Archive for the ‘Electronics’ Category

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DailyCandy Editor Lauren Lumsden On Discovering New And Cool

Monday, October 4th, 2010

It’s not every day you get to interview an editor from your favorite daily mailing list, but we somehow convinced Lauren to chat in front of our camera last week. Check out her interview to learn about the dude-ranch-to-web-editor career track and, of course, Bacon Salt.

>>TILE brings you exclusive interviews from people doing great things in SPEND, GROW, and GIVE. To view more, click on TILEcasts in the TILE Library.

Have a burning question or someone you’d like to see interviewed? Let us know – just Ask TILE!

Your Friend Can Now Lend You $20 Using A Credit Card

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Is this the end of the entire credit card business model as we know it??

  • A new company called Square is blowing the minds of credit card company executives everywhere. Square produces a little gadget that plugs into the headphone jacks of a variety of iThings and the Android phone. That’s where things get crazy.
  • The free device allows anybody with a bank account to accept credit card payments in person or over the phone.
  • Usually, only businesses accept credit cards. They have to purchase expensive equipment and then pay fee after fee just for the ability to process credit payments. Square Up changes that, eliminating equipment, setup, and maintenance fees.

Facts & Figures

  • Square’s chief executive is the co-founder of Twitter.
  • Each time you process a payment using Square Up, the company keeps 2.75% of the transaction amount, plus $0.15.
  • At first, transactions are capped at $1,000, but that cap can be raised over time or for established businesses.

Cool Electronics Move Ahead Of Clothes And Appliances

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Second-quarter reports indicate that Americans have changed their spending priorities from appliances to new and improved electronics.

  • Rather than purchasing appliances and clothing, Americans now tend to put their money toward new electronics and in their savings.
  • Electronics are constantly evolving to become newer, cooler and better–causing an incentive to buy the latest items.
  • Some clothing retailers, such as American Eagle Outfitters and Macy’s, are giving consumers electronic incentives to buy apparel (like giving away smartphones).

Facts & Figures

  • Sales of televisions, computers, video and telephone equipment grew 1.8% in the first six months of 2010.
  • Spending on appliances decreased 3.6% and spending on furniture decreased 11%.
  • The U.S. savings rate increased to 6.4% from May to June.
  • In the first 6 months of 2010, Americans spent $534 billion on durable goods, up 5.9% from last year.

Best Quote

“But who needs to buy more ties? I mean, come on, I have a great computer.” -Spence Witten, 27-year-old consumer

Dealing with Questionable Content

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Workers who screen websites for explicit content are increasingly in demand, but many companies are failing to provide these employees with adequate psychiatric care.

  • Internet content reviewers, people who police popular websites in order to identify and remove inappropriate content, are being hired in ever greater numbers.
  • Although these jobs are in high demand, they do not pay well, and many companies that hire internet content reviewers don’t guarantee them psychiatric help in order to deal with the hundreds of graphic and disturbing images they see every day.
  • The psychiatrists who have interviewed these workers have concluded that many of them have been psychologically affected by their jobs. These findings are troubling, especially considering that companies want to hire ever more screeners, young people are often attracted to the work, and the jobs are being increasingly outsourced.

Facts and Figures

  • At one company, Telecommunications on Demand, 50 internet content reviewers examine a combined average of 20 million images per week.
  • These employees are paid $8-$12 per hour.

Best Quote

“You have 20-year-old kids who get hired to do content review, and who get excited because they think they are going to see adult porn. They have no idea that some of the despicable and illegal images they will see can haunt them for the rest of their lives.” – Hemanshu Nigam, Former chief security officer at MySpace

First Impression Of The New iPhone: Negative

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Apple’s newest flashy iproduct might not be making quite the positive splash they’d hoped for…

  • Consumer feedback has been harsh on the latest iPhone, reporting that when it is held a certain way reception is sketchy and calls are sometimes dropped.
  • As a result, shares of Apple Inc. have dipped, leaving the company scrambling to issue software updates and attach a bumper accessory to fix the problem.
  • Analysts, however, are doubtful that this blip in Apple stock will have any lasting effects. Apple products like the iPad and iPhone are still too widely popular to truly lower Apple’s stock valuation.

Best Quote

“Checks into Apple’s supply chain do not indicate slowdown in build plans or demand. But a greater focus on this issue could create risk to estimates.” – Shaw Wu, Analyst, Kaufman Bros.

Consumer Reports Criticizes iPhone 4

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Because of a faulty antenna, Consumer Reports refuses to recommend the iPhone 4.

