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Category Archives: General

Introducing Legacy Locker

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It’s with tremendous pride and excitement that I use my first blog post in over a month to announce the launch of Legacy Locker. I’m one of the founders of the site, and I wanted to share a little backstory to where it came from and how it got here.

Two different personal events occured to me in the summer of 2007 that led to the conception of Legacy Locker.  My grandmother unfortunately passed away, but at the age of 94 it’d be hard to say she didn’t live a full life.  She and I used to exchange emails, a pastime of hers she also enjoyed with other friends and family around the world.  My father and I tried to figure out a way to get into her Hotmail account, but had no luck and basically the account is, for all intents and purposes, unavailable.

On a more uplifting side, my wife and I had a son earlier that year, and in the summer sat down with an estate planner to establish a will (did you know in the state of California that if you don’t have a will/estate/trust, probate attorneys will claim 4% of your assets, including your life insurance money?  scam).  Anyhow, after literally hours of discussing my family tree and my various assets (car, 401k, signed Jean Beliveau picture, etc), I had a huge binder: our “estate” (I always pictured something with a mansion).

Last summer on a flight (yup, I remember that well), I had one of those “moments” in life, where I realized that while my physical assets were protected in my estate plan, I had nothing in place to deal with all of my online goods and assets.  My computer’s password, my email accounts (all 5 of them), my Amazon store credit, my wordpress login, etc.  If anything happened to me, virtually all of these assets would become literally inaccessible to my wife (or others), despite the fact that I had a will.  While they were legally protected, in all practical terms they’d become effectively worthless (including the 70+ domains I own through GoDaddy).  Legacy Locker was born.

JT and AdamWhen I returned home, I talked with my wife about the concept, and she completely recognized the need as well.  I went to my business partner Adam, he too thought it made sense.  I talked to a few other friends and close colleagues, and not a one said “nah, dumb idea, what are you thinking?”  So Adam and I raised some money, and hired a team to get things done.

The site is pretty simple to actually use and understand.  Users register, fill out a profile, and assign verifiers (people they trust to confirm their passing).  Next, they create assets and beneficiaries.  An asset is the online account information to a website, basically a username, password, and some notes.  The beneficiary is the person they’d want to receive the asset.  The last feature is called “Legacy Letters”, which are emails that get sent to family, friends, or colleagues with a “goodbye” note (in the future we’ll incorporate video as well).  For more on how it works, click here.

So this morning the site goes live.  The actual working service won’t come online for a few more weeks, as the final touches get put in place.  We’re looking forward to getting everything up and running, collecting feedback, and building a great service.  Our primary goal is to bring Legacy Locker to the attention of willmakers, attorneys, and estate planners who help service the 12.6 million households who have wills in place (and 900,000 new people every year), hence our slightly early launch.

I’ve been building consumer technology, from gadgets to websites, for the past 13 years.  While I’ve worked on some amazing products in my time, this is my first opportunity to use technology in a way to truly help people.  Thinking about loss is hard (which is why not enough people do backups and only 1/3 Americans have wills to protect their families).  Dealing with loss is even harder, and if we can help make that part of life a little easier for some people, I consider that a great accomplishment.

Thanks,
Jeremy

ps – sorry about the no blogging all month thing – I was in the hospital dealing with a nasty combination of appendicitis and Crohn’s disease, but I’m doing much better now thanks!

How To Fix CES in 2010

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I agree with my friend Harry McCracken that CES 2009 was definitely smaller than past years. But I vehemently disagree with Dean Takahashi’s assesment that this is a “grim” stat.  In my opinion, the show had swelled well past the breaking point over the past few years.  This is what killed shows like Comdex and E3 (though for differing reasons of course).  Any industry dealing with excess bloat must find a way to trim its own fat or it will sooner or later get overtaken by it.  I think the smaller show, you know, with only 110,000 attendees (that was meant to be read aloud with a highly sarcastic tone and some eye-rolling) is a good thing, and I think there are a few other changes that should come with it.

