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asphaltvalhalla · 5 years ago

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2019 Volvo XC60: Helicopter Parent

In a fit of stir craziness, I hopped in the jet and sped off to Earth for 10 days of hiding from the COVID in the forest (instead of a God-forsaken Martian hellscape). I paid for a rental Corolla. My dear friends at Avis said, “your 9-passenger Chevy van is ready for you!“

When the bus pulled up to the lot, the Avis app told me that my Grand Caravan, white, but with trendy black wheels, was in slot whatever, right by the dropoff.

“Better,” I thought, “but I would still prefer the Corolla I prepaid for.” Before getting all Ken on the manager about this unseemly “upgrade,“ I checked the app again. Minivan? Check. Chevy van? Still available! Volvo? Wait, what? Get this boy a chicken dinner!

I didn’t care that it was a grocery getter Volvo and not some $100K Polestar saloon. Like 90% of American SUV buyers, My only concern was that the “utility” part wasn’t wearing minivan sheet metal. I get enough Dad Bod/Mom jeans snark already.

Then I started driving it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s a competent $50K Scottsdale trophy wife-worthy quasi-truck. The devil in the details is relentless.

So here’s what’s good:

Smooth leather seats.

2 pane panoramic moonroof with theatrical retracting sunshade.

7 or 8-speed transmission.

All Wheel Drive. Something of actual utility in Michigan

Adjustable driving modes.

Harman Kardon sound system.

Built-in GPS (that wasn’t deactivated by Avis to sell an addon)

SiriusXM - no subscription. About the regular radio - I couldn’t find the preset setting to delete all the hate talk and religious channels these rentals often have. On the plus side, instead of presets, the radio automatically put in all the stations whose signal was strong enough to register. While driving up the Michigan Coast Highway, there was an occasional bleed over between the local station and the Chicago station using the same frequency.

WiFi Hotspot. Sounds good in theory. The feature was buried in a menu I stumbled upon on my last day with the car. (Karen: How am I supposed to read the Facebook without wifi?)

Some of the safety stuff my Honda has - adaptive cruise, lane departure, driver alertness, traffic sign reading.

Configurable (sort of) gauges.

Parallel parking assist.

Invisible to cops

Approach/puddle lights are stellar

Then there’s the other stuff:

The engine light was on. Step one - check the gas cap. There isn’t one. OK. Step 2, check the oil. Good luck with that. There’s no dipstick, dipstick. Somewhere in the cascade of menus (once you figure out how to get there) is a screen that tells you the oil level. Avis thought it might be cheap (i.e., low octane) gas. The car demands premium. It’s a turbo, so that should be a given. A tank and a half later, that wasn’t it.

TFW you need to scrub off speed quickly and you slap the lever a few times and you’re still in 4th or 5th gear.

The half-hearted cleaning by the rental company highlighted the cheap brittle plastics on the center console. I noticed both, because I had to unstick the buttons. Cue the frat house flashback of incongruous, mysterious (and best left that way), sticky things.

I couldn’t really tell much of a difference between driving modes, except for “Off-Road.“ Basically, it uses low gear hold and engine braking and maybe regular braking to slow your descent. I kept in in sporty most of the time, for the sake of the S in SUV. Economy mode made the engine start/stop more aggressive, like when coasting.

The tech. A blessing and a curse.

Factory GPS loves the highways. It only wants to tell you the fastest way to your destination. She’d get so PO’ed when I detoured or stopped to look at a thing.

“ Harman Kardon” audio sounds promising. I remember that name as being on stereo components I could not afford. Do you want to explore the sound quality? Have your passenger scroll through 17 menus.

Basically, always have a passenger, even to change the temperature.

You’re so naggy, Karen. The lane departure is supersensitive. The traffic sign and lane departure don’t sync up for things like construction zones. Driver alertness is 3 strikes and you’re out. Karen wants you to pull over.

Karen is happy to tell you when you’re in a no-passing zone. She is blithely unconcerned when the pass restriction ends.

She is right on top of those speed limit signs. 1 mph over the posted limit and the dash starts flashing the speed limit sign at you. It’s been a couple of weeks, but I think she also lost her mind a little if the speedo read above 80.

Not that I know from experience. Must have read that in the owner’s manual.

Android Auto -Karen friggin’ hated it. The Google GPS window is tiny, compared to the built in version that can be almost full-screened. On Bluetooth, Karen is happy to read your messages. Just tell her what line number. *Looks at big screen* What do you mean, “select line number.“ 100 miles later - Oh, the OTHER screen. The one with the speedometer I’m supposed to be checking occasionally. Got it. Plug that phone in and Karen’s mood changes. At first, it’s OK. She’ll play the Habanera on Spotify, but it sounds dull because you haven’t figured out the stereo controls yet. Sigh

At first, you can compose texts through Google instead of the canned responses of the factory interface. After a while, the green-eyed monster awakes. Suddenly your phone is simply not available to take your dictation. Karen has no explanation. Just “NOPE.” Also, she blames the phone for the problem that didn’t exist a minute ago.

I never did figure out the mobile wifi - I didn’t even find the screen with it until I was returning the car.

In Four Words: Buy a Mustang Instead. Or, Kinda Like Being Married.

#2019 #Volvo #XC60 #Avis #Rental Cars

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sshqmadison · 6 years ago

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Say It’s Comin’ Soon || Brodison

WHO: Madison Mccarthy and Brody Weston WHAT: Rehearsal of a potential song for Regionals WHEN: Wed, Mar 6, afternoon WHERE: Brody’s house WARNINGS: None

Madison was still feeling off since her news over the weekend. She was grateful for daily Cheerios workouts and plans like Kitty’s party as well as working on this number with Brody to keep her moving. Fake it til she made it was the only way she knew how to operate. If she seemed like she was still on top, maybe she would get there again. She’d collected a few sets of sheet music from Between the Sheets on her way over to Brody’s place, hoping they would find the perfect number between his ideas and hers. She knocked at his door and tucked a hair behind her ear, then smiled as he greeted her. “Hey! I brought music, and snacks!” Madison said, holding each up in turn.

Brody had been going through his sheet music to find the perfect, upbeat duet for them. He´d collected a couple of pieces and once he was done he checked his watch. He had a couple of hours before he´d start his shift and he was sure they´d be done by then. So when the knock on the door came he jogged downstairs and opened it, a bright smile on his face. "Then you can stay," he found himself joking as he stepped aside to let her in and then nodded towards the basement. "Got a dance studio down there," he explained before making his way there. In the beginning it had only been that, a studio, but over the years Brody had added a piano and even a comfortable couch with a small table where they could sit to try and find the perfect duet.

Madison stepped inside and followed his lead down the stairs. It wasn't often people had a dance studio in their house, and she was definitely impressed. "How'd you get so lucky to have this kind of space?" she asked, settling on the couch and pulling out the music. It wasn't all business, as she was sure they'd have fun getting the number together, but she wasn't one to waste time, either. Madison reached into her bag and passed a water Brody's way and pulled out a container with trail mix and one with cookies. "I went with healthy and also, not so much, depending on how you're feeling," she offered, "so tell me, what did you find?"

The story behind that was rather easy, he asked his mother for it and his father paid for it, but his family wasn´t exactly something Brody liked to talk about, so he decided to keep it short. "Well I was lucky enough to have the space in the house. My Dad isn´t exactly the guy who needs a room to himself other than his office and they decided to let me follow my passions when I was a kid." He nodded towards the couch and the table, on which he had stacked the sheet music he had picked out. "Well depending on what you want to go with. There´s some classics, like Anything You Can Do I can Do Better," he picked up a cookie. "Or something a little out of the ordinary like The Song That Goes Like this," or even "Carried Away" from On The Town." he nodded. "There´s a few more in there. Just have a look,"

"It's really awesome. Mason and I are stuck rearranging the living room when we need to practice cheers or for glee," she noted. Madison shifted to grab the small stack and flipped through the titles, pulling out the ones that struck her. "I love Anything You Can Do," she gushed, lightly hugging to her chest, and then sighed, "but it's a classic. Is it too predictable? Maybe? I hate saying no to it, but..." She trailed off and kept flipping, pursing her lips in thought as she glanced around the room. "Maybe we should put this space to use, find a number we can sing and dance to."

"Well. Good thing the two of us have more than enough space to practice." Brody chuckled. He could use a duet at Regionals and Madison was fun to sing with. It would be something different and maybe Mr. Schue would go for it. He did seem to like the old school style, but he wasn´t afraid to try new things every now and then. Brody smiled to himself as he finished the cookie and nodded. "That would certainly be something new. Duets are usually ballads or Broadway numbers. Do you have anything in mind?" He then asked, picking up some of the sheet music himself to go through.

Madison smiled knowing Brody was on board. They'd have their work cut out for them, but the payout was going to be worth it. She had a feeling. "Well, I think modern is risky with convincing Schue, but it seems to do better at competition. There's this Sara Bareilles song I'm a little obsessed with. She did a version as a duet and it's just," she paused and made a face, unable to properly convey her feelings for the song. "There'd be room for the whole glee club for backup, it's got a good beat for dance. I brought sheet music and the track."

"He might like the old school, but he does know what works best with the judges." Brody agreed with a nod. He wanted to win, he NEEDED them to win. And if they did he wanted to be front and center. At her words he nodded. Maybe it was good not to go for Broadway this time. "Well, let´s hear it." he then added, getting up from the couch and clapping his hands together.

She bounced up and nodded, grabbing her phone to plug into his stereo. With the audio queued up, Madison pressed play and listened as the music started to fill the room. Her shoulders shimmied with the opening piano before she took to a hand microphone and started to lip sync along with the lyrics. She turned to him, looking for his reaction as he took in the song, pointing as the male vocals came in, and soon enough she couldn't stop herself and was full out singing along. When it ended she turned to him excitedly. "Sorry, I should have let you have a clean listen without me overpowering it. But... what do you think?

Brody nodded over to the stereo and basically told Madison to help herself. He had definitely heard the song before and while it wouldn´t have been the first thing to pop into his mind for a duet at Regionas he couldn´t say that he wasn´t intrigued. Especially not with how much Madison was getting into it. It was quite adorable to watch, actually. Brody was tapping his foot along, his lips curving into a smile. "Well I think we´ve found our song." he then chuckled. "Never apologize for passion though. I can see you´re really into the song. Do you have the sheet music? Or should we see if we find it on the internet?"

Madison blushed a little at his comment about her being really into it. She'd probably looked a little ridiculous, honestly. This was type of song she danced around her bedroom to, and she knew there wasn't anything particularly graceful about that. "It's empowering, I guess. Like, it's pretty clearly about some relationship, but you can twist into any not great situation and be like yeah, it sucks, but I'll figure it out," she explained with a shrug. Madison moved back over to her bag and flipped through to find the music. "It took me forever to find the duet of this. She released the solo as a single so it was everywhere."

