Palm to release Pre on June 6

Posted on 19 May 2009 | by Aaron Traffas, CAI, ATS, CES | Leave a comment
Palm Pre JPG
Image by renaissancechambara via Flickr

We’ve mentioned sporadically that Palm would be releasing the closest thing we’ve seen to an iPhone killer in the last two years. We just didn’t know when it would happen, though we knew it would be exclusively on the Sprint network for at least a while.

Today, Palm finally announced the official release date for the Palm Pre. It will be June 6 on Sprint, which matches to within a day of the most recent rumors floating around the Internet. The device will cost $200 with service plan and after rebate. This release date puts it two days before the World Wide Developer Conference, where Apple is expected to release a new iPhone to go with its recently-announced iPhone and iPod Touch 3.0 software.

The buzz about the Palm Pre started in January at CES. It’s going to be smaller than the iPhone, but the screen resolution is the same. This means it will fit the same amount of content on the screen but be more portable, less bulky. The screen will have a capacitive touch screen like the iPhone rather than a screen based on pressure like previous Palm phones. The touch-sensative part of the phone actually extends below the visible screen, and the Pre will use this area to enhance the multi-touch gestures. Unlike the iPhone, the Pre boasts a slide-out, physical keyboard and support for a MicroSD memory card. The Palm will be the first major phone that can be charged wirelessly by letting it rest on the Touchstone, a dock-like charging station that uses inductive charging rather than cables to charge the battery.

The operating system for the Pre is the WebOS, a new interface designed by Palm to make it easy to write software. WebOS applications are based on XHTML, CSS and Javascript – the fundamental web standards about which we preach constantly here at AuctioneerTech. Anyone who can write a web application should be able to code for the Pre without learning new technologies.

The Pre will have GPS, a 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, an accelerometer and light sensors. Many of the new features announced by Apple recently for the iPhone 3 software are actually a response to features in the Pre such as copy and paste and correct Bluetooth implementation.

Where the Pre gets the better of the iPhone is in background applications and support for Flash. Multitasking on the iPhone is prohibited – listening to Last.FM and browsing the web at the same time, for example, is not allowed. The Pre has no such limitations, and in fact has developed an easy way to gesture between running applications – called cards – that makes multitasking easy. Support for Flash won’t be included with the initial release of the phone, but Palm has stated that it will be available in future software releases for the device.

Palm is betting the farm on the Pre. Sprint could use a boost as well. Right now, AT&T has the only device that is actually causing customers to switch carriers. Sprint needs this phone to be big to stop hemorrhaging users and Palm needs this device to be big so it can survive until this fall when it releases it’s next WebOS device – a smaller, non-sliding phone rumored to be called the EOS – to AT&T.

We’ll have a detailed review of the device in June when we get ours.

Posted in gadgets, hardware | Tagged , , , , , , , , |

Acceptance of real-time Internet bids

Posted on 18 May 2009 | by Aaron Traffas, CAI, ATS, CES | 1 comment

istock_000001011541xsmall

Real-time Internet bidding is a process that allows an auctioneer to accept Internet bids during an auction. A bidder downloads client software, usually either Flash- or Java-based, and can hear the auctioneer and place bids until each individual item is declared sold. There are several prominent real-time bidding service providers competing in this space, each with its own software and feature set.

One of the important features of any real-time bidding provider is the way bids are accepted by the software. There are two ways bids can be handled and today we’re going to look at the good and the bad of each. The players in this discussion are the Internet bidder, the auctioneer, and the auction staff member who represents the Internet bids and conveys the auction action to the Internet bidder – known as the bid implementer. Also relevant is the client software used by the Internet bidder, and the auctioneer interface used by the bid implementer.

Automatic acceptance
Internet bids can be accepted automatically by the software. An Internet bidder places a bid and the software automatically updates the current price and winning bidder, with the expectation that the bid implementer will let the auctioneer know that the price has changed due to a placed bid.

Manual acceptance
With manual acceptance, the Internet bids wait in a queue until they’re specifically accepted by the bid implementer, presumably once the auctioneer has acknowledged the bid.

There are problems with both methods. With manual acceptance, the Internet bidders perceive a delay in the action or a problem with the software or auction staff when their bids aren’t immediately impacting the event. With automatic acceptance, an Internet bidder may believe he’s the current winning bidder because the software reflects this status, while in actuality the auctioneer is currently recognizing a live bidder at the same increment.

