Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
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Short version: The Suunto Core Light Black (henceforth referred to as the CLB) is more then just a wristwatch. It’s a timepiece sure, but it’s also a chronograph, altimeter, barometer, and compass as well. That makes is particularly ideal for living in areas with extreme weather, like the Sierra Nevada mountains. The CLB’s quality, fit and finish, and design make it an ideal timepiece for daily wear or for outdoor activities. Pros: Easy to read face Comfortable fit Features ideal for outdoorsmen Cons: Large face Difficult to replace the strap Battery life can be an issue Suunto Core Light Black Suunto’s Core Light Black is a big watch. In fact, there’s a reason that they call is a “wrist computer” in the marketing literature. I’m not a small guy, and the face on the watch is close to overpowering when I wear it. One thing of note however, due to the materials used in the construction process, the watch is quite light. The display is extremely easy to read, and switching functions is easy, even when wearing gloves. From a fit and finsh, and functionality standpoint, it’s an excellent watch. The strap is unique to this particular design, and has non-standard threaded lugs. As such, a replacement strap will need to be designed specifically for this watch. I’m not a fan of resin watch bands in general, but that’s just my personal preference. The stock resin band does fit well and looks appropriate with this watch. Given that that CLB is considered a wrist computer, I’m comfortable referring to the watch as having software. A little research on the web shows some very vocal and unhappy customers with older versions of the watch that have had problems with them. I’ve worn the CLB extensively and had no problems with it. The really interesting thing about this watch is that it’s really easy to use. You wouldn’t expect that from a watch that has this level of functionality. It of course tells the time, has a stopwatch, countdown timer, alarm, and date. The CLB also has a built in altimeter/barometer/thermometer, and in my non-scientific tests were accurate to a reasonable expectation. Keep in mind that the altimeter reads off of atmospheric pressure, and not off of a GPS so it is reasonable to see some fluctuation while you’re reading it. The barometer read the same as my home weather station, so I’m confident that it reads accurately as well. The thermometer works as well, however keep in mind to get an accurate reading you need to remove the watch and set it down, as your body heat will definitely impact the reading. The compass reads magnetic north accurately, and required no calibration in order work. The watch will also log your altitude changes, barometer readings, or even depth changes depending on what you prefer. The altimeter reads up to 30,000 feet, but it will also register down to 30 feet underwater (and is water resistant down to 100 feet). I like this watch. It works well, it’s easy to read, and it’s extremely comfortable to wear. I did see mention of some issues with the watch from reading comments from other people, but I feel it’s important to remember that someone who’s having an unpleasant experience will be much more vocal then someone who’s happy. I mentioned the battery life as I am certain that the battery would need to be replaced more often then with a normal watch, however I didn’t have to at any point during the review period. I’d compare this watch to the Tissot T-Touch, and not only will is save you a couple of hundred dollars on the purchase price, I found the Suunto to be easier to use. I would recommend this watch to anyone who spends time outdoors and might find themselves in a situation where you need to be aware of the weather, or a compass in a survival situation. It’s also worth mentioning that Suunto has any excellent website that really lets you (virtually) try the different functions of the CLB . If you’re curious to see exactly what I’m talking about regarding how easy this watch is to use, I recommend you check it out. It explains the function far better then I can. MSRP on the Suunto Core Light Black is $389, however if you shop around a bit you can probably find if for around $250 . I would recommend going though an authorized dealer, as this is a fairly complicated watch. Product Page: Suunto Core Light Black
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Now this is how you advertise a game. Are you paying attention, Activition? EA Belgium took Bad Company 2 to the people of Brussels and in a real big way. Although, in all honesty, EA didn’t come up with this gorilla marketing scheme on their own. Epson did the same exact thing a few months back, complete with the soldier getup.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
