Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.
[Note: This post first appeared on April 30th at Minnov8.com, where I’m a regular contributor.]
Retailers still don’t appear to be facing the profound changes their industry is undergoing, according to Peter Zaballos, VP of marketing and product at Minneapolis-based SPS Commerce, in a keynote he gave yesterday at the company’s annual “omnichannel” conference, called In:fluence15.
“It’s not just about ‘the Amazon effect’,” he said. “It’s about digital engagement.”
It turns out there’s a lot going on in the ‘Internet of Things’ space in our state. There’s also a ton of excitement and anticipation about where all this new technology is headed. Must be time for a conference! A group of technologists and early adopters in the Twin Cities decided to do just that, and are off to the races with plans for “IoT Fuse” in March — aptly described as “A Conference to Spark the Internet of Things.” Here’s the latest news from the team about the event:
Think of it as the morning after. Actually, it was the Monday following the week when 2015 International CES ended, on a Friday. I was scrolling through my email, trying to decompress — feeling some pride in surviving multiple weeks of being blasted with hundreds (thousands?) of PR pitches from an absolutely cuh-razy variety of exhibiting companies, from all over the globe. The blisters on my feet weren’t hurting so bad anymore. Whew! Things were finally starting to… slow… down.
Part of this decompression process is always trying to form in my head my overall opinion of the show — this after writing a couple of posts (and shooting a ton of photos), but no one person can ever really write enough posts to describe their entire experience at this thing. Which begs the question, how the hell do I summarize yet another year of this massive tech-product sensory overload? It is not easy netting it out!
I didn’t go to the CES show looking to buy anything. I was already spending enough money getting there… and, um, making cabbies rich once I arrived. But the chance to listen to Neil Young’s Pono music player at the Showstoppers press event at CES on Tuesday evening last week convinced me to open my wallet. The experience was just so amazing.
Understand, now, I’m no audiophile or crazy-geeky music connoisseur. But I do know when I hear something that’s like nothing else. So I decided pretty instantly — yep, I’m a buyer! At $399, it’s a bargain to be able to have on-demand music experiences that rise above anything else, as Pono does. And as I considered the cost, I figured, hey, how many people paid this much and more for iPods back in the day? (Even though I admit I didn’t.) So, price is especially relative in this case.
Compare your iPod to the Pono sometime, if you can find someone who owns one, or if you can find a demo unit in a store. You will be convinced. Or compare it to the sound quality of any of the various modern smartphones out there today — those sure haven’t improved music listening much at all since the iPod, in any way I’m aware of.
The eighth annual Defrag event is about to fire up in Denver, and I’m here once more — for my eighth year in a row! Really looking forward to another amazing, mine-expanding program. Watch for more here, and of course at @GraemeThickins throughout the next two days.
Strategist. Writer. Consultant.
Advisor. Investor. More.
© 2024 Graeme Thickins on Tech
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Recent Comments