tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59180552024-02-28T12:57:02.775-08:00Shiraz J. Cupalashirazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06686117004978429621noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918055.post-24019360889057768372012-10-01T21:23:00.000-07:002012-10-09T10:35:56.989-07:00Forget blogging. I get to create cool stuff...I finally realized that while working on least 8 projects at a time, I have no time to blog. I simply love solving problems and building things. Follow the links to my current projects to find out about all the cool stuff I get to work on.<br />
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Cheers, Shirazshirazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06686117004978429621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918055.post-27217707686962285462012-06-08T11:00:00.000-07:002019-06-11T16:17:04.302-07:00Xbox SmartGlass ReleasedWhat if your tablet or phone knew what you were watching on TV and presented bonus features without you having to lift a finger? What if you could use your tablet to draw up a play in EA SPORTS’ “Madden NFL” and then perform it to perfection on your TV? What if you could control your favorite websites on the TV with a simple swipe, pinch or zoom on your tablet’s touchscreen? The Xbox SmartGlass platform enables these experiences on the devices you already own.<br />
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<ul>
<li>"Xbox throws down gauntlet to Apple TV (and Wii U) at E3. Apple's going to have to play a little catch-up." — <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-21539_7-57446669-10391702/xbox-throws-down-gauntlet-to-apple-tv-and-wii-u-at-e3/">c|net</a></li>
<li>"Xbox SmartGlass is really committed to mastering the multiscreen experience. They took Nintendo’s thunder and put
it in a burlap sack and then beat it with a crowbar." — <a href="http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/724622/microsofts-xbox-smartglass-news-from-e3-2012/">Kevin Pereira, G4TV</a></li>
<li>"What could have been just an Apple AirPlay imitation, is something more ambitious. Something that could change
television forever." — <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5915553/what-is-xbox-smartglass">Casey Chan, Gizmodo</a></li>
<li>"Look out Nintendo, Microsoft has an answer for the next-generation Wii U console, and it’s called ‘SmartGlass.’" — <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/06/04/microsoft-unveils-smartglass-to-connect-xbox-and-windows/">IanSherr, The Wall Street Journal</a></li>
<li>"This is one of the coolest pieces of technology at E3." — <a href="http://www.tecca.com/columns/smartglass-xbox-360/">Ashley Esqueda, Yahoo!</a></li>
<li>"And the sheer ubiquity of SmartGlass — that it works for almost any secondary screen you already have and feel
comfortable with — is a surprisingly smart move for Microsoft." — <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/7/3069364/xbox-360-ie9-smartglass-video-preview-e3">Ross Miller, The Verge</a></li>
<li>"Though SmartGlass isn’t a commercially available product (look for it to hit the app stores sometime after this
summer), it’s already being hailed as a possible technology to help save Windows Phone." — <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/siliconangle/2012/06/08/whos-behind-the-resurgence-of-windows-phone/">Kristen Nicole & JohnFurrier, Forbes</a></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/smartglass">Xbox SmartGlass Official Site</a></span>shirazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06686117004978429621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918055.post-1097685707566598092004-10-13T09:25:00.000-07:002010-01-10T21:06:22.169-08:00Book Pre-Review: Marketing Playbook, John Zagula & Rich TongFirst in the interest of full disclosure I must mention that I worked for John who worked for Rich at Microsoft during the time when they started assembling the concepts for <em>The Marketing Playbook</em>. And, yes I think they're great guys. More importantly, they are brilliant marketers. They are a big reason why Microsoft was successful in many markets and this book explains their unique technique for winning in competitive marketing.<br /><br />This is just a pre-review since I've only read the inital chapters Zag-man sent me as a sneak preview. But from what I've read the book is going to be a must read. They clearly describe their system for marketing through countless examples not just from Microsoft or technology but from dozens of industries. The examples alone put into this context are worth the read.<br /><br />The language is plain and easy to read, and even though a bit of jargon sneaks in at times, it has no trace of the pedantic puffery of so many such books. The book is funny at times, but deadly serious about how to develop a winning strategy for beating the competition.<br /><br />Until I read the rest of the book I won't say more, but I encourage anyone managing a business through competitive battle to read this book.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marketingplaybook.com/" target="_blank">http://www.marketingplaybook.com/</a><br /><br />P.S. Since there is so much conflict of interest in this "review" I'm leaving this post open to comments.shirazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06686117004978429621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918055.post-1087063743225558552004-06-12T10:39:00.000-07:002009-12-24T12:19:40.203-08:00First Reluctant Post - Rant on Usefulness and UsabilityI have resisted BLOGing for a long time for the same reason I resist many such phenomena: they're trendy and popular. Of course, I also tend not to participate in underground fads as I'm skeptical of their longevity. So where does that leave me? <br /><br />In many things, I am a practical pioneer. I like to be on the leading and even bleeding edge, but do so in a way that's sensitive to the realities of life. So any new phenomenon or technology must follow some simple rules.<br /><br /><strong>Affordable:</strong><br />Not everyone has tons of money to spend on fancy gadgets. New products have to hit a pricing sweet spot of affordability given the benefit before I'm willing recommend them. Just one example is Tablet PCs (convertible models). Awesome tool. Not generally recommendable until they're available for around $1000 or less (coming soon fortunately) and 4lbs or less (I'm being generous on the weight possibly against my better judgment).<br /><br /><strong>Simple:</strong><br />This touches on both ease of use and the fact that complicated designs usually mean more things to break. My typical example is the classic ice-cream scoop with the lever and gears that swoop a thin strip along the inside edge of the bowl to release the ice cream. The gearing makes the lever hard to press (little mechanical advantage provided). The ice cream doesn't doesn't consistently pop out as it just re-adheres to the bowl right after the strip passes. How many presses of the lever does it take you to get the ice cream to pop out? And lastly that strip gets disengaged from mechanism breaking the functionality. On my quest for perfection I finally found an OXO model that has a simple recessed lever for popping out the ice cream. Not yet perfect but much closer. Of course even OXO (which I love for many things) have their version of classic model, probably because of the lemming factor.<br /><br /><strong>Usable in Real Situations:</strong><br />If something is hard to figure out or use then people won't or can't use it in real life situations. Many car stereos have started using a knob for forward/back type control. The knob doesn't turn all the way around. A twisting motion for a momentary type action is difficult and not intuitive. Furthermore, these are used for functions like tuning which would be far easier if a true rotary control allowed for fast movement. These functions should be buttons or allow for true rotary, continuous increment as expected and usable. Even worse is the buttons for volume control. Cheap and completely painful to use.<br /><br /><strong>Truly Useful:</strong><br />Many new models of aftermarket car stereos have these cool little Organic Light Emitting Diode displays (OLED) which are bright and detailed. They're about 2.5cm by 10cm in size. Man the useful information you could put in there. However, all of them currently plaster little pictures and even video clips behind the functional information. Plus they don't use all the resolution to display complete information. For example, these stereos can play MP3 CDs. Great, if they provided a multi-line browse view of the contents. The room is there, but alas they fill it with useless eye-candy. This renders these displays hard to read and incomplete. What a waste!<br /><br /><strong>Fun:</strong><br />If something is a pain to use it's certainly not going to be fun. But, to be it also needs to be interesting, energizing, involving for it to last in any way. This topic needs much further discussion for another time.<br /><br />That's all for now.<br />Shirazshirazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06686117004978429621noreply@blogger.com