  • Consumer Reports tested the newest iPhone and discovered that it lost reception when held to the ear in a certain way.
  • Apple claims that most cell phones lose reception when gripped a certain way and that the software can be easily fixed.
  • The faulty antenna is located on the outside of the phone in the form of a metal band running around its frame.
  • AT&T has been criticized for poor reception and the inability to handle the network usage of data-guzzling iPhones.

Facts and Figures

  • This is the first time Consumer Reports has not recommended an Apple phone.
  • The antenna problem hasn’t slowed demand for the iPhone 4 – the phone is currently on backorder for about 3 weeks.
  • Apple sold more than 1.7 million iPhone 4s in the first 3 days, making it the company’s most successful product launch ever.

Best Quote

“Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that iPhone 4′s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software.” – Consumer Reports

Today in Apple Uncool

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Apple’s new Privacy Policy (which you’re required to agree to in order to download anything – including apps – from iTunes) has some spy vs. spy stuff going on. The policy basically says that Apple is allowed to anonymously track and store every single move your iGadget makes – in other words, every move you make. Since no one actually reads the updated Privacy Policies, we thought we’d share the creepy new world of iSurveillance for you lucky iUsers out there!

Here’s the part in the new policy that talks about it:

apple-uncool.png

(via consumerist.com)

Demand For 3D Projectors Stifled By Lack Of Supply

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

As consumer demand for digital projectors skyrockets, the industry may not be able to supply quickly enough.

  • Privately owned makers of projector components have struggled to keep up with the soaring demand.
  • Despite the inability to match supply with demand, digital projector purveyor Barco doubled its projector sales in 2009 – its best year to date.
  • Barco considers additional funding of component makers as a potential option for solving this supply crisis, and may even use a secondary supplier to meet its component needs.

Facts & Figures

  • 85% of the world’s cinemas have yet to be fitted with digital projectors.
  • Barco thinks it could make nearly 150 million euros ($203.6 million) in 2010.
  • Barco shipped around 1,000 projectors in the fourth quarter of 2009, worth around 36 million euros.

Best Quote

“The challenge will not be how many you can sell, it will be how many you can make.” – Eric Van Zele, CEO of Barco

Computers Are Too Complex, Make Them More Like iPhones!

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Sometimes it seems as though computers are more trouble than they’re worth, but they may become much simpler in the not-too-distant future.

  • Although personal computers have become easier to use since their inception way back when, most people still encounter problems while using their computers and their current operating systems (like Snow Leopard for Mac or Windows Vista).
  • iPhones are the picture of simplicity, and could serve as a model for how computer companies construct operating systems in the future.
  • While it may seem a simple solution to the complexity problem, integrating an operating system similar to the iPhone’s would be difficult for a multitude of reasons, and especially troublesome for the implementation of the multitouch interface (that thing that allows you to move stuff on your iPhone with your finger).

Facts & Figures

  • Back in the day, if you wanted to open up a Microsoft Word document, you would’ve had to type in a cryptic command, like this:

DIR*.EXE
MSWORD.EXE A:\REPORT.DOC

  • Microsoft tries to make all their new versions of their primary operating system (Windows) familiar to customers of earlier versions, which accounts for the continuing complexity of the system.
  • Apple uses the iPhone’s operating system in its new iPad computer.
  • It would be easier for Apple to design a completely new operating system instead of implementing the multitouch interface onto a desktop computer.

Best Quote

“With the iPad and the horde of tablets that will follow it, we can expect computing to become much easier than what we’re accustomed to today.” – Brian Chen, Wired magazine

Tom Tom Navigation Not Going Anywhere But Up (Apparently)

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Or so says the CEO of the company… but do you agree?

  • Despite the fact that both Google and Nokia have recently announced free turn-by-turn navigation on mobile phones, TomTom’s CEO, Harold Goddijn, is firm in his belief that these threats will not affect his company’s well-being or profitability.
  • Goddijn extolled his company’s proficiency in map-making, while downplaying the threat of competing companies offering free services that would replicate the functionality of his company’s GPS device on mobile phones, a service he says has existed for quite some time.
  • Tom Tom avoided experiencing a huge setback in the recession by cutting costs and focusing sales efforts on car manufacturers, fleet management services, map and traffic subscriptions and an iPhone app.

Facts and Figures

  • TomTom’s 2009 fourth quarter net profit came out to be 73 million euros ($99 million)
  • In the fourth quarter, sales rose 1% to 533 million euros, up from 528 million euros a year ago.
  • The company expects sales to be flat in 2010.

Best Quote

“We need to get away from the impression that the various navigation platforms are competing with each other.” – Harold Goddijn, Chief Executive Officer of TomTom NV

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