HDMI consortium to standardize CEC, FINALLY!

For those who don't know, the CEC, or Consumer Electronics Control protocol sends control commands over the HDMI interface's Pin 13 allowing every device that's connected via HDMI to be easily controlled, in theory.

The problem so far is that the members of the HDMI consortium have pretty much done their own thing with regard to CEC. As a result, it works great if you have an all-Sony setup: TV, Blu-ray, AV receiver. It also works great if you have an all-Panasonic setup: TV, Blu-ray, AV receiver. And so on. However, when you start mixing and matching components from different brands, then things haven't worked too well.

Apparently, all that is about to change.

CE Pro: HDMI to Enhance CEC Two-Way Control Protocol

HDMI is going to make its control protocol, called Consumer Electronics Control (CEC), really meaningful. And they mean it.That's the word from Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing, LLC, who spoke to CE Produring the recent CEDIA Expo.HDMI-CEC is a communications protocol that enables devices to control each other via the same HDMI cable that delivers audio and video.
...
"We really mean it this time," says Venuti. "We've worked with the founders to unify CEC. We're hoping -- and they're pushing hard -- that in Q1 there will be products out there with a meaningful command set," he says. "The marketing requirements came from retailers."

It's good to see that the major CE brands in the consortium have realized that if everybody does their own thing, then it doesn't count as a standard.

One question I'd like to see answered is how well the CEC2.0 (or whatever they choose to call it) will work retroactively with existing gear that uses a vendor-specific variation of the protocol. Time will tell, I suppose.

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Hump Chair: Product of the Week, or Totally Ridiculous?

I can't decide if this is the coolest product ever, or a tragic symptom of the laziness that has struck a society that's over-served by post-industrial creature comforts.

You be the judge. Behold, the HUMP CHAIR! (video is so Not Safe For Work)



http://view.break.com/570007 - Watch more free videos

The burning question remains: when does the three-seater model debut?

Hat tip to the website Random Good Stuff.com.

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Hybrid Parking Only?

Houston Chronicle business journalist Loren Steffy takes time out from covering the energy beat to foment discontent over the idea of giving parking spaces to hybrid vehicles.

Loren Steffy: Hybrid hypocrisy: special spaces for `green' machines

Special treatment for hybrids is on the rise. Cities, including Houston, have considered parking preferences and allowing hybrids access to HOV lanes. Part of the problem with these policies, though, is determiningwhat is actually a hybrid.
It's bad enough that many malls and shopping centers now offer pretentious valet services that commandeer the best parking spaces. (Shouldn't they be taking the ones farthest away? Isn't that the point of having a valet?) Now, we have to put up with auto discrimination?
So far, retailers aren't actually enforcing the hybrid-only spaces. They seem more concerned with making a statement. That's always a dangerous move for a retailer, because it risks alienating customers -- especially if you're, say, a home repair retailer with a large block of pickup-driving customers.

The real money shot is in Loren's conclusion, which displays great contrarian insight:

Well, if Ikea really wants to be green conscious, it should put its preferred Prius parking at the far end of the lot. After all, the most green-conscious transportation of all is walking. Meanwhile, the rest of us gas-burning slobs would use less fuel trolling the lot for a decent space.

I suppose it's asking too much for virtue to be it's own reward, rather than demanding special treatment as a consequence of doing something perceived as virtuous.

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If You Can't Take The Heat, Stay Off The Internet

Forensic accountant and anti-fraud crusader Tracy Coenan has yet another post mocking the attorney for MLM scheme Shop To Earn. You remember, the one who was threatening legal action against bloggers for criticising the program?

Fraudfiles Blog: How NOT to handle criticism: Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth

Of course, the blogosphere erupted, which is about the worst thing that could happen for Shop to Earn.
Look, it is inanely stupid to attack a critic by threatening to sue them. Because if they have discovered the fatal flaw in your product, then others have as well and you darn well better know what is going on in your prospects mind.
And they answer the objection….
The folks at Shop To Earn Who are Responding to Criticism about a perceived flaw in their product by threatening a lawsuit aren’t thinking right.. if you’ve got a good product, good testimonials and a killer guarantee, then the “white noise” of criticism shouldn’t bother you.
On the other hand, if you are a scammer, then you might be bothered that someone has discovered you.

