I Don't Want a New One!

For sure, the digital age continues to provide a panoply of devices and services that would have been looked at as magical only a decade or two ago. We have smart phones with more computing power than the original space shuttle. We drive cars that not only can park themselves but can find the nearest parking lot. Using the Internet we can talk to and see family members as clearly as if they were in the next room when they are actually half a world away. Yes, we have grown to rely on technology for most every thing we do.

One less-than-positive byproduct of this explosion in technology is how quickly the products and services become obsolete. There are four words that send chills up my spine when talking to a tech sales person. “We no longer support …” You can fill in the blank. It might be a mobile phone, a laptop, a GPS or even a coffee maker. So we end up replacing a perfectly good device, perhaps with fewer features than a newer model, because the manufacturer feels that we need a new model.

Recently I convinced my wife that she would really be better served with a Mac instead of a PC. She is quite computer literate and had been using a PC for many years. Once we had the new machine we quickly found out that some of the peripherals that we have been using with the PC were “no longer supported.” So a perfectly good laser printer had to be replaced. In business the cost of keeping up with the changing technological landscape can be expensive.

In my business, broadcasting, our equipment has always been very expensive but with good maintenance the devices could be used for ten or more years. There were always newer models with advanced whistles and bells but you were not forced to buy a new model until the old model was failing. Today it is not uncommon to be required to replace equipment after only three or four years, not because it does not work, but because parts or software support has been discontinued.

When the phone company introduced touch tone dialing they did not make the customer ditch the dial phone. When color came to TV all black and white sets were not rendered useless. “Backward Compatibility,” once the hallmark of technology innovation has been abandoned. I am all for advances in technology, but my sock drawer is filling up with stuff that is “no longer supported.”

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ooVoo

eBook Prices Examined

Those who follow these weekly articles know that I have been a big fan of eReaders and eBooks from the very outset of their availability. The benefits of books in digital form are many. From the point of view of an avid reader, having virtually millions of books available on line and accessible in a matter of seconds is wonderful. For the publisher and reseller, not having to print paper and ink copies and store and ship books is a tremendous savings in the cost of doing business. In the end, both reader and publisher save money.

When eBooks first came to market the prices were relatively low. In most cases a best seller purchased in digital form was priced at about one-half the price of a traditional bound volume. The pricing seemed very reasonable as the authors, publishers, and resellers all deserved appropriate compensation but since much of the physical costs of traditional book publishing went away, it was only fair that these saving be passed on to the customer.

Over the past 18 months or so there has been a steady increase in prices with some eBooks now selling close to the prices charged for paper and ink copies. So it was with some interest that I have been following the recent announcement by the US Department of Justice that it filed a suit against Apple and five other publishers over an alleged "illegal conspiracy" involving eBook price fixing. Apple, as well as publishers Macmillan and Penguin, plan to fight the charges, while Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have agreed to a proposed settlement.

According to Attorney General Eric Holder, publishers and Apple met regularly to discuss competition issues, including Amazon's eBook pricing, "as part of a conspiracy to raise, fix, and stabilize retail prices."

Apple counters by maintaining that the higher prices have provided customers more choice and more interactive and engaging material. They maintain that the eBook pricing policy is the same one that has been used by app developers for setting prices on the App Store.

It will be interesting to see where this ends up. I am a big advocate of making sure that, even in this digital virtual environment, authors, artists and musicians should be fairly compensated for their work. On the other hand, for companies to continue to charge consumers prices based on old models of distribution when their actual costs no longer exist is a rip off.

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ooVoo

Keep In Touch With ooVoo

Recently I have been searching for a computer application that will allow several people I work with who are located in different offices and cities to collaborate without traveling to one location. Many large companies have internal video conferencing systems but most require the participants to be in a special room. There are several expensive computer-based software applications that are available as well. My search uncovered an inexpensive solution that might have some non-business applications especially for families who are spread across wide geographic distances.

The software is called “ooVoo” (don’t ask me how to pronounce it) and it allows up to 12 people to see and hear each other using a computer equipped with a camera, microphone and Internet connection. Think of it as Skype on steroids.

What makes ooVoo different than most other videoconferencing services on the Internet is that only the person setting up the call needs to have the ooVoo software installed on a computer. The other 11 participants need only enter an internet address into their browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari). Each machine must also have Java installed but that is most likely already on most machines and, if it isn’t, it is a free download.

One of the features that makes ooVoo a great way to converse with your family members is that you can share pictures and other materials stored on your computer with the entire group. So if I set up the call I can pull up pictures from my computer and show them full screen on all the other computers connected to the call. While the pictures are on everyone’s screens, the audio continues so I can describe what everyone is seeing and all the participants can freely share in the conversation.

