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Monthly Archives: December 2006

Jeremy's Favorite Things of 2006

Posted on December 30, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Well, here we are at the end of 2006 and I thought I’d put together a little summary of my favorite technology of the year.  Now some of this stuff launched commercially prior to 2006, but this is the year I used it the most.  So check out the video, and if you want to read more about the products, the links are below (disclaimer: most links are to Amazon affiliate product listings).

Note: I did forget two things in the video, so I’m adding them here first:

  • Best smartphones: T-Mobile Dash and HTC MTeoR
  • brilliant imageBrilliant Image: I’ve got a whole review forthcoming, but in a nutshell, you upload a digital photo, they mail you a painting made from the photo.  It might sound odd, but it’s extremely impressive.  Check out the picture on the right for an idea of it. 

Now for the video itself (or click here to view it on YouTube):

The items in the video:

  • The laptop: Vaio SZ series (you can read my review of the SZ160 here)
  • The wireless mouse: Gyration
  • The book: hackoff.com
  • The remote: Harmony 880 (my review here)
  • The camera: Canon sd800is (honorable mention for really impressive low-light pictures: Fuji F30)
  • The backpack: Pacific Design Ruckus
  • The best in convergence: Sonos (review) & Slingbox
  • The video games: Godfather and Battle of Middle Earth II
  • The inflight power adapter: Teleadapt
  • The GPS unit: Nuvi 350
  • The fabric (shmatta): Microfiber Electronics Cleaning Cloth
  • The phone/PDA: PPC 6700
  • The headphones: Shure e4c (review) and e500PTH (review)

Looking forward to the technology of 2007.  I’m curious as to how many of these products I’ll be using one year from today…

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How to Survive CES: 10 Practical Tips

Posted on December 28, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

CES 2003The 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is less than two weeks away, and (as always), I’m pretty excited about it.  This is my 7th year attending the show, and for the first time in seven years, I don’t have massive amounts of responsibilities.  I’ve set up and worked booths, hotel suites, and meeting rooms.  I’ve done 19-hour days, starting at 2:30am.  If there is but a single word to use to describe CES it is this: exhausting.

It’s exhausting not just for those involved in making the show happen, but for those attending it as well. Hopefully, this little list will make it just a little easier for anyone going this year.

  1. Wear comfortable shoes.  There are over 2 million square feet of exhibit space, and that doesn’t count the halls or walkways.  Your legs will get tired in a single day.  The effort of walking around people alone is tiresome.  Forget the Blahniks and get something from Nike or Adidas.  Freebie bonus tip: while walking the show floor, try to walk on the booths as they tend to have better padding than the walkways between booths.
  2. Make a daily plan. Go to the CES web site and pick out the attendees you want to see (same for the panels and sessions).  Take a look at their locations, and plan your days based on location.  You do not want to go back and forth between any two halls on the same day.  It’s okay if your plans get disrupted or adjusted, but you should generally know where you want to be on a given day.
  3. Eat and drink. Don’t forget that 6-8 hours of walking and talking uses energy, so be prepared to replenish.  Bring a water bottle and refill it from the fountains as you need.  The cafeterias are, well, cafeterias, so I recommend looking for (or bringing) prepackaged food.  As another bonus tip: make restaurant reservations as soon as possible if you haven’t already!
  4. Wash your hands.  The second week of January is often “CES Flu Week.”  I heard (rumor, not fact) a few years ago that a huge PC company lost a few hundred workers due to colf/flu symptoms after the show.  People come from around the world, bringing their various microbes, and you will shake their hands.  Wash your hands before you eat and when you get to the hotel at the end of the day. 
  5. Share cabs. When you get to your hotel taxi line in the morning, and it’s huge, here’s a simple trick to save yourself 30 minutes per day (or more).  Walk to the front, ask if anyone’s going to the convention center, if they say yes, offer to pay for their cab.  You aren’t actually “cutting” in line, because the person who was 2nd in line remains 2nd in line and you have no impact on their wait.  Easy one, eh?  By the way, you should be sure to tip a little extra when you do this, since you’ve taken away a full fare.
  6. Pack lightly. My recommendation is to walk the floor with either nothing or a near-empty backpack.  Forget shoulder straps, you’ll be aching by the end of the day.  Bring nothing you do not need during the day.  Also, try to dump your bag prior to dinner, so you can spend the night on the town without having to remember anything later. What happens in Vegas…
  7. Discriminate on swag. Do you really want a Panasonic pen, or a Sony plastic bag, or a brochure from TiVo?  Really?  My wife has actually forbidden me from bringing home anything we won’t actually use, unless it’s a gift.  This coincides nicely with the ‘pack lightly’ thing above…
  8. Visit the Sands.  There are lots of cool companies there, and it’s quieter than the main halls.  Also, you’ll get more personalized attention due to the smaller crowd.  There are other… incentives as well.
  9. Know the resources.  Open wireless at the show?  Doubtful.  EVDO connection? Unlikely.  Outlets to charge you phone?  Forget it.  Charge at night, bring an extra battery if you need it, and just don’t bother trying to get online from the convention floor.  Sure, it might happen, but don’t waste any time either. 
  10. CES security in actionDon’t forget your badge.  If memory serves, last year it was $75 to get a replacement.  Nuff said.  And security actually can be fairly tight there, so really, don’t forget it!

