The Velvet Smash

As I was talking about the 8800 Launch Event, I started thinking back to the 8700 Launch Event and the events of that evening, specifically the open bar that evening.

The event was held at Terra, an event venue for hire in a big warehouse-y space. Along with the live Jazz and the presentations by Jim Balsillie and some Cingular bigwigs, they had a soup bar (different soups in shot glasses), a mashed potato bar (different types of mashed potato and toppings), and an open bar (you get the picture).

As the night waned and people started to drop out, so did the selection at the bar. They had been pouring a specialty cocktail for the event, the name of which escapes me but the cloying sweet mediocrity haunts me to this day, but I was ready for something different. I approached what I thought would be the most flexible bartender and asked to see what was left. From those humble beginnings, a mixed drink arose.

The Velvet Smash

2 Measures Gin
1Splash Triple Sec
1 Measure Orange Juice
1 Measure Cranberry Juice

Combine and shake over ice. Pour into a large martini glass. Add some soda water for sparkle.

It's actually pretty good.

I was able to convince a few people to wander over to the bar and ask for it by name. Later that night at the Tonga Room I was able, with the assistance of a business card on which I had written the recipe and a lot of hand waving, to order another few rounds of the new drink du jour for my table and for random passers by. I received no complaints (as far as I remember).

Blackberry 8800 Launches in Two Weeks

The buzz started two days ago over at blackberryforums.com and now everyone is talking about it. The newest member of Research In Motion's Blackberry line of devices, the 8800, is about to be launched by The New AT&T (formerly Cingular, formerly AT&T Wireless, my how things change).

In case you have been living under a rock (or have no reason to follow the evolution of mobile devices) the 8800 is a full qwerty keyboard device like the 8700 mixed with the new navigation paradigm introduced with the 8100 (Pearl). I will leave it to others to review the unit, talk about it's benefits and drawbacks, the inclusion or exclusion of WiFi (not in the Cingular unit but it is in some review units so it will be rolled out somewhere) but I am excited to see it in person and look forward to replacing my Pearl with it as soon as I can.

"Why?" you say, "Why would you replace your shiny new Pearl with yet another device? Why do you keep on making me change your PIN address in my contacts? Are you really related to Finlay Currie?" I can answer those questions.

I got the Pearl for a few reasons.

1: My boss has one. I need to be able to support his use of the device so I need to understand how he uses it and be able to replicate his errors. (Side note: Why is it that the people I support are able to break electronics simply by walking in the room? I supported Paul Allen directly for years and he had an amazing ability to crash software by looking at it.)

2: The Pearl has a camera. It is the first RIM device with a camera so naturally I was interested. I have since used it to blog via BB and it does a pretty good job.

3: It is small. I really like being able to throw it in my pocket without a case when necessary. The 8700 was a bulky beast by comparison. Plus, the 8700's shape (and the shape of all the qwerty devices) made it hard to use as a phone while the Pearl is more phone shaped and easier to align the earpiece to my ear.

4: It's new and cool.

So, why will I switch back?

1: QWERTY. Even though the SureType is a great way to work around the limitations of the small button count keyboard on the Pearl, I have a heck of time typing messages on it. I was pretty fast on my 8700 (and 7290 and 7230 and 6230) but I keep hitting the wrong keys and SureType guesses wrong words and I get frustrated pretty quickly. The full keyboard is a winner for me.

What about size and lack of camera? The 8800 is slimmer than the 8700 which should help. Plus, I usually have the thing strapped to my hip so the pocket portability is not as big a deal as I make it out to be. The camera is a nice feature but not a must-have. If I want to take pictures, I bring my "real" camera with me. I have used it (at CES and on TSD rallys) but I don't put it high on the feature lust list.

Reliable sources have reported that RIM and AT&T are launching the 8800 in the US at two parties on two different coasts; on February 20 in New York City and again on February 22 in San Francisco. This echos the launch parties they held over a year ago for the 8700 though back in those days (2005) they had a third event in Chicago for the non-coastal).

