[MobileRatty] tag: trade

EDG digital video player

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:00:24 +0000

Your business card has far reaching implications that you will never think about (for those who are still wet behind the ears, of course), and having the right design and information on a card could very well separate you from your competitors when potential customers make a purchasing decision. EDG, pronounced edge, is touted to be the first digital video player in the world meant for business use. When purchased in bulk, the price will retail fro $17.50 to $29.50 (depending on the quantity) that allows companies to showcase their “custom audio/video or slide show information where it can be viewed on the card’s 2″ high-resolution LCD color screen”. Content can be loaded or changed repeatedly simply by replacing the file via USB 2.0. Plugging it to a computer will also recharge the card’s battery, making this one useful business presentation tool that truly stands out in recent memory. Perfect for folks who want to use it in a variety of ways, including a code-compliant (pharmaceutical) education tool, a destination souvenir, a frequent flyer membership card, a trade show giveaway, a direct mail video brochure, a product manual, a language learning device, and much more.

Press Release

Introducing Foolish Gadgets because not all gadgets are cool
[ EDG digital video player copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

From the Trenches by Zippy Flounder

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:43:30 +0000

Zippy Flounder; regulars will certainly recognize his name. His comments have been met with both colloquial admiration and austere criticism. Love him or hate him, he has over 30 years of experience in industrial design so perhaps what may seem like aimless “bah humbugs” are actually valid points from a man who’s “been there, done that.” In our first of many guest contributions, Zippy tells it like it is. So hit the jump, read the article, and don’t hesitate to leave comments for him.

Editor Tran has invited me to write a column from time to time about design and at first I thought, hey no problem. Well just like when you go from idea to reality the hard work sets in and you realize what you think is a piece of cake will take some serious work. In choosing this first column, I decided finally after a few drinks that (given the times) a discussion of some of the lessons I have learned over the past 30+ years as a product designer would be in order. I started out when it was real bad, early 70’s (first oil embargo, double digit prime interest rate and stagflation) so what’s on the horizon is somewhat familiar.

Ok lessons from the trenches, the musing of a top master sergeant of design and construction (top kicks are the guys/gal’s that are the real backbone of an army even a general (smart ones) will listen to them when they want the truth without all the bullshit).

First lesson

We should be Santa clauses. Ok what that means is what we should strive to do is facilitate our clients wishes into reality. The client may be your boss, some dude with a few bucks or a whole boatload of people but in the end, we must be empathetic to design for THEM not us. Hell, it is easy as pie to design for ourselves or even other designers. Designing for yourself or your peers is a lot of fun because it is like karaoke - makes you feel great but it is not real. Therefore, the mark of a pro is the ability to design for a market and have them find value in it, exchange their sweat (money) for its ownership. If we are not doing that, it is just mental masturbation or art, not product design.

Design for others is not easy, but rewarding, as a way of illustrating it, here is a little story about one of my first projects. Back in the day geodesic domes were a hot thing, very cool, and to a young guy like me appealing because well, they were not square. The project I got as a hand off from an architect friend (I think he just wanted me to quit bothering him) was to come up with an interior structural layout and design for a 30 foot 5/8ths geo dome for a young couple. I was young and back then work was hard to score so ANYTHING that would pay I jumped on, besides I had a VISION I knew I would knock their socks off.

I set to work, did not ever talk to the clients, did not want to pollute my vision you see. I jammed and jammed sketches working to cram a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining room into this space with out screwing up its feel. I succeed at last, and went ahead and did a scale model (we did lots of models back then, as only NASA, IBM and gov had computers) was jazzed to show it to the client. I called my architect friend to set up the meet, and he wanted to see it first, so off I went waiting to bask in the glow of his awe of my great design.

The meet started off well enough, words like “innovative” and “interesting” and even a “cool!” were uttered, but then the shoe hit the floor, my friend said,

“Zippy, did you read the brief, talk to the clients on the phone or more importantly go and meet them at their current home?”