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Located at the MIT-owned One Broadway Street building in Kendall Square, Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) houses more than 175 companies in over 100,000 square feet of office space and prices everything per person, so smaller companies can add more space as they grow. There are no long-term leases, either–it’s all month to month. I had a chance to take a tour with Cambridge Innovation Center CEO Tim Rowe. The CIC website says that pricing varies and “a good rule of thumb is that the price range is between $790 and $1000 per month per person.” I soon found out that there are more affordable options available, and that there are plenty of nice extras included in the price. There’s a Google-like abundance of free food, coffee, and tea, and CIC even retains one of Google’s massage therapists (massages aren’t free, but CIC doesn’t mark up the prices ). Internet access is also free, backed by an “enterprise-class Wi-Fi solution” (dual-band, 802.11n) from Ruckus Wireless . “The kitchens are for everybody,” said Rowe. “Everything’s included, it’s free. There’s Dove bars in the freezer, the produce is all organic, there’s sparkling water, espresso, whatever. You’re gonna work, you should be comfortable, you should be happy. You should just chill and enjoy yourself. The hope is that if you’re enjoying yourself you’ll be more productive.” True to the startup spirit, there are showering rooms. So bike to work, shower, pull an all-nighter, shower, and repeat. There’s also a nursing room for mothers with newborns. “We have people on eight floors and we just had a groundbreaking the other day with the governor and the president of MIT for another 57,000 square feet of space, so there’s going to be a lot more startups here,” said Rowe. “We’ve got shower rooms, a massage therapy room, we’re putting in a ping pong room in the new space. Basically just like you would have in your own office, except you don’t actually need the ping pong room all the time if you’re one startup and you don’t really want to pay for that space, so if you could share that cost with a lot of other people that’s better. That’s the model here.” “We have spaces for little companies. These are basically one-person companies,” said Rowe, motioning to a bank of smaller offices. “So you get one desk, locked file cabinet, and a phone. This is a lot cheaper, like $500 a month, and when you get bigger you might move into a bigger office at around $750 per desk per month.” I asked Rowe if they take anyone or if there’s some sort of vetting process. He replied, “We take essentially anyone. If there was an integrity issue or something like that, then that would be a problem but we don’t have a ‘we have to like your startup’ kind of thing.” “We also have this little section called Flex Space,” Rowe continued, “It’s $375 a month and you have a phone here and a mailing address here, but you can only work here one day a week. So it’s for someone who might be in a lab at MIT and they’re starting a business while they’re at the university. You can’t legally have your company in a lab at MIT. It has to have its own outside address, and if you’re not careful with that then MIT can assert that it owns everything that your company has. You definitely want to have someplace where you can say, ‘Oh, I actually have an office here. That’s where I made that.” So that’s what the Flex Space is for.” Some tiny company called Linden Lab has a huge office here. They’re working on something called Second Life. I don’t think it’ll take off, but that’s just me. Ha! Rowe explained, “One of the things they do in this office is, literally, the weather—the rippling of the waves, the clouds in the sky, stuff like that. It’s very high tech. And they’re usually having a ball in there.” Other current and former companies include Ambient Devices, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Atlantic Ventures, Carbonite, Conduit Labs, Hubspot, GreatPoint Energy, and plenty more. CIC-affiliated companies have raised over a billion dollars in the past ten years. Plenty of venture capital companies rent office space in the CIC, so startups are always in pretty close proximity to the types of people they’re trying to woo. “We have venture funds here,” said Rowe. “This is the conference room for New Atlantic Ventures—full disclosure, I have a part time venture partner with this fund. You can check them out on The Funded , it’s the number one ranked venture fund in the country.” “How much funding has gone into the companies here?” I asked. “We’ve tracked about $1.1 billion worth of venture funds going into the companies here so far,” replied Rowe. “And how much of that funding comes from venture funds working in this building?” I asked. “It’s surprisingly small,” answered Rowe. “I would say, like, five percent of that. The venture funds that are based here invest everywhere, not just here. And lots of venture funds elsewhere invest here. That’s the way we like it. If you’re a startup, you want to go to anybody for funding. And if you’re a VC, you’re going to invest in whatever the things are that you particularly like, not just things that happen to be down the hall.” “There are multiple competing VCs here. In fact, we have office hours here for various VC funds. Over the next 12 weeks we’re going to have 12 different funds—one each week—doing their office hours here. So it’s what you’d expect. It’s a very open platform. Anybody can talk to anybody. We’re opening the office hours to the public during the window of time when those are happening, which is Thursdays 2PM to 5PM. We’re not making it really public, we’re not advertising it or anything, but we’re tweeting it so people who are in the venture community