the place the gun was supposed to be delivered to, Ellet not only found himself bracketed and shot through and through by Rebel guns, but he got stuck on a sandbar and had to abandon ship, leaving the Queen in enemy hands. He and most of his crew escaped on the De Soto, which was following close behind, but she also ran aground and they were forced to re-escape on the captured Confederate corn boat.
For two days Ellet and his men desperately eluded a host of angry Rebel steamers that were now looking for him in every part of the river system. Out of food and fuel, the crew fed the corn into the engine's fireboxes and ate what was left, and it seemed only a matter of time before their unarmed boat would be apprehended. Then salvation appeared out of a Mississippi River fog in the form of the new ironclad Indianola, which Porter presciently had sent downriver when communications with Ellet were lost. After conferring with Indianola's captain, and explaining what had happened, Ellet and his people went north toward Vicksburg, assuming their mission had been accomplished. In Porter's eyes, it was nothing of the sort, for he viewed the loss of Queen of the West as a major defeat. "I can give orders, but I cannot give officers good judgment," he telegraphed the secretary of the navy. "The Indianola is now there by herself. Whether the commander will have the good sense not to be surprised, remains to be seen."
It did not take long for Porter to find out. Indianola's captain hung around for two extra days, by which time the Confederates had not only repaired and manned Queen of the West but also sicced upon him the formidable William H. Webb, a converted steam ram. On the moonlit night of February 24, these two caught up with the Yankee gunboat about twenty- five miles south of Vicksburg. In the ensuing battle, the mighty Indianola got herself sunk in ten feet of water and her crew made prisoners, and Porter's humiliation was complete, or so it seemed. But then there occurred one of those weird and wonderful incidents, which on the rarest of occasions can make war actually seem like fun.
Next morning, after Porter recovered from his fury over losing the Indianola, he concocted a delicious plot to keep her from falling into Rebel hands. First he commandeered a large river flatboat and set a veritable army of carpenters to work, dolling her up like a Union ironclad. By late afternoon, the barge had been extended to more than three hundred feet long, with forty- foot- high enclosed paddle wheel–houses made out of a cabin hauled from a nearby plantation, two tall smokestacks of nailed- together barrels set upon smoldering tar pots, and a big "Quaker gun" that poked menacingly forward. To conceal the hasty work, the dummy ship was plastered with tar and christened "Black Terror," complete with the Stars and Stripes flying from a flagstaff. As a finishing touch, some wag nailed a sign on its side: deluded people, cave in! The finished cost of the hoax ship, Porter claimed, had been $8.63. Just before midnight a Union towboat dragged the creature around to the bend above Vicksburg and cut it loose downriver.
When the Confederate batteries sighted it in the moonlight they assumed it was real and opened fire, but the current carried "Black Terror" rapidly past with no observable damage. It hit a sandbar just off DeSoto Point, but Sherman's people rowed out and shoved it off. Meanwhile, Confederate headquarters at Vicksburg had fired off a warning that a big Yankee ironclad was on the loose south of the city and ordered the salvage parties attempting to raise Indianola to demolish her, rather than let her be retaken. Just as the sun was setting, Rebel scouts reported "Black Terror" lying off the western shore not far above where the recovery operation was in progress. Actually she was aground again, but that was all it took; Queen of the West and the William H. Webb, which had been standing by, promptly came about and took off downriver, while the Rebel salvage party blew up Indianola with her own gunpowder. For a while, Pemberton and his army became laughingstocks, not just in the North but throughout the Confederacy as well.
For his part, Porter had partially redeemed himself by the dummy ironclad trick, but the fact remained that two of his fleet's most powerful ships, Queen of the West and Indianola, were either sunk or in the hands of the enemy, and thus ended the U.S. Navy's forays into the Rebel- held part of the Mississippi until further notice.
From the Hardcover edition.
Meet the Author
Winston Groom is the author of fourteen previous books, including Patriotic Fire, Shrouds of Glory, Forrest Gump, and Conversations with the Enemy (with Duncan Spencer), which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He lives with his wife and daughter in Point Clear, Alabama.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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I am halfway through the hardcover version and I have come across glaring inaccuracies. Groom has written that Mississippi called a convention on whether to secede or not after the firing on Fort Sumter. Mississippi seceded January 9, 1861 well before the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861. He writes on page 136 that Baton Rouge is on the west bank of the Mississippi River. It is on the east bank. He writes that the South¿s Maryland Campaign of 1862 ended at the village of Antietam. The village of Antietam hardly saw any fighting. It was around the town of Sharpsburg and along Antietam Creek that most of the fighting occurred. On page 176 he writes about the Jefferson Barracks in New Orleans. The Jefferson Barracks are in St. Louis, Jackson Barracks is in New Orleans. As an avid reader of history, these inaccuracies have almost made me stop reading the book. However, there are two diarist who lived near or in Vicksburg that give a detailed first person account that isn¿t found in any Civil War books that I have read. Also, Groom is a good story teller so the book is easy to read. I gave it one star because the mistakes are so egregious and I expect more out of a non-fiction book and a historian.
in the last 45 years. The book includes every major and minor battle and/or action on land and river during the campaign lasting well over a year (if one starts the action with the fall of Fort Donaldson Feb 1962) culminating in the capture of Vicksburg. Also included is biographical information on those people who are involved including political, newspaper, military, and civilian figures. This lengthy campaign is placed in context to what is happening in the eastern theater such as why re-enforcements of Calvary were not sent to Pemberton even though his lack of cavalry rendered him blind to Union troop movements. Ten detailed maps are provided as supplements to assist in understanding the tactical situation and movements. Maps are absolutely necessary, in my opinion, in following most military history and the reader will not be disappointed. Finally, personal accounts of those on the ground and witnessing the events are interwoven with the strategic and tactical events to give personal and human perspective to the campaign.
Winston Groom has the knack of holding your interest while explaining what was happening, never dry and dusty history. I had read his Shiloh and was so enthralled that I had to get Vicksburg. For the first time the war in the west came alive for me and Civil War buff that I am, it now has an even greater interest for me. So much so that I am going on a trip to see these places in spring!
I found this History to be both very readable, and from what i know, historically accurate. A very good read for someone who is interested in the saga, and doesn't want to get bogged down in the trivia.
I hope Winston Groom will write more civil war books. Vicksburg 1863 is a fast paced and entertaining account of the siege and surrender of the "Gibralter of the West". I had never read an account of the bender that Grant went on during the siege and that the newspapermen with the army declined to report it. Amazing!
The author of "Forrest Gump" takes another crack at Civil War history but comes up short of his "Shrouds of Glory," which explained how Gen. John Bell Hood, who had already lost an arm and a leg, managed to lose the Confederacy's Army of Tennessee in the last year of the war.
This narrative is easy to read and follow. Some good stories on Grant that were not placed in the public domain at the time. Though Mr Groom delves into areas not talked about in other works he doesn't dwell too much on the "in the weeds trivia" type of stuff. It is good however for whetting the appettite of those who wish to go for that. For example, Gen Pemberton had a perplexing situation trying to decide whether to follow orders from Jeff Davis and defend Vicksburg or Joe Johnston and combine forces. Which leads to wondering as to why Johnston made the decisions he did. Overall a good companion read to other works on the topic.
Groom style of writing has always been an easy read. He weaves history and fiction together in a wonderful prose of literature. I have enjoyed all his other historical novels. He has always said the his hit made him able to write history which is his true love. If you read "Vicksburg 1863" you will see that love in this work.