I said (feeling that something bad was about to happen) “no, I wanted this to be a fresh solution with a clear vision”. There was a silence, and then he said,

“If you had, you would have known that they have 2 small children and a dog, they have quite traditional furniture, and are only looking at the dome as an energy efficient structure not as a design statement”. He went on to say, “Zippy, you have designed for yourself and in that you did a great job as it would be very cool, almost perfect for a 20ish single guy but for that client it has so many problems that its beyond salvage.

Don’t toss the design go find a 20 -30 year old guy with enough money to build it (very very rare in that day) or hold on to it for yourself later.” The crusher was this, “Zippy, I will pay you your fee, you did what we contracted you to do but I cannot show it to our client as it totally ignores their wants, needs, and concerns”. My friend then said this “we designers provide a service, we have training, skills, talent and knowledge that most do not have. That service is to be able to in effect be their Santa clause, bringing their wishes to reality”. That has stuck with me all these years, it’s true, oh and by the way I still have that model of the dome….should build it some day I guess.

Learn your tools and everything around you

Ok you may be the snitz when it comes to womping up a nifty design on the ‘puter but how does it fit into the overall business, if you don’t know, than you don’t know enough. Your job as a real designer is to see and blend all aspects of bringing that product to market. Sounds like a big challenge - it is; takes a lifetime (you never stop learning) so try to learn by talking to everybody in the chain about what their concerns are. I mean everybody from the account, production folk, to the shipping clerk. To be a real designer you have to do the Leonardo thing, know the process from sperm to baby to collage, the whole deal.

Why should we bother you may ask, pretty simple the more we know how it all fits together the more likely we are going to be able to provide real value to our customers, and sometimes it’s a simple thing. I have many stories that would make this clear, but here is a simple one. On one project we were beating our heads against the wall trying to figure out how to make a bike computer water proof, looked at all sorts of solutions but the battery door was just letting the H20 no matter what we did.

I was trying to figure out the solution at the local pub and over a beer, one of the tooling guys sat down on the stool next to me. I knew this guy a little from being out on the floor and borrowing the use of a milling machine from time to time. He asked me what I was drawing and so more about being polite than anything else I told him. He mulled it over for a bit and said, “Ok zippy, buy me a beer and I will tell you how to solve your problem.” I said, “Solve or not, the next beer is on me, so tell me what’s your idea”. He had asked some questions such as how much power it pulled, what type of batteries etc I had planned, questions you would not expect from a “tooling” guy.

He fired up a smoke (lots of us smoked back then) and said while snapping closed a Zippo lighter with odd logo on it “well zippy you’re thinking about the problem all wrong. You will not ever get a o ring to seal that little battery door for more than a few times and when it fails the product will too pissing off the customer. What you want to do is get rid of the battery door completely, so why not just use a little NiCad battery and an induction coil to recharge it. That way your customer never has to buy some weird ass battery, the unit cannot ever leak and will be easier to tool and produce. I told him I would look into it, and did, the numbers made the product better, and even a bit cheaper, not to mention the customers thought it was cool that it was rechargeable. Remember the tooling guys Zippo with a funny logo on it, well the logo was of a little cartoon skunk, the logo of the famous Lockheed skunk works (P80, U2, SR-71. F-117a) and they did not sell them in the gift shop…

Be humble and empathetic

Pretty simple, you may think “oh I am a designer” and look down on some guy in grease stained coveralls out in the tooling floor, but the hard truth is, with out him your just putting ink on a piece of paper so LEAR HIS MIND. The more you know the more you can do. If that guy says “well that’s going to cause us to revamp the bosses and the ejector pins” don’t just flip him/ her off but realize the changes they’re talking about goes to total project cost that may kill your product if you don’t listen. As in the above story, you never know where somebody is from, what they know, or whom they know until you listen to them, do not talk, and just listen.

The 10 principles of good design by Dieter Rams

Formulated in the sixties true then, true now so grab a cutting torch and burn these into your office wall.

Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design helps us to understand a product.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is durable.
Good design is consequent to the last detail.
Good design is concerned with the environment.
Good design is as little design as possible.

