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Month September 2011

Entries 20 Total

Brown signs Calif. Online Sales Tax bill

Sep 30, ’11 3:43 AM

Gov. Jerry Brown signs a online sales tax bill that should have taken effect on July 1. This bill charges sales tax on online purchases.

Brown claims it will result in the creation of tens of thousands of jobs and provide a windfall of millions of dollars for schools and public safety.

It goes into immediate effect but won’t actually be required until Sept 15, 2012

What it really amounts to is a big boost to brick-and-mortar stores, a loophole for sellers in other states like Amazon in Seattle, WA. and those resellers that will immediately flee Calif.  for points elsewhere.

Who gets hit hardest by this bill and ultimate impact is California customers and online businesses.

A supposed referendum to overturn the bill has yet to materialize. We shall see what we will.

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Corporate Copycats: Follow the leader!

Sep 28, ’11 10:17 AM
Copycats

Copycats

Most CEOs seem to  have learned competitive strategy development in Kindergarden or the first grade when and where it was simple and basic.

Somewhere along the line that strategy must have proven effective and worked, because today it has quickly become the very essence of the ways of modern business and new product development especially in these rapidly moving and all-too challenging times.

The latest example of this is mighty Microsoft moving into smartphone and tablet markets while deploying a new marketplace web store to support their new generation of Windows Mango phones and probably more.

It is not my imagination that as I looked over the latest pictures of smartphones about to be released, they all looked like Apple iPhones. Now that is Design-style “Follow the leader” taken to the extreme.

There are surely thousands of other and sometimes better examples as this technique has now become THE most effective and most used business strategy for entering new markets and/or remaining in a market and keeping up with the market leader.

Most analysis is focused on how Apple has managed to whether decades long Microsoft challenges to work design and device magic on the marketplace and move into the envied position they now hold.

I could declare that all this demonstrates a lack of creativity or style, but the “perps” would surely reply that they just don’t have the time nor money to waste on any unproven design, just ask HP how that worked out for them.

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A Product’s End of Life…

Sep 28, ’11 8:29 AM

Welcome to the world of modern technology obosolesence!

I know that there comes a time when even the most conscienscious manufacturer feels that they can no longer support or attempt to maintain or upgrade an aging model or particular device.

The frugal user does not immediately rush out and snatch up the latest model on a whim they often choose to struggle along with aging devices throughout their full run of usefulness until said device no longer functions or is so marginally operational as to be painful and outright unproductive.

Such is the case of my once tasty HTC/Google/T Mobile G1 smartphone. Over the past few years it quickly fell into obsolesence and limped along until it simply stopped functioning and even doing the basics. It dropped calls, crashed several times daily, lost information, stopped recognizing the SD card, until Now I have to Force Quit and restart after every action.

The problem is that there are no product updates or system enhancements that can fix this. The three companies that partnered on this phone have written off this model even though it was the one that got them firmly in the smartphone game.

The only conclusion left to me is that I am now forced to consider investing in a newer device if I am to be able to function.

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Forgotten Favorite: Stumble Upon

Sep 26, ’11 7:08 PM

Why hasn’t Stumble Upon received any of the Social Media praise and coverage lauded upon Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare?

I would assume because they route folk to destinations and are not the destination itself.

What must StumbleUpon be or do?
What have they accomplished so far?

What do you think?

Is StumbleUpon really a Forgotten Favorite?

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Motorola Droid Bionic, Where are You?

Sep 24, ’11 3:14 PM

 

Motorola Droid Bionic

Motorola Droid Bionic

 

We have been hearing a lot about the Motorola Droid Bionic ever since it was first shown off at CES last January, and was scheduled to launch earlier this year. Now after several delays it seems about time.

The last thing we heard was that the Droid Bionic would go on sale in September, and now it has been spotted on Motorola’s support site along with full specifications, the page has now been pulled but the cached version is still available here.

The Droid Bionic is expected to finally go on sale soon to coordinate with heavy hype and Television advertising,

Motorola Droid Bionic Specs:

  • TI OMAP 4430 1GHz dual-core CPU
  • 1GB RAM
  • 4.3-inch qHD display (960 x 540 resolution)
  • HDMI 1.4
  • 8 megapixel rear camera
  • VGA front-facing camera (1080p HD video capture)
  • Webtop capabilities
  • 4G LTE
  • CDMA 800, CDMA1900, LTE B13 700
  • Lacks GSM / EDGE
  • Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
  • Battery: 1735 mAh Li Ion
  • Standby: up to 200 hrs.
  • Music Player
  • Google Talk™
  • Web Browser: Android HTML Webkit, Adobe® Flash® Player 10
  • Full range of Accessories: Wireless Keyboard, docks
  • Verizon Ready

Hey, I for one can’t wait to get my paws mitts on a Droid Bionic.