and want to run into other entrepreneurs know that this is where it’s happening.” For those who aren’t quite to the we-need-an-office stage yet but are tired of working from home and coffee shops, CIC just opened the Cambridge Coworking Center . For $250 per month, you have access to just about everything the CIC has to offer except a private desk, landline, and physical mailbox. Said Rowe, “This is C3, the Cambridge Coworking Center. It’s part of us. It’s a different model. As you can see here, you have your little cubby. It’s $250 a month, so it’s half the price of what you saw upstairs. It’s kind of like a library/reading room feel. There’s no phone on the desks, so you’re going to use your cell phone which most of us do anyway. There’s no mailing address. It’s not about pretending to be here when you’re not, this is actually ‘I want to go somewhere to work,’ and by stripping some of those pieces out it makes it cheaper for us, and we’re able to offer it for a price that’s unbelievably low compared to what people would normally expect.” “I would say that the reason people come here is mostly for community,” continued Rowe. “If you’re working out of your house, it’s an isolating experience. Starbucks is an interesting alternative, but it’s a different group of people every time—what they call a third place. It’s not home, it’s not work, it’s a place which is intentionally to be around random people. But the second place—the work place—what it’s distinguished by is a consistent group of other people. So you get there in the morning you’re like, ‘Hey, how are you doing? How are the kids? I heard you went skiing last weekend,’ that kind of stuff. You don’t get that at Starbucks because it’s not a consistent group of people. “And it’s very loud,” I said. “It’s loud and you feel like you’re taking up a table and you’re not really supposed to be working there all the time. You’re supposed to be working here and it comes with the free coffee. If you do the math on what it costs you to work consistently out of cafes over the course of a month, it’s probably about the same cost as it is here.” Cambridge Innovation Center [cictr.com]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 5th, 2010
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At what point do you stop trying to track and prosecute cyber-criminals ? Obviously, you can’t let criminals run around willy-nilly, but when you look at the resources involved in bringing those guys to justice—and are you really nabbing the right guys in the first place?—it’s worth at least talking about. Is fighting cyber-crime about as futile as fighting the war on drugs? The deal is that authorities last week arrested the ringleaders of a Spain-based botnet. Botnets, of course, are hordes of computers that have been “taken over” by evildoers to do their bidding. The issue is that, sure, you can catch three guys who run a botnet, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re catching the people most responsible. As someone from Symantec told CNN, it “takes no more skill than it takes to run Microsoft Office” to start a botnet. Script kiddies, in other words. You can arrest all the script kiddies you want, but they’re not the ones actually creating the destructive software in the first place. And then you figure that many of the programmers responsible for all this madness are outside the reach of American authorities, who are the ones who are most gung-ho, let’s go get ‘em, well, what are you gonna do? It’s sorta fascinating, if something can be “sorta” fascinating. You have criminals running amok, they’re essentially untraceable, and they’re distributing tools that any kid with a free hour can figure out how to use. So that’s the debate: how best to go after the bad guys when they’re impossible to catch, and they’re spreading around the tools of their trade all over the place, tools that any ol’ person can put to use? Man, all this talk about cyber-crime has me hankering to see a good sci-fi movie à la Blade Runner . Any other recommendations in that vein? Something cyberpunk-y, if you will.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
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Ron and Fez, the fantastic Sirius XM radio show that makes my day every day, will host the world’s first second Twitter party on Sunday! It’s a follow-up to last month’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Twitter Party , which was pretty much a gigantic success. What’s being celebrated this time around? The Oscars (gi gi gi)! It gets even better: a live radio show will actually accompany the Twitter party. I’m excited. You know the drill: be sure to keep your eye on @202Friends once Sunday rolls around for a chance to win some sweet swag. Among the prizes: a copy of the movie Titanic signed by James Cameron, Ordinary People signed by Timothy Hutton, and—and this should be a treat for all you sci-fi fans—a copy of Lord of the Rings signed by Peter Jackson! Considering that all you’d have to do is follow @202Friends to win this stuff, you’d be a fool not to play along! All that, and a live, special edition of Ron and Fez at 8pm on Sirius 197/XM 202 ? Count me in, dogsy! I don’t know a damn thing about movies, but hearing the guys discuss ‘em is one of the highlights of the show.
