Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

NEC Lui WiMax Media Streaming System Gets Release Date, Price [Home Entertainment]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/270583512/nec-lui-wimax-media-streaming-system-gets-release-date-price

We alerted you to NEC's fancy media-streaming home server last year: it's an "on demand" system that'll send your media content to Lui devices around your home and beyond. NEC has just stumped up the release schedule and pricing in Japan, and "Life with Ubiquitous Integrated solutions" systems isn't cheap. The pocket sized player and laptop-like device are around $495 and $890, while the desktop PC will be $2,100. Topping it all off, the main home server costs a whopping $3,700. If you're in Japan and like the idea of accessing your audio and video remotely using dedicated devices, it's available from April 24th. We don't have timings on a US release. [AV Watch]

American Apparel straps RFID tags onto individual garments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/270438855/

Filed under: Wearables, Wireless

RFID clothing is far from revolutionary, but American Apparel is about to get everyone's attention by placing tags on a smorgasbord of garments. The firm is setting out to implement RFID at the item-level, meaning that tags will eventually hit each article of clothing it produces. For starters, the advanced inventory system will be rolled out across each of its 17 metro New York locations, while plans are already in place to deploy the solution to another 120 North American outlets. The idea is to track individual pieces as they're "tagged at the company's manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, received in its retail stores, stored in the stock rooms at the stores, and then placed onto the sales floor and ultimately sold at the point-of-sale." Of course, we wouldn't expect the tags to follow you home or anything -- too bad we can't say the same for the company's skeezy CEO, Dov Charney.

[Image courtesy of The New York Times]

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Nokia's 6212 with Bluetooth NFC: Let the pairing revolution begin!

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/270590537/

Filed under: Cellphones

This is the day we've been waiting for. While the 3G Nokia 6212 classic doesn't look like much, what it lacks in style is more than made up by the genius of Bluetooth-enabled Near Field Communication. If you remember the video we showed you way back in March of 2007, the combo makes device pairing and transferring content like photos, video, music, calendar data, contacts, etc. as easy a touching the phone to a NFC-enabled picture frame, cellphone, speaker, or headset like Nokia's own NFC-variant of the BH-210. It will also work with NFC payment systems. According to Jeremy Belostock, the Head of Near Field Communications at Nokia, "NFC-capable handsets such as the Nokia 6212 classic are set to change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings." You said it Jeremy, you said it. Expected to start shipping in Europe and Asia in the Q3 for about €200.

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Monday, April 14, 2008

Drip, drip, drip goes the Twit

Source: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04/drip-drip-drip.html

I trust Sarah Fishko.

I don't know her, I'v'e never bought anything from her and I wouldn't recognize her if we met, but I trust her.

Every once in a while, over the last few years, Sarah's voice has come out of my radio, telling me about one interesting cultural event or another. She's consistent. She shows up. She has built a body of work over time, taking her time, that leads to trust.

Twitter can do that for you.

Not for a million New Yorkers, but perhaps for a hundred or a thousand people you want to reach. Blogs do the same thing.

The best time to look for a job next year is right now. The best time to plan for a sale in three years is right now. The mistake so many marketers make is that they conjoin the urgency of making another sale with the timing to earn the right to make that sale. In other words, you must build trust before you need it. Building trust right when you want to make a sale is just too late.

Publishing your ideas... in books, or on a blog, or in little twits on Twitter... and doing it with patience, over time, is the best way I can think of to lay a foundation for whatever it is you hope to do next.

Perpetual Web Coupon Saves 10 Percent at Best Buy [Shopping]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/268399225/perpetual-web-coupon-saves-10-percent-at-best-buy

Coupons—they're never around when you get that sudden urge to splurge on electronics. Not so with a 10-percent-off printable discount at Best Buy, which is posted as an image at a U.S. Postal Service "Mover's Guide" site with an easily-anticipated URL. Tech blog CyberNet points out that the coupon can be found by slotting the appropriate month and year in, so this month's coupon, for example, is:

https://moversguide.usps.com/img/coupon/bestbuy/200804_clientarea.gif

If you don't feel like scoping the fine print on that image, the CyberNet link below details the categories and prices the coupon is good for, for however long the URL hack lasts. I have to assume our readers know of similar URL-based coupons, whether at Mover's Guide or elsewhere, so spread the wealth in the comments.

"Reusable" 10% Off Best Buy Coupon [CyberNet]