Consumer electronic packaging….time to rethink it
Why are most gadgets and electronics still packaged in armored plastic that requires scissors, pliers and hacksaws to open? Every time I pick up a new toy (it’s somewhat frequently), I encounter the same frustrating predicament, negotiating the item out of its plastic home. Typically, it goes something like this: I begin by attempting a dissection of the top and bottom plastic pieces by pealing apart the edge where they are connected. When this fails (and it always fails) I grab a sturdy pair of scissors and cut a strategic slice through the hard plastic that will hopefully give me access to the item. Now comes the fun part. Once the cut is made, I usually try to pull apart the top and bottom enough to reach my hand in and grab the item. A fair amount of time, one of two frustrating things happens. Either (a) there’s not enough room to squeeze the item out and I end up breaking off some small but critical piece or (b) I cut my hand or finger on the sharp plastic edge left over from the incision and subsequent tear. I know everyone out there has experienced the same damn thing time and again. With all the cool technology we’re developing today, I gotta believe that clear plastic packaging that is easy to open can’t be that hard.
Windows Home Server and my media storage nightmare
A few months ago, during a party at my house, a small scuffle developed over music selection. We had worked through the 5-10 CDs that I set aside for the evening and the tunes were beginning to repeat. Around the third time my 5-disc changer began Michal Franti (a perennial favorite), I grew embarrassed by the antiquated nature of my music system. This is not a new problem, but one I’ve had a hard time addressing for lack of adequate solutions. I have hundreds of CDs scattered throughout my stereo/TV cabinet. They are, needless to say, disorganized and difficult to navigate. Many are digitized on my home pc, some are not. Separately, I have a larger collection of music (approx 80gb) on my home pc, but haven’t developed any system for delivering that music to my stereo. This may seem silly, but I’ve been reluctant to invest in new technology, save an iPod, because I haven’t found any solution impressive or sufficient enough to do what I want. I think that’s about to change.
Microsoft unveiled Windows Home Server at CES a few weeks ago, and I think it may solve many of my problems. WHS serves as the hub for all media in the home and you can interact with it from any pc. It also provides auto-backup, and remote access so you can interact with your data and/or share it from the road or office too. This photo is of HP’s home media server, which runs WHS and is slated to be the first release later this year. I’d like to use it to store all my music, video, photos and documents that I can’t afford to lose. Paul Thurrott gave Windows Home Server a thorough review and I came away impressed. TechMeme also had a lot of discussion. Next comes the question of how I can distribute my music to my living room and bedroom. For this, I think Sonos has the best product on the market….at least until Apple addresses it. Their Zone Player allows you to distribute music from your storage device to multiple locations wirelessly and processes the sound in a high quality digital signal. Slim Devices makes a similar unit, but after reading reviews, I think better of Sonos. But I didn’t feel good about Sonos’ controller. It looks like a fancy iPod and probably provides an inferior user experience. After some research, I found the Samsung Q1 tablet pc with a 7" screen. I think it will provide a more fulfilling experience navigating my music and creating playlists, etc. In place of a Zone Player at the server, I plan to invest in Netgear Powerline Adapters and use the electrical wires in my apartment to distribute my network. I’m hoping the wires aren’t too old to handle something like this and it will save me several hundred dollars.
To me, this feels like a solid home media system and something long overdue. Since I can’t buy the Windows Home Server for a few months, and I couldn’t afford one now anyway, I’ll use my existing pc to host my music. I’ve been talking about this for months, and I think its finally time to pull the trigger. If anyone has thoughts or experience to share, please….
Florida schools, Americana and Abstinence
I’m in Orlando for FETC and engaged in a shocking conversation with a computer science teacher today. After I presented our offering and gave her a tour of the website, she asked if there was any information available on STDs. Afraid where this conversation might be going, I explained that naturally, the answers was "yes, we cover 4 million topics from 135 reference titles – encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc and STDs are certainly included somewhere in there." She explained that her school district couldn’t condone the use of our site since it contained educational information on STDs and "high schoolers are very interested in researching these topics." Ahh…..yeah. Needless to say, the three of us working together were dumbfounded. I’ve heard and read plenty about right-wing fundamentalists, but never necessarily experienced one on this level. To deny children the right to learn and shelter them from understanding issues that will help them protect themselves from dangers that may lay ahead seems like a shocking misappropriation of state and federal resources and a betrayal by the education system in which they place their trust. Do these people truly believe that 17 and 18 year olds don’t know about sex? and/or aren’t thinking about sex? and that teenagers are better served by their parents and teachers looking the other way? I chose not to pursue this debate with the teacher, but the things you see in the heartland are truly amazing…and in this case, disturbing. By the way, in case any of you missed Jim Webb’s Democratic response to Bush’s State of the Union….he kicked ass – Jim Webb’s Democratic response
NY Times launches video obits with Art Buchwald
"Hi, I’m Art Buchwald and I just died," the video opens. He was a beloved journalist specializing in satire who began his career at the Herald Tribune in Paris in the 1940s. Fittingly, to announce his death, the NY Times debuted a new product called video obits which gives individuals a chance to record their own obituaries before they die. In Buchwald’s video obit, he discusses his life, his writing and the unusual road to death, which took him in, and then out, of a hospice. He also mentions how he found that most people were still afraid to talk about death. I find it strange that with all the progress and advancement we’ve made as a society in practically every field of study, we still have difficulty facing the most unavoidable reality of all. Last month, I discussed death with my 86-year old grandmother and, although I was slightly uncomfortable raising the topic, it led to a nice, very real conversation that I’m happy we were able to have. So in addition to putting video technology to a new and valuable use, I think video obits may also help us face death in a more accepting light by opening the door to its discussion.
