As I travel frequently and always need access to my files – I carry around a portable hard disk, however there have been occassions when it has failed, or worse I could have lost it. I have found and started to use some of these online tools which make them readily available as long as I have an internet connection available.

• Drop box - I really like this to share between my 3 computers
• Mozy - online back up
• Google Docs – I use this word docs and excel so that peopl that I work with in Canada and Australia can access the same files ( and its free)
• Zoho has a heap of online collaboration tools thatyou may find useful

I just spent $4.80 on 1 scoop of boysenberry ice cream and could have gotten a 1L tub for the same price at the super. Logically and rationally I can see now that this was probably not an wise economically decision but when I was looking at the price list at the counter:

• Small – $4.80
• Regular – $5.80
• EXTRA – $7.20

The small was the most value add option. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, author of best seller Predictably Irrational, delivered a talk at the TED Conference in 2008 on how we make decisions, and how these decisions are not necessarily the logical choice.

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Today we live in a world of choice, where brands are prepared to offer their buyers above and beyond the generic, but at a premium rate. Element Bars is new brand and probably the most transparent Health Bar brand I’ve come across in my many an hour spent scanning nutritional information in supermarket aisles. Based in the US, the site lets you build your own Health Bar from bar textures, to dried fruits, nuts, sweets and additional vitamins. The best part of this is watching the nutritional information update as you add and take out certain ingredients. Once you’ve crafted your very own Health Bar you can name it and share it and order your first box of 12 to sample. To give you an idea of the premium rate a Chewy bar with organic sultanas and Apricots, Organic Almonds and cashews, choc chips, honey and Soy Protein comes to about USD 36.00 which equates to about USD 3.00 a bar.

We increasingly see brands offering this level of customisation as consumers become more informed about products and are willing to pay a little bit extra for a choice in product. Whether it be customising sneakers, to tailored clothes, and custom built Laptops and computers, and even Domino’s highly complex Pizza builder. The generic product, the one size fits all model doesn’t cut it any more and as marketing demographics continue to splinter by more than just age, sex, and socio economic group and we realise that the word majority is actually made up of a series of minorities. Trying to create a overarching product is high risk without a solid R&D phase behind it.

So the benefit of having in- built choice in products means you can access a larger market share and with an online database behind it you can gain valuable insights into who your buyers are; are they mainly chewy or crispy texture people, or do they like nuts more than lollies? From there you can roll out popular flavour to recoup some economies of scale for your business.

The product research learning curve and testing phase can occur while Element Bars are generating sales and those real learnings can be applied to build “popular flavours”.

There is of course the flip side in this model as humans can only really focus on five to seven things on a page at once and so limiting choice can actually help users arrive at the desired end goal quicker. There is a point when a plethora of choice can become a deterrent to convert and the user experience required to manage the process must become more complex. For the Element bars site the level of choice and customisation is high but well managed through the progress bar and the dynamic nutritional information label.

Then check out the domino