Did you miss Ted? Get it on your iPhone

This is great. An iPhone app that lets you access all the content at last week’s TED conference. Excellent. Definitely want to catch the billg speech among other things.

Quote of the day

"If you deploy a four or five-year old operating system today [Windows XP], most people will ask their boss why the heck they don’t have the stuff [Vista / Windows 7] they have at home."

Steve Ballmer

Not sure I buy that argument at all. Too many folks who get home machines with Vista that look for ways to get XP back. Granted, this was the story when Windows 95 came out and a lot of IT shops at the time found users had taken the OS upgrade story into their own hands. I’ve not heard from too many IT departments that have been worried about end user Vista updates on corporate machines. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft can recapture any of that Windows 95 end user excitement with Windows 7. I still recall the users lined up around the blog at the Egghead software store in Seattle the night before Win 95 launch. Have never seen anyone stand online for a Windows release since.

One additional point, I suspect that Ballmer wasn’t taking into account the number of folks whose home operating system isn’t even a PC at all but rather a Macintosh.

Four things missing in today’s Kindle 2 news

While the new Kindle seems to be a pretty nice update, (If I were looking to buy, i’d definitely go with v2 over v1, I’m just not sure I’d update to V2 if I already owned v1) there’s still a lot of stuff missing before this gets to become mainstream.

1. First, it needs to be cheaper. $359 is just way too high for mainstream consumers for a device that only does one thing (for the most part). It’s fine for folks like me who travel a lot, buy a lot of books and hate carrying paper. For the mass market, it’s got to come down in price. Amazon could do this any number of ways including book club offers and/or subscription services.

2. I want a backlight. Yes, I know the eInk tech doesn’t lend itself well to this tech but Sony found a way to add a series of LEDs to light the display when it’s dark. One of the big advantages of eTexts is not needing ambient light to read by, this is important in places like bed, airplanes etc. Something Amazon needs to add ASAP.

3. Fix the eInk refresh rate. It’s gotten a lot better since my first Sony Libre and the current model is 25% better than the old one according to Amazon. It’s still not good enough and I still find the flash distracting.

4. What Amazon most needs to do is make the Kindle a platform. Get content onto other devices like the iPhone ASAP so consumers can finally be taught how to read books and other long form content on mobile screens. At the end of the day as long as I”m buying my content from Amazon they should be cool with whatever device I’m reading it on (Even if they prefer I read it on a Kindle). This eco system push should have been part of today’s news. Bezos hinted at it when he talked about WhisperSync. It should have been explicit and part of today’s news.

Kylie is best Windows spokesperson to date

Forget those ads with Seifnfeld and Bill Gates, as I mentioned earlier, this how Microsoft should be telling the story that it has with products like Windows Live Photo Gallery (a name that perhaps could use some work in and of itself, doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as neatly as say, iphoto). It’s a good contextual ad, that actually shows someone using the product to achieve a desired result, something that Apple has excelled at for years. Even better, it’s a cute kid who’s getting the result (and I bet they didn’t have to pay her the 10m they wasted on Seinfeld). I could think of at least six more Microsoft products that could use this type of treatment.  

Video: Kylie uses Windows Live Photo Gallery

Sync Google calendar and contacts directly with the iPhone

Google just added support for direct sync of calendar and contacts to the iPhone. Directions are here. It’s similar to the approach the folks at nuevasync have used in the past, using the Exchange protocol to make the iPhone thinking it’s connecting to an Exchange server. Pretty slick and of course, supported directly by Google so it makes it a lot appealing for folks to use. If you’re using it, please note your experience in the comments.

Kindle 2 first impressions

WiFi got overloaded pretty quickly so hard to update via Twitter.

Amazon spent some time talking about the evolution of the book and the success of the kindle. Currently 230,000 titles (as I’ve mentioned, they’ve crossed the threshold of good enough). I tend to agree with most of what’s been said and why the kindle has done well to date.

So what’s new? Kindle 2. Much thinner 0.36″ thick. 25% thinner than iPhone. Still a one handed device. New eInk with 25% faster page books. Holds 1,500 titles on board. Still Whisper Net based. Overall design looks nice, spy shots were accurate. WhisperSync allows users to keep content and bookmarks in sync across Kindles. Mention made of “other devices”.

Screen refresh looks better. Still a bit distracting I think. New nav looks to be improved for jumping around. USB charger is nice as well.

Text to speech is integrated into all texts. Not bad. Sounds like an updated version of Macintalk. Audio book lovers will not likely be swayed to switch.

Steven King showed up and has an exclusive story for the Kindle. I’m not a big King fan but it was a nice coup to have him at launch. Was interesting have him read part of the story.

Overall, it’s a nice design. Will still likely appeal to folks who are mobile a lot and who like to read. Hardware is nice but still not quite as beautiful as Sony’s design. It’s a nice evolutionary step bit at $359 seems still a bit high.

Live shot of the Amazon event

MSFT reveals well kept software secret

Last week I called Windows Live Writer and Windows Live Photo Gallery two of the most compelling reasons to use Windows. They are both best of breed and easily could justify and OS upgrade to use. (oddly, both work fine on XP so there’s no need to update to use them). I also called them some of the best kept secrets on the industry ad few comsumers know they exist.

Last night MSFT took the wraps off a new ad showing a four year old using Photo Gallery. It’s a well done spot and nicely showcases how accessible these programs are. Two of the biggest adoption inhibitors are users who don’t think they have access to this kind I software or don’t know how to use it. This ad was aimed directly at the heart of those two issues and it was aimed well. Even better, Jerry Seinfeld was nowhere in sight. Nicely done Redmond.

Live at the Amazon event

I’m grabbing some coffee across from the Morgan Library where the Amazon event will star shortly. Lots of leaks over the weekend show a much slimmed down device but that’s only going to be part of the story. Some things to look for.

1. How much content has been added,
2. Is there support for audioboos or MP3s from the Amazon store.
3. Will there be device subsidies for frequent purhasers?
4. How much better is the latest generation of e-ink.

I’ll be posting my thoughts later on and will also be covering live on Twitter.com/gartenberg

Press or media looking for comment should feel free to give me a call at
201.862.0443 after the event.

Mobile Blogging from here.