That’s it, that’s my tips for making the most out of CES.  I hope it helps you make it through the show!

ps – a #11 for bloggers only. Don’t forget to check out PodTech’s Bloghaus at the Bellagio Hotel, but also don’t forget you’re in Vegas and there’s tons of stuff to see and do offline as well!!!

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Posted in General, Guides | 16 Comments |

Hong Kong: the tech

Posted on December 27, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

IMG_1832 cell phone elevatorHong Kong is a city where technology and gadgets make a part of everyday life.  People cycle through mobile phones multiple times per year, and there are over 100% phones in use per person!  In fact, the elevator in my hotel proudly boasted cell phone service, per the photo on the right.

Stores in Hong Kong abound with cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, and that doesn’t even start to include the “little” pieces of technology.  I went to stores with practically nothing but webcams and mice.  Others had keyboards and LCD screens. It’s like going to the butcher, grocer, and dairy shop separately, except with more electronics.  I must admit, it was fun seeing literally dozens of different shops carrying the Slingbox!

IMG_2021 slingbox in hk storeIMG_2078 tablets and framesIMG_2079 music flowerpotIMG_2036 nokia store

IMG_2071 fonOne technology that’s done a lot better in HK than in North America is from a company called Fon.  If you haven’t heard of them, go check them out – think of it as a worldwide, peer to peer wifi Internet service.  You buy a Fon router, install it at home, and sign up to the service.  Then you basically share your Internet connection with all other Fon subscribers, and you get access to their Internet connection when you need one.  Nice idea, I hope they find some success here soon.

Continue reading →

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Hong Kong: the city

Posted on December 26, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Hong Kong skyline

In this second (of only three (thank goodness (didn’t anyone ever mention how nested parentheses were bad (no) (well they should have!) ) ) ) post about my recent stay in HK, I’m here to talk about the town itself.  Now, seeing as how I didn’t really get to explore all that much, it’ll be blissfully shorter than my typical post (ahhhh (stop it) ).  What makes this one interesting (in my over-parenthesesed (was that even a word?) opinion) is how the city preps for Xmas.

In a word: Griswold. 

IMG_1838 jt xmas buildingsWhat does that mean?  Well, while the third installment of the National Lampoon Vacation series wasn’t great, the scenes with Chevy Chase lighting up his house for the season were classic.  It seems as if the city planners for Hong Kong were somewhat, shall we say inspired by the film.  Literally dozens of office buildings were lit from floor to roof with patterns, sayings, and lots and lots of colorful lights.  Take a gander through the pictures below to get a better perspective of what I’m talking about – it’s really quite impressive!

IMG_1836 jtIMG_1837 xmas buildingsIMG_1840 skyline nightIMG_1842 skyline dayIMG_1843 xmas buildings dayIMG_1849 jt skylineIMG_1852 skylineIMG_1983 jt xmas buildingsIMG_1984 jt xmas buildingsIMG_1985 jt xmas buildingsIMG_1994 xmas buildingsIMG_1998 xmas buildingsXmas Decoration

IMG_2080 jtI did get some time to walk, train, streetcar, taxi, and ferry around Hong Kong.  The city has an interesting mix of architecture styles.  On any given block you might find a decrepit, run-down apartment building right up next to a shiny new, glass-encased office complex.  And then there are the occasional “mashups” where an older building recently got a bit of a face-lift, with the first few stories showing off a new facade, built around the older interior. 

One particularly interesting stop was the toys outlet (cleverly hidden on the 16th floor of an office building).  In the small store lays years of treasures, including very old-school, original Star Wars action figures, Transformers, GI Joes, and more.  This place was an excellent stop on the tour, and I must recommend it for any fans or collectors

IMG_2007 cobblestone streetIMG_2008 under the xmas treeIMG_2009 coconutsIMG_2010 jt at club san franciscoIMG_2033 jt in times squareIMG_2034 jt in times squareIMG_2039 jt cabbage bicycleIMG_2062 toys outletIMG_2063 sunny dayIMG_2064 jt sunny dayIMG_2081 crowdsIMG_2082 streetcarsIMG_2084 jt streetcarIMG_2090 jt waiting for shuttleIMG_2092 flagsCanadian Bar in Hong KongIMG_1834 road signIMG_1835 energy plazaIMG_1833 hotel lobby

IMG_2018 jt at ladies marketI had a chance to go pick up some genuine watches for a couple of folks back home when I visited the famous ‘Ladies Market’ in Mong Kok.  We showed up at around 11am, but interestingly this was apparently too early for the region.  The market didn’t really get going for a couple of hours.  We killed the time by avoiding the stinky tofu stalls in the vicinity, then stopped by the row of gun stores prior to moving on.

