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13 Great Smartphone Apps for Traveling Overseas

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Guest Author Guest Author | 1 Comment
Heading overseas for a trip? Download some of these apps first to make your trip easier. (Note: Check with your service provider first to see how much overseas roaming will cost!)

Phoning Home

Skype Mobile
http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-mobile/
- Platform: iOS, Android, Windows Mobile
- Cost: free
With a user-friendly interface and excellent Wi-Fi call quality, Skype Mobile’s video calling service can keep you connected with all of your friends and family. Skype to Skype calls are always free, but audio calls to landlines and cell phones are pay per call. Crystal clear audio and easy connections make this app a must have.

Locating Wifi on the Go

Wi-Fi Finder
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jiwire.android.finder&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/wi-fi-finder/id300708497?mt=8
- Platform: iOS, Android
- Cost: free
This directory of a half-million Wi-Fi hotspots in 144 countries depends on user-submitted information, so you can bet it’s authentic since the people supplying the information are the same people using the app. Wi-Fi Finder maps out locations, signal strengths and signal availability. This apps works both online and offline, so you can find hotspots on the go! If you are using the app offline, the app can use your phone to make a call and then send you information on hotspots at your location.

Translating on the Go

Google Translate Mobile
http://www.google.com/mobile/translate/
- Platform: iOS, Android, Windows Mobile
- Cost: free
We are all familiar with Google Translate, but the mobile version can really be a lifesaver. It can be used in multiple ways: the screen can be shown to someone else to read/translate, attempts can be made to sound out specific words, and the app (in certain languages) can speak the translation for you.

No Roaming Charges

Fring
http://www.fring.com/
- Platform: iOS, Android
- Cost: free
Make voice over internet (VoIP) calls via Wi-Fi. Fring lets you use other VoIP providers on your smartphone or iPod Touch. Fring is known for its group chats/conference calling and is less prone to the crashing that sometimes occurs on Skype. Up to four people can sit in on a call at one time.

Dude, Where’s My Phone?

FindMyiPhone
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8
- Platform: iOS
- Cost: free
Apple has skipped the chip-in-your-keychain idea and gone straight to the smartphone. With this app, you can go to the nearest internet café and locate your phone by accessing your iTunes account. Then, from that remote location, you can either play a beacon sound, lock the phone or clear your data depending on the situation.

Where’s My Droid
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alienmanfc6.wheresmyandroid&hl=en
- Platform: Android
- Cost: free
This 4.6 star app for finding your lost Android phone is the original “Find Your Phone” app for Androids. You can track your lost phone from anywhere by texting a magic word to it. Turn up your phone’s volume to hear the phone ringing, or if you’re too far away to hear it, you can locate your phone with GPS coordinates on Google Maps. To avoid unauthorized use of the app, you can create a white/blacklist of who can text the magic word, activate stealth mode so your incoming ‘magic word’ text isn’t visible and password protect your app.

The Change-Up

Hotelsbyme
http://www.hotelsbyme.com/
- Platform: iOS, Android
- Cost: free
Just in case your reservation falls through and you find out that the other rooms in your hotel are available on an hourly basis, this app allows you to book a room at the last minute based on location. It’s easy to use and provides great filters to sift through options by price, location, rating, etc.

The Add-On

Kayak’s app
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kayak-flight-hotel-search/id305204535?mt=8
- Platform: iOS, Android, Windows Mobile
- Cost: free
What if you need more than just a change in accommodations? What if you want to add another leg to your trip or quit your job and just wander around Europe for a month? Kayak can help you book flights, ferries, rental cars and any other means of transportation. It also stores the invoices to avoid the hassle of a printout.

Grease the Locals

Tipping Tips
http://www.snappapp.com/TippingTips/overview_en.html
- Platform: iOS
- Cost: $.99
What do you tip a concierge in Bermuda? A waitress in Japan? (Hint: you don’t tip in Japan!) This app can suggest, in detail, tips for over 100 localities around the world. It also features a built-in calculator that divides tabs into separate checks and a service rating system upon which to base your generosity.