In no particular order…

  • Make a limit on booth sizes. The biggest booths (and I use the term lightly) are over 20,000 square feet (Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, etc).  From some fairly reliable sources I’ve been told these companies are spending over $15,000,000 each on the show (I was told over $20MM for one of them).  This is not money well spent.  While I’m all for capitalism, if the CEA takes proactive measures to help curb these kinds of spending, they will be less likely to have these budgets questioned in future years (think about it – would you rather see a downsized Panasonic, or no Panasonic???).  Also, it’d be hard to argue that anyone is really “losing” anything by being “constrained” to a 100’x100′ booth.
  • Get rid of the Sands. As much as I’ve enjoyed demoing from the Sands over the past few years for various companies, it’s unquestionably the poorly cared for stepchild of the show.  The hours are worse, and so is the traffic.  There’s plenty of room in the LVCC for everyone, and if my predictions on a smaller ’10 show are right, a fully packed show will “feel” a lot better than trying to do a little “combover” to hide the thinner regions (trust me on that one).
  • Move the event back two weeks. I’m filing this one in the “I’m right, but it’ll never ever happen” category.  The current schedule is utterly painful for everyone involved in the show, and causes strains on personal lives for the tens of thousands of families who don’t get to enjoy December vacation times because they are prepping for this show.  Also, it always overlaps with other events, such as Macworld and the NFL playoffs.
  • Embrace Showstoppers (and Pepcom too, I guess). The CEA treats these media events as if they are parasitic, but they are not, they are symbiotic.  As a guy who has successfully brought multiple no-name companies to the forefront of the show, I can tell you even the best contacts in the world still won’t guarantee decent press coverage with all the surrounding noise.  This year alone, the 4 clients my firm brought to Showstoppers generated literally dozens of extra articles written, all of which reflect CES in a good light.  It’s a clear win-win, and even if it’s not a direct profit generator, it should be welcomed.
  • Improve the press list process. I wrote a guest post over at Technosailor trying to share my insights into “the CES pitch” from both perspectives. The process from both the pitch-or and pitch-ee is terrible.  I received hundreds of pitches, of which at least 1/2 were about products that I’d never write about, ever.  On the other hand we pitched about 400 writers, of which I’d assume no more than 1/10 (probably more like 1/20) would’ve found our clients uninteresting (which I can say with confidence based on the coverage they did receive at the show).  The problem was many of those 400 had already received so many other pitches, their “CES” filter was in high gear.  The press list needs more “rules” about how it is used, specifically to help the right stories find the right audiences.  I’d suggest that both exhibitors and press must pick specific categories to send/receive pitches, and the list be database-controlled by CEA.  If anyone is listening at all, get in touch and I can outline my thoughts in much more constructive detail.
  • Clean up your database and registration system. My fellow Canadian Saleem Khan reminded me of this one.  Even though I pre-registered with my media credentials in August (or so), somehow my email address continued to receive biweekly reminders that I needed to sign up to attend CES 2009.  Further, once I had registered, I needed another account for the MyCES portal, and I think a third account for another subsection of the site.  While the first step was clean and flawless, the entire rest was messy.
  • Prep the net. By 2010, I’d wager a strong majority of the “interesting” demonstrations will show fully connected devices.  We already saw the Yahoo TV widget system on numerous sets (my prediction: nice try, but no adoption – more some other time), and that’s just the beginning. The topic of my session during Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Jungle was “The Convergence of CE and Social Media” and it’s all about IP-enabled consumer electronics.  Internet connectivity in booths and at the show in general was spotty.  That was okay for CES ’99, but was disappointing during ’09.  Fix it (and the WiFi) for ’10.
  • Figure out the social media integration. There were a lot of “social media folks” hanging out at the show, or more to the point, kinda near the show.  I’m not exactly sure where the integration was, but it’s weird to me that the “famous social media video wine guy” was a sought-out “internelebrity” for the show.  No offense to Mr Vee (or any other of my colleagues from the social media scene), but considering the founders of Engadget and Gizmodo were there, not to mention all the rest of us whose actual jobs sit at the intersection of the gadget world and the social media world, it seemed a bit… forced.  This should be spearheaded by CEA, and built from the CE-side up, not from the social media side down.  As a result, the grand majority of the 110,000 attendees and millions who followed the event online had no awareness of things like The Ultimate Blogger Dinner, the miscellaneous TweetUps, and other endeavours which had potential, but just poorly integrated to the show.
  • Fix up the Innovations Awards system. While the judges do a dandy job every year, there are way too many awards being handed out.  For awards to have merit, they need to be limited, it’s simple supply and demand.  Modernize and reduce the categories from 34 (yes, 34) to 20 or less.  Integrate some method of public voting and commenting (you could use uservoice.com to do it) to complement the judges (definitely don’t do away with the judges.  for reference, check out what happened to this year’s NHL All-Star voting!).  And less finalists per category – five would be plenty.
  • More Monoliths.

Well, I’m sure I’ll come up with more 15 minutes from now, but I think that’s a healthy start.  If anyone from CEA would like more details, I’ll happily provide.  I’m looking forward to next year’s show, though hopefully I won’t get sick this time.  Yes, even after all my own advice, I somehow picked up the CES Flu this year, and it was a doozy.  I guess some things don’t stay in Vegas after all.

CES 2009 Countdown: Getting Scobleized and Some Booth Tips

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I’m roughly shoulder-deep in CES prep now, with 5 cool clients at the show (Boxee, Bug Labs, DeviceVM/Splashtop, TuneUp Media, and a new startup launching a gadget at the show), plus ShowStoppers, and also figuring out the booths I’ll go visit.  It’s a lot of work, and I’ve been at it for quite a few years now.  My friend Robert Scoble came up to San Francisco this past week, and we had a chance to sit down and chat about CES planning and strategy.

Robert refers to me as “The Three-Time CES Champion” (blush) as I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in three different products worthy of Best of CES distinction.  All three times were utterly exhilirating, all for different reasons.  At the end of the day, I completely enjoy the entire process of demoing products at CES, and can’t wait for CES 2009!

