Dell, my old employer launched the Dell XPS One. Not bad. It’s like a iMac, except add some decent speakers and a phatty Windows Media Center remote. I’m tempted to pick one of these up, since pretty much the only Dell stuff I’ve been buying in recent history are their desktop monitors. In fact, I use a 24 inch widescreen LCD monitor from Dell with my Mac mini.
Which brings me to the point of this post. What has Apple done since the iMac that has been innovative for the desktop? The Mac mini was close, but small form factor PCs were around then as well. Even though Apple’s was probably the coolest. The iMac was refreshed earlier this year, but it was merely cosmetic. And now it’s been around so long, and successfully so, that the Dell, the maker of what’s mainstream, has adapted the innovative PC-in-a-Panel architecture and slapped their “cool-guy brand” on it.
Come on Apple. You’ve been quiet. Been too busy developing phones, touch-screens iPods, and switching your PC lineup to Intel? Where is a new notebook to lust after? Where is a new architecture to disrupt what we think is normal? This is what consumers expect from you, whether you like it or not. There are rumors of a tablet. Or for a ultra-mobile notebook.
Give me a good reason to figure out clever ways to have an “accident” with my current notebook, so I can get a new ride.
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Finally. Our first wireless stereo headset! It is available just in time for the holidays. If you use Skype more than 5 times a week, this headset will be your new best friend, I can guarantee it. I’ve been carrying my proto with me for the better part of this year, and it’s held up relatively well in my bag, taking many beatings. It sounds great, and works flawlessly. The range on FREETALK’s version is just over 35 feet. It will best the two other cordless options shown on this page. They are both based on Bluetooth… stop yawning, you’ll want to hear this.
People often ask how we compare to Bluetooth… often phrased as, “why wouldn’t I just use Bluetooth?” The few (powerful) reasons are:
FREETALK requires no driver installations. Freetalk is plug & play. Plug it in, wait for Mac OS or Windows to recognize it, and about 20 seconds later you are off to the races.
FREETALK achieves better than 30 feet of range. Our system’s wireless audio coding gives you a few more meters than BT can at the same transmit power. Just try it. You’ll get 35-40 feet in most conditions, and up to 60 feet in very clean RF interference & obstacle environments.
FREETALK gives you high fidelity stereo audio & wideband voice!!! The Freetalk headset natively supports 48 kHz uncompressed stereo audio to the headset, and 16 kHz wideband voice from the headset’s mic…. wait for it… at the same time. Boom. (Gamers rejoice – use it for World of Warcraft, Ventrillo, you name it) You have to hear it to believe it. With BT, you’re required to use a different profile (A2DP), which does not support simultanous usage of the microphone, AND it compresses the hell out of the audio using a very crude compression scheme called SBC (sub-band coding). About as clean as 96 kbps mp3 in best cases.
FREETALK costs less. Don’t even get me started.
Anyways, let’s hear about what you think. Check it out, and report back here. I’m pretty sure you’ll be asking straight-away, “why hasn’t this existed before?”
HONG KONG — So for those who can put 2 and 2 and 4 together, it may not come as a suprise that I work for a company called Avnera. I’ve not mentioned it before since we’ve been in “stealth” mode, which has its advantages, no doubt. But it’s also a good thing when the story does get out, and that has begun as we issue our first press release and make some early product announcements with some of our early customers… customers whose products have been much discussed here at Alive Matters. Namely the RF-WHTIB from Rocketfish and the AWD210 from Acoustic Research.
Here’s a list of public information and press coverage of our company and products:
Additional coverage will be seeping out over the coming days, and most folks around Avnera are happy to be able to tell their families what the late hours have been about for the past 3.5 years.