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iPhone 5: October 4th

Sep 24, ’11 12:20 PM

The closer we get to the much-rumored release date of the Apple’s next generation iPhone the more rumor mill stories are all ablaze with rumors and imaginings.

is almost certain that October 4th is the agreed upon coming out  date for both the iPhone 5 and new CEO, Tim Cook. We might even begin to expect a dual model release as well. But that is unconfirmed at this point.

However, it is fairly certain that Apple competitors will do everything they can to steal Apple’s thunder or muddy the water with rumors and intentional misdirection in order to slow the leader down.

We have also just learned that isome pre-orders of the new iPhone 5 have started in select cases. Purchasers will receive an advantage coupon ahead of the great expected demand. A further clue to the nearness of the iPhone 5 is that Apple Store employees are set to go through intensive iOS 5 and iPhone 5 and iCloud training.

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From the Rumor Mill: Motorola Xoom 2

Sep 24, ’11 11:46 AM
Motorola Xoom 2

Motorola Xoom 2

Now that Google is scooping up Moto what will we zoon see in the way of a new Xoom 2, besides an inane code name?

There are of course many leaks and I am not sure which to believe. The only I know is that it will run Android.

Xoom 2 Rumors:

  • micro-USB
  • HDMI ports,
  • A SIM card slot
  • Flush buttons
  • Rear-facing camera
  • Screen resolution 2048×1536
  • Processor: NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core
  • Android, version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
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235 OS X Lion Crashes and Hard Restarts Later…

Sep 24, ’11 11:14 AM

235 OS X Lion Crashes and Restarts Later

I would not have believed Apple would have subjected me to this much pain and agony, and without warning nor recognition of the problem. In my daily web searching I can easily see that others are also having some similar issues.

Initially all I really wanted to do was to upgrade and all I needed was to keep my system up to date, those similar desires have become perhaps one of the worst possible decisions I have made in all of my 23 years of computing experience.

Each time it happens I lose approx. 12 to 15 minutes or more recovering for each crash and restart (2400 total minutes, or close to 60 hours). That does not include my productivity or momentum and the impact on my work.

It has even crashed twice whileI have been attempting to write this brief post.

I am close to giving up checking on System Updates in the hope that Apple may have sussed out the problem and found a resolution to it.

Help! Mac OS X Lion is eating me up!  This is unacceptable!!!

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Cool Handheld: Philips GoGear Connect PMP

Sep 24, ’11 10:31 AM
Philips Go Gear Connect

Philips Go Gear Connect

In all the Hubbub about new tablets and updated smartphones one manufacturer’s name I haven’t heard from in quite a long time is Phillips., that is until now.

It should be no surprise to anyone that Phillips is releasing a new handheld running Android. That’s hardly a prediction its actually an easy and logical assumption to make. But exactly what does that mean, and what are we to expect?

Phillips predicted a September release of their new Android-based GoGear Connect handheld / PMP and true to form, it is now available for pre-order priced at $170 for the 8GB model, and around $200 for the 16GB version.

GoGear Connect Specs and features:

  • 3.2-inch display
  • WiFi connectivity
  • Built-in speakers
  • MicroSD card slot
  • Android 2.3
  • Access to Android Market

No indication of an exact shipping date or specific sales channels, but we’ll be on the lookout.

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Netflix stumbles, fumbles and falters BIG TIME!

Sep 21, ’11 12:58 PM

To watch Netflix trip over their own feet in the past few weeks has been painful.

What to me was once a great (and affordable) service has become somewhat an embarrassment and a cautionary tale of how not to blow off your business.

It is hard to believe that with all we know about good business practices that there wasn’t someone in a decision making position that could have advised against this tragic comedy of errors.

The concept of separating services to create dual revenue streams must have made sense in meetings and focus groups. However, in practice it has angered many thousands of once satisfied customers. I fear that all this has created an opening for competitors such as Blockbuster and Comcast to get in Neflix’s space.

