2007Switchies
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Switched On: The 2007 Switchies, Home Products
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment. The last Switched On presented the Switchie awards for portable products. This special edition of Switched On highlights the award winners for home products. The "Hi-Def Heaven" and the Home Product of the Year goes to the TiVo HD. It's not so much that TiVo's DVR functionality has advanced to become that much more compelling than those of cable-supplied DVRs. However, TiVo has evolved into a jack-of-all-trades that integrates traditional programming sources with Internet content and even homebrew applications when it has access to a PC. TiVo also wins points for enabling the Lifetime Subscription Transfer option, which unfortunately does not enable the reincarnated to take TiVo into their next lifetime.The "Great Googoloplex" award goes to Vudu Labs' Vudu for a device that virtually obsoletes the video rental store, offering thousands of movies with instant access and an expedient way to navigate around them. Honorable mentions in the broadband set-top box category go to Apple TV and the Netgear EVA8000 -- the former for integrating a sync-and-store process that removes the vagaries of network performance and the latter for its support of high-definition content and Internet services.The "Blue in the Face" award goes to Samsung for the Samsung BP-U5000 dual format Blu-ray and HD-DVD player for its attempt at reconciling the high-def disc format wars. The player's embrace of both camps' interactivity standards and lower introductory price has lent strength to the argument that two formats are sustainable.
Switched On: The 2007 Switchies, Portable Products
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment. The consumer technology landscape shifted somewhat in 2007. Companies that were once major forces, including Gateway and Thomson Consumer Electronics, better known to most Americans as RCA, were acquired as their fortunes declined. MVNOs such as Amp'd and Disney Mobile closed their doors as did PC retailer CompUSA. Palm, forced to kill its "third platform" of Foleo, was saved from a similar fate by an influx of capital. Delivering alternative programming into homes proved too challenging for set-top boxes from Akimbo and MovieBeam. And there were changings of the guard at Dell, Sprint, AT&T, Motorola and Logitech, to name a few.However, amidst all this tumult, a number of products were released that deserve recognition. In many industries, there is a defining award that recognizes excellence. Today, though, these products will have to settle for a Switchie, the third annual Saluting Wares Improving Technology's Contribution to Humanity award.The "The Right MultiTouch" and Product of the Year Award goes to the Apple iPhone. While it was difficult to find news about this obscure device in 2007, the iPhone's slick user interface, polished applications and appealing interface navigation methods outweighed its EDGE network limitations and touch-screen keyboard compromises. With a sleek design taken for granted in Apple products, the iPhone was noteworthy for straddling the traditionally fragmented worlds of smartphones and fashion phones. The announced arrival of an SDK next year offers tantalizing possibilities.