This seems like a good time to bring up an important principle:

Winners don't publicly acknowledge detractors.

That may seem like a bold statement, but at the heart of it, it's very true. If you or the product you sell has value, you let that value speak for itself. In any endeavor, there's going to be people who criticize you for it. In fact, one sign that you've begun to enjoy success is the hate mail you get or the angry comments that get posted to your blog. It comes with the territory. If you can't handle it, maybe you should re-evaluate your business model.

If, as a successful person, you do choose to respond to detractors, it is with class, dignity, and the power of what you bring to the table speaking for you. Contrast that attitude with the whining, name calling, and sundry logical fallacies employed by the MLM dupes that clog the comments section of Ms. Coenan's blog with inane arguments. She obviously has far more patience than I do, to humor them so.

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Wal-mart To Tackle Custom Installs: Hilarity Ensues!

CE Pro: Wal-Mart Teams with Dell on PC and CE Installs

Wal-Mart aims to take a piece of your business when it opens "Solution Stations by Dell" in 15 Dallas-area stores.The initiative (hinted at recently)is part of an effort by Dell to "further enhance a great customer experience," as the PC manufacturer said in an April press release.Wal-Mart will offer both in-store and in-home services to support not just Dell products but those from other PC and CE vendors. Among the services offered, according to Dell: "home television installation, home theater set-up, technology integration, and other services that can help customers build out their digital lifestyle infrastructure."

No disrespect intended to my friends at Dell, but I am keen to see how Wal-mart, who can't even maintain good looking store displays intends to tackle in-home AV and PC network installs.

Don't get me wrong, Wal-mart as a retailer has many strengths, but I just don't see this program playing to any of them.

From a competitive standpoint, for dealers who offer upscale services, Wal-mart’s entrance will affect them not at all.

For dealers who are willing to get paid by the hour to fix other companies’ screw ups it will be a bonanza.

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Quote Of The Day

"This is one of those regulatory questions that is actually quite straightforward: How can you short if you don't own the shares?"

-- The Deal.com's Robert Teitelman

From The Deal.com, hat tip to Dealbreaker.com

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MLM Sics Lawyer On Bloggers

Forensic accountant and fraud busting blogger Tracy Coenen has fired a return salvo in a brewing dispute with the attorney for MLM company Shop To Earn.

Fraud Files Blog: Shop To Earn lawyer bullying bloggers

It’s clear what ShopToEarn is trying to do: They are trying to silence critics of their multi-level marketing program. A couple of weeks ago, Gerald Nehra sent a similar letter to another blogger who wrote about his opinion of this MLM. It seems as if they’re trying to use scare tactics to stop people from writing about their opinions of companies.

But a clear message was sent in the case of Usana Health Sciences versus Barry Minkow and the Fraud Discovery Institute. People are allowed to analyze and critique companies, their business plans, and their programs. The key is in being clear about what is fact and what is opinion. Facts should be true and verifiable, and opinions should be clearly defined as such.

ShopToEarn isn’t going to bully me into not talking about their program. We have the right of free speech in America, which means I’m permitted to give my opinion about Shop To Earn, even if that opinion is negative. I’m allowed to discuss the company and its pay plan. I’m allowed to say that I think it’s not a program people should get into.

I don't pay a lot of attention to the MLM thing, since I've got other interests, but the one thing I've noticed about the interactions of MLM supporters with bloggers is the absolute inability of the followers to ignore criticism. If (or more like when) a personal finance blogger makes a negative comment about an MLM company, legions of dupes descend on the comments section, posting a cornucopia of logical fallacies: syllogisms, ad hoc arguments, and specious appeals to authority. Maybe I'm just being mean, but if these people actually had a business to run, and were busy making money, they wouldn't have the time to sit on the Internet all day like metaphorical poo-flinging chimpanzees.

