Make the Cable Company Mad Today!!

http://www.roku.com/products/compare?Ref=CJ

TRENDnet Delivers First 450 Mbps Dual-Band Wireless N HD Media Bridge

TRENDnet has launched the first-to-market 450 Mbps Dual Band Wireless N HD Media Bridge, a device that can work with a complementary router to extend a home network and deliver what TRENDnet states is, "a whole-home 450 Mbps wireless network."
With this new piece of networking hardware, model TEW-680MB, users can connect up to four media devices in a home theatre or entertainment system (even away from the room where the router resides) including media players, gaming consoles, Internet TVs, Network Video Recorders, or IP cameras. Those devices can take advantage of the 450 Mbps if the media bridge is connected to a 450-Mbps router, like TRENDnet's 450 Mbps Concurrent Dual Band Wireless N Router (TEW-692GR). If the bridge is connected to a 300 Mbps router, then that would be the maximum highest potential throughput.
The TEW-680MB can connect wirelessly to a router using push-button Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). To set up a connection between a router and the bridge, users can press the WPS button on a WPS-enabled router and then press the TEW-680MB's WPS button. If the bridge is connected to a dual-band router, users can dedicate the router's low-interference 5-GHz band to the TEW-680MB for high-demand tasks like video streaming, and use the 2.4-GHz band for laptops and mobile devices. Media devices are connected to the bridge's Gigabit Ethernet ports.
TRENDnet's media bridge uses WMM QoS (Quality of Service) to prioritize traffic, and users can choose whether video, gaming, or Internet calls receive the most dedicated throughput.
The TEW-680MB has an MSRP of $169.99. It comes with a three-year warranty and is currently shipping to TRENDnet's online and retail partners.

Computers and much more!

 

Samsung will release first Android 4.0 phone in November

Google has offered details about its updated Android 4.0 operating system -- known as Ice Cream Sandwich -- and today, Samsung Electronics said it would make the first model based on the platform: the Galaxy Nexus, which is set to be released globally next month. "This will be our strategic product for year-end holiday season," said JK Shin, president and head of Samsung's mobile-communications business. The 4G handset has a curved design and is equipped with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display. Rival HTC says it is reviewing its options for the Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

Apple co-founder and Chairman Steve Jobs died at 56. 

Jobs had been suffering from various health issues following the seven-year anniversary of his surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer in August 2004. Apple announced in January that he would be taking an indeterminate medical leave of absence. Jobs then stepped down as chief executive in late August, citing his inability to "meet my duties and expectations" stemming from his illness.
In a statement, Apple said paid tribute to its one-time leader as " a visionary and creative genius" adding that the world had "lost an amazing human being."

