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SlingBox Personal Broadcaster

The plan best include a solid legal team… I love the sound of this, but think the lawyers for the MPAA are going to freak out. Sounds awesome… let’s wish them luck!

If everything goes to plan, Sling Media, a San Francisco based start-up, at year end will begin selling the SlingBox Personal Broadcaster (MSRP $199), a device that plugs into a DVR, cable box, satellite receiver, or stereo at home and converts the analog stream into digital bits which can then be sent directly, in real-time, to any network PC or portable device (Laptop, PDA, cellphone, etc.) with a high-speed Internet connection. [eHomeUpgrade]

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First beta of Skype for Mac OS X

I am unfortunatley not one of the lucky ones… just yet.

The first external beta version of Skype Technologies’ free voice over IP (VoIP) software for Mac OS X has been distributed to a limited number of testers and is expected to reach public beta in the coming months. [AppleInsider | First beta of Skype for Mac OS X seeded to testers]

You might be saying, hey I already do voice with iChat, what’s the big deal? Well for starters Skype has a few tricks it can do like runs on a P2P network, encryption for your call security and can even link (through a paid service SkypeOut) make calls to phones rather than just other computers.

I’ve used it on the PC and it’s definitely cool… and the quality is excellent. We just need a better way to link all the buddy lists together. Too bad the tech is not integrated with other IM clients… perhaps in the future.

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PocketMac BlackBerry Edition

Mac based blackberry users just got a whole lot happier… This integrates throug hiSync and enables full 2-way sync.

La Jolla, CA–August 2004–Information Appliance Associates,
creators of the original Mac-to-Pocket-PC sync solution, announces
the new release of PocketMac Blackberry Edition, the first ever tool
to sync Mac users’ data with RIM BlackBerry handhelds.

“We’re incredibly excited,” said Terence Goggin, CTO of
Information Appliance Associates. “After 14 months of engineering and
testing, we’re proud to release this unique tool that for the first
time gives Mac users the ability to sync with BlackBerry handhelds.
What’s more, we’ve made sure no one’s left out — older serial-based
BlackBerry 957s can also fully sync as well.” [PocketMac]

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Those must be …Bad Idea Jeans

This week, two very interesting marketing experiments blew up in the faces of those who decided to launch…

First – Real launches a blog – Freedom of Music which was a valiant effort to stick it to Apple in order to open the iPod to support Harmony and the Real music store. Too bad they forgot most people don’t really like them from past marketing and crappy product efforts. With comments enabled, the blog was besiged by Apple Zealots. Comments had to be disabled and of course the efforts are now serioulsy hindered since everyone is talking about it. Good try, but not sure how any other result would have been reached based on history. The brand was nowhere near strong enough to demand the support of users, haters or a general public in a fight against something as strong as Apple’s…

Second… In support of the new Resident Evil game, someone at Capcom decides to (perhaps just approve the Agency’s decision to) spam mobile users with an SMS looking like a virus. I get the idea that it ties back to the game, but spam and virus??? hello….

It’s great to try and track with the trends, but don’t lose focus on basic common sense. Know the limits of the idea before it breaks and possibly breaks you.

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Flickr: Organizr

This is a great feature for a great service… which reminds me… I need to snap more moblog shots!

We’re pleased to introduce Organizr, the latest addition to the Flickr toolbox, to help you more easily store, sort, search and share your photos. Organizr is a powerful tool that enables you to quickly find and edit your photos, create sets and add your photos to group pools. Oh yeah – Organizr runs right in your browser. There’s nothing to install. [Flickr]

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Researchers find holes in XP SP2

I’m sure you are as surprised as I am…

Security researchers inspecting a new update to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP found two software flaws that could allow virus writers and malicious hackers to sidestep new security features in the operating system. [InfoWorld]

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HP taking pre-orders on their h6315 Pocket PC Phone

One of the unique features this phone has is what T-Mobile is calling e-mail triggers which send can smart a sms linked to the actual email in your inbox. It’s a slick sounding method of push email that you can control based on filters for your mail. Not all your messages will do this, unless of course you set it so.

The ship date supposedly isn’t until September 9th, which is a couple of weeks later than expected, but HP is taking pre-orders on their iPAQ h6315 Pocket PC Phone, the one with GSM/GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth, a built-in VGA quality digital camera, a 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen, and a snap-on mini-keyboard. List price is $599.99, with T-Mobile as the service provider. [Engadget]

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Digitally Tracking Ads

Interesting piece in USA Today on a new standard for tracking TV ads as well as ads across other mediums… Seems to have good buy-in from both networks and advertisers.

The top four U.S. broadcast networks — CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox — have signed on to comply with a new 12-character code for tracking all advertising, a system heralded as a new standard for monitoring the $263 billion U.S. ad industry, the two advertising trade groups behind the system said.

