The flip review

Mark Evans had a great post about simplicity and technology highlighting the success of the flip  no-frills video recorder. As a result I set out to hunt one down and unfortunately as far as I can tell, they are not yet available in Canada. Thus I finally got one special delivery via carry-on from California.

What impressed me most about this little device is that it captured 13% of the camcorder market last year. I had also recently purchased a Canon SD750 point-and-shoot camera and was heading out to the west coast so I thought it would be a good time to give these two a bit of a run.

The flip I must admit is a great little device. Video quality is decent for it's size and it is durable. I even managed to drop it and have it roll under the car without a scratch or problem. It is small, handy and quick to pull out and shoot a few seconds. Though my favorite piece of convenience is the built in USB plug. No worrying about adapters or wires - simply plug it into your computer and go.

To be realistic, the flip is not designed to replace your HD camcorder so don't think about capturing a wedding video with it. Though it was a blast for the kids at a recent wedding to capture some funny dance floor antics. The intention is a quick point, shoot and share approach, whether you email or post to YouTube or Flickr.

Now the reason that I mentioned the Canon SD750 above is because these simple little cameras have come a long way in the last few years and have dramatically dropped in price. The SD750 with a 2GB card is only about $50 more than the flip, so for the price point I think they are a worthwhile mention.

The Canon SD750 while able to take decent still pictures at 7+ megapixels (not sure what the need is for 10 megapixels yet for a point and shoot), they have improved dramatically in their ability to capture short video. With a decent and inexpensive memory card (2GB to 4GB) you can capture an easy hour of video which is similar to the flip. Video quality is comparable though you get a much nicer screen on the Canon.

Point and shoot digital cameras have been quite successful for their simplicity and for the same reason the flip will and has been quite successful.  For my purposes for quick video shots I still prefer the flip for it's durability and is a great family device particularly if kids are to be using it. For example, it took 15 minutes for the kids to drop the Canon and snap the lens cover off (3 weeks to get repaired).

So in all, the flip is a great complimentary device to your P&S, SLR, and HD Camcorder if you set the right expectations for it.

Great camera phone pics

A great example on Digital Photography School of 10 great Cameraphone photographs that Rock. It's hard to believe that some of these came from a camera phone.  

Alexa finally tries to catch up

Alexa recently announced their new rankings system. This is an overhaul long in the waiting. When Alexa came on the scene it quickly became a staple reference measure though as other players started to emerge, they were quick to point out why they were better than Alexa - primarily by stating that toolbar users are not representative.

Alexa's metrics were initially compiled from users of their toolbar and with this update they are finally addressing this.

In recent months we've heard from our Alexa users that understanding Internet usage beyond Alexa Toolbar users was increasingly of interest. Ask and you shall receive!

We listened to your suggestions, and we believe that our new rankings system is much closer to what you asked for. We now aggregate data from multiple sources to give you a better indication of website popularity among the entire population of Internet users.

It will be interesting to watch people and competitors compare and comment on the newly update measures. Further, will the new metrics start to align closer with Compete, comScore or Quantcast?

The tricky thing with the notion of 'free' online metrics is that like many free services, some level of inaccuracy is generally acceptable; maybe this is why Alexa ratings have long been referenced though questionable. 

As these 'free' metrics start becoming more and more sophisticated, at what point are their limitation considered ok? This poses a particular challenge to the high end and expensive analytics providers. 

When a Hybrid is not very impressive

General Motors seems to be having some success with it's revamped Malibu. It is well designed, a definite improvement and hopefully will be a turning point for the company. Though where I must put up my hand and say wait is when you read more about the Hybrid version.

I'm all for Hybrid technology but am yet to be impressed. The hybrid Malibu in my opinion is just strategic marketing and for those who buy it, merely a fashion statement. Referring to fuel consumption ratings, you can easily compare vehicles by model. In the case of the Malibu the difference between the standard 2.4L gasoline engine and the 2.4L hybrid is about 3 miles per gallon. In Canadian terms the standard 2.4L engine would consume 9.6/6.5 liters of fuel per 100 km travelled (city/hwy); whereas, the hybrid consumes 8.5/6.2L /100 km.