All of which might seem to be beside the point to this particular story, where a new MLM on the block has lawyered up and threatened bloggers with dire legal consequences for stating their opinion. However, the principal remains: if your company actually has value to offer, you can point to it in response to your critics. On the other hand, if all you have is a house of cards, and you fear the slightest breeze might knock it down, the temptation to start throwing legal threats around to silence critics is overwhelming.

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This Week In Marketnews: Another Tale Of Install Woe

Custom Corner: When Installations Attack IV

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Blockbuster Abandons Circuit City Deal

So much for the entertainment fodder that the notion of beleaguered video rental retailer Blockbuster saving beleaguered CE retailer Circuit City provided all of us.

Bloomberg: Blockbuster Abandons Circuit City Bid After Review

-- Blockbuster Inc., the world's largest movie-rental chain, walked away from an offer of as much as $1.35 billion for money-losing electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. after taking a closer look at its finances.
``Based on market conditions and the completion of our initial due diligence process, we have determined that it is not in the best interest of Blockbuster's shareholders to proceed with an acquisition of Circuit City,'' Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and chief executive officer, said today in a statement.

Translation: "Circuit City needs a major overhaul from someone with deep pockets and a keen vision to become a competitive retailer, and that someone is definitely not us. Hell, we can barely look after ourselves!"

To be a little less sarcastic, perhaps their strategic advisers persuaded them that even if they could secure the financing (which, frankly, I doubt they could) the whole notion of tying two turkeys together to create an eagle, while a colorful metaphor, wasn't really all that good of an idea.

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Wii Fit & Homemade Softcore Porn: Law Of Unintended Consequences In Action

Just like how the Japanese engineers who pioneered the camcorder in the 80's couldn't have foreseen the explosion in home-made amateur sex tapes, so too do I expect that Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto never anticipated that Wii Fit, specifically the hula hoop game, would spawn a sudden boom in titillating videos.







I anticipate a correlated rise in domestic disturbance calls to the police once various wives and girlfriends find out that their skeevy partner has uploaded videos of them shaking their thang to YouTube.

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CTV, CBC, and the "Hockey Night In Canada" Theme: Great Moments In Blowing It

Marketnews editor Christine Persaud did a great blog post last week about the legal wrangling between the CBC, and Dolores Claman, creator and rights holder of the iconic theme song for "Hockey Night In Canada."

MarketnewsGadgetTalk: Copyrights Might Kill Our Hockey Song

The CBC has decided not to renew its contract with the composer of the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. All across Canada, hockey fans are bowing their heads and pumping their fists in anger. To many, it's almost like saying that the country is going to replace its National Anthem. So why the reason behind the decision?Many reports state that the network has simply decided to "move in a new direction".
But others have dug up information about a lawsuit the composer filed against CBC based on the unauthorized use of the tune beyond the scope of the original license agreement. Reportedly, CBC has license to use the song, composed by Dolores Claman in 1968 and used in partnership with the sport since then, in all Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts in Canada. So when the network decided to use it in the UK, and in "various other productions", Claman cried violation.

As if that wasn't trouble enough, the plot thickened when it was announced today that rival network CTV has scooped the rights to use the "Hockey Night In Canada" theme.

CTV buys rights to former 'Hockey Night in Canada' theme song

The saga of CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" theme song took a surprising turn Monday as rival network CTV announced it has acquired the rights to the iconic tune.
CTV said it will use the song on NHL broadcasts on TSN, RDS and during the broadcaster's coverage of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

It's not every day that you see bungling of this caliber. I would equate CBC's failure to retain the rights to "Hockey Night In Canada" with how Coca Cola allowed Pepsi to clobber them in the 1980's: It should never have happened, but they blinked, and a nimble competitor speed-bagged them. More power to CTV for recognizing a golden opportunity for what it was.