It’s kinda funny to read how our meticulously crafted and technically-precise pitch has been interpreted and relayed to the masses. The craft of stroytelling and reporting is one I’ve grown up understanding from my father, who was a journalist by training and throughout most his life, lived with the spirit of storytelling. But as a technically-minded, detail-oriented person — who from day two has been continuously tasked with helping craft our “story” — to see what happens as the meat passes through a writer/critic’s gray-matter is a minor roller coaster. But overall, I am gratified that the core of our message has penetrated through. Our technology comes from a fundamentally sound, grounds-up systems-based approach to problem solving, and delivers a wireless audio solution that is robust and easy to use, and probably most important, affordable enough to enable true, mass-market applications. Premium performance, at mainstream prices. That’s why we’ve been able to raise $40+ Million, all on a positive-slope valuation curve, and enable a diversified set of early customer applications. There are still kinks in these muscles as we continue to “get warm”, and there will be growing pains, as anyone with startup experience knows, but it’s been an exciting adventure for a gadget guy who definitely shares the meaty grin of one of our founders, Chris O’Connor (pictured in today’s local rag, captured at the right).
Personally, I look forward to being able to share more about our progress and our technology. If detailed answers are what you seek, or if you wish to design with Avnera, contact corporate via the web. If you’re an interested tech-geek or general consumer, chime in on threads here at Alive Matters, if it’s fit to print, and I don’t smell a rat, you’ll get the most accurate take on matters that I am at liberty to discuss. And again, this blog is not officially affiliated with Avnera, and it will always be my intention to blog what I can and should. And it follows, that whatever opinions I express are strictly my own.
The covers have been taken off our first two product lines, but there is much more to come, so stay tuned…
Heh heh. The Q-Bean. For a while our customer has been telling us this thing was going to be huge. What I can say is that while it’s form factor is quirky, and its marketing even quirkier, the usability and sound quality you’ll experience is unmatched.
There are two variants of the Q-Bean. Basically the main difference is the type of audio transmitter device that it comes with. The Q-Bean-ST comes with a stereo line-input sender device that can run on batteries or be powered from the wall. The Q-Bean-U comes with a USB audio sender, and supports a microphone back-channel.
The Q-Bean-U version is simply plug & play, and converts your favorite pair of headphones into a full blown headset targeted at all manner of PC multimedia applications: Music, DVDs, VoIP, gaming, you name it.
One fascinating bundle that LTB Audio managed to cut was with One Voice. One Voice has a voice recognition software add-on for Windows Media Center that allows you to voice command your PC to do all manner of cool things. The bundle includes the Media Center Communicator application software and a Q-Bean-U, and it’s available on Amazon @ $174.99. It can also be bought directly from One Voice @ 174.99.
The Q-Bean has received a few mentions around the internets of late… check out reviews and listings here:
Technology Review published their TR35 for 2007. One of the cats, Tariq Krim founded Netvibes. I love it. Clearly I am late to the game on this one, but better late than never I say, plus, if I had come across it before it’s current mature state, I probably would have cast it off as not being ripe enough.
Better than iGoogle, better than my.yahoo, better than myway. It is what I am using for my home page. A few of the modules I like are the Facebook tracker, which satisfies my latest addiction, as well as the wordpress modules that let me easily view my stats, post articles, and watch my feeds. Plus it has a mobile version. I like this web 2.0 thing. I think it’s finally starting to mature and deliver on its promises.
Good coverage on RIM today. In the wake of the iPhone launch hype, it is good to see folks showing some love to BlackBerry. While iPhone has buzzed the consumer consciousness regarding smartphones, BlackBerry for the better part of the last 5 years has been the only company genuinely delivering on the promise of smartphones. It’s breakthrough integration with corporate email servers, and the multiple generations of tweaking their user interface has made the BlackBerry one of the most successful portable devices, ever.
IPhone mania is great and all, and I admit it’s pretty awe inspiring. The fact that Apple pulled off such a hype campaign is a testament to their past successes in delivering great end-user experiences. But, their track record of making great connections with consumers’ emotions also sets a very high bar for themselves. Which is to say that the iPhone, however pretty, better darn well deliver a killer user experience, or it will be nothing short of a letdown. People seem to ignore the fact that Apple is not alone in this space. It’s also not yet obvious how the iPhone’s innovations will create any sustainable advantage in the smartphone market. What are the apps that people truly believe Apple has revolutionized? Here are my early judgements on the iPhone’s wannabe killer apps.