Know Your Money Roll

Currency Banknotes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/currency-banknotes/id460777167?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.currencyBanknote&hl=en
- Platform: iOS, Android
- Cost: $.99
This user-friendly currency converter can calculate more than 150 world currencies and provide images of the bills for easy spending – and to avoiding using a £50 bill to pay for a £20 item. There is a free version available for iOS and Android without the bill images.

XE Currency App
http://www.xe.com/apps/
- Platform: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows 7, Windows 8
- Cost: free
This app provides an instant currency calculator and currency chart. The app tracks all world currencies and precious metals, providing you with live conversion rates. The app stores the last updated rates, so you can use the app when you’re offline. The currency calculator doesn’t require Wifi connectivity.

The Lifesaver

Find-ER
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-er-by-air-ambulance-card/id379300376?mt=8
- Platform: iOS
- Cost: free
Wherever you are in the world, Find-ER maps the route to the nearest hospital – via vehicle, foot or bicycle. The app can store emergency contacts, medical information and your doctor’s contact information that may be necessary to the hospital staff. Your insurance company back home and/or your doctor will want you to approve any medical care received overseas for your insurance to pay for it.

Hospital Finder
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uknowapps.android.hospitalfinder&hl=en
- Platform: Android
- Cost: free
Use this app to search for hospitals in your local area all around the world. You can also store hospital information in the app before traveling. Should your phone be offline, you can find a hospital quickly regardless.

About The Author:
Chris Turberville-Tully works with ESA-ServicedApartments.co.uk. ESA provides vacationing families, businessmen and other travelers budget-friendly accommodations that include more spacious rooms than hotels, wifi, kitchentte and private laundry.

Image source: Mr. T in D.C. via Flickr Creative Commons
Posted in Gadgets | 1 Reply
LCD vs. LED vs. Plasma: Which One Should I Choose?

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Guest Author Guest Author | NO COMMENTS
If you’re in the market for a new TV, chances are you’ve pondered which type of display to choose. There are currently three different display technologies on the market – LCD, LED and plasma. Opinions vary regarding which is best, so how do you know what to go with? Check out our run down of the three varieties to learn more about them so you can make an informed decision before you buy.

What’s the difference?
The similarities are clear – they’re all flat-screen HDTVs available in a variety of sizes from a host of different brands. They are also all available at screen resolutions up to the industry standard of 1080p. But what is the difference between LCD, LED and plasma? The main element that makes these technologies vastly different from each other is the way each screen is lit, which affects picture quality.
- Plasma: With plasma display technology, the phosphors that create the image on the screen are self-lighting, meaning they don’t require backlighting. This allows for deeper black levels and crisper picture quality.
- LCD: Liquid crystal display, or LCD, is technology that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals to display video. The liquid crystal does not illuminate, so a separate light source, cathode florescent lights (CCFLs), are required. What we know as “regular” LCD TVs are also referred to as CCFL-backlit LCD TVs. LCDs tend to be cheaper than other screen types, but sacrifice some picture quality.
- LED: LED TVs are essentially an LCD TV that uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the display instead of CCFLs.
How do I choose?
Simply knowing the difference between the technologies might not be enough to help you make your decision. That will largely come from whatever is driving your purchase. Are you a “bigger is better” kind of person? Is energy efficiency a priority? Figuring out which elements you can’t live without will help you decide which kind of TV to purchase. Below are some of the most popular factors that influence consumers’ TV purchases.

Picture quality
Above all else, a high-quality image is what people look for in a TV. Brightness and contrast are specifically what contribute to a crisp, clear image. While plasma technology once reigned supreme in this category, LED TVs are beginning to gain a foothold due to the clearer image, brighter whites and darker blacks produced by the LED lights. Recent advancements in technology have some varieties of LCD TVs edging out LED TVs for brightness and contrast quality, but LED is a safe bet when you’re looking for an HDTV with the best quality picture.