By the way, for those of you who manage or staff booths at the show, I put some suggestions up on the Stage Two blog.  Read the full post for details, but here’s the cheat sheet:

  • Ignore the anti-hype.
  • Wear comfy shoes.
  • Bring supplies.
  • Know your audience.
  • Funnel your traffic.
  • Emphasize the team spirit.
  • Don’t mistreat competition.
  • Ignore nobody.
  • Expect to be on the record.
  • Adapt your script.
  • Engage in discussions.
  • Give no schwag.
  • Be neighborly.
  • Take and give business cards.
  • Be on time.

Technology Predictions for 2009

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I ran about 50/50 with last year’s technology predictions.  Some were fairly safe, some a little more “out there”.  Here’s my thoughts for what’s on the docket for 2009…

Home Gadgets/Tech

  • Microsoft opens the Xbox 360 platform even further, enables an “app store for the home” that spans well beyond games.
  • Blu-ray sputters along, but not enough conclusive evidence (in other words, revenue) happens to either shut down the format altogether, nor to get consumers to adopt it.
  • As the FCC-mandated digital TV transition approaches, the hype machine reaches full effect and very convincing pieces try to show the plight of the very few.  After it’s all over, virtually nobody complains loudly.
  • One or both of Home Automation and/or Interactive TV returns to prominence in techie chatter, but neither make any additional inroads into actual homes.
  • Pasting from 2008 predictions: Google launches “Android for Set-Top Boxes” but gains little traction in the foreseeable future.

Computers

  • Netbook sales grow well, but not astoundingly so.  The majority of users ignore them due to a lack of actual value present in the device (especially those of us with big grubby fingers).
  • One PC maker emerges from the trenches with a really well-designed laptop with great Vista drivers that actually can stand up against a Macbook enough to make people take notice.
  • A Linux-based computer powered with a really great GUI and OpenOffice comes to market from an established brand.
  • USB 3.0 launches, causing massive annoyance and confusion to consumers.  I still can’t believe they didn’t give it a different name than USB.  Terrible decision.

Mobile Gadgets/Tech

  • More lousy wannabe touchscreen phones ship, none compete 1:1 with the iPhone.
  • A really good GPS+phone combo device comes to market.
  • The BlackBerry Storm is rapidly replaced with some better device from RIM.
  • Mobile commerce replaces location-based services as the hot mobile trend.
  • US cellular companies wage a price war, making several features (ahem, texting?) cheaper, along with better priced packages across the board.
  • No truly impressive Android phones ship from anyone.

Events/News

  • CES 2009 is notably smaller than 2008, yet the important stuff that goes on at the show is business as usual.  It’s all the fringe people who are absent, and the same who complain about the lack of cool new stuff at CES.  Which won’t be a surprise due to the rarity of cool new stuff actually shown at CES!
  • Macworld is just the first of many shows to also announce downsizing, including Streaming Media, Web 2.0 Expo, etc.  2009 will be a bad year for the tech conference industry.
  • Apple introduces only evolutionary products, nothing astounding or revolutionary. Let’s face it, sooner or later the well runs dry, and this is the time for the company to expand its market.  Yes, we’ll get a new phone, laptop, and ipod, but I doubt we see anything as profound as in the past 2 years.
  • A largish black monolith with dimensions 1 by 4 by 9 is discovered.

Web/Online

  • Facebook reaches a user base of 200 hundred million users.  It’s growth ratethen  slows and the alarm bells sound loudly throughout the media, regardless of actual success metrics.
  • Twitter finally announces its business model, which underwhelms everyone.  Not that it won’t be a good model, just that it will have been (wow is that passive voice or what?) built up with far more hype than can possibly be delivered.
  • Many “web 2.0” companies face major shrinkage as the funds simply don’t come back to them again.  Companies with huge traffic bases or, more importantly, solid revenue models will be fine, but the rest start fading away (and they take their weird names with them)
  • Several “prominent” blogs/bloggers retire due to a lack of revenue, exhaustion, lack of interesting new content to write about, etc.
  • Web 3.0 does not arrive.

That’s all I can really muster up for 2009, guess I’m having clairvoyance block.  Regardless, I’m pretty excited for the year.  Have the new house coming.  A little family expansion planned for Q1.  Oh, and I’ll be involved with some other cool new startups.  But I guess that’s getting to be par for the course, eh?  🙂  I sincerely can’t wait to tell y’all about one of them, it’s my own little brainchild in fact.  All in due time, though, all in due time.