Design is risky

You may say “frack it with this corp. BS, I am going indi” and hey I did it myself 30 years ago so let me give you a few heads up if you go that way.

live below your means. It is simple, your income at best will be fluid so remember you can build what most people desire, so instead of buying, build.

The client is right (ish) the only the very rich can say FU to a paying client, but also do not just take any asswipe on. If you think the client is a bad apple or you have no feeling for the project, then turn them down and eat Ramen.

You are not going to get rich, sorry that is the truth, but you will have a rich life doing interesting things meeting cool people so it is a trade off.

Never give up, in some respects this profession picks us, not the other way around so just remember not everybody can be front and center on the big stage. Lots of us are just “session musicians” grinding it out, making beauty.

Cheers from your old top kick Zippy Flounder.

Contributer: Zippy Flounder

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Nokia unveils N97 touch screen phone

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:00:00 +0000

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile phone maker, unveiled its flagship N97 model smartphone on Tuesday, which drew a lukewarm response from analysts.

Nokia expects the handset -- with a large touch screen, retailing for 550 euros ($693) before taxes and subsidies and due to reach market in the first half of 2009 -- will bolster its N-Series smartphone offering.

It has promised to introduce touch screen models across its portfolio. Nokia was the last major handset maker to introduce touch screen phones after the runaway success of Apple Inc's iPhone, and last month started to sell its first such model.

Its ailing position in the high end of the mobile phone market worries investors and analysts as this is expected to weigh on the Finnish group's profit margins.

"Without a doubt Nokia needed a high-end touch screen phone," said Martti Larjo, analyst at Nordea.

The new N97 is a direct rival to Sony Ericsson's X1 and HTC's Touch Pro -- both of which use Microsoft's Windows software -- and analysts said by the time it goes on sale more direct rivals will likely have appeared.

"It might give Nokia a little edge, but it's six months until this reaches the market," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

CCS Insight's Research Director, Ben Wood, said Nokia had faced difficult choices with the N97.

"It tried to cram in lots of different technologies such as a touch screen, full qwerty keyboard and plenty of memory, but it had to make trade-offs in its size and features," he said.

"It has ended up with a relatively thick device that lacks some of the benchmark features expected in flagship products in mid-2009," he said.

Nokia shares were up 2.46 percent at 10.82 euros by 1144 GMT, compared with a 1.44 percent rise in the Dow Jones Stoxx European technology index.

HIGH HOPES

Nokia said at 550 euros, the new phone will retail at a price similar to the previous flagship models N95 and N96 when these were first came to market.

It introduced its last major N-series hit, the N95, in 2006 and started its sales early last year. To date it has sold more than 15 million N95s, creating revenues of several billion.

Nokia continues to dominate the global market for smartphones -- handsets with computer-like features such as e-mail -- but it sold less of them in the third quarter than a year ago, losing market share to Apple and Blackberry-maker RIM.

The Vice President of Nokia's Devices unit, Jonas Geust, told Reuters of the N97: "This is really the start of the new N-series ... really kicking off the next wave."

Geust said touch screens and full-qwerty keyboards will be key features in the new wave of products.

"What would there be these days without touch ... Touch for this category of devices is going to be important. Qwerty is also going to be important," he said.

The battle for a bigger share of the smartphone business has heated up since Apple introduced its iPhone last year, and all vendors are after a bigger slice of the market, which is set to continue growing despite gloom in the wider markets.

"It's clear no-one can escape the current economic situation," Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told a news conference, but declined to elaborate further as the company is set to update analysts on its market outlook on December 4.

Meanwhile, the company also said it closed its acquisition of mobile software maker Symbian on Tuesday.

Red Reduces Prices, Announces Trade-In Program [Digital Cameras]

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:35:00 +0000

Jim Jannard has announced a price reduction on their Scarlet and EPIC cameras, their latest modular systems for still and motion photography. Plus, now there are multiple trade-in upgrade paths:

1. Keep your RED ONE and shoot great images. Get continual free firmware upgrades.

2. Keep your RED ONE and upgrade your sensor to Mysterium-X for $4,500.

3. Trade your RED ONE in, and receive $17,500 credit, towards the purchase of an EPIC-X S35 Private Reserve package, which is only available to RED ONE customers.