Automatic acceptance is better for newer auctioneers with less-established buyer bases. Because their starting pre-auction bids are lower, perhaps less than 50% of the final sales price, the chances are higher that a couple Internet bidders will create a bidding war between them that is faster than the auctioneer and bid implementer can accurately represent. Automatic acceptance removes the human limitation in the speed of the bidding. Internet bidders are able to immediately see the results of their bids and they feel like they are taking part directly in the auction. The problem for more experienced auctioneers with larger buyer bases and more realistic starting bids is that the real-time Internet bids are both fewer and closer to the final sales price, increasing the chance that an auctioneer will take a bid from the crowd at the same time an Internet bidder is placing a bid. The resulting price collision could result in legal action being taken against the auctioneer, especially if the item is sold before resolving the collision.

Manual acceptance is perhaps a more accurate representation of a live auction. At a live auction, many ringpersons can signal to the auctioneer that a bid has been placed, but only the auctioneer decides which one individual bid is accepted at any increment. In the case of bid collisions, only the bid recognized by the auctioneer is legally valid. The problem with manual acceptance for the auctioneer is that it requires much more vigilance on the part of the auction staff. Internet bidders can only bid as fast as the bid implementer can accept bids, and an inexperienced auctioneer or bid implementer may have a hard time running the system with such a high level of maintenance. The problem with manual acceptance for the bidder, as mentioned earlier, is that it’s easy to perceive a problem with the software or the auction system as a whole. When bids aren’t immediately accepted, the frustration can lead to complaints or even bidders who refuse to participate in auctions conducted by the auctioneer or the bidding platform.

We’re currently in a time that could be described as the wild west of Internet bidding. Real-time Internet bidding is but one of three ways auctioneers accept Internet bids. There are several providers who specialize in this service, and they all continue to innovate and iterate. It’s our belief that there is room for all kinds of bidding. As the industry and products mature, we’ll eventually see some standardized practices fall into place by themselves, unless patents or lawsuits force faster, more immediate changes to real-time Internet bidding.

Posted in software, services | Tagged , |

The end of optical media

Posted on 17 May 2009 | by Aaron Traffas, CAI, ATS, CES | 2 comments
The CD-ROM and CD-RW drives became standards f...
Image via Wikipedia

Optical media has had a great run. Music CDs are only now beginning to be retired after being the dominant distribution medium for the last two decades. DVDs continue to remain popular to distribute movies, though their days are severely numbered in favor of both Blu-Ray and, more importantly, Internet distribution of movies.

The CD-ROM achieved dominance as the successor to magnetic media – floppy drives and ZIP disks – about two years before the Internet obsolesced the technology. During that time, there were great products released on CD-ROM. Games like Myst and reference libraries such as Microsoft Encarta would never have been possible on floppy disks. We still have a box on a shelf with our beta copy of Windows 95 that was the last operating system we saw to be distributed on floppy disks.

All things end, however, and optical media is quickly going the way of the tape drive with regards to data storage. The netbook revolution is proving that consumers don’t need CD drives when they’re on the go. The additional weight and, more importantly, additional size added to the laptop chassis is just not something that consumers are interested in any longer. They want convenience and portability, and optical drives provide neither. The latest version of Ubuntu Linux comes in a version called the Netbook Remix that is tailored specifically to mobile computers and is meant to be installed from a USB key instead of a CD. It’s not only happening on the reasonably-priced side of the market, either. Apple’s failed huge-but-thin entry in the mobile market, the Macbook Air, also lacks an optical media device.

We routinely reformat and reinstall the operating system and all software on computers and the only time optical media is required is in the operating system installation. Once the OS is installed, we copy network drivers via USB key to get the machine on the Internet. Once connected, we download everything we need including Windows or Linux updates, antivirus and OpenOffice from the web. We use not a single program that comes on CD or DVD. It won’t be long before Windows retail boxes include a USB key instead of a CD-ROM disc.

Hardware drivers and software distributions were provided on floppy disks for many years after the market penetration of CD-ROM drives made this practice silly. Now that the market penetration of the Internet has made distributions on CD unnecessary, it doesn’t mean we’ll see the end of discs any time soon. We’d be silly to say that it’s time to get out the screwdriver and remove the drive from your desktop computer, especially while optical media is still a popular way to deliver audio and video content. We can say, however, that we look forward to the day when we buy a retail piece of software in the store and the only tangible thing included in the box is the license agreement and the website where we can download the release. Sure, we’ll still keep our $70 USB DVD-RW drive on the shelf beside our USB floppy drive for those just-in-case emergencies or operating system installs, but we’re done with the needless hassle that is CD-ROM.

Posted in hardware | Tagged , , , , , , , , |

CAI – Certified Auctioneers Institute designation

Posted on 8 May 2009 | by Aaron Traffas, CAI, ATS, CES | Leave a comment
This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series NAA designations

Finishing our series on auctioneer education and designations offered by the National Auctioneers Association, the Certified Auctioneers Institute weighs in as the most prestigious and honored course available to auctioneers.