"Look at you, being all prepared." Brody grinned, figuring this might have been the duet she´d been wanting to do from the beginning. He wasn´t upset though, more impressed with her determination. "Well if the duet is a rarity then we might actually have a change at getting picked for the duet." Brody had performed duets at Sectionals and various competitions, and even a solo every now and then, but there was a bunch of talented people in Glee Club so to get picked over them was important.

Madison knew this was the song she wanted, but she wasn't about to force it on him. However, she was thrilled Brody had agreed to it. Having passion for the song could only make the performance better, right? "It'll be unique," she agreed, "modern but not over done." She passed him a copy of the music, keeping one for herself even if she didn't think she'd need it much. "Should we just start from the top?"

"Sounds like the perfect song for us," Brody replied with a smile. He´d already done some warming up before her arrival, so he was ready to go whenever she was. He went over the sheet music for a moment, making sure to know all the important parts, before wandering over to the piano. "Yeah, let´s do a slow run first," he suggested before sitting down and putting the sheet music in front of him. It wasn´t long until he had the melody down and began playing, a smile on his lips.

Madison was admittedly a little surprised when he went to the piano to play. She’d heard him sing and watched him dance, but had no idea that his talent extended to the instrument as well. Listening to the opening bars, she shifted closer to the piano before joining in with the opening ”Goodbye, should be saying that to you by now, shouldn’t I?” Her voice carried over the bouncing melody from the keys and carried on until it was Brody’s turn to take the lead, anxious to hear how well his voice fit the song.

Brody smiled as he glanced up at her, fingers flying over the piano. He wasn´t an expert by any means, but his parents had decided he should learn an instrument, and considering he had his sights set on Broadway early on he´d picked the piano. "Maybe we can start off slow with me playing the piano and then speed it up later on," he mused as he played and eventually listened to her first tunes. His lips curved into a smile before he eventually joined in. "And I tell myself to let this story end, oh, my heart will rest in someone else´s hand."

She nodded at his instructions, happy to let him set the pace as he learned the song. After all, it was her obsession not his. Madison’s fists clenched slightly in excitement when she heard him start to sing. It was perfect. She volleyed back and forth with him through the song, harmonizing under him in some sections, and taking the lead in others. Even at a slow first go through, it sounded like victory. “You sounded good,” she complimented as they finished.

For some reason they hadn´t been singing together all too much in Glee Club. In group numbers, yes, but it had rarely ever been the two of them. Brody was enjoying himself though and it turned out that their voices were going together pretty well. He finished on a high note, his lips curving into a smile. "WE sounded good," he then told her. "And I think it´s good to start off slow and then go faster. It brings a good dynamic to the song," he scribbled down a few notes before glancing up at her. "Alright, shall we go again?"

Madison smiled at his note that it was the pairing of them that sounded great. She needed the positivity and the feeling that something might just go her way again. "I like that too," she agreed to note on tempo. "It would make a good opener. Just you and me, slow and steady, then it ramps up and everyone joins in on backup," she mused, gesturing as she pictured it playing out in her mind. Madison took a moment to clear her throat and took her singing stance once more. "Play me in."

"Perfect." Brody agreed as he scribbled down some more notes for the people to join in later. He´d be giving a copy of the sheet music to Mr. Schue during their next Glee Club meeting. He wanted their teacher to see just how much effort Madison and him had put into the whole thing so they´d definitely be considered for the duet. "Alright," He played a couple of notes again, his lips curving into a smile as they started over. It went on for about an hour until he figured they deserved a break. "You know, I think we really have a shot with this," Brody grinned as he took a sip from his water bottle.

She couldn't have agreed more. Even with the little time they'd put into it, the number was objectively a contender. Madison took her spot on the couch again, munching on a bit of the granola she'd brought. She took in the room for a moment, trying to think if she'd ever noticed Brody's dancing. He definitely kept up in all the group numbers, but Mike seemed to take the forefront. And with a dance studio in his basement? Brody must be more talented than she knew. "Do you want to choreograph something for it? The music would definitely support more than Schue's typical sway and twirl," Madison noted.

Brody put the water bottle down and glanced at Madison, his lips curving into a smile. "That would actually be a really cool idea," he admitted. He wasn´t necessarily a pro choreographer, but he could whip something up that would outdo anything Mr. Schue had to offer. No offense though. "I´ll definitely think of something," Brody pulled out his phone and checked the time, making sure he´d still have enough time to get to his shift. But he was good for now. "Should we do another run through and then maybe start again tomorrow? I´ll have some choreography by then,"

Madison's hands clapped together in excitement. This really was coming together. Knowing that Brody was just as invested in their number, in this number, had her all the more motivated. She was back to her feet at the piano as quickly as she'd sat down, ready to go again. She let Brody play in the intro and was back on her lines again, full force this time for the last run through. She harmonized with him through the last chorus I'll be all right, just not tonight before finishing on her own, fists clenching with the final someday... Madison let out a satisfied sigh with a grin, holding a fake microphone to mouth. "And the 2019 Regional Champions taking a spot at Nationals... The New Directions!!"

Brody played the notes on the piano before he let the playback take over and got into the song, giving it his all. Their voices really did harmonize well together and he was going to enjoy performing this in Glee Club together. It was going to be a hard competition, because not everyone was just going to accept someone else taking a spot in the front row, but he doubted all of them would be as well prepared. Brody chuckled an clapped before holding an imaginary trophy up in the air. "Can you imagine?" He then laughed. "It would be glorious."

Madison sighed wistfully at the thought. "It would be glorious. And plausible, I think. we're strong as a team this year, stronger than I think we were last year. And I really think you and I are bringing a strong number to the table," she listed off. She was learning to not be over confident in herself, but still, optimism was her mainstay. "I think we could all pull it off."

"Definitely." Brody agreed. Most of them had grown up quite a bit this year and appreciated the fact that they were all a team more. They definitely had a shot at the championship this year and Brody would have loved to put that on his resume. And of course he´d loved to with with the team. He enjoyed performing with most people in Glee Club and it would be nice to win with them. "Same time tomorrow?" He then asked as he gathered the sheet music.

She nodded and moved to gather her things. The start of her week hadn't been great, but the magic of a good number had brought back her optimism. Madison hooked her bag on her shoulder and smiled at Brody. "I'll bring my dancing shoes."

#para: 002 #para: say it's comin' soon #para: brody #sshqbrody #triplethreatweston

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your-dietician · 4 years ago

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Best Amazon Echo smart home devices and Kindle e-readers and more are on sale

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/health/best-amazon-echo-smart-home-devices-and-kindle-e-readers-and-more-are-on-sale/

Best Amazon Echo smart home devices and Kindle e-readers and more are on sale

We may receive commission from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

Nearly every Amazon smart home device and e-reader is on sale. (Photo: Amazon)

Hooray! Prime Day is going strong! Day 2 is here! Amazon has slashed prices on nearly all of its devices for the mega-shopping event, which ends at midnight PST. So if you’ve been reluctant to “add to cart,” there’s still time to save…but not too much.

What’s on sale? Just about all Amazon smart-home devices, Fire TV and tablets. A highlight: The very popular Echo Show 5 is on sale for its all-time lowest price ever ($45!). This display brings together all your smart-home devices, while also serving as a visual companion to Alexa. And right now it’s nearly 45 percent off!

What else is discounted? Audible, for your Amazon devices: Get a whopping 53 percent off the first four months of Audible Premium Plus, so you can up game with great audio books and more; summer “reading” has never been more fun.

Important: These deals, including the Echo Show 5, are exclusive to Amazon Prime members. Not yet a member? You can sign up for a free 30-day trial here and take advantage of all the deals below, plus free shipping and all sorts of other Prime benefits.

Scroll to get your hands on the best Prime Day, Day 2 deals on Amazon devices.

New Echo Buds are here — and they’re 33 percent off for Prime Day! (Photo: Amazon)

The latest Echo Buds feature active noise-canceling (not available with the first generation). Now you can enjoy your favorite music and podcasts free from annoying background noise. Score a pair for $80 with the standard charging case, or $100 with the wireless charging case, for Prime Day.

These second-generation Echo Buds are built for long-lasting comfort with a new, sleeker design that fits securely in your ears (unlike Apple AirPods). They deliver high-quality audio that’s well-balanced and clear with deep bass. These babies are durable and tough, with up to 15 hours of battery life per charge (and an extra two hours with a 15-minute quick charge). And your trusty Alexa voice assistant is built-in.

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“A quality pair of buds. Out of the box, setup was easy,” wrote a delighted five-star reviewer. “I already had the Alexa app on my phone, so all it took was having the app open while I opened the case on the new ear buds…. The audio playback is excellent. Experimented with some heavy metal and classical, and the sounds were great. Even the classics like Sinatra sounded great, with the vocals loud and clear.”

The new Echo Buds come in Black and Glacier White.

Read thousands of e-books with the Kindle Paperwhite — save nearly 40 percent! (Photo: Amazon)

Discounted from $130 to just $80, the Kindle Paperwhite is a great all-around e-reader. Thanks to its six-inch display with a built-in light and 300ppi (pixels per inch) for clarity, it reads just like paper — hence the name. Plus, it’s got lots of on-board storage (8GB), so it can hold thousands of e-books and digital magazines from Amazon’s digital bookstore.

“Best Kindle yet,” said one of many five-star reviewers. “This Kindle is lighter and thinner than the last generation, noticeably so. The flat edge-to-edge screen is an improvement in feel and makes it much easier to clean. It still has an excellent non-glare screen that I love for reading outdoors.”

One of the Kindle Paperwhite’s best features is its looooong battery life — it can go for up to six weeks per charge. That’s weeks, not hours!

Never switch out batteries again with this hardwired gadget. (Photo: Amazon)

Although it resembles a standard doorbell, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired is super-powered. This smart doorbell provides a 24/7 video stream and a nice wide field of view (up to 155 degrees horizontal and 90 degrees vertical), meaning you can see a broad swath of your property and any activity that might be occurring. And it syncs to your smartphone, tablet, laptop or streaming device (it’s easy — there’s a Ring app), so you can keep an eye on your home whether you’re inside, at work or away on that big vacation you’ve got coming up this summer. And this is the exact right moment to snap one up. For Prime members only, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired is down from $60 to just $45.

“I absolutely love this doorbell. I’m thrilled the doorbell doesn’t need batteries. I hated that,” said a five-star reviewer. “The setup is so easy and the doorbell notifications come through my phone and my Alexa Echo Dot…Plus, the quality of the sound from outside is really good too…. I would absolutely purchase this particular Ring doorbell again.”

The Ring Video Doorbell Wired is hardwired into your home’s electric system, so there’s no need to worry about replacing batteries every few months. As long as there’s electricity flowing through your home, this guy is on the job.

Save 50 percent: Echo Dot

Want to turn your home into a smart home? Start here. (Photo: Amazon)

With an all-new sphere design, the fourth generation Echo Dot — marked down from $50 to just $25 (half off!) for Prime members only — is a small but powerful smart speaker with a glow-light base that can not only channel Alexa but can also stream tunes from Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Sirius XM and more. It offers clearer, more robust audio quality than earlier iterations. Pair it with another Echo Dot to create amazing stereo sound — a particularly smart deal now that it’s half off!