text:
Spanish Word for knowledge
English Word: knowledge
Spanish Word: los conocimientos
Now you know how to say knowledge in Spanish. :-)
Interested in travelling to a Spanish-speaking country? Read the travel blog below:
learning the meaning of very useful words in spanish : ) (Madrid, Spain)
Life here in Madrid is truly like a siren call, many speculate that I will never make it back to the States. Today I really enjoyed the class. I found out what "joder" is. Pardon my French for those of you who speak Spanish. =P Bovi tried to explain to me but I didn't understand at the time. I asked Maria, my teacher, and she explained in great detail. It's my first bad word in Spanish....
[ view entire travel blog ]
Popular Phrase: charades words spanish | Medical Spanish | Conjugated Verb: caracter - character [ click for full conjugation ]

subset: commoncrawl


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Graham Spanier 003
President Graham B. Spanier greets 2009-2009 Penn State Laureate Kim Cook and pianist Svetlana Rodionova backstage of the Forum Theatre at Penn State New Kensington. A professor of music in cello, Cook will perform at all Penn State campuses during her year long tenure as laureate.
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Taken on October 23, 2008


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The Review at a Glance: (max score: 5 )
Audio/Video total rating:
( Max score: 100 )
Studio and Year: Sony Classic Pictures - 2008
MPAA Rating: R
Feature running time: 99 Minutes
Genre: Drama
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 2.40:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English/French/Portuguese Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Spanish/Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Subtitles:English, Engis SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, Dutch
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Alice Braga, Randy Couture, Ricky Jay, Joe Mantegna, Emily Mortimer, David Paymer
Written & Directed by: David Mamet
Music by: Stephen Endelman
Region Code: A,B,C
Blu-ray Disc release Date: August 26, 2008
"There's always a way out"
Film Synopsis:
Set on the westside of the Los Angeles fight world, a scene inhabited by bouncers, cagefighters, cops and special forces types REDBELT is the story of Mike Terry(Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Jiu-jitsu master who has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing to instead pursue a life of honor and education by operating a self-defense studio with a samurai's code. Terry and his wife Sondra (Sonia Braga) struggle to keep the business running to make ends meet. An accident on a dark, rainy night, between an off duty officer (Max Martini) and a distraught laywer (Emily Mortimer) puts in motion a series of events that will change Terry's life dramatically introducing him to a world of promoters (Ricky Jay, Joe Mantegna) and movie star Chet Frank (Tim Allen). In order to pay off his debts and regain his honor, Terry must step into the ring for the first time in his life.
My Take:
I saw the trailer for Redbelt on the Blu-ray disc of The counterfeiters and was immediately interested in seeing it. It had a great looking cast and director and the story looked intriguing. One would think that this is a fight film and while it certainly contains those elements I think that it is more of personal story about responsibility, morals and virtue. Mike Terry (Ejiofor) is a righteous man and relies heavily on the virtues that he was taught through martial arts and from his teacher (the professor). He is a loyal person who is not afraid to stand up for what or who he believes in. He runs his school and tries to instill these values in his students. Little is said of his background other than a reference to being in the military. I believe that he worked in law enforcement at some point as well. The problem is that the world we live in is not that black and white. There are times when values are put to the test and decisions have to be made that require gray areas of thinking. This is the crux of the problem that arises for Mike in Redbelt. He has a close friend and student named Joe (Martini) who reveres him. He is a police officer and seems to be struggling financially as well as emotionally. One night after a workout, a distraught woman (who has some demons of her own) rushes into the dojo and announces that she has accidentally damaged Mike's vehicle. Mike tries to calm her and asks Joe to help her off with her coat. Meanwhile Joe was preparing to leave when she arrived and had just removed the safety lock from his off duty pistol and set it down. When Joe approaches her she flinches, pulls away and picks up his gun. It discharges and shatters the front window of the dojo. Joe decides not to pursue the matter and arrest her. Mike goes along with it but must now figure out how to get the window fixed. He is not the best business man and his wife who assists him in the running of the studio tells him that money is tight and the insurance will not cover the cost to replace the window. This incident sets off a series of events that leads Mike down the rabbit hole and eventually into the exploitative world and people that he has chosen to avoid.
This was a good film with interesting and likeable characters. The cast was made up of screen veterans, fresh faces and several athletes from various backgrounds. I don't want to give away too much about the story. I did find the ending to be abrupt and it left me with a few unanswered questions which can be a bit frustrating especially when you like the film. The screenplay was written by Director David Mamet who himself is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He seems passionate about the sport and this film. I would liked to have seen more details relative to the relationship between Joe and Mike which might have shed some light on the decisions made in the story by both men. Their friendship is the basis of several key events in the film but without the history it makes it difficult to comprehend the whys and wherefores. It was a good movie that could have been better in my opinion.
Parental Guide:
The rating is for language and violence.
AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65
**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)
Audio: 82
- Dynamics:
- Low frequency extension:
- Surround Sound presentation:
- Clarity/Detail:
- Dialogue Reproduction:
Video: 84
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)
- Resolution/Clarity:
- Black level/Shadow detail:
- Color reproduction:
- Fleshtones:
- Compression:
Redbelt comes to Blu-ray Disc from Sony Classic Pictures featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 28 mbps and lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio that has an average bitrate of 1.7 mbps.
The audio/video presentation delivered very good overall quality. Images exhibited clean lines, crisp detail and warm flesh tones. Sharpness was not as acute as the best I have seen on Blu-ray disc but it never looked soft or dull. Colors looked natural with ample saturation and vivid textures. Black levels were above average and shadow delineation revealed good visible structure in backgrounds during low light sequences and dark areas of the picture. Minor edge enhancement was visible but not intrusive. I Would describe the video as being in the middle of the pack and perfectly acceptable for the format. The audio presentation was essentially in the same boat as it wasn't exemplary but sounded just fine. Dialogue was well articulated with clear tonal distinction. Dynamic range seemed fine although it was never really tested by the film's elements. The tournament sequence later in the film contained some dynamic energy which sounded full bodied and robust. Surround activity was limited to a few discrete effects during the aforementioned tournament. Ambient surround sound was used effectively to bridge the space between the front and rear sound stages. This film relies more on dialogue and front sound field presence than it does on filling the room with sound effects and deep bass. I thought it achieved that end quite well.
Bonus Features:
The bonus features are very good overall. If you are a fan of the world of mixed martial arts then these will be quite interesting to you. There is enough detail provided on the film by Director David Mamet to satisfy those who are just interested in the film though. BD-Live is enabled on this disc as well and should be available by release day.
- Audio commentary with Director David Mamet and Randy Couture
- (HD) Behind the scenes of Redbelt - featurette
- (HD) Inside mixed martial arts - featurette
- Q&A with David Mamet
- (HD) An interview with UFC President Dana White
- (HD) Fighter profiles: A look at the professional fighters who had parts in the film
- (HD) The magic of Cyril Takayama
- (HD) Theatrical Trailer
- BD Live
Final Thoughts:
Redbelt is a film that comes directly from the mind and heart of David Mamet. He is clearly passionate about martial arts and wrote this film to send that message as well as to convey the importance of discipline, virtue and responsibility in its use. The story had a good head of steam going but just didn't bring it all together in the end which I found somewhat disappointing. It offers very good audio/video quality and a thoughtful set of bonus features. I would recommend it for fans. For those who are curious you might want to rent it first.
Ralph Potts
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews
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Cool Components - CP-CP102 cooling package
My only criticism of the movie is a quibble, really. I thought that its 1 hour 39 minutes running time possibly made it a little too short for Mamet to tell his tale without too much ambiguity. Nevertheless, I fully understood it after a second look and liked it even better the second time around.
Mamet is not for all tastes. His convoluted and wildly romantic but ironic stories are something the viewer has to be ready for. Fortunately, I am ALWAYS ready for a new Mamet film. Perhaps, as the master is fond of doing, I should say it again, I am ALWAYS ready for a new Mamet film. Highly recommended!
I think things just worked out that way..
I thought that Our Hero's problems were the result of the combination of his having been victimized by the venal promoters who wanted to profit from his idea and sheer bad luck. If the neurotic girl had not fired the cop's weapon in the dojo, none of what happened could have happened.
I would agree that played a hand in it but don't forget the scene in the bar, which led to the gold watch as a gift. That set other things into play as well...
I thought about the stolen watch before my last post but decided not to comment because I never was able to decide whether giving to the hero was part of a broader scheme or just another example of bad luck.
I don't think it was given with the expectation of the outcome. I think that it was just another example of how shady Joe Mantegna's character was. I don't think that Tim Allen's character had any idea of exactly what was going on.
That is certainly a sensible analysis and I don't disagree with it. Tim Allen's character had me scratching my head. First, why the the superbly talented Allen would agree to play such an unfunny and essentially uninteresting doofus escapes me, it seemed like a waste. Second, as you noted, Allen wasn't involved in the broader scheme, it was Mantegna and the other sleeze balls. Anyway, it was a well made and intriguing film, which, as noted earlier, I liked well enough to watch a second time.