If the 8700 launch event pattern holds, the 8800 will be available to customers only a few weeks after the launch. I was luckily enough to attend the launch party for the 8700 and I will be repeating my attendance (again at the San Francisco event). Look for another report in two weeks.

And, am I related to Finlay Currie? No.

He was my wife's great grandfather.

iPhone

As a follow-on from my post yesterday about a possible widescreen iPod, I have to announce that Apple today introduced the much anticipated widescreen iPod just like I said they would.

No, wait, that's not quite right. They introduced the iPhone, a device that purports to combine a phone with a widescreen iPod with an internet device with a blender with a curling iron. They also introduced some other stuff.

I have yet to soak in the details of what looks like a pretty good device but I must say I do have some concerns.

• Storage: The memory is stated at 4GB or 8GB. This is comparable to the Nano but if the device is touted as a video iPod, this is a pretty slim memory footprint.


• Battery Life: One of my biggest concerns about any multi-phone device is battery life. I really relish the idea of having one handheld that handles both media and phone but the reality is the media features are battery intensive and I don't want to run into the situation where I am unable to place a call because I was listening to music or watching video. In my mind, the phone capability has to come first. One reason to have a phone with you at all times is you can contact someone in an emergency. If this capability is reduced due to the media features, then the overall usefulness of the device is decreased. The battery live is stated as 5 hours talk/video and 16 hours music. I would hope that the engineers behind this kill media features before the battery drains, thus keeping enough power for emergency calls even if the user is not watching his/her power level during the day.


• Network Support: I love the built-in Wifi and Bluetooth but the EDGE support leaves me a bit cold. In order for this to really "rock the data space" it needed to have HSDPA included. EDGE just doesn't cut it anymore. We want 3G support from our handhelds now. Ideally it would have dual-band HSDPA (for support in the US and Europe where HSDPA sits at a different frequency). I do applaud the choice for GSM over CDMA (and Verizon/Sprint) as it gives the device international market support.


• E-Mail: Great that it has push mail support from Yahoo. Even better would be push mail support for Exchange servers, either through Blackberry (my personal choice) or the Microsoft Push Mail in Exchange (not bloody likely). I live by my Blackberry push mail (and am using a Pearl for blogging from the CES show floor) so I would ideally want to see this feature for corporate mail services.

Overall, I am very excited (it cound be said that I am finding too many faults in the device just so I can go on and on about what I "really want" and that is a valid comment though neither here nor there) and look forward to the release in June but my reservations will be held until I get a chance to view it in person

Sonos releases 2.1 software

A little e-mail popped into my inbox today that made me want to head to the airport and get back home. No, my wife and kids are doing fine, thank you very much for asking and anyway they would have called instead of sending me an e-mail. The message I received alerted me to the fact that Sonos has released a new software version for their line of music delivery devices.

If you' ve been to my house (and I know who you are) then you will be familiar with my support of the Sonos platform. In my mind, it is the most elegant way available for the above-average Joe (not average, it's still to expensive for that Joe) to stream music through his/her (yes, I know a Jo and a Joe) house. The interface, both on PC and on their wireless remote, is intuitive and simple to operate. The networking of the devices is truely plug-and-play, and with Version 2.0 they added true support for Rhapsody (no more needing a PC to engage the stream) thus allowing anyone with a Rhapsody account to listen to the millions of songs available at any time without having to fire up a computer.

Rhapsody support not such a big deal, you say? I sold my spare units to a friend who had seen them at my house but was not going to pull the trigger because he uses Rhapsody on his PC at home, hooked up to his stereo. Version 2.0 sealed that deal nicely.

Now comes version 2.1. The desktop software now has Vista support. Big whoop, you say, Vista ain't out yet for the general user. Ok, you want whoop? How about adding support for:

• AOL® Music Now
• Napster™
• URGE™
• Wal-Mart®
• Yahoo! Music™ Unlimited
• Zune™ Marketplace

Is that whoop enough for you?