Scoring my 2008 Tech Predictions

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I’m about the least unopinionated guy I know.  362 days ago, I made a whole bunch of predictions.  Let’s see how I scored…

TV Technology

  • Every major cable company will increase it’s rates by more than 3%. Nobody will complain, and our government will (again) fail to protect us from them.  — Well, I don’t really have the time to review all the packages from all the service providers, but I know my rates went up.  I’ll score this a Yes.
  • A resolution above 1080p starts appearing in demos and labs, I’d predict a bump up into the 4000 vertical lines space.  — Yup.
  • Bluray and HD-DVD continue to duke it out while consumers continue to not care.  — Well, HD failed, and Blu-ray is still in the doldrums.  But, since my prediction was they’d be fighting through the year, I guess this is a No.
  • One of Hulu, Joost, etc get integrated into the Xbox 360 and/or PS3. — Netflix on Xbox for the Yes.
  • Google launches “Android for Set-Top Boxes” but gains little traction in the foreseeable future. — Nope, didn’t happen (though I still believe they are working on it).
  • Anyone who is not a telephone company that tries to launch an IP-streaming set top device has a very rough year. — Vudu, Sezmi, etc.  Yes.
  • Despite near-constant predictions of their demise, TiVo makes it through another year, possibly getting acquired (by DirecTV, Comcast, Netflix, Blockbuster, or someone out of the blue like Amazon or eBay). — Yes.

Portable Devices That Are Not Cell Phones

  • Zune 3.0 launches. It’s very very good. Further, iPod’s market share dips, although they still have an increase in overall unit sales (in other words: the pie gets bigger faster than their sales do). That said, a new iPod is even more betterer than all previous versions, making everyone who recently bought a prior generation a wee bit annoyed, but gosh that Steve Jobs is so charming they just don’t care. After all, that’s technology! — No, pretty much completely wrong (though there is a rumor for a new Zune at CES 09)
  • At least two major camera vendors introduce integrated wifi cameras, but no more than one uses an open service, the rest have some proprietary, closed, annoying-to-use system. Ideally one of them buys Eye-fi. — Correctamundo (but still waiting on the Eye-Fi acquisition)
  • Digital picture frames continue to grow in market share, but still don’t “tip” into the mainstream. — Anecdotally I’d say I’m right (duh), but I can’t find any stats either way.  That said, there were enough units sold to get some malignant pusbag to put a virus on one. I’ll leave this one unresolved for now.
  • More companies introduce e-book readers despite general malaise in the category. Kindle II is launched with mild improvements. — Wrong, wrong, wrong.  Even if I don’t “get it”, apparently Oprah does, so it looks like the category’s doing fine.  Probably one of the biggest surprises to me this year…

Enterprise Services

  • I have no clue, I don’t follow the space. Hello, this is a consumer tech blog!  — This statement certainly wasn’t enough to prevent clueless PR flacks from pitching me on their enterprise technology products.

Computers

  • Apple’s new laptops will include an ultramobile, a tablet, and a “desktop replacement” OR a “gaming model” (they may combine the first two). Enhancements will include a card reader, 3G access as a built-in option, and new gestures. Market share continues to climb.  — Other than the market share comment, I’m quite wrong again.  I should’ve just said “one solid piece of aluminium” and left it at that.
  • Microsoft continues to spin about how amazing Vista is. Michael Gartenberg’s observations are probably the most poignant as to why it isn’t. — Right, and with a huge budget to boot.
  • Asus or Dell acquires or merges with one of HP, Acer, Toshiba, or other “meh” PC maker.  — Wrong.
  • Sony continues to make subpar Vaio laptops. And for the last time (I think) in 2007: don’t buy the Sony Vaio VGN-SZ4xx series laptops, they are just plain terrible. I’ve now had the chance to voice my discontent directly to the Vaio PR team (at Ruder Finn) who have yet to write me back on the topic. — Completely right.  If I’ve had the opportunity to cost them some sales, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.  And a note to that PR team – how about dropping me a note one day?  Since you pitch yourselfes as being good at this “social media” thing, maybe you’d like to show your prowess?
  • Nobody makes my awesome dual-screen laptop concept, thus leaving me the opportunity to make zillions one day.  — I have the pleasure to say that I’m wrong, and Lenovo owes me zillions.

Social Networking

  • Facebook continues to get backlash from the media and tech community, meanwhile its user base continues to skyrocket. Further, they hire another 1000 people, yet only make modest improvements to the site itself. I’d add a 33% chance that they “pull a Netscape” and go after the desktop or the browser or some other place they really don’t belong.  — Re backlash: right; Re growth: right; Re staffing: close; Re improvements: right; Re target a weird space: right (Beacon).  Cmon, I get extra props here!
  • Randomly pick some names from the huge list of other social networking sites and some of them merge. — AOL bought Bebo, but that was about it for the year.
  • Adults who didn’t grow up with social networking services experience burnout of being bitten by zombies after a few months, and many stop checking in four times per day. Those who went to school during the Facebook era continue to complain about all the old fogies (like me) polluting their sacred resting ground. They also continue to put radically inappropriate pictures of themselves online, blissfully unaware of the interviewing process. — Right on all counts.