Called Ad-ID, the technical switch is being compared to the introduction of the universal product code, or UPC — the tiny bar codes that 30 years ago changed the way supermarket chains tracked and delivered inventory across the country.

Ad-ID gives advertisers a centralized Web-based system that helps assign unique codes to their properties. More than 100 leading advertisers and other trade groups have endorsed the system. The compliance of top broadcast networks paves the way for making it a standard. [USATODAY.com]

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Joi Ito — Memory Lane

This is a nice interview with Joi Ito … great with the morning espresso.

Halley Suitt interviews entrepreneur and venture capitalist Joichi Ito about the way the web, cellular, social software and other technologies developed concurrently in the US and Japan from the 1980’s up to the present. [IT Conversations]

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palmOne SD WiFi Card

PalmInfocenter reviews the eagerly anticipated SD WiFI card… It would be nice if all SD capable devices (like the Treo) were also supported but I understand there are some device specific issues for each one to get it to work.

The new SD WiFi card from palmOne is a long overdue wireless accessory. The card enables the Tungsten T3 and Zire 72 handheld to connect to 802.11b/g WiFi networks though the secure digital expansion slot.

…

The SD WiFi card is now available for pre-order from palmOne.com for $129 USD. It will begin shipping and hit retail locations the week of Sept 3rd. [PalmInfocenter.com]

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Palm email just got a whole lot more interesting

If you use your Palm or Treo to do email you’ve probably run across SnapperMail which has been widely regarded as the best client for POP and in the current beta IMAP as well. The UI and support for many devices is great, but as anyone testing things out has noticed the price for IMAP, which is only available to Enterprise customers (though individuals can purchase, it’s just what they call it) who are willing to pay about $60.

VersaMail which is now owned and developed by PalmOne is a nice client and supports POP and IMAP, but only supports syncing the Inbox which might fall short for what many power users are looking for…

The Treo email client does some background tricks not available to users of other clients which make it attractive, but it only supports POP, not IMAP which many users (like me) prefer to manage status of messages read and replied (amongst other reasons) while on the go.

Chatter Email, formerly IMChatter is a new very serious contender in this space. The previous version would allow for email as well as IM alerts and conversations through more of an IM interface. Today’s beta release changes all that and I have to say it looks pretty killer for $25. In addition to becoming a richer email and IM client, you can get full background send and receive capabilities for your messaging needs! This is an amazing feat for the OS 5 devices and I have a feeling that Chatter will become extremely popular. Imagine turning the palm on and finding your new messages have conveniently already arrived.

The message view area is the only lacking bit in my book. It’s not as clean as the SnapperMail way, but background “push” capabilities override many details. Besides… I bet things will just get even better as today’s release shows.

Chatter Email is the first mail application for the Treo 600 that comes seriously close to matching the “Blackberry-like” push mail service. In fact, we believe it outperforms the Blackberry service because Chatter Email doesn’t rely on an additional server piece, though it does require the mail server to support IMAP. The second “killer feature” is background synchronization, something that is available in the built-in Treo Mail but not in SnapperMail. Marc is definitely pushing the “multi-tasking” boundaries of OS5 by combining push mail with background synchronization. Finally, Chatter is priced at a one-time license fee of $25 and Marc has promised that this low price includes free upgrades for life! [mytreo.net]

—-
UPDATED 8/19

After a day or so of use and another beta release, I have some additional thoughts to share…

Chatter allows for a couple of cool tricks since it can run in the background. First, you can get a pop-up message with notification as well as the actual message a new mail comes through while in other applications. Making a call with your headset and a new message arrives… you can read and reply – FROM the phone screen. While it politely runs in the background, you can leave your Treo in Sleep mode and turn it on to find new messages waiting to be read and filed — in ALL your IMAP folders. You can sync up to 8 server side folders, which means if you have server side filtering running with Procmail, you can be notified on more specific messages.

My personal usage is to leave notification off, since I know mail will just appear as it comes in and so I just check my Treo when I want to read mail. This is really a great thing as my Treo no reconnects to the network as I pass through spaces that don’t have connectivity (subway in NY) and constantly polls for mail.

My experience is on Treo 600 running on T-Mobile. Usage may and I believe does vary of CDMA (Sprint and Verizon) networks based on hows tasks and as a result battery life is managed.

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once more on my travel saga…

After the hell day .. 21+ hours for an alleged day trip… I found myself in the car for about 6 1/2 hours Friday instead of what should have been about 3 1/2 to get to Saratoga. We had no idea what the deal was until pretty close to Albany when finally we saw not one but two tractor trailers that had been annihilated, I assume by each other. One actually looked like the trailer had been sliced in half. Needless to say it was a long day.