On the bright side, CBC execs might be able to secure the rights to Canada's second-most iconic song about hockey:

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Quote Of The Day

"Unfortunately a lot of economic data is backward looking.''

- Yogi Berra Thomas J. Lee, chief U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan.

from Bloomberg, hat tip to Dealbreaker.com

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ESPN "Ultimate" Remote Control: Great Moments In Stupid Cross-Branding

I was going to take a pass on the foofrah surrounding the release of the ESPN branded "Ultimate" remote control, simply because it's just so preposterous, I figured that if I ignored it, it would go away on its own.*

CE Pro: ESPN Ultimate Remote Offers Wi-Fi
Gives users one-touch access to Web-based content, a weather widget, e-mail, text messaging and more.

Wi-Fi, but not Bluetooth = Fail.

The company that OEM'ed this abomination shall remain nameless, because not only should they be ashamed of themselves, but because normally they do good work.

But don't take it from me, listen to what a savvy potential end-user has to say:

1-2 Knockout Presents the "If at First You Don't Succeed..." Award: ESPN Ultimate Remote

This device does not incorporate any cutting-edge technology, nor does it perform significantly better than existing offerings to compell consumers to make the switch from competing products or combinations thereof. What is the competitive advantage besides the ESPN branding? Great, you can "surf" the interwebs on your universal remote, whoohoo! Because I couldn't switch to ESPN News (or any other ESPN channel), get the scores on my laptop (which is on my lap), cellphone, etc, etc. At best, the Ultimate Remote is a jack of all trades, master of none, and is a stunning example of a product that should have never been made in the first place. I'm calling my shot right now, the Ultimate Remote will meet with the same fate as ESPN Mobile, and, may very well get pulled from the market in even less time (>1year) than its older brethren.

Enough said. Nothing to see here, move along.

*It probably will anyway, so no harm, no foul.

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XM/Sirius Merger Still Lurching Along: Does It Even Matter Anymore?

As the proposed merger between Sirius and XM grinds its way through the wheels of government, one has to wonder if it's really worth it. 24/7 Wall St.'s permabear Douglas McIntyre thinks not.

Tearing The Guts Out Of The Sirius (SIRI) Merger With XM Satellite (XMSR)

Over the year-and-a-half that the merger has been pending, the two companies have gone from being in bad financial share to being in a dire set of circumstance. Each company has well in excess of $1 billion in debt. Neither has ever made a dime and their losses last quarter were not encouraging.
Satellite radio has lost much of its appeal for consumers. The slowing subscription growth rates at the two companies show that. HD radio and the Apple (AAPL) iPod, which can be plugged into a car sound system, have taken away much of the uniqueness of getting music, Howard Stern, and Oprah off the big bird in the sky
The merger may go through. It may be killed. Either way, satellite radio has a dim and perilous future.

I'm in favor of seeing the putative merger die, if only because a united XM/Sirius would pose a humongous hassle for AV hardware manufacturers.

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Sony Strives To Be Market Leader In Alienating Consumers

Well, the Australian ones, anyway.

Sydney Morning Herald: Sony customers still waiting for free PS3s

Sony Bravia LCD TV buyers have been waiting for up to four months for the company to make good on its promise to give them a free PlayStation 3 games console.
...
Between December 21 last year and January 28, Sony promised that anyone who bought a Bravia high-definition LCD TV set would receive a bonus PS3, as long as they had their receipt and could cite the TV's serial number.

Vendors love rebate offers because less than 15% of consumers send in their rebate form, and consumers hate rebates because of the hoop jumping, delays, and often impenetrable fine print involved in claiming them.

But people are apt to get a lot more militant about a Playstation3 that never arrives than a $10 cheque for buying a thumb drive.

Here's a hint: logistics people need to sit down with the marketing people, go over their forecasts, and then earmark an appropriate number of units into allocation just for the freebie offer. Maybe Sony Australia did all that, and still came up short, but they're not talking.

