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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2007-11a
News before Children's Book Week
WON'T POWER SCENT CAN DEFER HUNGER PANGS 10-20 MINUTES
We deal with a lot of aspects of tech, but seldom with scents
until now. MaxMax has some preproduction samples of Won't Power
(as in the opposite of will power, $15), a pocket-size container
you can sniff whenever hunger pangs hit to take your appetite off
your mind for 10-20 minutes. (Warning: a light sniff is enough;
deeply inhaling this aroma is not recommended; never ingest this
product). We won't make any other claims (see
http://wont-power.com for those), but we invite you to ask Dan
for a sample to try. Contact: Dan Llewellyn, LDP LLC (Carlstadt
NJ) 201-882-0344 mailto:dan@maxmax.com Http://MaxMax.com
SAMSON STREETBOXX BRINGS BEATS & TREATS TO THE STREETS
The Samson SB-246 StreetBoxx (street $180) drum & rhythm & loop
recorder machine offers 500+ beats available with zero load time,
but that's far from all. There are 100+ pre-recorded patterns,
25+ basses & synths plus effects & more. Its 70+ kits each offers
3 complete beat performance layouts with both classic & modern
drum sounds. Its library of samples includes hip-hop as well as
rock, jazz, funk & lots more. If you're old enough to remember
Gene Krupa, you may not understand why this is super-cool; ask a
kid or a much younger coworker. When you get it, you'll probably
want to get it in to review; ask Mark. Contact: Mark Wilder,
SAMSON TECHNOLOGIES (Hauppauge, NY) 631-784-2200x142
mailto:mwilder@samsontech.com http://SamsonTech.com
VIDEO ON DVD: THIS MAY BURN YOUR PRECONCEPTIONS
Some camcorders burn video directly to a DVD; for those that
don't, many of us assume that a camcorder user is probably also a
computer user & will use it to move video to DVD. So you may be
surprised to learn that one in every five buyers of a JVC Everio
hard disk camcorder is also buying their companion Share Station
DVD burner. Maybe it's time for you to take a look at both.
Contact: Chelsea Vander Groef, JVC COMPANY OF AMERICA (Wayne, NJ)
973-317-5000x5312 mailto:cvandergroef@jvc.com http://jvc.com
SOMEBODY WILL WIN AN IPHONE & MAYBE PROTECT PRIVACY
Sign up now for next week's Guardian Edge e-seminar on "Reducing
Endpoint Risks in Large, Distributed Enterprises" for two or
three reasons. First, that translates into not adding to the
almost 200 million people whose privacy has been put at risk by
people getting their hands on corporate data. (Guardian Edge
encrypts files so that even losing a portable backup drive
doesn't have to mean that anybody else can read its data).
Second, somebody's name is going to get drawn for an iPhone & it
isn't like these things draw a zillion people. Third, as you wade
through the jargon, you pick up on the significance of exposure
to all kinds of unpleasant things (from regulatory disapproval to
fines to lawsuits to lost consumer confidence) that drive
companies to not just need but want to protect information
they're safekeeping. Ask Anna. Contact: Anna Noetzel, GUARDIAN
EDGE (San Francisco CA) 415-683-2296
mailto:anoetzel@guardianedge.com http://GuardianEdge.com
BLINKERS FOR THINKERS ON MOGO MOUSE
The new X54 MoGo Mouse products are just over half as big as a
graham cracker & go to a lot of trouble to extend battery
run-time per charge, so you might guess that they're not studded
with LEDs to light up like Christmas trees. There's just one
indicator, but it's a smart one. It glows red when the battery is
low, green when it's charging & turns off most of the rest of the
time; in the Pro model Presenter mode, it flashes red when the
laser pointer is active. It also sings the blues for Bluetooth
activity: long flashes when waking up & linking, fast flashes
when pairing & slow flashes when it's paired & operating
normally. For the most part, the indicator is a minimalist, but
always there to confirm activities you wouldn't know are
happening without it. Contact: Jack Corrao, NEWTON PERIPHERALS
(West Newton, MA) 858-792-0944
mailto:jack.corrao@newtonperipherals.com
http://NewtonPeripherals.com
NEWEST STEADICAM MERLIN DESIGN HAS METAL GIMBAL
The Steadicam Merlin products you've seen are from the initial
"Signature" release, so named because the inventor's signature is
etched on each. It's now moved into its official full release
with an important change: its gimbal assembly is now metal. While
the Signature model could handle cameras up to 5 pounds, this
metal gimbal - in concert with the recently released Merlin Arm &
Vest - makes it just as nimble with cameras up to 7.5 pounds.
Check it out at CES, if not earlier. Contact: Hilary Araujo,
TIFFEN COMPANY (Hauppauge, NY) 631-273-2500x1216
mailto:haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com
TORNADO MAY SOON SWEEP THROUGH BIX BOXES
We can't yet spill the beans on specifics (keep on top of Clint
for updates), but we can tell you that the paperwork is almost
complete that will put The Tornado ($60) into several more of the
big-box retail chains. The Tornado, as you know, blows away all
the hassles of getting files to move between a pair of PCs, so
it's a really easy way to get your files from your old PC to your
new one (which the stores are also happy to sell). And if you
want to make that part of your holiday coverage, Clint can get
you one to review & a few you can offer your audience as prizes.