IMG_2012 setting up ladies marketIMG_2013 setting up ladies marketIMG_2015 cat on a leashIMG_2016 jt gun shopIMG_2017 questionable street foodIMG_2022 kids and their gunIMG_2023 jt at gun shop

The DVD StoreAs I mentioned yesterday, I did get to spend the better part of a day in China.  As per my last trip, the roads were both in poor condition and congested with an utterly ridiculous driving situation.  Horns are used to inform your opponents of imminent impact, lanes are a suggestion at best, and you are welcome to use any gear, especially reverse, whilst on a freeway.  I’ll talk about the factory visits in an upcoming post, but we did get a chance to stop in at a DVD “store” on our return. 

While I didn’t pick up the Golden Girls DVD collection (per the picture), I did grab a copy of the entire Arrested Development series.  Don’t fret – I’m going to buy the set myself as I am such a fan of the show (are you?), but I just wanted to have the copy with the Chinese writing.  Plus, it was about $9 for the 15-disk collection. I checked out a couple of the disks – the quality is fine and all the episodes are present, but they aren’t all DVD-copies (there it is)!  A few disks were simply shows downloaded from the Internet and burned to DVD.  How do I know?  Well, the Fox logo and commercials from a local NYC station were a bit of a clue… Duh!

IMG_1865 chinaIMG_1866 jt chinaIMG_1868 chinaIMG_1869 cemetaryIMG_1894 jt with cool van upholsteryIMG_1911 chinese WindowsIMG_1950 jt in train station

IMG_2098 jt hk airportGetting to the airport is extremely convenient in HK.  Make your way to the airport express station in Kowloon (my hotel had a free shuttle service), then hop a 30 minute train to the airport.  The best part is you check-in at airport express, and don’t have to lug your bags around.  Nice!  Free wifi in the terminals too.  Double-nice!

IMG_1956 airport expressIMG_2094 airport expressIMG_2095 airport expressIMG_2097 hk airportIMG_2099 free wifi

Safety Tips for your Washing MachineAs a final tidbit, I thought I’d share some of the funnier signs I saw around town.  Most of these come from the subway, and you really need to zoom in to the full-size view to see the humor.  Without a doubt, Safety Tips for Washing Machines (on the right) was my favorite.  Why?  Because it was located in such a useful place.  You know, somewhere very convenient to get tips on using a washing machine.  Like a subway station.  Check out the others below for more fun.

No Hawking!Don't Keep Corrupt Acts Under WrapSuper English Force and Math E Magic PowerHow to Wash Your Hands

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Hong Kong: the food

Posted on December 25, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

IMG_1896 food - shrimp

Outback Steakhouse in Hong KongA week in Hong Kong (including a day in China) was enough time to get quite a good sampling of dishes, although the trip’s first meal was quite a surprise.  I was taken for Mexican food.  As I said at the time, it had been hours since my last Mexican meal… in San Francisco.  The next day at lunch I think it got mildly better, as they took us to the nearby Outback Steakhouse.  Things got a little more interesting after that was out of the way…

In general, had some excellent foods on the trip, typically featuring dim sum and other Chinese foods.  I might be unaware, but I don’t think HK is particularly known for a specific food, although the overall quality was very good.  I’m sure more time and more exploration would’ve led to some very interesting finds, but I did have some standout meals.

On my day-trip into China (yes, clever one, that means I left Hong Kong and this doesn’t technically fit in, but it’s my trip report, so I can handle it as I’d like) I was taken out for a great lunch.  First, we were welcome to walk to the back of the restaurant to see the various fish they had available.  Only thing is, we were picking out live fish to eat for the meal.  I had done this once before in China, but had a bit of trouble getting video footage.  This time, it’s on YouTube!

The food was, if I may use the term, crazy delicious.  We had options for two soups (I had both) – hot and sour (great) as well as a Chinese chicken soup (tasted like chicken broth mixed with dishwater).  The main courses included steamed clams (good, but nothing special), a wonderful tofu dish (pictured on the right), pea shoot leaves (always good), a beef and noodles dish that I had never tasted before (also great), sauteed beef, eggplant, and more.  Also included was a fried tube squid thing that they call Chinese french fries because they are so awesomely addictive (and don’t even need ketchup). The only dish I really didn’t enjoy was the mix of chicken and questionable items, which were apparently made to use the soup.

