Did anyone pay attention when Robert Shiller warned about the real estate bubble or Nouriel Roubini sounded the alarm bells about the impending global economic crisis? Probably not as much as they should have. So feel free to ignore this one, too: travel loyalty programs — and particularly airline programs — are a bubble. And it may be about to pop.

All the signs are there. Delta Air Lines’ recent, precipitous devaluation of its loyalty program is just the latest. Your hard-earned frequent flier miles now die with you, and can’t be inherited by your next of kin. (Yes, Delta can do that.) This follows a wholesale downgrade of its SkyMiles program. Several hotel chains, including Marriott and Hilton, have also decimated their programs in the last few weeks.

The Next Bubble? Travel Loyalty Programs | LinkedIn

Getting started with Xbox Music on Windows 8

Xbox Music is the new streaming music service from Microsoft. We’ll show you how to get started with Xbox Music on Windows 8.

by Ed Rhee

October 31, 2012 12:06 PM PDT

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Xbox Music was initially announced in June of this year and released toXbox 360 users first. When Windows 8 reached general availability on October 26, Xbox Music became available to all Windows 8 users as well. Like Spotify, Microsoft’s new music service can stream full songs on demand, as well as play taste-based radio like Pandora. Here’s what you need to know to get started with Xbox Music on Windows 8:

To begin using Xbox Music, click on the orange Music tile on your Windows 8 Start screen and sign in with a Microsoft account.

Streaming songs on demand
To start listening to music right away, click on "Play an artist" and enter the name of an artist you want to listen to. A random selection of songs by that artist will begin playing immediately.

To play specific songs or albums, you can browse music from the All Music and Top Music sections. You can also use the Win+Q shortcut to perform a quick search.

Click to enlarge.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Once you’ve found music that you like, you can add it to a playlist by right-clicking on the track/album details. The control bar will appear at the bottom of the screen with the option to add the song or album to a playlist. In addition to playlists, you can also add songs or albums to My Music. When looking at track/album details, you’ll see the option to "Add to my music."

Click to enlarge.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Smart DJ
Smart DJ is a taste-based radio feature, similar to Pandora and Spotify Radio. Just click on "New Smart DJ" and enter an artist. It will begin playing music right away and add the new Smart DJ station to My Music. Unfortunately, Smart DJ doesn’t have a rating system, so you can’t customize the station as you go along.

Adding your own music
To add your own music to My Music, open Windows Explorer (Win+E) and copy your music files to the My Music library. When you go back into Xbox Music, you’ll see your music in the My Music section.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Managing My Music
You can manage the music in My Music by clicking on the heading. You’ll be able edit playlists, delete Smart DJ stations, and remove albums and songs.

Click to enlarge.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

That’s it. Don’t forget that you can also look at your account details and set other preferences from within the Xbox Music app by using the Win+I shortcut

Getting started with Xbox Music on Windows 8 | How To – CNET

It was amazing experience to drive key discovery scenarios for the release including

• Most Popular Music, Movies and TV
• Top Purchased/Rented Music, Movies and TV
• Top Rated content
• Search Relevancy

Pictures are worth 1000 words:

Most Popular Movies on Xbox 360

Windows 8 Music App: Top Music

Windows 8 Music App: Top Songs

Windows 8 Music App: Top Artists and Play Top songs

Windows 8 Video App:Top Rented Movies

Windows 8 Video App: Top Selling TV Series

Working on more amazing stuff but more on that once we launch.

Several years ago, a single problem customer changed the fate of my company. Here’s the story.

In business, we’re often all about the numbers–occasionally to a fault. I’m not saying statistics and metrics aren’t useful tools. Sometimes, however, the success or failure of an enterprise comes down to individual interaction–say, a handshake or a phone call.

Let me give you a good example.

In 1995, I bootstrapped a tech company, Broadcast Software. We created digital audio and automation software for broadcast radio stations. After four years, we had 16 employees and customers in 40 countries.

But we were at a transition point. If companies need to grow or die, we were in need of a transfusion. We had grown beyond my ability to fund future growth out of my back pocket, and it was time to get outside capital. It also turned out to be time for the tech bubble to burst. Our potential funding sources instantly disappeared.

I was a hands-on CEO. I had written the original code and knew many of our customers personally. I had told my employees that the buck stopped with me, that I’d be willing to speak with any customer they couldn’t help or satisfy. If need be, they should even give out my personal number.