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The Brick and MonsterCable Taking Add-On Merchandising Too Far

Don't get me wrong, as a retail business analyst, I understand the importance of add-on selling and value-added merchandising to growing both top-line sales and bottom-line profits for CE retailers. But it is possible to take things too far.

Exhibit A: This week, national retailer The Brick is offering a FREE $89.97 Samsung DVD player when you buy a $149 Monster HDMI Cable. This is exactly why I read the weekly flyers as the come out, to stay on top of what the major players are up to.

this week's ROP from The Brick

There are lots of ancilliary reasons to run a promotion beyond the obvious one of getting people to buy stuff: focusing on overstock, special push ("spif") incentives from the vendor, or just plain tactical offerings designed to piss off competing retailers. Regardless, offering the hardware "free" if you buy an accessory that's half-again the retail price of the original device wanders dangerously close to the Theatre of the Absurd. For starters, it confirms in savy customer's minds that you're more interested in the value-add than the sale. How about a FREE TV when you buy the extended warranty?

Also, what about the fact that the point of add-on sales is to build your margin, above and beyond what your hardware sales deliver? CE hardware margins are tough, we all know that. That's why retailers have to accessorize. But by scratching off the hardware margins to zero, and replacing them with straight accessory margins isn't growth, it's just shuffling the deck. Ask category managers from HBC and Sears how their margins on electronics are during their periodic "save double the GST" offers, plus the extra 10% off for signing up for their credit card. Hint: they're not good.

As you can imagine, I'm not a big fan of taking the "buying business at the expense of margin" strategy too far.

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Meatwater: Product Of The Year Or Hoax?

I've been up and down this new website, and the jury is still out on whether or not it's for real.

New beverage or PETA performance art? I have no idea.

Dinner In A Bottle

MeatWater
The High Efficiency Survival Beverage
The product comes in a variety of colors and flavors to satisfy any palate. And whether you seek simple nutrition or serious energy enhancement, MeatWater delivers!

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Financier Mukesh Ambani's $1billion new home...

Clearly, his architect plays a lot of Jenga.

Read more about it here, if you're curious.

I wish that I could remember who was it who said "Doctors can bury their mistakes, but architects have to look at them forever."

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Sony Dips Its Toes Into Home Automation, Again

CE Pro: Sony, Control4 to Release Multiroom Entertainment/Control Solution

Sony is about to roll out a “pre-configured” and “pre-wired” 12-zone home entertainment and control rack system that includes home control via a Control4 HC-500 and comes in a pre-built Middle Atlantic AXS rack.
The system will be available this spring with a fully-installed price that will vary based on the selection of components, according to Sony, adding that typical installations will range from $40,000 to $85,000.

You know what this is? It's an HCiB: Home Control in a Box!*

Given it's All-In-Wonder specifications, I would guess that it's targeting at young integration companies that need something that doesn't take too much design work. While it's laudable to have solutions up your sleeve that look custom but are actually cookie-cutter, I can't help but think that Sony is counting on a large enough base of dealers who are too young to know how past dalliances between Sony and integration dealers have played out in the past. I'll give you a hint: visualize a back with knives sticking out of it.

*you heard that here first.

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Sony Still Clinging To The 20th Century

The thing in the photo above isn't the stunt double for the Monolith in 2001: A Space Oddessy. It's Sony's new entertainment hub, the HES-V1000 .

Intended to be the centerpiece of the connected home, it features audio distribution, a 500-gig hard drive, and a 200-disc Blu-ray carousel changer.

What!?

Not to be negative, but I still have flashbacks to the hideous service issues that haunted Sony's 200 and 400-disc CD jukeboxes back in the 1990's, not to mention the later 200 disc DVD players.

So here we are in 2008, and Sony's built a carousel into a putative home media center. There's a technical term for this in our business. It's called "Are you fucking kidding me?"

If any of you is considering this beast, please also consider the extended warranty. That's all I'm saying.

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