The other extra-special meal to recall was a buffet lunch at a place called “Kool” in the Kowloon Shangri-La. Best buffet. Ever. Chinese. Sushi. Indian. Grills (yes, plural). Salad. Dessert.  Everything, all in one place.  And, to capture it?  Another video on YouTube!

Overall, dining in Hong Kong was quite enjoyable.  I didn’t try anything out on the streets or in the markets (stinky tofu smells signficantly worse than it sounds).  I had a decent, although not unbelievable Xiao Lim Bao at a Shanghai-style dim sum place.  In the ex-pat region we went for Russian a few doors down from the aforementioned Mexican meal.  No borscht, but I think the live musicians were playing the Tetris theme the whole time.  I also had a very enjoyable Thai lunch, although they didn’t seem to have my favorite dish (Pad See Ew) but they almost made up for it with a steamed eggplant with peanut sauce, something I’ve never had quite the same before.

IMG_2014 market meat stallIMG_2017 questionable street food

More trip report coming shortly, and more photos from Hong Kong here.

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Chilling in Tahoe

Posted on December 23, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

I’m heading on up to Lake Tahoe for the next few days with the wife and some friends.  While I’ll probably craft a few posts, they (almost definitely) won’t make it online while I’m gone.  We’re well-supplied, and I’ve got my Garmin Nuvi 350 just in case we need to find our way around.  We’ll be back on Wednesday.

Date Programming RoomAnd while I’m gone, please enjoy my favorite picture from my Hong Kong trip (yes, I know I owe a little traveler’s tales, but I’m busy!).  This was taken in a factory in China.  It should be obvious what they actually do in the room, but I like to think it’s where they write all the code for eHarmony or Match.com. 

Any other suggestions as to what occurs in there?

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Posted in No/Low-tech | 1 Comment |

Congratz to Zatz

Posted on December 22, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Dave Zatz and his groupiesI posted a few weeks ago about the Netgear CES blogger contest, and wanted to congratulate Dave Zatz for being selected as their winner.  Dave’s a good guy and a great blogger, especially in the digital entertainment arena.

I think it’s a creative move by a company that is in a challenging place regarding communications, disclosure, and community in general.  The networking industry in general is a rough, commodity-oriented business, and opening the company up to the power of the voice of the consumer is probably a daunting measure. Hopefully it’ll have the outcomes Netgear is looking for.

Anyhow, I’m getting ready for CES myself – way too many invites, way too little time.  Robert Scoble has a fun post on his ideal floor-walking-mates for the show (I put Bill Gates up on my personal list).  I’ll get some thoughts up on the show in the week leading up to it.  I just can’t wait to not having to get up at 3am (or earlier) or setting up a booth or a suite this year.  Now there’s nothing about CES that’s relaxing, but this is most certainly a refreshing year for me.

Finally, Dave played the “blogger tag game” that seems to be going around, in which I am to name 5 things you don’t know about me, then ‘tag’ 5 other bloggers…

  1. I went to high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I actually transferred schools as a senior.  Yup, I was miserable and unpopular.
  2. I was a winner of the Atari “Gauntlet II Secret Room” game, and won a t-shirt for my mad skills.
  3. I’ve been a member of a “balloon pulling team” at the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day parade.  We had Ronald McDonald, and made it the whole way with no shrinkage.
  4. I saw Poltergeist as a young kid and was so terrified I had nightmares and barely slept for weeks afterwards.  Still hate long hallways and occasionally do a double-take when eating leftover rice. 
  5. My favorite game of all time is Boggle, and will play anytime, anywhere.

I hereby tag: Sean Alexander, Michael Gartenberg, David Cohn, Jason Dunn, and Shawn Morton.

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Non-Obvious Last Minute 2006 Holiday Gift Guide (by Avi Greengart)

Posted on December 22, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Avi GreengartAs I write this, there is only one day left to Chanukah and a couple of shopping days before Christmas. I figure there’s no need for a last minute gift list with obvious entries. Let’s face it, if you didn’t already get an HDTV or MP3 player for your home theater and gadget-loving giftees, you don’t need me to tell you that you could get them a plasma or an iPod. So here is the:

Non-Obvious Last Minute 2006 Holiday Gadget Gift Guide

Better headphones – Like a good monitor for your PC, a good set of headphones is an investment that may cost more than the MP3 player you use it with, but should last several through several upgrades (after all, it seems like Apple launches a new iPod every six months). My personal preference are in-ear models which make it sound like your music is emanating from somewhere in the middle of your head. (You get used to it.) They’re smaller and more portable than on-ear headphones, and I find that they block noise better than most noise canceling headphones without adding any distortion. Use them on airplanes and it will dramatically cut down on engine noise – you also won’t hear the pilot or the flight attendants at all, so use them wisely.

