Fire-Wired Blog

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com If social media is good for one thing, it’s recommendations. If you were to pull out your phone right now and ask your Facebook friends what to watch on Netflix tonight, you will get a slew of ideas. The problem with this method of soliciting guidance is that it’s a firehose. The inundation of possibilities you’ll receive will likely overwhelm you, and it’s just as likely that none will fit your taste. Thankfully for films there is a massive, longstanding Internet system (and in Cityview!) in place of critics and websites that give qualified suggestions tailored to your taste. But films are easy to consume, and even the terrible ones only cost you a couple hours. Books, on the other hand, take a great deal of dedication to see all the way through. Pick up a book that’s terrible and you’ll throw it out. A boring book? You’ll probably drop it in a few hours. The world is full of mediocre books that everyone seems to recommend. ...

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com If there is one thing brick and mortar retail has over online shopping it is the hands-on, trial-run experience of being able to try something out before making a purchase. You can try on an outfit, listen to a whole album and rent a film or videogame before you purchase it. Online shopping has never really had an answer to the test run. For electronic media such as movies and music, it’s an easy transaction that delivers immediate enjoyment. But for tangible products, there is a lot of risk. You buy a shirt online, it gets delivered, but it is the wrong size, the color wasn’t what you were expecting, and now you are faced with the zero-fun task of returning an online purchase. While in-person shopping definitely still holds this advantage, it seems some online retailers have come up with a suitable workaround. What if instead of purchasing physical goods online, you could have a trial period? Such is the case with the rising ...