Size and thickness
While most focus will be on picture quality, many people also base their decision on screen size and thickness. This is particularly true if an ultra-thin, modern-looking TV is important to the design element of your home. Plus, the thinner varieties are typically easier to hang up on the wall, relocate, or arrange inside an entertainment center. If you’re looking for thin, LED TVs are the way to go. With no CCFLs attached for backlighting, LEDs are much thinner than LCD TVs. Plasmas are a close second weighing a bit more than LEDs, but still offering the thinness that many people look for.

Energy efficiency
Something else that sets LED, LCD and plasma TVs apart is their energy efficiency. Because of the way LED TVs are lit, they require the least amount of energy to run in comparison to the other two technologies. CCFL-backlit LCD TVs come in second in power consumption, while plasma TVs are hands down the most power hungry variety. So, if going green is a priority, a plasma TV probably isn’t for you.

Price
Of course, cost is also a major consideration when buying a TV. If money is no object, the higher priced LED-backlight TVs will give you the best in thinness, energy efficiency and picture quality. For the budget-minded buyer, a plasma screen TV will give you great image quality for a much lower price. High-quality CCFL-backlit LCD TVs can also be found in a moderate price range.

The final decision
Ultimately, choosing an HDTV will depend on which of the above factors are most important in your personal buying situation. With today’s ever evolving modern technology and wide range of options to choose from, you likely won’t have a hard time selecting a quality TV that meets your needs.

Post is sponsored by h.h. gregg.
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Robots – Coming To Take Jobs Near You

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

An expertly made burger without humans getting involved.

It was almost a right of passage for millions of young people in high school and college that your first job was one flipping burgers. It was also a fall back job later in life if your career as a photographer, musician or artist was a little slow getting off the ground and you needed to supplement your income.

In Asian countries the equivalent would be a noodle peeler, someone who shaves noodles from a larger piece of dough and drops them in boiling water. Now it seems that both noodle peelers and burger flippers have something in common besides low wages: Robots are coming to take your jobs away.

The robot noodle shaver was invented by Chinese restaurateur Cui Runguan and looks a little like a Power Ranger without legs. You can get your own noodle shaving overlord for a cost of around $1,600 (USD) and the angry looking noodlebots are rolling out of the factory by the thousands. Over 3,000 restaurants are now saying domo arigato to Mr. Roboto in Chinese.

Robot noodle maker in operation.

When it comes to burgers the robot revolution is a little closer to home. A company called Momentum Machines in San Francisco is fielding a robotic burger maker than can spew out 360 burgers an hour, all custom made to the customer’s specifications, including custom blends of different types of ground meat. It slices tomatoes and pickles on the fly but no word yet if the machine is capable of connecting to Skynet.

Another robot designed to assist sushi makers can crank out those little rice balls by the thousands, leaving the more important tasks to an actual sushi chef.

Like the sushibot many machines are only there to assist humans with some of the more repetitive tasks and that can reduce stress on the human component of the equation. The HAMDAS-R, a robot made by Japanese company Mayekawa, is a machine that debones hams using a mechanical knife guided by x-ray images. There’s a plot for a future horror movie in there somewhere.

Anyway you automatically slice it, robots are coming for your entry level job. I had always assumed that robots would have done away with almost every low-skill repetitive job by now, but not quite. We got cheated out of flying cars but it appears the robot revolution will continue replacing mere humans.

While resistance is futile the good news is even the burger making machine will need someone to clean it once in awhile.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged burger robot, noodle shaving robot, repetitive tasks., robots, sushi robot | Leave a reply
Three Easy Ways To Backup Your Gmail Account

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

Back in 2011 thousands of GMail users got a shock when the company informed them that their emails and contacts had just disappeared. Presto, change-o, you gotta be freaking kidding me, gone. The company’s statement, delivered in a blog, was “…and we’re very sorry.” Google was eventually able to restore part of the missing data but that one incident points out that even the most robust data system, run by the smartest people in the room, can have a bad day.