That is certainly a sensible analysis and I don't disagree with it. Tim Allen's character had me scratching my head. First, why the the superbly talented Allen would agree to play such an unfunny and essentially uninteresting doofus escapes me, it seemed like a waste. Second, as you noted, Allen wasn't involved in the broader scheme, it was Mantegna and the other sleeze balls. Anyway, it was a well made and intriguing film, which, as noted earlier, I liked well enough to watch a second time.
Tim Allen's turn here was unusual, in the sense it was a BIG departure, to a career that has devolved to, totally, mindless, crass comedies.
The ONLY movie that I can say, I thoroughly enjoyed him in was the quirky BIG TROUBLE.
He is a competent actor, and deserves much more than he has signed up for lately. Let's hope he does more of these character pieces before he is written off totally.
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Auto tone, contrast, and color
Auto tone, contrast, and color
In this exercise, we are now going to apply the three children of the blessed union of Levels and Curves, and those children go by the names, Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color. I must say not names that I ever considered for my own children, but they are commands and commands are special people. Now we are going to see how these commands just make mincemeat of the problems with this image right here, which is a good thing. We want to make mincemeat of problems. I do want to show you something else. I'm working wide screen, notice that. For those of you who are with me in Photoshop CS4 One-on-One Fundamentals, that gargantuan 12 chapter series that started you on your way, we are going wide-screen now that we are in the advanced series. But we are still not wide enough to accommodate this image and the palettes. So I need to press Shift+Tab to bring my palettes back, so I can see my Layers palette.
Notice that I have layers setup for Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color, so you can do your thing, but first I want you to switch over to the Channels palette right there. This is an RGB image, Red, Green, Blue, and that just figures because I captured it with a digital camera, the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW as I was telling you, and digital cameras have a habit of capturing RGB images, 99.999% of the time, or percent of cameras I should say will capture RGB images. There are a few exceptions out there. But we do have this RGB image and that means it's made of a channel of Red information, a channel of Green information, and channel of Blue information, and all three of these channels are essentially independent grayscale images.
And so if I click on Red, we can see that we have a dark red channel, not surprising because the image is very bright. Where Green and Blue are concerned, we have a Green and Blue color cast going right here. So the odd man out, if you have Green plus Blue, you are getting Cyan, the opposite of Cyan is Red. So Red is out of favor where Luminance is concerned inside this image, so it's dark. In other words, that's one way of saying dark I suppose. And then Green, very bright, overly-bright. So we have a lot of Highlights to work with but very little on the way of Shadows. I mean, basically no shadow detail, just Midtones and Highlights. And then same with blue, we do get a little darker in the shadow detail, but only slightly.
It's normal for channels to deliver different information. So for one channel to be bright where another channel is dark, that's fine. But for the channels to be this widely out of sync with each other, that's bad. Where we have basically no Highlights of any merit inside the Red channel, just Shadows and Midtones, and no Shadows inside of the Green channel, just Highlights and Midtones, that's a bad thing. And so we have problems on a channel by channel basis. Each channel is different. That is something that the Auto commands and Levels and Curves can take care of beautifully.
So the other commands like Brightness /Contrast, those functions, they are really looking at the full composite image whereas Levels and Curves are capable of taking a look at each channel independently, which is a great thing. It makes them that much more powerful. So what do we do? Let's go back to Layers. I just want you to see the wackiness that is this image. I am going to go over here to Auto Tone, and I'm going to click on that layer and I'm going to turn it on, so it's active, and then I'm going to go up to the Image menu and choose the Auto Tone command. Notice that it has a keyboard shortcut, no reason on earth to memorize these shortcuts, you're just not going to be applying these commands often enough to warrant keyboard shortcuts at all. So just choose the command, but I do want to say this first. If you have used Photoshop CS3 and you are wondering Auto Tone, that's a new command, that never existed before. It's just a rename. It used to be called Auto Levels, now it's called Auto Tone. It functions identically. So no difference compared with the old version of the command.
I am going to choose Auto Tone, and I get this. Look at that. Amazing, this is before and this is after. It was capable of fixing the image that beautifully that's stellar. We just went from a cloudy day, not only did it take care of the bad metering, that wasn't inherent, there is a function of me breaking the camera, it also kind of cleared up the date and made the weather better, which is fantastic of course. Now let's try Auto Contrast, really this is what you do. You just try them out. See how they function. And so all I did was I just took the exact same image and duplicated it three times onto independent layers. All right, so I'm going to go to Auto Contrast, turn it on and select it.
I am going up to the Image menu and I'll choose Auto Contrast, and in case you are wondering why am I applying static color adjustments instead of applying adjustment layers, that's because these guys aren't easily applied. It is possible to apply them as adjustment layers but it's not easy to do, and that's kind of pointless and sort of an absurd thing to apply, something so simple that really doesn't have any control associated with it as an adjustment layer. I am going to go ahead and apply Auto Contrast now to the static pixels, and it looks like this, so not much happened there. A very subtle change. This is before and this is after. Now you may wonder, well, is there some reason that these commands are in this order? Auto Tone first, and Auto Contrast, and Auto Color? Because Auto Contrast seems to do less than Auto Tone, and you will see Auto Color does more, so why isn't it Auto Contrast first, then Auto Tone, and then Auto Color? That would make more sense.
They are arranged in the order in which they happened inside of Photoshop. So Auto Levels occurred first. I think it was Photoshop 2.5 and then Auto Contrast came around, and I believe, I want to say it's Photoshop 5.5 but it may have been 5, and then Auto Color came around in Photoshop 7. So this is before the whole CS thing, and that's the reason they have just sort of sat there in the same order they appeared inside the software. Auto Tone will compensate for color cast, Auto Contrast will fix the contrast of the image, but it will not compensate for color cast. So it doesn't do a very good job where this image is concerned. Let's now take a look at Auto Color, turn it on, this is the Auto Color layer version of the image, and then I'm going to go out to the Image menu and choose Auto Color, and bang, that does a beautiful job. So not only did it correct the contrast, it also corrected the color cast, and it tried to neutralize the grays inside the image. So I'm going to turn off this Auto Contrast layer because it's no good.
It was not a good adjustment; and I just want to compare Auto Color to Auto Tone here. So I'll turn off Auto Color. There is Auto Tone in the background, looks good. Photoshop did manage to not only compensate for the contrast but also the color cast of the image, however it left the neutral areas, the areas that should be colorless grays. In other words, it left them somewhat bluish-green, whereas Auto Color was capable of making them neutral grays as we are seeing right there, and basically, making the scene every bit as good as it should be.
Now if you feel like, gosh, some sort of mix of Auto Color and Auto Tone would be nice, then because you set things up on independent layers as I have for you actually in advance, then you could go ahead and reduce the opacity of Auto Color. For example, I could say, you know what, let's change the Opacity value to say 75%, and press the Enter key in order to accept that modification, and just a slight interaction, so 75% Auto Color mixed with the remaining 25% Auto Tone gets us this beautifully mixed image here.
So I'm going to show you before and after by Alt+Clicking or Option+Clicking on the eyeball in front of the Background layer. So this is before, this is the original image, it was that bad, absurdly horrible this image was, I tell you, and now if I Alt+Click or Option+Click and then eyeball again, this is how good it is. I'm going to Shift+ Tab away those palettes. So again, this is before, I did that by reverting, by pressing F12, this is the after version of the image. Thanks to three little children, three little incredibly powerful children that when they work, if you apply them to the right kind of problem in the first place, work brilliantly well. In the next exercise, I'm going to show you how those commands function, just so that you have a sense of what's going on under the hood. Stay tuned!
Auto tone, contrast, and color provides you with in-depth training on Design. Taught by Deke McClelland as part of the Photoshop CS4 One-on-One: Advanced
- Subjects:
- Design Photography
- Software:
- Photoshop
- Author:
- Deke McClelland
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South Australia
Men fined for dragging Port Wakefield Rd cockroach 6m along Rundle Mall
- From: The Advertiser
- March 13, 2014
AN exhausted pair of pranksters needed police help to drag a giant metal cockroach they had moved six metres along Rundle Mall early this morning.
About 2.45am, police were called to the mall after the men were seen on CCTV cameras dragging the metal sculpture, which has sat in the mall since a social media campaign last year.
The cockroach, which had sat in a paddock alongside Port Wakefield Rd at Lower Light since the late 1990s, was bought by television host Andrew 'Cosi' Costello for two slabs of beer late last year.
Thousands of people joined a Facebook campaign to save the popular cockroach from scrap metal and to place it in Rundle Mall .
When police arrived at the scene this morning, the men were exhausted from their efforts and needed help from officers to drag it back to its proper place.
The prank came at a hefty cost as police slapped each with a $560 fine for disorderly behaviour in the vicinity of a licensed premises.
The cockroach was unharmed.
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tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:/topics/product-management Latest Product Management content from Econsultancy 2016-04-19T09:36:37+01:00 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/67736 2016-04-19T09:36:37+01:00 2016-04-19T09:36:37+01:00 Five great examples of creative commerce Patricio Robles
Here are five examples of companies taking advantage of so-called 'creative commerce'.

