Surveys

(I’m providing the following information as a public service, but for the purposes of full disclosure I’ll note that I secretly hope it will result in less survey requests coming to me..)

1. There’s a type of person that likes to fill out surveys. Unfortunately they are not the person you want filling out your survey, as they don’t represent a cross-section of your target audience.

2. There’s a special case, whereby a person is not the type of person that like to fill out surveys, yet they are so ticked off at you, that they jump at the chance to lash out at you. Unfortunately they are not the person you want filling out your survey either, because they make you look really bad, and have trouble staying objective.

3. All the rest of the people aren’t going to fill out your survey. If you do force or coerce them, it is going to make the data obtained useless.

In short, if you think you need a survey, it probably indicates a deeper problem that a survey is not going to solve.

Skype on Verizon

 

• http://www.pcworld.com/article/189450/verizon_users_to_get_skype_in_late_march.html
• http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/16/verizon-to-allow-unlimited-skype-calling-over-3g-starting-next-m/
• http://gigaom.com/2010/02/16/skype-verizon-iphone/
• http://gigaom.com/2010/02/19/skype-verizon-deal-more-details/
• http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/draft/2010-02-21

I don’t get it. One thing I don’t see mentioned here but is mentioned on VZW’s site is that there is a $35 one time fee involved? Why would I pay that to get Skype when it’s not really Skype? The calls are going over VZW’s voice network, not the data network. The whole thing seems highly suspicious to me, not like the iPhone Skype deal which is cool – I can use Skype when I have wifi, which is really neat in places where I have wifi but not ATT service, such as, oh, I dunno, my house!

Kindle app development – your app gets free cellular data service?

http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2010/02/kindle-more-than-an-ebook-reader-its-a-development-platform.html

Thinking about developing a Kindle app, say 20 seconds after thinking about developing an iPad app, is kind of disheartening. The Kindle makes a great book reader, and was the hottest item in tablet town, however all that changed with the iPad announcement.

The thought of an app on the grayscale screen, with the incredibly slow and clunky controls, is frustrating. But I just noticed that it appears in the sdk that your custom apps might have the ability to use the free “Whisper-net” (cellular data connection). That is attractive. Some kind of lightweight forms-driven database client app, with great free connectivity back to a central server, with really good battery life, and that could finally make the hardware keyboard look like more than a mistake, that really has a value proposition.

It’s still not an iPad-killer, but this angle might provide the Kindle a second vector of business and interest and ROI in addition to their lead in the book reader business. They’re going to need it as the book prices get equalized and the iPad onslaught gets underway.

Strange musical mashup

I don’t know how to feel about this – my favorite computer parts store is now selling my favorite musical instrument -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882084022&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL020410&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL020410-_-MusicalInstrumentsAccessories-_-L4C-_-82084022

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=8%2050011978%2040000689&Manufactory=11978&SubCategory=689&SpeTabStoreType=10

I’m strangely conflicted, rather than getting the “two great tastes that go great together” vibe. NewEgg is really good at selling tech goods. I’d hate to see them expand to become an Amazon. Amazon is great , but they never match Newegg’s prices, shipping speed, or service.

Whispernet – the real deal

I had always heard that Whispernet (the wireless cell service built into the Amazon Kindle ebook reader that is free (no additional service contract) was on Sprint. Lately I have been hearing that no it’s on ATT. Well I finally got to the bottom of this (thanks Leo Laporte). It turns out Kindle 1 is on Sprint and Kindle 2 is on ATT. Mystery solved!

Mac Mini to HDMI with HDCP and digital audio

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=6331&seq=1&format=2

This is great, a solution for connecting your newer Macs, including the Mini, to your TV, without losing the HD video and surround sound audio.

There have been other solutions for connecting Mini DisplayPort, which is the video port connector for newer Macs, to your TV. You could convert to VGA, DVI, or even HDMI. However most of the adapters available cost you HDCP, the content protection mechanism required to pass true HD video to your TV. Even if they did support HDCP, Mini DisplayPort does not pass analog or digital audio, so no audio was passed over the HDMI connection. You were stuck with PC sound, or certain adapters might pass in analog (stereo) audio via USB audio. But this adapter actually uses the TosLink connector (same as the analog stereo connector but a digital connection) to get the surround sound audio and patch it into the HDMI connection to your TV. Wild! And if you know monoprice, you know that this is rock-bottom cheap to boot!