I'm very skeptical of gadgets for golf. Does any sport have more (cf. Tin Cup) gadgets for the desperate duffer? I confess to having bought a few--mostly ones related to improving my putting.
I was watching the golf channel this morning (I'm an addict, as anyone who knows me will testify) and saw an ad for a new product. They are glasses that filter out the green spectrum (grass) in order to make your ball stand out in the rough.
Unfortunately, they don't appear to work too well but I had my hopes.
Actually, as my handicap has dropped I've actually completed rounds with the same ball that I started it with (which any golfer will tell you is an accomplishment for a high-handicap hacker).
Average temperatures around here are creeping up into the high 50s in the daytime. Time to think about practicing. My first tournament is April 12th and I'm woefully out of practice.
Posted by artandscience at March 18, 2004 11:48 AMCan you tell me why asimba.com died? I ask because I was a huge fan, they dropped off the face of the earth, and I never found out why. I know weider bought them, did did they buy Asimba just to kill it? If not, whats the scoop?
Posted by: at March 19, 2004 01:29 PMThe reasons for this are legion. They are, in no particular order:
1) founders who wouldn't step aside and let professionals run the firm. unfortunately, they were in positions of responsibility (the Peter Principle),
2) very poor underlying engineering of the site (dynamic database driven). leading to 6 wk-3 mo lead time to add the simplest features.
3) no ROI. 30 million spent in two years and no plan for how to monetize the 500,000 user base (other than hand-waving). when I asked the head of engineering what progress he was making toward choosing an e-commerce solution for the site (we were due to begin raising revenue from the site in 3 months) I was met with a blank stare.
Great editorial and customer service. Decent Web and art staff. Decent upper management (new president was quite good). It was quite sad, really.
Posted by: stefan at March 19, 2004 04:23 PM