Greg Koenig is thinking about a iPod mini re-anodization service. Here’s hoping that he indulges in the occasional vanity search - we had a minor accident with the mini and we’re in the market for a re-anodization.

I was able to score an iPod mini for this trip. We have a Sony mini-disc and a 1st generation iPod already, but my girlfriend couldn’t resist the draw of a pink mini. I thought it was redundant, but she insisted she had to have one. She was right.

The mini just nails the market. It’s easy to stow in an access pocket of your gear, sounds great, and just feels good in your hand. These babies are sold out for a reason.

With a NCAA regional under my belt I thought I was ready, But the 1st round of the NCAA tournament was just over the top. The sustained roar of the crowd was incredible. The energy in the air almost crackled as we made our way to our seats. Enjoyed a great slate of games. The games ended up according to form, but the lower seeded teams hung tough.

Today I’ll be spending the day glued to a TV, looking forward to tomorrow’s games.

Remember me, I used to be a daily subscriber. I got home delivery and you got a daily reader in one of the most affluent counties in America. But then you suddenly stopped delivering. For future reference, here are four simple steps to turning annoyed customers into fans (from Chip Bell via Business 2.0):

1. Apologize - train employees to apologize sincerely.
2. Empathize - ask customers what they need to make the situation right.
3. Fix it quickly - deal with the problem as soon as possible. Don’t try to distract the customer with goods or services that don’t address the complaint.
4. Follow Up - prove that you care by insuring that the customer is satisfied.

Here’s how you went wrong:

1. Don’t be so evasive - if you fired my delivery person or my delivery person quit, then say so. Don’t feed me some jargon about the route. And try warning me in advance.

2. Understand your value add - I’d save money if I only bought the paper on days I knew I was going to read it. I’m paying for home delivery. Giving me a credit for missed papers doesn’t make the situation right. It just means that you’re not a thief. And how about going the distance by crediting the replacement cost of the paper rather than the prorated subscription cost.

3. Do something - on Saturday you said that I’d get a paper on Monday. You also said that I didn’t receive a paper last Thursday and Friday when I did. By Monday your credibility is running a bit thin. How about checking with the distribution center for more information or giving me automatic credit until the distributor actually confirms delivery? Anything other than: you don’t know why I didn’t get a paper and I can get a credit for each missed paper in exchange for 5 minutes of my life.

Scoble’s glass is half empty. He wonders why is RSS/Atom adoption so low?. Given that no one has really found the money, I think that that RSS adoption is going pretty well. After all, what pressing problem is RSS solving? And what’s that problem worth?

Yes, RSS is a more efficient way to read. And yes, RSS allows to me to subscribe to about 150 sites where I would only follow 30 or 40 sites without it. But am I really much worse off following 35 sites rather than 150? I suspect that most people are quite content with the 10 or 20 sites that they’re currently reading. They don’t need RSS. And most of the sites that offer RSS are weblogs – the easiest to follow without RSS.

Right now, reading RSS requires that people either add a new application to their desktop or a new website to their routine. Either one is a pretty big hurdle without good motivation.

I think that Microsoft and Yahoo are the players to watch. They’ve already got the eyeballs. RSS complements their existing platforms. And RSS wouldn’t have to carry the full weight of behavioral change on it’s own. Other than that, we need to wait until someone finds the money.

Going into Selection Sunday, the talking heads start obsessing over seeding. But the great thing about the NCAA tournament is that you have to win six games to hoist the trophy. If you’re a top team, then the politics just don’t matter. It might feel good to lobby for a 1 seed after getting drubbed in the first round of the conference tournament, but the 1 seed isn’t going to win any games for you. Because it’s not the seeding, it’s the matchups.

Stanford goes 29-1, avenges it’s only loss in the conference tournament final, earns a 1 seed and is rewarded with 8 seed Alabama, 4 seed Maryland and 2 seed Connecticut. Alabama poses matchup problems; Maryland is riding high after beating Wake Forest, NC State and Duke to win the ACC tournament; and Connecticut was pre-season number 1, beat Pittsburgh to win the Big East tournament and is favored by many to be the last team standing. Some reward.

Todd Bertuzzi’s season is over. And while I still think that he shouldn’t be allowed on the ice before Moore, I think that it’s enough. Bertuzzi says that he had no intention of hurting Steve Moore. That’s obviously a lie. You don’t hit someone from behind, drive them head first into the ice and then continue to throw punches without intending to do harm. I doubt that Bertuzzi meant to break Moore’s neck, but he definitely meant to hurt him.

The NHL must act to break the cycle of vengence. We want to believe that differences can be settled on the ice. But measuring violence against violence is fraught with risk. There is no way to meter out an exact measure of retribution and then just turn it all off. It’s too tempting to add just a little bit more. And it just escalates until we have an unconscious player lying in a pool of blood.

The NHL needs to send a clear message that the league will protect the players. And that attempts by teams or players to take vengence into their own hands will not be tolerated.

I wondered why AT&T sent us an offer for a free replacement phone. One of our cell phones is a Siemens S46 quad band global (GSM 900/1900 TDMA 800/1900), a phone that ought to work almost anywhere. Now AT&T is giving us a Hobson’s choice between lower quality service and lower quality phones. I would have thought that Cingular’s purchase offer would have required AT&T to make a good faith effort to existing customers. Perhaps this is their way of insuring that Cingular paid too much. [via a little ludwig goes a long way]

I’ve got my ticket punched for the first round of the dance. Thanks to the good graces of my brother, I’ll be in Denver next week for the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Looks like I’m going to see the 4-13 and 5-12 games from the West and East regions. If the committee does its job, then I’m in for a real treat.

Drop me a line if you’re going to be at the Pepsi Center. We should have some time to kill between sessions on Thursday.

Av’s Moore out for season with neck injury. I attended an all day seminar in Manhattan yesterday, so this morning’s SportsCenter was my first view of the Bertuzzi attack. Not quite as viscious as McSorley’s stick to the head of Brashear, but close. No word on Bertuzzi’s punishment, but if he’s allowed on the ice before Moore recovers, then it’s a travesty.