GDGT #fail?

Yesterday I was playing around on gdgt, the gadget site we previewed a couple weeks ago on Symbiotek. My particular page doesn't have as many gadgets as I would like, so I started browsing around and found myself looking for the Flip UltraHD. All I found was a Flip Ultra, a sub-standard model of the mini-camcorder in this age of Blue-Ray burners and high-def youtube. The native resolution for the latter is listed at 640x480 rather than 1280x720, and while that's the most significant difference I can come up with, the list goes on and on. I don't know about you guys, but as a techy, the difference in resolutions makes the Ultra a much different product. Imagine my surprise then, when my rather laborious gdgt entry on the UltraHD, (as opposed to the Ultra) was rejected. I was told one was a variant of the other. Ridiculous. Ridiculous!!

Here's mine on the Flip UltraHD: http://gdgt.com/pure-digital/b1c27/specs/

Here's the original on the Flip Ultra: http://gdgt.com/pure-digital/flip/ultra/2nd-gen/specs/

There's nothing "Ultra" about the latter.

One thing that really bugged me was that In terms of quality of the entry, mine serves much more specification detail than the Flip Ultra entry, regardless of the actual product. I've been to the manufacturer's site and all the information for the Flip UltraHd that I listed is there for the regular old FLip Ultra-- the person who inputted the Flip Ultra just neglected to enter everything in.

As for the particulars of the device: storage, Img qual, even the price (price wrongly reflected in my entry (due to their price tracker's error)-- it should be in the $199 range) is different. They may have the same form factor but that's where the similarities end. I mean, the Lexus RX and the Toyota Highlander sit on the same platform and can use the same tires but would you say one is simply a 'variant' of the other? This is ridiculous.

Moreover, how can I trust gdgt to lead me to the products I want when the specs they have laid down are off and when they reject superior information?

At the very least it needs a wiki function where logged in members can add to the specs of a device. That wouldn't directly solve my gripe, but it would help. If indeed my device is simply a variant of the Flip Ultra, then there should be a tree or something, where the specs for the obviously superior "variant" can be laid bare.

EDIT: I just realised that only I can see my proposed entry, so here it is, pasted below:

General
Type: ConsumerForm factor: Handheld
Sensor
Sensor type: CMOSMinimum illumination: 1.4 lux
Video format
Native resolution: 1280 x 720Framerates supported (max resolution): 30pVideo codec support: h.264 / AVC, MPEG-4
Media
Media type: Internal storage (8 GB, Flash)Recording time: 120 mins at lowest quality
120 mins at highest quality
Viewfinder
Viewfinder type: LCDScreen size: 2 inchesScreen resolution: 960 x 240Screen type: LCD (Active, Color, Backlit)
Optics
Zoom: 2 x (digital)
Size and weight
Dimensions: 4.25 inches (h)
2.19 inches (w)
1.17 inches (d)Weight: 6 ounces
Availability
Availability: AvailableOriginal MSRP: $1.99 USDProduct site: www.theflip.com
Additional specs

Power
Battery size: RechargeableBattery type: NiMH (Removable)Recording time: 190 mins

Tag Team Tech Brawl: Google and the FCC v. Apple and AT&T

By now you've no doubt heard about Apple's refusal to let Google distribute its Google Voice Application on the iTunes store. In addition, Apple's pulled 3rd party Google Voice apps that had already been accepted to the store at partner AT&T's request.

The ire is through the roof. Earlier today Duke Arrington of TechCrunch fame, a prominent fan of Apple's iPhone, loudly and openly pulled the plug on his support of the product. At first, it seemed like a run of the mill Technorati squabble. But now the FCC's involved.

Why? Why would the top governing power of the United States get involved with what Apple and AT&T allow or don't allow on their hardware and services? Because at least on the surface, it doesn't seem fair. Not to sound like an indignant fourth grader or anything, but Steven F and Arrington are right.

Apple's laid out a series of guidelines about exactly what is and what is not passable where its iTunes applications were concerned. Skype has made it through with a VoIP calling system that allows users to text and make phone calls without using Plan Text messages or Plan minutes.

As for AT&T, they allow Google Voice applications to run on RIM's Blackberry-- why not the iPhone?

