Uppercase Mini Alphabet
Uppercase Mini Alphabet
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 Quickutz 4 x 8 CHICKADEE M Chick A Dee Mini Alphabet Set  US $19.99
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 Quickutz Mini Roxie Uppercase Alphabet US $10.00
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 Large Lot 48 Alphabet Letter Sticker Sheets ABC 123 NEW US $17.95
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 LifeStyle Crafts QuicKutz 4x4 Single Alphabet Die LEMON DROP Uppercase DA0235 US $14.99
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 Lifestyle Crafts QuicKutz EPIC SIX DIE CUTTING TOOL 4x8 BANANA SPLIT ALPHABET US $129.99
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 Tag Uppercase Bare chipboard alphabets 52 pieces US $2.99
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 Boxed Uppercase BARE chipboard alphabets 48 pieces US $2.99
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 CREATIVE MEMORIES ABC 123 BOLD CLASSIC U choose Color US $4.75
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 chipboard Blocky lowercase unfinished raw alphabet US $2.75
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 QuicKutz Alphabet CHICK A DEE ALL IN ONE MINI 4x8 Die US $34.99
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 NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $17.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $17.99
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 2 chipboard DOT uppercase unfinished raw alphabet US $2.99
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 chipboard Blocky uppercase unfinished raw alphabet US $2.99
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 Quickutz Lot Squeeze Hand Tool Binder 7 Alphabets Marisa Paige Olivia Empire CK US $149.99
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 Sunrise Mini Alphabet Stickers 4X6 Sheets 2 Pkg MAS 8412 US $6.60
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 Beetle Black No Glitter Hopscotch Sugar Coated Adhesive Chipboard Alphabet 86 US $9.20
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 QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $29.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $29.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $29.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $19.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $19.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $29.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $19.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $29.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $29.99
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QuicKutz Alphabet 2 Die Sets 14 Options You Choose Combined Shipping US $29.99
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 2 chipboard Block uppercase unfinished raw alphabet US $2.99
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 Blackberry Mini Alphabet Stickers 4X6 Sheets 2 Pkg MAS 8409 US $6.41
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 Cream Mini Alphabet Stickers 4X6 Sheets 2 Pkg MAS 8404 US $6.41
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 Quickutz Roxy Mini Uppercase Alphabet Set 2 Dies US $34.99
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 Quickutz CK Handprint Mini Uppercase Shadow Alphabet Sets 2 Dies US $49.99
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 Quickutz Holiday Gift Set including eliza letters numbers and puncuation dies US $59.00
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 Gumball Red Mini Alphabet Stickers 4X6 Sheets 2 Pkg MAS 8421 US $6.96
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 White Black Mini Alpha Stickers MA502 Kaisercraft US $6.49
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 White Chocolate Mini Alpha Stickers MA504 Kaisercraft US $6.49
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 Black White Mini Alpha Stickers MA501 Kaisercraft US $6.49
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 Chocolate White Mini Alpha Stickers MA503 Kaisercraft US $6.49
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 Lilac Mini Alphabet Stickers 4X6 Sheets 2 Pkg MAS 8416 US $6.71
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 Quickutz Venus Mini Uppercase Shadow Alphabet Sets 2 Dies US $64.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $31.29
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $27.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $47.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $29.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $59.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $29.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $29.99
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NEW Quickutz 14 ALPHABET Die Sets DIES 4x8 Cookie Cutter 2x2 US $30.99
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 Quickutz Marisa Mini Uppercase Alphabet Set 2 Dies US $29.99
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 QUICKUTZ ROCKSTAR MINI COMPLETE ALPHABET SET NIP CC ROCKSTAR M US $89.99
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Christopher Latham Sholes, a newspaper editor and printer, designed the basis of the keyboard layout that we use to this day. Unless you're part of the new generation who's unfamiliar with the old typewriters, you'd undoubtedly remember how those mechanical typewriters were designed. When pressed, each key would stamp a corresponding character via a metal arm-a typebar-that'd pound parts of an ink tape onto paper. QWERTY keyboard takes its name from the first row of letters under the row of numbers on that keyboard.
Typebars often clashed and jammed together. This was especially true in Sholes's first designs, where he arranged the character keys in order of how they appear in the alphabet: A, then B, then C, then D, and so on.
This would of course slow things down for typists. And they wouldn't know they had a problem until they lifted the paper carriage.
It took Sholes six years to perfect his invention. He finally used a study of letter-pair frequency by Amos Densmore-brother of the project's financial backer, James Densmore. By placing typebars of commonly occurring alphabetical pairs -such as S and T-further away, he managed to reduce the number of jams.
Remington and Sons (yes, the same Remington that made all those guns) bought the manufacturing rights, and history was made.
Some interesting trivia:
- Sholes's original layout had no 0 or 1. This was to simplify the design and reduce manufacturing costs. They were considered redundant, since you could recreate those numbers with uppercase "o" for 0, and uppercase "i"-or lowercase "l"-for 1.
- In the original layout, exclamation point was made by striking apostrophe, a backspace, and a period
- While "0" for zero was quickly added to become a standard key for keyboards, 1 and! were never added until the 1970's
A Business Lesson
Sholes's design was not perfect. Many alternatives came afterwards, including the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard and the Colemak standard, but his design prevailed as the worldwide standard.
I've three possible explanations:
The design embraces improvements
Consider the many variations to the QWERTY keyboard we see for languages that use Latin characters. I remember in Canada the Canadian Multilingual Standard keyboard was legally required for use in all governmental offices. When an invention opens itself to improvements, it prevents itself from becoming obsolete.
The design became the first standard
Bob Sadino, one of Indonesia's celebrated entrepreneur, said that in business you better "be the first, be the best, or be different" otherwise you're dead in the water. I agree that being the first has its merits, but to become the first standard, that is even more important. Two factors that an invention needs to quickly garner: critical mass and barrier of entry to the market.
The design was manufactured by a weapons manufacturer
Selecting the right partner for your business is tantamount to your success (or failure). In this case, Sholes chose a firearm manufacturer. In terms of branding, Remington meant precision and strength. I imagine their slogan could be, "Remington: Our guns don't jam. Neither do our typewriters."
And of course, imagine if you had Remington as a partner. Wouldn't your competitors think twice if you had that many guns in at your disposal?
Embracing Imperfection
Some of us have this habit of wanting everything to be perfect before we go forward with the solution. In a world that increasingly embraces the software industry's philosophy of "release early, release often," this is a habit that is decreasing in virtue.
There are times when opportunities offer no second chances. But the market today would rather accept a good beta version of an answer and wait for the patches that'd follow, than to wait for "the perfect solution."
The perfect solution will quickly become obsolete anyway.
Now every time I look at the keyboard of my laptop, I'm reminded:
Today's world is no longer about the strong eating the weak. It's about the fast eating the slow.
Ghani Kunto is a Co-Founder of YouthLab Indonesia, one of Southeast Asia's premier youth market research company. http://enterthelab.com By day, he is also the Director of Youth and Welfare of Komodo Dragon Foundation. By night, he hosts talkshows on radio and television. You can find his blog on marketing, entrepreneurship, and social marketing at http://indomktg.wordpress.com.