I have checked out ooVoo and it really is painless to use. While the company claims it works seamlessly on both PCs and Macs, I had a much harder time getting the Mac version to run without actually installing special software on all the machines connected to the call. This is a real negative since with the PC version there is no preparation needed on the part of anyone on the call except the one originating it.

ooVoo comes in several flavors. The free version allows up to 12 simultaneous participants but does have advertising banners on the screen. The entire call can be recorded and saved or posted to YouTube. If you purchase the upgraded version, the advertisements disappear and you can add an unlimited number of participants via phone only. They can hear everything but of course can’t see the video.

ooVoo is worth a look if you have a big family and want to have a group call rather than a traditional Skype call.

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ooVoo

Free Is Not Always Better

A few weeks ago the Enquirer announced that it was going to begin to charge a subscription fee for online access to the newspaper. This announcement comes as no surprise as several newspapers around the country have either already instituted subscription policies or have one that will begin shortly. Charging for online content has been a challenge for most all traditional paper and ink publications. Few have charged a fee for their publications from the very beginning of making their content available online. The Wall Street Journal is one. Those who purchased a regular subscription to the Journal were offered complete online access to the stories and articles for an extra fee. If you didn’t pay the fee you could not read the complete articles. Most other publications were not as prescient.

According to the Enquirer, there will be a limited number of free articles that can be read online every month but to read anything beyond those articles, readers will need to buy a subscription. This is the same policy that has been adopted for the New York Times. After you read 10 articles online in a one month period you, you must pay the subscription price of about $3.75 per week to continue to read.

It will be interesting to see what success the Enquirer has in adopting this pay to read policy. I have found the paper to be less relevant with actual news content decreasing. There are some days when the paper delivered to my front door looks like an advertising flyer rather than one of Gannett’s premiere publications. I fear that few will opt to pay for it. It is a downward spiral that may not be able to be arrested.

When the Internet first made it possible to get information free from major publications many began to feel that free information was part and parcel with the new online experience. Of course this is not a sustainable model. Newspapers, news magazines and TV networks pay millions of dollars to support the reporters and bureaus worldwide. This infrastructure is necessary if factual unbiased reporting is to continue. It is also expensive. If there is no revenue generated from the service it can’t survive. For years the ink and paper subscribers to newspapers where paying not only for the paper delivered to their home, they were paying for the people reading the content free on the Internet.

The fact is that someone is going to pay for the gathering and reporting of news and information. It seems to me that a user-pay system, either directly with fees from the consumer or through advertising messages is much preferable to having some third party pay for this service. As the old adage goes, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

We are entering a new phase of access to quality online content. This will require fees and subscriptions. To me is a small price to pay for unbiased factual reporting.

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ooVoo Video Chat

Can't Wait To See What's Next

I have always been a big fan of science fiction books, TV and movies. Whether reading books by Jules Vern or Arthur C. Clarke or watching on TV the various iterations of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, I was fascinated by the various technologies that were common place and integrated into the stories. Who wasn’t blown away when they watched the first of the Star Wars movies?

What captivates my attention more then anything else is how close to reality these works of fiction really are. I recently re-read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea written almost 150 years ago. Vern, writing about the undersea voyages of Captain Nemo aboard the Nautilus, describes in great detail machines, weapons and navigational techniques. It took more than 75 years before they were actually realized, but the fact is they were.

Star Trek is replete with gadgets and technologies that seemed outlandish in 1966 but today are part of our daily life. In fact, some of the devices used on the show are looked at as outdated by today’s standards. Who still has a flip phone? Nevertheless, watching any show will surface many devices we use today. Instead of asking your second mate to lay in a course to the Ursa Major galaxy, we instruct our GPS to get us to the closest Ikea store. Our doctors now regularly use tools like Dr. McCoy’s that can scan our bodies non-invasively.

How often did we see Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his quarters reading from a device that looks like an “iPad” or signing his name to some set of directions or orders from subordinates using a device that is now carried by most every Fedex or UPS driver?

Perhaps the most exciting thing is, that if indeed these technologies have come to fruition in such a relatively short time, what are we going to see in the next five or ten years? We have to remember that for our grandparents the idea of having a device in your pocket the size of a pack of cigarettes that can be used to contact and converse with almost anyone in the world is as unbelievable as stepping into a phone booth and being transported to some neighboring city. We’re half way there. We can change matter into energy. We just need to be able to get it back to matter at the other end…and hopefully in the same configuration.

Beam me up, Scotty!