  • Shure E500 ear piecesFor $500, perhaps you should expect miracles. The best headphones I have ever heard are Shure’s e500’s ($499 on Amazon); I still have the pre-production units I was supposed to have returned ages ago. It’s one thing to do the “hey, I never heard that detail in my music before” trick when listening to uncompressed music, but the e500’s manage to smooth out harshness while still retaining fine detail on MP3 files. The e500’s have an uncanny ability to make even compressed music sound good.
  • For amazing sound quality with uncompressed music at less stratospheric prices, Shure’s e4c ($299) and Etymotic’s ER*4 ($299) fit the bill. But if, like most people, you are buying headphones to use with an iPod, Sansa, Zune, etc., then you’re probably listening to MP3, WMA, or AAC files where some of the detail is already gone. Buying the e4c or ER*4 is spending money for better sound quality than you need. The Shure e3c ($179) or Etymotic ER6i ($149) are significant upgrades from whatever came with your player. I have been living with the e3c for several years, and I find them supremely comfortable; if I was investing in headphones, these would be my choice. However, the ER6i also sound great and are a much better value – they can currently be found for just $82 at amazon.com.
  • I have tested a half dozen wireless (“Bluetooth A2DP“) headphones, and the winner for comfort and design is Logitech’s new FreePulse ($99). But the first truly high fidelity Bluetooth headphones are from Etymotic: the et8 ($299). Like the company’s other headphones, these go in your ear. Unlike those, these make you look like a dork. Personally, I’m willing to sacrifice looks for fidelity and wire-free convenience, but I’m a geek who analyzes technology for a living; you’ll need to judge your gift giving situation yourself.

Accessories for your accessories – Who knew that even normal people would have so many gadgets that accessories for them would be a realistic gift suggestion?

  • Brother PT-70 holiday editionWith so many cables and chargers lying around – and a must for home theater cabling – a label maker can help you make sense of everything. Brother’s PT-70 ($20) even comes pre-wrapped at office superstores, but the label tape that it comes with is wickedly difficult to remove from its backing (more expensive label tape is split down the back to make it easier to work with). Dymo’s LabelPoint 200 has been an efficient staple in my home theater, it appears to have been replaced by the LabelPoint 250 ($65). But it lacks a flag feature, which is ideal for quickly creating labels to put on cables. Brother’s P-touch PT-1400 is costs about the same after rebate (it lists for $169 but sells for $95 on amazon.com and carries a $30 rebate) and requires an extra cutting step with each label, but includes flags.
  • To keep your power and data cables neat, there are lots of options. But what can you do about smaller cables – like headphones? This is where the cableyoyo people come in. Their mission statement is “finding simple solutions to nagging problems.” The original Cable YoYo ($5) is a simple piece of plastic much like a miniature electrical cord spool, while the similar, smaller Cable YoYo POP ($10) is intended to mount on the back of your MP3 player. They’re cheap, they look good, and they work well.
  • Your digital camera needs an accessory, too. Digital picture frames have been around forever, but until recently they were too small, too expensive, or simply offered lousy image quality. Not all of this has changed – Parrot’s Bluetooth Photo Viewer ($149) is tiny (though it will give Bluetooth cameraphone owners the chance to send their pictures wirelessly, which is a demo that is really, really cool to watch). Ceiva has carved out a niche for people who want to put a digital photo frame in Grandma’s house; photos uploaded to ceiva’s website download to the frame automatically ($149 for the frame, $100/year for the service). For an ordinary digital picture frame – no Bluetooth, no subscription service required – try Westinghouse Digital’s DPF-0801 ($179). The Westinghouse is the first reasonably priced, reasonably sized frame I have tested that has a screen that can be viewed off-axis – critical when placed on a shelf, desk, or mantle.
  • Flexity’s PowerSquid line ($13 – $80) is an elegant solution to the annoying problem of connecting multiple wall warts (those big brick things at the end of the power cords on all your gadgets) that you just can’t fit onto a standard surge protector. It looks unique (it must be the “cephalopod” design) and solves a problem nearly everyone has nowadays. I have three.

Logitech MX Revolution mouse – Now, you may ask, why would anyone spend $100 on a mouse? Some of Logitech’s products are just intended to add style to your desk – the company’s diNovo keyboard ($199) is slick and gets lots of compliments, but I don’t type faster on it. But the Revolution mouse genuinely increases productivity. The wheel switches between smooth scrolling modes (for reading long web pages) and line-by-line click modes (for spreadsheets) automatically, based on what application you are in. Want to zip to the end of a long document? Flick the wheel – it’s weighted like a flywheel. Want to jump back and forth between documents? Flick the side wheel under your thumb (yep, there’s another wheel). There are other features, too: laser tracking, a battery meter, a quick-search button, and customizable everything. As long as your recipient is not left handed, this is the ultimate mouse.
 