Shoppers love the compact dimensions — it’s 3.5-inches high — which make it great for smaller rooms. “This is exactly what I was looking for,” said a happy Amazon shopper. “The sound is loud and clear. Now I am able to hear all online stations with no interference. The design is space-saving, with rubber underneath to prevent sliding.”

The Echo Dot 4 comes in Charcoal, Glacier White and Twilight Blue.

Stream live TV and free TV instantly. (Photo: Amazon)

Watch more TV for less with the Fire TV Stick Lite — on sale from $30 to just $18 for Amazon Prime members. It’s easy to set up: It plugs into just about any HD or 4K TV’s HDMI ports, syncs to Wi-Fi and then provides access to hundreds of streaming apps and channels, including Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, YouTube, Prime Video, Starz, Showtime and much, much more. For someone looking to cut the cord with their cable provider, this is perfect.

“…I’m very pleased with the Fire TV Stick Lite,” shared a satisfied Amazon shopper. “Alexa is installed, and using voice commands to change the TV is so wonderful! I can also turn the lights off from my remote control when it’s time to movie-watch. I love it! Let’s see the cable companies let me do that! I figure I’ll be saving about $230 per month now, and all for an investment that was less than paying one month of a cable bill.”

For anyone wondering: The Fire TV Stick Lite is the same as the standard Fire TV Stick but with a different remote. This remote has Alexa voice assistant built-in, but it doesn’t have a TV on/off switch or volume controls, which is why it’s deemed ‘Lite’.

The Echo Show 5 is a smart-home display that covers a lot of ground — but takes up very little space. (Photo: Amazon)

On sale for $45 for Prime members only (was $80), the Show 5 is Echo’s smaller, sleeker model. Armed with a 5-inch display, the Echo Show 5 is the perfect compact and lightweight companion to your nightstand. This smart-home display can double as a digital alarm clock with Alexa built-in. In fact, Amazon has a wide range of personalized clock faces to choose from, so you can bring a little bit of your own personality to this device.

“This is the best alarm clock I’ve ever had,” wrote a delighted five-star reviewer. “The clock face is customizable and very easy to read from anywhere in the room. The screen has no distortion or discoloration from any angle, so it is easy to see from everywhere…Perfect for checking the time in the middle of the night.”

The Echo Auto makes your car as smart as your home, and is down to just $15, from $50. (Photo: Amazon)

If you’ve ever called out to Alexa in your car, only to find she wasn’t there, this is for you. The Echo Auto — on sale for a mere $15 from $50 for Prime members only — is a clever gizmo that instantly makes any old car smart. It connects to your car’s stereo via auxiliary input and pairs to your phone with Bluetooth.

The Echo Auto is designed with eight mighty microphones, so it can clearly pick up voice commands (no worries about a loud engine, or noisy traffic). It’s great for making hands-free phone calls and searching for your favorite tunes on Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and more.

“I’m actually impressed with this little device….” shared a five-star Amazon reviewer. “It always picks up my voice no matter the sound level.”

The Blink Mini HD security cam keeps an eye on your home. (Photo: Amazon)

Some security cameras will set you back hundreds. For Prime Day, you can get this Blink Mini for just $20 — that’s $15 off — if you’re a Prime member.

This smart-home security camera detects motion — it can snap into record mode whenever it senses activity around your home. It comes with free cloud storage until the end of 2021, and It features Full HD live streaming and two-way audio, so you can talk to house guests via the Blink app.

“This is a great little camera monitor,” raved an excited five-star shopper. “It’s easy to set up and easily managed with your smartphone. Can be set up to arm and record at any time. I bought this to use in my master bedroom by my desk where I keep sensitive information.”

Save a third for Prime Day on this Insignia 43-inch Smart 4k Ultra HD TV. (Photo: Amazon)

On sale from $320 to just $220 for Prime members only, the Insignia 43-inch Smart 4K Ultra HD TV — Fire TV Edition is a total steal. This is its all-time lowest price ever, so it’s the perfect moment to grab it for a bedroom or guest room. With a beautiful, crisp image, this TV lets you stream movies and shows from Netflix, SlingTV, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Prime Video and more. Armed with an Ultra HD resolution of 2160p, this model is so popular it has earned a five-star rating from nearly 1,000 reviewers.

“I am so happy with my new Fire TV. The instructions weren’t complicated. I was able to switch flawlessly between my cable and the Fire TV apps,” shared a savvy Amazon shopper. “The clarity of the picture is wonderful…This is so perfect for me.”

Echo

Halo fitness

Luna gaming

Fire TV

Fire TV Cube, $80 (was $120), amazon.com

Fire TV Stick 4K, $25 (was $50), amazon.com

Insignia 24-inch Smart HD TV — Fire TV Edition, $100 (was $170), amazon.com

Toshiba 32-inch Smart HD TV — Fire TV Edition, $130 (was $200), amazon.com

Toshiba 43-inch Smart 4K Ultra HD — Fire TV Edition, $350 (was $240), amazon.com

Fire tablet

Kindle

eero

Blink

Ring

Ring Spotlight Cam, $150 (was $200), amazon.com

Ring Stick Up Cam, $75 (was $100), amazon.com

Ring Alarm 5-piece kit (second generation) , $120 (was $200), amazon.com

Ring Alarm 8-piece kit (second generation), $150 (was $250), amazon.com

Ring Floodlight Cam, $140 (was $180), amazon.com

You know… for kids

The Mandalorian: The Child, Stand for Amazon Echo Dot (third generation), $22 (was $25), amazon.com

Echo Dot Kids Edition (fourth generation), $35 (was $60), amazon.com

Fire 7 Kids Tablet, $60 (was $100), amazon.com

Fire HD 8 Kids Tablet, $70 (was $140), amazon.com

Fire HD 10 Kids Tablet, $120 (was $200), amazon.com

Fire 7 Kids Pro, $60 (was $100), amazon.com

Fire HD 8 Kids Pro, $70 (was $140), amazon.com

Fire HD 10 Kids Pro, $120 (was $200), amazon.com

The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.

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movietvtechgeeks · 8 years ago

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/want-gaming-bang-buck-turtle-beach-stealth-600-delivers/

Want more gaming bang for your buck? Turtle Beach Stealth 600 delivers

This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of TURTLE BEACH® For way too long, I've only used the cheap headsets that come with the PS4 Pro and Xbox One consoles thinking they must rank as high as those expensive ones on the market. Hey, why would Sony or Microsoft send along an inferior product accessory to go with their superior gaming consoles, right? It's like how they only give you one wireless controller. No, they're not trying to make you feel like a total loser who has no friends to play with, they want you to keep adding to their coffers by buying more from them. After having enough of those headsets fall apart, I knew there had to be a better alternative. Our team here at Movie TV Tech Geeks aren't hard on stuff either, so it only lets you know how low quality they are. Thankfully, the fine folks at Turtle Beach sent over their Ear Force Stealth 600 surround sound gaming headset to test on the new Xbox One X. Yup, we got a sweet review console already, and we have put this Turtle to the test. To be fair, we even tested it up against some very high priced headsets since judging such a superior product against the headsets that come with the consoles would be like testing a Tesla against a Smart Car. Right off the bat, I hate having so many wires that come with being a hardcore tech geek. The setup in our gaming media center has a 4K 75" LG OLED TV, 3D 7.1 Channel sound system, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and now an Xbox One X so you can picture how many yards of cords we have snaking everywhere. That drives me crazy so having a new tech toy that is one-hundred percent wireless is like taking a bite out of a tiramisu cake or freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Pure heaven! Most 'wireless' console headsets still make you plug them into a controller, a USB port or directly into the console. Not this time though. The Stealth 600 lives up to its name and is a true wireless over the ear headset that is really comfortable. The only time you'll ever need to connect a cable is when you charge the battery. That's it! Next big question, of course, would be about how long the battery life is. Well, Turtle Beach says 15 hours of game time, but we put it through our test, and it lasted just around 18 hours of solid gameplay. Nice when it lasts longer than what the company claims. So how is the sound quality? Excellent. This is the first headset that sounds amazing and also feels really comfortable. For those of you that get into intense long gaming sessions, you know how important comfort it, and even after a five-hour long gamefest aka Overwatch match, I could have kept going on. No pinching feeling or headaches from discomfort. The headset adjusts to every aspect of your head (no two are made alike) and fit everyone's heads here at MTTG. The ear cups have a rounder shape and aren't the usual 90-degree angle most headsets have. This makes for a much more comfortable feel and experience. The extra plush foam padding really feels good and rather than having that leather padding that always winds up ripping or tearing; Turtle Beach uses a soft mesh fabric on the earcups and padding. I know this is a little gross, but we all know that ears do sweat and this mesh seems to help keep that at bay. If you wear glasses, the Stealth 600 has you covered as the padding in the ear cups is plushy soft so none of that pressure on your frames. The left side of the headset is where you can flip out the microphone for those team talk sessions, and it automatically turns on and off as you snap it into position at the side of your mouth. It mutes when you pull it up which is such a nice change from the tiny toggles on the usual headsets. Trust me, once you try the Stealth 600 for this, you'll never want to go back to the others. There are two wheel adjusters on the back of the left ear cup that takes care of the main volume and chat above a larger power button that allows you to to try out specialized audio profiles like "Superhuman Hearing" which lets you hear environmental sounds like a car door shutting behind you or even leaves rustling in the wind. Things are definitely much louder in this mode, but it will make you super alert in games like Fortnite or Halo. You'll have plenty of fun adjusting and boosting the bass, treble, and vocals even in surround sound mode. I tested it without trying any of the settings, and the sound quality was surprisingly crisp and oh so clear. Many times people will wear their headset with one cup slightly off the hear because their voice is so loud, but with the Stealth 600 mic monitoring, you can hear your own voice, but it won't be so muffled or too loud with both cups sitting comfortably over your ears. Being able to hear yourself also helps to keep you from being the annoying gamer who blows out everyone's ears screaming and not realizing it. Everyone else I used it with came in perfectly clear. I was a little doubtful of how you could get surround sound from only two speakers, but I could tell when audio was coming from in front of me and behind me making it feel like there were five speakers doing the job. Watching Blu-ray movies is a pleasure too as you can hear every crunch of a car over leaves or twigs without bothering anyone else in the room who isn't interested in what you're watching. I can't wait to try the PS4 Pro version with the PSVR games as I can only imagine how much more horrifying some of them will be with this amazing sound. Unlike the PS4 version, which requires you to plug a USB dongle into the console, the Xbox One version has just an extra button on the left ear cup so you can sync it with the built-in wireless protocol. It synced perfectly and even when I walked around; it didn't fall out. So, if you like a lot bang for your buck, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 has it plus so much more. It easily blows away some of the really expensive headsets out there, and this one is just $100, so I will be adding this to our electronics gift guide. It is a must holiday want for every gamer or anyone who just wants great sound when they're playing games. Our friends at Turtle Beach are letting us give away one set of these amazing Ear Force Stealth 600 wireless headsets to one of you lucky readers. You'll be able to choose if you want the Green one (pictured throughout this article) to use on your Xbox One (or upcoming Xbox One X) or the Blue set which you can use on your PS4 console. TO ENTER: Just RT the tweet below, and you're all good to go. We make it so easy for you all! You've got until Nov 10, 2017 to get busy RT'ing! We'll contact the winner via Twitter so make sure you're following us so we can DM you! https://twitter.com/movietvtechgeek/status/926528786836918273 If you can't wait to get your hands on one, just visit Turtle Beach to check them out.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Featured #Gaming #PS4 #Stealth 600 #Turtle Beach #wireless headsets #Xbox One

