Author Archive | Ed Oswald

Not-So-Black Friday Preview: Best Buy

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 13, 2008 at 2:17 pm

bestbuylogoLooking for tech deals on Black Friday (which can you believe it is only two weeks away)? Technologizer will comb through all the announced deals to let you know where you should be freezing your you-know-what off on that oh so special day.

Our first stop on our journey is our friends at Best Buy. Now mind you, this is the company that said there was a “rapid, seismic drop” in its sales and called the current retail environment “the most difficult climate we’ve ever seen.” So, don’t be surprised when the leaked details of its sales are nowhere near what they have been in years past.

Among the deals we’re seeing are a 80GB PS3 with Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction and the Blu-ray title Casino Royale for $399.99 (basically, you’re getting a game and movie you’d probably not buy on your own for free), a Panasonic Viera 50″ Plasma for $899.99 (I’m guessing it is a discontinued set cause the model numbers don’t match the currently available 50″ Viera through the retailer, nor is it available through Amazon), and a Toshiba laptop for $379.99.

Nothing really crazy here, but the discounts on items don’t seem to be as great as they were in past years. You have your typical deals on CDs and DVDs, your standard discounts on video cameras, HDTVs, and peripherals, but the true deep discounted stuff is few and far between here.

Hat tip to blackfday.com for the ad, which can be seen here.

See our other Black Friday tech deal coverage by clicking here.

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A Twitter Account for Kevin Rose’s Cold? Are You Serious?

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 12, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Okay, Web 2.0 has officially jumped the shark with this one. For reasons unknown, Digg founder Kevin Rose has decided to create a twitter account for the cold he has apparently caught. I’m not exactly sure why I’d care to know the latest goings-on about Mr. Rose’s mucus buildup or his aches and pains, but they’ll be listed for all the world to see.

I wouldn’t have covered this if it weren’t for the 771 users who have decided to follow this, which absolutely just blows my mind. Yes, I guess its funny for a moment — but should we really waste Twitter’s bandwidth for some mindless drivel?

kevinscoldGod knows Twitter can’t stay up, so why add more traffic that really is not going to better the lives of the web community at large. Oh wait, it may be good for the employees who work at Digg HQ, who now know not to come within 500 feet of their fearless leader for fear of catching whatever nasty bug Kevin has.

(I wonder, will their afflicitions create Twitter accounts too? Maybe this is a new strain of Web-aware viruses! Doctors would just need to @reply them to figure out how to best treat the afflicted. Talk about a superbug!)

Maybe I’m just failing to see the humor in it here, but come on now.

Here’s another one for somebody’s iPhone. This one is even more popular! 2,270 followers to learn where and what Justine’s iPhone is doing. Who the heck is Justine? And why do I care what her phone is doing? Good lord.

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XM, Sirius Change Lineups As Expected

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 12, 2008 at 7:31 am

sirius-xm-mergerWhile much of the talk previous to today centered around changes to XM’s lineup, Sirius XM has made changes to both lineups effective immediately. Essentially, it takes a large majority of the channels on either service and combines them, with a few stations either going off the air or being moved onto either service’s online radio offerings.

On XM, here are the new Channels:

Elvis Radio – XM 18 – Elvis
The Bridge – XM 27 – Soft Classic Rock
BBC Radio One – XM 29 – Popular music
The Coffeehouse – XM 51 – Adult alternative
Faction – XM 52 – Punk, hard rock
Radio Margaritaville – XM 55 – Jimmy Buffett
Jam On – XM 56 – Jam bands
The Grateful Dead Radio – XM 57
E Street Radio – XM 58
Underground Garage – XM 59 – underground Rock and Roll
Shade 45 – XM 66 – Eminem produced station
Hair Nation – XM 41 – “hair” bands
Outlaw Country – XM 12 – alternative country

21 channels are changing names, and 11 will be moving around on the dial. More information on the XM lineup can be found here.

Sirius is also changing, here are its new channels:

40’s on 4 – Sirius 4 – 40’s music
90’s on 9 – Sirius 9 – 90’s music
The Loft – Sirius 29 – Acoustic Rock
Willie’s Place – Sirius 64 – Country
enLighten – Sirius 67 – Southern Gospel
BB King’s Bluesville – Sirius 76 – Jazz
Escape – Sirius 76 – Pop instrumentals
Cinemagic – Sirius 81 – Movie soundtracks

23 channels would change names, and 2 channels would be moved. More information on the Sirius lineup can be found here.

Essentially, where the name is changing, it means that the channel is being combined with the similar channel on the other service. While this is not by any means a combination of the entire lineup — I’m guessing Sirius XM wants to keep both services separate enough that either is attractive to customers, yet similar enough that they are saving money on eliminating duplicate programming.

Update: I’m perusing through the fan boards for both services, and it looks like there is a little bit of consternation regarding the changes. XM fans seem to be a little turned off by the rather frequent station IDs (XM didn’t identify as much — but this could be more of a result of building the brands back up with a cadre of new listeners — but then again, Sirius to many has sounded much more like FM than its sibling), and some of the programming switches are a bit abrupt for some.

