Tretakoff Musings

What brought me to San Francisco? What started my fascination with gadgets? What seduced me into the perfect marriage of traditional retailing and online business? What put me on the forefront of e-commerce? It's many things, sure, but it comes down to one man. Richard Thalheimer. If you have not yet heard, Richard, the founder and CEO of The Sharper Image, was ousted this week, after a serious decline in the company's fortunes. He remains on the board, but the company he has been, and always will be identified with, is no longer his to run. This happened earlier this week, and yes, I knew the minute it happened. You would have had to be blind, deaf and dumb not to know it was coming. I've been busy, sure, but I also was thinking about how I felt about it, before I wrote it. It's complicated. So, bear with me. If you don’t know, I spent a decade working for TSI. I started at the bottom rung, literally: a stock boy, in a retail store in Boston, in the 1980's. Sharpe...

I don't know about you, but I think Stephen Colbert is even getting more coverage and fandom than his progenitor, The Daily Show, esepcially on the web. Need proof? How about the launch of The Colbert Report - Your Daily Dose of Colbert Videos, a YouTube-like collection of all of Colbert's shows, complete with new episodes the day after the show runs. Ask me, and this is the future of the evolution of TV and the Web. In a few years, when the XBox/Mac Mini/Windows Media Center evolution is complete, and the living room is conquered by the computer, imagine your own on-demand channels like this, of all shows. Want a competitor to cable and satellite? Start a service that aggregates these shows in just this fashion, and spend the next 2 years perfecting your ad embedding technology: in 10 years, cable will look as quaint as over-the-air broadcast looks today, and a new monopoly will be born. And Truthiness shall lead the way.

Some of you call me on my cell. As you know, I am frequently unavailable (meetings, work, etc.), and I feel bad that I can't talk more often. However, thanks to a free service, YouMail, you can all now have a personal greeting from me on my voicemail. Yes, a greeting for each of you. It's actually pretty easy to set up, and cool. It involves changing your voicemail from the one your cell provider gives you (which everyone just loves the flexibility of) to YouMail's service. Why? Here's some of what you get: - Listen to your messages on the phone or on the web - Get a text message whenever someone leaves you a voicemail, with who the voicemail is from - Ability to record personal greetings for any specific person who calls you. No limit on how many! Record from your phone or through your computer. - My favorite: ability to play a specific message to certain callers...and not let them leave a voicemail. Because as much as I love telemarketers and recruiters, I'm even...

Looking to start listening to podcasts, but don't want to invest in the time or cost with an iPod like solution? Looks like Fōnpods: Podcasts On Demand is offering any podcast, over your phone. Here's what you do: sign up, select the podcasts from their directory (or upload the RSS URL of your favorites), and that's it. To listen, just dial 712-432-3030. Sure, your phone charges still apply, but if you have a national plan with a lot of minutes, it sure is handy. For me, this is a great alternative when I rent a car: I can just pop the headset on, and listen as I drive through a city, without using the various contraptions to try to get my Palm to play through the car stereo. I've just signed up; I'll tell you how it goes! Oh... did I mention it's FREE?

More details coming out about the upcoming Comcast download center. It looks like they will be charging (argh), but it will be able to download to your PC or set-top box! Even better, the Comcast Download Store Will be in Windows Media High Definition Format. Nearly DRM free!

Yeah, I love Madden football, but the curse is a real thing: feature an athelete on the cover, and watch that player tank, be injured, or suffer the same season. Worse than the Sports Illustrated cover curse. Think I'm kidding? Here's the latest: it only took 3 weeks but the Madden curse strikes again this year after the Seahawks announced that Shaun Alexander is out indefinetly with a broken foot. read more  |  digg story

Is it here? Finally? The mighty quest reached it's end? I can't say for sure, but it looks possible, thanks to The Holy Grail of Synchronization: How to synchronize Microsoft Outlook (multiple locations), Google Calendar, Gmail, iPod, and mobile phone with Funambol / ScheduleWorld. « //engtech