Microsoft starts selling a $799 Surface Laptop

 Here’s a pretty good way to help spark sales in the post-holiday doldrums of early February. This week, Microsoft rolled a handful of new configurations that drop the entry level pricing on a few of its Surface products, in an effort to help drum up some sales during a particularly  slow time of year. The updates were spotted by Windows Central — after all, Microsoft’s… Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/02/microsoft-starts-selling-a-799-surface-laptop/?ncid=rss

Equity podcast: Dog-walking startup gets $300M, Airbnb isn’t going public and Amazon is fine

 Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week Matthew Lynley and Alex Wilhelm were joined by General Catalyst’s Steve Herrod, who helped us dig through the week’s biggest news. As a group, we looked at Wag’s mega-round, a $300 million infusion from SoftBank’s Vision Fund.… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/02/equity-podcast-dog-walking-startup-gets-300m-airbnb-isnt-going-public-and-amazon-is-fine/?ncid=rss

What motivates you to take action?

School taught us to answer a simple question, “will this be on the test?” If the answer is no, we’ve got no time for it.

Work taught us to fear the boss and the review and our performance ranking. And we are motivated to do the work if we get paid for it, because, after all, that’s why we call it work. Do the least, because you're always going to get asked to do more.

Or we could be motivated to avoid shame, or to take advantage of the sale that’s about to end. Motivated by deadlines, by crises, by the media "breaking news" out of the situation room.

Is it any wonder, then, that we end up as short-term, unhappy, profit seekers? And that marketers and others that seek to engage with you build their offerings around your motivation?

Millions of students are in college, many going hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. They are surrounded by huge libraries, high-speed internet access and educated people, and yet the dominant dynamic remains: how little can I do? Will this be on the test? 

And the rest of us are in the real world, with the infinite library of humanity at our fingertips, with millions of people to connect with, with an unlimited array of problems worth solving right in front of us.

What if each of us were motivated by curiosity instead? Or generosity? Perhaps we could learn to see possibility instead of risk. What if we took and finished online classes because we could, not because there are assignments, tests and a certificate?

I see this firsthand with the shift students in my courses go through. At first, there's an awkward pause when people realize that there are no tests. Without tests, it seems, it's easier to focus on more pressing urgencies at home or at work. But then, postures begin to change. People realize that a different kind of motivation might lead to a different sort of outcome.

The choice of motivation is a fork in the road. It not only determines what we do and how we do it, but it drives marketers to decide what they make and how they’ll sell it. It changes the way school boards and regents design courses. It changes the story we tell ourselves.

Today's Groundhog day, an oddball holiday built on the premise that winter's a grind, that we want it to be over with, that our motivation is TGIF... The magic of the film, though, was realizing that our motivation is actually up to us, and that if we choose, we can change it. If we do, the world might change in response.

We get more of what we respond to.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/522183132/0/sethsblog~What-motivates-you-to-take-action.html

Amazon blows past Wall Street expectations for holiday quarter

 Amazon reported quarterly financials after the bell Thursday for its fourth quarter, the all-important holiday season for the e-commerce giant. And its numbers had some people doing a double take, after earnings per share came in at $3.75, more than double the $1.85 that analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance were estimating.  Net income was $1.9 billion for the quarter. It’s a far cry… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/amazon-blows-past-wall-street-expectations-for-holiday-quarter/?ncid=rss

DreamWorksTV launches its first over-the-top streaming service on Amazon Channels

 Awesomeness, the digital media company acquired by Comcast for $3.8 billion in 2016, is today bringing kid-friendly programming, including original content, to Amazon Prime subscribers with the launch of DreamWorksTV on Amazon Channels. The new subscription service is aimed at kids ages 6 through 12 and will cost $4.99 per month after a 7-day free trial period. Until now, DreamWorksTV has… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/dreamworkstv-launches-its-first-over-the-top-streaming-service-on-amazon-channels/?ncid=rss

Pulse Labs has raised $2.5 million in seed funding to help voice apps better interact with humans

 Between smart speakers, mobile devices and a growing army of connected home products, voice interfaces are poised to continue growing at a rapid clip. We’re still very much in the early days, but Seattle-based startup Pulse Labs is hoping to be among the first to help build a more tailored experience for apps built on top of Alexa, Google Assistant and the like. Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/pulse-labs-has-raised-2-5-million-in-seed-funding-to-help-voice-apps-better-interact-with-humans/?ncid=rss

Falling out

The hard part isn't coming up with a new idea.

The hard part is falling out of love with the old idea.

That's why editing work is so difficult. In order to make the new thing, to make the old thing better, you need to destroy it first.

Situation switching, acting as if, loving the idea enough to sketch it out and then caring enough to stop loving it... that's where the tension often lies.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/521902752/0/sethsblog~Falling-out.html