I really enjoyed reading this post today on the OpenAI blog.
I really enjoyed reading this post today on the OpenAI blog.
I think someone stole one of my partially used sticky pads I use for my design notes. Such a violation.
It reminds me a bit of the Batman animated series, definitely more what I would want to see in a futuritstic car design.
All I want is to be able to pin previous conversations in the ChatGPT web-app. My current solution of WRITE THE KEYWORDS IN CAPS does the trick for now, butâŚ
Costco has long been the king of bulk buying and private-label loyalty. Its warehouses, stocked with pallets of everything from giant bags of coffee beans to surprisingly great Kirkland-brand dress shirts, have earned it an incredibly loyal membership base. But in the age of e-commerce, does Costco have what it takes to evolve into something like an Amazon competitor?
At first glance, it seems like Costco is lagging. Their online experience is limited, and their digital strategy feels more â1999 catalogâ than âPrime ecosystem.â But what if their perceived disadvantage is actually their hidden strength?
Hereâs the case: Costco doesnât need to be Amazon. It has something Amazon didnât have when it startedâestablished trust and a vast network of strategically located brick-and-mortar stores. Imagine Costco leveraging its physical footprint as a hybrid e-commerce hub. Each warehouse becomes a distribution center, cutting down on last-mile delivery costs while giving members the option of same-day in-store pickup or returns.
And then thereâs the Kirkland Signature brandâarguably one of the most trusted private labels in the world. From olive oil to down jackets, Kirkland could dominate categories online in a way that generic third-party sellers on Amazon simply canât.
The real advantage, though, is timing. By coming late to the e-commerce game, Costco can learn from Amazonâs early missteps. No need to waste billions experimenting with low-margin, third-party marketplaces or drone deliveryâCostco can zero in on what works. A streamlined, membership-focused e-commerce experience that stays true to its value-first philosophy might be all it needs to carve out a niche.
Amazon thrives on ubiquity, while Costco thrives on scarcityâyou go there because it has just enough of what you need, at prices you canât resist. The challenge is building an online experience that retains the same sense of discovery and value while leveraging the logistics lessons Amazon has already learned.
Costco might not be Amazon 2.0, but it doesnât have to be. It can be Costco 2.0âand that might just be enough to shift the game.
P.S. Iâve been sick this past week, and have been relying on Amazon for basics. But I also hate the idea of giving Bezos any more money for his penis rockets so here we are.
Phew, refactor of the blog is (mostly) done.
GitHub, if you could just go ahead and add an indication of what the system is doing here after I click âIndexâ that would be greaaat.
The irony is not lost on me that my blog post about Appleâs attention to detail is itself broken due to a lack of attention to (coding) detail.
While I appreciate a lot of the improvements to macOSâs visual languageâlike the slick animations and cleaner interfacesâI canât forgive the damn move away from those bespoke, semi-skeuomorphic app icons. Seriously, itâs mind-numbing to see a row of soulless rectangles staring back at me. Theyâre not highway signs; they donât need to be that standardized. Whereâs the charm? The personality?
Happy Halloween! đ
Digging through my photos I found some old drawings, enjoy!