4. Trade your RED ONE in, and receive $17,500 credit, towards the purchase of an EPIC FF35 Pro Cinema "Brain".

5. Trade your RED ONE in, and receive $17,500 credit, towards the purchase of an EPIC 645 Pro "Brain".

6. Trade your RED ONE in, and receive $17,500 credit, towards the purchase of an EPIC 617 Pro "Brain".

7. Keep your RED ONE and purchase a Scarlet System (one time only) with a 12% discount.

Remember that, if you have a Red One, a) you can only use one upgrade per camera—once you use it, the serial number is done; and b) we hate you.

Here is the price list:

Until we get our own, I will be playing with the one on loan at the Gizmodo Gallery. Come and check it out too. [Red User]

holoCubes Holograms

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:11:26 +0000

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s been over 30 years since we first saw R2D2 project Princess Leia’s distress call via a slick hologram, and even though that supposedly happened a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, you’d think our own galaxy would have developed a similar technology by now. But when it comes to holograms, they still seem to be just a novelty to us. Case in point, the holoCube. It’s a fully integrated 3D projection platform that the manufacturer is selling for displaying products at a store or trade show. Now I’m sure it will draw a crowd, but is that the best application we can come up with?

Inside the holoCube you’ll find a 40GB hard drive (do they still sell those?) that’s capable of storing 8 to 18 hours of video depending on the data rate/compression, and demo videos can be easily uploaded via a USB connection. As for the price? Well apparently the holoCubes start at around $9,000, but you do get your choice of a black or white finish, so I guess that’s reasonable.

[ holoCube ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

11 sites that pay for your old iPod, PC, other electronics

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:56:16 +0000

Beyond digging for deals and finding the lowest price, there is another way to fund your next electronic purchase without opening up that wallet.

Several companies will pay you money for your old computer, iPod or other gadget. Some pay cash, others gift cards. Another company lets you lock in how much money you can get for a gadget after six months to two years of use.

As you may or may not know, such recycling efforts are part of the whole green tech trend. In California, it’s been illegal to dump a monitor or computer into the trash can for years. More recently, consumers here pay an ‘e-recycling’ fee when buying a new monitor, PC or other device with a screen.

While many computer sites now offer free recycling, I’ve honed in on the sites that give you a little something extra for your junk. Pretty much all offer free shipping — you just print out a label on your computer and ship the gadget.

Using my old 40 GB iPod Photo (in good condition, with minor scratches) as an example, here’s what I can get for it (from high to low):

$60 = Toshiba America - Uses eztradein.com to run its program. Gives gift cards and cash for old electronics. Read my past story on the program, “Toshiba’s PC recycling program now accepts all e-junk.”

$60 = BestBuy.com uses the same service as Toshiba. But instead of cash, you’ll get a gift card to Best Buy.

$60 = PayPal.com uses the same service as Toshiba. Pays with PayPal credit.

$56.70 = Amazon.com uses several companies including Gazelle (mentioned below). All pay with Amazon gift cards. In this case, NextWorth accepts old iPods and iPhones. Using FlipSwap.com, my iPod got me $35.29 in Amazon gift cards.

$56 = Costco.com uses GreenSight Technologies for its recycling program. Program pays in Costco gift cards.

$56 = SamsClub.com uses EcoNEWonline.com for its recycling program. Program pays in Sams Club gift cards.

$53 = TigerDirect.com uses GreenSight Technologies for its recycling program. Program pays in TigerDirect gift cards.

$36 = Crutchfield.com uses cexchange.com and pays in store gift cards.

$30.60 = RadioShack offers RadioShack gift cards. Read my past story on RadioShack’s program at “RadioShack offers gift cards for your old electronics.”