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Fits and Starts

Sep 20, ’11 12:44 PM

Fits_and_starts

If my recent horrible experiences are any indication upgrades and supposed improvements come with built-in hazards and should be thought out first.
Situation: I recently upgraded to OS X Lion only to experience over 150 freezes and system crashes I lost use of some of my favorite and most useful PPC applications only to gain a few additional features I could do without.

Resolution: I added some plug-ins to my WordPress setup and upgraded to OS X Lion and something totally clobbered the functionally of my usually stable website at the worst possible time.  Just as I was about to Officially launch it. (the problem wound up costing me several thousand dollars, lost time and momentum.)

The upshot of all this is I am extremely reluctant to make changes once I have something working adequately.

I am developing a process that amounts to due diligence before I ever again attempt to adopt or implement significant change to my mission critical system.

I must also must make a firm resolution not to casually relax my policies in moments of weakness or optimism hoping to get unproven advantages.

I should have already been doing this considering the years I have been doing this.

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Sony Walkman Reborn: NW Z1000 Media Player

Sep 20, ’11 10:54 AM

 

sony-walkman-nw-z1000

Sony Walkman NW-Z1000

In 1978 my trusty Sony Walkman allowed me to carry my favorite music with me and listen to it through high quality lightweight headphones. Now, Sony extended the brand by attaching the Walkman moniker it to their NW Z-1000, Sony’s first Android-based media player.

If you are a retro style fancier and your tastes harken to the 70′s and 80′s when a Walkman was the ultimate device of the hip and cool (exactly what the iPod and iPhone is today). You might want to look at or listen to one.

So, it is a very smart move for Sony to leverage their way back into contemporary device relevance by offering a cool new product that addresses the needs of the terminally cool. This effort starts with a recognizable brand name, and is followed by a slick device. Look for the Walkman media player to hit the marketplace in Japan first then eventually make its way stateside a bit later.

Sony’s iPod touch rival comes especially well featured and provisioned.

Sony NW-Z1000 Features:

  • Runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread),
  • 4.3-inch WVGA (480×800) touchscreen
  • NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core CPU platform
  • 512MB RAM
  • S-Master MX” sound processing
  • Digital noise-cancellation
  • Dedicated “W” button for the music player app.
  • Additional apps via Android Market
  • Digital compass
  • G-sensor
  • Built-in mono speaker
  • FM radio
  • Lithium ion battery (20+ hours of music, 5 hours video playback)

 

File support: 

  • MPEG-4
  • AVC
  • WMV (Full HD 1080p video playback at 30fps available)
  • MP3
  • ATRAC
  • ATRAC Advanced lossless
  • AAC
  • HE-AAC
  • WMA music file formats.

Connectivity:

  • WiFi 802.11b/g/n
  • GPS
  • DLNA
  • Bluetooth 2.1 (with EDR, AVRCP, A2DP, OPP profiles supported)
  • HDMI output.

Dimensions: 

  • 134.4 × 70.9 × 11.1mm (5.29 x 2.79 x 0.4in)
  • Weighs: 156 g (5.5 oz)
I do not have a release date nor pricing info but I will be on the lookout.
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Game Changers

Sep 19, ’11 1:23 PM
Ron Jones

Ron Jones

I had a good friend (now deceased) that whenever he was not allowed to enter a particular market would overtly change the game and totally disrupt the billion dollars efforts of those that presumed to impare his participation in industries he created. He was masterful at it. No one could figure out how he did it. And they hated him for it. Because I worked closely with him and he often slept on my living room floor in between all-week development jags, I got a chance to see exactly how this genius worked. Often it started with an off-the-wall “Wouldn’t it be cool… idea. Followed by, “What if…?”.  That would evolve into “what about this?”

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Comparison Shopping 2011

Sep 19, ’11 12:22 PM

The shopping habits of today’s online consumer is the subject of much conjecture and speculation. There are as many smart approaches as there are tools and sites to consume. But there is no ultimate solution, yet!

No sooner had I written what I thought was an insightful article about what seemed at the time to be a lack of good Comparison Shopping Engines and the emergence of ShopObot than everyone and his brother decided to roll out or enhance their existing CSE solution. It could also be the occasion  of 2011 Shop.org summit in Dallas that has prompted action.