Whether your email provider is Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft, not everything that can go wrong is under the vendor’s control. Added to the relatively remote possibility of a data loss accident is the greater potential for you to get cut off from your email account due to an administrative error or a hacker getting control of your account and changing the password.

Given all that can go wrong I believe it’s prudent for individual users to keep a local backup of their email. If you run your own business it’s imperative that you do so as many states have laws about maintaining records and email is a key driver in litigation these days. Fortunately drive space is cheap and the tools to backup your personal account are free. Businesses can opt for a number of relatively low-cost services for backing up email on an enterprise scale.

Desktop Email Client

Gmail has both POP3 and IMAP compatibility which you can use to keep local copies of your Gmail account. There are desktop email clients like Thunderbird or Apple Mail, available for every desktop operating system that can be used to backup your Gmail account. Instructions for how to enable Gmail for either IMAP or pop3 access can be found here.

Gmail Backup

This free python app is what I use to backup my Gmail account. It’s lightweight and verbose, making it easy to keep tabs on its progress. You can backup all your emails or select a date range. The app hasn’t been updated since 2011 but still works fine.

This is one solution that works better on Windows than Mac or Linux. I’ve had it running on Linux, but it wasn’t fun getting it setup. This is one task I offload to the Windows 7 box.

Mailstore

A Windows-only solution but it has some compelling features such as the ability to store your email on a flash drive in portable mode and compatibility with Exchange Server. The home backup version is currently free and Mailstore also has paid backup options for businesses all the way up to cloud service providers.

I’m aware I spend a lot of time harping on backups, both online and local data, and there’s a good reason for that. Of all the times I’ve seen where technology really ruins someone’s day, nine out ten times that event was a data loss. By backing up your personal data and files you may still have days technology lets you down but you’ll be able to configure a new device, restore your data and be right back in business.

Posted in Live Digitally, Uncategorized | Tagged backup email, backup Gmail, online mail backup | 1 Reply
Is Microsoft Prepping 7-inch Tablet?

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

A couple days ago I mentioned that users seem to favor 7 inch laptops. Now comes word that Microsoft is considering launching a 7 inch Surface tablet.

Outgoing CFO Peter Klein made reference to a newer, down-sized surface tablet and the web has seen the rumor bubbling for weeks. The problem for Microsoft is that Windows 8 has steeper hardware requirements for screen resolution than most 7-in tablets are going to be able to produce and Windows RT gets roughly the same reception from users as Windows Me. One wonders if there is anyone clamoring to run desktop applications on small screen tablet, which seems unlikely.

When you consider the fit and finish of the hot products like the iPad-mini, Kindle Fire and Nexus 7, this whole discussion is bringing back visions of the Zune. Microsoft coming late to the tech party with a product that they obviously hadn’t anticipated.

I’m doubtful consumers are going to flock to this new product and it’s hard to imagine there’s room for a lot of growth in a market segment that’s already saturated with competitors.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged RT, Windows, Windows 8, Windows tablet | Leave a reply
Five Podcasts To Feed Your Mind

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

In the days I had to commute, it was a long drive. One day I figured out how to connect my MP3 player to the car radio and it seemed to open up a whole new world. How primitive those first steps seem in light of what’s available out there today.

There are a world of educational podcasts that cover everything from cooking and foreign languages to science and technology. In just a few minutes you can load your phone or tablet with enough fascination to make your daily commute the most educational part of your day.

Astronomy Cast

Need a crash course on the Oort Cloud? Or maybe you’re more into supersonic shock waves and planetary science. Whatever your interest in astronomy and physics, you’ll find many fascinating topics at Astronomy Cast.

NPR

I like NPR but their radio show covers a lot of subjects that might not work for you. The masters of audio have a podcast directory where you can mix and match your own news feed.

