A rare historical study! The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture — where else!!
The Future of Learning, Networked Society - Ericsson (by ericsson)
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Looking up in Gramercy Park.
#Gramercy_Park #Manhattan #NYC #new_york_city #apartment_houses #Courtyards
Can we just put aside ideology for one minute and agree that businesses hire more workers if they have more customers, and fire workers if they have fewer customers?
There are two big categories of customer: One is comprised of individual consumers. The other is government.
We tend to think…
![kenyatta:
transpondster:
theatlantic:
Who Wants a Nice Tall Glass of Coca-Cola’s Algorithmic Orange Juice?
Coca-Cola won’t say how it makes its best-selling Simply Orange orange juice, but one thing is for sure: It’s not so simple. A new investigation by Bloomberg Businessweek shows that the Coke-owned orange juice brand that’s billed as less processed version of Tropicana is in fact a hyper-engineered and dauntingly industrial product. The factory in Florida where the bulk of Coke’s orange juice products are made sounds less like a bucolic grove where natural things grow than an oil refinery where natural things go to die. And yes, that includes the “Grove Made” variety.
Read more. [Image: Coca-Cola]
I kind of don’t care because I don’t drink this brand, but it’s interesting to see how a company like Coca-Cola essentially sells bottled tap water, but they can’t figure out a way to just put orange juice in a bottle and sell it at a profit.
The original Bloomberg Businessweek piece is a must read:
Black Book isn’t really a secret formula. It’s an algorithm. Revenue Analytics consultant Bob Cross, architect of Coke’s juice model, also built the model Delta Air Lines (DAL) uses to maximize its revenue per mile flown. Orange juice, says Cross, “is definitely one of the most complex applications of business analytics. It requires analyzing up to 1 quintillion decision variables to consistently deliver the optimal blend, despite the whims of Mother Nature.”
The Black Book model includes detailed data about the myriad flavors—more than 600 in all—that make up an orange, and consumer preferences. Those data are matched to a profile detailing acidity, sweetness, and other attributes of each batch of raw juice. The algorithm then tells Coke how to blend batches to replicate a certain taste and consistency, right down to pulp content. Another part of Black Book incorporates external factors such as weather patterns, expected crop yields, and cost pressures. This helps Coke plan so that supplies will be on hand as far ahead as 15 months. “If we have a hurricane or a freeze,” Bippert says, “we can quickly replan the business in 5 or 10 minutes just because we’ve mathematically modeled it.”
Orange juice and economy air travel have everything in common.
Also: your “fresh” orange juice is eight months old.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/7a404ce165b469dfc9323d00ad9bfdb3/tumblr_mhjtvjaf8H1qcokc4o1_500.png)
Who Wants a Nice Tall Glass of Coca-Cola’s Algorithmic Orange Juice?
Coca-Cola won’t say how it makes its best-selling Simply Orange orange juice, but one thing is for sure: It’s not so simple. A new investigation by Bloomberg Businessweek shows that the Coke-owned orange juice brand that’s billed as less processed version of Tropicana is in fact a hyper-engineered and dauntingly industrial product. The factory in Florida where the bulk of Coke’s orange juice products are made sounds less like a bucolic grove where natural things grow than an oil refinery where natural things go to die. And yes, that includes the “Grove Made” variety.
Read more. [Image: Coca-Cola]
I kind of don’t care because I don’t drink this brand, but it’s interesting to see how a company like Coca-Cola essentially sells bottled tap water, but they can’t figure out a way to just put orange juice in a bottle and sell it at a profit.
The original Bloomberg Businessweek piece is a must read:
Black Book isn’t really a secret formula. It’s an algorithm. Revenue Analytics consultant Bob Cross, architect of Coke’s juice model, also built the model Delta Air Lines (DAL) uses to maximize its revenue per mile flown. Orange juice, says Cross, “is definitely one of the most complex applications of business analytics. It requires analyzing up to 1 quintillion decision variables to consistently deliver the optimal blend, despite the whims of Mother Nature.”
The Black Book model includes detailed data about the myriad flavors—more than 600 in all—that make up an orange, and consumer preferences. Those data are matched to a profile detailing acidity, sweetness, and other attributes of each batch of raw juice. The algorithm then tells Coke how to blend batches to replicate a certain taste and consistency, right down to pulp content. Another part of Black Book incorporates external factors such as weather patterns, expected crop yields, and cost pressures. This helps Coke plan so that supplies will be on hand as far ahead as 15 months. “If we have a hurricane or a freeze,” Bippert says, “we can quickly replan the business in 5 or 10 minutes just because we’ve mathematically modeled it.”
Orange juice and economy air travel have everything in common.
Also: your “fresh” orange juice is eight months old.
I cured myself of shyness when it finally occurred to me that people didn’t think about me half as much as I gave them credit for. The truth was, nobody gave a damn. Like most teenagers, I was far too self-centered. When I stopped being prisoner to what I worried was others’ opinions of me, I became more confident and free.
- Lucille Ball
(via kenyatta)