Nike

Nike's NIKEiD service gives customers the ability to create their own shoes, apparel and accessories.

When it comes to shoes, the level of customization offered is significant.

Not only can customers choose the colors of the shoes and design elements on the shoe, in many cases they can change the material style and select a symbol for the tongue of the shoe.

And they have the option of adding personalized text to the heel of their shoes, making them a truly unique creation.

At times Nike capitalizes on events, like the retirement of NBA basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, and entices customers with the opportunity to customize limited-edition products.

The Kobe XI #MambaDay iD is now available for 24 hours only. Make the moment yours. https://t.co/MXTKUYqosM pic.twitter.com/ekULdW8EWT
 — NIKEiD (@NIKEiD) April 14, 2016

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Most companies add customization to their product mix but Build-A-Bear Workshop is a brand that is built on customization.

The retailer, which has been in business for nearly 20 years now, invites customers and their children into its stores where they can let their imaginations run wild as they build their own stuffed toys.

Build-a-Bear Workshop is publicly traded and generated over $375m in revenue last year, proving that creative commerce isn't just fun for customers but also profitable when employed well.

BlendBee

Creative commerce isn't limited to products we wear or use. Case in point: BlendBee, which offers custom tea blends.

Customers select a base tea, up to eight ingredients, and a name for their blend, and BlendBee's "tea expert will create the best tasting tea from your ingredients."

Villy Custom

Creative entrepreneurs are finding ways to customize products that historically have been quite expensive.

Fleetwood, the founder of Villy Customs, created his company to allow customers to build their own "bad ass custom bikes."

Claiming to be the "digital online cruiser bike builder," Villy Custom appeared on the television program Shark Tank in the United States, where he raised investment from billionaire internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban and real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran.

FunkySofa

True customization of large items, like furniture, is now accessible to everyday consumers through companies like FunkySofa.

It allows customers to design custom sofas, as well as sleepers, loveseats, chairs, sectionals and ottomans.

With many of the pieces customers have literally hundreds of combinations to choose from.

 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/67500 2016-02-10T11:14:44+00:00 2016-02-10T11:14:44+00:00 What is digital product management? Ben Davis
What is digital product management?

A business without digital product managers:

Defined by waterfall processes, the I.T. department is isolated somewhere behind a locked door.

Speed and safety of I.T. development is prioritised. These metrics are considered proportional to efficiency (and ultimately revenue) with less regard to customer satisfaction once requirements documents have been created.

Application managers exist, if not in title, then in function. For example, there may be one developer who knows a customised CMS or ecommerce platform better than anyone else.

This means that a lot of important decisions are taken by an employee that isn't incentivised to improve customer experience. That's almost expediency in the eyes of some product management zealots.

"what the user wanted"... an illustrated #usability perspective on design/consumer research #mr pic.twitter.com/IteNx8hE
 — Amy Santee (@amysantee) April 20, 2012

A business with digital product managers:

Teams are held accountable for understanding customer needs and improving products or experiences to suit.

Product management teams focus on creating minimum viable products (MVPs) quickly and then iterating ahead of full release.

The development environment must facilitate product managers' involvement, individuals who should have both business and tech nous.

How is it implemented?

1. Define your digital products

Businesses need to define their digital products. For a bank this could be a mobile banking app, a deposit machine in branch, the website homepage etc.

These products are often identified through distinct customer need (banking on the go, avoiding queues) or business need (reducing call centre dependency, or speeding up service).

How will improvement to these digital products be measured? This is another consideration - perhaps an increase in conversion rate, a change in customer banking habits etc.

Econsultancy's blog could be defined as a digital product

2. Pair product managers with parts of the customer experience

This could mean assigning a product manager to money transfers within the banking app, for example.

Product managers here have freedom to both iterate existing functionality, as well as conducting more fundamental changes if they're shown to be achievable and valuable.

For example, this product manager might recognise that a wholly separate mobile method of transfer would be preferred by users.

3. Create and test MVPs

End users are involved early on in the testing phase, providing feedback on product utility that could provide a counterpoint to the views of internal stakeholders.

Businesses transitioning to this style of iteration often begin with a siloed project in a lab environment, demonstrating proof of concept before moving into the broader business.

Image via Lean Startup

4. Foster developer and manager interaction

Frequent two-way interaction between product managers and developers, who are preferably co-located, is the only way to ensure that customer needs are met in the production process.

This necessitates developers and managers who understand each others' roles and can therefore approach development in the same way.

5. Measure and incentivise performance

Conversion rates and direct customer feedback are more important than their preceding business outcomes (such as platform change).

That's to say that appropriate customer-focused metrics should be in place to determine the success of any new or improved product.

Outcome for the customer is prioritised above clean handovers and untouched specifications. Failure, as we all know, is not necessarily a bad thing, but it should be defined in the right way (and as quickly as possible).

Who is a digital product manager?

Digital is maturing quicker than employee skills. That means tech-savvy businessmen and business-savvy techies are still gold dust.

Digital product managers can be C-suite in waiting, such should be their grasp of technology, user experience, agile methodology, finance and marketing.