How Stuff Works

Many fascinating topics here like Stuff You Missed In History Class and Stuff Your Mom Never Told You. Put together by the Discovery Channel.

Radiolab

Many science related podcasts that also ask thoughtful and compelling questions. Radiolab is appropriate for a range of ages with an interest in science.

The Naked Scientist

If a scientist got naked on a podcast would anyone notice? Not on this show, which boils scientific topics down to clear and sometimes humorous basics. A fascinating range of timely and interesting science questions.

This is just the tip of the educational iceberg. There are literally dozens of great podcasts out there and it took some work to reduce it down to the best of the best. It’s safe to say that if there’s a topic you’re interested in, someone is putting together a podcast for it.

Posted in Live Digitally | Tagged educational podcast, science podcasts, technology podcasts | Leave a reply
Five Tips For Getting The Most From Your Wifi-Only Tablet

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

According to sales statistics most of you seem content with wifi-only tablets, much to the chagrin of wireless data carriers. AT&T, Verizon and the others would much rather see you paying for data you don’t use or, even better, exceeding your bandwidth caps.

Statistically you’re also content with 7 inch tablets, which seems to be the sweet spot between screen real estate and convenient portability. In the go-go days of desktops you could look forward to buying a new, bigger machine with a new operating system every couple years. Today you’re downsizing, your apps and data are in the cloud and that big PC sits largely unused.

But wifi-only is not exactly second tier technology these days and with these handy apps you might not notice much difference at all.

Kindle Reader

Download thousands of books to read at your leisure, online or disconnected. Anytime you’ve got a few minutes you can get lost in your favorite book.

Pocket

Formerly known as Read It Later, Pocket lets you grab web pages, twitter feeds and videos for offline viewing. It takes only a few minutes to pocket enough material to get you through your morning commute.

Wifi Analyzer

Never wonder if there’s an open network nearby with Wifi Analyzer. Find the best networks and just the right place to sit for optimum reception.

Offline Mapping

Google Maps has new features for offline navigation, provided you lookup the route before you leave a hotspot, you can get around with 3D maps and a host of offline functionality. With City Maps 2Go you have to pay for the download maps but the detail is quite good.

These apps will make paper maps a thing of the past, which is going to be a real problem for pirate movies of the future.

Google Voice or SendHub

When Google bought Grand Central it kind of dropped off the map, but they’re still working on it. In the meantime other competitors have arrived on the scene. Get a free phone number or port your old phone number over for a small fee. With online telephony you can listen to messages, read transcripts, send text messages and make calls, all from a web interface. You can create custom messages for groups or individuals, screen calls and myriad of other handy features.

Early problems kept Voice from being more popular than it could have been and the fusion of your phone and the web it still a very compelling combination. Being able to send texts from your tablet is a great feature. Having a phone number to hand out that masks your real phone number and blocks that can’t be skirted by phone company greed or policy is an awesome feature.

With the explosion of useful apps and the portable power of tablets it’s becoming easier to tell AT&T where they can stick their expensive data plans and that may be the best feature of all.

Posted in Apps | Tagged five great apps for wifi tablets, get more from wifi, google maps, Kindle Fire, pocket, wifi-only tablets | 1 Reply
PC Sales Plunge But Is It Fair To Blame Windows 8?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

Global PC sales suffered a dramatic drop in sales the last three months; the numbers were startling even considering PC sales in general have slumped over the last year. The news took a bite out of PC makers and Microsoft stock prices with HP losing 6.5 percent and Microsoft losing 4.4 percent.

While it would be easy to blame Microsoft and Windows 8 for the sudden collapse of PC sales, and as a Linux user I would find that somewhat satisfying, this is really a problem that runs deeper than the operating system for the PC industry.

Even my big Linux PC doesn’t see as much use lately, there just isn’t any compelling reason to fire it up. I have a laptop that meets my needs just fine, so why bother with the big hardware? Sometimes when I’m doing photo editing I miss my big, dual monitors but that’s about the only time. The problem for the PC market may not be Windows (for once) but the improvements in more compact hardware and connected devices.