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple," the company statement said.
Jobs "died peacefully today surrounded by his family," the family said in a statement, which went on to thank the "many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve's illness" and promise a website for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.
But tributes and memories were already flowing in from political leaders, titans of Silicon Valley industry, and from ordinary Americans. In San Francisco, people had already begun to place tributes to Jobs on stick-it notes on the main Apple store's windows.
The world reacts to Steve Jobs' passing California Gov. Jerry Brown mourned the loss of "a California innovator who demonstrated what a totally independent and creative mind can accomplish."
Recalling his interactions with Jobs over three decades as "colleagues, competitors and friends," Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said "the world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely. "
Commentary: Steve Jobs thought different Jobs had undergone a liver transplant in April 2009 during an earlier planned six-month leave of absence. He returned to work for a year and a half before his health forced him to take more time off. He told his employees in August, "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."
One of the most legendary businessmen in American history, Jobs turned three separate industries on their head in the 35 years he was involved in the technology industry.
Personal computing was invented with the launch of the Apple II in 1977. Legal digital music recordings were brought into the mainstream with the iPod and iTunes in the early 2000s, and mobile phones were never the same after the 2007 debut of the iPhone. Jobs played an instrumental role in the development of all three, and managed to find time to transform the art of computer-generated movie-making on the side.
The invention of the iPad in 2010, a touch-screen tablet computer his competitors flocked to reproduce, was the capstone of his career as a technologist. A conceptual hybrid of a touch-screen iPod and a slate computer, the 10-inch mobile device was Jobs' vision for a more personal computing device.
Jobs was considered brilliant yet brash. He valued elegance in design yet was almost never seen in public wearing anything but a black mock turtleneck, blue jeans, and a few days worth of stubble. A master salesman who considered himself an artist at heart, Jobs inspired both reverence and fear in those who worked for him and against him, and was adored by an army of loyal Apple customers who almost saw him as superhuman.
Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955 to young parents who gave him up for adoption. Paul and Clara Jobs gave him his name, and moved out of the city in 1960 to the Santa Clara Valley, later to be known as Silicon Valley. Jobs grew up in Mountain View and Cupertino, where Apple's headquarters is located.
He attended Reed College in Oregon for a year but dropped out, although he sat in on some classes that interested him, such as calligraphy. After a brief stint at Atari working on video games, he spent time backpacking around India, furthering teenage experiments with psychedelic drugs and developing an interest in Buddhism, all of which would shape his work at Apple.
Back in California, Jobs' friend Steve Wozniak was learning the skills that would change both their lives. When Jobs discovered that Wozniak had been assembling relatively (for the time) small computers, he struck a partnership, and Apple Computer was founded in 1976 in the usual Silicon Valley fashion: setting up shop in the garage of one of the founder's parents.
Wozniak handled the technical end, creating the Apple I, while Jobs ran sales and distribution. The company sold a few hundred Apple Is, but found much greater success with the Apple II, which put the company on the map and is largely credited as having proven that regular people wanted computers.
It also made Jobs and Wozniak rich. Apple went public in 1980, and Jobs was well on his way to becoming one of the first tech industry celebrities, earning a reputation for brilliance, arrogance, and the sheer force of his will and persuasion, often jokingly referred to as his "reality-distortion field."
The debut of the Macintosh in 1984 left no doubt that Apple was a serious player in the computer industry, but Jobs only had a little more than a year left at the company he founded when the Mac was released in January 1984.
By 1985 Apple CEO John Sculley--who Jobs had convinced to leave Pepsi in 1983 and run Apple with the legendary line, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?"--had developed his own ideas for the future of the company, and they differed from Jobs'. He removed Jobs from his position leading the Macintosh team, and Apple's board backed Sculley.
Jobs resigned from the company, later telling an audience of Stanford University graduates "what had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating." He would get the last laugh.
He went on to found NeXT, which set about making the next computer in Jobs' eyes. NeXT was never the commercial success that Apple was, but during those years, Jobs found three things that would help him architect his return.
The first was Pixar. Jobs snapped up the graphic-arts division of Lucasfilm in 1986, which would go on to produce "Toy Story" in 1995 and set the standard for computer-graphics films. After making a fortune from Pixar's IPO in 1995, Jobs eventually sold the company to Disney in 2006.
The second was object-oriented software development. NeXT chose this development model for its software operating systems, and it proved to be more advanced and more nimble than the operating system developments Apple was working on without Jobs.
The third was Laurene Powell, a Stanford MBA student who attended a talk on entrepreneurialism given by Jobs in 1989 at the university. The two wed in 1991 and eventually had three children; Reed, born in 1991, Erin, born in 1995, and Eve, born in 1998. Jobs has another daughter, Lisa, who was born 1978, but Jobs refused to acknowledge he was her father for the first few years of her life, eventually reconciling with Lisa and her mother, his high-school girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan.
Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, having convinced then-CEO Gil Amelio to adopt NeXTStep as the future of Apple's operating system development. Apple was in a shambles at the time, losing money, market share, and key employees.
By 1997, Jobs was once again in charge of Apple. He immediately brought buzz back to the company, which pared down and reacquired a penchant for showstoppers, such as the 1998 introduction of the iMac; perhaps the first "Stevenote." His presentation skills at events such as Macworld would become legendary examples of showmanship and star power in the tech industry.
Jobs also set the company on the path to becoming a consumer-electronics powerhouse, creating and improving products such as the iPod, iTunes, and later, the iPhone and iPad. Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world, and has a market capitalization second to only ExxonMobil, which Apple surpassed multiple times this past August.
He did so in his own fashion, imposing his ideas and beliefs on his employees and their products in ways that left many a career in tatters. Jobs enforced a culture of secrecy at Apple and was an extremely demanding leader, terrorizing Apple employees when he returned to the company in the late 1990s with summary firings if he didn't like the answers they gave when questioned.
Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech: "How to live before you die" Jobs was an intensely private person. That quality put him and Apple at odds with government regulators and stockholders who demanded to know details about his ongoing health problems and his prognosis as the leader and alter ego of his company. It spurred a 2009 SEC probe into whether Apple's board had made misleading statements about his health.
In the years before he fell ill in 2008, Jobs seemed to soften a bit, perhaps due to his bout with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004.
In 2005, his remarks to Stanford graduates included this line: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
Later, in 2007, he appeared onstage at the D: All Things Digital conference for a lengthy interview with bitter rival Bill Gates, exchanging mutual praise and prophetically quoting the Beatles: "You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead."
Jobs leaves behind his wife, four children, two sisters, and 49,000 Apple employees.