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themomsandthecity · 8 years ago

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Why I Ditched the Baby Monitor - and So Should You

When my baby was first born, I started out with not one but two baby monitors. The first was a traditional audio monitor, and the other was a fancy video device that synced with our iPhones. As someone who is always "connected" (hi, I'm the mom who texted during labor - nice to meet you), why wouldn't I want the same level of attachment with my newborn baby? The only thing - it took less than a month to viscerally hate them both. Here's why. You know what's a good baby monitor? A baby. Sure, this might not apply to those families in big houses where there can be plenty of square footage between you and the nursery room, but for this apartment-dweller, having a baby monitor was not just useless, it was synonymous with crappy surround sound. I didn't, it turns out, need to use a speaker system to amplify the combination of static with my child's wails on a 1.5-second delay. Not all noises are created equal. Babies are loud. In addition to crying, the most stereotypical of annoying baby sounds, they also do the following: snore, sneeze, cough, wheeze, hiccup, yawn, grumble, gurgle, grunt, sigh, squeak, snort, inhale, and, of course, exhale. (Yes, their very act of breathing in and out is audible.) Being awoken in the middle of the night by every single one of my newbie's 37 sneezes, as adorable as they are, is not ideal. Babies make for insanely addictive (yet incredibly boring) reality TV. You put your baby to sleep and slink out of the room. You breathe a sigh of relief (one that, for the record, is patently quieter than anything that baby's done all day) and plop down on the couch. If the next thing you do is grab your phone to scroll your Facebook feed, scarf potato chips by the handful, or zone out to some terrible Lifetime original movie, you pass. Congrats! If, however, you pull out that damn video monitor and stare at your baby's every move - of which (news flash!) there aren't many - you've truly failed. You spend so much of your time with your baby that you really should not be spending time when you aren't with your baby with your baby. (Go ahead, read that sentence again until it begins to make sense.) No sane person wants to spend their free time "troubleshooting." The modern-day take on Murphy's law? The more expensive the gadget, the more likely it is to break. I can't tell you how many sleep-deprived, passive-aggressive arguments my husband and I got into trying to figure out why our WiFi connectivity was weak, why our login wasn't working, why the camera was frozen. . . . As new parents, the only troubleshooting you should be doing involves dirty diapers. It will always, always turn on you eventually. One week, we had family in town. Not to say they overstayed their welcome, but my husband and I would need to help each other with "that one thing" in the nursery room, which was well-orchestrated code for huddling together on the floor and whisper-complaining about how so-and-so said this and how you-know-who did that. Then, all of a sudden, the faint green light of the baby monitor station, just a few feet away from us, caught my eye. It was transmitting to the receiver, which was smack dab in the middle of our living room. We'd just been made. Who can say if they were listening? It made no difference because, let me tell you, having to walk into your own living room and collectively pretend no one said or heard anything amiss is not how anyone should spend one minute of their already stressful maternity leave. You will even use it for evil. For reasons I am certain were valid at the time, I was convinced my husband wasn't wiping our baby girl correctly. "It's imperative you only go front to back," I'd remind him pre-diaper change. In lieu of having faith in my life partner, I opted to fire up the video monitor and used my distant background in investigative journalism to uncover the cold, hard truth that . . . oh, would you look at the time? I am going to be late for that thing! So, in one of my surest parenting decisions yet, I turned off both monitors for good. (And, you know, started to trust my husband.) There are certainly times, however, when I do consider plugging them back in. One night, I heard my now-toddler coughing. It only lasted for a second, but it sounded slightly different than other coughs she's made. Something wasn't quite right, but I thought better of going in and possibly waking her up for no reason. An hour later, it happened again. I trusted my gut and went into her room. There, on the crib mattress were two small piles of vomit - one a little more dried up than the other. In my grief over being a terrible mother, I hypothesized that if we'd still had the video monitor, I would have been able to act faster - but, as I try to remind myself, the monitor wouldn't have made her not puke all over her sheets. And if we're going to point fingers, it's really the puke we should be pointing at. Another cause for second thoughts? Based on what YouTube has proven time and again to be true, toddlers are hilarious. Thanks to many a viral baby monitor recording, parents have captured their children doing some pretty memorable stuff when they are supposed to be in their beds napping. I'll never be able to watch my kid attempt a headstand while singing show tunes to her stuffed monkey, which - based on noise alone - is my best-educated guess for what's happening in there. Without a monitor mounted on the wall, I'll never know what she's really up to when no one else is looking. But maybe it's better that way. http://bit.ly/2mgYRYZ

#Personal Essay #Babies #Parenting #Women

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knbfanfic · 6 years ago

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Burlesque No Basket

Burlesque Show AU //I got the inspiration for this at random-- sue me -w-;; //

//Fanfiction Mirror Here//

There was a new dance lounge that opened up on Hollywood Ave, and the owner was a foreigner with a taste for beautiful men, it was rare to have a male burlesque. Though that was part of the appeal probably, all of the talent had to pass a few rounds of interviews from personality to dance and service. There were two 'voices' among the crew who could sing instead of lip sync to the songs. They were the top stars in the business, Kise and Himuro. There were plenty of talents hidden in the back, like one of the stagehands, Ryou, who knew all the dances and where to stand behind the set to hear if anything went wrong, or the audio wizard who was generally flawless. Even the band who played during the dance breaks were all gorgeous and unbelievable.

Takao was a new hire who was buried in the kick line, see when they auditioned they didn't get the chance to prove they could sing or not, so it didn't matter. Though Takao had proven himself to Alex by having amazing perception, that itself had gotten him off training and onto the stage must faster than the others he was hired with. He was able to see the stage from above, and actually most of the club as well so he could easily re-balance things if someone overstepped or point out something like a lighting wire that got pulled. Granted that made him a target for jealousy, but he was used to that by now with his personality people were drawn to him, but never stayed close. He'd been working the stage for a couple weeks now and knew that Alex punished people appropriately if they overstepped their bounds, after all she ran a club not a circus, that Ryou was the most reliable and yet timid when not working or if he had to relay a message, and the audio tech Imayoshi was reliable when working but sly and almost cruel when the night was done. Kise was absolutely a doll, everyone loved him, but he was pretty sure that the same loneliness that he himself faced was something Kise was no stranger to; and Himuro was mysterious and seductive both on and off the stage, he wanted people close to him but held them at arms length. There was also a rule of thumb at the club that the dancers could rotate if needed, but the singers could never sing back to back songs; for two reasons, the biggest being that it was a dance club not a singing club, and the second Alex didn't want to hurt the boys throats with the air being so full of the perfumes, glitters, smokes or whatnot.

That said colds do happen, and one night had to lip sync, they still had mic packs clipped to them in case something went wrong, but mostly because they had been put on before everyone found out that Kise wasn't live singing that night. It was Kise and four background dancers, Takao being in the lead spot for the backup, he had to give signals to the other three through the show to keep in rhythm with Kise. For whatever cursed reason that night while they were in the middle of 'S.L.U.T' the audio cut out. Takao cringed he saw what happened when he scanned. Biting his lip he saw Kise ready to start singing, he signed to the boys not to stop moving and swallowed his hesitation. Fanning out toward the back he did a drastic flip which caught the attention of the audience earning a cheer. A harsh whisper cut through the black screen separating the stage from where Ryou would be "Kill me later Ryou~ There’s a wire in the back by table eighteen that got pulled. Tell Alex, and also apologize telling her I accept my punishment later. The show must go on without hurting Kicchan~" Backstage Ryou who was holding a metal clipboard dropped it and it bounced, he ran to Alex apologizing relaying the message.

Alex was about to drop the curtain when she heard a mic pack flip on, followed by another. Kise had forced himself and his voice wasn't that bad, just a bit huskier than normal. 'I--- Love my ass I wanna shake it~ You can thank my momma cuz she made it. Don't you waste your breath tryin' ta change it.' Finally Takao had gotten back to his spot after cuing Hayama and the band to pick up the sound by having the outside man on the otherside move forward with him to cover the movement. So Kise was center stage, Takao to his right barely behind him, Mayuzumi to the far left wanted to kill Takao for this he didn't mind being in the back but being dragged forward could be embarrassing though he kept smiling like he had to. The two in the back almost tripped when Takao sync'd with Kise, to spare his voice. Kise's eyes widened and he smiled nodding 'Just mind your own and we'll keep owning it.' The subtle change was the acknowledgement that things were going well. Imayoshi was trying to find the wire that got pulled almost had a heart attack when the band started playing he peered over and saw Kise and Takao and waved to lighting telling them to put lights on them while he dealt with the mess of sound or lack of it.

Kise made a large move with his next right movement and dragged Takao forward. Takao tinged slight red, and was thankful for Mibuchi's rule of always wear a bit of blush coming in handy. This whole number was completely different from the norm. Mayuzumi retreated to the back and the trio spread out covering the back. Two main acts and the back up, it was easy for them to change, they couldn't help but wonder if Takao could handle being dragged up front. Takao almost whimpered, but he knew the choreography for both the background and the leads for every number that was performed so far at the club, he didn't want to be accused of being favorited so he studied until his feet bled in the beginning. Kise was obviously aware of that considering he didn't bat an eye when Takao easily managed to sync his movements. Kise was a known copycat and could easily mimic a style once he saw it, so he mimicked the little subtle extras that Takao didn't realize he'd added during his practice easily making the dance more fun. And since there were the two of them they got playful with it, they alternated the main pieces and Kise mostly took the chorus instead of the full thing to save his throat 'We've gotta learn to stick together-- Love your color, gender or whatever' The audience cheered and laughed when Takao had jokingly gestured to Kise's blonde hair and Kise retaliated by making a gesture at the brunette for gender. Ryou offstage looked like he might faint from worry, but Alex who would normally be seething by now actually was smiling into the hand covering her lips backstage. She looked like she had found another diamond in the rough.

