Vote for my product on Quirky!

I’m going to need all of your loving & supporting votes. The result? Hopefully the coolest iPhone/iPad Solar-powered Sun Visor!

Go on… DO IT!

Filed under: Elegance, Geekness, Making my life a little less stressful , Apple, Electronics, wow!

I’m not sure about you guys, but I’m on Google’s side!

The Dogs of War: Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft

Filed under: Geekness , Apple, Google, Microsoft, Turf War

Are we living in a global village, or just a snobby little rich town with poor suburban villages?

I just came across this posting of CAN Info Tech, Nepal version of our very own CES. In a way it is an encouraging display of how some of the world’s most remote and poorest places are embracing technology, even though it’s 3+ years old and mostly dated where we are.

Why did I post this? Here is why.

Even if Nepal is a country with 50%+ unemployment rate, as much as 75% of the day spent without electricity, and just over 1.5% of its population with internet access, there should be not a single reason in the world for dumb-ass companies like Sony to offload its old and dated inventory.

Just because someone is poor, starving, and uninformed, it does not give you the right to feed them moldy bread & sour milk.

Today we have a much broader range of affordable technology to avoid having to scam a poor population with our dusty inventory. It also saddens me, since a large population of Fortune 1000 companies were found and are currently led by individuals who perhaps even came from the exact same roots as Nepal or other 3rd world countries.

Sadly, this is how it is. There should be another version of the Green movement, extending large corporations’ ethic policies to include providing every “paying” customer with an equal and unbiased access to their products, offerings, and unconditional access to their current inventories. Nepal may be remote, but if you can ship your crappy bloated inventory there, you can ship your new stuff there just the same.

Blech!

P.S. I have a lot of posts from my travel, and will get to them as soon as I get my energy back. Damn stupid cold/flu/cough/infection!

Filed under: 3rd World , 3rd World, Electronics, Useless Crap

Does this make me look like a geek?

I’m off to mother-land (aka Toronto, Canada, aka The Big Smoke) on the 17th of this month en route to promote our new company and product at the Mid Winter Meeting in Chicago. This trip will be covered in a series of new posts, but for now let’s just say I’m totally jazzed about it.

As I’ve been mentally getting ready for the trip, I’ve been looking forward to seeing my loving mama, hopefully my newest niece and my beloved in-laws. I’m going to see my grandmother, who is about 105 years old by now. She was my mom’s midwife when I was born. Always a second mother to me, and this may very well be the last time I get to see her.

I’ll also be hooking up with my brother with another mother who also is another proud member of Brightsquid, catching up with my good friends at Logitech, and whatever else I can squeeze in less than 3 evenings outside work.

Not geeky so far, right?

Look. Here is the deal. The other side of my excitement is to be able to invade my storage box in Toronto and bring back some of my toys that have been rather lonely since we moved here.

First thing Saturday morning, I’ll be getting my car-less ass over to my favourite place in the world and picking me up a brand spanking new Nexus One. Evelyn (my beautiful wife) if you are reading this, I’m sorry :0(. The off to the storage box to collect my toys. Next, I’ll spend the night before my departure back to our home here in Guatemala packing up my toys. I’ll be taking a near-empty hard case suitcase with me to accommodate the precious cargo coming back with me. What am I bringing back, you ask?

Well….

• My Panasonic HD Projector. Oh how I miss playing my PS3 and Elite games on you. Come to daddy!
• My Denon Receiver. You’re a heavy beast, so I have to figure out how to bring you. But don’t worry. I’ll figure something out.
• My Xbox 360 Elite. I know you’ve been wondering why I took the PS3 instead of you. I’m sorry for playing favourites, but you’re coming back with me.
• My WiFi music player. Maybe. You never really worked all that well for me. I’ll see if there are software updates that stabilize your crazy behaviour. If so, then I’ll make room for you.
• Time permitting, I’ll try to score myself a decent universal remote. I’ll see if my connections can get me a decent discount on it. After all, I was one of the original guys that came up with the kick-ass UI layer idea. Granted the boys at Harmony have done a fantastic job taking it to the next level, you can never discount the dude who started it. All I ask for is an employee discount. Is that a crime? Blech!

I’d say this at the very least qualifies as an entry-level geek. What makes it push through to geekhood is the fact that I’m taking them on a 6000 km journey back here with me. Hopefully they’ll get here in one piece.

Peace out!

Filed under: Geekness, Travel , Electronics, Travel

Do I ever love this app!

Whether you have an iPhone or not, calling your local large corporations for customer support is annoying as hell. Press 1 for English. Press 5 for support. Press 0 for someone who actually cares.

I came across Fonolo a little while ago, and was itching to use it. Today, I finally put it to good use and called Rogers Wireless customer support. I used Fonolo’s web-based service, as well as their iPhone app, which by the way are both free to use. Aside from a sub-20 IQ customer support representative, the journey to get to him was a quick one-time setup of my phone number, and one click of a button away. I think every company should ditch their crappy phone-in menus and just point to these guys. Maybe then they can afford a little more money to actually provide service to their customers. Anyone who uses Rogers knows what I’m talking about.

And the reason for my call? The usually mysterious extra charges on my bill.

This is an exemplary usage of simple. Effective features. No useless bling.

Good way to end the week!

Filed under: Elegance, Making my life a little less stressful , iPhone app, web app, wow!

Who ever thought opt-in is a good default?

So here is the low down. You walk into a Steak House, and they automatically serves you a 12 oz Tenderloin, medium rare with a side of loaded baked potatoe. Why? Because the restaurant assumes that all frequently-served dishes are good enough for everyone.

Another one. Imagine sitting behind the bar at an Irish pub and the bartender pours you a pint of Kilkenny. Did you ask for it? Did the bartender even care to know what you were in the mood for?

Let’s get a little more sensitive. You’re filling out a mortgage application online. There is no indication that once you submit the application, your information will be shared with the Department of Homeland Security. Now, you can refuse it if you call the mortgage center and ask them to remove you from the list. But wouldn’t it have been much more elegant if they asked you for it?

All of the above are examples of assuming the subject is opting into an agreement that may very well have unpleasant reactions and consequences.

A few days ago I finally found some time to start using Google Buzz. Sweet. Finally something to wash the disgusting smell of Wave off my screen. Then I found out that all of my most frequently used email addresses (and the people behind them) were automatically following me. Now I know some of them are my friends and colleagues, and I may not mind them e-stalking my every move. But the next person on the list is the one that I not only despise, but would probably run over with my truck a few dozen times. He’s a frequently-used address, because most of our communication has been around telling each other off and finally deciding that it’s best to stay the heck away from each other.

Now he’s automatically following me?? WTF!!

I’d imagine Google did some real world testing of this before they released it. But then again, I thought they did the same with Wave.

Google has done some really kick-ass job with a lot of their products. Picasa is a dream. Gmail is still working on making me a believer of sort-less emails, but hands down the best web-based email client. The list goes on.

But I’ve come to the conclusion that Google has a long way to go before truly understanding and appreciating how social media is becoming as real as human touch. Where arrogant assumptions of one’s privacy can make or break it for you. If I was the product brains behind Buzz, I’d probably have the courtesy of allowing users to form their own trusted circle of friends.

That’s strike 2 for Google on the Social Media field.

Blech!

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543 http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543

Filed under: Social Media , Google Buzz, Privacy, Social Media, Useless Crap