I'll tell you why. Because with normal smartphone users, the demand for such applications is minimal. While the average Blackberry can do much of what the iPhone does, the users who own Blackberries don't, for the most part, want to install myriad applications to add functionality to their phone. They want some email, some text messaging, a GPS featured map and maybe some web browsing and a game to pass the time in the subway or airport. But iPhone users are different. They not only want any and every bit of functionality they can get, but they plan to use that functionality-- over and over and over again. And that's why the phenomenal potential of the iPhone has been limited time and time again by both AT&T and Apple.

The details of the FCC inquiry into this issue can be seen here, while a short list of the limitations AT&T and Apple have implemented on the iPhone can be seen listed on one of my recent Tumblr posts. It's highly likely we'll be talking about these issues and how they affect the geeks and those beyond that spectrum during the next Symbiotek Podcast.

What's most clear is that collusion on the part of the AA Syndicate is harming relevant innovation in the software and telecom industries. Apple needs to remember what happened the last time an Operating System manufacturer got in the way of progress via anti-competitive practices, and AT&T needs to remember what happened to it last time it got too big for its britches. One would think that companies with products the likes of Time Machine and that companies which have defended themselves before Congress about illegally recording data and conversations should have much, much more profound understandings of their own recent history.

The King of Pop's Death Grinds Twitter to a Halt

Last night the World suffered the tragedy of the passing of The Greatest Entertainer of all Time.

Whether you loved him or hated him, Michael Jackson captivated the public's attention for nearly forty-five years of his half-century life, and used as his signature move

Like many, I attempted to hop on Twitter and express my sorrow and condolences. What I found was shocking: I couldn't enter the site. I took a quick shot of my computer's screen when i hit www.twitter.com




Given the flutter about Iran and the massive Twitter traffic that exposed the world to what happened with the Islamic Republic's elections, I was frankly surprised that it was Jackson's death that overwhelmed the site. Then I remembered that this was Michael Jackson. The King of Pop shaped the face of American pop-culture via his videos, his music, his dancing, and his total rocks-star nature. Timberlake, Spears, Usher all owe their type of fame to him- and the list probably goes on and on.

Twitter's very much become the digital center of pop-culture in America-- and perhaps even the world. It's fitting that it took a little break while its users mourned pop's King.

Apple is under seige. Palm wants its phone business back and Microsoft is taking the Windows/OSX war to the streets, literally; all while attempting to flank the Mobile Music Juggernaught's combo of Apple's iTunes and iPod with their Zune subscription and download model. Meanwhile, Dell's making a play for the educational sector with their $370 netbook laptops for classrooms and in the last year the UK has killed not one but TWO of the television commercials advertising the iPhone while the EU has sued them for anti-competitive practices in their aforementioned online music store. And let's not forget that Mr. Jobs is out of the office indefinitely.

With all these attacks from all sortsa sides I think it's pretty clear: Apple's doing something right.

We're going to explore some of these issues in later posts. What's clear is that as Apple continues to push forward into the consumer tech sector, creating useful convergence knick-knacks like their music players, phones and set-top boxes, the companies which produced the previous generations of such devices are feeling their market-share slip: rapidly. Apple's growth in the phone industry is making up for it's lagging market-share in the laptop world and it's flat sales of the iPod, the device that reinvented the company in the 21st century.

So here's the rub. How does Apple cement it's niche in the ever-growing phone industry? The thing to take notice of here is that the company has moved from an specialty product line of computers, once marketed toward graphic artists and educators, to one which focuses on the yuppie class, creating only high-end solutions that are often unaffordable. The ubiquity of their devices in the music and smartphone sectors, leavesthis newer, 21st century high-end, Apple Corp. in somewhat of an oxy-moronic, existential plane.

Even wealthy fans of your product won't see the need for an expensive upgrade on a 12 month cycle-- leaving Apple to move toward gaining market share via less affluent clients. The trick is to make sure that whichever product you create for such consumers does not degrade the quality standing that Apple has fought so hard to create in the last near decade-- the same levels of quality that attracked all those people willing to pay $600 for a smartphone in 2007.

To this end Apple just might leave older models on the market, say $99 for an 8gb iPhone 3G while still charging conventional $199 and $299 for the iPhone 3GS, 16gb and 32gb respectfully.