The $4 Million Complaint Call | Inc.com

Here’s a riddle: How do bargain hunters know they’re getting a bargain if there’s no hunt? The answer is, they don’t. That’s just one of the lessons Ron Johnson has learned in his six months as chief executive officer of J. C. Penney. Johnson developed Target’s (TGT) “cheap chic” persona before moving to Apple (AAPL), where he created the world’s most profitable stores. Now he’s trying something really hard. He wants to wean Penney’s middle-market customers from a steady diet of coupons and almost constant discounting. So far, they’re not buying. “The transition has been tougher than we anticipated,” Johnson said during a May 15 presentation to investors.

Johnson’s strategy was deceptively simple: quickly replace Penney’s relatively high list prices—which it aggressively discounted—with lower everyday “fair and square prices.” The early results of that grand experiment have been dismal. The department store chain, with 1,100 U.S. stores, had overall revenue of $3.2 billion in the first quarter, and lost $163 million during that time. Sales at stores open more than a year fell an average 19 percent. The number of people coming into Penney stores dropped by 10 percent, and the number of those who bought something fell, too, by 5 percent.

“What is the source of this?” asked Mike Kramer, Penney’s new chief operating officer, during the May presentation. “Coupons, that drug,” he said. “We did not realize how deep some of the customers were into this. … We have got to wean them off this and educate our consumers.” Added Johnson: “We have got to get people to understand our pricing strategy.”

Before Johnson’s arrival

Remaking J.C. Penney Without Coupons – Businessweek

Photograph of Lewis Hine/Redux Photo

President Obama is right: America’s long-term success hinges on its ability to invent technology the world wants. It seems simple, but getting America back in the business of making things isn’t. It’s a global process. An idea born in Silicon Valley could be engineered in Switzerland, tested in China, and assembled in Taiwan. A stimulus to boost manufacturing may help the U.S. economy in the short term, but reinvigorating postwar-style production or space-race ingenuity is impossible without an increasingly capable workforce. Business demands it. And without it, long-term success will remain elusive.

These days manufacturing extends far beyond the assembly line. It’s about inventing and solving problems: researching, testing, and experimenting with ideas and technology. The development of new products more and more defies borders. It’s impossible to make electronic goods exclusively on U.S. or U.K. soil—the supplier base, infrastructure, and often the expertise needed to produce everything from electric cars to solar panels is dispersed.

Within that context, it’s easier to understand why highly skilled jobs are going the way of assembly and manufacture. New research by the National Science Foundation (NSF) reports that more companies are taking research and development—and 85 percent of the new jobs it creates—overseas. Still, this is by no means a one-way street. As Caterpillar shifts some R&D abroad, it’s considering moving parts of its manufacturing operations back to the U.S. Creating new products is no longer one size fits all.

But constructing an economy that’s built to last depends on a ready supply of talented individuals: people who invent, create, and develop the ideas that will drive exports and those who can assemble them. China gets it. To make its economy more knowledge and technology intensive, China is investing heavily in science and engineering education, infrastructure, and R&D support. Already wages are increasing, the middle class is growing, and the country is developing new technology rather than just assembling products. And while the U.S. continues to file more patents than any other country, the Far East’s investment in R&D, fueled by China, matched U.S. contributions in 2009, according to the National Science Board’s report, Science and Engineering Indicators 2012.

Creating an Economy That’s ‘Built to Last’ – Businessweek

Best part about this article is it tells you to focus internally to look at your own history and learn from that. Authors focus on following key aspects of your life to learn from

• Learn from your own life story
• Know your authentic self
• Practice your values and principles
• Balance your extrinsic and intrinsic motivations
• Build a support team to learn and get guidance from
• Integrate your life by staying grounded

Original Article: http://hbr.org/2007/02/discovering-your-authentic-leadership/ar/1

Authors: Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean and Diana Mayer

Synopsis:

During the past 50 years, leadership scholars have conducted more than 1,000 studies in an attempt to determine the definitive styles, characteristics, or personality traits of great leaders. None of these studies has produced a clear profile of the ideal leader. Thank goodness. If scholars had produced a cookie-cutter leadership style, individuals would be forever trying to imitate it. They would make themselves into personae, not people, and others would see through them immediately.

No one can be authentic by trying to imitate someone else. You can learn from others’ experiences, but there is no way you can be successful when you are trying to be like them. People trust you when you are genuine and authentic, not a replica of someone else. Amgen CEO and president Kevin Sharer, who gained priceless experience working as Jack Welch’s assistant in the 1980s, saw the downside of GE’s cult of personality in those days. “Everyone wanted to be like Jack,” he explains. “Leadership has many voices. You need to be who you are, not try to emulate somebody else.”