Ask him. Contact: Clint Hughes, DATA DRIVE THRU (Dallas, TX)
972-897-7057 mailto:chughes@datadrivethru.com
http://TheTornado.com
NOW GRAVITY DEFYER HAS SHOES FOR WOMEN, TOO
We told you about Gravity Defyer shoes, with built-in springs &
things to help put more bounce in your step. Now you can find
them for women, too, starting with the classy new Classics series
(Elle, Claudia & Claire) then getting more athletic with the
Sport (Centurian & Catapult) & Retro Sport (Tori & Josie) models.
Ask Jared. Contact: Jared Tracy, GADGET UNIVERSE (Sylmar, CA)
818-833-4860x308 mailto:jaredt@gadgetuniverse.com
http://GadgetUniverse.com
SPECIAL REPORT: HD RADIO AS BROADCASTERS SEE IT
So what is HD Radio all about? For listeners, it's about
significantly better audio fidelity; AM stations can sound as
good as FM & FM stations can sound as good as a CD. It's also
about having more choices, since a single HD Radio channel can
carry more than one program. But what does that mean for the
broadcaster? We've been taking the darkest possible view, that it
multiplies programming cost while dividing the available audience
into even more slices, which does not portend well for ad
revenues based on competitive CPM (cost per thousand) rates. We
know what the propaganda says, but needed to know what the real
balance-sheet case is for broadcasters, so we interviewed an
executive who's making those decisions. (In exchange for candor,
we promised not to identify him). We first addressed costs on two
fronts, engineering costs & programming costs. The upgrade to HD
is not a major cost hurdle to any reasonably successful station,
as it turns out, in part because it generally adds to but doesn't
overall replace most of a station's most expensive gear. (Such
stations are already using digital audio anyway, which helps).
Perhaps even more significant in the long term: it doesn't
require adding any manpower to the existing engineering &
technical staff. The programming costs are also somewhat easy to
initially control because the stations can elect to run either
fed content or fully automated (programming robot) content. A lot
of the next phase is chicken & egg, as broadcasters keep feeding
the available content kitty & the HD Radio receiver installed
base slowly grows. As the HD Radio audience footprint expands,
broadcasters will do what they're best at doing, bringing in
personalities & developing unique station/channel positioning
with a branded-content "sound". Talent is the only new expense
here, since the station personnel roster already includes the
necessary support operations, including a revenue-critical
advertising sales operation. So what about the consequence of
that further division of the available listening audience? In a
manner somewhat reminiscent of the difference between the
railroad business & the transportation industry, stations see the
competition in the broader sense of all available ears, not just
those currently listening to broadcast radio. They see HD Radio &
additional program choices as helping them compete for people who
are now listening to satellite radio (with the obvious advantage
of free versus fee) or iPods or nothing. We note that last year,
HD Radio broke the $200 price point (JVC in-dash); right now, we
see receivers available for less than $100 (Radiosophy HD100
tabletop; see our review below). Those chickens & eggs will also
come into play as carmakers (like BMW & Ford, so far) make
in-dash HD an available factory or dealer option & as Pacific Rim
manufacturers perceive a big enough US buyer base to want to
create even more price-competitive products).
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW: OPPO 3X1 HDMI SWITCH
This starts with somebody trying to solve a problem for home
theater installers & ending up adding facility to a slightly
advanced PC desktop. While we don't see many TV sets any more
without multiple HDMI inputs, there's always a small challenge in
determining whether something should get switched by the set or
if the display should stay in its optimized mode & have
everything switched en route. That's been behind a lot of
CEDIA-category switching products. Here at Newstips HQ, we have a
slightly different challenge as we move to driving two
Westinghouse 24" monitors that can each double as HDTV monitors.
At the moment, the one we use for watching is hard-wired to the
HDMI output of our HD cable box, but our HD camcorder also has an
HDMI feed & we imagine it won't be long before we're also adding
some manner of high def DVD player (other users might have game
consoles in this mix). In this environment, we're a little more
sensitive than most to the questions about what cables run where
& how much of a pain it can be to switch them. At the
intersection of simple, economical & flexible, we found a
delightful little entry from Oppo Digital: their $99 HM31
Advanced 3X1 HDMI switch. It's about the size of a VHS tape
cassette with 3HDMI inputs & one output on the back, 3 channel
telltales & a select switch on the front. Those telltales are
smarter than most idiot lights: when they're not selected,
they're red if they see an HDMI signal connected & dark if they
don't; when they're selected, they glow a solid blue when the
signal is there & a blinking blue when it isn't. Anybody who ever
had to troubleshoot a signal run will appreciate the value of
those basic diagnostics. At arm's length, the pushbutton is fine;
any farther & there's an IR remote control (with a back plug for
an available accessory IR remote sensor head if you want to hide
the whole thing). The box can lay flat for use on equipment or
mounting stand shelves or go vertical for bookshelf-style
installations or there's a trio of bottom screw-head keyholes for
mounting on an equipment closet wall. It uses 5VDC from a wall
wart. We should mention that it's certified for HDMI 1.3 &
supports resolutions to 1920x1200, frame rates to 120Hz & the
Deep Color standard; a built-in equalizer supports use with
longer cables, too. As it happens, it has the same timing as
DVI-D, so you can also feed it PC graphics through an adapter
connector or cable. If you're clever, it even lets you take
advantage of automatic input prioritization; plug into or turn on
a lower-number port & it will automatically switch its output to
that input (or avoid that by keeping your always-there signal in
port 1, etc.) Bottom line: simultaneously handy & dandy.
