Clearly, there is no shortage of stupid iPhone apps out there, like the ones featured in this video:



Fortunately, there's also excellent tools, like iPrompts, from HandHold Adaptive, an app "designed especially for parents, special educators and therapists to use with developmentally challenged and language-impaired individuals, like people with Autism, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and apraxia of speech. iPromptsTM also benefits kids who just need more structure, including kids with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and even typical, pre-verbal toddlers".



Hopefully iPrompts will inspire other iPhone app developers to devote their time to creating meaningful, transformative tools.

High-Yields Methods redesigns and streamlines office/service process. They haven't paid me to talk about them, and the reason I'm mentioning the company is that their website is the first example I have seen in months in which "free download" is not a misnomer.

In order to download articles from their site, you are asked to provide some information they can use to improve their site or contact you if authorized to do so, but all fields are optional.

High-Yields Methods truly uses the opt-in marketing principles described by Seth Godin in his book Permission Marketing, as opposed to misleading and interruptive techniques used by so many other businesses.

What about your website? Is your download really free?











(Photo by sp3ccylad)

Related post: Convince me first

In this blog post, Scott Adams talks about how valuable it is to talk to someone who has used the products and solutions we are interested in buying, before we make a purchase decision. Online reviews from strangers are not the same, as one wonders whether "the favorable reviews are planted by the vendor, and the bad reviews are planted by his competitors".

He offers a creative solution to allow potential buyers to connect with past consumers of products while protecting the latter from being flooded with a million e-mails asking how do they like their new can opener:

Imagine a system that works like this: When you buy a product, you agree in advance to answer up to four e-mails from future potential customers, beginning no sooner than one year from when you make your purchase. It's totally optional, but agreeing gives you access to people who already bought the product you're considering today, to help you make your own decision. It would strike you as a fair deal.

Starting to provide reviews one year after the purchase seems excessive (particularly for time sensitive things, like travel recomendations), but the general idea is interesting, allowing people to ask specific questions and get qualified feedback, as opposed to having to rely on reviews that aren't necessarily trustworthy and may not cover the points that are important for one's decision making process.

Nice example of environmentally responsible food packaging and storage solution:



(And it's pizza!)