Mobile Tech

  • A few Android-powered phones ship, but not as many as the tech community would like to see. Again showing why the Razr can utterly dominate the market despite a closed architecture and terrible user interface. — I guess I should’ve said “One or more” instead of “a few”, but I’m gonna go with a yes here.
  • Apple launches the iPhone 3G, the iPhone nano, and the iPhonePro. Ok, I’m not 100% sure on the third, but I am betting on the first two. Also, one of these new phones comes unlocked OR on a carrier other than AT&T.  — Mixed, so for the count I’ll have to say wrong.
  • Some major lawsuit occurs between a carrier and either a cable company or a broadcaster, all about mobile video rights. All parties involved appear as nothing but greedy to outsiders. — Wrong (it’s still brewing, trust me)
  • Something new comes out in the phone space that’s more astounding than the iPhone. It’s possibly: uber-small, has a radically better battery life, does something funky like synchs with the Wii, or works with all US carriers.  — Wrong, instead a bunch of lousy, boring, poorly built touchphone replicas come to market.  Fail.

Gaming

  • With lots of stealth, a new console comes to market. It might only be a moderate shift from a prior model, or possibly be a whole new entrant. — Nope.
  • Rock Band 2 and 3, and Guitar Heros 4, 5, 6, and “Eddie Van Halen” editions come out, however nobody licenses the Harmonix engine to make “Jazz Trio”. — N/A, was just sarcasm.
  • Someone comes up with a really impressively new concept for the Wii. Good odds, however, that they wrap it inside a crappy game. — Don’t know, didn’t pay enough attention to the Wii.  Anyone?
  • More really amazing HD gaming occurs, continuing to drive HD adoption faster than the meager channels the cable companies try to placate us with, despite the fact that they raise prices again. Did I already say that? — Yup.

Web Services/Misc

  • A wide swath of “Web 2.0″ companies will go dark, primarily out of an inability to either figure out a business model for their product, or an inability to successfully market their service outside of the Bay Area.  They will quickly be forgotten and replaced by new ones with even goofier sounding names like Froobooloo.com. — I guess this has to be a “not quite yet”, but it’s-a-coming…
  • No major Wimax deployments occur.  — Right-o.
  • The digital transition date looms, starts creating a lot of media hype a la Year2000 mania. — Very right.
  • RFID continues to be a fun topic for the media, but all that happens is Walmart continues to make small vendors spend loads of money for the privelege of selling there. — Goes under the not enough information to make a call category.
  • Bloggers fret about not being recognized as “press”, yet continue to spend too much time/energy gossiping about other bloggers, an activity the general public remains disinterested in and doesn’t give extra respect/credibility for.  This circular logic is baffling, I know. — Right.
  • We lose even more rights to big media, because few Americans are willing to take even the tiniest steps to do anything about it.  PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG (start here)! — Right.
  • I still don’t Twitter.  — 1005 updates at the time of writing. Complete and utter fail. I’m so lame.

The verdict… 16 correct predictions, 13 incorrect ones, and 3 with insufficient information.  Not too shabby, but I’ll try to do a little better next year!

Thoughts on Sending & Receiving CES Pitches

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After a series of interesting tweets, comments, discussions, and drunken ramblings with a variety of Internetters, I really came to notice how different the perspectives are from those attending CES.  Aaron Brazell of Technosailor asked me to write a post on his blog to try to represent both sides of Pitching and Being Pitched at CES.  Here’s the opener, and you can read the rest at Technosailor:

2009 is rapidly approaching, and as a 10 year veteran of CES I’ve seen it from many different angles. I’ve been there as a tiny underfunded startup using a hotel room to do all demos and I’ve taken center stage in a multi-million dollar booth. I’ve attended as press and I’ve pitched the press. From virtually every perspective, CES is an exhilarating and exhausting process. I love it. With the massive surge in blogger registrations at this year’s show, I’ve also noticed more than usual complaints about the pitching process, so as someone who sits on both sides of the fence, I thought I’d share some observations and suggestions.

…

Thanks, Aaron, for raising the discussion and inviting me to participate in your digital turf!

Holiday TextExpander Giveaway Contest

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You may remember our post showing how to automate Bit.ly using AppleScript
and TextExpander. Since then, TextExpander has been bumped up to version 2.5, and in doing so SmileOnMyMac included our bit.ly URL shortening script in the new release.

To celebrate we’re having a holiday contest and giving away two TextExpander licenses!

Contest the First:

TextExpander has one of the cheekiest registration screens around; it offers up data on how many times you’ve triggered an abbreviation, how many characters have been replaced, and how much time you’ve saved typing. The first license will go to the reader who guesses the number of characters (as of the time of posting) that TextExpander has spared me from typing. The Price is Right rules apply: closest guess (without going over) wins.

TextExpander Register Screen

Contest the Second:

This started off because I came up with a new snippet; now it’s your turn. The second license will go to the reader who suggest the best idea for a new snippet, as judged by the LiveDigitally team. Extra points for contest entries with working code snippets. (You can download the trial version to get started.)

Submit your guesses and ideas in the comments (you can link to a blog post if your idea is too long to fit.) The contest deadline is midnight on Wednesday, December 31st, and we’ll announce the winners in the new year. Good Luck!