Interpersonal skills are also important, given the sprawling nature of a product manager's role (liaising with multiple departments).

Why take this approach?

Failure is faster and more diverse, leading to greater innovation. This ultimately should lead to increased and possibly new revenue streams.

Customer loyalty is engendered by a business that is transparently innovating. Brand advocates are further brought into the fold and frustrated customers are heard.

An agile environment is also more exciting and empowering for the best and the brightest recruits.

For more information on digital transformation, see the Econsultancy digital transformation hub.
 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/67105 2015-10-29T14:12:50+00:00 2015-10-29T14:12:50+00:00 Knowing what you're not: defining your design principles Ben Davis
GoCardless

At #canvasconf last week, I listened to Tom Petty, Head of UX and Design at GoCardless.

Tom detailed how the team at GoCardless went about creating a new product and defining design principles in the process.

Creating a new product

Initially, the company had two products; a Direct Debit payment dashboard for small companies and an API allowing integration with large corporations such as The Guardian and Trip Advisor.

The challenge was to cater for those companies that were falling down the gap. These were companies that didn't want full integration but needed more control than the small business product provided.

Whilst there was a rationale for developing a new product, the team knew the danger in creating a middle option which might be all things to all people.

People, provocations, principles

In designing this new product, the GoCardless team followed a loose philosophy that Tom termed 'people, provocations, principles'.

'People' is about knowing who the customers (merchants) are who will use this new product. Design necessitates deep knowledge of the prospective user and GoCardless needed to know exactly what sort of companies they would be targeting.

Provocations (or questions - though sadly this doesn't start with a P) refers to how a company can respond to a customer's needs. Tom discussed the creation of a product roadmap constructed out of customer questions, rather than merely product functions or presumed answers.

This roadmap of questions allows for much more focused and relevant product development, as a form of customer problem solving.

Creating principles that can be disagreed with

Design principles should be framed as decisions. They need to be points of view that can be disagreed with.

Phrases such as 'keep things simple' do not convey an opinion (who would opt to overcomplicate for the sake of it?) and the GoCardless team took a while to come up with principles they could stand by.

Looking at other companies for inspiration, Tom cited Amazon's brand principle of 'investment over profits' as an example of a definite point of view, one that other companies may disagree with or even flip on its head.

So, after much trial and error, GoCardless settled on three design principles. Tom highlighted how they have to be memorable (perhaps make them rhyme), otherwise they will be quickly filed away and forgotten, rather than becoming rules to work by.

Small users over all users

Start simple and hide the gnarly stuff. Customers should land at a product aimed for the small business, then can gradually take control of more features.

One example of this is the ability to sign up to the service by adding the minimum required information. With this principle, small users are not allenated by a complex product.

Attention over retention

Design to prioritise features that demand attention. Don't take users down the rabbit hole, give them what they need first and allow these functions to be performed as quickly as possible.

Hammer over the handyman

Focus on doing one thing really well. Be the best at recurring payments, don't diversify into loans, invoicing, analytics, commerce, or become a bank.

Organisational culture

This is just a short case study about design principles, but I thought GoCardless' three principles were eloquent enough to provide food for thought for companies in the midst of organisational change.

Celebrating the fact that you can't please all of the people all of the time is a necessity when defining great digital products for a defined audience.

In organisations still failing to compete in digital and wondering how to meet the needs of customers online, creating new design principles may be one vital weapon in the Chief Digital Officer's arsenal.
 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/67099 2015-10-28T11:57:00+00:00 2015-10-28T11:57:00+00:00 Hive: A startup culture in a corporate behemoth Ben Davis
A startup with a strategic investor

Hive was set up in 2012 to act as a startup classically would. British Gas is effectively the strategic investor, bringing not only cash but a source of distribution.

The decision to create an insulated startup-like team was not taken because British Gas was doing anything wrong, rather because of how nascent the connected home idea was.

People, location and 'air cover'

Take a look at the Hive About page and you'll get a good impression of the type of project and working practices Hive wanted to embody.

70% of the team was recruited externally and previously had startup experience.

Tom stressed location was key to attracting the right people, with the most talented product people wanting to work in London.

Lean principles and agile methodology were both adopted without losing some form of 'docking' or integration back into the mothership of British Gas.

'Air cover' was sought from the core business, with appropriate British Gas sponsors giving the project the freedom to proceed.

The project's culture, Tom argues, comes from each of these constituent parts and was designed not to compete with other energy companies but with tech giants in silicon valley.

Using the strengths of British Gas

Though Hive was a new brand with a new tone of voice, the team was well aware of the benefits of being associated with British Gas.

One of the most obvious of these is security - the British public trusts British Gas engineers (Tom even claimed that, not so long ago, mothers were happy to leave their children with an engineer).

Creating a frictionless customer journey

The aim of a frictionless journey is summed up in four steps.

 Choice: Allowing customers to purchase the system from electrical retailers such as Dixons Carphone.

 Installation: By British Gas trusted engineers.

 Use: Via a beautiful device alongside an award-winning app.

 Support: Via the Hive hub in Glasgow where customer service is delivered in plain English (so good that the NPS is higher for those who have encountered a problem).

The stats from a consumer survey of Hive 1 customers show the product was incredibly successful.

70% believed they had saved energy. 98% felt they were in control of their heating. 92% would recommend the product, and 58% used the app every day.

That's astounding given that Tom said there was previously a stat in the sector suggesting customers thought about their thermostat for little more than five minutes every year.

Iterating with a religious belief

Hive 2 was the next step, needed to improve on the actual thermostat product to match the experience of the app.

The team brought in Yves Behar, an influential designer of products including Jawbone and SodaStream.

Yves' opinion was that there are too many screens in our home, so it was vital to avoid a smart thermostat simply appearing to be a tablet stuck to a wall. The thermostat should be familiar as a functional unit.

The team created three prototypes. What interested me about the design process was a reliance on customer feedback but within a process where the Hive team remained convinced that one of their three prototypes would be right.

This belief had to border on the religious for the product development team to be able to forge ahead with purpose.

Conviction alongside feedback

Creating Hive 2 involved designing journeys by flipping from industrial design to UX whilst understanding that even if you build the best paths possible, the user will always pick another.

The design team included specialists in UX, industrial design, energy, procurement and sourcing.

The project team was accountable to many consumers whilst believing in the strong leadership of its design head.

So, one world class designer worked with a team of product experts, hundreds of engineers and thousands of customers.

This ability to take customer feedback very seriously but also rely on design instincts is vital to deal with a new technology where the customer may not always know what they want.

Common user niggles and creating an aesthetic

Solutions to user niggles became a focus, including filing new patents around the battery change process and making the product easier to set up.

This was achieved, with 95% of customers setting up the technology correctly first time and achieving a usability score of 78 (with above 70 understood as very good).

A partnership with Dulux has led to a range of colour surrounds, to suit each individual.

Rather soberingly, the most popular colours in the UK are black, grey and wood effect. Hey, connected thermostats are one thing, but pink connected thermostats...

Expanding into the connected home (brings whole new UX challenge)

With 200,000 Hive customers acvross Hive 1 and Hive 2, the team are now releasing a new range of products including window and door sensors, a motion sensor, an active plug (with one of its oft-cited possible uses during customer research being the ability to switch off straighteners remotely) and a Hive hub, to run the connected home from and unite these products.

The challenge with new products is not about hardware but about changing the UX of a single use app so it can function as a multiuse app, with rules, notifications and more.

Hive is currently trialling a honeycomb layout to the app dashboard (see below).

If this incubated startup continues to work so well, perhaps British Gas will be the first to crack the connected home market.