$25 = Gazelle.com accepts a wide variety of electronics and pays cash, PayPal credit, an Amazon gift card or donates to a variety of charities. It also promises to wipe out any data still on the gadget.

$23 = Lenovo’s Eco Takeback program puts the cash on the Eco International pre-paid Visa card. It has no cash value.

Up to $40 = Apple recyles its own products for free but doesn’t pay cash. However, if you drop off your old iPod at an Apple Store, you can get a 10 percent discount on a new iPod (like, the $399 iPod Touch).

I guess after 3 years, you can’t expect much return on the $499 investment (did I really pay that much for an iPod Photo?)

There are other sites that pay money or credit for the recycling of their own electronics, like Sony. But I wanted to list sites that accept all brands of electronics.

One other possible option: Locking in the price at the time of purchase. TechForward offers a ‘guaranteed buy back’ program for electronics. You pay a one-time fee to lock in the ‘buy back’ rate.

The fee is anywhere from $20 (for an iPod or digital camera) to $150 (for big TVs). The buy back rate is the same for all products: 50 percent of the purchase price if returned in 6 months, 40 percent between 6 to 12 months, 30 percent between 12 to 18 months and 20 percent for up to 24 months.

I haven’t tried the program but there is not enough incentive for me. While getting 50 percent back is unheard of, you’ve got to return the product within six months to get that rate. Plus, it must be in good condition and there is the upfront fee. Right now, the service is only offered to TigerDirect.com, CompUSA and Amazon customers plus some local Los Angeles stores. Still, this could be an option for people who must have the latest and greatest gadget and know that within a few months after purchase, they’ll be upgrading again.

If you have other tips, leave a comment below or e-mail me.

For those who prefer to donate to a charity and possibly qualify for a tax write-off:

Verizon’s HopeLine, accepts cell phones to help victims of domestic violence (not tax-deductible).
National Christina Foundation - Provides computer technology to people with disabilities and students at risk.
The Wireless Foundation’s Call to Protect Campaign donates funds to vicitims of domestic violance.

And for companies and big businesses:

Related green tech stories:

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White HTC Touch Diamond Makes an Appearance

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:09:00 +0000

The long-awaited HTC Touch Diamond in white showed up a Chinese trade show recently, confirming many a rumour over the last couple of months. Whether or not your prefer the classic black is a matter of taste, but options are always good. Colour aside, it’s a fantastic phone running Windows Mobile 6.1 skinned in a slick TouchFLO 3D user interface, with GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and a 2.8″ VGA touchscreen. The Netherlands had a promo with the White Touch Diamond last month, so it’s sure to be ready for North American primetime real soon. The holidays would be a good time to bust out a new colour, that’s for sure.

[ePrice via Engadget]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Black Friday Results are in!

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:44:53 +0000

It appears it just might be a Merry Christmas even with the doom & gloom surrounding the economy. I guess President-elect Barack Obama must be the Messiah, since he's already creating miracles and he hasn't even been sworn in yet. Or it could just be that credit card loving Americans just don't know when to quit spending & charging.

Check this out:

NRF Survey Finds Black Friday Gets Holiday Season Off to Energetic Start
-- Great Bargains, Pent-Up Demand Drove Shoppers to Stores, Web

Though the holiday season is far from over, retailers across the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief after shoppers headed to stores and websites in droves over the weekend. According to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.*

Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend*, up 7.2 percent over last year's $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion.

"Pent-up demand on electronics and clothing, plus unparalleled bargains on this season's hottest items helped drive shopping all weekend," said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. "Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again."

Friday was clearly the busiest day of the weekend with 73.6 million people hitting stores and websites for doorbuster sales. Though traffic did subside after Friday, retailers were also buoyed by two-day sales as 56.9 million people shopped on Saturday, up from 48.3 million last year, while another 26.2 million people planned to shop on Sunday. Thanksgiving Day also continues to increase in importance as the number of people who shopped on Thursday was up 48 percent over last year (16.2 million people vs. 10.9 million people).