Held in Bloomington, Indiana, each year for a week in March, CAI is a three-year certification program that graduates the most professional and well-educated auctioneers in the industry. Attendees are housed in the hotel attached to the world’s largest campus union building at Indiana University.

CAI kicks off on Sunday with an opening brunch where class I is welcomed and awards are given to project winners from classes II and III. After a brief orientation, the course wastes no time getting auctioneers to class. The bulk of CAI is made of nine class sessions, 3.5 hours each, with activities most evenings. Wednesday night holds a benefit auction and Friday morning holds the final exam, followed by a final general session.

The course materials covered at CAI include a mix of instructors from both within and without the auction industry. Experts on a wide range of topics ranging from finance to marketing and from technology to real estate provide insight, examples and materials to help auctioneers learn to be more professional, proficient and powerful in their businesses.

Here’s the description from the NAA website.

cai_logo

Designed for leaders in the industry and auction firm decision-makers, the CAI is an executive development program focused on developing the skills and providing the tools necessary to run a top-notch auction firm.

Designation holders have the knowledge and skill necessary to provide high-quality services to all types of clients.

In addition, their designation indicates to attorneys, trust officers, government officials, financial planners, accountants and others who seek the services of well-qualified auctioneers that the CAI designation holder is an astute business person whose conduct will follow the highest professional standards.

With all NAA educational offerings, the true value of the materials is exacerbated by the networking inherent in the aggregation of over a hundred auctioneers from various sectors and experiences. No article about CAI would be complete without a mention of Nick’s English Hut, the traditional after-class destination of CAI candidates and instructors alike. There, the information presented during the course is casually discussed, disected and absorbed.

There are many CAI auctioneers who claim that this networking of auctioneers with different ideas and experiences is as valuable as the course materials presented, though we’re pretty confident that the networking wouldn’t be as valuable without the course materials. There’s no question that the networking from CAI results in life-long friendships and business relationships.

If you’d like to learn more about CAI, or find out about the application process, visit the course webpage.

Posted in designations | Tagged , , , |

Wakoopa makes a game out of using software and web apps

Posted on 1 May 2009 | by Aaron Traffas, CAI, ATS, CES | Leave a comment

Tech startup Wakoopa this week released some intriguing findings regarding software trends. They have relatively-real-time data on the usage of apps like Facebook, Outlook and Firefox, for example, throughout the day. They claim to have logged over 525 million hours of software usage from their 75,000 users. How do they get their data? Why is it relevant?

Software tracking

Wakoopa makes using software fun. Very similar to the last.fm, which we covered in January, you install a small program that tracks which programs you use. Ever 15 minutes or so, it reports your usage to the Wakoopa servers. From this data, Wakoopa builds reports for you to see how you are using your time. It allows you to embed widgets that you can port to other locations like Facebook or your blog that show your top software or most recently used applications as embedded now in the AuctioneerTech sidebar. Wakoopa also uses this data to build anonymous, aggregated data sets to report on industry usage.

Wakoopa makes using a software a game. You get varying numbers of points for specific actions such as using a new application that you haven’t used before, writing reviews, inviting friends and using the tracker. You get ranked from newbie to overlord based on the number of points you acquire.

It doesn’t stop there. Wakoopa is a social network of sorts that allows you to make contacts and to see what software your contacts are using. Their teams functionality allows you to create or join a group and gain access to specific usage data. Concerned about Facebook usage eating up your employees’ time? Worried that your employer is too concerned about the couple of minutes you spend checking Facebook every now and then? Make an office team on Wakoopa to find out who is right. Wakoopa tells you – to the minute – how long you spend using each application. It also makes the distinction between applications you’re using and applications that are simply running in the background.

Wakoopa also serves as a recommendation engine. If you’re looking for the most popular apps in a specific category, like word processing, you can learn that the most used software is – no surprise here – Microsoft Word followed by OpenOffice.org in second place. Have you found an application that may work for you but you don’t know how much it’s used? Wakoopa can tell you about it as well as offer reviews from other users.

Concerned about privacy? You can hide the usage of specific applications or your whole profile, though it’s quite harmless to let others see the applications you’re using. Concerned about owning the data? Wakoopa allows you to export your usage data for use in a spreadsheet or other application. It also allows you to completely delete your usage history or your entire account at any time.

Wakoopa has clients for Windows and Mac, and promises support for Linux soon. We’ve been using the Windows tracker on XP and Vista machines and it’s very light with absolutely no performance impact on the system. It runs on startup and we haven’t had to touch it since installation.

Do you use Wakoopa? Visit our profile at www.wakoopa.com/traffas and add it as a contact. Do you work for Wakoopa? How about hooking us up with an invite to beta test the Linux version?

CrunchBase Information on Wakoopa
Wakoopa
Information provided by CrunchBase

Posted in software, services, community | Tagged , , , , |