To bring this into perspective in terms of economics, the typical driver would save approximately $126 in fuel per year consuming about 140 liters less. All this for a premium of about $4,000 for the hybrid version over the standard.

The introduction of hybrid models is very important but while in this case the impact and savings can be argued to be negligible, it is providing options and awareness for consumers. I've always argued that fuel is still way to cheap to have hybrids make a real impact and at the same time, I am sure that saving 140 liters of fuel can be done with a lot less effort and expense than what it took to engineer, build, and market a hybrid version - and not at a cost of $4,000 to the consumer.

All I ask is that if you are considering a hybrid vehicle that you are aware of the true savings and costs, and that it is not being done merely for fashion or status.

iOptOut.ca - will you?

Michael Geist recently launched iOptOut.ca due to his frustrations with Canada's do-not-call-list. The claim is that in it's first week, there have been over 10,000 registrants. 

Basically, you can create your personal do not call list by selecting from a number of organizations ranging from polling companies, airlines, retail, newspapers, political parties, charities, banking,  finance and insurance institutions.

How does it work is best explained in their FAQ:

OptOut contains a database of organizations, all of which are exempted under the current law. When you register with iOptOut you create a personal list of organizations that you wish to opt-out from further marketing. You provide your name, telephone number(s) and email address(es) and we send a message to each organization, on your behalf, asking that they remove you from their active marketing or polling lists.  You could send a message to each organization yourself individually, but there are hundreds and the appropriate contact information is often difficult to obtain.  iOptOut allows you to do this in bulk, opting out of dozens of organizations with a few clicks.

This is an aggressive initiative which will surely get a fair bit of press. There are a few concerns though. For one, organizations listed have no formal agreement with iOptOut.ca, though they are obliged to comply with do-not-call requests by Canadian law.

Oddly enough, the greatest concern is that there is no validation process during registration. This means that the system could potentially be gamed by users registering under different email accounts (i.e. Hotmail) and submit multiple phone numbers that do not belong to an individual.

There probably isn't much risk as the intentions of such gaming of the system only has potential harm to the organizations, but still, one of the primary methods to safe guard against gaming of a system is through a basic verification system - email or other.  I would have thought that a service based on privacy would at least implement this level of safe-guard for credibility.

So I wonder if organizations receiving thousands of do-not-call requests from iOptOut.ca will launch a campaign to question the validity of each request?

Pirating on the rise??

There appears to be a rise in activity by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The situation has become serious enough that merchant vessels have been warned to be weary of boats asking for assistance under the traditional law of the sea. In a most recent case last month, a ship was released after a $700,000 ransom was paid.

While pirates have been sensationalized by hollywood, it is apparent that not far away, it is a very serious issue.

Pii Pii Brothers

I know this is a few days late and old news by now, and I generally don't entertain myself with April fool's day but I have to point to this one on Super Pii Pii Brothers. 

Earth Hour - 7.7% - not impressed

Earth hour this past Saturday is being declared as a great success by various media outlets. Yes, we did participate and in the region where I live, it was reported to have experienced a 7.7% savings over the usual use for that day and time.

The significance of Earth Hour isn't necessarily the amount of energy saved but more that it raised such a great level of awareness and participation. Though to be honest, I am not overly impressed with the savings of 7.7%. In general I think that homeowners are conscious of their energy use, particularly over the last few years with rising energy prices. I suspect that if Earth Hour was run 2, 5 or 10 years ago, the impact would have been much greater in energy savings. Homes are increasingly more energy efficient and there is a move away from the use of the incandescent light bulb. In fact, our household only uses energy efficient bulbs. 

If an 8% savings means we live in the dark at home, it is apparent that while homes can have some positive impact, we need more attention on what the true energy hoarders are. What I would like to see is a breakdown of the other 92.3% energy consumption. I think everyone would find a few surprises; one being that homeowners are not the primary cause.

I'm not trying to put a downer on Earth Hour as I believe it was a great initiative, we just don't deserve a well-done 'pat on the back' quite yet.