What the F is up with the A….Train?
I’ve had it with the A Train. Today, in preparation for a 7:45a conference call, I rolled out of bed at 6:15 and left the house by 7. The F train arrived at my stop a few minutes after me and everything seemed to be going great. I switched across the platform at Jay Street/Burrough Hall, and the A Train (my newest adopted train) arrived minutes later, right on time. Then, something happened. As we entered "the tunnel" – that stretch of subway universe no man’s land between Brooklyn and Manhattan – the train began to slow until it came to a full stop. Listening to my iPod and reading the paper, I didn’t think much of it at first. But as more and more time passed – five minutes, ten, fifteen… – forcing me to repeatedly check my watch, I grew restless. The conductor’s message "ladies and gentlemen, there is a C Train stopped in front of us, we’ll be moving as soon as possible, sorry for the delay," which he repeated every two minutes, did not help. Sadly, this is the third time I’ve experienced something similar on the A Train in the past two weeks. In total, my commute this morning consumed 55 minutes and I was, obviously, late for my meeting. Considering I can bike from my house to my office in 35 minutes, I find this entirely ridiculous. To the A Train: "You’re on your last straw buddy. One more morning like today and I’m switching back to the F/B/D for good!!"
Google movie-search provides fast and simple results, winks at Fandango/Moviefone
I don’t know how new this is, but someone turned me onto Google Movies over the weekend, at www.google.com/movies oddly enough, and it’s awesome!! They give you all the key information you need to make a movie decision and they deliver it much more quickly than Fandango, Moviefone, Rotten Tomatoes or any of the other competitors in this space. The presentation is ultra-simple very similar to the way Google presents search results. They also provide simple user reviews with a universal rating system, a link to trailers hosted by Apple and a link to IMDb for more information on the film. Best of all, it actually remembers your zip code so the next time you login, it presents all the theaters in your area automatically, something that should be simple, but seemed difficult for the others to accomplish. Also, it shows every theater nearby versus just the ones with whom they’ve partnered (in the case of the others). Sometimes the best innovations are the simplest. In this case, it seems to me that Google has snickered at the competitors in this space and the millions they’ve invested by providing a simpler and more convenient solution. It’s true that they don’t provide ticket purchasing, but I’ll still use this page for my default movie listings.
My apologies for requiring commenters to register…
One of my readers just told me that users were required to register before leaving comments on WP. I’ll pretend this is why more people haven’t been commenting recently:) Anyway, the situation has been remedied and I’ve opened it up, so let the comments roll!!
WSJ.com – What are they thinking over there?
Wall Street Journal is one of the only newspaper sites still charging a membership fee for access. Moreso, as a print subscriber (only because I need something to do on the subway), you would think they would give me online access, but no, they only offer me a modest discount. What are they thinking? At the Paid Content mixer last month, the head of Dow Jones digital stood up and spoke about all the improvements they were making, about how they have embraced web2.0, yada yada yada. But they’re still charging membership fees and foresaking millions of users!! WSJ is one of the oldest and most respected papers in the country, but because they’ve been so resistant to current media trends, WSJ.com doesn’t even register in the Top 500 websites according to Comscore. Penn State University logs more traffic than WSJ!! Rumor has it that they weren’t even profitable until they acquired MarketWatch. I am amazed that these guys have been soooo slow to catch on. The opportunity cost in lost advertising revenue must be tremendous. From what I understand, Hoovers and similarly targeted sites are generating some of the highest CPMs – $40-50. If you decide to cut yourself off from millions of users with the hopes of making it up in subcription fees, at least embrace paying subscribers by providing access online as well.
Mom biking through Manhattan with kid and dog
I found this photo while cleaning out my camera’s hard drive recently. I snapped it way back on October 10, from my bike, on the way to work. We were headed up Hudson just before Canal and this curious blond woman in her 30s/40s pedals past me with a full cart attached to her big wheels. In the cart was a boy (presumably her son) and a dog. That’s just not something you see every day in NYC!!
Steve Jobs unveils iPhone at MacWorld today
Steve Jobs and Apple unveiled the iPhone today at their MacWorld conference in San Francisco. I find it funny that Apple chooses to schedule MacWorld at the exact same time as CES (the largest consumer electronics conference) in Vegas, as if to say, "we don’t fit in with you other commoners….we deserve our own show." For better or worse, they’re right. Engadget covered Jobs’ keynote speech in almost real-time complete with play-by-play commentary and color. I’m still inspired by Jobs’ ability to design the most cutting-edge projects and effectively market them in a fun and exciting way. The pomp and circumstance with which he presents something new is phenomenal. Eric Schmidt and Jerry Yang on stage with him for the presentation? If you don’t believe in Apple, surely you believe in Google or Yahoo. There are few leaders as gifted as Steve Jobs and as long as he is at the helm of Apple, expect great things.