Avi Greengart’s 2008 Last Minute, Mostly Non-Obvious Holiday Gift Guide… For A Bad Economy

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At Current Analysis I head up a group focusing on mobile devices and how competitive they are in the market. As always, while vendors do send me review units, I do not profit from them (they are typically returned at the vendor’s expense), no money was paid for inclusion on the list, no Senate seats were offered as bribes, I don’t own stock in any of these companies, and Current Analysis clients did not receive any special treatment. Given the state of the economy, I’ve reigned in prices this year; suggestions start at $8.99 and nothing exceeds $200.

Accessories

In past years, I have recommended buying aftermarket headphones as a way to really improve your mobile music experience. This is still a great way to go, and I’m a big fan of almost anything from etymotic or Shure; this year I tested out Ultimate Ear’s Triple.fi 10’s ($400, but they sound great). However, if you’re on a budget this holiday season, there are two ways to improve the headphones you probably already have. The cheap earbuds that come with most MP3 players aren’t awful – Apple’s are pretty good for pack-ins – they just don’t physically stay in many people’s ears. Two companies have stepped up to solve this problem without breaking the bank:

  • Acoustibuds, $12.99,  look a bit strange and wrap around the end of the earbud and turn it into an in-ear speaker. The company claims that this will ensure that they don’t fall out (true) and improve the sound (not so much). Acoustibuds will work on any earbud, so if you’ve got a Sansa rather than an iPod, you’re still covered.
  • BudFits from Innovelis, $8.99 (an amazon exclusive for now) is the simplest solution you could possibly imagine: a silicone clef that attaches to the base of the earbud (Apple only, unfortunately) and wraps around your ear. They’re comfortable, inexpensive, and they work. Apple really ought to include these from the outset.

I’m on the road a lot, and when you’re in a hotel room you have one of two choices: bring speakers and get some work done, or turn on the TV and end up watching reruns of Entourage on HBO until 2 AM. I’ve tested a bunch of portable speaker systems, but most of them are either too bulky to pack ‘just in case’ or just plain sound awful. Nokia’s MD-4 strikes the perfect balance – tiny V-shaped speakers that run on AA batteries and can fill a hotel room with decent sound (face them towards the wall to improve the sound quality further). What’s more, they’ve been on the market a while, so they’re a bargain: Amazon has them marked down from $99 to $35.

One of my big complaints with the iPhone 3G is that it doesn’t have enough battery life for all the things I want to do with it. There are several aftermarket battery pack add-ons, but the one you want to give as a gift is the mophie juicepack. Oh, sure, at $99 it is expensive – other battery add-ons are half that – but the juicepack is the only one that looks and feels like something Apple might have designed themselves. The juicepack greatly extends the iPhone’s battery life (I didn’t do run-down tests, but I’d guess it triples the available power) as it cradles your iPhone like an iPhone case, so you can continue using the device.

With mandatory headset rules in more states, sales of Bluetooth headsets are rising. There’s an alternative designed just for the car – Blueooth speakerphones that slip onto your sun visor. I’ve tested a bunch of these. My favorite is Motorola’s T505, which not only has a speakerphone built in, but also an FM transmitter. If your phone has stereo Bluetooth (most musicphones and pretty much any smartphone other than the iPhone), you can transmit your music from the phone to the T505 to an empty station on your radio. When a call comes in, it switches to speakerphone, and then resumes the music when the call is over. Like all FM transmitters, it works better the farther away you are from crowded radio markets like New York, but the T505 will scan the airwaves for you, find an open frequency, and then tell you what number to tune your radio to. I tested a prototype earlier this year on an endless drive from New Jersey down to the Virginia-Kentucky border and was impressed. This is another product on a great sale at amazon, $65 (down from $139).

One of the problems with modern TV/home theater setups is that they are far too complicated: you really don’t want to spend a half hour with your babysitter explaining how to watch a movie. Logitech’s line of Harmony remote controls solves this problem. You set it up by answering questions online, and then it presents you with a list of Activities (“Watch TV,” “Play Wii,” etc.). It still isn’t perfect – the web-based setup interface still isn’t quite as idiot-proof as it ought to be – but the remotes themselves have gotten a lot better. The least expensive model (Harmony 510, currently just $49 at amazon) will get you the most bang for your buck.

If you have more to spend, I would skip the next step-up models and jump to the Harmony One ($179 at amazon). The One isn’t all that much different from Logitech’s other Harmony remotes in terms of specifications; the touchscreen is nicer and it can handle more devices, but that’s about it. What makes the Harmony One stand out is the attention paid to ergonomics – every button is shaped differently (so you can feel it without looking) and is placed just where your finger expects it to be. This is not something easy to describe, but pick one up and you’ll see. When I first laid hands on the Harmony One at a Logitech event, they offered to send me a review sample, but I pulled out my credit card instead (review samples have to go back, and this one was mine).

