Graeme Thickins on Tech

Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Consumer Electronics (Page 4 of 5)

My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2011

December 31, 2011 / / 4 Comments

As the year comes to a close, I decided to humor myself by taking a look back and choosing my favorite blog posts for 2011.  (It's New Year's Eve and I'm home sick, so no partying for me.)  Here's the list — in chronological order, the first one from February, and the last from early December. I'm just showing the first paragraph or two of each of these posts below (or, for some of the video interview posts, just a screen grab of the subject), then a link to read the full post.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Blogging Gone Wild

People who've been reading this blog for a while may know I started it in 2005. That's a long time in blog years, and it's resulted in a monstrous archive of what people now call "long-form blogging" — at least it is for me, as one, lone writer.BlogServices-logos(6)  My quick tally is about 400,000-500,000 words (several books' worth), and I can't even begin to guess the *time* I have into it. Let's just say it's been countless thousands of hours that I've spent filling this space — planning, thinking, writing, editing, covering events, managing comments, and, not the least, all the time spent in the behind-the-scenes (pain in the ass)  administration of the site.  That last part is especially a challenge with Typepad, the platform I chose way back when. Unfortunately, it hasn't kept up with bloggers' needs, especially from a UI/ease-of-use standpoint. (But the time to convert my blog to WordPress, as I might like, has just been way too much of a time hurdle to consider if I want to keep paying the bills with the income I have to generate in the non-blogging part of my business life.) The whole notion of "micro" blogging wasn't even in our minds back in 2005. But, of course, those of you who follow me regularly know I've been posting the majority of my online content for the past few years on a certain site that starts with a "T".  ….  Read the rest of the post here.

Live Blog: DEMO Spring 2011

I'm back at DEMO doing another live-blog. This is the 12th time I've reported on DEMO, and I've been doing the last few by using the "Cover It Live" app (see window below). Produced by the IDG Enterprise events group in conjunction with VentureBeat, the DEMO conferences in the United States and China focus on emerging technologies and new product innovations, which are hand selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. DEMOspring2011_bannerThe DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launchpad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. For more information on the DEMO conferences, visit DEMO.com.  The conference kicks off officially at 9:15 am Pacific today, when my live-blogging will begin in earnest.  Here's the agenda.  ….  Read the rest of the post here.

Glue Conference: A Chat With Mark Suster, GRP Partners

MarkSuster-videoframe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Watch the video here.

Glue Conference: Listen In On a Great Chat Between Terry Jones/FluidInfo and Seth Levine/Foundry Group

TerryJonesOne of the things I love most SethLevineabout attending great events like Glue is getting to be a fly on the wall in some awesome conversations. Except, for this one, I had my brand-new review unit Olympus LS-20M at the ready (having been recording interviews all day), so was able to capture this chat literally on the spur of the moment in HD video and high-quality audio, just by unobtrusively aiming the recorder.  Terry and Seth went on and on in a really interesting exhange about Terry's big-data startup FluidInfo (investors include Esther Dyson and Tim O'Reilly), so I just kept shooting and taking it all in.  Give a listen. …. Watch the video here.

George Reese on "The Cloud's Shining Moment," Four Days Later

Cloud-ShiningThe major Amazon Web Services outage that began this past Thursday morning was unlike anything before it.  Countless AWS customers, big and small, GeorgeReesewent down, many for days. Surprisingly, other biggies like Netflix, SmugMug, and Twilio had little or no disruption.  One hungers to know why…

Over the weekend, George Reese, a cloud expert and author (and CTO of cloud-management tools company enStratus), wrote a fascinating post on O'Reilly about what some would call a cloud disaster — entitling it, ironically enough, "The Cloud's Shining Moment." George has a unique perspective on the cloud, and a large following. …. Read the rest of the post here.

Live Blog: DEMO Fall 2011

DEMOfall2011-lobbyIt's time, gang — for another one of my conference live-blogs, this time for DEMOfall.  Once again, as I have for the last several events I've covered, I'm using the "Cover It Live" app (see window below). With more than 20,000 technologies reviewed and 1,500 companies selected to launch on the DEMO stage over the past 20 years, DEMO has continually searched the globe to find innovation where it lives. The DEMO Team has logged millions of miles to uncover technology '"diamonds in the rough. Some of the companies that have launched at DEMO include Salesforce.com, Netscape, VMware, TiVo, Skype (for mobile handsets), WebEx, Jajah, Boingo Wireless, BuzzLogic, Vringo, and many more. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, helping its presenting companies secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. ….  Read the rest of the post here.

Defrag 2011: My Interview of Robert Stephens, CTO, Best Buy

RobertStephensIt was great to catch my friend Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad and now CTO of Best Buy, this morning at breakfast on Day 2 of Defrag. It was right before his opening keynote, and he gave me kind of a sneak peak to his talk.  We covered a lot of topics, and could have gone on even longer. … Here's the 10-minute interview.