My only complaint is how this was put on customers. No warning at all, only rumors. I’m a regular listener of BPM XM 81, and I haven’t heard them mention once about what was going on. That’s just not good business to me.

What’s your thoughts?

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Zoombak: The Technologizer Review

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 11, 2008 at 8:43 pm

zoombak-locator-loresFrom time to time here on the site we like to review some of the products we come across in our travels around the country to various events, and the Zoombak is one of those products. Simply put, the device is a personal GPS locator which allows for a variety of uses in tracking objects — whether it be a car, your pet, or even a person.

The Zoombak unit itself is very compact, measuring in at about 2.9 inches long by 1.7 inches wide, and is about .8 inches thick. It’s light weight, about 2.5 ounces, makes its use on just about anything without much consideration for size or weight fairly practical. Continue Reading →

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Yes, the Tech Squeeze is Hitting Us Journos, Too

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 11, 2008 at 1:23 pm

While a lot of the talk about job losses have centered around jobs within the IT sector itself, us technology journalists aren’t immune to the pain. You could call it collateral damage of sorts, where the problems trickle down into the media.

Companies make less money, which in turn means less in the advertising budget. That in turn means many media outlets (even Technologizer) see less income in terms of advertising dollars spent. What happens when this occurs? Layoffs of course.

This week’s highest profile job cut comes from Conde Nast, who operates wiredseveral tech news properties. It’s largest is Wired, but it also includes Ars Technica, which it acquired in May for $25 million.

According to Conde Nast spokespeople, the layoffs are coming across all divisions of its web publication arm, including non-tech sites such as Epicurious and Style.com. No details have been given on just how big these cuts will be, as discussions on whats going to go are still ongoing.

News sources indicate as many as 30 percent of the total CondeNet workforce may have been let go, but that is not confirmed by the company. It’s not only freelancers which are seeing the cuts, it looks like its salaried writers and editors as well.

While I am not a big fan of Ars Technica and Wired for several reasons, I can’t help but feel bad for these folks. I am somewhat in the same boat too at this moment, trying to find regular full-time work. I can tell you for as bad as it is in the regular economy, it’s much worse in the media.

Nobody’s hiring, and if they are, you better be prepared to take a substantial paycut. Plus, freelance work is also drying up, as publications leave go their full-time writers and those folks flood the freelance market in an attempt to make ends meet.

It’s tough out there.

Update: News.com reports that 3 of the 28 Wired.com writers have been laid off, although it apparently was not any of the staff writers. PaidContent followed later indicating the entire Ars Technica staff would keep their jobs, and that Conde Nast may be looking for new acquisitions “if the price is right.”

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Sirius XM Takes a Big Hit, Still is Not Making Money

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 11, 2008 at 9:15 am

sirius-xm-mergerDespite the best efforts of the company to fight back against those who question its financial health, people are still talking about the company’s disappointing results post-merger. This is not going to be helped along at all by Sirius XM’s most recent quarter: it posted a staggering $4.88 billion loss.

Revenues did increase 17%, something CEO Mel Karmazin was quick to point out in a conference call with analysts.

“Many other good companies are not growing as a result of the issues in the U.S. economy. So we believe showing double digit growth to be very impressive, especially if you compare SIRIUS XM’s results to other media and entertainment companies,” he said.

Now, to be fair to Sirius XM, $4.8 billion of this was due to what is called a “impairment charge,” which it took to account for worthless goodwill resulting from the drop in its stock price following the merger. However at the same time, its bad news for a company who is still not doing too great.

Add to this debt refinancing woes — it has a large chunk of it coming due in 2009 — and some investors are concerned. $1 billion in debt repayments will have to be made, and the company does not have the money to pay for it.

CEO Mel Karmazin has repeatedly said he is confident that he will be able to find the money to pay off those debt payments. However, with the deteriorating economy, its not clear that consumers will continue to pay for a service that is discretionary at best.

Add to this that the US auto industry is increasingly having problems moving cars, and thats even worse for Sirius. The automakers have become a significant source of new subscriptions for the satellite radio operator, and if those company’s aren’t doing well, Sirius will not either.

This could be the reasoning why Sirius XM continues to revise its subscriber projections downward. Last Thursday, it said it expected to finish 2009 with 20.6 million subscribers, down from 21.5 million it had projected earlier.

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Consumers Pulling Back on Tech Spending

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 10, 2008 at 8:45 pm

Newsflash to those who haven’t already figured this one out: the holiday shopping season will likely suck for most retailers and product manufacturers, especially in the high tech sector. A survey released Monday by ChangeWave Research shows that few consumers expect to be purchasing desktops and laptops over the next 90 days.

Researcher Paul Carlton is describing the weakness as “a massive breakdown in consumer spending.” With the economy increasingly going south, its looking more and more like people are spending less out of a fear of what could come in this ever-deteriorating economy.

Only 8 percent of those surveyed expect to purchase a laptop in that period, and 6 percent expected to purchase desktops. This was down from 11 percent and 8 percent respectively, and are the lowest readings recorded by the firm since it began asking consumers about their computer purchasing plans.

