It was 2005 when I first visited Austria's Kremstal and Kamptal wine regions. With some help and advice from longtime Austrian wine importer Terry Theise, whom I first met at Jamey's in Philadelphia back in 1989 or 90, I visited a series of the Kamptal region's top producers, including Nigl, Brundlmayer, Heidler and Gobelsburg and … Read more
I remember the first time I popped a bottle of Corsican red. It was an Antoine Arena Patrimonio and came as part of a sampler case from wine hunter Kermit Lynch. In truth I have known Kermit since 1989 when he was on a book tour for his seminal tome, "Adventures Along the Wine Route" … Read more
Old loves they say, die hard. And when it comes to wine, there's no older love of the rare, obscure or esoteric wine in my past than the wines from Cahors in France. Long before the Argentines were selling Malbec by the ton and making headway in the USA for well priced, well made and … Read more
I just read a fascinating and very logical article about contact centers and wait times published by Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. If call centers or contact centers are core to your business, or if you've ever waited on hold to get help or support, it's a must-read. With algorithms and analytics at the core … Read more
HBO's new chief Bob Greenblatt says Netflix doesn't have a brand. What a juvenile statement and one that is more fighting words than facts. Not only is Netflix a brand, its multi-generational, it's the brand that has replaced HBO as the "other place to watch." For starters Netflix knows more about its' audience than HBO … Read more
Apple is repeating a proven strategy in it's move to add 1200 or more jobs to a new office campus it plans to build in San Diego, not far from Qualcomm. The decision to go there, and establish a mobile chip engineering team is well timed, as Qualcomm has been laying off and shedding bodies … Read more
The 2017 Domaine Jaume Generation is another hit in the same vein as the 2016, 2015 and 2014's were. The bistro bottling from the small southern Rhone producer is the kind of easy to drink, approachable value priced wine that you find being poured in bistros, brasseries and cafes all over France. It has low … Read more
I've been a user of Google Fi for a few years now. I've also been a longtime user of Google Voice and Hangouts. Of late, I've been experimenting with Duo, Google's version of Skype meets Apple's Facetime. Like Skype, Duo let's you make outgoing calls, presenting your choice of numbers, much like Skype. Like Facetime … Read more
Maybe it's being able to view Mobile World Congress from afar, but after getting past the 5G hype and "foldable" mobile phone news, for someone who has been around mobile and telecom for over 20 years it feels like a hangover where the bartender drank up what wasn't. For starters the news felt really lightweight. … Read more
Google and Sprint have a very interesting past when it comes to telecom, which is why the announcement about Google Fi and 5G via Sprint is really interesting. Looking back at history, Google and Sprint became friendlier when GoogleVoice numbers were first made usable as the primary mobile number on Sprint's wireless network. That ended … Read more