One could have predicted the continued popularity of smaller connected devices by looking at Japan where the connected device market is nearly a decade ahead of the U.S. and has continued to eat away at PC sales as most consumers just don’t need big applications.

Productivity Applications In The Cloud

Probably the most disruptive change for the technology market is the easy availability of productivity apps. If you still need desktop productivity you have many options; gone are the days when Office was the only serious game in town. Online apps like Google Docs and Zoho are quickly replacing desktop applications all together, even for big companies like KLM and Disney. Those tools will only get more functional and ubiquitous as time goes on.

Without productivity apps what does that really leave for big boxes? Video editing, gaming, maybe big graphics work, not really a long list.

So it’s not just an operating system issue. There’s enough power in relatively modest hardware to do most of the tasks users require. New tablets, netbooks and smartphones don’t need an outside monitor or mouse and even keyboards are optional. Storage and applications are moving to the cloud, reducing even the need for external storage. Connected devices are light, convenient and powerful, cheap enough to be almost disposable and you don’t need Geek Squad or an IT department to set it up for you. The OS is largely peripheral to the equation.

To be fair Windows 8 does deserve some of the blame. Instead of separating the desktop and device markets, Microsoft went for a one-size-fits-all solution that didn’t really work for anyone. That was followed by the Microsoft admission that Office for Android will be delayed by at least a year. In the meantime Google is forging ahead with the integration of Google Docs and QuickOffice.

For the time being Microsoft Office still dominates the productivity market, but one wonders how long they can maintain the lead while absorbing a near continuous series of body blows, some of which are self-inflicted. It’s good to remember that RCA once dominated the personal electronics market and Kodak dominated imaging. In their day it seemed impossible that more nimble competitors could overtake them, but that’s exactly what happened.

Microsoft needs to pull it together or their legacy is going to be joining the ranks of those serving as a warning to companies of the future.

Posted in Live Digitally | Tagged android, google docs, IOS, productivity applications, QuickOffice, Windows 8 | Leave a reply
Google Fiber Numbers Swim Into Focus

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

Google and the analysts who watch them are starting to hang some numbers on the roll out of Google Fiber.

Right now the lucky few in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas have been reacting enthusiastically to the new service and it’s estimated that the search giant will end up spending roughly $84 million to build out the infrastructure in those areas, roughly $500 to $700 per subscriber.

Those numbers do cause analysts some concern going forward as that pegs the cost of a nationwide build out at $11 billion, they’re ignoring that Google’s subscriber numbers are likely to grow over time as more people find out about the service. The $84 million Google is spending in the Kansas City area will “pass” 149,000 homes with roughly 8 percent market penetration. What will determine the future of the service is how many of those remaining homes later opt to subscribe.

Google will want to work on pushing down the per home connection costs, which now sit at $464 for data and $794 for the broader range of services which include pay TV services. Some of those costs are recouped by the current $300 connect charge.

Based on the numbers for the first two cities, analysts are skeptical Google can make a go of it, particularly considering many areas will present regulatory challenges besides the logistics of getting fiber to potential customers.

Personally, I don’t see Google giving up that easily. For one, though $11 billion may seems like a huge amount of money to some companies, it’s good to keep in mind that Google makes $14 billion a quarter. Stretch those numbers out over five to seven years and the cost is not insurmountable. Also, Google might decide not to go after a nationwide rollout and instead might focus on high density urban areas where they can expect a higher percentage of market penetration.

I also give Google some credit for gaining economies of scale as they roll out more infrastructure and learn from past mistakes. Add the incoming recurring revenue as the subscriber base increases to gains in efficiencies and the numbers start to swing more in the big G’s favor.

Rumor has it that Austin, TX is the next city scheduled for the service offering and it will be interesting to see if the rollout costs remain the same or if Google can start finding ways to push costs lower. I consider Kansas City a low penetration market for high speed fiber and predict that Google’s Austin subscriber numbers will be off the charts.