'Cause your happiness don't need a censor. Just mind your own, and we'll keep owning it' The two of them together was actually risking bringing down the house, there were so many fans of Kise personally from his stint as a teen model that him being paired up with someone just as playful had them in awe. The two of them were perfectly in sync adding little flamboyant touches to the dance, facing each other and glancing at the audience like they got caught doing something risque. Like with their hands on each other's hips or leaning in a bit close, just not close enough for the mics to feedback. 'I'ma do just what I like on the regular, and it's really not my fault if you're scared of a Sweet. Little. Unforgettable Thing.' The background trio seemed to remember they had mics because they clicked them on in time to fill the background 'Unforgettable' Kise and Takao were practically flirting at this point, which was almost amusing to any of their coworkers considering they'd never said more than two words to each other the two weeks the hawk had worked their. A caress of the cheek on sweet by Takao, trailing a finger up the torso on little by Kise, leaning in like a fake kiss on unforgettable and then resuming the set of thing. 'Sweet. Little. Unforgettable. Thing.' 'So incredible' Ryou and Imayoshi were almost certain the background dancers were dying given the changes to the dance, but nothing up front threw them off at least.

Imayoshi had fixed the wiring issue and was taping down the plug on the floor by the table to a waiter couldn't pull it out again, he was clearly annoyed with the new waiter who had tripped and not realized she pulled the plug. He'd give an earful to her later, thankfully Kise and that new dancer had managed something, after all Imayoshi could hear that Kise didn't feel well, and was letting the newbie do the heavy lifting, but clearly that wasn't the original plan. Takao grinned seductively in sync with Kise as they turned from each other to the audience 'Know that I'm not sorry. I'm just loving my body. I don't care if you're scared of a Sweet. Little. Unforgettable. Thing.' Kise's voice was giving out so Takao who noticed gave a wink to the fangirls watching closely and pressed a finger to Kise's lips as part of the next verse, both to spare him and bring the girls satisfaction knowing that their eye-candy was obedient or at least make it seem that way. 'Shame, shame, shame. Shame, shame, shame.' There were quite a few background shames as well for this section, which made it all the more stunning for the moment to hush the blonde at least to the fangirls who were starting to develop ideas about the two, and Himuro who was watching from the bar, who was trying his damnedest not to laugh. Takao had started directed the lyrics to both Kise and the audience to keep their illusions alive, since that's what this club is for, an amazing view and a trip down fantasy lane 'Shame on me baby, I ain't gonna change. Shame, shame, shame on me. Shame on me, baby' Finally the song was wrapping up and the backup crew was more involved 'I ain't gonna change. No, no, no. Sweet. Little. Unforgettable. Thing. Unforgettable. Sweet. Little. Unforgettable. Thing. So Incredible.' Kise really hates losing out when it comes down to popularity and put a hand on Takao's shoulder joining back in with the vocals for the end 'Know that I'm not sorry, I'm just lovin' my body. I don't care if you're scared of a Sweet. Little. Unforgettable. Thing.' 'Shame, shame, shame on me. Shame, shame shame.' Finally the music was dying out and they were getting ready to drop the curtain when Kise seemed to stage kiss Takao, killing his mic pack just before feedback.

The curtain fell, Takao was stunned for more than one reason. That wasn't just a stage kiss, not that anyone who wasn't close could tell probably. The band, the crew and the backup ran over praising Takao and Kise for their quick thinking. The blonde refused to take credit though saying that Takao had coordinated it and actually saved him, Ryou ran over to Kise with a warm drink with honey in it to soothe his throat, Mayuzumi got Takao in a headlock as one of the backups switched off the mic pack for safety sake. And then everyone froze and turned to Alex, with Takao still in a headlock he smiled sheepishly "I'm sorry Alex... I didn't want Kic-- Kise to end up hurting his throat or losing his voice from the cold... I didn't really know what else to do, and fixing the wiring wasn't going to be quick..." Kise was curious as to what he was going to be called and murmured to Ryou softly so no one else would hear the question "Kic?" Ryou smiled and nodded keeping the same quietness he answered "Oh Takao-kun has nicknames for people he's close to or respects. Yours is Kicchan apparently... I'm sorry" Kise smiled and patted the techie's head, that was interesting. So was he liked or respected, now he had to find out.

As if to reinforce the issue with sound Imayoshi was coming back half carrying one of the waitresses by the back of her uniform "He isn't wrong, this one managed to trip over the wire so hard it yanked out of both the soundboard and the wall. I didn't know what ta do I almost thought it was going to be damaged." Momoi was apologizing profusely, she had gotten distracted by the dancers. Takao patted Mayuzumi's arm calling uncle while Alex was looking over at her sound manager and the waitress. She ignored them for the moment turning back to Takao a slight frown as she looked him over and shook her head "You didn't mention you could sing" Takao rubbed the back of his neck, about to say something, but this time it was Himuro coming up from the bar that commented "I was their for his interview day Alex, you sent someone home for mentioning that they could sing... They had an awful voice, but you probably startled the whole batch of newbies that day." Alex glanced at her apprentice and then raised an eye at the rookie who chuckled and nodded "It's true... I couldn't sing for you on the spot that day even if I wanted to, my allergies were killing me and I didn't want to miss my chance working here..." He held his hand at the back of his neck to try to hide his shaking, he really hoped he wasn't losing his job over this.

Their make up artist who was taller than most of the dancers saw Takao's nails looked like they were going to dig into his neck and lightly swatted his hand tossing a towel over his neck without saying more, then giving the back up dancers their towels before wrapping Kise's neck with a warm compress. Takao was still trembling a bit from the adrenaline of everything, after all he wasn't used to being the center of attention anywhere really and currently everything was on the floor. His mind was a mess and he was giddy, he just performed for the first time since high school, with a lead he super respected, who had kissed him, been praised and noticed by the other lead, saved the sound crew, and basically overturned the owners expectations. The hawk was truly soaring to cloud nine, but he was more or less being grounded as he tried to figure out what to do, what was going to happen. Everyone's cheery chattering died down for a bit as they watched Alex, wondering what she would say. She stared at Takao who didn't look away, he held her gaze even though he felt like his knees would give out, she smiled almost a smug smirk and asked "Well, honestly I'm floored. Kazunari do you have any plans Monday?" The hawk blinked and shook his head, Monday was normally a rest or rehersal day, they didn't open normally. Alex chuckled and turned to the band "Work with him Monday, I'll give you some of the songs, we're adding a third lead to the show." Glancing and Himuro and Kise she smiled and raised an eyebrow "Assuming you two don't have any arguments, I'll consider adding in duets or trios as well if you're up for the challenge?" Kise and Himuro had an air of competition as they nodded assent. Unable to hold back anymore Hayama, the band's drummer was so excited he hugged Takao, who was so startled he fell. Which earned concern and laughter as everyone resumed their praises.

Mibuchi was still standing by Kise when he noticed the glint in the blonde's eye, he chuckled "Honestly... I don't know to call you a masochist, or a sadist darling. You're going to make a move on him after today? You could end up breaking him." Kise smiled and after a few sips of his drink shook his head "I refuse to believe he'll break that easily.... What concerns me though... Is how his pheromones have influenced this place." The blonde sipped, and Mibuchi tilted his head then let his eyes roam, Himuro was watching Hayama rub his cheek against Takao's with a slight glint in his eye, Mayuzumi who was know for not getting involved was attempting to help Takao to his feet again despite Hayama, even Ryou who was normally withdrawn or Imayoshi who didn't play nicely with others had come to his defense. Mibuchi's eyebrows raised, just how many people did this rookie actually move? Even he himself wanted to pamper him, but that at least wasn't a rare thing he had an allure to beautiful people. Mibuchi wondered whom here would end up with who now, since there was no policy against dating as long as it didn't affect the show negatively.

#knb fanfic #knb writing #burlesque au #Takao Kazunari #Kise Ryouta #hints of:#TakaKise #kisetaka #Himuro Tatsuya #sakurai ryou #mayuzumi chihiro #Reo Mibuchi #Imayoshi Shouichi #I get the feeling that this will have a chapter two-- aaah #text post #long

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authorbrianknight-blog · 7 years ago

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My Favorite Gadget

Here’s a blast from the past, written when I was a part of author David Wilson’s Storytellers Unplugged. It’s about the beginning of my enduring love of gadgets. It’s all a bit dated now. My gadgets have evolved since writing this. I have even written a 100K length novel on a tablet (now my grandson’s favorite toy).

I have also changed my mind regarding Apple products and software. Everything I own is Apple now.

I have not changed my mind about most of the Lewis/Clark Valley’s radio stations.

My Favorite Gadget

If you’ve read the after-word to my novella 1200 AM Live you’ll know my opinion of my local AM and FM radio stations. For those who haven’t read the aforementioned piece, I’ll give you the short version.

I fucking hate it.

Local radio in the Lewis/Clark Valley is mostly country, which makes me angry if I’m forced to listen to more than a few minutes, or worse, top 40. I’m not sure which I hate more, a song where even the guitars sound like they’re whining, or a song with a computerized beat and auto-tuned vocals. Top 40 is the new disco, in my humble opinion, and country is the new … well, country.

There are a few light muzak stations, and a few rock stations, but the only good (IMO) rock station is broadcast from the city of Spokane, which is over a hundred miles to the northwest, and can only be heard clearly from the roofs of this city’s taller buildings on clear and windless days.

For a few years I contented myself by listening to talk radio instead, but too much of that fosters bizarre personal and political opinions, so I gave up listening to talk radio. I think it was a good choice, like giving up meth or public masturbation.

For the past four or five years I’ve eliminated my dependency on local radio with a miracle of modern micro-technology called an MP3 player. I load this wonderful little device with music of my own choosing and an audio book or two, and I’m set. It’s very liberating, not having my ears held hostage by smarmy DJs and music that, quite frankly, makes me feel like hitting people.

I loved these new gadgets so much and used them so extensively that I wore them out. Any new MP3 player I purchased, no matter the brand or model, had a three to four-month life expectancy. I could almost predict the week when my current MP3 player would finally bite the dust and would start comparison-shopping in advance.

For a long time my wife tried to convince me to buy an iPod, the Cadillac of MP3 players, and I resisted for two reasons. The first reason was price. Those little bastards are expensive, so why spend so much when I could almost count on wearing it out in the space of a few months. The second, and to me more powerful argument against the iPod is that I hated Apple software. Every piece of Apple software I ever attempted to use seemed to slow down or crash my computer. Why in the hell would I spend so much money on a product that would probably crash my computer ever time I plugged it in before it finally wore out in three or four months?

Eventually she talked me into it.

I bought an iPod Nano, which worked flawlessly for two years before my wife bought me my new third generation iPod Touch. The Touch was a Christmas present, and is the coolest, most useful little gadget anyone has ever given me.

The old Nano is still in use. My oldest daughter has had it for three months now, and it still works just fine.

Truthfully, I thought the Touch was overkill. It’s a fantastic gadget, but much more than I required for simply playing music or audio books in my car or work truck.

There was just no way I’d ever use even half the features this new toy had to offer.

Then I discovered the wonderful world of applications. Evidently there are several million applications available to install on this little gadget, many free, most only a few dollars.

I must admit that very few are of any real interest to me. I’m not a gamer or a social bug. I don’t want to turn my iPod into a small hand-held heater (yes, there is an application for that), or keep 24/7 tabs on all my Facebook friends. I’m a driver during the day and a writer on nights and weekends. My iPod keeps me entertained while driving during my working life. I thought it would be severely cool if I could somehow use it to write.

