I take it back Chromecast, I hate Comcast

Last year, I wrote a post about the announcement that HBO was incorporating Chromecast into their app. I’d like to say that, to an extent, I take back. I own 2 Chromecasts, and I wish more apps had casting capabilities.

What I’ve found is the major flaw, are the licensing agreements networks have with the cable companies. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to watch most major network programming without a subscription to a cable or dish service.

I look forward to the day when I can subscribe to individual shows or networks, instead of having to go through an intermediary like a cable company. It’s amazing in this day in age – when technology is eliminating so many intermediaries, particularly in the retail space – that companies like these aren’t just surviving, but thriving.

When I moved into a new home this summer, we attempted to “cut the cord” and only have a Comcast cable internet subscription (they thew in basic cable & HBO free for a year). After trying an Apple TV and a few other devices, I settled on 2 Chromecasts, a Roku, and 2 XBox 360s for our 3 TVs. What’s unsettling is that even if you subscribe to Comcast, they prevent you from using their services (and the networks, like HBO, you subscribe to through them) on pretty much everything but the XBox (they can’t stop the Chromecast, but do prevent viewing their channels on Roku, Apple TV, etc.).

I apologize to Chromecast for my ignorant remarks, as I now wish even more networks (read this ESPN, AMC, A&E, Discovery, HGTV, and others) enabled Chromecast on their apps. I realize now that it’s Comcast and the other cable/dish providers that are really the ones preventing progress in the entertainment space.

Indiegogo Kreyos Smart Watch Disaster

Last year, I wrote a blog post entitled, “Kickstarter Buyer Beware,” and I talked about the delays with two projects I backed on crowdfunding platforms – The iExpander and the the Kreyos smartwatch.  I won’t go into detail here on the iExpander, but a year after the post and 2 years since the Kickstarter campaign… I still don’t have an iExpander. I thought I’d give you an update on the Kreyos smartwatch I tried funding via Indiegogo.

Much like other campaigns, it started with the announcement of a few delays… and then a few more. However, the folks at Kreyos were pretty good about showing video of their prototypes in action. So, my confidence in it was building… until it came completely crashing down when they finally announced they were shipping the device.

The creators of the device posted a long blog post about how it all came crashing down, but here’s how I managed to narrowly avoid an $175 loss:

There were not signs of issues with the smartwatch when it started shipping – other than the fact that the shipping was extremely disorganized (but that was no surprise for a startup).  I was disappointed, because I moved this summer, and they shipped it to my old address. I was told by their terrible customer service (again, I thought this wasn’t too big of a deal, since they were a startup) that I’d have to wait for the watch to get declined by the new owners of my home, returned to Kreyos, and then it could be shipped to my new address.

At first, there seemed to be a lot of complaints about people not receiving the correct items. Again, I thought this wasn’t too big a deal, since the startup was using incompetent Chinese labor. Then, people began complaining about how the watch was taking on water simply from showering (it was supposed to be completely waterproof, which they revised to say it would be waterproof to 10 meters). Then everything came completely crashing down and the company completely folded up with the blog post I referenced earlier.

It appeared that Indiegogo immediately backed away from the problem, stating that they were essentially just an intermediary. It made me want to boycott Indiegogo completely. I still hadn’t received my Kreyos, so I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge from Indiegogo. Since I never received the item, my credit card company removed the charge (except for the PayPal surcharge – but being out $5, is better than being out $175).

Again, I urge you to avoid these sites. No matter what kind of discount I might receive for funding something on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, it simply isn’t worth the risk of the item coming out late, faulty, or never at all. I think there’s a place in the market for a crowdfunding site that has more oversight and insurance from such issues… and hope one comes out soon. As for me, from now on, I’m going to wait until a product hits the open market and is tested before I buy.

Mizzou’s New Coach Kim Anderson

When I was in college, there was a huge rivalry game, the Busch Braggin’ Rights Game between the Mizzou Tigers and the Fighting Illini. The game was always in St. Louis over Christmas Break and students could camp out and get tickets.

Camping outside of the Hearnes Center in November often meant enduring 10-20 degree temperatures. We’d start camping out just after dinnertime and were usually among the first 10 or so in line. Around 7 a.m. they’d finally let us in the building to wait until the box office opened at 9.

One year (I believe it was around 1996 or 1997, when his career was winding down), Mizzou Coach Norm Stewart came in around 7 a.m. and on his way to his office, walked past us and barked, “So how many of you are gonna sell your tickets?”

After camping out for about 15 hours in freezing temperatures, I was a bit offended that the coach would make such a remark. What happened next renewed my faith in the program.