Web Browsing? Still too small of a screen, and not much better than on other smartphones. EDGE isn’t gonna knock anyone’s socks off. No Flash. Verdict: While it looks prettier than other phone browsers, is web-lite ever a killer experience?
Email? Lack of corporate email integration is an issue. Soft keyboard is an annoyance. I suspect future iPhone models will have hard qwerty keys in the future — their corporate HCI guys won’t put up with software gee-whiz for long. Verdict: Not even close to killer. Lose the touchscreen keyboard, support exchange server, then we’ll talk.
Maps? Hardly a killer app that justifies a smartphone. BlackBerry, LG, and Samsung are already ahead in terms of GPS integration, and so far, no location-based services have been implemented or deemed vital… And again, what can Apple deliver uniquely that Google/BlackBerry/MS can’t? Verdict: Not killer… not yet at least. Let’s see more here.
Integrated iPod? I just don’t buy it. My iPod is still a better device, right? I find it hard to believe that Apple thinks they can leverage their iPod platform to make a smartphone indespensible. These functions have not shown to benefit from any coupling in the past, and it isn’t apparent why they should be combined going forward. Verdict: Not killer.
My opinions… time will tell. But I don’t think a bunch of “pretty neato” features cobbled together make a homerun device. There has to be something that the iPhone does better than any other device. Early reports do not signal this has happened.
Apple has educated a whole new swath of the market in a big way. So the iPhone is goodness for the whole smartphone market, enlarging the pie, not just taking a bigger a slice.
I had the feeling this was so, and recent articles confirm that RIM-themselves are thankful. Competition breeds innovation, and RIM, let’s face it, is plenty poised to give Apple a run. They have a robust pipeline, reasonable costs, a loyal user-base (Stats say that less than 6% of iPhone buyers were previously BlackBerry users), and a focus on the enterprise user, which is where multi-purpose devices today deliver immense value.
RIM is moving forward from a position of strength, an affordable, capable platform with a bona fide killer app, and a relatively loyal captive market. Apple moves forward on reputation and software usability street-cred, which loyalists will love. But can it alone revolutionize the segment and lead to market domination?
Whispers of RIMM shares headed to $300 don’t seem that far fetched.
Check out Photosynth. The MSR team just blew my mind in this video I saw.
One day, nowhere in the world will be un-explorable. The convergence of digital photography, global cartography, social networking, and webservices is previewed here.
Sorry for the cheesy graphic (click on it if you want a cleaner view). But as I’ve been writing about the Rocketfish RF-WHTIB (here, here, external-review-1, external-review-2) for weeks now, I thought it would be useful to illustrate how I use mine.
Some can call it a poor man’s whole home audio, or party mode speakers, or Zone B, or Zone 2 speakers. Whatever you call it… you want it.
This picture included here is basically what I am doing. I have my secondary R and L speaker-outs connected to my Rocketfish sender. The sender transmits the full rang, uncompressed CD-quality audio about 60 feet away, through 2 walls, and in an apartment building with plenty of WiFi around. It sounds awesome. I can finally listen to my tunes loud and clear while I get ready in my bedroom in the mornings. It rocks.
Many receivers, dating back 10 years or more, have Zone B outs. How many of yours are being used? Well, now you can.
Get creative. The RF-WHTIB has more uses than simply rear surround speakers. It has audio capabilities that make it one of the consumer electronics industry’s most over-achieving $99 device.
…Most things you carry with you are communications devices. You want to do some entertainment with them as well, but they’re primarily communications devices and that’s what they’re going to be.
Then he made me feel confident in the work our company is doing, because, indeed…
…It’s really great when you show somebody something and you don’t have to convince them they have a problem this solves. They know they have a problem, you can show them something, they go, oh, my God, I need this.
At Walt Mossberg’s D5 conference, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs sat down together and gave an hour and half long interview with Q&A from the live audience of well-healed techtreprenuers.
I don’t always agree with Mossberg, mainly because I don’t think I am who he is speaking to when he writes about technology, but as a critic of tech world, he does generally get it right. Creating great experiences for the mass consumer is where the money is.