Really, I'm very excited for them. They are now supporting (almost) all the major players in the digital music game (hello Apple, yes, I'm talking about you) and I can only assume they are doing it with the same aplomb they apply to everything they do.

They also say they've improved volume normalization and playlist support. I will report back on this when I get home an install the new version.

No, I do not work for them, nor have I received any free stuff from them. Heck, I tried to track them down at CES today (before I got this e-mail) to see what they had up their sleeves but I completely failed to find their booth. Has anyone else found them and if so, can you point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Tablet PC Delivery Woes

Lenovo are having fullfillment issues with their X60 tablet PCs. The high resolution screens that power the upper end X60 tablets are unavailable and slated to drop somewhere at the end of the month, leaving customers that ordered the top of the line units last year twiddling their thumbs in anticipation of what could be the best tablet on the market, if only it could leave the warehouse and land in the hands of users.

I am on the lookout for the "holy grail" of tablet PCs. Of course, my holy grail is probably a bit different than yours but for the sake of high word count in this post, I will detail what I am looking for:

• Core Duo processor (or Core 2 Duo)
• 12" screen with at least SXGA+ resolution (I am a resolution junkie)
• Vista ultimate-capable video processor
• Convertible for factor (need that keyboard)
• 5hr battery life (yeah, with that processor I already detailed)
• Optical drive not necessary but give me a mini dock like the Lenovo unit
• 802.11NBRGWSDRE (whatever is the newest non-standar) and Bluetooth
• Built-in HSDPA WWAN adapter (international access and I don't forget the PCMCIA card)
• Less than 3 pounds with the battery

I will be at the Tablet and UMPC community gathering tomorrow at Cheeseburger Las Vegas. I hope to get to the bottom of this issue. If you see me there and know a tablet that meets all my requirements, please stop me from rambling away at whomever is in my line of fire (they will thank you later) and tell me how to get this dream machine. Thanks in advance.

Wide Screen Media Players

The big question is: Will Apple announce the widescreen iPod at MacWorld?

The debate about whether MacWorld will outshine CES has been on many blogger's sites this week, and last week, and the week before.... you get the drift. That MacWorld is the same week as CES, forcing some press to make a decision and others to either live on airplanes or split their staf is being hailed as a fantastic marketing move and an unmitigated disaster. I am not interested in throwing my two cents into that debate but I am wondering...

Will Apple announce the widescreen iPod at MacWorld?

So far, at CES, I have seen the Zen Vision W, the Sansa View, the Toshiba Gigabeat MEV30K, and the random Korean widescreen never-heard-of-them-before player. If Apple misses their expected launch of a widescreen player, they will have stumbled in a category that they have for all intensive purposes owned for years.

I don't bet on technology but I am tempted not to bet against them.

Tipping while in Las Vegas

Here are the (promissed) few tips on tipping while at CES. Follow these handy guidelines and together we can start proving that not all technology idiots are tipping idiots.

Transport:
Taxi: 15% of the fare.
Limo: The party paying for the limo is responsible for the tip but if you are a guest and the driver is doing a good job, consider it like a taxi ride.

Hotel:
Maid: $5 a day. Leave the money in an envelope on the bed when you check out.
Bellman: $2-$5 depending on how many are in your party.

Food:
Restaurant: %15-%25 of the meal depending on the quality of food and service.
Bar: I tend to tip around 25% for beer and coctails. Maybe it's just me.

Casino:
Dealer: I tend to bet for the dealer instead of tipping outright. For instance, if I hit blackjack, the extra winnings go straing to the next hand as a bet for the dealer.
Waitress: When at the table getting free drinks, throw a buck or two to the wait staff bringing you those free drinks.

A good resource guide for tipping is here. If you have more suggestions, please throw them my way.

Digeo

This afternoon, I stopped by my previous employer's (DIGEO)booth here at CES. They are announcing the introduction of two retail offerings later on in the year (the press release can be found here).