For example:

  1. Shop.org
  2. Shop-o-bot: New CSE
  3. Shopping.com: Redesigned Homepage
  4. Nextag: Redesigned Homepage, brand level bidding, Mktg. Msgs.
  5. Shopzilla: New Biddable categories
  6. Bing: Search refinements

I expect our nearness to 2011′s holiday season my also play into it but it look like we may have options to choose from.

I am still going to dig through Shopobot to see if this stimulated and stirred up all this activity.

Whatever the reason for all this movement it is welcomed and online consumers will surely benefit. Especially in this time of a serious lack of retail computer stores. I will miss CompUSA, EggHead, Circuit City and countless others but if it gives birth to a new level of online shopping I make do.

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The final frontier: Comparison shopping

Sep 17, ’11 1:26 PM
Comparison Shopping

Comparison Shopping

 

As I walked the floor of TechCrunch Disrupt a reader asked me if anyone has disrupted or mastered comparison shopping. I had to admit that my own most recent buying experience was too hit and miss and that I did not know of any tool to deal with this. I promised I would get back to them after a little research.

Here are my findings:

Comparison shopping is perhaps the final frontier. With the gradual collapse of large retail computer stores It is a bit surprising that no one has addressed this quandary. Maybe the combo of Amazon and the Internet have proven to be sufficient but with the state tax movement things may be changing has … but I feel this is going to be fixed directly.

  1. Shopobot.com
  2. Nextag.com
  3. Shopzilla.com
  4. PriceGrabber.com
  5. pricingcentral.com
  6. pricewatch.com
  7. shopper.com

Yun Wan wrote a book on it but no one took up the challenge.

The big players like google and Amazon are playing it smart and expect to acquire their way in and buy up potential solutions like decide.com but they don’t want to innovate their way to the top.

To be continued…

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iPhone 5 in October?

Sep 16, ’11 3:34 PM

 

The yet to be released iPhone 5 is already off to a very good start and its not even out there yet. According to the latest unverified rumor it might hitthe market  in Oct 2011. Everyone claims they have an “iPhone killer”. If you are a smartphone competitor how do you really compete with a phone that is not even real yet? Realistically can you do it? Theoretically should you even try?

Well, if you want a place in the ever changing emerging smartphone marketplace you’d better. Just ask Microsoft. But it’s easier said than done.

The bitter lessons learned by HP are cautionary. There are far too many diverse aspects to bring into alignment to do it right. App store, developer base, OS platform, manufacturing, retail channels, marketing, influencers, media and user perceptions, broadband provider partners and thats only a start.add to this traction, pricing, and design and it seems a mountain too high, ocean too wide, belt too tight.

It is enough to have to go up against the iPhone 4 but to have to challenge vaporware is more than we can expect any company to attempt and overcome. HP couldn’t, RIM can’t, Motorola, Microsoft and HTC are trying.

The overly active rumor mill seems to be all of the marketing and promotion that Apple needs to stay in front. It would be difficult for Apple to foul this up. Whoever will drive Apple into the future simply has to deliver a worthy product to a willing marketplace, without screwing up or taking huge steps backwards.

If they craft and are able to deliver on a whole new vision we will look back at this time as transitional. If they drop the ball we will see this as dysfunctional.

The iPhone leaks are plentiful but the one that interests me is that the iPhone 5 will hit in Oct. That give Apple time to shut out all the noise of the competition going into the holidays and CES or MacWorld.

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T3: Going through Changes

Sep 16, ’11 9:08 AM

T3

T3, one of my top 3 gadget sites and far and away my favorite tech magazine is making about to implement some sweeping changes.

T3 Changes include:

  1. Buzzwall: New way to find gadgets and hot stories
  2. Bigger, better buying guides
  3. 30 easy-to-use Top 10 guides
  4. Over 20 new product videos added every month
  5. Easy to join. Use your Facebook account to sign up
  6. Section-by-section search tool to search the whole site or just find stories on favorite topics from News, Reviews and Video
  7. Get the latest news on a single product or manufacturer. 100 new hubs let you track news, reviews, video and comments
  8. Head-to-head and group tests
  9. Weekly emails of news, product launches and gadget giveaways
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TechCrunch Disrupt Wrapup

Sep 14, ’11 6:22 PM
techcrunch disrupt SF

techcrunch disrupt SF

 

TechCrunch Disrupt: Its all over now!

For three full days San Francisco was all abuzz with the fever of Startups, investors, and innovators, not mention a few parties and meetups.