Sonos Distributed Music System – if you want to easily bring music to multiple rooms around your house, this is the system for you. Compared to buying a bunch of Squeezeboxes ($199 each, a review is in the works) the Sonos system is quite pricey ($999 for the most basic 2 zone system). However, nothing else on the market combines ease of installation, ease of use, and multiple zone music distribution like a Sonos system. That’s not entirely true; if you hire a custom installer and spend tens of thousands of dollars, you can get the same thing as the Sonos. My review can be found here. Sonos recently added a major software upgrade which gives users the ability to tap directly into Real’s Rhapsody subscription service – no PC required (though broadband is a prerequisite). This opens up the whole category to people without extensive digital music collections. (Note: Rhapsody is also tightly integrated with a specific MP3 player, SanDisk’s Sansa e280 Rhapsody edition ($249 at Best Buy), but a PC is required to make that work).

A Netflix subscription – Netflix lets you build lists of movies you want to see online, then they send you movies. Whenever you’re done watching it – the next day, two years later – you drop the movie in your mailbox and within a week the next one on your list shows up. I have been a Netflix customer for so long that I’m grandfathered into their old rate plan, but if you consider Netflix an alternative to a premium cable channel, the $17.99 plan for three movies out at a time is perfectly reasonable. Netflix allows you to give gift subscriptions from one to twelve months in length.
 
Logitech Harmony remote – If you’re looking for a single remote control to manage nearly any combination of home entertainment gear and without spending a fortune or hours programming it, a Harmony is perfect. Logitech bought the makers of Harmony a few years ago, and they have dramatically improved the look and price of the product line since then without changing anything else (Harmony remotes range from $129 to $499, and even the $129 model has all the basic functionality most anyone needs). The idea is simple: rather than controlling each device separately, you are offered choices of what you want to accomplish (“watch TV,” “watch DVD,” etc.). If something goes wrong, there’s a Help button that is genuinely helpful. Before Harmony can work this magic, you program the remote by connecting it to your PC and going to Harmony’s web site. There you fill out forms asking what devices you have connected, and how you use your system. That process still isn’t as simple as it absolutely could be, but it’s much better than any other consumer remote control on the market, and when you’re done, anyone in the household will be able to use even the most sophisticated setup.
 
CardScan – OK, this is not the gift to get your significant other unless he or she is an anal retentive business traveler, but as practical gifts go, the CardScan can’t be beat for turning a huge pile of business cards into useful information. The CardScan Personal ($159) scans cards in black and white and is almost small enough to travel with, while the CardScan Executive ($259) scans slightly faster and in color. Both come with remarkable software that lets you easily remove or combine elements from duplicate contact records.
 
Finally, here’s an idea I guarantee you won’t see anywhere else: the perfect gift for the mother of a small child is… Nokia’s N93 smartphone. Yes, it’s outrageously expensive ($699 at NokiaUSA.com, plus service from T-Mobile, the only U.S. carrier it will work well on, plus another $50 for a 2 GB miniSD card). Yes, it’s enormous, and quite heavy. And most women I have surveyed have no interest in the fact that it is also a smartphone with a nifty HTML web browser, that it has built-in WiFi, and that it will work on fast data networks should you take it with you on a trip to Europe. But the N93 has a 3MP camera with 3x optical zoom, a Carl Zeiss lens, and, most important, it records video with better-than-analog-TV resolution (640×480, 30 frames per second). For the new mother, Nokia’s N93 means that a camcorder is always around to capture anything cute their child ever does. These short video clips can be emailed to the grandparents and will actually be watched, unlike most camcorder footage. The N93’s relatively large size is an asset, since it will be easier to find in the diaper bag or deep purse that Mom is carrying. Now, Nokia is not marketing the N93 to mothers with small children – Nokia calls it a “multimedia computer,” aiming it at technology geeks who want the best digital imaging quality regardless of size and cost. But for the woman with a toddler and a diaper bag, the N93 guarantees she’ll get baby’s first steps on video, wherever those first steps may be taken.

Avi Greengart is the Principal Analyst, Mobile Devices for Current Analysis where he issues analysis and insight on mobile phones and everything that converges/competes with them: digital cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, GPS systems, Internet tablets, gaming devices, tiny notebooks, and anything else with a battery. Avi is also the editor of Home Theater View (http://www.hometheaterview.com/) a site covering digital entertainment published at extremely irregular intervals.

Please note: with the exception of Netflix, Avi did not pay for any of the products recommended here (all were sent by the vendors; most will be or have already been returned) nor was any money paid for inclusion in the list. Avi recorded his daughter’s first steps on a Nokia N93.

