Shutterfly Soars, Imagestation Closes

I really like the quality of Shutterfly's photo books and its photo sharing capabilities. These points of differentiation were entirely intentional, says the CEO in this Newsweek article.

Last week Sony Imagestation, another digital photo site, announced it will close in February, even though it was named the top photo site by PC Magazine less than a year ago. Imagestation's photo prints were good quality at a very reasonable price but delivery slowed as the site became more popular, unfortunately. What was Sony thinking? The brand has traditionally been known for technological excellence, not its service orientation.

At least Sony planned ahead to leave customers with a positive image (pun intended). Customers can opt to have their stored photos sent to . . . Shutterfly! And as a reward, customers who transfer their photos get a free photo book too. I'll be cashing in my reward before the holidays.

How Webkinz Handles Rumors

Seems like nearly every kid under the age of 10 knows about Webkinz, stuffed animals that come with a name and secret code that lets the owner play with the animal's avatar online in Webkinz World. One 9-yr-old I know has 13 Webkinz and has figured out how to do an Internet search for store locations so she can plan her next purchase.

But apparently rumors have been flying about the safety of Webkinz avatars. How does a company reassure youngsters that their online pets haven't been harmed? Check out the "concerned about a rumor?" page on the Webkinz site to see how Ganz handled this sensitive issue.

BIG Discount from Expedia

Squint a bit and you'll see that when I got around to booking my trip to Quebec, Expedia notified me that it had found a "better price" -- the price decreased from $255,441 to $340.

Whew! Good thing too--the original price was over my credit card limit. Seeing this drastic price reduction (for a 410-mile trip each way) encouraged me to buy immediately.

Who could make up this kind of stuff?