Soundhound is AMAZING! Ultimate Expression of Mobility

As we live our mobile lives, work, play, home life appear to intertwine themselves ever more. I notice myself wanting to reach different information at the whim of the moment, and my iPhone always seems to be ready to serve.

Today's AHA experience was with SoundHound, an app on my iPhone. I was shopping at Trade Joe's (more on that on a separate post) where I heard a song being played in the store. It was one of those tunes that I had listened to on the radio countless times but had not been able to catch the name. It also seemed from a long time ago that it just was not being played on the radio often anymore.

There was a lot of chatter, with Moms shouting at kids, grand mothers chosing picking cans etc. I simply pointed my IPhone to the ceiling speaker and activated Soundhound. Within 6-7 second, I had the name.

I pressed the Download from ITunes logo. Within 20 seconds, connected over the free ATT Wi-Fi from Starbucks near the parking lot, I had my song for a mere $1.29.

This is the ultimate expression of MOBILITY. Not just the fact that I am mobile, but that I did something on the spot, that would have been a considered magic just a few years ago.


In case you are curious of what song deserved so much commotion, it is Voices Carry by 'Til Tuesday

Is Blackberry on the rim?

I was a huge fan of Blackberry devices in the mid 2000's. I had the Pearl- which had a great google maps application that provided excellent directions practically anywhere in the world. The e-mail worked well, and the calendar was usable to conduct business efficienctly while out of the office.

Now, I have all of that and a lot more on my iPhone. I somewhat miss the tactile keyboard since my rate of typing is certainly slower. But I still would not give up the Yelp app, the Amazon App, Evernote, and my huge library of music and podcasts.

Today's Wall Street Journal chronicled the struggle of RIM executives on deciding what their device stood for- business or consumer. This lack of clarity, and a high risk OS transition, appear to be the underlying causes of RIM's malaise.

I think that the solo focus device game is over. Our lives are driven by a seamless mobility experience that assumes an interplay of work and play. Neither can be missing from the services that follow us everywhere we go. There will always be a hard-core group of business only users. However, they are enticed by the infinite choice of apps that Apple and Android offer.

What do you think RIM's chances are for survival in the long term?

Roasted Apple? Amazon's new move

I read Amazon's release of Kindle Fire with delight. While the details of the product are still emerging, Amazon again pulled off a cleaver feat, building upon their strengths in content and cloud, while still delivering a disruptive price that will certainly appeal to the next rung of masses who probably found the iPad a tad pricy for their disposable income.

Amazon's move re-orders the players in the space. My September 2011 tablet ecosystem ranking is:

1. Apple iPad- still the gold standard. Lots of apps, but now the new premium
2. Amazon Kindle Fire- While still not in peoples hands, a very compelling story that will certainly capture the amazon customer base
3. Androids- Samsung, HTC and the rest. Great hardware but a very fragmented market, with no unified app story. Googles acquisition of Motorola, and Samsung's decision to pay royalties to Microsoft on Android certainly have chainged the two foundational premises of the Android story: (1) its free, (2) All are equal in Google's eyes- which was really not true but was close enough...

4. RIM- How long will they last?
5. HP- WebOS- back from the dead at $99 per tablet?

Let me know if you agree?

Harnessing the Power of Linkedin?

Are you effectively using Linkedin? Some folks use it to simply provide a chronological timeline of their work history. Others give every detail. Generally, exec recruiter friends suggest having all of the relevant items that show your value and impact, but certainly more than just job listings. If you are not receiving networking pings, trying making a change and see what happens! Happy Linking!

Shaw and Cisco to Establish Extensive Wi-Fi Network in Western Canada

As the iPhone and Android Smart Phones immerse themselves into our daily lives, the economics of delivering mobile data is also changing.

Here's an announcement from Cisco on the deployment of a large Wi-Fi network being deployed to support this movement:
Shaw and Cisco to Establish Extensive Wi-Fi Network in Western Canada

Offshoring and the American Dream

Just read the article in Sept 27, 2011- Wall Street Journal on the impact of moving manufacturing offshore ("Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China Trade") . Key point is the awakening around the direct loss of manufacturing jobs and the indirect loss of other service jobs in the same community, all tied to migration of migration to China. In a perfect world, these same folks would be doing something else, working on the next best job. In reality, the next best job (software development? finance?) is also moving offshore.

What does a middle class, well educated American do? Is this going to eventually cause a social uprising? Chime in!