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Posted in Guides | 3 Comments |

Spending a week in Hong Kong

Posted on December 11, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

JT at Victoria PeakI’m here through next Sunday and I’m assuming I’ll be fairly busy the whole trip, so the LD is probably going to be a little quiet.  Unless I get a dose of the Lost in Translation no-sleep blues, but I’ve got my trusty Ambien CR, so I think I’ll be A-OK!

I did take a bunch of pictures of a couple of new gadgets, laptop bags, and a digital painting (yes, that’s correct), so I’ll try to get some of that content up while I’m here.

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Posted in Travel | 4 Comments |

Kirk Douglas says The World is a Mess

Posted on December 9, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

On his 90th birthday the esteemed actor sent out an editorial cautioning the world that we’re in a sorry state. Great article, very inspiring! Best quote: “Now, we leave it to you. You have to fix it because the situation is intolerable.”

read more

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Geek Dinner IV: A New Hope

Posted on December 7, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Geek Dinner 4SIXTEEN people showed up last night at La Barca.  Wowza!  This was definitely the biggest geek dinner so far.  Not to imply that the geeks last night were bigger geeks than at previous nights.  Oh, and I don’t mean bigger like fatter, everyone looked okay.  And even if they didn’t, that’s really more of a modern society issue than anything else, you know.  When you really dive deeper, it’s all Paris Hilton’s fault.  I’m off-topic again, aren’t I?

The following people were in attendance:

  • “Sling Media’s future technology scout and general visionary” Dave Mathews
  • “Yahoo!’s queen of the mobile world” (unofficial title) Melanie Westlake
  • “Consumer technology PR expert” aka “The unemployed guy with the hat” Mehrshad Mansouri
  • “Founder of ZapTix and 8 other ventures (at the same time)” Christian Perry
  • IMG_1788 christian perry mehrshad mansouri“Guy I didn’t get to talk too very much but seems really nice so you should probably ask Dave Mathews more about him but I think he knows something about e-commerce infrastructure” Jason Vagner (no blog, no site, no nothin)
  • “Tech consultant, digital photo enthusiast, and excellent beta tester” Mark Rahmani
  • “VP of Products for Ingenio and pioneer/expert in the VoIP space” Ron Hirson (link is to a presentation of his which is a great read)
  • “The Digital Media Banking Biker” (unofficial title) Jeff Hagan (not the racecar driver, so don’t even bother with the googling)
  • “Streaming Video expert and now VC/EIR at Venrock” Seth Kenvin
  • “Internet Marketing and Social Media guru” Daniel Riveong
  • “Still don’t know what he does” Nicholas Menaker (just kidding, but it’s too good to drop it)
  • “He may not have invented the Internet, but he sure keeps it running” Doug Hagan
  • “Mac Guru/Podcaster and viral marketing consultant” Sam Levin
  • “The guy who knows how to grow your company from zilch to wow” David Gottesman
  • “Supersmart product management and marketing guy” Noah Kagan

We started the evening with a somber moment, and raised our glasses in memory of James Kim (click here to make a donation to the Kim family).  We decided our gadget geeking out would be in his honor and wish nothing but peace to his family.

IMG_1790 david gottesman doug hagan sam levinThe “around-the-horn” topic was “how many LCD screens do you own?”  Answers ranged from 0 (by Doug who claimed that everything he had was either company property or his wife’s) to 26 (Nicholas who included a half dozen mobile phones, two harmonies, many laptops, etc – Sam was the runner-up with 25, 10 of which were iPods).  This averaged to 10.2 LCDs per person, and the devices included: LCD TVs, laptops, LCD monitors, cell phones, digital cameras, digital video cameras, Harmony remotes, Sonos controllers, GPS units, and some toy from the 70s (unconfirmed). 

JT wearing myvuSam Levin brought an in-glasses display (aka “personal media viewer”) from MyVU for us to check out with his iPod.  Quite a few players have tried the “replicate a 52-inch screen in your glasses” before.  Most induce nausea (including the one from Eyetop I tried a couple of years ago).  These seem a lot better, but after about 4-5 minutes I started to experience a little bit of disorientation.  Definitely not a “find me a bucket” sensation, but still slightly off-normal.  Looking forward to Sam’s full review on the unit.  We collectively agreed with the opinion that the unit must allow users to use their own headphones.  Don’t care how that works, but it’s a requirement.