Around 7:30, assistant coach Kim Anderson got out of his car and brought about four dozen donuts in for those of us who camped out. He thanked us for being there and apologized for not bringing in more.  I was impressed with his class and humility that morning.

As a sports editor of one of the school papers, I got to watch the team often and up close, and I was always impressed with the 1-on-1 coaching Anderson provided to members of the team. While Coach Stewart was nearing the end of his career, and had to deal with lots of players complaining about playing time, Coach Anderson always had a way of putting his arm around a player, calming them down, and getting their head back into things.

After Quinn Snyder made a mess of the program, I was really hoping Mizzou would bring Coach Anderson back as head coach. Instead, they brought a different coach Anderson (Mike). Kim went to Central Missouri State and has been a huge success in his 12 years there, most recently winning the D-II national championship this year.

Finally, after all this time, I’m glad and proud to see that Mizzou finally welcomed Kim Anderson home as head coach of the Missouri Tigers today. He’s a class act and a great coach, and I look forward to where he’s able to take the program.

Kickstarter Buyer Beware

Kickstarter is a cool concept – contribute to a project or idea that might not otherwise get off the ground. In appreciation for your support, developers offer rewards.  I’m not sure if it was intentional when they started it, but it’s spawned a new type of startup company. One that, if a company can entice enough consumers to “buy into” their idea, they should have enough money to make that idea happen. Your reward then becomes the finished product.

I was very intrigued by this new business model, and was very impressed with the creativity and innovation of many of the ideas. One that caught my eye last year was the “iExpander.” It promised an extra battery, much better camera flash, and an expandable memory slot for a microUSB, solving the major issues I was having with my iPhone 4S – bad battery life, bad pictures in low light, and not enough memory. The video they showed was impressive, and the fact that they already had several working prototypes built (and language on the site) lead me to believe I’d be receiving mine less than a month and a half after the campaign ended – ready for Christmas 2012.

More than a year later, I’m still waiting for my iExpander, and it’s not going to function nearly as I thought it would. They’ve hit snags with Apple, engineering, and manufacturing. The battery doesn’t tie in nearly as seamlessly as it was supposed to and the expandable memory is now a proprietary removable module. In the meantime, I’ve also upgraded to an iPhone 5S, which now has a better flash than was planned. Technology moves fast, and while iExpander has been working out it’s issues for more than a year, my need for the product has disappeared (I also upgraded to a 64GB memory in my new phone).

What I didn’t realize, was how common this is. CNN published a list of Kickstarter’s top 50 projects, and when they shipped. So, I share my story, just to say “buyer beware” if you choose to look at Kickstarter (or Indiegogo, or any other crowdsourced sites) as a way to buy some cutting edge new projects.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not all bad. In fact, one of the most successful campaigns, the Pebble smartwatch, encouraged me to try it again. This time, I was very impressed with the prototype videos of the Kreyos Meteor smartwatch. It appears to be way more advanced than the Pebble, and does more of what I want a smartwatch to do. I took a chance as an “early adopter” and signed up for one.

Again, the Kreyos smartwatch prototypes looked so promising, and they appeared to have it all together, also promising to have them completed within a couple months of the campaign ending. Well, the Kreyos Meteor smartwatch was supposed to be shipped at the end of November, and that date has obviously come and gone. The most recent update said they hope to have it finished by mid-February. This is exactly how the  iExpander started out and I’m still waiting for that one over a year later.  I’m not going to hold my breath.

2013 World Series Run

I’ve grown up a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so I’ve been playing close attention to their World Series run. Unfortunately, the game just ended and the Red Sox won the series. But I could tell the Cards were out of it about three games ago.

Watching the games, you could see how hard the Red Sox were playing – running hard and beating out throws to first, diving for line drives, and showing a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the games. I just didn’t see the same fire and heart displayed by the cardinals. I got frustrated every time I saw someone trotting down to first base because they hit one on the infield. It was obvious to me (and I think to others), that the Red Sox wanted it more.

I hope it’s because the Cardinals are mostly a younger bunch of guys (compared to when they won the World Series just 2 years ago), and their nerves got the best of them. But whether you’re playing baseball, or doing something else, never underestimate the power of illustrating passion and heart.

It’s Been a While…

It doesn’t seem like it’s been over year since I last blogged here. However, when I checked, it’s obviously been a while. With things like twitter, Facebook, and the like, I’ve been pretty busy with other things. I’m going to try and commit to recording my thoughts here more often about the random oddities of everyday life. If you can, please send me a note, or give me some feedback, to let me know that someone is reading, and that my time posting my observations and thoughts are worthwhile.