Needless to say that this could cut into the Palm Pre's supposed Blockbuster Launch considerably as the Pre, while powerful, holds a less developed bank of applications and sells for around $300 up front with a $100 rebate.


We'll keep watching Apple to see how it deals with the myriad challenges at the gates of its traditional marketshare. It's not that there's much to worry about, the company is as strong or stronger than its ever been. What's interesting here is seeing how Apple, the Convergence King maneuvers through this gauntlet of attacks on its core businesses. If anything, Apple's shown us time and again that while its movements may on some level, react to the ever-changing tech industry, more often than not, it moves the industry; it reshapes it. And it does so leaving many a consumer wondering: "Why didn't any of the other companies do that before?"

iPhone 3G Pricing Plans!

In my earlier post about the paradigm shift concerning smart-phones designed for consumer, rather than business use, I highlighted the industry's pathfinder, the iPhone (and it's carrier AT&T) as the device (and service) which set the standard that all the other handset makers and phone companies are going to refer to when pricing their products and services. I got an email today from a friend working in the tech department of a bank releasing the pricing information for AT&T's iPhone and service. The implications are pretty savoury

AT&T plans to deliver the 8gb model for $199.00 and the 16gb model for $299.00-- with contract. They're also delivering the same models, without contract, for $399.00 and $499.00 respectively. This is obviously a sharp departure from their earlier strategy of not selling the phone at all outside of contract. The phone, which runs on GSM networks only will work on National carriers such as AT&T (of course) and T-Mobile as well as smaller regional carriers like MyCricket.

AT&T's dropped the price of the contract phone in order to attract more customers. They plan on making up for the pricing revenue lost with the *discounted* iPhone 3G by upping the monthly service plan which includes 450 anytime roll-over minutes and unlimited mobile Internet and email from $60.00 to ~75.00. This price doesn't include text messaging and with taxes, that monthly bill's going to hit something close to $90.00.

Some people are outraged at this information. I have to say though, that as much as I'm excited about everyone getting their hands on these phones which can best exploit services like http://www.mshopper.net/, I'm not that upset with the pricing plan.
That said, the pricing sounds pretty reasonable(not too expensive). The upping of the network costs makes a lot of sense given that the new iPhone's running on bandwidth-heavy 3g instead of EDGE and it actually brings the pricing in line with the rest of their smartphones. Compare their blackberry plan for $90 w/ unlimited text messages a month(phone plan + data plan + text messages). The new iPhone charges listed above should come out to $90.00/month which is ~1080 a year in revenue for AT&T. That's how they can drop the prohibitively expensive price of the old iPhone.
AT&T is setting themselves up so that people living in areas covered by the newer phone service companies like MyCricket are going to be discouraged from these alternatives as the serious savings they'd see by using the phone on that network would be nullified by the no-contract pricing. Compare AT&T's monthly service charges with MyCricket's $45/mo for unlimited everything (txt and mms msgs, mobile web, email, talk time (area only). Regardless of whether the consumer buys the 8gb iPhone unit with contract or goes to MyCricket without it, they'll end up paying the same price annually, which would leave most with wanting to stick to AT&T since it's both more well known and has a larger coverage area. These facts will leave many wondering why AT&T would even offer the iPhone outside of contract if they had successfully priced-out regional rival low-cost service competition. What's there to gain? I think the answer lies in the falling dollar.The ability to buy the phone off-contract in the US is going to allow tourists who come to the US this summer looking to spend money yet don't have the option to buy the iPhone in their home country to pick the device up while here on holiday: taking advantage of the falling dollar.

European tourists have a reason to pick the device up on this side of the pond as well. An admittedly not so recent interview with Jonathan Ive, the chief industrial designer of Apple's award winning wares, has revealed that in the UK, the pricing for the iPod isn't simply the US dollar converted to British pounds but rather, the US dollar value simply up-rated to British pounds. While a top of the line iPod in the States will cost someone $400, its seems that in Britain the consumer's paying £400! That means that while Apple will likely move units off the shelves in England by those over there that are willing to pay the price, they're bound to move unit after unit by tourist consumers that see a great deal for a great device over here.