R.I.P Steve Jobs

World’s first Google store opens in London

Google opens its first shop with a pop-up Chromebook store in a London branch of Currys and PC World 

Google has opened its first physical shop. The ‘Chromezone’ is a shop within a branch of Currys and PC World on London’s Tottenham Court Road, and is being used by Google to trial a new way of selling its own ‘Chromebook’ laptops.

The new laptops run Google’s own operating system and rely heavily on an internet connection for functionality. Previously, they were only available online but the search giant now believes consumers will benefit from being shown the in real life.

Samsung has previously questioned the original strategy of selling Chromebooks online.

The launch was low key compared to Apple’s massively hyped opening of its first London shop in 2004, but Google claimed that it will experiment with the format and could open more retail outlets in the future.

"Specially trained Chromebook experts will be on hand to offer guidance and advice to shoppers", the company said in a statement.

"We’ve put a great deal of thought into the design of this Chrome Zone," said Arvind Desikan, head of consumer marketing for Google in the UK and Ireland.
Mark Slater, category director at Dixons Retail, said: "Initial customer response to the launch of Samsung’s Chromebook has been excellent and we are expecting a lot of customer interest now it is in-store."

 

HP Photosmart eStation C510A Multifunction Printer

Product of the Week!

HP Photosmart eStation AiO that is Apple AirPrint capable. Combine full Web browsing with high-performance printing, faxing without a phone line, copying and scanning. The detachable, 7-inch, full-color touchscreen doubles as a wireless digital companion and control panel for remote printing. Maximum Speed: Up to 33 ppm black, up to 32 ppm color Scan: Up to 1200 x 2400 dpi; Scan Type: Flatbed scanner Copy: Up to 1200 optimized dpi from 600 input dpi; Max Copies: Up to 99 copies Standard Connectivity: 1 USB 2.0, 1 WiFi 802.11b/g/n Display: 7-Inch touchscreen CGD (with TouchSmart control panel) Paper Handling: 125-sheet input tray, 20-sheet photo tray, 50-sheet output tray borderless printing up to 8.5 x 11 in.  For more information, visit Volt Systems today!

Acer ICONIA Tab A500 10.1" Tablet PC

Volt Systems product of the week!

The Acer ICONIA Tab A500, a 10.1-inch tablet designed to maximize content enjoyment, providing the same rich multimedia, gaming and web experience you can enjoy on your home PC with the added user-friendliness of multi-touch technology. Designed for rich multimedia entertainment, this tablet comes with a high resolution, high color contrast 10.1" display with wide viewing angle providing higher color accuracy for better visuals from different perspective, allowing users to play or share HD video with friends on the go. The 10.1" full capacitive multi-touch screen ensures an optimal on-screen experience from every angle. Aluminum casing provides a cool look and feel, while its high gloss finish anodizing decorated with laser engraved textures demonstrates subtle sophistication. To get pricing and other info, visit Volt Systems today!