SPECIAL REPORT SECOND BONUS REVIEW: ROCKY PATEL
A lot of you know that Marty smokes an occasional cigar; in the
past, he's mostly been behind a Macanudo Portofino, but that era
is ending. Part of it is in the physics of the cigar: the ring
size (diameter) of that slender a cigar makes it a little harder
to draw air through it (compared with larger-diameter
alternatives) & the quality control on the brand seems to us to
have slipped, since we kept encountering more & more
disappointing or malformed cigars. Marty's search for a flavorful
cigar that wasn't too harsh, smokes smoothly, doesn't bite,
smokes cool & draws easily was a 6-month undertaking, sampling
hundreds of cigar types from among scores of brands. We found a
winner & our first box just arrived today: the Rocky Patel
Vintage 1999 Torpedo in Connecticut leaf wrapper. This is an
exquisite smoke & not as costly as you might think, but it is
sometimes hard to find; that said, it's well worth the hunt.
Bottom line: we can say without puffery this is our current
favorite cigar & we are happy to recommend it to anyone who
agrees not to buy the last box in the store.
SPECIAL REPORT THIRD BONUS REVIEW: RADIOSOPHY HD100 HD RADIO
We love the sound of HD Radio but don't love the price, so
imagine our surprise to find one priced (just) under $100. We got
in the Radiosophy HD100 for review & it has really good sound for
a tabletop stereo radio design (4W/channel 50-20KHz). The
difference in fidelity when an FM signal locks onto its HD
counterpart (for some stations out here in the country, that
takes a few seconds) is apparent, as obvious as when clogged ears
pop back to normal. We were also surprised by some of the new
multicast channels, which come closer to our musical preferences
than the main FM fare. Setup took just a minute. It picks up
standard & digital AM & FM stations; a telescoping whip FM
antenna comes out of the back & an AM loop antenna is included in
the box. It has an Aux input jack for external sources, like an
MP3 player, & a stereo mini-jack for headphones. There's a
front-panel digital clock that includes clock radio (wake to
radio or beeper) functions (but no battery backup). The digital
display works as you'd expect for analog stations; on digital
channels, it adds artist/album names or info updates (traffic,
news, weather, sports), depending on what the station is
transmitting. Bottom line: for not much more than a good stereo
clock radio, the HD100 lets us thrill to the better sound of HD
radio & we like that a lot.
MYCES FOR JOURNALISTS ALMOST TOTALLY ISN'T
You probably got the e-mail: MyCES Personal Planner is a product
that CEA got talked into by BD Metrics, Inc. (Baltimore) as the
online way that everybody will connect with everybody for all
kinds of appointments or arrangements involving CES. It's
unusable. We spoke to enough PR people (both internal at
exhibitors & external at their agencies) to know that only a very
few of them ever check for "connection requests" & then do so
only very rarely. That might mean lost opportunity if anybody
who's been a working journalist since at least yesterday would
ever go to (or trust) this kind of venue for meeting any
informational or product needs, let alone any deadlines. Until
the 2006 CES, we could download exhibitor internal & external PR
contact info in a single spreadsheet; that was not available for
CES 2007 & not long ago, CA told us it would not be available for
CES 2008. (You may be thrilled to know that on the flip side,
registered press contact info is very much still available to
exhibitors). But that may have just changed. Last week, CEA was
trained to use its administrative interface to extract a
spreadsheet of contacts; we've seen a sample & it's flawed, but
it's a whole bunch better than nothing. There's supposed to be
something on the Press Room Web site inviting us to ask for one,
but we can't find it; we'll try a more direct approach. We tried
identifying clients in Northeast Ohio (there are 5); following
instructions from the CES press office, we had to view 22 Web
pages to find these companies, three of which weren't on the BD
Metrics spreadsheet because they hadn't registered any press
contact info. So for the moment, we have some very specific
suggestions for you. First, unsubscribe from the MyCES Personal
Planner; it was designed for attendees, not for press; if CEA
notes enough of us doing that, it might help send a message.
Second, every time you talk to an agency or exhibitor, let them
know how difficult CEA is making it for press people to reach
them; if enough of them complain to their sales reps, there might
be a second vector for change. Contact: Martin Winston, NEWSTIPS
(Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400; mailto:marty@newstips.com
http://Newstips.com
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Newstips Bulletin [Novelty, OH] +1.440.338.8400 http://Newstips.com
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