 

 

 

Defrag 2011: My Interview of James Altucher

JamesAltucherI had a chance to catch James at breakfast this morning, on Day 1 of Defrag. Could have talked to him for an hour… fascinating guy (he's been an entrepreneur, VC, hedge fund manager, and is a prolific writer — author of several books and a regular TechCrunch contributor). Gonna have him autograph his latest book, "I Was Blind But Now I See," which we got in our Defrag swag bag. … Watch the video here.

 

 

 

 

My Live Blog: Defrag 2011 – the 5th Annual!

Defrag-logo+hotelWow, time flies. Seems like only yesterday we gathered in downtown Denver for the first Defrag conference in the fall of 2007. Now I'm about to experience my fifth, and each has been better than the one before.  A couple years ago, the venue was switched to the OMNI Interlocken Resort in nearby Broomfield, where I arrived today about noon. Why is Defrag special?  Here's how conference organizer Eric Norlin (Twitter name: @defrag) explained it in a recent blog post: "It’s about being passionate about the learning process… that turns out to be what is different about Defrag." …. Read the rest of the post here.

 

 

Why I'm Returning My KindleFire (and Saving My Money for an iPad 3)

KindleFireI picked up a KindleFire last week, a couple days after Amazon started selling them.  I had pre-ordered one at my local Best Buy store.  I didn't really need one, of course — I've been a happy iPad user since Day One.  (And the same for the iPhone since its Day One. It's no secret I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Apple fanboy.)  The iPad has changed my online life. I could not live without it. But, heck, I'm a tech blogger, an analyst, a reviewer, and the KindleFire was cheap.  (Sometimes, as a blogger, a review unit shows up at my door, but not this time.)  For the low, low price, below Amazon's cost, I saw the launch of the Fire as an excuse for me to finally acquire an Android device and see what life is like on the other side. And I liked the idea of the Amazon-curated app store, which would cut down on all the rogue crap-apps and malware in the Android world. Well, the experiment didn't last long. I was not impressed. …. Read the rest of the post here.

That's it — my 10 best posts from 2011.  (Not counting the ones I contribute to Minnov8.com — check those out, too.)  Here's to another good year of banging on the keyboard in 2012.  Happy New Year, everyone!

My DEMO Fall 2011 ‘Top 10’ List … okay, 15!

September 16, 2011 / / 2 Comments

Really hard to choose favorites out of the 80 great companies that presented. I thought about which ones I'd pick for my top ten, and it turned out to be 15!  DEMOfall2011-stage300w But all 80 companies were winners, going through the process they did and getting up on that national (global!) stage, pouring out their hearts about their creations… hats off to all of them!!

Here are the 15 that most struck me… based on three criteria: (1) a great onstage presentation that got their story across well, (2) a technology or consumer service that could change the world or is meeting a major market need, and (3) a product or service that personally resonated with me, that I would use myself. Listed alphabetically:

1. Aurasma *

2. BringShare

3. DailyDigital

4. Gust

5. IconFinder

6. TasteJive

7. LifeCrowd

8. Me&MyMoney

9. MeMeTales

10. Needium

11. Stroome

12. Unrabble

13. Voyurl

14. Whodini

15. WeVideo **

* People's Choice winner and one of five Demo God award winners.  **Also a Demo God award winner.

I had the good fortune, in all the rush, to capture video interviews of five of these companies. And I sure wish I could have gotten to more of them. But time is at a real premium at DEMO — it's a content firehose like no other!  All my videos — including a total of 11 founder interviews — are right here on this blog (one per post). I still have about 10 videos to upload (7 of them DEMO company founders), and am continuing to post them in the order I shot them.

For a look at DEMO Fall in pictures, see my Flickr set. And stay tuned to this blog for more DEMO posts. All my posts tagged "DEMOfall 2011" will continue to be available at this link.

 

 

 

Hands-On Review: Olympus LS-20M HD Video/Audio Recorder

June 13, 2011 / / 8 Comments

I had the good fortune to get my hands on a very cool, brand-new gadget in late May before it was due to hit stores in June, thanks to my friend Robert Stephens, CTO of Best Buy.  He asked me to shoot video interviews at the Glue Conference, which he wasn't able to attend, and I told him I'd love to try it with a new device I'd just heard about, the Olympus LS-20M, if he could get me a review unit. He scored one for me a day or two later, and I ultimately shot 18 interviews at the conference, May 24-26 in Denver (all of which appear just prior to this post). My net assessment: I loved it!

Olympus_LS-20M This is one heckuva device for the money (list price $299), really unlike anything before it that I had seen.  In a sentence, here's how Olympus describes it: "The new LS-20M is the first Olympus recorder that captures and edits 1080p HD video while recording 24 bit/96 hHz Linear PCM stereo sound…(it) enables users to create home movies that look and sound like professional productions in a device that’s so compact it fits in your pocket."