Those who shopped on Friday lived by the adage that the early bird catches the worm. The survey found that 23.3 percent of shoppers were at stores by 5 a.m. while more than half (57.6%) were at stores by 9 a.m. Bargains appeared to be so good that people have more of a jumpstart on shopping.

According to the findings, Americans have completed slightly more shopping than they had one year ago (39.3% vs. 36.4%), indicating that traffic and sales over the next several weeks will moderate.

"Though retailers should be encouraged by strong traffic and sales over the weekend, consumers are still being cautious," said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. "Weekend shoppers indicated that they are still sticking to a budget and thinking carefully before making any holiday purchases."

Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7%) of this weekend's shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43.0%) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36.0%) and shopped online (34.0%).

As expected, many shoppers (50.9%) purchased clothing and accessories over the weekend while 39.0 percent bought books, DVDs, CDs and video games and 35.9 percent purchased consumer electronics. Toys were also big sellers, as 28.5 percent of shoppers bought a toy. Gift card purchasing dropped ten percent with 18.7 percent of shoppers purchasing a gift card over the weekend, down from 21.0 percent last year.

NRF continues to project that holiday sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion.

About the Survey

The NRF 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. NRF defines the weekend as sales from Thursday, November 27 to Sunday, November 30. The survey, which polled 3,370 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 27-29, 2008. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch's syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 8,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.

The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com

Via NRF

Tags: Barack Obama, Black Friday, Christmas, National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving

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iProfi: new store Apple

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:24:00 +0000

December 1, the Auchan City Marina Rosche was called one of the biggest in Moscow shops Apple product called iProfi. At 150 meters of commercial floor iProfi you can find all the products from Apple, as well as related equipment from world producers. All the space of the shop arranged by the standards of premium partners Apple - shopping hall with a fully connected equipment, specially-fitted training area, the availability of experienced consultants, as well as a separate area of professional equipment for work-related audio, photos and videos.

In the early days of the shop limited batch iPhone 3G 16Gb will be sold at a record low price: 23 000 rubles. Number of phones is limited.

All equipment, represented in the trade hall, open to free access, connectivity and can be tested by the buyer. Dealers shop, certified Apple, help you with a choice of computers and software, and will provide the necessary advice for dealing with poppy seeds, if you are the first computer from Apple.

In iProfi also be organized by pro-zone, which certified specialists in the field of photos, audio and video buyers will be able to provide professional solutions based on the technology Apple, such as for example, Final cut - solution for video editing, Logic Studio - a package of applications for Users who work with sound, or Aperature - a professional photo editor.

Convenient new store in terms of payment and delivery: in iProfi will take the opportunity to purchase goods at retail and wholesale with free delivery to Russia, to pay for the goods will be available to all possible types of payments. Shop located in the Auchan-City Marina in a grove at Shemeretevskaya street. St. 60a, works seven days a week.

Interviewing Bill Gates

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:32:39 +0000

I still can't look Peter Rojas in the eye.

In 2004, Rojas left Gizmodo, the blog he had founded at Nick Denton's Gawker Media, to start Engadget. Denton asked me to step in to blog at Gizmodo while they searched for a full-time replacement. My two-week temporary position turned into a four-week one, then a six-week one, until Denton finally realized that my special brand of cock jokes were as good as Gizmodo deserved and made me the full-time editor.

But I was floundering. Rojas had hired a small team of writers to work at Engadget, while I was running Gizmodo by myself. I planted myself in front of my computer from five in the morning until midnight, breaking only to shovel General Tso Chicken and delivery fajitas down my gullet. I gained thirty pounds. I couldn't sleep at night, my back contorted with worry. My girlfriend and I barely slept together; she would gently try to coax me into relaxation, but I'd be too preoccupied with conceiving my next linkbait story to register her supplications.

I'd post 30 stories a day. Engadget would post 45. I'd post 45. Engadget would post 60. They were winning.

Rojas — a person who I still don't know in the least; someone whose sitting down amicably at my table at last year's SXSW prompted me to spring up, sputter a drunken unintelligible excuse and literally run away — haunted me, a fiendish specter who outwitted me at every move, whose machinations I saw behind every bad turn.