Netflix updates Android app to work on Froyo and Gingerbread devices

Premium video streaming service Netflix updated its Android application recently with support for all devices running version 2.2 (Froyo) or version 2.3 (Gingerbread) of the mobile operating system.
It’s a significant update because the app now works on the majority of all Android devices — a sharp contrast to the mere five devices the Netflix app was available when it first launched in May.
Sadly, devices with the latest version of Android (Honeycomb), for now, won’t gain access to the Netflix app at this time. This might be because of the low adoption rate of devices using Honeycomb. According to Google, over 80 percent of devices are running either Froyo or Gingerbread on their devices.
Personally, I’m curious to know if many people will bother noticing — especially with past reports indicating a  low three percent of users who primarily watch Netflix on their mobile device.
While the app itself is free, people wishing to watch unlimited movies on their smartphones will still need to pony up a subscription to Netflix, which starts at $7.99 for the streaming-only plan.

TuneIn Radio

 

 TuneIn gives you access to over 50,000 of the world's radio stations so you can find and listen to unlimited music, sports and talk radio.  You can search by local radio to have access to 1000's of radio stations world wide or you can search by genre, all coming in HD Audio quality.  Visit TuneIn at www.tunein.com and see what the hype is all about.  There you will have access to android app info, apple os app info and WI-FI internet access.

Do Not Call list

This month, all cellular numbers not on the do not call registry will become open to telemarketers to have access.  To prevent this from happening, register your phone on the do not call website (https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx ). You can register up to 3 numbers at one time.  This will keep your number safe for 5 years.  Don’t wait, protect your privacy! 

H-P Tablet Sells After Price Is Cut

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s decision to drop the price to as low as $99 for its TouchPad tablets touched off a weekend buying rush that the company called "overwhelming."
The sudden interest came after H-P said it was discontinuing its tablet and smartphone efforts, after disappointing sales and unfavorable comparisons to Apple Inc.'s iPad and iPhone. H-P cut the price of its least-expensive TouchPad to $99.99 from $499.99. The price on a greater-capacity version was reduced to $149.99 from $599.99.
The Palo Alto, Calif., company said it is still exploring alternatives for webOS, the well-regarded software that powered the TouchPad.
H-P's decision to jettison remaining inventory at rock-bottom prices instantly became the talk of the technology press. Blog posts were quickly published with rolling updates containing lists of stores and online sites where the device was still available.
Demand was so heavy that by Sunday, the website slickdeals.com was filled with "sold out" notices in red next to such popular retailers as Amazon.com, B&H Foto, Fry's Electronics, Target and Walmart.
A saleswoman at a Best Buy Co. store in San Francisco said all the TouchPads in the Bay Area were sold out by Saturday night.
Eager customers scouring retailers turned their attention to stores that hadn't yet dropped the TouchPad's price, and reported multiple calls with sales representatives and methods for getting the price reduced. "If you buy at full price, they will price match in 10 days to their own store if price drops," a person wrote about Barnes & Noble Inc. The retailer still was charging $407.95 for the TouchPad, of which slickdeals estimated there were 14,000 in stock. Barnes & Noble wasn't available for comment.
Other consumers debated whether the device was a good value even at the lower price. "They are utterly worthless now," a person commented on a cnet.com article about the sale. "Amen," responded another.
Others disagreed, starting a Twitter campaign called "#saveWebOS" with pleas to keep the platform going and tweets from customers who had been awaiting H-P's next generation smartphones and tablets. "My dreams are dashed," said a Twitter user who called herself Cheryl. "Thanks (for nothing) @HP."
—Justin Scheck contributed to this article.

Millennials Watch More TV Online

Young media consumers -- Millennials -- continue to consume much more television related to online, and less traditional television than other viewing groups.
Only 26% of millennials -- typically those in the 18-29 age group -- watch more than 20 hours a week of TV, versus older viewing groups where 49% of those viewers watch 20-plus hours a week. These are among the results of a study conducted by Kansas City-based marketing company, Barkley, in partnership with Service Management Group and The Boston Consulting Group.