As it turns out, there is an application for that too. No shit!

There are probably more than one, but the one I use – I’m using it now, actually – is called My Writing Nook. It is a cool, and extremely useful little program. It auto-saves as you work, has an optional auto-correct function that is actually pretty good, and thanks to the third generation iPod Touch’s wi-fi capability, you can email your work to your desktop or laptop computer with the touch of a virtual button. You can also create your own workspace on My Writing Nook’s website and sync your documents in progress.

This is an excellent tool for writers.

Recently, my wife’s favorite gadget, her mucho expensive touch screen laptop, took a dump on her. Since she hasn’t had a desktop computer for a few years now, she didn’t have a second machine to fall back on.

I have a laptop too, a tiny little thing about the size of a hardcover book, that I do all my writing on. Unlike her, I insist on keeping a desktop computer too, but I don’t like writing with it. I do all my writing on the laptop and everything else, including editing, on the desktop.

Since my wife’s computer is FUBAR, she is now using my little laptop.

Have I gone back to writing on my desktop computer?

He’ll no.

I’m using the iPod for that now, and thanks to my wireless network, and My Writing Nook, transferring my work to the desktop computer for editing is actually easier.

You might imagine that writing anything more extensive than, say, a shopping list would be a pain in the ass with the iPod’s tiny little screen and keyboard, but that’s not the case. I got used to it remarkably fast. I still have to copy and paste my work into Microsoft Word, and there is a bit of formatting and extra editing involved in incorporating your output into your word file, but not as much as you might think.

If the My Writing Nook people could incorporate some simple formatting options and a more powerful spellchecker into the program, it would be just about perfect.

With a cost of $1.99 for the iPod application, and no cost at all to use the Writing Nook web page, I can’t complain too much.

Now my favorite gadget is my most useful one.

Book of the day:

BROKEN ANGEL

Fiction: Novel, Horror Digital Price: $3.99 Print Price: $15.95 Print Length: 342 pages Publisher: Tulpa Books (2018) Purchase Digital: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play Purchase Print: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

She was a mystery from the start.

They found her at a roadside diner outside the small Idaho town of Clearwater, drugged and abandoned, with no memory of who she is or where she came from.

But was she a miracle?

She inspires violence with her presence, madness with a touch. As her health improves and her memories return, the hot Clearwater summer becomes increasingly strange and violent. Insanity infects the small town, a shadowy figure lurking in the woods deals death, and no one is safe.

“Knight is a writer to watch.” Ellen Datlow, editor of Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror.

My Favorite Gadget was originally published on The Fiction of Brian Knight

#Music #Reading #Technology #Writing

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mahaliahaugh746-blog · 7 years ago

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lucyariablog · 7 years ago

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How to Develop and Grow a Successful Podcast

Robert Rose and I just completed four years and over 200 episodes of our podcast, This Old Marketing. While far from the most successful marketing podcast on the planet, our one hour of weekly shenanigans has done fairly well.

Since we launched in November 2013, the podcast has been downloaded nearly 2 million times from listeners in 200 countries, while generating approximately a half-million dollars in direct revenue in sponsorship support.

But the best part is what we know about our listeners. Those marketers who regularly listen to This Old Marketing are CMI’s true fans … they are more likely to come to Content Marketing World, attend one of our master classes, purchase training, attend our webinars, engage in our content, and talk about us on social media.

At our recent master class in Washington, D.C., one of the attendees asked me to write an article about creating a successful podcast. And so, Mike, here you go.

The podcast should not be first

This Old Marketing was successful from Episode 1 because we already had an audience of over 75,000 email subscribers who opted to receive CMI content. Once we notified this audience that a podcast was available, a good percentage listened to it.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t be successful by launching a podcast first. John Lee Dumas was incredibly successful with his Entrepreneur On Fire podcast. Pat Flynn also accomplished this feat. But it’s rare.

Most successful podcasts started with an audience already in place. Just look at the ones you listen to and do your research. They probably started with a blog or a video series, or maybe a network or print magazine, or the podcaster was a published author with a following. If I were starting a podcast today, I would work for 12 months to build a solid list of email subscribers first, and THEN diversify the platform with the podcast.

#Podcast Tip: Work for 12 months to build a list of email subscribers then launch the podcast. @JoePulizzi Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Podcasting Pioneers Explain Value of Audio Content and Rookie Mistakes to Avoid

Identify the content gap in the marketplace

This Old Marketing started with a simple phone conversation between Robert and me. We chatted for over an hour, ranting and raving about the news of the day.

#ThisOldMarketing podcast originated after a phone conversation the creators wished they recorded. @JoePulizzi Click To Tweet

At the end of the conversation, we lamented that we didn’t record it.

The next day we talked seriously about the fact that no resource in the industry regularly covered the news around content marketing. Sure, Adweek, Ad Age, Digiday, and others covered it on occasion, but no resource took all the content marketing news from all the sources and distilled it for an audience.

After talking to the staff about it and doing more due diligence, we had enough data to tell us a podcast could be successful if we executed it correctly and delivered consistently.

We were lucky to identify a gap that was truly needed in the marketplace. If five or more competitors already were vying for that space, we probably would have passed on the opportunity or tilted in a different direction.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

17 Questions to Break Free From Competitive Content Issues

Stop the Checklist Mentality: Why You May Not Need a New Video, Podcast, or Infographic

Format and frequency

In the marketing industry, most podcast formats revolve around one host with a new guest every week. We wanted to do something different. Plus, we didn’t think we could accomplish our goal of delivering the most important news each week with variable guests.

Add to that, we wanted to make sure CMI’s point of view on content marketing was delivered consistently each episode. It made sense that Robert and I serve as co-hosts with a no-guest format.

And, just like any news program, we wanted a consistent format for the show. We believed that ESPN’s PTI (Pardon the Interruption) format, where the two hosts bicker over the news of the day, worked best for Robert and me. We thought it would be entertaining, plus the format would make sure we could cover multiple news stories in one show.

One of the podcast’s goals was to make sure that the audience knew content marketing had been around for a long time, and we needed to learn from these older case studies. That’s where the idea of “This Old Marketing” came from. Every week we would include one “older” content marketing case study.

Share this image on your site – Just copy and paste code below

Please include attribution to contentmarketinginstitute.com with this graphic. <a href=’http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/07/history-content-marketing/’><img src=’http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/History-of-Content-Marketing-Infographic-2016_FINAL.png’ alt=’History of Content Marketing 2016′ width=’792px’ border=’0′ /></a>

Although we’ve edited the format on occasion, it hasn’t changed much from the first episode.

Opening thought (from Robert)

News of the day (generally three to five stories)

Rants and raves (something each of us loved or hated from the week)

This Old Marketing example of the week

Initially the podcasts lasted around 45 minutes. Over the first few months, we added more to the introductions and more news coverage to go for 60 minutes every week.

As for the consistency, we didn’t feel we could be great by delivering a daily podcast. We simply couldn’t make the time with our travel schedules and other assignments. Plus, there wasn’t enough content marketing news for a daily show, and we were certain our audience couldn’t handle us on a daily basis.

We settled on a weekly schedule, delivering every Monday night via iTunes and Sticher.com.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: A Crash Course in Narrative Podcasting (And Why You Should Create Them)

Production

Robert and I quickly worked out who would do what for the show. He managed the content for the program. He created an Evernote email address where we would send all news stories and then select the stories for the show.

Later, as we gained popularity, listeners began to send stories and This Old Marketing examples through a Twitter hashtag (#ThisOldMarketing) and directly through email. We asked for this at the end of every show. Ian’s Maxwell House Haggadah example was used in Episode 209.

@JoePulizzi @Robert_Rose My girlfriend’s family has been using the Maxwell House Haggadah for 30+ years! FANTASTIC read: https://t.co/1sEFfu7p52 #thisoldmarketing

— Ian Faison (@ianfaison) November 15, 2017

Robert also put together the introduction. At first, he read the introduction as we recorded the podcast, but, after about 100 episodes, Robert started to pre-record these five-minute introductions, adding music and clips. Frankly, the introductions might be the best part of the show.

All in all, Robert spends about two to four hours producing his part of each episode.

I handled the post-production. Robert recorded directly to his laptop wherever he was in the world, while I did the same. We both used professional microphones, which is about the most important thing you can do. I use an Audio-Technica AT2020USB and cannot recommend it highly enough. It plugs directly into the computer and can be taken anywhere (I travel a lot with it, often recording from hotel rooms). My recommendation is not to spend time building a studio and just find a quiet room and get a great microphone.

#Podcast Tip: Forgo building a studio. Find a quiet room & a great mic like @USAudioTechnica. @JoePulizzi Click To Tweet

While Robert uses GarageBand (Mac user), I use Audacity for PC. Audacity is a free and easy-to-use program. Robert and I talk via Skype to record the show, but we record our individual tracks separately.

Once completed, Robert sends me his MP3 file and I merge the two in Audacity. It’s really easy – just import the MP3 file into Audacity and make sure it’s synced. I almost never need to adjust the timing since we use a vocal countdown to hit record for each episode.

After the episode is recorded, I paste each of our files into the template (that includes the up-front and back-end music), save the file, and then export the file as a WAV file.

I take the WAV file of the episode and run it through another free program called Levalator. This makes sure that all the audio levels are even so Robert isn’t louder than me or vice versa.

Use a free tool like @levelator to make sure all audio levels are even, says @JoePulizzi. #ThisOldMarketing Click To Tweet

Then I import the WAV.OUTPUT file into Audacity, add Robert’s new intro and output as a final MP3 file. The process takes 60 to 90 minutes.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 3 Hidden Lessons Behind Top Podcasts to Help Yours Stand Out

Distribution and integration

Once the podcast’s MP3 file is complete, it is published using Liberated Syndication (Libsyn). In this program, we add tags such as the episode title and metatags, and then publish on iTunes and Stitcher.com. (We later added distribution on Soundcloud and Google Play, but this needs to be done separately.) Libsyn starts at about $10 per month, depending on usage.

Libsyn also provides the download stats and a dashboard, much like you find in Google Analytics (iTunes doesn’t provide any data).

From there, I notify the editorial team, so it can prepare the show notes for publishing on the CMI blog. We decided that Saturdays would be a good time to distribute the show notes because that gives the editorial team time to construct the textual content, verify the links and images, and allow for uploading and approving the content into our WordPress platform.

Publish your #podcast show notes on your blog for extra promotion, says @JoePulizzi. #ThisOldMarketing Click To Tweet

We found approximately half our audience subscribes to our podcast in iTunes and Stitcher. The other half waits until Saturday when the show posts on the CMI site. About half our overall audience subscribes to CMI’s daily email, which promotes the show notes on Saturday.

Summary

While there is never one way to execute a successful content initiative, I believe our success was tied to the following factors:

CMI had a fan base of followers who were open to checking out the initial podcast. It would have been much more challenging to build an audience from scratch.