Finally, I'm interested in seeing how other phone companies respond to this iPhone 3G pricing plan. With their pricing on plans for HTC touches and Samsung Instincts...let the consumer smartphone wars begin! Sprint already has a completely unlimited plan cleverly named "Simply Everything" which includes unlimited minutes, messaging, web and email for $9 more than AT&T's w/ tax price. For some, not having to wonder about the status of your roll-over minutes (or having to worry about minutes overages at all when compared to Verizon) for $9.00 more per month on a smartphone like the Samsung Instinct might just be worth it.

What The New Hybrid Electric Cars and Glade(R) Have in Common.

Plug it in, Plug it in! Last week Toyota announced it's plans for delivering a plug-in version of heir hybrid dynamo, the Prius, to United States showrooms by 2010. While this is great news for the carbon emission faithful, it's hardly surprising. For the last few years Toyota has been offering hybrid vehicles (through both their standard and Lexus brands) with the price, performance, a number of offerings that few other car companies could touch. And they haven't been keeping quiet about it. In addition to their Prius, which, if you visit progressive cities like Boulder or San Francisco (and to some extent, NYC), has become something of a Model T in terms of ubiquity, their RS series SUVs and their LS series luxury sedans have been taking advantage of their Hybrid Synergy Drive, allowing a mpg/performance ratio that's a much better solution in terms of carbon emissions than, say, BMW's terribly inefficient Hydrogen 7 initiative. In fact, with the new class of plug-in hybrids, drivers should be able to make it home and back during short trips without using a drop of gas at all. Some of the proposed batteries move cars for a range of 40 miles before the gas engine kicks in, which is more than the average commute in America.

One of Lexus's Hybrid Synergy Drive(R) commercials which aired on the other side of the pond.


As we begin to see a push away from vehicles fueled solidly on fossil fuels, the implications become more pervasive than the lower mpg numbers. Plug-In hybrids are vehicles that have more to offer us. Not only will they drop emissions but they have the potential to supplement the electric grid during peak hours, when demand is high. See, while every day power plants around the country create energy that's gobbled up, every night they create nearly as much electricity that simply goes to waste. The electric grid doesnt really store energy so they make careful judgments on how much to produce given the demand they foresee given extrapolation from historical consumer demand data. In essence, the power grid is like your local supermarket. They produce a highly perishable product based in quantities based on demand. The difference is that when demand becomes outstripped by supply, the prices don't simply go up, blackouts happen.

With new technologies like Vehicle-to-Grid ("V2G"), Plug-in hybrids, when augmented with the proper infrastructure, can give surplus energy BACK to the grid they took it from the night before. What most Americans don't know is that the average car packs a LOT of power; more than ten kilowatts by some estimates, which is enough to power, you guessed it, ten homes. Sounds crazy but when you think of the fact that when we drive we move more than 2000 lbs at an average rate of about 40mph, the machines need all that juice to get the job done. Obviously some manufacturers have moved toward the 'less is more' line of reasoning which states that the lighter you make your car, the more speed you can get for less turns at the fill-up station (as is the case with the chassis of the Lotus Elise) . I'm sure as time progresses, the manufacturers of the GMC Volt and Toyota Prius will take that into account as well. Regardless of whether you're giving back to the grid on a normal basis or you're pulling out your V2G hardware for power-backup during blackouts.

So what do we get from plug-in hybrids that makes them beyond the geek? (1) Decreased fuel consumption, which leads to (2)less greenhouse gas emissions and (3)more independence from foreign oil, (4)fewer $$$ spent on gasoline since the user can charge up at home, and of course, (5)the ability to give power back to the grid, which, I may have forgot to mention, leaves the power company paying YOU.

Coming Soon, the Entire Information SuperHighway (Affordably and Easily) At Your Fingertips

"The world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air."

Any geek worth his salt can feel the haunting words of Toklien's Treebeard release a shudder through their bodies the way it must've to the bodies of little Merry and Pippin as they traversed the landscape of the forest, and were enlightened about the oncoming paradigm shift in their world.

Such enlightenment flitters through the many consciousnesses of all involved much as the light of day through an eerie image mounted onto stain glass. Just like that light, the shift contains a dual nature; it's an unknown that creepy as it is educational; an anxiety that's accompanied by a certain dread. It's been dramatic and subtle but ten years ago, the internet matured as a superhighway of information. Five years ago the laptop redefined where we could connect to that superhighway. And in 2008, the new army of consumer-oriented mobile devices is fueling a third shift. Unlimited Data. Anytime. Anywhere.