The competition is also not sitting still and waiting for the gigabit fiber wave to crash over them. There are reports that in areas where Google Fiber is rolling out that cable companies are, at last, giving customers a better deal. While cable can’t compete with fiber in terms of raw speed, the cable connection most consumers have if fast enough for 95 percent of what they do online. Many may not feel much compulsion to switch, especially considering the $120 price tag is roughly on par with what they’re currently paying.

Even it was twice the price, I would still jettison cable the day Google Fiber was available and we get extended cable for free where we live now. That’s how much I personally hate the cable industry; one in particular and you all know who I’m talking about. As an industry, they deserve to die.

Either way, we’ll know more about the future of fiber after the numbers come in from the Austin roll out, provided they really are the next city in line. Stay tuned.

Edit: According to Engadget AT&T just made a terse announcement that they are also bringing gigabit fiber to Austin, Texas. Coincidence? I think not. Seems like cable companies aren’t the only ones interested in discouraging Google from moving ahead with their plans to build out their fiber infrastructure. Very interesting.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged gigabyte internet, Google, Google Fiber, high speed fiber | Leave a reply
Are You a ‘Zero TV’ Household?

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 3 Comments

Is this your TV? If it is you’re not alone.

If you’re one of the increasing numbers of people without cable service or even a TV, broadcasters are worried about you. If your ears are burning next week it will be because you’re the topic of conversation in many of the meetings at the National Association of Broadcasters meeting in Las Vegas.

The worrying trend for broadcasters is that your numbers are growing; from around 2 million in 2007 to over 5 million today. One of the problems broadcasters have is even how to count the shadowy numbers of those of you without cable, satellite dish or even a TV with an air antenna.

It’s a given that cable and satellite are losing viewers to internet providers like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon but those numbers are harder to track. Many of the internet providers are stingy with their subscriber and viewership numbers as the media discovered after Netflix released its popular House of Cards series starring Kevin Spacey.

Phones are starting to become another broadcast outlet as mobile streaming gets better and bandwidth caps start to loosen in painful slowness compared to the demand from the market. Many are finding they can keep tabs on their favorite shows via mobile streaming, another razor cut to the broadcast audience. A few have even stretched that to adopt a completely mobile lifestyle; no cords and not even a permanent address.

Broadcasters are not losing sleep over you…yet. So far they’ve managed to keep revenues up by charging higher and higher ad rates for a declining market share. What that sounds counter-intuitive it makes sense when you realize that, even though the broadcast market is shrinking, it still represents a large, cohesive pool of eyeballs and advertisers haven’t quite accepted the inevitability of chasing you around the internet and figure out how to get around ad blocking software.

Broadcasters will start to lose sleep if they can’t figure out where the market…you…are going and figure out how to get ads to you in a meaningful way. There is evidence, presented by Nomura Equity Research’s Michael Nathanson, (http://www.deadline.com/2013/03/tv-advertising-weakness-economy-internet-analyst-report/) that suggests ad revenue is leveling off and the days when broadcasters can charge more and more for less and less are numbered and they know it.

Interestingly I warned this very same group about the disruptive potential of the internet in a keynote address to NAB many years ago and they, literally, laughed it off. They didn’t get it then and, even though some of them see their interns watching their favorite shows on smartphones and tablets, I’m not convinced they get it now. I’d like to tell you they were working on better, interactive ads and more sophisticated product placement, but the sad truth is they’re still trying to figure out how to force you into their old revenue model. They’re still mostly doing what they’ve always done.

I know among this group some of you are trying to remember the last time you did watch TV. How are you disrupting the broadcast television world and how long have you been doing it? Do you watch any live TV anymore or is all digital on your time? You’re starting to trouble big shots at broadcast networks and they just haven’t figured out what do about you.

How’s it feel to be a rebel?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Apple TV, broadcast television, declining ad revenues, Google TV, internet TV | 3 Replies