Finding a content gap where we could offer something truly differentiated was critical. The news coverage worked. We were able to save our audience time every week and told them what we thought was the most important news of the week.

Audio quality is critical. Spend the money and get a microphone that emits a professional sound. Don’t skimp here.

Integrating the podcast into our weekly articles and email newsletter was essential for success. The podcast shouldn’t sit outside your other content marketing efforts. Find a way to weave in the content to everything you do.

For other great resources on how to start a podcast, check out this post from Pat Flynn and this amazing resource from John Lee Dumas. Good luck!

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Want to be in the loop of CMI’s new content and activities? Subscribe to the daily email or weekly digest recapping the highlights from the blog and exclusive email-only content.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post How to Develop and Grow a Successful Podcast appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/11/develop-grow-podcast/

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seanmeverett · 8 years ago

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Review of KPCB’s 2017 Internet & Tech Trends

Learnings from a product person’s perspective of a 350-page deck

I. Setting the Stage

At the pace the tech news goes these days, you’ve probably already forgotten all about Mary Meeker’s latest gem of a trends report. This year was a doozy. Over 350 pages. Analysts, get you some sleep.

The slides are embedded below to make this easier and so you can follow along with our comments of how to interpret these findings. Use this to build your own startup, innovate at the company you work at, or just to learn something new.

Knowledge is a tool that must continue to be sharpened.

http://ift.tt/2tQfhrR

II. Advertising & Retailing

p5: global internet users and smart phone growth has essentially stopped. We’ve reached the fat middle of the market in terms of spreading and have plugged in half the human species. The only thing that’s spread further is life support (oxygen, water, food) and electricity. New enablement technology diffused? Check.

p9: adults now spend nearly a full working day interacting with tech and digital media in the US. So, you’ve got your work job and now you’ve got your fun job. The convergence has already begun. Social media marketers isn’t just some joke job. It’s a skill of the new economy.

p13: this “time spent vs ad dollars spent” chart has been out of whack for years. It’s finally getting in sync. Which means its time for a new medium to get released. Only this time, it’s going to be so personalized, it’s basically a reflection of you.

p14: the internet is our new television, is our new radio, is our new book.

p15: if you’re buying ads, trying to target a certain demo to create a conversion into a sale, you basically only have one choice: Google or Facebook.

P16–25: ads is where almost all of the money is flowing in tech. You may find it boring, but don’t forget, boring = cash flow.

p27: I’ve never been a fan of interactive or dynamic ads. It makes the user do two things they hate: 1) sit through another damn ad, and 2) you’re not going to make me interact with it?! Oy, the best ad doesn’t look, feel, taste, or sound like an ad. It’s compelling content.

p32: Google is basically the digital world’s most pervasive and compelling product. Because it makes people pay to be next to the stuff you’re looking for. In the real world, that would be like some dude following you around a museum asking if you want to go buy this paint brush or eat at Denny’s next to a picture of food. Not knocking it, it’s an incredible business, but there’s a lesson here in that the digital world has different rules than the real one. Expect that lesson to keep playing itself out over the coming decades.

p35: future ads are going to be pics instead of text. Humans process pics way faster. Pinterest and Snap might have an opportunity against the Googs here, but the search habit is so embedded in the human populace that now it’s part of the web browser URL bar. Snap nor Pinterest has that level of OS access.

p39: retail and brands. It’s not about just showing your product in context anymore. We believe it’s about creating an experience around your product that customers want to come for. An example is throwing a music festival in the summer if you’re a bottled water company. You create the context and leave your product as the only option. That’s how you reach Millennials and Gen Z. And Amazon.com is how you reach adults with kids and no free time. It ain’t rocket science, it’s just execution.

p40: Will Smith saved us from aggressive aliens. We appreciate him. And he was a former math guy so, street credibility.

p44: AR is going to be interesting. Yet to be seen how pervasive it will become from a visual perspective until we have the glasses that don’t look like cell phones strapped to our heads. Or as I call them, “Noggin Boxes”.

p45: AI Assistants, to me, are the promise of truly invisible software. Many have talked about it, but you can’t just say what you want and have it work right all the time, as well people are very uncomfortable talking to a machine in public. It just feels weird. No amount of NLP or AI is going to change human behavior. It’s going to have to jump the shark in favor of neural laces where I think it and it happens.

p53: customer support survey where people tell you what they want. I’ve got a better solution. Make your product and service so great that it makes support obsolete. I know, easier said than done, but it’s a goal that means your business is around forever. Look at Vaynerchuck. He didn’t sell wine. He sold “I’ll drive to you in a blizzard with a power generator to keep your business open and house warm”. Then you never buy from another wine seller again. That’s extreme support.

P55: that little intercom chat window is freaking everywhere.

more retail stuff with a bunch of metrics and pipelines and yaddy yaddy

P66: apartment lobbies become storage facilities for packages. Boy can I attest to this in Cali as well as NYC. It’s a really smart notice by the folks who put this together. What it means is again: Amazon is your retail strategy. Forget store fronts, websites, apps, etc. Just drive traffic to Amazon pages. Get Affiliate commissions on top of it. Reduce friction, just get the damn sale. Your brand is in front of people when they get the product home. You don’t need to own the web experience.

p68: food delivery is a huge deal. We’re tired, we’re sick of cooking, and entire startup businesses have been created on the back of a grubhub page. It’s like amazon for real-time, hot food. It’s a big deal and will only get bigger. Cheap + Healthy + Filling. That’s your magic formula.

p71: AI for clothing design of the future. Don’t count it out.

p73: people don’t want to just try stuff on. They want to get it now to wear now. Real-time is the key to in-person experience. That’s the excitement, not to wait for it to be shipped. Not a fan of the “waiting” model.

p74: Wal-Mart’s in real trouble.

p75: meanwhile, Amazon Basics is a gold mine.

III. Interactive Gaming

p81: if you’re on the internet, it’s highly likely that you game. Play is built into human nature because it’s escapism.

p82: I used to watch a room full of developers talk about and watch online gaming while they coded. This was back in 2013. Cooperative esports is not a fad, but something that’s going to be around for some time. The new sports agent will be after these huge sponsorship dollars.

p84: people in Asia like video games. No secret here.

p85: pretty even split amongst all age groups on who games.

p88–97: there’s a reason gamification works. The problem is always around defining and designing a concept called “fun”. Just because you slap points on something doesn’t automatically make taking out the trash fun.

p99: Twitch ain’t goin nowhere. Level that up with Minecraft and then add in some cryptocurrency where it becomes your job and watch a new economy blossom in a digital universe completely outside the confines of governmental taxation, which means you get to keep 33% more of that money you spent time making.

p101: I’ve never played fantasy sports but all my friends have been playing since we were kids. Weird that it took until only recently for the likes of Fan Duel to show up.

p103: more game machanics. Understanding that they exist is the first step, the next step is applying them correctly. Easier said than done. Trust me from experience running a gamification product for brands to increase engagement via social media.

p114: gaming beats social in engagement. The problem is that you eventually master the game but not your social network. So more value is continually added to Facebook, Insta and Snap while the creators of FarmVille, Clash of Clans, and Angry Birds have to keep creating hits. And content is hard.

p120: tech and sports has been talked about for decades but there hasn’t really been a breakthrough killer product that everyone swears by. Maybe the bracelet / watch that tracks steps but that’s pretty low-grade in terms of information density.

p123: state of the art for sports platforms is just analytics dashboards with some gamification added on top. But does that really increase your performance? Sure it helps to know you did a few more steps than yesterday and that you’re on a streak for working out 3 days in a row, but you kind of already knew that intuitively didn’t you? Where’s the leverage? Much like the iPhone made computing pervasive, did the Apple Watch really make sports pervasive and higher performance? It seems there’s a big hole that still exists in this area until we start tracking automatically what food goes into our body, the digestion that takes place, how exercise and sitting affects that, alcohol, work and environmental factors, and then gives you suggestions for improving your health.

p129: gamification in industrial settings is highly important. It gets talked about too much in consumer and not enough in aerospace, automotive, surgery, military, industrial manufacturing, robotics, etc.

p132: the volume of digital information created is on a power law curve, we’re still just at the very beginning.

p133: Moore’s Law still isn’t coming to a close, regardless of how many people talk about it. Because there is always room to pay more for faster compute.

p138–145: esports is a big deal. It’s growing 40% every year now reaching half the population of the United States.

p150: do trends in gaming predict future product around all of tech, much like porn used to in the video production space?

IV. Media

Editor’s note: after years of experience building online video/audio platforms, media businesses, and social apps, we are undoubtedly going to have a biased view about this section so you can either take it as we know some inside baseball or we’re bat shit crazy. So all I can promise is the unvarnished truth from my perspective.

p153: music streaming is pretty simple — make sure you have the song I want to listen to, give me some new songs I’d like but haven’t found on my own, and then charge me a flat monthly fee like $10 for it. Execute on those 3 things and you’ve got yourself some good bacon. Of course, Amazon is the real wild card here because as a Prime member, you get music plus a whole host of other things.

p154: online video vs cable tv is also very simple — give me the channels I want to watch, new movies the moment they hit the theaters, and charge me a low monthly fee. High quality is the name of the game here. Hollywood blockbusters and some personal favorites (HGTV, ESPN, HBO, Science Channel, etc). That’s it. Everything else is window dressing and noise. Apple Music is getting into Hollywood with original content. Netflix is killing the game but their library aside from originals is waning. Amazon Prime is coming in hot, and watch out for Facebook’s wildcard of a movie in a text message.

p158: streaming music subs are growing because nobody needs to buy albums anymore. Truthfully it’s Apple Music (install base of devices) vs Spotify (the O-G-riginal).

p161: Netflix subs are also growing rapidly as they expand their service globally. But the only thing that matters is getting the latest Hollywood blockbusters on their service. If they can’t continue to do that, it’s going to be a long painful death. I’m talking Avengers, Star Wars, etc. Basically, Disney. Which isn’t going to happen because they have their own streaming service.

p163: recommendation engines. Oy, have I heard the pitch for this a million and one times. Again, we’re back to “Ok this title I’ve never heard of is interesting, but what’s the new Hollywood flick I can watch?”. That has nothing to do with recommendation engines and everything to do with high quality content licensing deals with the studios.

p165: it’s YouTube vs Facebook. The former gets longer form, the latter shorter form. They’ll both battle for movie/TV-grade content but that’s Netflix, Amazon, iTunes. So there’s your split. Facebook is quick-hit social, YouTube is UGC around 15 mins, Netflix is originals and TV shows with some movies, iTunes is your Hollywood rentals and purchases, and Amazon is just the everything all the time so maybe one day.

p167: interesting that every one of the social networks is growing at the exact same MAU rate.

p171: the older you are, the more you watch. Less of a social / eventful life?

p173: pay TV will never go away because it’s more economical to pay the $100 to $200 per month for the cable, internet, TV bundle and get all the channels than trying to buy only internet service and then pay for one off channels and then movies on top of it. The reality is a mixed bag approach. Some internet, some cable, some OTT.

p176: the goal is a personalized linear channel. You tune into one TV station, let it play all day every day, and it’s filled with everything you want when you want it. Social videos, educational stuff, movies, TV, etc. Disclosure: I’ve got a patent for inventing this and for mobile live streaming.