Posted by 010081
Tech
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
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The guys behind Shanzai.com – a blog covering the very best in China and Indian shanzai products – are taking the world of shanzai online with a new crowdsourcing site called Shanzaistudios.com Basically, its your standard crowdsourcing model or better yet “Social Production” – the site puts up a product they can manufacture in China and everyone visiting the site gets to help form the final design that gets made and sold. While the first product is very interesting to tablet fans (a tablet bag ‘natch) its how deep they plan to go that is exciting. While in Hong Kong, I was able to chat with one of the founders and they were telling me that ultimately this is the way to get a more personalized cellphone or a tablet device, but starting smaller and building it up is their initial goal. Said the founders: “Actually, we see the key to success in crowdsourcing or social production as we call it is finding the right manufacturing partners who understand the business model and have the flexibility to meet the different demands of our community. This is very different approach than mass volume production but it is one that shanzai manufacturers understand instinctively because they themselves have grown by developing niche market products in small-size lots.” Beyond the tablet bag, they are getting into LED lighting which they have direct contacts at factories in China to manufacture and they are looking to hear what the community that grows really wants to get in to. Don’t like the JooJoo or the iPad , this could be your shot to help make the one you really want. Crowdsourcing success is going to depend on the quality of the people in the crowd. I’ve not yet seen this work in a true social way, but sites like Crowdspring.com (for logo designs), Kickstarter.com (creative projects investments) and Local-motors.com (the design of a car) are going for it in various ways. But in a world where the dictatorship of Apple makes the most coveted products, do we need a bunch of wanabee-Jonathan Ives try to make something for a group to buy? Can a group of 10, 100 or 1,000 agree on something they would all buy? Who’s got Mark Burnett’s number? I’ve got a reality show to pitch him.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
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Couple of things to talk about, Honda just announced that they are going to showing off an electric concept vehicle, and a Hungarian company is making a concept car that’s capable of splitting in to two separate vehicles. Of the two, I think the Honda is more likely to become a reality. The Honda 3R-C is a single person transport, but pulls design cues from a trike instead of a motorcycle. It’s a concept for Honda’s urban commuter concept for zero emission transportation, and uses a lithium ion battery system. Honda is also working on a car in the same vein, which actually has the ability to combine two smaller vehicles into one larger. The EV-N car would have solar panels in the roof, and charge the vehicle while it’s parked. The Hungarian option however, isn’t quite so promising. Remember after all these are the people who brought you the Yugo. The Antro company is in the process of developing a car that will actually split into to smaller cars, each one capable of going about 12 miles before needing a recharge. That’s actually considered to be fine for a commute, but anything resembling a road trip would be pretty much impossible. Antro plans to be able to deliver this vehicle sometime in 2012.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
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So Skullcandy headphones sound good, that’s pretty much a given. And while the styling is cool and everything, they seem a bit.. generic. Don’t worry though, you can get your awesome cans and be individual too. One crafty DIY person is selling customized Skullcandy SK-Pro headphones – but you better hurry, she/he is only making three pairs. So take a plain old pair of SK-Pro’s, add some custom artwork, hand sculpted stitches, and military insignia, and you’ll have a pair of cans like only two other people in the whole world. And not only do you get a sweet pair of headphones, but the seller is also including an 8″ Lily Black customized toy to hold them. Buying these custom headphones will set you back $279.99, but what price individuality?