NudgeCast 7/2/08

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Notebook advice and Amazon shipping.

Download the mp3 here.

Resupply Mission

So, my Actiontec Powerline networking adapter is still in California, the latest tracking scan puts in in Richmond, instead of San Fran. I've emailed Amazon thrice (that's three times for the youngsters), and even though there was no way this was going to arrive anywhere on time, they wouldn't do anything until three days had passed. As an aside, I'm kind of sick of computing on my 12" notebook, but I keep delaying moving my desktop downstairs to my cable modem.

Yesterday, the folks at Amazon finally agreed that it wasn't making it, and I've waited long enough. The postman came and went, and I emailed them to tell them that it obviously wasn't coming and pointed out that the USPS tracking put the goods on the wrong coast. I also asked of they could ship it a little faster. Finally they did agree to send out another one. They were also nice enough to upgrade me from "Super Saver Shipping" to "Standard Shipping."

This morn', I looked into the tracking again. The new box has left the same New Jersey facility. Unfortunately, it is still coming postal service; I've had better luck with UPS which can at least track packages more precisely. The new delivery estimate is for 7/2 to 7/7 which is not much faster than the "Super Saver Shipping." I'm just wondering what to do if both boxes show up somehow at this point?

We'll keep you posted how this all turns out.

Jonas

Where's My Stuff?

I've been waiting for my Actiontec Powerline networking gear for over a week now to get my network up again. It was supposed to arrive on Monday, but there's still no sign of it. So, I decide to check on it via the tracking system of the Amazon site.

I had previously seen that the item was in New Jersey on 6/17. As I'm in New York, I figured it should have been here soon thereafter. Nothing on the track for days, and now imagine my surprise that somehow my package ended up going to the wrong coast. That's right, my box is in California! I've provided an image of the tracking info with some things whited out:


All right, I can understand that sometimes not everything goes to plan. Errors do occur. However, if the item is overdue, and floating around California, when it should be in NY, Amazon should do something to make it right.

I emailed Amazon customer service yesterday, and today. All they could tell me on both occasions was that the item "may arrive soon," which is kind of impossible if it's on the other coast for no good reason. I'm told they can order me another one, but can't do so before the close of business on June 26th, even though I've got a better chance of the Dodgers coming back to the Empire State than I do my Actiontec gear in a timely fashion.

I had better luck with Amazon when their stuff used to ship UPS, and not postal service. I'll keep you posted when it doesn't arrive tomorrow. Have I mentioned my network is still dead and waiting for this? Maybe this is an argument to shop B&M!

Jonas

Seriously Super Saver Shipping

So I've ordered my new antenna from Amazon. It seems these days they're more aggressively trying to get you to upgrade the shipping option. I ordered it on 3/6. When I put the order through, it said that I would receive the item 3/18 to 3/25. As this still beats the digital transition date, I figured this was ok, and it saved me $7 over standard shipping, which is 3 to 5 days.

Today I checked on my order, and I've tracked the package to Pittsburgh, with an arrival date of 3/11. Even if it's a day late, this still is more like the 3 to 5 day shipping, so what are those folks paying extra for?

Is this an isolated event? I'm pretty sure not as when I ordered stuff in January, including a Zune 80, they again threatened to ship it almost two weeks later. I held tight, and the package arrived in less than a week from order.

I think in the end that there is little difference in the time that the package will be received from standard shipping, or super saver shipping. Maybe they should rename standard shipping to "sucker shipping?" Keep this in mind with your next order.

Jonas

On Amazon's Kindle

There have always been a few "Holy Grails" in consumer technology that seem around the corner, but never actually materialize. Things like 10 GHz processors, speech recognition that actually works, and, yes, you probably guessed, eBooks. The allure of a tablet that can hold a library is a strong one.

While there have been a few attempts through the years, none have ever really taken flight. The most useful surrogate is having a book as a PDF on a notebook computer, but this was hardly what anyone really envisioned when they thought about the eBook.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Amazon was releasing one, called the Kindle, and equally surprised to hear that technology pundit, Jeremy of Live Digitally, thought it was a lousy idea. After delving into this further, I think it's a great idea, and it's even better that it's from the online bookseller powerhouse. Apparently, at least a few folks bought one, and it sold out pretty quickly.

Going through the Kindle device, I can see that a lot of thought went into it. The use of eInk, to provide a crisp display that also has a long battery life is a key technology. I also like that it can download new content from the cellular EVDO network (they're dubbing it "Whispernet," but it's the Sprint network without the monthly fees), and not rely on hit-or-miss WiFi coverage (not all of us live at Starbucks).

Cost is the main issue in my mind at this juncture. While the $399 price tag is too high of an admission price, it apparently hasn't been for others as the unit has already sold out of the first run. The books can be downloaded for $9.99 which is a savings off of the $20-plus hard cover price that most of them go for, and no much above a soft cover price. Reportedly, you can download the first chapter for free to decide if the rest is worth the cost. There is also an option to read newspapers (the Wall Street Journal for $9.99/month sounds like a good deal), magazines (Time for $1.99 is ok), or even a blog (TechCrunch for 99 cents anyone?). For the frugal, you can also search the Wikipedia for free right from the device.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the offerings, although I think the real market could be with textbooks. For the college student, especially the way that books go out of date every other semester in some subjects, if they could download their books to this device at a discount, the four Franklin acquisition fee would be worth it over four years- not to mention to lighten the backpack considerably.

For me, there's around a dozen or so textbooks I use professionally at this point, and they take up an entire bookshelf. I would love to see a subscription model on the Kindle that I could get those books on this device, fully searchable, and always up to date when a new edition comes out. I'm not sure what that would be worth to me, but it would be a heck of a lot easier to move between work and home, not to mention anywhere else I might want to use it. In fact, the Kindle would be well suited to a variety of professional editions: Kindle Law, Kindle Pharmacy, Kindle Talmud could all be possibilities.

