myJason.com

Now with cameras on cell phones and app stores that provide access to applications which can use the camera, 2D barcodes are popping up on email signatures and business cards. Scanning a 2D barcode is a quick and easy way to get someones information and save it to your phone with minimal data entry. Here are a couple of links to help you get started by creating your 2D barcode and adding it to your gmail signature.

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

http://www.adworkz.com/blog/how-to-embed-a-signature-in-gmail-or-google-domains/

To scan your barcode simply download/install the Barcode Scanner app from your phone’s app store. [Android] [iPhone]

Yesterday was the last day of Albertsons grocery stores in Utah. When 34 former Albertsons stores open today at noon, they will be operating as Associated Foods Fresh Market stores. There are a few exceptions. The stores near St. George Utah are expected to join the Las Vegas Albertsons division and remain as Albertsons stores. Four stores are going to remain Albertsons, perhaps for only a few months longer as the company continues to search for another buyer. They were not purchased as part of the Associated Foods purchase.

Albertsons has had a price perception problem (the 3 P’s) at least as long as I can remember. Since the late 1990’s people recognized Albertsons as a service oriented store and not a store for the best prices. Flurishing Wal-Mart supercenters started cutting even deeper into profits by stealing loyal customers who were enticed by lower prices.

Over the past 11 years, Albertsons attempted to rebound by completing several mergers and acquisitions. They tried to improve price perception and customer loyalty, lower costs and increase profits. Ultimately they met their demise in 2006 when they were dividedly purchased by SuperValu and Cerberus investors. Each year since then, more and more stores with the Albertsons banner have closed. This year SuperValu announced quarterly profits had fallen 30%.

The Associated Food Stores purchase of Utah Albertsons stores will prolong the life of these particular stores and continue to support the employees who work there. Looking at the big picture, the grocery business in Utah is crowded. With WinCo entering the picture now, there are even more options for consumers. In the end the store which offers consistent low prices allong with good service will win. As of now, it’s difficult to tell if anyone is even trying to compete.

Soon there will be another grocery store chain in Utah County. Yes I know, another one!

WinCo is the newest competitor entering the picture. Right now they are setting up shop on 8th North in Orem, in a massive  building under construction. I have learned some very interesting information just in the past few hours. It turns out WinCo may finally be the grocery store chain that can compete and actually beat Wal-Mart! I’ll be honest, I have no idea how they actually execute short term or even long term. All I know is what I’ve heard. Hint, it’s great for consumers!

WinCo has already entered the Salt Lake City area and has nearly killed Wal-Mart’s grocery business in nearby stores. WinCo is going to try and win your business by having amazingly low prices. Right now they are buying in product and then selling it below cost! I can’t imagine everything they sell is below cost, it just doesn’t make sense. However the person I talked to knows first hand that WinCo will buy a product in for $12 and then turn around and sell it for $9.99 simply to beat the competition.

Their stores are huge and resemble the Food-4-Less format. Unlike Food-4-Less however, they are extremely price aggressive. Their entire business seems to focus around price. Bag your own groceries, shop in a warehouse, pull product right out of the cardboard. They know people will do anything to save money.

Time will only tell what happens to the business strategy of Wal-Mart, Smith’s, Macey’s, Albertsons, Dan’s, Buy Low, and any other grocery store chain I may have forgotten to mention in Utah County. All I have to say is I’m excited for anything which creates competition and threatens the ‘all powerful’, ‘amazingly untouchable’ stores. *cough* Wal-Mart *cough*

It looks like you can find more information about openings and employment on twitter at http://twitter.com/wincofoods

So its been about 2 weeks since I started facebooking. I don’t have any reason to stop at this point. There are a few things that really bother me, but its merely details about how facebook is setup. For example, the live chat built in. It doesn’t seem like anyone really uses it. There is one person who I chat with via the facebook chat, everyone else we just post on each others walls or make comments on existing posts. Speaking of, that gets kinda confusing. How do you know when you should post on their wall versus comment. Well it seems if you want to start a new conversation about something, you should click their name and then post on their wall. If you are carrying on a conversation already in progress, then you just click comment. Seems simple enough, but I see posts all the time where someone says oh and by the way….

I have had a few random requests for friends who I have no idea who they are. Apparently I went to school with them. So I just ignored their requests. I feel that facebook should be a place for people who are really my friends. When I go to add someone as a friend, I think would I really want to go to lunch with this person? If so, I add them.

Tonight I signed up for twitter. I have to say there are far fewer people on twitter — at least that I know. I’m going to experiment with it. For now its an easy way to update my facebook status. If I update twitter, facebook automatically sees the update and changes my facebook status to match. If you want to have your facebook account do the same, just go to http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/

Now I can just send a text message to 40404 and it will update both twitter and facebook. This is a great way to update from anywhere, until I get a cool android phone

Next project, interface facebook and twitter with my blog myjason.com. I’ve already started experimenting and its going to be a fun challenge. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

So its been a few days since I signed up for facebook. My initial impression was positive. Its very easy to sign up and start finding contacts to add. There was even an import for current windows live contacts. Once you get a few people added, then you see suggestions based on who their friends are. At first I was skipping past 9/10 of the suggestions, but then suddenly I was shown a lot of old coworkers (who were all friends with each other on facebook). It was at that moment I thought, this is really cool. There would be zero chance I would be able to contact these people or even find them if it wasn’t for facebook.

After I had added a few people, instantly I started getting approvals on my friend requests! Who are these people that just sit on facebook all day long. It seemed like every 5 minutes I was getting an email that someone else had approved me as their friend. Do I sense an addiction? And who isn’t on facebook? Was I the last one to join?

The downside:
There were a few people I found that I didn’t want to add. We were never the best of friends for whatever reason. So I just skipped them when suggested. Unfortunately facebook kept suggesting them to me. I suspect this is because they were a friend on more than one of my friends list.

It seems like facebook has some problems with javascript. The site doesn’t seem like its using ajax to update conversations (you have to force a refresh to see new posts). The javascript that they are using completely freezes up the page every once in a while. Its so annoying to have to refresh the entire page when you are working on something.

Generally speaking, facebook has been a great communication tool. I can see it being a waste of time and distraction from regular every day life. It is well worth it to keep your friends and family in the loop and not lose them when you are far away.