Tim Elliott

Apr 18

What if Best Buy only carried the best products? -

An article from last week I only got around to reading today but has an interesting idea: what if Best Buy curated their inventory to only carry the best values in each product area instead of dozens of choices? They certainly have the domain expertise to choose the very best products but I’m sure nearly all their partners would not like this idea. But if Best Buy transformed their brand to be about the customer actually getting the best value for their money and avoid the ‘paradox of choice’ they could turn their business around fairly quickly. 

Mar 22

Slides from my Wordpress security talk

This evening I spoke about securing Wordpress at the MSP Wordpress meeting. Below are my slides which should be pretty clear for most to follow.

Wordpress Security

Mar 09

Apps Are iPad's Sustainable Advantage -

Until Android or Windows tablets match the range and quality of iPad’s app ecosystem they will continue to be a very small niche. Right now I don’t think this is possible unless Apple stumbles for a year or two.

Mar 07

Why My Next Laptop Might Be An iPad

Apple did something interesting today with the announcement of their new iPad that shows they have no problems cannibalizing their own laptop business. Instead of taking on lower priced tablets, as I speculated last week, Apple ended up making the iPad even more of a productivity device. Outside of a significant increase in screen resolution and optional LTE mobile networking the new iPad is very similar specced to last year’s iPad 2. But that increase in screen resolution gives a much larger canvas for developers to use to make apps to get things done while on the road. Apple’s iLife and iWork apps show the way here but I think there will be a renaissance in iPad productivity apps this year.

My daily driver for the past 4 years has been a 15 inch MacBook Pro. Almost all the time it is connected to a large monitor, keyboard and mouse. I’ve been waiting for a 15 inch MacBook Air to replace it but might just end up buying a Mac mini and the new iPad for less money. On the rare occurrence I need a desktop app while traveling I can always VNC into my office desktop or use something like OnLive. But when I travel 90% of what I do is email and web browsing, tasks that the iPad excels at already. So I’m thinking my 2008 MacBook Pro might be the last laptop I ever buy. And I’m OK with that.

It also doesn’t look like Apple has any plans to take on $200 Android tablets. But they are certainly taking aim at $600 Windows laptops.

Mar 01

How Apple Can Disrupt The Tablet Market

I have long espoused that there is no tablet market, just an iPad market. But with the introduction of the Kindle Fire and to a lesser degree Nook Tablet there is a competitive threat to be dealt with. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble were smart to not take on Apple straight up as Samsung and others have done, and failed, with Android tablets. No, they developed highly customized user experiences centered around reading and content consumption and carved out a foot hold with price. And like what Android did with smartphones over time, you can extrapolate the same course might be taken in the tablet space with incremental improvements and “good enough” solutions at prices half or less Apple charges for the iPad.

So it will be interesting to see what Apple does next week when they announce the iPad 3. Rumor has it they will keep the iPad 2 on the market as an entry level device and might even field an 8 GB model. That would be most interesting but to fully disrupt the nascent tablet market they would have to hit the $299 price point. Since refurb original iPads sell for that today it would be conceivable that the 8 GB iPad 2 could retail as low as $299. If that’s the case, game over even for the Kindle Fire.

There is also a ridiculous rumor Apple will announce a 7.85 inch iPad before the holiday season at $199 to compete head to head with the Kindle Fire. This is just not how Apple rolls, especially since they are sure to introduce a new resolution for developers to deal with, so I still think it is more likely to see a 4 inch iPod Touch at the end of the year based upon the iPhone 5. This would retail in the $199 price point but would not run iPad apps. I think Apple could command at least $100 over competitors especially if they are delivering a larger and more capable device.

We’ll see what happens next week but this will fully play out over the next 6 months.

Dec 26

My Top 5 Roku Private Channels

Like a lot of people, yesterday I received a Roku 2 XD as a gift. This is my second Roku after picking up the first generation SD device last year on eBay. Roku is like Apple TV on steroids with over 350 channels of content in their Channel Store. Most of these are free with a few pay services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and EPIX also available. But there are gaps in the channels, particularly if you are not subscribed to cable, such as sports and live news. And while there are some of these services available in the Roku vetted Channel Store right on the device, private channels opens up an entire world of new choices.

Adding a Roku private channel is easy, you just need to know the developers code for the channel and have a Roku account which you create when you connect your player. Just log into your Roku account online and click on the “My Account” link on the top right and then “Add a Private Channel” that is half way down the page (or just log into your Roku account and click on the code links below). The best directory of all the Roku Private Channels is on the StreamFREE.tv site but you will find them elsewhere if you do a Google search. 

The following list are my top 5 Roku Private Channels after testing out about 20 over the past year. All of these are used here at least weekly and really extend the value of the Roku device.

5) CNN - You will find another CNN private channel (code: CNNI) but I prefer this one as it includes CNN podcast clips along with the CNN International live stream. This is a reverse engineered stream from their iPad app so the picture quality is not the best and the audio is also over modulated compared to the other live news streams. But if you want to get live CNN coverage on your Roku, this is the channel to get. The code to enter is “RBFA1”. Then open the Channel Store on your Roku and find the channel in the list to install the first time.

4) Al Jazeera English - This Middle Eastern news channel broadcasts some of the best news coverage that is more objective than most other news channels. This stream is slightly pixelated on a large screen but the sound is very good making this one of my most watched news channels. Just enter code “ALJZ” to add and then open your Channel Store on Roku to install.

3) iTunes Podcasts - This might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I listen and watch a lot of podcasts so use this app often. It aggregates the best of the iTunes Podcast library and streams them to your Roku. The video podcasts look great on the large screen as most of them are in HD. Enter code “ITPC” to add and then open your Channel Store on Roku to install.

2) BBC - This is the news channel we turn to most often for world news. Like Al Jazeera the video might be a bit soft but the sound is good. Enter code “BBCN” to add and then open your Channel Store on Roku to install.

1) Nowhere TV - This is the mother of all private channels collecting live streams and podcasts in a curated grid. If you install just one channel from this list this one is it as it includes BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera from above along with many of the podcasts found in the iTunes Podcasts channel. I find the navigation to be a bit of an issue if I just want to get some news streaming so have the dedicated channels above for convenience. But I often dive into Nowhere TV to channel surf for gems I might have missed elsewhere. Enter code “H9DWC” to add and then open your Channel Store on Roku to install.

Nov 29

[video]

Nov 25

“What the professor has determined with a complex computer algorithm for consumer electronics, others have found through less scientifically rigorous means for other products, including clothing and toys: despite all the ads that suggest otherwise, the lowest prices tend to come at other times of the year.” — Forecasting the Best Deals (via New York Times)

Nov 22

Steve Jobs talks PC vs. TV -

Not even Steve Jobs could get everything right. Or did he?

via Observatory

Nov 21

Google 's secret weapon against Twitter and Facebook -

So Google+ is the new MySpace?