via Lifehacker by Adam Dachis on 9/30/10
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Best Photography Apps for Your iPhone [IPhone]
The Best Photography Apps for Your iPhone [IPhone]
via Lifehacker by Adam Dachis on 9/30/10
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Most Useful Web Design Cheat Sheets
Friday, September 24, 2010
Will All Brick & Mortar Media Sink Like Blockbuster?
via GigaOM by Michael Wolf on 9/23/10
Today’s news that Blockbuster is filing for bankruptcy should surprise no one, both because its financial problems have been common knowledge for a while, and because Blockbuster has been digitally inept for years in what is clearly a digital era.
Its digital stumbles are legend at this point: From the seeming lack of concern among management to too little, too late efforts to go into digital despite a nimble and fast growing competitor in Netflix, there’s no doubt the company, which at one time had a commanding market share and a huge lead in both time and resources, seemed to never get out of digital first-gear despite a long history of false-starts.
But are Blockbuster’s troubles a sign that all large brick and mortar retailers of content — be it music, movies and yes, even books — are eventually doomed? If you look back, signs point to yes. In fact, the death spirals of brick and mortar content retailers have come in waves. First there was music, when Tower Records, which in the ’80s and ’90s had established itself as the leading U.S. music store, shut its doors. Three years later, Virgin Megastores — the biggest music retailer after Tower had left the scene – closed up shop.
The next wave was video, and in 2010, it seems that having actual physical stores felled businesses hard and fast. First there was Movie Gallery, and now the king of movie rentals is going broke.
Is it just digital? In part, yes, but one certainly can’t discount, well, the discounters. The continued growth of the three-headed monster of Wal-mart, Target and Costco no doubt played a factor, but I’d argue the transition to digital amplified the competitive threat from the discounters. As digital becomes more important, discounters can make music, video and content a bigger loss-leader by adjusting prices as needed, since the bulk of their sales come from clothing, food and pretty much anything else.
If deadly combo of discounters and digital put the big guns of the brick and mortar, music and video retailers into Chapter 11, are all physical media retailers, such as booksellers, next? Maybe, but it’s not exactly a guarantee. The trouble for brick and mortar media retail is determined both by how fast the transition to digital takes, and how proactive the retailer is in establishing a digital beachhead.
Blockbuster fumbled and fumbled, and ultimately, it was too far behind, as the adoption of video-on-demand and Netflix proved to happen too fast. Barnes & Noble appears to be trying to forge a digital strategy much faster (and more cohesively) than Blockbuster did, and while e-reader sales have hit the hockey stick in a big way, some would argue print books aren’t going the way of the dodo bird nearly as fast as the physical media did in video.
Still, I expect Barnes & Noble to see significant challenges in coming years, particularly since Amazon will likely dominate e-book sales, at least in the near term. As with Blockbuster, the combination of a nimble digital rival and costly brick and mortar real-estate weighing down the actual product ties a retailer down. And we all know that what happens when you when you tie a brick to something: it sinks.
Related GigaOM Pro Content (sub req’d):
Evolution of Over-The-Top Video
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Were You Born To Be An Entrepreneur?
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Were You Born To Be An Entrepreneur?
Becoming an entrepreneur was not a choice. There was always something nagging at me, pushing me to do my own thing. Even when I worked in the corporate world, I always felt like I was just learning the ropes, understanding the system, and building my skill set so that one day I could ultimately start my own business.After spending the last few years on this exciting entrepreneurial journey, I realize that there are specific attributes that entrepreneurs share. We are united by certain quirks
Raghu Tandra
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Oracle Growth Plans Worry Rivals and Customers
via NYT > Technology by By ASHLEE VANCE on 9/21/10
A string of acquisitions peaking with the purchase of Sun Microsystems puts Oracle in a position to control more of businesses’ technology purchases. 
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
10 Free Wireframing Tools for Designers
Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger, Only $11 at Amazon [Dealhacker]
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Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger, Only $11 at Amazon [Dealhacker]
For creating charging stations in any room, or getting in on the last plug in the coffee shop through sharing, it's hard to beat Belkin's small surge protector and USB charger. Right now it's just $11 at Amazon (technically listed at $25 through Belkin), and totally worth the price. We've previously featured it as stuff we like, it made an appearance in Adam's laptop bag show-and-tell, and I'm now too a proud owner. It's a little bigger than you might think, but worth the space to leave your cellphone chargers at home and never have to play musical plugs again. Plus, it now seems to come with a mini-USB cord included—always a nice bonus. [Amazon] More »
Raghu Tandra
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Insync Keeps Your Files and Google Docs Synced and Backed Up [Downloads]
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Insync Keeps Your Files and Google Docs Synced and Backed Up [Downloads]
Windows and Mac OS X: Insync is a new syncing and backup service similar to Dropbox (a Lifehacker favorite), but comes with a bunch of great additional features, like syncing your Google Docs and Gmail contacts. More »
Raghu Tandra
Sent from Touch
Monday, September 13, 2010
Chattanooga becomes home to 1Gbps internet service, just $350 per month
via Engadget by Darren Murph on 9/13/10
Continue reading Chattanooga becomes home to 1Gbps internet service, just $350 per month
Chattanooga becomes home to 1Gbps internet service, just $350 per month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Chattanooga Gig | Email this | CommentsTuesday, September 07, 2010
How to Make an Inexpensive Wi-Fi Radio With an Asus Router and USB Sound Card [DIY]
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How to Make an Inexpensive Wi-Fi Radio With an Asus Router and USB Sound Card [DIY]
Want a Wi-Fi radio that can play just about any audio source and you can control from your smartphone? Video blogger Tinkernut details how to make one. More »
Raghu Tandra
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