 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/66946 2015-09-21T10:43:00+01:00 2015-09-21T10:43:00+01:00 Starbucks, Costa & Caffè Nero: how do they build customer loyalty? Ritchie Mehta
It's a booming business for the thousands of coffee stores out there. However there are only three that dominate our high streets and all of them acutely aware of the low barriers to entry and switching costs of consumers, so they do all they can to keep their customers coming back for more.

Starbucks, Costa and Caffè Nero all operate some kind of loyalty program to entice you to stay with them but how do consumers really know they are getting the best deal? And furthermore, is there really a relationship between these programs and customer loyalty? Let's take a closer look…

Which coffee chain offers the best 'value for money' loyalty program?

Here is a quick sum up of the top 3 coffee chain programs out there:

Starbucks

Starbucks operates a two tier loyalty program:
 Green tier: Get one free beverage when you use your Starbucks card to pay 15 times (earning 15 stars)
 Gold tier: If you earn over 50 stars a year you get Green benefits plus extras e.g. free caffiene shots

Costa

For every £1 spent in store you get 5 points, each point worth a penny to spend in store anyway you like

Caffè Nero

Get your tenth coffee free when you buy 9 coffees and collect the stamps on their paper-based loyalty card

But which one represents the best value for money? For ease of comparison lets say your regular drink is a medium-sized cappuccino in each of the stores, here is how it breaks down:

Price per coffee

Promotion

Overall cost to get a free equivalent coffee

Average % discount per coffee

Starbucks

£2.60

15 Stars to earn a free coffee

£39*

7%

Costa

£2.45

£1 = 5 points
 1 point = £0.01p

£50

5%

Caffè Nero

£2.35

Buy 9 get 1 free

£21.15

11%

* Assuming you only purchase one coffee at a time

So there you have it, Caffè Nero's simple stamp based system delivers their customers the best value for money by far. Furthermore, it would appear that its program (if you can call it that) is by far the most straightforward which makes it even more appealing.

From your own perspective, would this make you walk those extra few steps into a Caffè Nero (as lets face it there are fewer of them on our high streets) then the others? Well, lets take a look at the numbers…

Is there a relationship between the 'value for money' element of a loyalty program and customer loyalty in coffee?

What you may find interesting is that despite Costa's lowest performing loyalty program on value for money, according to Allegra Strategies it is number one on the high street with 47% market share.

This is despite offering less than half the value of the Caffè Nero loyalty program and it does not look to be slowing down either, with Whitbread looking to take on 20% more stores by 2018.

Conversely, the same report suggests that Caffè Nero has 13% market share of the coffee business in the UK, while Starbucks has around 27%.

 So if we take market share as a proxy for repeat purchase, as lets face it the coffee market in the UK is rather saturated, than the 'value for money' element of a loyalty program is less important then perhaps other aspects of an offering. (Also see Four Steps to Build Customer Loyalty in Retail).

Are there any other factors at play? Well, one can draw one of two conclusions.

The first is that a loyalty program does not in isolation lead to greater customer loyalty and that there are a host of factors that drive this.

The second, is slightly less damning of loyalty programs, in that the 'value for money' aspect of a loyalty program may well be less important in driving repeat purchase then other aspects of the program.

For instance, both the Costa and Starbucks programs are able to capture customer data and deploy much greater levels of personalisation in both the offers and communications to their customers. This itself may act as a stronger influencing factor in creating a relationship then simply offering discounts off coffee.

We'll let you decide which floats your boat in the morning.
 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/66919 2015-09-14T09:25:00+01:00 2015-09-14T09:25:00+01:00 Four steps to help build customer loyalty in retail Ritchie Mehta
I'm a regular visitor to the various mainstream coffee chains that sprawl our high streets. While holding a client meeting at one of these establishments, we got talking about the all singing, all dancing Starbucks Rewards program...

"I can redeem my points anywhere in the world… they even give me a free coffee on my birthday!" I heard rather enthusiastically.

So, I asked, "you must be the biggest Starbucks coffee drinker ever?". "Nah, I don't actually like their coffee!"

The conversation struck a cord with me as so many organisations constantly churn out offers and rewards as a way to entice customers back through their doors, when surely a more holistic approach should be taken.

There is certainly a place for the loyalty program lever but for me it needs to be the icing on the cake rather than the cake itself.

It's simple, if you can get customers to love your brand for what it stands for and what it delivers (earned loyalty), they will only appreciate you more when you give them great offers to spend more time with you (bought loyalty).

So to do this, organisations should consider winning 'earned' before 'bought' loyalty to be sure to create stickier relationships. Here's a four step guide to doing just that:

1) Align your brand and customer's values

As a foundation, your brand purpose must align and resonate with that of your audience and be demonstrated in everything you do.

This will ensure you stay relevant and favoured in the eyes of your customers, leading to an increased emotional connection.

Starbucks didn't do itself any favours by being embroiled in the tax avoidance issue that goes against one of their core values to 'connect with transparency, dignity and respect'. After a massive boycott the brand is still recovering and many customers have not returned to its doors.

So to create 'earned' loyalty, its important for organisations to reflect on their brand position and determine if it is both clear and truly aligned to their target market.

At the end of it, all other activities flow from delivering the brand promise so it's important to get right.

2) Propositions must meet and exceed customer requirements

The second stage of 'earned' loyalty is to ensure your value proposition spot on. It must align to your customer's wants and needs, otherwise no matter what else you do, they will not come back for more.

As an example: on a recent visit to Soho, I walked into a very reasonably priced all-you-can-eat buffet. The quality of the food was terribly disappointing to the point I even got resentful paying the reasonably priced price tag.

The real kicker came at the end when I was handed a half-priced voucher for my next visit. Would I ever go back to redeem it? I'll let you decide.

3) Deliver an exceptional and novel experience

The final stage in the 'earned' loyalty category is to deliver an exceptional experience.

If you can meet a consumer's wants and needs AND deliver it in a place (digital or physical) that is convenient to them AND in a way that is aligned to their tastes, they will make you a regular thing.

I recently had my first experience of immersive theatre at Alice Underground Wonderland (sadly its now finished for the year), where the experience was second to none and exceeded all expectations.

It encapsulated the audience, made you anticipate what was around the next corner and took you into its own world for that space in time.

I ended up taking another set of friends two weeks later and even paid for the premium tickets the next time around. If only brands could replicate these emotions, clearly in their own way.

4) Giving customers that little bit extra

The final step in building loyalty is to generate 'bought' loyalty.

This is where you offer incentives, rewards and surprises to encourage repeat purchase and re-visits.

There are some great programs out there, my personal favourite being the Nandos loyalty app. It's simple and hence effective, as you always know how far away you are from your next free chicken.

But if I didn't associate with the brand (Cheeky Nandos!), love the food and enjoy the experience, the app would simply not exist on my phone.

So all in all, it's a simple equation to building stronger customer loyalty: '3 to 1' - Three steps to building 'earned' loyalty and one step to building 'bought' loyalty. To me, it should be in that order.

You can learn even more about customer experience at our two day Festival of Marketing event in November. Book your ticket today and see how you can create a customer-focused culture.
 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/66904 2015-09-08T09:25:00+01:00 2015-09-08T09:25:00+01:00 Do retailers really need a customer loyalty program? Ritchie Mehta
I would say we Brits are a discerning bunch, always after a deal or two. I'm as guilty as the next person and decided to make the most of the weekend by finding some killer bargains on Oxford Street.

Making my way on the tube was the first ordeal as I held up a queue of increasingly angry people as I waded through my wallet, which contained five loyalty cards, till I found my debit card.

I couldn't help but wonder, how often do I use these loyalty cards? Have I actually ever received any rewards? And honestly, do I really care?