In summary, Amazon's Kindle is the first eBook that looks like it's gonna be a hit. While it may take a generation or two before it takes off into the land of mass adoption, with the marketing power of Amazon and crew behind it, I think that the Kindle is here to stay.

--Jonas

More info here.

Unbox, You've Done Me Wrong

I've heard about Amazon's Unbox video service. The idea is that they want to compete with iTunes by letting users buy and rent content to watch with their software player. While I'll occasionally watch a missed episode on the computer, I'm not a big fan of watching content on the computer, and I'd rather watch it on my TV. However, last week I was enticed to download an advance episode of NBC's upcoming show, "The Bionic Woman," and I decided to get the jump on the Fall Season.

So, I headed over to Amazon, and found the show. As part of the intro, it was free, but it did have to go through my Amazon account, and let them know which credit card to charge my free episode to (???), but the transaction went through. Next I had to download a 6 meg player. All right, so far, so good. The player then found my purchase, and started the download.

This one hour TV show, that's barely 45 minutes without commercials was a full gigabyte download! If I wanted it with the additional files for a portable player, it was a whopping 1.2 gigs! Seriously, on my DSL connection via WiFi, this was a daunting download, and just about as big as anything I've ever attempted to squeeze through my narrow broadband connection of 768/128 kbps. Amazon should remember that not all of us have a fiber optic connection, and compress things more aggressively. Still, I persisted.

The Unbox player intimated at first that I would be able to watch the episode in a streaming format where I could start viewing after I downloaded some, and keep downloading the rest simultaneously. In fact, the entire gig needed to be on my hard drive before the viewing could begin.

OK, after hours of grabbing data, I had the full gigabyte of video, and the player ready to go. I had a week to watch the episode before my license expired. I eagerly started the Fall season and fired up my Unbox player. Hmmm. The graphics seem off on this show. This looks rather funky. Imagine turning the color setting back to 16 colors like in Windows 95, and that is what the episode looked like. I thought at first it was just the beginning, but it was the entire episode.

I went back now to try and grab a screen capture to show all of you exactly what I was talking about. Unfortunately, the saga continues. For whatever reason, Amazon Unbox won't even open, and the shortcut is missing or some such nonsense.

Let's summarize by saying that in my experience of one episode, I've found Amazon Unbox to be half baked. I've never had problems with any of the networks streaming content, and not had to download for days just to watch a single episode. I've also never experienced such poor video quality on any other video content I've watched on my computer. In the end, the price of free was just too expensive.

--Jonas

It's Here!

After dealing with Wal-Mart's Site To Store, I'm pleased to report that Amazon came through- and quickly! Even though I only ordered it Monday evening, and chose super saver shipping, the Philips 3575 arrived today. I even had some time to hook it up. It's too early to form a final opinion, but it did work right out of the box. The interface is clunky, and I needed to read the manual to figure out how to record something. However, the playback was smooth, and the hard drive was just about silent. Stay tuned as I put this baby through the paces, and we share if it is worth three Franklin's of our cash.

--Jonas

What Can Brown Do For Me?

So I ordered that new HDTV from Amazon on Monday this week. I was originally told by Amazon that it would ship on June 11th, and to expect it on June 18th to the 22nd. Was that accurate information? Naahh! After a few day delay because I didn't pony up the extra dough for overnight shipping, they decide to ship it last night, and I expected it at the local distribution center overnight some time.

First thing this morn', I'm online checking how far the new TV made it overnight. I found out that it hit my local UPS center at around 3 AM, and was on a truck for final delivery at 3:45 AM. WOW, I think, special thanks to those overnight Keebler elves that stayed up late to get my purchase to me.

At 8 AM this morn, I get a phone call from the UPS computer to inform me that the package will be delivered from 7 AM to 8 PM today, and it will need to be signed for. Seriously, I appreciate the phone call, but that is a thirteen hour window! Can't they do any better than that? Am I supposed to stay at home all day long? While I want the purchase, I really need to go to work to pay for the darn thing!

Of course, I'm thinking that if it was on the early truck, it should be coming in the morning. Let's just say that the UPS guy didn't quite make it for breakfast today, and the Starbuck's got cold. Ditto for lunch, or even dinner. No, the brown truck didn't roll up until 7 PM this eve.

In this day and age, didn't they know that they wouldn't deliver it until night was falling? Why call me so early? Couldn't they give me a more specific window? Does everyone stay at home for these deliveries? Why put it on the truck at 3 AM if it's not coming for another 16 hours?

The good news is that the TV arrived in one piece, although it was only in the Samsung box, and not another outside box. Stay tuned as I (hopefully) enter the digital era.

--Jonas

Jumping On Board the Hi Def Band Wagon

After doing my research, choosing the model I wanted, and waiting for the price to drop, I've put my order in for a new high definition television. As the price just dropped this week to a more affordable $730, including shipping at Amazon, I pulled the trigger on the sale. When I saw the same set at Circuit City this week, it was going for $810, so at least that makes this big ticket item seem like a relative bargain of some sort.

That price includes the "super saver shipping." They should rename it the "back of the line" shipping. So far it looks like while the shipping will take five days, or maybe a little more, they won't ship it until a week goes by. Maybe that's their ploy to get you to select a faster, and in turn more expensive option, but I'm not biting. After all, with the bux I save, I can put it towards one of those pricey HDMI cables. Rest assured that we'll give this set the once over, and expect a full review. I'm also curious to see how my digital over the air reception will be, and what my DVD's will look like from a standard DVD player.

--Jonas