Millennials are much more likely to watch shows mainly on their laptops -- 42% versus 18% for other viewers; on DVR playback -- 40% versus 36%; or via video-on-demand -- 26% versus 18% for other viewing groups.
Largely as a result of TV marketing and other efforts, millennials -- more than older consumers -- are aware of youth-targeted cause campaigns. For example, the study says that for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, their awareness level was 33% versus 21% for everyone else. Gap's RED campaign earned a 26% number for millennials versus 9% for other consumers.
Much of this activity comes from greater exposure to campaigns through social media -- 40% versus 22% for other consumers -- and online news, 28% versus 22%.
"Since the Millennials generation is larger than the Baby Boomers and three times bigger than Generation X, marketers' understanding of Millennials' needs, tastes and behaviors will clearly shape current and future business decisions," says Jeff Fromm, senior vice president, Barkley, in a release.
The survey was based on more than 5,000 respondents and 3.9 million data points.

Tablets, Smartphones Changing Media Consumption

Tablets and iPhones are fundamentally changing the way people get their entertainment, and they may eventually make those DVD players, GPS and other single-use electronic devices obsolete.

According to a new survey of more than 1,400 consumers by research agency Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB), people are using their smartphones and tablets for a variety of entertainment outlets, from games to watching movies and television. According to the research, more than half of smartphone and tablet users play games on their device. As a result, nearly two-thirds of tablet owners are using other devices (particularly portable gaming devices) less for this purpose.
Similarly, two-thirds of tablet owners are using their devices to watch feature-length movies. With further tablet adoption, the stand-alone DVD player may become obsolete, says Chris Neal, vice president of CMB's tech and telecom practice. With just over a quarter (26%) of U.S. adults saying they expect to purchase a tablet in the coming year, that development could come relatively quickly, he says.
"As people get more tablets, these devices are an endangered species," Neal tells Marketing Daily. "Those specialty devices do one application really, really well. Now you've got a device that does multiple things."
Even worse are the prospects for stand-alone GPS systems. According to the research, 80% of tablet and smartphone owners have used their devices for mapping and directions. Of these users, nearly 90% of them said they are using other methods such as a standard GPS less. "Some, like TomTom, have already placed their bets and said they're not a device manufacturer anymore -- they're making software only," Neal says. "It will be one of many [GPS-type] apps on an iPhone or iPad."
For every downside, however, there is an upside. On the whole, the increasing prevalence of tablets is leading to more content consumption overall, the agency reports. "The majority of tablet owners are watching full-length movies, TV shows, in addition to standard Web videos," Neal says. "It's carving into standard TV time a bit, but it's increasing the amount of time people are watching in general, which is good for media companies."

Netflix insists people still see value despite price increase

Online movie streaming firm admits some users likely to cancel service in wake of price hike.

Netflix Inc. spokesman Steve Swasey told MarketWatch Thursday that the company realized that "some people would be concerned" about its decision to raise the price for a combination DVD-and-streaming video plan to $15.98 from $9.99, and that a certain number of customers would cancel service. Comments on Facebook and other places across the Web have been overwhelmingly negative since the increase was unveiled earlier this week. However, he said, there remains a "silent majority" of subscribers who think the $15.98 price point still represents "a pretty good value." In addition, Swasey continued, the price increase was necessary to help satisfy U.S. DVD customers."We have streaming-only in Canada, and it would have been very easy to eliminate DVD service in the United States. But by making these changes, we were able to keep DVD a viable option for people who still want that format in the U.S." This doesn't mean, however, that Netflix doesn't care about consumers who are upset about the price move, he added. On a lighter note, he said:"I made a comment to someone, on background, that the $6 difference between the old and new prices is the equivalent of a couple of cups of latte. And that's gained a lot of traction. I've received a bunch of hate mail, because people thought Netflix was being insensitive to people who don't drink latte. That's not the case at all. I'm not a coffee drinker, and my wife drinks regular joe." Netflix shares are down 3.2% Thursday.

Better Business Bureau: Consumers Need Security Systems

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is telling consumers to be wary of an increased residential burglary this summer, advising consumers to purchase a professionally-installed alarm system.

"According to the FBI, the summer months of July and August have the highest rates of burglaries," says the Bureau, adding that homes without alarm systems are 2.2 to 3.1 times more likely to have a break-in.