My journey that day opened my eyes to a number of ways retailers build customer loyalty without the need for cards or points. Here are my five observations:

1) The best deals are 'Always-on'

So as I get off at Bond Street I walk to my first port of call, Primark. It seems like everyone on Oxford Street had the same idea as every second person had a Primark bag. "I must join their loyalty program", I thought to myself. Unfortunately there isn't one.

What's Primark's key to generating customer loyalty? Ask anyone why they keep going back to Primark and they say it's because they know they will always be offered great value stuff that's in season and of reasonable quality. It's that simple.

So rather then collecting a gazillion points to be eligible for a free gift (that most customers don't redeem anyway), the new mantra in loyalty is to offer customers 'always-on deals' by giving them the best value each and every time they interact with you. No doubt they will appreciate it.

2) Make me feel special

I was in need of a coffee so walked into the Pret a Manger at Marble Arch. I always find the staff really inviting and service efficient, so for me Pret is just easy. I order a latte and about to tap my contactless when a smiling face said, "don't worry it's on the house." I must admit I got a warm feeling.

Pret do not have a loyalty program but empower their staff to give out free coffee to a few lucky customers each day. No clever CRM systems or points, just a human touch.

I think sometimes this is exactly what is missing in customer service today. One thing's for sure if Pret did have a loyalty program I'd be a platinum member.

3) Don't lock me in, convince me to stay

Revived by my caffeine high, I decide to call a friend using my O2 sim-only deal. I love the convenience of getting a bill each month, whilst not feeling like I'm stuck with them for a lifetime (I exaggerate, but it sure feels like that when you really want a new phone).

I've now had the deal going for four years, I can get out at anytime and perhaps this is exactly the reason I stay. Coupled with the O2 Priority Rewards where I keep receiving offers and freebies, perhaps it's all about the small things in life that make us feel valued.

4) Give me extra

After a natter, we decide to meet at Five Guys in Covent Garden. Walking into the joint one gets a real sense of energy and enthusiasm from the staff. Also, their simple optional menu makes sure you always get more than you bargained for (literally), as you can have all the frills on your burger for the same price.

But the real icing on the cake (or bun) is when they hand over your burger bag filled to the brim with fries. Did I ask for them? No. Am I happy (and a little surprised)? Absolutely.

They just gave me something for nothing, and that's something I really valued. A little surprise and delight does not go unnoticed.

5) Look after everyone

I ended my trek to Oxford Street and called it a night by relaxing on my sofa and switching on the box. All I wanted to do was turn on Netflix and watch the new series of Marcos. However, my other half had other ideas.

Thank you Netflix for enabling us to watch two different programs using the same subscription. It's a nice way to add value for the whole family while not trying to grab every penny. It shows you understand how we like to do things and care.

I must admit I was not overjoyed that I had to watch Marcos on my iPad (you can see who gets their way in my house). Hey ho! Guess Netflix can't solve all my problems but I still won't be leaving its service anytime soon.

You can learn even more about customer experience at our two day Festival of Marketing event in November. Book your ticket today and see how you can create a customer-focused culture.
 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/66702 2015-07-15T14:38:42+01:00 2015-07-15T14:38:42+01:00 How DevOps is changing the business of IT consulting Jacob McMillen
Overview of DevOps

The idea of DevOps is relatively new, started by a group of like-minded IT professionals in 2009 in Belgium. It used to be more popularly known as "DevOps Days" in reference to the conferences conducted on the subject. For brevity's sake and hashtag viability, the term was shortened to DevOps.

What DevOps aims to accomplish is enhanced efficiency within software development. It intends to help organizations more quickly produce software products and services, in addition to boosting operations performance.

DevOps enables cross-departmental integration with IT operations, connecting functions that have been traditionally separated. It connects software engineering (development), quality assurance or analysis, and technology operations. Moreover, DevOps covers the entire delivery pipeline, rather than limiting itself to a subset of functions or development stages.

DevOps most notably creates palpable improvements when it comes to product (software) delivery, feature development, quality analysis, and maintenance releases, all of which contribute to improvements in the reliability, security, and deployment cycles of the software products being developed.

In terms of software release management, DevOps also creates benefits by standardizing the development environments.

Finally, it provides developers with greater control over the development environment by establishing a more application-centered understanding.

A change in perspective

Your IT consulting professionals are typically the same people who make up the groups collectively referred to as "DevOps teams."

These include software engineers, system engineers, system administrators, operations engineers, infrastructure engineers, software developers, operations managers, IT managers, software architects, project managers, web developers, security engineers, QA engineers, platform engineers, security managers, and backend developers.

Accordingly, there are easily noticeable changes in IT consulting that can be attributed to DevOps.

For this discussion, DevOps professionals and IT consultants can be taken to mean the same information technology specialists who provide IT services that benefit businesses. However, the whole point of DevOps is to veer away from the traditions of typical IT consulting.

DevOps has key differences from traditional IT consulting. Members of DevOps teams work as one integrated unit, rather than separately performing individual functions. Instead of focusing on "getting my job done", every member of the team is focused on getting the project ready for deployment.

The perspective change from "my job" to "our project" can result in massive benefits for the business.

Impact of DevOps on IT consulting

The benefits of DevOps can be summarized as follows:

Pay (revenue) differences

Team empowerment

Tractability in deployment and maintenance

Enhanced end product reliability

Speedier time-to-market

Greater efficiency

1. Pay (Revenue) Differences

For the most part, DevOps has allowed IT professionals to earn better. Figures gathered in this 2015 DevOps survey look rather bright for IT professionals thinking of hopping on the DevOps bandwagon.

Most DevOps professionals tend to earn better in comparison to the prevailing salaries surveyed by Payscale. DevOps system administrators, for example, earn a median salary of $86,000 compared to the $58,897 average of traditional sysadmins.

DevOps web developers and security engineers also have a higher median pay,

The median salary for all surveyed DevOps professionals is $105,600.

2. Team empowerment

Another excellent benefit of the DevOps movement is the empowerment of the different IT professionals who work together on a project.

This is mostly due to the idea that all members in a DevOps team are allowed to offer input and across all areas of the project.

Members are empowered to take ownership of the entire project, rather than being limited to a single set of tasks.

3. Deployment and maintenance tractability

Tractability means the ease with which individuals allow themselves to be managed - how receptive they are to influence and suggestion.

Team tractability is a highly coveted benefit enable by DevOps' cross-disciplinary approach.

Sysadmins and developers are no longer able to engage in the notorious blame game, where developers accuse sysadmins of creating an unreliable platform, and sysadmins complain that code from the developers is unreliable.

With everyone working together at each stage of the process, problems can be solved by the team as they arise.

4. Better reliability

Because of the emphasis on communication, collaboration, integration, and automation, it is only logical to expect a better end product from the work done under the DevOps approach.

As highlighted in point #3, since the entire team is working together throughout the development process, the vast majority of problems will be identified and solved by various branches of the team well before launch.

5. Faster time to market

There are convincing claims that DevOps results in faster time to market and continual improvement. The ratio, reportedly, could be at the vicinity of 1:30 (non-DevOps vs DevOps) in terms of deployment.

This is because DevOps makes it easier to go from "idea" stage to a working software at the initial project development stage. This benefit allows developers to experiment on what can be done with the project and to continuously introduce incremental improvements.

6. Greater Efficiency

Enhanced efficiency is perhaps the major advantage of DevOps. It makes almost everything faster and leads to less resource wastage.

This improved efficiency, in particular, can be observed in how companies no longer have to assign greater priority to stabilizing new features. In a DevOps setup, there is one team that takes responsibility for ensuring stability while creating new features.

The team is able to do this efficiently because of the advantages afforded by a shared code base, test-driven techniques, continuous integration, automated deployments, and smaller change sets.

Is DevOps the future of IT consulting?