Lastly, we took up the challenge of “can a roomful of smart people come up with a new viable business idea over dinner?”  Now the beers and margarita’s were flowing, but so was the brainstorming.  I don’t think we came to any absolute winners, but there were absolutely some good ideas that might be able to expand into real businesses.  We broke into three groups, and here are the results (in group voting order):

  1. IMG_1794 daniel riveong dave mathews mehrshad mansouri jason vagner christian perry“The Long Tail of Ticketmaster” – create a site that allows any small venue to allow for online ticket sales (project codename Bonut). 
  2. “Nannywhere.com” – introduce a NetNanny/Safe Surfing technology that allows sites to be unlocked via email, SMS, IM, phone, or anything else.  Unfortunately it was brought to our attention that the existing services do most of this already, minus the SMS/IM part.  Oh well.
  3. “The DMV of the Internet” aka “Dagle.com” (pronounced DAY-gle) – a service that allows for absolute identities online. It’s called Dagle.  Dagle sorta sounds like Google, right?  Look at the bunny!

IMG_1792 jt with the moneyAfter this, we couldn’t really talk about anything without someone saying Dagle a lot.  Too silly.  Hope everyone had a great time, I sure did (except for when I did the math wrong at the end of the night and forked over too much for the bill – oops).  A few of us headed next door to Mas Sake for a final beverage of the evening (pictured above), but, this being San Francisco and not New York, the chairs were up on the tables and bar by 11pm, and that, my friends, was that.  More photos are online here.

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GNoTE event recap, or "The Evangelist in Me"

Posted on December 6, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

IMG_1773 gnote guy kawasakiYesterday I spoke on a panel at the GNoTE conference, and I have to say, I had a great time.  For the past few years, one aspect of my role has included evangelism (or as Guy Kawasaki referred to it, “secular evangelism”).  While evangelism became more widely known through Guy’s actions, the reality is there are still only a handful of people who formally have this role.  Which makes it quite rare to spend half a day in a room full of them, including Guy himself.

Guy opened the event with a great keynote, “The Art of Evangelism,” which I’ll not-so-briefly summarize.  He gave a bit of his background, then went straight on to talk about other events he’s attended.  He mentioned why he liked the “Top 10” format so much, because (a) most speakers suck, and (b) you never know how long they’re going to go on for.  With Guy’s Top 10, you know where you stand, even if he sucks.  Which he probably doesn’t do very often. BTW: he used the term suck, this is purely an homage.  He then proceeded to give this session’s Top 10:

  1. Make Meaning – it’s very hard to evangelize crap
  2. Make a Mantra – your typical team of stellar MBAs will lock up the whole management team in a room for a 2-day offsite hosted by Moonbeam who has you practice falling and trusting each other and at the end of the day you have a bunch of meaningless mumbo-jumbo.  A mantra is quick, easy, and to the point.
  3. Roll the DICEE – I don’t actually remember what all the letters stood for, but it came down to making good products and having emotional reactions to them
  4. Niche Thyself – forget trying to appeal to everybody on Earth, build great products for specific markets and own those markets
  5. Let 1000 Flowers Blossom – Mao was wrong in general, but right in the aspects of listening to the people.  Focus on your customers, not your not-customers.
  6. Make it Personal – what does your product/service/good/etc mean to people at individual levels?
  7. Find True Influencers – the CxO’s of an organization are not necessarily the key decision-makers on a given purchase or agreement.
  8. Enable Test Drives – if its good, “try before you buy” should work!
  9. Look for Agnostics, not Athiests – this was one of my favorites, rather than try to convert the unconvertable, focus on those who are potential converts.  For example, Apple found it easier to sell Macs to Apple II owners or even non-PC owners than it was to convert those who liked MS-DOS.
  10. Provide a Slippery Slope – in other words, get your darn foot in the door with your targets, rather than trying to get invited over for dinner!
  11. (yes, there were 11) Don’t let the Bozos get you down – there’s always a naysayer, can’t live your life by them

I had to step out during the next speaker, but then my panel followed.  Our moderator Jean did a great job keeping the discussion moving forward.  Our topics ranged from “How do you really spend your time?” (email, travel, phone calls, blogging, IMs, travel, speaking, training others, travel, email) to “What is the single hardest thing you had to do as an evangelist?” (dealing with two particularly hostile topics regarding the Slingbox this past year) to “How do you measure the value and effect of evangelism?” (sales numbers specifically reflected the success of non-traditional marketing programs).  Great panel overall, although I particularly enjoyed listening to Jeff Barr from Amazon.

IMG_1763 gnote crowdThe event also provided for some great networking time.  I got to chat with Rafe Needleman (who showed his class by giving an update on James Kim during his time), Anil Dash, and Jeremy Zawodny (hehe).  I’d have liked to stay for their entire panel, but had to run a little early unfortunately (sorry guys).

More coverage from: Mario Sundar, Ed Kohler (check out the video interviews on his site!), and the GNoTE blog.

Drive down to Santa Clara? 90 minutes each way
Venti coffee to make the drive palatable? $3.50 (depending on your area)
Event cost? $40
Opportunity to find a roomful of your peers when you work in a tiny tiny field?  Priceless.

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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