No other two guys in the last 30 years of business have had as profound an effect on the technology the masses use in our daily lives than Jobs and Gates. Gates by brute force ecosystem development, and Jobs through unrelenting obsession with a few great consumer experiences. The full length video of the interview is located here, transcript here. Definitely interesting to see them sit down cordially and take subtle digs at one another. But like two guys who have more in common through some shared past successes, but also just as freakish human beings, you can see there is quite a camaraderie as well.
One particular exchange that I geeked out on was about the partitioning of R&D along the hardware/software interface via standards and partner-based ecosystems versus vertical integration. It is on both sides of this strategic fence where Microsoft and Apple have had their real success respectively. Hearing Gates and Jobs stick up for their tendencies as innovation leaders, and in direct conversational back-and-forth, was telling.
Gates:
The question is, are there markets where the innovation and variety you get is a net positive? The negative is that in the early stage, you really want to do the two together so you want to do prototyping and things like that, you know, really as one thing.
And then take the phone market. We think we’re on 140 different kinds of hardware. We think it’s beneficial to us that even if we did a few ourselves, it wouldn’t give us what we have through those partnerships.
Likewise, if you take the robotics market, very undeveloped. We have over 140 tiny-volume robots using Microsoft software. And the creativity, building toys, security things, medical things, we love the innovation and the ecosystem that’s going to grow up–who knows when, but we’re patient–around that and we’ll have a great asset with this robotic software platform.
So there are things like PC, phone, and robot where the Microsoft choice is to go for the variety.
Apple, it’s great. For them, they do what works super well for them. And there’s a few markets like Xbox 360, Zune, and this year we have two new ones, the Surface thing and this RoundTable, which is the meeting-room thing, where we’ll actually, through subcontractors, but the P&L on the risk and all that for the hardware, the design is completely a Microsoft thing.
Jobs:
Let me make a comment on Bill’s answer there, which is, it’s very interesting, in the consumer market and the enterprise market, they’re very different spaces. And in the consumer market, at least, I think one can make a pretty strong case that outside of Windows on PCs, it’s hard to see other examples of the software and hardware being decoupled working super well yet. It might in the phone space over time. It might. But it’s not clear. It’s not clear. You can see a lot more examples of the hardware/software coupling working well.
So I think this is one of the reasons we all, you know, come to work every day is because nobody knows the answers to some of these questions. And we’ll find out over the coming years and maybe both will work fine and maybe they won’t.
There is no one answer of course. It depends on the state a technology is in, and how mature an experience you are delivering product for. Gates’ trade-off recognition sums it up completely. I can only imagine the spastic, forgetful, nerd-looking Microsoft robots of the year 2100, versus the sexy, vivacious iBots from Apple with the snappy sense of humor and slick fashion sense.
These billionaire guys are such icons, with such caricatures painted of them, that it’s easy to forget that they are still full of brilliantly marketable ideas. It’d be a shame if people don’t take a listen, read between the lines, and figure out where they’ll be taking us, for better or worse.
On an aside: I came off critical of the iPhone a few months back, and I generally standby my predictions still. However, I am thinking… easily my favorite new web service to come around in the last 5 years has been Google Maps, and if it turns out the iPhone’s client for Google maps is as good as Jobs is saying, I may not be able to resist.
This PHTG guy has written a super-thorough review of the Rocketfish RF-WHTIB Wireless Rear Speaker Kit. His results again indicate that wireless performance was excellent, and coexistance with WLAN was acceptable.
We have a WLAN using 802.11b/g/pre-N gear; the sender unit was just a few feet away from the main router. There is also a wireless signal booster in another part of the house; this was just 30 feet away from the receiver unit when conducting the long range test. The use of the Rocketfish wireless speaker system did not affect in any way the performance of the WLAN, and the network speed was up as usual.
Equally important… The Rocketfish wireless speaker system did not show any signs of interference; it just worked fine.
Dell, my old employer launched the Dell XPS One. Not bad. It’s like a iMac, except add some decent speakers and a phatty Windows Media Center remote. I’m tempted to pick one of these up, since pretty much the only Dell stuff I’ve been buying in recent history are their desktop monitors. In fact, I use a 24 inch widescreen LCD monitor from Dell with my Mac mini.
Finally. 
Heh heh. The 