Budget iPod Alternatives

Apple continues to innovate in the iPhone and iPod touch lines, turning them into handheld computing platforms this year, but the regular iPod line got less dramatic improvements. The most popular model in the line, the iPod nano, costs $150 for an 8 GB model. The nano is still the most stylish MP3 player (it’s even prettier in your hand than in photos), it still syncs with Apple’s excellent iTunes software, and it still connects to the largest number of accessories. In short, if you can afford one, it’s worth the money. But what if you’re cheap?

SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze looks like SanDisk was trying to copy last year’s iPod squarish nano design, and it barely has any accessories to speak of. However, the Fuze is $50 less expensive than the nano, and the user interface on the Fuze is quite nice.

At lower price points, SanDisk’s Sansa Clip competes with Apple’s iPod shuffle; again, the Clip isn’t as stylish, but it’s still pretty darn small, it costs less than the shuffle (starting at just $35), and it includes a handy screen, which the iPod shuffle lacks, so you can see and choose what you are listening to.

Another iPod alternative I’m enjoying is the Slacker G2. This is tied to Slacker’s “personal radio” service, which is a cross between satellite radio, Rhapsody, and TiVo: first, you choose from various themed stations, and you can create your own by starting with an artist (say, the Delbert McClinton channel). Then you customize the stations over time by selecting “heart” or “ban” when you hear songs you’d like repeated or never wish to hear again. You can listen free (online on the web or on the player) with a few restrictions (there are a few commercials and you are limited to six “skip song” requests per hour) or pay $7.50 per month (which eliminates commercials, allows unlimited song skipping, and stores specific songs for on-demand playback). The G2 pushes the upper limit of this year’s list: $199 for a 4GB player, and that’s without the premium service – but even the free service is quite appealing.

Semi-Convergence Devices

Not everyone wants an iPhone or BlackBerry. There, I’ve said it. It also happens to be true – there are people out there who are not technophobes, yet they do not want multifunction devices. These people love their phones, but do not want to use them phones to surf the web or add applications or tie into corporate email systems. If one of these strange creatures is on your gift list, I have two recommendations:

  • If they don’t want a smartphone but do want to access personal email wherever they go, the Peek might be perfect. It’s a dedicated personal email device – that’s all it does. It looks like a ten year old BlackBerry that went through a deli slicer (it’s boxy but extremely thin), and it is straightforward to use – my mother would have no problem getting up to speed, and she is a bit of a technophobe. Peek is sold at Target stores for $79, and there is no contract, but there is a catch: monthly service is expensive ($20/month).
  • OK, I cheated: this one is a convergence device, combining a basic mobile phone with an extremely sophisticated camera (and WiFi plus a basic MP3 player, but let’s ignore that for now). Still, I think Motorola’s ZINE ZN5 will appeal primarily to the type of person who doesn’t want a smartphone, just a phone …but if you could combine a basic phone with a really good digital camera, that would be nice, too. The ZN5 is dead simple to use: to launch the camera, you slide down the lens cap. Then, most of the button labels disappear, leaving only camera-specific controls. Close the lens cap, and it’s a phone again. Now, the ZN5’s camera is still not as good as an inexpensive Canon digital camera with a glass lens, larger image sensor, and optical zoom. However, the ZN5 is always with you, and it takes pictures that easily cross the “good enough to print” threshold. Motorola co-branded the ZN5 with Kodak. It has a Xenon flash (like a regular digital camera), autofocus, and plenty of resolution should you want to make prints (5 megapixels). Most importantly, shutter lag is minimal, and shot-to-shot times are good. In fact, the ZN5’s imaging is every bit as good as the best high end convergence devices from Nokia and Samsung, but without the complexity and for only $99 with a 2 year contract at T-Mobile.

Services

Many of the items on any gadget list are likely to be purchased at amazon.com, and the amazon prime program ($79/year) is a gift that will keep giving impatient technology buyers all year long. With amazon prime, 2 day shipping is free for any item sold by amazon itself (as opposed to other merchants listing wares on amazon) and overnight shipping is just $3.99. This makes overnight shipping affordable for heavy items or just-in-time gadget purchases. I should note, however, that my wife uses amazon prime for something considerably less technical: just-in-time diapers to the door without having to drag them home from the store.

I have been recommending that Microsoft build file synchronization into Windows for several years now – it would make it a lot easier to have more than one Windows device if your data was automatically replicated across every machine you had – desktop, notebook, netbook, whatever. Well, they’ve done it. No, not Microsoft, but a small start-up, SugarSync, has designed a service to do three things: back up your data to the web, give you access to your data from any web browser, and replicate that data to any machine. There are a lot of services that do online backup and access, so where SugarSync is special is data replication. For example, you can start a Word document on your desktop, then run out to a meeting with your notebook. As long as both machines have Internet access, your half-finished document will be automatically saved on both machines and available for you to finish on the notebook. Plus, your files are always backed up somewhere, and you can access them from PC’s, Macs, and some smartphones. Sugarsync costs $25 a year for 10GB of storage.