Also, homes with alarm systems average $400 less in property loss than homes without alarm systems that have break-ins.

In 2010, BBB received nearly 25,000 inquiries from customers asking about burglar alarm systems. The Bureau goes on to offer this advice:

• Do your research when picking a home security system and don't get pressured into buying a system from a door-to-door salesman. "Homeowners should research local companies carefully and thoroughly before they buy a system that doesn’t offer the protection they were after.”
• Choose a professional installer
• Contact at least three companies
• Ask about all charges up front
• Know the ins and outs of your contract
• Insist that the installer "walk" you through your system until you fully understand how it works

More Than 500 Million Connected TVs Worldwide By 2015: Forecast

Television manufacturers will ship 138 million connected TV units worldwide in 2015 -- with more than half-billion connected TVs having shipped by then -- up from about 60 million in 2011, according to an updated forecast from research firm DisplaySearch.
This year, more than 25% of all flat-panel TVs shipped are expected to have some form of Internet connectivity, growing to 47% of all flat-panel TVs shipped in 2015, DisplaySearch said.
In 2015, 35% of 46-inch or larger TVs in North America will be "smart TVs," according to the research firm. DisplaySearch defines "smart TVs" as being able to: retrieve content from the Internet independently of a portal; provide intelligent search and recommendations; let users upgrade them; and network seamlessly with other devices in the home.
An increasing number of connected TVs will include wireless support to be able to deliver content to devices such as smartphones and tablets in the home. According to DisplaySearch's forecast, more than 98 million TV sets with 802.11 wireless networking built-in will ship in 2015.
"Wi-Fi technologies are the foundation of smart TVs," DisplaySearch director of TV electronics research Paul Gray said in a statement.
DisplaySearch's "Quarterly TV Design and Features Report" includes forecasts for video processor and signal processing integrated-circuit market development including 120/100 and 200/240 Hz frame rates. DisplaySearch is part of NPD Group, a provider of consumer and retail information and research for a range of industry sectors.

3DTV Price Drop Could Spur Purchase Interest

The price of 3D televisions could drop markedly by the holiday season, but that still may not be enough to make the technology, which faces a host of other challenges, will catch fire with consumers.
According to consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo.com, the price differential between 3DTVs and flat-screen HDTVs could drop to $150 by November, down from its current differential of $400 and significantly lower than the $900 premium found during the holiday season last year. According to Andrew Eisner, director of content for the site, price is the biggest barrier to consumer adoption for the technology. And a lower premium for the TVs could increase demand.
"In all of the surveys we've done, price comes in as the number one reason people don't buy 3DTVs," Eisner tells Marketing Daily. "All things being equal, what we're saying is that consumers will go for [3DTVs], even if it's only for the odd movie or sporting event."
Even with the price coming down, however, there are still several obstacles to widespread consumer acceptance, not the least of which are content availability and the price of accessories such as glasses. In April, the NPD Group reported consumer awareness of LCD 3DTVs increased to 36% in February 2011 from 28% in September 2010. At that time, the market research company also noted that with the decline of price premiums for the devices, inhibitions over purchasing accessories such as glasses increased.
And though the content picture is improving (particularly with networks such as ESPN offering full-time 3D outlets), consumers are still wary of bringing the technology into their homes.

"Sporting events are a fun experience, [but] we're still waiting for the next 'Avatar," Eisner says. "3DTV is in an interesting place. If anything's going to [move it forward], it's going to be price. But I'm not going to go out on a limb and say it's going to push it over the edge. Consumers are still not that hot on it."