Up until now, Digeo has been concentrating on producing an interactive TV/DVR platform for the cable market. They have been working hand in hand with both Motorola and Scientific Atlanta, the two big hardware players in US cable boxes, and have a good number of deployments of their MOXI software out in the market.

There are significant upsides and downsides of tying your product to the cable market. The biggest drawback is the glacial speed at which Cable MSOs move. A cutting edge product when brought to the attention of cable companies becomes less and less innovative as they certify and test market it. Although you get into what is essentially a walled consumer base when in bed with the cable companies, you are heavily handcuffed by their deployment process and schedule. Note that this problem is also present in contracts with the satellite providers and the results can be seen through the contentious relationship between TiVo and DirecTV.

When TiVo introduced the series 3 HDTV box with cablecard, they made a significant move out in relation to cable tv. With the first widely available cablecard DVR running TiVo software, they showed that cutting edge technology can work hand in hand with a cable TV infrastructure.

Granted, the cablecard 1.0 spec is only one way, forcing end users who want to use the cable-provided PPV and VOD services to continue to use their cable company's box for those services, but it is a step in the right direction. If Digeo can sucessfully enter this market, they will show that there are enough customers that want cable company agnostic services. Hopefully this will push the MSOs to provide support for cablecard 2.0 so they can provide their VOD services on 3rd party hardware.

Unfortunately, this could also produce the oposite effect, making the Cable MSO's even more protective of their market. They could use the content providers' reluctance with digital distribution to their own ends and attempt to lock out the 3rd party hardware.

Although the booth is pretty small (by CES standards) they scored some high profile ad space with a hugh banner outside the central hall. Hopefully this will drive more people out to the Digeo booth (South Hall 26610).

If you do stop by, say Hi to Henry and Cara and Jon. I have only good memories of working with them back in the early 2000's (what a strange thing to say...).

The BlogHaus

Sitting up at the BlogHaus at the Bellagio. A nice suite sponsored by Seagate and PodTech. Robert Scoble is acting as bartender. Followed Ed Bott through the security checkpoint and up the elevator.

A lot of people seem to know each other here. The meet and greet quotient is very high.

The keynote is in a little over an hour at the Venetian but this locale is comfortable enough that I don't feel compelled to leave right now.

Landing at Las Vegas

You are greeted by the sound of slot machines as soon as you exit the plane at McCarren international Airport and you know you are in Vegas. The city wastes no time reminding you what this place is all about and the friendly chimes and flashing lights entice you to lay down your money before you've taken 30 steps.

There's no doubt the crowd on my plane, by and large, will pass by these slots without pause. The flight is almost exclusively here for CES (I would net even the guy with the greased millet one aisle up, looking like he could be at home on the world poker tour, is coming for the convention, is technology people aren't known for our outstanding grooming) and gambling is not our primary focus.

Aside from a lack of poker passion (some of us do take a few hours out of the day to play the tables--you'll find me playing craps and blackjack--but we are the minority), CES attendees are also known for lousy tipping. Perhaps it's a lack of experience or a reluctance to spend money. I don't really know. What I do know is I tend to overcompensate for my fellow conventioneers by overtipping. In a gesture of good will toward the denziens of this city, I will cover propper tipping practices later in the trip. In the mean time, please tip your taxi driver, your taxi line guy at the hotels, your dealer, your hotel maid staff, your restaurant servers, your bartenders, anyone who provides you service and makes your stay more pleasurable. Ok? Thanks.

Ready to go.

Friday evening at the office and I am making the last minute preparations for a few days away from the office. Better remember my CES badge and related garbage.

Flight and hotel are booked. Plans have been made. Dinners reserved. Now all I need is a friendly blogger with an extra pass to the HP party Sunday night.

See you in Vegas.

Watch This Space

For this blog's launch event, I will be covering CES 2007 from Las Vegas starting Sunday January 7. There will be live reports from the show floor as well as day-ending recaps (as available).

Enjoy.