Travel Observations

I’ve been traveling an incredible amount these last 9 days and I’ve made a few observations on my 18 flights on 3 different airlines…

– While I appreciate the satellite radio on United Airlines, they probably should avoid hits like, “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”. Another odd selection – “Country Roads” by John Denver.

– If someone passed gas on a crowded flight, they should be thrown off mid-flight.

– If the previous does happen, turn the little air blower on your face on full blast.

– Similarly, using the bathroom on a flight less than 45 minutes in length should be prohibited.

– If your stop/layover is less than 8 hours long, they send your bags on to the next destination… Even if you need your clothes for the hotel on your 7 hour layover.

– Delta and Northwest Airlines said they merged, but really haven’t… Other than when you think you’re flying one, you could be flying the other.

– Reclining your seat should be done slowly… You just took 8-10 inches of someone’s precious little personal space away… Ease into it.

– If you’re unlucky enough to get stuck in the middle seat, you deserve to use both armrests.

– If you’re walking through the terminal with you Bluetooth headset, you just look like a crazy person talking to themselves. Don’t be surprised when security is alerted.

– There’s a fine line between people watching in the terminal and being the spooky guy in the corner eyeing everyone walking by.

– Does the Homeland Security threat level ever drop to green? I think not.

These are just a few of the thing I picked up during my crazy travels… Feel free to add to the list if you have any interesting travel observations.

The Dyson Ball

I was just watching a commercial I’ve seen a hundred times for the Dyson Ball vaccuum cleaner. The suave guy with the accent talks about how a vaccuum with regular wheels can’t turn like his invention with the ball. However, it got me wondering,do you still get those little “just vaccuumed” lines on the carpet caused by the wheels? Those little lines on the carpet give me such satisfaction after vaccuuming.

Craig was the Mole

I was wrong in my thinking that Nicole is the Mole. Last night was the finale of the Mole and it turns out that Craig was the mole. They showed the “hints” they gave revealing who the mole is, but I thought it was pretty confusing. The hints they gave actually directed you to who the 3 finalists would be, not necessarily who the mole was. Unlike previous seasons where the hints were fairly obvious, these were very well hidden, only to be figured out by those hardcore fans who owned a magnifying glass and a TiVo they could use to go frame by frame. Maybe I’m just a little sentimental about the first time the Mole was on, but I thought it used to be better than it has been this season… or maybe it was just that Anderson Cooper was a great part of the show.

Privacy Please

I’m in New York City this weekend for a project for work surrounding the Major League Baseball All-Star game. As I was getting ready to settle in for the night, I happened to notice that instead of a “Do Not Disturb” sign, this hotel has a sign that says, “Privacy Please.” I get the Do Not Disturb – don’t knock, bother, etc. However, aren’t you asking for privacy the second you close your door? Therefore, you wouldn’t really need a sign that says “Privacy Please.” It just seems unnecessary. I do have to mention my favorite hotel door sign… At an Embassy Suites, the sign to hang on your door says, “There’s a really good reason not to knock right now.” That I can appreciate.

Impulse Buy?

My family and I stopped into the dollar store yesterday to look for some little toys for our kids. We found a couple of toys for the pool/bathtub and a coloring book or two. My wife took the kids to the car while I waited in the checkout line. Around the checkout were the normal sorts of last minute buys – candy, superglue, etc. Although one thing caught my eye and left me a bit perplexed. Right next to the Chapstick were pregnancy tests! First, would you really trust a pregnancy test you picked up at the dollar store? Second, is a pregnancy test really an impulse buy?

Say No to Bud InBev Deal

I’m not sure if you’ve been following the news lately regarding Anheuser-Busch, but they could be taken over by InBev. Here’s the story…

Why discuss this in my media, marketing, advertising, online marketing, homebrewing blog?

Anheuser-Busch has been a pioneer within the digital media space. Despite the fact that Bud.tv failed, both AB and the online marketing community learned quite a bit from its branded online video effort. You can’t have continued success without a few failures, and AB took the failure in stride and appears to have grown to be better online marketers because of it.

From all accounts I’ve heard, InBev is good at making these types of companies work more efficiently. Most analysts are pretty sure that InBeb will implement its cost-cutting measures at AB if it purchases it. Most of the time, cost-cutting measures start with marketing budgets. You can be sure that if this is the case, you won’t see nearly as much experimentation coming from AB in terms of online marketing (and certainly not to the level of investment as Bud.tv). While it’s obvious that larger companies have still not completely jumped into online marketing, it will be disappointing if experiments like Bud.tv no longer allowed to take place.