There is some interesting news however. Dell and Apple are leading all other manufacturers when it comes to what brands consumers plan to purchase. For Dell, 37 percent of potential buyers said they were planning to purchase a desktop, and 33 a laptop. Apple’s results were stellar as well: 33 percent plan to pick up a new MacBook, while 27 percent were considering a desktop system from the Cupertino company.

Carlton express some surprise at Apple’s success — especially considering the premium prices on the company’s systems — and said it is poised to pick up further market share during the period. Consumers seem to be associating Apple’s systems with quality.

What’s working for Dell is the value aspect, something Carlton found consumers were repeatedly saying was influencing their purchasing decisions there.

A sobering note from the study: 59 percent are planning to spend less in the next 90 days, which would include the critical holiday shopping season. Only 10 percent say they will spend more.

So tell us, are you spending more or less this holiday? What’s influencing your purchasing decisions?

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Ouch: Sprint Hemmoraging Customers, Losses Build

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 7, 2008 at 11:33 am

sprint_logo1If there was any doubt in your mind Sprint’s in a whole world of hurt, Friday’s results announcments should lead you to conclude this company is in some serious trouble. For the quarter ending September 30, the wireless carrier lost a staggering 1.3 million customers, all but 200,000 of which were contracted customers.

Just to put that in perspective, thats about two percent of its customer base gone in three months. Since last year at this time, the company has lost about 3.5 million customers, although still remains quite large at 50 million users, of which 83 percent are post-pay.

Losses for the quarter were $324 million, a sharp downturn from the profit of $64 million a year ago. Revenue also fell from $10.1 billion to $8.8 billion. Add this to the fact that it cannot seem to get rid of its iDEN network it acquired from the Nextel acquisition (and has been a part of the company’s financial and customer retention problems), and it does not look good.

Of course, the company is blaming it on the economy. Here’s CEO Dan Hesse in a statement on the quarterly results.

During tough economic times, we tightly managed our business to generate and retain cash and maintain substantial liquidity while continuing to reduce debt. At the same time, we made advancements in improving operations and delivering on the promise of the Now Network.

Pardon me for being contrarian, but if the business was so tightly managed, would you be losing customers like this? Out of all the carriers — even the nortoriously bad “old” AT&T Wireless — Sprint holds the title for the most customers lost in a single quarter.

I also find it somewhat odd Hesse talks about reducing debt when the company is actually adding to it by swinging from a profit (however small it may be) and into the red. You can’t reduce debt while spending money you don’t have.

One positive that the company can take out of this quarter is that nearly one in ten subscribers updated their phones, resulting in new contracts. It also said that it expects stabilization within its subscriber adds this quarter.

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Hey Ho, Hey Ho, Jerry Yang Has Got to Go

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 5, 2008 at 1:32 pm

yahoologoLet me be one of the many in the blogosphere to state publicly that I was quite happy to see the rumors flying on Jerry Yang’s apparent imminent departure. While it looks to have since been proven false (ah well), the fact that this is even coming up is a good thing.

Really, what good has come of Yahoo lately under Yang’s leadership? He messed up what could have been a very profitable merger with Microsoft for his shareholders, opting to align itself with Google in what looked more like a poison pill rather than looking out for the best interests of his company.

Well guess what. The Google-Yahoo deal is dead. So while Yang could have secured a decent deal with Microsoft that would have benefitted all, his company is now once again left by it’s lonesome self, with its poor stock performance and rumors continuing to circle that his company may be on the ropes.

The Microsoft deal would have put a value of $31 per share or about $44.6 billion on the company. Now with the stock price sitting at around $14, more than halving the value of the company, nobody in their right mind will pay anywhere close to what Microsoft offered back in February.

In search, the story isn’t much better. According to Net Applications, its share of search queries has fallen from 12.2 percent in January to 10.5 percent this month worldwide.

I can only see two options really for this company. Either it gets rid of Jerry Yang, who is far past his prime, or it swallows its pride and runs into Microsoft’s waiting arms. Ballmer can say all he wants: if Yahoo comes a-knocking, there’s no way in you-know-where that he will say no.

In search, the only way that there is to catch up to Google is consolidation. It’s going to happen sooner or later.

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YouTube Quietly Adds Search to Embedded Video

Posted by Ed Oswald on November 4, 2008 at 9:09 am

While searching for videos on today’s election happenings, I stumbled upon a feature which must have just recently been added to embedded videos. The functionality allows for a search box to appear at the top of the video when users are finished watching the video, or during the video after clicking the embed/url information option.

After the search query is typed, the search results appear in-line, meaning the user would never leave the page where the video was embedded. This has to be seen as a postive by website owners, since they will retain that set of eyes. On the web, that is as good as gold — and when you lose eyes, there’s a good chance they won’t come back.

I’m still not seeing any announcement from YouTube officially announcing the functionality, and I’m not expecting anything either since its relatively minor. However the implications for those who embed videos into their sites are obviously much more significant.

Pictures of the search option are below the fold.

Continue Reading →

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