It's still early to claim that DevOps is the revolution needed in the IT consulting world. However, it is doubtlessly a promising approach businesses should consider adopting.

While some critics see it as a ploy by northern European sysadmins to establish prominence in their field, at the end of the day, a development approach centered around cooperation and communication is the type of idea that solves longstanding problems in the software and IT consulting industries.

Whether you want to adopt the "brand name" or not, when working on a given project, increasing communication and cooperation across all departments involved is, in my opinion, ALWAYS a good idea.

For more Econsultancy content from Jacob McMillen, check out this article on website availability or this post on social proof mistakes.
 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/66086 2015-02-13T09:50:59+00:00 2015-02-13T09:50:59+00:00 Four product marketing reasons why Tinder got really, really big James Carson
Tinder is one of the biggest social media phenomenons of the last year. 1.5bn Tinder profiles are swiped through and there are 15m new matches per day.

Instagram and Snapchat have gained most of the hype, but Tinder is soaring in a similar way. Meet anyone under 30 who is single, and they've almost certainly tried it.

Chances are they've been on it in the last month. Actual user numbers and a real $$ valuation are not widely available; but it's safe to say, they're big.

So what opportunities does a network like Tinder throw up to marketers? The truth is, not many.

In April 2014 Fiona Salmon did a great job explaining how native advertising on the network throws up ethical concerns. As yet, the network also offers no advertising solutions.

Even if it did, the options would be very limited to brands related to under 30s entertainment. But aside from the lack of advertising options, looking into the trends surrounding Tinder's success does make for some intriguing reading.

If you are looking to build an app or other online service there have been some clever product marketing plays that enabled Tinder's incredible success - these should be taken seriously.

1. It's a collection of already existing services

Tinder really consists of three core services that existed long before it did. The use of these services is not particularly original, but blending them together is.

Technically it took existing user behaviours and melded them into one app.

 Hot or Not: This website was launched in 2000. It allowed you to rate users out of 10 according to how hot you thought they were. Tinder takes this concept and removes the rating system to be literally 'Hot' (swipe right) or 'Not' (swipe left). It is a simplification of this service but there is a clear similarity.

 Whatsapp: Text messaging has taken a nosedive for millenials and Tinder offers a near identical interface to its usurper. In one-on-one chats, there is no discernible difference between Tinder and Whatsapp.

 Mobile Location Services: Knowing whether another device is nearby is not a new technology. It's been in development from 1990, with patented services arriving in the early 2000s. Tinder uses location services to find other users in a certain area. Tinder effectively 'stole' this entire concept from its precursor Grindr.

A fourth key service 'Moments' is a clear steal from Snapchat. Launched in 2014, this service is barely used, but allows users to upload moments that are available for their matches to view within a 24 hour period.

2. It addressed market-wide user experience problems

While some of Tinder's appeal is based on already existing technology, there was already a number of user experience issues in the market that it entered into.

Different problems occurred according to gender. For many men, large numbers of messages would need to be sent before getting a response – which would be time consuming.

For particularly attractive women, they'd need to read lots of messages and decide which ones to respond to – again time consuming.

Obviously, these user experience problems are extremes, and there would be exceptions to these, but they were problems that would put many initial users off.

Tinder addresses this issue by removing the first message opener altogether. Instead, it relies on matching with the look of a person. While considerable time may be spent swiping through profiles, it takes significantly less thought than sending a message.

3. Its success was enabled by advances in mobile technology and subsequent changes in behaviour

2014 was apparently 'the year of mobile' we've been waiting for (just search 'year of mobile' on Google). Internet traffic from mobile phones has now overtaken that from desktop. This is a crucial factor in the app's success.

It has also been reliant on the explosion of smartphone powered photography, notably through Instagram, and the subsequent increases in young people taking selfies and holiday shots on their phones.

Mobile phones are regularly used in periods of casual downtime. Many people now sit around in front of the TV, Tindering away hoping for their next match. Making the app incredibly easy to use, while offering the potential of a high prize has helped its addictiveness.

The swipe left / swipe right mechanism is the primary use of the app; there is no login and it requires very little thought to use – just a reaction to a picture. Compare this to a dating website, where you need to login, browse, click through images, compose a message, send and then check for a response. Tinder has removed this entire process.

4. It's market disruptive

As yet, Tinder doesn't have a clear business model; it's still focused on building users. But like most startups (although I'd argue that Tinder isn't really a true startup), it has been extremely disruptive to the online dating market.

It's abandoned subscriptions altogether – very few successful sites have done this previously. Currently, it is an entirely ad free experience that you don't have to pay to use. Contrastingly on Match.com (owned by the same company), users need to pay around £30 a month for subscription.

Tinder completely undercut a large part of the existing online dating market. Online dating websites will need to transfer their existing (desktop) user experiences and subscription models to mobile to compete. It's not a 'mobile first' way of thinking, and that's why Tinder has been able to usurp them.

Conclusion

Scratching below the surface we can see that Tinder is really a collection of other services, and therefore nothing particularly new. It then simply takes advantage existing user experience problems and behaviours driven by advances in smartphone technology.

The factors in its explosive growth are something that anyone who wants to develop an app and a user base can learn from.
 tag:www.econsultancy.com,2008:BlogPost/65919 2014-12-22T12:12:40+00:00 2014-12-22T12:12:40+00:00 Leaping towards localisation: Worldwide sales in 2014 Christian Arno
I'm a big believer in learning from the market, in order to be best-placed to deliver according to its demands.

For me and my business, the trends that have been of particular interest include:

The rise in global tourism and "authentic" holidaymaking.

Wearable technology.

Mobile technology.

API usage and the importance of localisation.

I recently had a very pleasant Sunday morning reading through Euromonitor's latest report on trends and predictions for the tourism industry, and how some people are now taking localisation to a whole new level.

Going "glocal"

While I strongly advocate the importance of local culture and adapting to it, it seems that consumers now want to get really "local" on their holidays around the world.

The rise of Airbnb is one obvious example of this, but there has also been significant interest in travellers choosing to take their meals in private homes, hosted by regular families in regular communities.

With the help of various websites and apps, holidaymakers looking for more authentic local culture can be paired with willing hosts who can provide cooking lessons and meals, and afterwards, meal visitors can review their hosts in terms of food quality, venue and cleanliness.

Integrating technology

To me, this signals advancements in both the leisure industry and in the technology industry, in being able to provide localised and fit-for-purpose software and devices to meet consumer needs.

The increased popularity of sites such as Airbnb has paved the way for new apps which have been built to respond to a demand from the 'sharing economy'.

Indeed, being into my gadgets, I'm really excited about the new wave of wearable technology we can expect to see on the market next year.

Some pieces are designed specifically with the traveller in mind (ever considered that your watch could also be your hotel room key?), while developments like Google Glass and the Apple Watch have been on the cards for some time.

However, that's not to overlook the impact of and developments in mobile technology of course, as often the two can go hand-in hand.

Mobile madness

What interested me the most about the sales reports produced relating to Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year was the rise of purchases made through mobile devices.

Depending on whose figures you look at, proportions of all transactions made via mobiles vary from 20-40% (check the Econsultancy Internet Statistics Compendium for up-to-date figures).

That's a staggering amount, when to think not so long ago most of us barely had access to the internet on our phones.

In order to facilitate many of these transactions APIs are now absolutely commonplace. But the sites that are most successful are those that are able to localise themselves according to their market, including accurate and relevant translations.

Instant translation for instant messages and cultural empathy in communication are vital to connecting with foreign markets.

So while globalisation may have been last year's buzzword, we think localisation is what's going to stick around.

For more on this topic, read our posts on best practices for website localisation and the importance of data personalisation and localisation.