Smartphones are making us more energy-efficient

Are smart phones making it easier for consumers to integrate energy efficiency into their lives? I recently heard about a new app called Light Bulb Finder that will let you figure out how to replace your incandescent light bulbs with more efficient technology as well as how much money you will save in your electricity bills. It put me in mid of a recent revelation of how smartphones have also made plugging into an EV charging network a very different experience than in the 1990s.
Light bulbs are a surprisingly hot topic in the United States right now, at least among parts of the political and chattering classes. President Obama is visiting an LED lighting factory in North Carolina, to, ahem, illuminate the benefits of green technology to the U.S. economy. But, the real reason light bulbs are getting attention is that a national light bulb efficiency mandate, enacted as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is set to go into effect next year. It sets efficiency standards that would phase out the incandescent bulb. As such, some politicians and advocacy groups have turned the mandate into a poster child for nanny state-ism and are trying to overturn it, but it remains in place for now.
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has made an effort to provide consumers with information on potential savings when you replace those incandescents, through its Energy Star website. The website has a savings calculator in the form of a somewhat complicated Excel spreadsheet you have to download which is not great, unless you are a numbers junkie. The smartphone provides an easier and more intuitive way to do this. With the Light Bulb Finder app, you plug in your zip code, and it shows you the electricity rate for you area (you can also fill it in yourself). Then you go to each light fixture in your house, select the fixture type, using a graphic interface, and then select the bulb type and a few other basic bits of info, including how many hours a day the light is on.
Then, voila, you get a shopping list of replacement bulbs and a tally of how much money you will save each year. Not surprisingly, the app creators have a mercenary interest. The app is by Eco Hatchery, who hope you will buy your light bulbs from them. Of course, it still requires some initiative from the consumer. You have to be interested in efficiency to begin with and it was tempting to guess on some of the bulb attributes (was it a 3 1/8 inch or 3 3/4 inch diameter?). Still, it was easier than running a spreadsheet and you have the information with you on your phone whenever you want to go shopping.
But I think the changes wrought by a smartphone world are even more dramatic for EV charging. I noticed this when attending the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference earlier this year. The exhibit hall was full of charging equipment providers who are selling their software capability more than the actual hardware. By comparison, in the pre-smartphone 1990s, if you wanted to know where to charge your EV, the most convenient option was to check one of a few websites (often government sponsored) for a map of U.S. charging spots. You could then print this out and take it with you. Now, this seems so old fashioned. Today you can download an app like Coulomb's ChargePoint, find the closest station, see if it is available, make a reservation and map the way there. What is striking is not that this is made possible by everything being wired today, but that it seems normal. Increasingly, people expect that they can locate the closet burrito shop, ATM, whatever, on their phone, place an order (if it's the burrito shop) and get directions there. In the same way, finding an EV charger now is not an inconvenience, but just another thing you can do on your phone.

Microsoft’s big reveal about the next version of Windows Phone is scheduled for Tuesday morning in New York. But that didn’t stop CEO Steve Ballmer from laying the groundwork during a speech in Japan on Monday.

Speaking to developers in Tokyo, Ballmer noted that the “Mango” update later this year will have more than 500 new features. With Windows Phone 7, released last year, Microsoft essentially started over in the phone business, going with an entirely new approach. Though praised for its clean look, the company has acknowledged that it still has a lot of catching up to do on the feature side with rivals such as Apple’s iPhone OS and Google’s Android. With Mango, the company is hoping to close that gap, as well as to expand on some of what makes Windows Phone different, such as its hub-based approach to organizing activities.
“Not only is it a new release that is now much more global, but we’ve added over 500 new features to Windows Phone,” Ballmer said, according to a transcript that Microsoft posted on its press site. “We have a big launch event to talk about the next release of Windows Phone tomorrow. So, that information will be forthcoming, including some of the particulars about who is going to be building Windows Phones, and which carriers will be offering them here in Japan.”
Indeed, Microsoft has already said a fair bit about the next release of Windows Phone. Back at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft mentioned a few features, including improved multitasking, Twitter integration and a version of its Internet Explorer 9 browser. Since then, the company has also talked about other features, such as better cloud services for Office and deeper access to hardware features to allow for applications like augmented reality.
The new release, due on devices by the holidays, is expected to be the basis for the first crop of Windows Phones from Nokia and new devices from a variety of other hardware makers. Nokia executives said last month that they already have test builds of Mange running on Nokia Hardware.
Microsoft will have more to say, for sure, at its event on Tuesday, which is also being Webcast. AllThingsD will be covering it live starting at 7 am PT.