Tretakoff Musings

A few months ago, I heralded the impact iPads were having on the NFL . Specifically, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had ditched their behemoth playbooks for the sleek, infinitely better tablet edition. Unfortunately, in all great movements, there are the occasional setbacks, and this one has temporarily sacked the Bucs. The players forgot to charge the iPads . Let me emphasize that again: the Bucs have shifted back (at least for now) to monstrous paper playbooks, losing the ability to have accompanying video and animation, because some players who are paid millions of dollars can't figure out that shiny thing with the 12 hour battery occasionally needs to sip a little performance enhancement? And the Bucs spent the bucks to get those tablets in the hands of the players, but can't run a few power strips and charging cords to the locker room? Seriously? Look, these players all have cell phones and seem to have them charged with no issue. I'd bet good money that they all hav...

The Detroit News reports today that eBook sales doubled last year. Doubled. Do you know how many industries are grateful for a mere 5 or 10% gain in a year, but eBooks are up over 100%.  Not happy enough? Ok, here you go: in the ultra hot category of young adult fiction (think Hunger Games and Harry Potter ), sales of eBooks now outsell hardcovers. Yep, that's right: the hottest trend in the hottest category. Paper: Dead In My Lifetime.

AT&T is sponsoring a new web series, Daybreak (http://m.daybreak2012.com/). As you might expect, it's heavy with product placement, but truly no more than network shows like Hawaii Five-0, and the tech is clever, showcasing apps and augmented reality, but what really sets it apart from previous attempts at web based television shows is the writing, directing, and production quality. In other words, it's one of the first web series that is actually worth watching. It's brought to you from Tim Kring, the former television wunderkind who brought Heroes to the screen. Before you groan, think back to the first season of Heroes: tight writing, well woven plot elements, and a relentless drive to a final culmination. That's what Daybreak captures. The director is Jon Cassar, who was the primary director of 24, and his energy infused style is clearly evident. But the standout is the writing, from the always talented Raven Metzner (disclosure: I went to school with Raven an...

Trying the Google+ Hangout instead of my uStream webcam. Don't expect a lot of excitement or interactivity, however. :-)

Flash sales are an amazing phenomenon.Companies like Fab.com have been conducting these curated sales, with each item available for only a very limited time, to great success (Fab recently raised $40 million in new investment, and will generate over $100 million this year). And they are not alone: there are literally dozens of flash sale sites, ranging in specialties on sporting goods ( The Clymb ), furnishings ( Joss & Main , etc.), and every vertical under the sun. For the consumer, quite the win. Or is it? The interesting evolution of flash sale sites start with the same premise. Take, for instance, the come-hither for one of the flash sale granddaddies, Gilt Groupe : "Join Gilt to find the best brands at up to 60% off". Each of these sites promise unheard of savings on amazing brands, all for extremely limited times. And in the early days of their sites, it is so: many run staggeringly low prices for brands. Why and how? Simple: acquisition marketing. These sites...

As a cyclist in the city and suburbs, I took particular note of this story in today's SFGate of a cyclist who recorded being hit by a car, who seemingly veered into the two bikes, and then proceeded on, as if nothing had happened. Take a look below; the actual crash happens around 2:35: Now this is horrific, to say the least. But it brings up a series of observations and questions for me: As the comments in YouTube all point out, earlier in the video you can see the cyclists casually blowing through stop signs, without stopping. Am I guilty of this? Yes, at rare times, when there is no one around, and not in a busy area; still doesn't make it right. Do they deserve to be karmically punished for this by the actions of the car later? Of course not. But cyclists have to remember that we are vehicles, and, as this video shows, defenseless ones. We need to obey the rules of the road, period. What an amazing use of digital video! I never thought of this; brilliant. Now, if I...

I recently opined about an article that proclaimed the fax machine was now "obsolete." Much to my chagrin, I noted: I only wish! It astounds me that we still don't have mainstream digital signature technology for contracts and the like. Companies like RightSignature are trying hard, but we're not even close to getting rid of this 1970's behemoth until we do. Sure, we can use scanners and PDF attachments to e-mail, but that's above the heads of most of the folks who deal with these things daily. Conclusion: Nope. Well, Adobe, makers of the Acrobat PDF reader, finally updated the app this week, adding in signature support. Yes, you can now either let them make an ersatz version of our signature, as if you signed with your precious quill, or you can use your own scanned signature for more verisimilitude. Better yet, they also updated the mobile versions: that's right, you can now digitally scrawl your John Hancock from your iOS or Android device. I...