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quick note…

I’m currently up in Saratoga Springs for my sister-in-law’s wedding… Had to change hotels once and now happily at a brand new Marriot Courtyard which is kind enough to throw in free broadband — even wireless. The wireless is too weak in my room, but check out the ethernet connection…

2004-08-14 23:22:18 EST: 1224 / 1366
Your download speed : 1253621 bps, or 1224 kbps.
A 153 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 1399295 bps, or 1366 kbps.

Looks like a T1, though amazingly my upstream is faster than my down. Maybe I should run a few server processes… 😉

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Home again

The longest day I’ve had in a very long time and probably the most ridiculous travel ever is finally ending.

While waiting to get picked up upon landing, I happened upon the crew from the flight and I had to ask about the weight issue from earlier.

Apparently there is no way to tell the weight of the plane until the bag count gets radioed in…in our case it was too late since we had pushed off and taxied almost to the runway. Our fuel delay was a result of everyone basically packing it in for the night thinking we had left…you lose some then you lose some more.

Home…

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Better and better

so due to just hanging about the runway withe engine running — getting all 3 passengers off to deal with our weight issues — we need to refuel in order to actually leave now. unreal…

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Wrote too quickly

still sitting on the plane… as we were getting ready to taxi the pilot announced we were too heavy and had to head back to the gate!! unreal I know – as if they can’t check that before we push off.

we are currently waiting for traffic to clear in order to get back to gate…coming on 15 min of just sitting in the midst of the runways.

hope we actually make it out tonight…

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The thrills of business travel

Wake up at 4:30am to catch a 6:30 flight at LGA …

leave and land late arriving late at IAD (Dulles) to scheduled 8am meeting

arrive 2 hours early (after meetings) to return and discover 30 minutes before flight is scheduled to leave it is postponed 2 hours… 2 hours later it is cancelled. Thanks, Charley.

Wait in line with many other suckers to try and deal with the customer service counter… call United directly and book a 7am flight tomorrow, noting additional not yet cancelled flights still on the board. Hit the gates, booking a hotel room for backup and eventually getting on the standby list (somehow with a miraculously low number)

Success! Name gets called and now just waiting for the plane to be ready — after the pilot’s dinner of course!

Still have a ways to go…. the flight has yet to be called for boarding to offically get the heck out of town. We’ll see … but looking good.

Tired….

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Does Satellite Radio Track You?

I was just thinking while cleaning up after dinner…

Does either Satellite radio service have a built way to track listeners to get some actual (not Nielson or Arbitron BS) numbers? I would think there was a solid opportunity to build this in from the beginning, I just have no idea whether XM or Sirius went for it…

What got me started was thinking about the Opie and Anthony deal and how they are choosing to be listed as a premium (you pay on top of the subscription) channel in the same was as Playboy and a few others. I get this, as it gives extra protection from FCC scrutiny, but the Sat services are already premium… I mean you have to pay to get any of the channels, it’s not freely broadcast for anyone to hear. Anyway without getting too distracted it would be interesting to see comparisons between what the now paying public tallied up to compared to previously reported numbers. I know the numbers will be smaller anyway since so few people have the services, but then we might also look at new subs, who add the show.

Personally I don’t care about those guys. I might consider getting one of the services for Howard Stern, but even then I would have to be living somewhere where radio was a part of my daily media consumption.

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Link Splicer: New and Improved!

This is a very cool addition especially for me as a recent convert (for now) to Bloglines. I’ve been wondering how the heck I might use the clip blog and now it seems there is a way. The trick I’d like to see is post to blog as well as just add to feed.

Last week we launched the Link Splicer, a service that merged a daily summary of your del.icio.us links into your feed. Since then, we’ve received a lot of very nice comments and some great suggestions. Based upon this feedback, we’d like to announce a few improvements to the service.

A number of people wrote in to request that we support link collection sites other than del.icio.us. Say no more! The Link Splicer now works with Furl and Bloglines Clip Blogs, the two most-requested services. [Burn This! – The FeedBurner Weblog]

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Corporate blogging

Nice write-up on the difference in personal and work blogs… 😉

So, I have a corporate blog now, in addition to %u201Cdive into mark,%u201D which will remain a personal blog. A corporate blog is just like a personal blog, except you don%u2019t get to use the word %u201Cmotherfucker.%u201D

Also, you don%u2019t get control over your blog%u2019s look, feel, markup, software, features, URLs, feeds, comment registration system, or accessibility. You have no access to hit counts or referrer logs. You have no control over the popup window that asks your readers to fill out a survey when they leave your blog. I%u2019ve made a business case for getting raw access logs and referrer logs, but no word yet on when they might be available.

I expect this lack of control will free me to concentrate on my writing, which will be scrutinized by two levels of managers and a team of rabid lawyers. [dive into mark]