I was fucking nuts.

As CES 2005 rolled around, it was clear that Gizmodo was losing the gadget blog war. Although they never publicly exposed their readership numbers, it was clear that Engadget was pulling ahead in traffic. And I knew through various channels that they were going to be heading to the Consumer Electronics Show in force, while I was going to be out there by myself.

I was ready to lose, though. Although I had been running Gizmodo for less than a year I was already about to burn out. If I'd had any inkling of the outcome over the next few years — Engadget's sale to AOL, the growth of Gizmodo with a proper staff, and eventual irrelevance of any sort of "win" between the two sites — I might have been able to keep my head on straight. But instead I saw the end of my short career in blogging, the first job I'd ever truly loved, about to end.

Susie and I sat in the back of towncar on the way to La Guardia to catch our plane to Vegas. She'd waited patiently by my side over the past few months. I thought perhaps we'd be able to catch an evening or two alone in Las Vegas in between all of the madness of the trade show. We needed it.

As I leaned back into the fake leather seat, my phone rang.

"Hey, Joel? It's Larry Cohen from Microsoft. I know it's sort of last second, but would you be interested in interviewing Bill Gates at CES?"

It may seem strange now, but four years ago we bloggers were treated as somewhat mythical, dangerous creatures. We were going to kill the old media, the old media kept telling us, despite the fact that most of us were gaining newfound respect for the process of journalism and reporting practiced by the old guard. There was a strange line between bloggers and the rest of the media and a fraternity naturally developed those few of us actually blogging for a living. Every time something happened to one of us all the other bloggers took it as a sign of legitimacy for the entire endeavor.

And I was about to be the first blogger to which Bill Gates would grant an interview.

In retrospect it isn't that big of deal. Gates has been interviewed hundreds of times. The only difference was that this time he was about to be interviewed by someone who wasn't really a journalist, hadn't put in his dues, and more or less happened to be in the right place at the right time. Others would come to view the interview as a hallmark of blogging's legitimacy in the world of online journalism, but for me it mostly reinforced the same rule that governs media old and new: whoever has the largest audience gets the most favor.

But fuck it: Bill Gates!

I looked over at Susie, who could tell from the look on my face that the person on the other end of the wireless was blowing my mind. I hung up.

"I think I'm going to interview Bill Gates." She punched me.

A couple of days later, I met Cohen in the lobby of the Las Vegas Hilton. He kept me occupied while we waited for Gates' to finish a previous interview in his hotel room.

"So what's up with that Engadget site?" he asked. "They seem to be doing pretty well." We shared a look that I interpreted as acknowledgement that he may have reached out to the wrong site. Too late now, I thought, but there's no reason not to be gracious.

"I think they do good work," I said. "If you like your technology news terminally dry." Burn! Engadget might have a small team of hardworking, talented reporters out-writing the rest of the industry and transforming the face of technology journalism, but could they insert penis references into thirty posts a day? I and my penis think not.

Cohen got a call on his hulking Windows Mobile smartphone and said it was time. I was nearly sweating through my barbarously ugly Old Navy thermal shirt, the same one my mother would gently ask me about later, questioning if I had enough money for clothing.

Up we went. I was led into a small hotel room. A door connected my room to an adjacent suite. Gates was inside, waiting. Three executives milled around, trying to put me ease. Handing me water, suggesting helpfully that I drink some.

The door opened. Gates was ready.

I lumbered inside. Gates stepped around a couch and smiled, extended his hand. He was small and almost ashen, but seemed lively. He seemed alive. Perhaps after all the jibes and scorn, Bill Gates was not a robot after all. (Speaking to the richest man in the world and discovering him just another guy ended up being a deeply humanizing influence on my worldview. I recommend everyone try it.)

We exchanged pleasantries which have been obliterated from my memory by terror. I sat down on the couch and removed my laptop — my brand new 12-inch PowerBook — and placed it on the coffee table between us. I will not lie and say that it did not seem like a small act of rebellion to record an interview with Bill Gates with my Apple laptop; it also felt like the twerpiest thing I could ever do and I regretted it immediately.

