Alive Matters has moved… this location may self destruct…

This instance of Alive Matters is no longer the official “thread”.  Please refer to:

http://www.alivematters.com, or

http://www.wirelessaudioblog.com

The new location is privately hosted, and no longer using the wordpress.com free blogging service (which I highly recommend).  I just wanted to respect wordpress.com’s terms of use, as clearly some of the posts on this site, I concede, supplement commercial activities.  I will leave the archive here as long as possible, but no guarantees!

Avnera: stealth no more…

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:

• Official company press release
• “Wireless audio from startup eliminates media room snakes” by Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian
• “Wireless audio wit..out th.. dr..o..p out” by Chris Nuttal, Financial Times
• “Beyond Bluetooth: Manpreet Khaira’s new company cuts the cables” by Aliza Earnshaw, Portland Business Journal
• “Startup tries proprietary path to wireless HiFi” by R. Colin Johnson, EETimes
• “Wireless Speakers: Sound at last?” by Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
• Photo full-monty on CNET
• Coverage of coverage: “Stirring the wireless stew” on Interconnects
• Coverage of coverage: “Avnera comes out of stealth mode” on OregonStartups
• Coverage of coverage: “Avnera’s backers include new Oregon VC fund” on The Silicon Forest Blog

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…

Hugh is Artist 2.0

I so feel these…

Reading Hugh’s cartoons is like browsing a menu of items to find consonance with the day’s mind’s corners. This is an enjoyable catharsis I’ve lost myself in now half a dozen times. On this occasion I figured I’d blog the ones that hit home on this day. Cheers.

Aftershock…

I’m in Narita airport on a layover to Singapore.  I slept about 8 hours on my flight here from DC, so I am only moderately loopy at this point.

Happy to report at least the area here shows no ill effects from what was otherwise a serious rattle.  Brings to mind a great Murakami collection, After the Quake.  Again though, a giant battle between Frog and Worm doesn’t seem looming to keep me from boarding my next flight.

Personally, this will be my first trip to Singapore.  A short one.

Rocketfish RF-WHTIB for Zone B applications – affordable party mode audio!

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.

Every day is a good day…

Donate here or here.

In memory of…

Gartenberg: “Wicked Cool in Oregon”

Michael Gartenberg, Analyst for Jupiter Research hints at what’s to come. It’s just the beginning folks.

I myself am in Hong Kong today, and it is far from “wicked cool.” Wicked hot and humid more fits the bill.

Direct2Dell blog

My good friend, John Hull, runs Linux development activities over at Dell. His recent post on Dell’s Ubuntu offering is a great example of Dell’s latest efforts in direct relationships with their customers. For a company that has had issues scaling their support, it is nice to know their presence on the web’s best one-to-many communication medium is alive and well.

Direct2Dell has also been the source of breaking news covered by Engadget and Gizmodo in recent days. This is great execution of controlling one’s company’s messaging in the channels that give a damn.

The knack for bumping into sports greatness…

My long-time friend, Adam, and his wife Danielle, have this uncanny knack of bumping into sports greats, and somehow being non-creepy enough to snap a photo with them.  Just today, I get this emailed to me, because Adam knows for me growing up, Cal Ripken, Jr. was the MAN.

That’s Danielle, his wife, and their lovely daughter Ilana (who looks thrilled by the way).  Wow, Cal looks… er… uh… mature?  Seriously, I am one to talk…  you da man, Cal!  Please buy the O’s, manage them, and bring some joy back into Baltimore Baseball… please!

But that’s not all, just over a year ago, Adam sent me this…

Once again, Danielle, and HER hero, Doug Flutie.  This time in Logan airport.  Flutie was also one of my dad’s favorites… he wrote about this snapshot, and more here and here.

I also have a funny story of Adam giving a shout out to Eric Davis in the airport from back in college… funny.  But Eric was only so good, so no photo for you!

But this post ain’t all about Adam and his trigger-happy photo-finger.  I have my own brush with sports greatness, not that I am one to get star-struck… seriously.  But I was passing through Rio de Janeiro with some friends and we bumped into none other than…

Ronaldo… yeah, that Ronaldo.  Very cool guy.

Time it Was: American Stories from the Sixties

This book is available for pre-order on Amazon now. Included in this is a story written by my father, R. Thomas Collins, Jr., and so is likely his last published work. I wrote about it on my dad’s blog after his passing. To read more about this book, and my father’s influence on it, check out the article on quillnews.

Chances are if you are reading my blog at this stage, you were already reading my dad’s blog over the last couple years… but if you are new to it, you should check it out. Lots of timely articles there, not to mention excerpts from many of his other books that have an amazing amount of relevance to what’s happening in the world today. Long career in energy and policy, go figure.

I miss my dad. What a man.