Onstage companies battled for respect and attention. On the showfloor Exhibitor companies demonstrated their wares and answered tons of questions.

Investors were busy searching for the next Twitter or Facebook. There were quite a few greying-haired millionaires wandering the aisles and taking the stage of Disrupt looking to sink eary investments into promising projects and talented people. Former TechCrunch mogel Micheal Arrington brought hard-edged attitude to the podium seeming to challenge or irk them into revealing secrets and admissions regarding investment decisions. If you are an entrepreneur with brilliant ideas there is no bether place on Earth to be right now than sunny San Fran at TechDisrupt.

The information on ideas and funding floating around is thick and plentiful. The talent roaming the aisles if canned could reinvent society given the chance and capital. If it too short a notice, not in your plans and you can’t get there you can be there virtually by checking out their UStream broadcast. You can also peek in at stream by visiting the Chill Lounge.

Being a SF native I may be locally prejudiced but I firmly believe that San Francisco is the perfect location for holding “a startup wonderland”.

That’s exactly what TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2011 is. So, for 2 beautiful sunny weather days and one cloudy day in the city-by-the-bay hundreads are busy downing coffee and chatter. If you manage to bypass the Rice-a-roni, sourdough and seafood you get to step into a concourse full of venture investor types, eager innovators, self-satisfied movers and shakers, and media moguls looking for the next big thing.

Ideas and innovation was simply flowing from the heads of young would-be Steve Jobs types. On the show stage powerful presentations are judged, reviewed and by rule kept brief and to the point with Q&A.

One of the best features of this conference was the International flavor. With attendees, exhibitors, presenters and speakers from far flung places around the world this was a chance to learn what else is happening outside the USA.

On the show stage powerful presentations are judged, reviewed and by rule kept brief and to the point with Q&A.

Just to tease you here is an outline of the Agenda:

AGENDA:

  • Startup Battlefield (Complete)
  • Startup Alley (Yeah Boy!)
  • Hackathon (Done)
  • Industry Leading Speakers (were great)
  • Exhibitor Booths (ho hum)
  • Recorded UStream Broadcasts (briefly available)
  • After Parties and Affinity Meetups (over)
  • Speakers: (Kevin Rose, Ashton Kutcher, Micheal Arrington &  more)
Congratulations to the winner of the Startup Battlefield: Shaker (2011 Disrupt SF Cup Winner of $50,000 prize, Runner Up: Prism Skylabs) I was hoping BitCasa would win. I guess they will just have to win in the consumer marketplace and shame the TechCrunch Disrupt judges.
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Motorola Droid 3

Sep 14, ’11 1:37 PM

The Motorola Droid 3

A masterful follow up smartphone to the first two Droid versions. The Motorola Droid 3 began selling in October 2009.

To be straight, It is not an Apple iPhone, nor does it pretend or attempt to be. If anything it really wants to be a complete and useful enterprise device.

As for me, I am a big fan of sliding qwerty keyboards, so not having solely a touchscreen keypad does not dissuade me in the least.

Droid 3 FEATURES:

  1. Verizon 3G (4G optional)
  2. Half-inch thick
  3. Soft Black Matte finish
  4. Qwerty sliding keyboard
  5. 6.5 oz weight
  6. Android 2.3 Gingerbread
  7. 8MP Camera
  8. 4″ qHD Display
  9. Exceptional call quality
  10. Advanced Messaging options
  11. HDMI interface
  12. 1080p HD video playback
  13. Global Ready
  14. SD Card
  15. Media and entertainment applications
  16. 960 X 540 resolution
  17. 1 GHz Dual-Core
  18. Larger Battery

I am not on Verizon, but if I were this would certainly be the very smartphone for me!

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iPad as a Disruptive Force

Sep 14, ’11 12:55 PM

As I stole up and down stroll the aisles of TechCrunch Disrupt and roost in the Show stage area, I come away with a strong clear impression that the iPad has been caused dispuption in the industries of computers and informaion. Most companies have pivoted their products and services to be utilized on iPads and iPhones and talk about how they intend to commit to even more involved tablet integration to include Android.

I have heard the education sector build applications to serve and manage the classroom with personalized learning plans.

There is an overabundance of Social Networking that work most effectively on tablets.

What has been noticeably absent is the ton of desktops and laptops exhibitors had to drag around from hotel room to show floor.

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