When Apple, Inc.'s iPhone first came to the market last year it pleased a whole lot of people and yet it spawned resentment in just as many. For some the iPhone was the be-all and end-all of phones. It had wi-fi, a full web browser, multi-touch controls, great application support and operating system updates and the list went on and on. Those opposed sighted that in such an information transmitting device it was close to sinful that the simple function of cut-and-pasting wasn't an option. And that for the price the lack of GPS or 3G support, along with Apple's as-per-usual inability to deliver a device with a user-replaceable battery was disturbing. And so we had the consensus of those who said "wait." There were more than just these two camps though. There was something else there.

Unlike so many handsets this phone wasn't made by Nokia or LG, companies that base most of their revenue via phone sales. Nor was it manufactured by Samsung or Sony, branding giants who's products run the consumer electronics gamut, but by Apple-- a company that is is known for high-end computer devices and the volks-wagen of all media devices, the iPod. The idea that the cell phone market was open to any company with an army of designers and an exclusive contract with a service provider was another one of Treebeard's paradigm shifts.

Love it or hate it though, the device also represented something else to another segment of tech lovers-- the solid feeling that, well, it was about time. Time for a consumer driven (there have been business-aimed smart-phones for ages) device to come along and take a crack at the coveted position of the full fledged Personal Communications Device ("PCD"). PCDs aren't just made for calling someone but really, they're your online presence and informational go-to thingamabob in an emerging world where information recall is as reflexive as clipping yourself into a seatbelt or taking in a huge gulp of air before you perform a cannonball off of a springboard.

With the imminent release of th second generation iPhone, we next-level PCD techies are about to see a wallop of a paradigm shift as consumers have more than just the new, cheaper, Apple toy to play with in the smart-phone market. With Sprint & Samsung's Instinct, the HTC Touch, the cheapening of the Blackberry Curves along with the release of their 9000 model and a growing stock of newly released and up-and-coming devices from all sorts of tech companies (like ones supporting Google's Android), it's obvious that one day literally everybody(and their momma!)'s going to have, at their fingertips, a host of online functionality tools, created for the consumption, transmission, and overall integration of vast quantities of data in our daily lives. What's this mean for our society/everyday life?

Ever since picking up my Blackberry Curve (8310) in 2007 I must say that the first change I noticed in my everyday parlance was the lost of the ubiquitous "THEY." You know the "THEY." O no? Then let me re-introduce you.

THEY haven't made a nuclear powered emission-free car yet.

THEY have a new ice-cream out now made of plastic!

You see my point? The THEY-- that strange force of unknown people that gets things done to make our lives that much more luxurious or whatever-- their mystery vanished. How? Well, via the fact that any answer to nearly any question I had was now not only answerable in seconds, as would be were I hanging out in any wifi hot-spot with my laptop, but completely on the go and out of my pocket. THEY, were all given names as constant questions arose in conversation about what was possible concerning this or that, and specifically, how such random things were accomplished. The THEY went away. Suddenly it became: "Sony's found a way to make a screen/monitor as thin or thinner than a credit card" or "you can totally

Other things that the Shift will affect?

1) As the GPS software on these things gets more and more advanced, you'll be able to pass your GPS information to your friends and family as you see fit. Are you looking for the bar where you're supposed to meet your buddies? Move the blue blip that represents you on your handheld's map to the red blip that represents your party. No more wonky half-drunk directions a la "So do you see that fire hydrant painted like a dalmatian? Yah, it's just to the left of that! "

2) You walk by a convenience store on your way to meet someone and your phone beeps. You look at your handheld and it says A) that it's gonna rain in a few hours, and b) that if you don't have an umbrella already, the convenience store you just passed probably does.

3) You're in the supermarket and you pass by the pineapple display. You want one, but you don't know how to choose a ripe one. So you ask your handheld how to choose a pineapple properly pick one out and in a minute or two, you're squeezing, smelling and testing the top leaves on the lot of them until you've got the best in the barrel.

Some of us are already there. But with the widespread proliferation of consumer-based smart-phone devices, and the very reasonable data and voice plans available in some areas, it's just a matter of time before They're about to have us way more connected than most could have ever imagined.