HDTV woes

From engadjet:

"Verizon FIOS customers have been feeling left out of the great HD race lately. Sure they have access to some of the fastest Internet connections in the US, but at a time when other providers are adding HD goodness in record number, FIOS customers only got one new HD channel in the past six months. Well the big V has finally broken its silence and promises that starting in the spring it'll deliver more 60 new HD channels, -- on a market by market basis -- and will have more than 150 HD channels by the end of 2008. Of course this begs the question, why is it going to take so long? Seriously, it's not like they have to wait for a satellite to launch or something. It's almost as if there's a limitation in their current infrastructure."

Flat Panel Buyers

This year more than any other we see the emergence of the Flat Panel shopper- people who buy them - not because they Want To - but because they feel they Have To - to keep up with the Jones' their brother-in-law, the neighbor, their children's expectations, their OWN expectations.

They buy them without any accessories, no cables, no new speakers, no reciever, and no joy.

But today- I saw projector buyers, these people were happy, interested in buying a new system that was going to enhance their lives, a new toy, a new family experience.

I like buyer's excitement, interest, and happiness.

Feature Creep - New Yorker

Very apt!

"Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features and book-length manuals, and cars with dashboard systems worthy of the space shuttle. This spiral of complexity, often called “feature creep,” costs consumers time, but it also costs businesses money. Product returns in the U.S. cost a hundred billion dollars a year, and a recent study by Elke den Ouden, of Philips Electronics, found that at least half of returned products have nothing wrong with them. Consumers just couldn’t figure out how to use them. Companies now know a great deal about problems of usability and consumer behavior, so why is it that feature creep proves unstoppable?"

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2007/05/28/070528ta_talk_surowiecki/