The rationale behind Chiliphone‘s recent shopping spree became clear this morning with the change of the “About” navigation button from burnt sienna to seafoam green. In the last year, Chiliphone (“Where Wireless Technology and Good Chili Meet”) has snapped up Flancastr, Drizzlr, Logbundler, Satanax, iFeebl and 4waybudEbooth.
The purchases initially baffled users and analysts both. Flancastr is a podcasting host devoted to food shows and Drizzlr is a glazing app, both of which made sense for the company. But Logbundler was a forestry database company; Satanax, a one-click website evilizer; iFeebl, a chat client for dimwits; and 4waybudeBooth, a social network for exhibitionists.
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Chiliphone’s Dr. Emrick Swain explained.
“The rounded button at the side of each page that takes users back to the About page was almost salmon-colored. People were mistaking it for a veal medallion. Delicious, but misleading. With the combined programming talents of our acquisitions – the hot-link know-how of Logbundler’s Dr. Timothy Arnold, the XML skills of Drizzlr’s Dr. Gerold Schartz, the Java chops of Flancastr’s Dr. Kelvin Holland – we were able to affect the transition of this vital part of our company’s public-facing UI to a more pleasant seafoam green.”
The greening of the button puts the company in line for both federal and Charcuterie County tax breaks, as well qualifying it for the generous Chazz Buildington Socks-With-Sandals grant program.
More to the point, it makes the tool, both in its online and app iterations, imminently more usable, according to Dr. Steve Quickly, head of R&D for Chiliphone. Not so, said Dr. Bob Folder, program manager in charge of Chiliphone’s Button Coloration Transition Program (BUTTCOTPRO).
“No. It just doesn’t matter. Not one tiny bit under any circumstances. I have no idea why we did this in the first place, but to make a big deal out of it is just stone cold stupid.”
The company could not have made the transition without the hard work of everyone at Chiliphone, as well as their new subsidiaries, said Dr. Bill Schwing, who took over program management duties when Folder resigned four lines ago to spend more time with his family.
But the most important aspect of this news, as both Chiliphone executives and tech news consumers have acknowledged, is that ReadWriteWeb published it first.
Das Chili portrait by Joachim Fenkes | Savoy photo by John Kratz
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