That sudden shame also knocked out a large portion of my snarkiest prepared questions. I literally scratched out "Does Steve Balmer eat babies?" from my notepad, leaving me with precious few questions to ask.

I'd called Xeni an hour before the interview. I felt like this was a huge opportunity, a huge responsibility for all bloggers everywhere, and I was at a loss as to what questions I could ask. Should I try to nail him on DRM? Should I make fun of him? Should I call Microsoft uncool?

Xeni told me, more or less, just to roll with it and that I'd do fine — but asking him about DRM probably wouldn't hurt.

The beginning of the interview was about blogs and RSS, which seemed important at the time. (Remember, this was four whole years ago, when RSS was an exotic new technology.)

Gates was rocking. I didn't notice it at first, my mind preoccupied with the ways in which I would nail him and become a hero to thousands of Slashdot readers. But as his mind would warm up to answer a question, he would fade out just a bit and begin a slow but unmistakeable autistic full-torso rock.

I'd never seen Gates do this before in any televised interview. What could it mean? It was something he was obviously aware of if he didn't do it all the time. Did the fact that he was doing it now mean he was comfortable around me? Uncomfortable around me? Were my questions actually challenging enough that he had to give real consideration to his answers? This was terrifying. Why hadn't anyone mentioned that Gates was like this before? Should I mention it?

He'd soon answered my question, which meant I was supposed to ask another one. It all seemed so natural. We were having a conversation. I'm having a conversation with the richest man in the world and I'm totally doing fine.

Except I wasn't.

Bill Gates may be a lot of things, but he isn't stupid. No matter what you think of Microsoft and the technical and business moves that Gates made to grow it, there's no denying that the guy is sharp. And while I'd waltzed into the room with my stupid greasy blogger hair and my stupid greasy blogger shirt ready to pin Gates to the wall with some pointed repartee, I realized with a sinking feeling that not only was Gates respectfully taking the interview seriously, he actually cared about his answers. Cared enough to try to prove me wrong.

I was in a battle of minds with the richest man in the world! I wanted to leave the room immediately, but his handlers were blocking every exit. I'd have to stick it out.

Actually, I did okay. I even managed to get in a couple of rhetorical zingers at the end.

The very last question I asked, to which Gates gave a weak (but in retrospect telling) answer, I excised from the transcript: Do you worry about the fact that Microsoft isn't cool?

Our time was nearly up by the time I'd asked. I could tell from the look on Gates' face that it wasn't a question he felt worth answering, and he snapped instantly back into his stock-standard PR spiel. "Oh, I think our products are very cool." (Or some such. I've lost the MP3s of the actual interview.) I'd clearly been referring to Apple. He knew I was talking about Apple. But at the time I had an inkling that Apple's style would be a factor in the still-ongoing iPod war, but I wasn't confident enough in my opinion to try to convince Bill Gates that his company just wasn't cool.

We shook hands, took that dreadful picture*, and I stepped back into the staging area to compose myself. As it happened, Bill and his entourage were leaving their room as I left the one next door, so we shared an awkward elevator ride to the ground floor. He asked me what my favorite device of the show so far had been. I believe I had an answer, but like everything that day, it wasn't recorded to a device so it's a all a bit murky.

I do remember the looks on the faces of the people waiting for the elevator when it opened and they recognized Gates inside. I looked at them, looked back at Gates, and said "Talk to you later!" Then I gave those innocent, hapless people the rudest smirk of my life and walked away.

I stayed up all night and typed up the transcript myself. It was a moderately big deal when we published the story — Denton called it our "CES Hail Mary" — but Engadget did such a bang-up job that year that it was clear they were going to be the dominant gadget site for a while. A few months later Gates granted Rojas an interview and my brief claim to fame was over.

I couldn't have been more relieved.

* I'd wanted to throw the horns, but I chickened out. One of my life's greatest regrets and one I hope I have a chance to remedy in the future. Maybe this year?