V. The Cloud

p181: might surprise you to see the public cloud really hasn’t taken much of the spend away from a traditional data center / private data center.

p182: but AWS is kicking everyone else’s ass, which is no big surprise.

p182: security is a big deal, and as cyber becomes ever more important in the global economy (i.e., digital transformation), expect some big exits in this space due to the sheer need to protect not just information, but money.

p184: at this point, most people are familiar with APIs where as recently as 5 years ago I did some research and could find only about 10,000 public APIs in existence. Today, containerization is in a similar space. One way to think of it is like a computer dedicated to one API. Also, edge computing could be the biggest boon to digitizing our world, but the problem is fitting something powerful enough in a small space that doesn’t suck in a lot of electricity. You need efficient chips and efficient AI (i.e., connectomics).

p187: boy have I spent a lot of time on enterprise software. SAAS-based cloud products. It’s the playbook played out across Silicon Valley and internal digital transformation teams everywhere, now.

p188: at this point it seems laughable to say Design Is Important for digital products. Though the requirements for usability is much less, considering the Snapchat generation grew up with this stuff and can reverse engineer a UI just by tapping it.

p190: we don’t hear enough about cybersecurity, mostly because it’s a tight-knit group of folks who prefer to remain anonymous and protected. But it’s a big deal, especially in closed door conversations. Interpolate this to our infrastructure systems like power, water, etc and you start to realize how incredibly important this becomes.

p191: spam’s up? I would call many ecommerce shopping emails spam but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Where’s the startups that lets you unsubscribe from everything with a push of a single button?

VI. China

p195: China has nearly 4x the number of people of America with an economy and excess cash flow growing at staggering rates. Personally, I feel they’re iterating faster than the US and Rest of World in key innovation areas like AI, Space, Manufacturing and a single mobile app for the entire country. Watch out when they launch their own cryptocurrency that lets them optimize their monetary policy in real-time. I’ll invest in that ICO.

p196: service output is going up and to the right.

p197: it’s no secret that private enterprise fuels growth. China just proved it in a huge way over the last decade.

p198: focusing on health care (large population) and IT (the future). Smart.

p200–203: almost everyone in the country is connected to the internet via mobile and they spend almost all their time on it. Hello WeChat.

p204: No surprise on WeChat, but look at Tencent’s share of time. Crazy. More than half of China’s internet time is spent on a Tencent property, with a bit more on Alibaba to buy stuff. That’s like Facebook + Amazon in the US.

p209: live is a big deal over there, and has become an economy in and of itself. People are supplementing their work income with 24x7 livestreaming of their lives and getting paid by viewers with stickers and weird emojis. It’s also the place where many big companies are investing their R&D dollars because gaming and live are providing higher returns than investing in their own businesses. Isn’t that crazy? I take the money I make from my business and invest in this app over here because I’m going to get more money back. At what point does it suck up a lion’s share of the entire economy?

p210: Live is money.

p213: bikes are big in China because they’re cheap, don’t take up space, and they can fit in small spaces.

p216: bikes as the last mile of the commute. Interesting that people take a portfolio approach to traveling from A to B.

p219: expect this to explode when China releases their cryptocurrency.

p223: this is a great roundup chart to see which monetary services are getting the most users across China. Payments and Wealth Management, of course.

p229: China’s ad market doesn’t seem as fervorous as America’s. I have a feeling because the economy is more about direct payments.

VII. India

p233: it’s as big of a population as China, but a much smaller economy as their main export is software engineers instead of manufactured goods. Be careful though, it could be a sleeping giant as the GDP growth rate is the same as China. The US, while big, is only growing about 1/4th as quickly.

p234: far fewer of India’s population is connected to the internet. Only about 1/3rd compared to about 3/4th in China and almost everyone in the US. Internet penetration is highly correlated to the wealth of a nation.

p235: Android’s big there.

P236: smartphone shipments have basically flatlined.

p237: getting access to the internet is expensive for the majority of the population, hence the drag on the economy.

p242: China is selling India their phones.

p246: China is also India’s most-used web browser.

p247: US, China, India dominate the Android app store.

p251: expect internet usage to continue to increase based on bringing costs down which will have a positive impact on India’s future economic prospects. Internet > Education > Skills > Compensation > Productivity > GDP

p252: we’re all just humans regardless of the (country’s) name on the door. So yah, streaming music and video is big in India too.

p254: India’s leadership is focused on the right thing, see p251 above.

p260: a singular digital ID is smart. What is it in the US? Driver’s license and Facebook. In China? WeChat profile.

p262: payments and infrastructure are being built now. What happens when it’s fully built out?

p266–267: mobile is where all the time spent and no surprise that half is on entertainment with 1/3rd on social. Regardless of nationality, we’re all still humans.

p270: a massive portion of India’s compensation is spent on health care. Decreasing this cost + increasing access to the internet are the main two levers to increasing economic well being.

p274: VCs are investing in startups, helping to drive growth, though it has flatlined in recent quarters.

p278–279: I know that India’s young population presents a large opportunity and know some big transportation companies looking to capture that market.

p281: oh god, are you still with me? If you’ve happened across this chart, I think we’ve lost you. My fingers just got tired looking at this one.

p284: the US leads in number of years of schooling, and India trails far behind. Internet = education because it shows what’s possible and gives you the resources for free to get started.

p286: females in India aren’t working.

VIII. Healthcare

p289: have a digital helper analyze, diagnose, and prevent issues with your health is the holy grail. We’re close to that future, but knowing how lagging the healthcare industry is with tech overall, it’s going to be an uphill battle unless individuals take matters into their own hands. For examples, CIOs at hospital systems are focused on reducing sepsis which directly saves lives, but moving medical records and software to the cloud is a painful, decades-long process.

p292: health IoT including wearables are likely to expand in the coming years. Eventually the whole nanobots in your blood helping cells fix themselves in real-time is a nice thought but we’re a long, long way off from that.

p293: more blood and health tests are now available through labs, which means diagnosis is cheaper, faster, and more accurate.

p294: pay attention to sensors that are included in wearables. Without a sensor, there’s no data to analyze. So, the most pervasive (an accelerometer) will only give you number of steps. Not very helpful in helping you manage your health but I suppose it’s something. Once we get into heart rate, blood sugar, metabolism, etc we will start to unlock some pretty cool stuff. Then it requires a highly efficient, but low-powered AI like Biologic Intelligence to understand it all and detect anomalies in real-time.

p295: I’d say Google through Verily and Apple with their Watch wearable are best positioned from the big tech companies. Interesting that Amazon doesn’t really have a health-centric product yet. Now that they own Whole Foods and are pushing into groceries and food, expect that trend to continue into personalized health as part of a Prime subscription.

p299: patient data is necessary for understanding someone’s health but the flip side is pre-existing conditions and the impact it might have on you getting health insurance coverage, the price of your premium, and getting services paid for. Double-edged sword, this.

p302: look at this crazy exponential curve in medical knowledge. And there’s not much out there on the impact food we ingest has on our health. Expect this trend to continue into the future as our population gets bigger and older.

p304: personalization isn’t just for targeted advertising campaigns, biomarkers from DNA sequencing can be used to target clinical trials to get you the help you need from new procedures, drugs, etc.

p305: data, it works.

p306: the young are paying attention earlier in life. They’re listening to their parents and grandparents ailments and stories.

p309: a friend founded a telepharm startup called, well, Telepharm. He was early on the trend, but when you can’t get all the way to the doctor in person, live streaming is a great second best alternative.

p311: back to the tech adoption curve that I linked to at the very top of this analysis, of course we expect health to be adopted quickly. As we like to say in tech circles, find a problem and offer a solution. Health, when it’s a problem, is all you care about and are price inelastic.

p313: costs are decreasing.

p314–318: number of genomes sequenced are increasing. Just wait until we start capturing people’s connectomes.

IX. Innovation

p320: I take issue with this statement. It assumes that innovation is all it takes to raise capital, get big, and sell product. It doesn’t. Even scientific invention isn’t enough. You need to have relationships. Lots and lots of relationships to get capital from investors, corporate coffers, and customers. Then and only then does a product matter that someone can buy.

p322–325: US and China are dominating tech. The question is who’s iterating faster. Because that’s the slope of the line. And whichever line is steeper, predicts the winner. I have a gut feeling I know who it is.

p329–331: IPO & VC, a confusing chart with way too much going on but I think the story is it’s been more or less steady for about a decade. M&A is about the same, even though it cuts the timeline in the chart in half. Be careful, your graph axes.

X. Macro

p336: in the US we pay about 1/3rd of our income to the government. The question is what is it spent on. Unsurprisingly, health care for older people, defense so nobody hurts us, and interest on all that debt because taxes don’t cover the spending.

p337: the USA is not a healthy business if you look at it like a startup. Look at all that red.

p338: debt is highest during war. But that money gets spent somewhere.

p340: the US has the highest debt level in the world. China doesn’t even make the list because they’re printing money doing all the world’s manufacturing.

p341: giving people money and services for doing nothing is a great way to get an entitlement mentality. That’s why they’re called Entitlements and that’s where a lot of America’s income is going. It does help people who want to do something for that income, but are physically or mentally unable. That’s part of what a government is for. To help those citizens who can’t help themselves. But the fact that it’s increasing so rapidly is troubling.

p344: debt is debt. Most Americans have a bunch of debt in houses. Second is student loans. So living and educating. Not a great sign if you want to grow.

p347–348: immigrants account for a lot of value creation.

p350: as a world, we’re better off than we were. That’s progress as a species and something to be positive about.

— Sean Everett

Read more than 750 current and emerging tech analyses on The Mission’s other publication, Humanizing Tech.

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smoothshift · 8 years ago

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Does anyone else hate Ford Sync? via /r/cars

Does anyone else hate Ford Sync?

I drive a 2014 F-350 which is blessed with the basic sync radio. Every morning I plug in my phone, yell 'USB', hear either 'device not connected', 'I didn't hear that, you can say ...', silence, or if I'm lucky maybe my media. Pause your music for too long? Take a phone call? Try to play a non app based audio source? Sound cuts off. Unplug, yell USB, repeat. iPhone 7 means no aux, and my phone charges through the media USB port at a snails pace. One day I'll buy a new radio, but damn: sync is honestly the most aggravating ritual of my day.

#reddit #autonews #auto #cars

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themomsandthecity · 8 years ago

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Why I Ditched the Baby Monitor - and So Should You

#Personal Essay #Babies #Parenting #Women

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themomsandthecity · 8 years ago

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Why I Ditched the Baby Monitor - and So Should You

#Personal Essay #Babies #Parenting #Women

0 notes

themomsandthecity · 8 years ago

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Why I Ditched the Baby Monitor - and So Should You

#Personal Essay #Babies #Parenting #Women

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