In the past I’ve recommended gift subscriptions to Netflix, and that’s certainly one I’m happy to list again this year. I haven’t found too many movies on my list that are available for instant download, but hopefully that will change over the next year. In the meantime, Netflix is still the most convenient way to get movies on DVD or Blu-ray.

Another holdover from last year – and a perfect complement to Netflix movies – is gourmet popcorn. Dale and Thomas Popcorn offers various ridiculously delicious treats including all sorts of chocolate & popcorn combinations sure to cushion even the largest stock market drops (and expand your waistline in the process).  Everything is kosher, making it a good Chanukah gift, too.

2007 Gift Guide Follow Up

Last year I looked at the first Asus Eee PC, and it’s not surprising that netbooks are even hotter a year later. However, I have a nagging feeling that a lot of the netbooks being bought today are DrawerWare – in a year’s time, they’ll be in a drawer. The least expensive units are getting the most attention, and I find the small screens, Linux OS, 3 cell battery, and compressed keyboards to be overly limiting, even for taking notes, webmail, and Internet surfing.  Once you equip a netbook with a large screen/Windows/memory you’re really edging into cheap notebook territory. There is one area where netbooks make a lot of sense: the top end of the netbook pricing ladder is really interesting for road warriors. HP’s Mini 1000 (in the upcoming 6 cell/WWAN modem version) gives people who prize mobility pretty much everything they’d get in a $1500 – $2500 subnotebook from Fujitsu or Sony for a tiny fraction of the price. (The MacBook Air, which I’m also testing, is a bit of a different animal; it’s pricey and lacks ports, but it’s crazy thin and runs OS X.)

In last year’s Guide I noted that I wanted to recommend the SmartShopper shopping list gadget, but couldn’t. I still can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, but I must note that the company didn’t ask for it back, and a year later we’re still using it daily. When it ran out of thermal paper rolls, we opted to buy more rather than go back to pen and paper. It is still somewhat buggy, it eats batteries alive, and nobody actually needs one. Then again, it has come way down in price ($55 on amazon, down from $129 last year) and we do like it.

Happy Holidays,
Avi Greengart
Research Director, Mobile Devices
Current Analysis

Vaio Laptop For Sale

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Laptop in handNope, it’s not a joke or some cleverly worded piece of subterfuge, I’m selling my Vaio. For those of you who have followed, I’ve had some great times, followed by some terrible times, followed by some great times again with Vaios. But we’re going to move to a desktop at home (read: gaming PC), and we don’t have any family members who need any laptops, and I certainly don’t want to try to “recycle” it. So I’m turning to the community (since it’s impossible to sell a laptop on eBay anymore).

It’s the Sony Vaio VGN-SZ460N (full specs here).  I bought it new approximately 17 months ago for $2500, and I believe $1100 is a fair price for it relative to current generation laptops.  It’s in perfect condition, and comes with Ed Bott’s awesome Vista installation (in other words, better than how it was shipped to me!).  I’m also including a docking station for it.

If you’re interested, please leave me a comment or otherwise get in touch.

Will the WePC be a Horse or a Camel?

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Community-powered development and brainstorming is an interesting challenge.  On one hand, you get exposure to more ideas and concepts than you can possibly get from an individual or small team.  On the other hand, the signal-to-noise ratio rapidly gets out of control, and depending on the level of empowerment, you get clumsy, hard-to-use, yet feature-rich products.  When I read about the WePC concept from Intel and ASUS, I started pondering what wisdom the crowds have to offer (thanks to BrianB for the image suggestion).

I’ll admit, I’m skeptical here.  First and foremost, the challenges of building any computer come back to the single element which seems to make/break good PCs today: the drivers.  No matter what excellent ideas come back from the crowd, someone has to come along and make outstanding drivers, otherwise they’ll have the kinds of problems with XP or Vista that I used to have with my Vaio (yeah, I went back to the Vaio, beaten horse it may be).

Next, we have a fundamental cost/performance issue.  I don’t think you need to be Jonathan Ives to say “people want lightweight, thin, exceptionally well-styled computers that are feature-rich and inexpensive”.  Draw a triangle with size/weight, features, and cost onto the axes (clumsily drawn to the right using this tool – which desperately needs help).  You can pick any TWO, but not all three.  But what do people want?  All three.

This brings us back down to unfortunate reality, where the “average” computers are cost-driven with basic features and basic size/weights.  Machines like eeePC or the Voodoo Envy or the MacBook Air are all targeting extreme edges of the combinations, but none of these laptops could’ve come from the committee – they are all horses.

That said, if the WePC effort helps give Asus a good handle on what their users may purchase, that’s great.  If it lets them further innovate in their product design, also great.  Companies like Dell and Bug Labs are both using their communities to help steer product direction, but not definitively decide it.  I think it’s a careful balancing act.

My hunch is the WePC’s will end up extremely similar to the existing product lines made by most notebook manufacturers today.  I hope I’m proven wrong, and we see some amazing innovations.  I’ll give Asus a lot of credit with their new products over the past few years, now let’s see where the crowd takes it.