 I like to call it a hand-held, studio-grade recorder, the same way I'm used to describing my Olympus LS-10 — but that's an audio-only device, which I've been doing interviews with for a couple of years. This adds HD video to my game (finally) and, combined with high-quality audio, lets me record much more interesting interviews at all the conferences I attend.  Sure, I've had an iPhone for some time and shoot videos with that, but not for serious journalistic kinda stuff, and I somehow never got around to buying a Flip (and why would I now that Cisco killed it off?). 

Summary of My Experience:

• The device was very easy to use. The review unit I received came without a manual (because it wasn't printed yet), but I was able to quickly figure out how to operate it. Of course, I had the advantage of having used the LS-10, and the controls are very similar. I just began shooting video interviews without even practicing first. (And some of my interviews show it!) I was challenged by difficult lighting conditions, and it did take me a while to get the hang of shooting with it, but I was generally pleased with how my candid interviews turned out. They averaged 3-4 minutes in length.

• Using a mini-tripod as a handle is the only way to go when doing hand-held interviews. (There's a screw-mount in the bottom of the unit.) I was used to doing this with my LS-10, to aim the device, and of course it's even more critical when shooting video! LS-20M_wTripod My mini-tripod is 4-5 inches high when fully closed and fits perfectly in my hand to support the device and hold it conveniently and comfortably for shooting. A mini-tripod can also double as a stand when doing tabletop interviews, as shown in the accompanying photo (this one and others copyright GizMag, and see the link to their article below). My tripod is smaller than this one and has straight legs, so it's ideal doubling as a handle.

• I bought a high-speed 16GB SD card to use with my LS-20M review unit, to make sure I'd have hours of recording capacity while I was doing all my interviews at the conference. The LS-20 comes with a 2GB card, but that won't hold a lot of video. (Note: you can alternately do audio-only recording with the unit, via a switch on the right side, and MP3s take up a lot less space.)

• The fact that the unit does not have little wheels for volume and audio level on the side is a good thing, as I found with the LS-10 that they could inadvertently be adjusted too low without me realizing it! (All such controls were thankfully made digital on the LS-20M, accessible via the Menu button.)

• The unit doesn't have built-in wifi, so there's no "Upload to YouTube" button. But in my experience at the conference (which had very good wifi), I simply pulled my SD card, put it into a reader, plugged it into a USB port on my MacBook, and quickly uploaded my short videos via the YouTube site. Then, I simply copy-pasted the URL for each video into the Typepad new-post interface, entered a title, clicked publish — and, voila, each video was published as its own post. I was able to post several videos each day of the two-day event, just by working a bit during breaks.

What Could be Improved?

• The one big issue with the LS-20M is the fixed, front-mounted lens, between the dual mics (which you can see in the top photo). That makes viewing the LCD screens a challenge when you're shooting. In order to see the shot you're framing, you have to angle the unit upwards a least a little, and shooting up at a subject is not the most flattering angle.  I had to be very aware of this while I was shooting, constantly trying to minimize the angle while craning my neck to see my shot. LS-20M_front-left (Otherwise, it is so crazy-easy to chop someone's head off!) LS-20M_front-right I got used to that quickly, though, and was able to shoot pretty good video, adequate for my needs. Suggestion to Olympus: make the lens rotatable downward! Even just 15 degrees or so would help immensely. I will not be surprised to see that improvement in the next release of the product. It is a design shortcoming.

• The small LCD screen below the main one is okay, but I noticed the little icon for battery capacity only after I'd run out of battery in the middle of an interview! It was crammed into the upper right of the display. The charger worked quite fast, though, and I found the battery life to be good. (I didn't time it, but it seemed like several hours.)

Those were really my only complaints about the unit.  It worked flawlessly otherwise, and the quality of the video and the audio is nothing short of tremendous.  I would whole-heartedly recommend the LS-20M for anyone needing to do journalistic, remote/on-site interviews as I do.  Beyond that usage, however, the device will surely be popular for general consumer use, including family videos. I didn't even mention (nor did I need to use) this cool feature: it comes with four different optional "Magic Movie" special-effect filters.  But I will surely give those filters a try for personal videos, once I get my own unit.  I do intend to make the LS-20M my video cam of choice when I want to capture serious, quality videos.  The quality of cell phone videos (including the iPhone) only goes so far — especially the audio.  And the LS-20M is easy to take with you in its nice, little zippered black-fabric case. One cool optional accessory is a remote control, which would be be handy in situations where you want the unit stationary or on a tripod, and you need to start and stop the recording — say at an event like a concert or a wedding.

Other sites have written about the LS-20M, at least when it was first announced. I'm not aware of any other reviews yet based on hands-on usage, however. Here are four of the best reports I read on the device, all published in early May:

• Ubergizmo

• CrunchGear

• Engadget

• GizMag

The LS-20M will be available in stores and from online sites sometime in June — the company didn't say exactly when.  Retail is $299, but I see prices as low as $230 already listed online, and I assume some sites may be accepting pre-orders now.

 

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