*AmongMany

Seen the latest in this series yet? They just keep getting better!

See the rest via @meat99 on Made With Computers.

Tomorrow, furniture design company Blu Dot will launch their Real Good Experiment on the streets of NYC. Known for their well designed, mid-priced contemporary furniture (I’m thoroughly enjoying the Paramount Sofa I scored during their 20% off sale recently), Blu Dot is starting the experiment in an attempt to give a little back:

Excellent article from Morgan Stanley. It was written by an intern (yes, a teenager). Well worth the quick read.

Sony has just announced the Party-Shot, a UFO-style base station that docks either the DSC-WX1 or DSC-TX1 camera…and then takes complete control. Using the facial recognition software in the camera, along with a 360 degree swivel and 24 degree tilt function, the camera will sit in search mode, snapping a photo each time it catches a composition of your party-goers faces. That’s AWESOME. Of course, Sony didn’t manage to add in that last little bit of functionality that would send this duo over top.

Luckily, where Sony dropped the ball, eye-fi is waiting to pick it up. Slap a wireless SD card in your new Sony cam and you’ve got a purpose-built party camera that will upload shots automatically as you take them, throughout the party. Talk about a match made in digital heaven!

The ability for technology to aid in the formation of communities is no new thing (”social media” anyone?). But those connections are generally angled at one of two things: 1. connecting - or reconnecting - you to people who you know in real life (a la Facebook, etc.). Or, 2. connecting you to people who share a common interest that you may never meet in real life (ie. Nike+, message boards, etc.). There’s still a bit of grey area when it comes to meeting new people via technology who you intend to spend time with in the non-digital world.

What am I talking about? Well, dating sites come to mind first. Yup, there’s a ton of them out there. And they’re even being used, often by millions of people. But how often do you hear friends talking about being on one? There’s still a bit of a stigma around online dating (for better or worse, you decide).

I’ve come across two sites recently that made me think further about this subject. The first deals directly with the world of online dating. As the name implies, Virtual Dating Assistants, LLC is a company that offers two options for men who are either too wealthy or too lazy to handle their own online dating ventures. For a measly $200/month (plus an $80 startup cost), they’ll manage up to 3 dating sites on your behalf, including hunting down potential “candidates” for your pursal. But if you really want the “007″ treatment, you’ll have to pony up $480/month for their Online Dating Management package (plus the cost of the dating sites they enroll you on). For that price, they’ll do everything up to, and including, arranging the date with your potential “candidate”. My only question is how much they’ll charge me to send someon else all together so that I don’t have to deal with the discomforts of that first date.

On a more positive note, however, I also came across By/Association, a new social experiment/service that’s starting up in NYC and SF (with plans to expand to London and LA). Members must apply to be accepted into the good graces of By/Association.

As a member you receive one monthly introduction to another remarkable person, based on complementary interests, goals, passions, and skills. With each introduction, your network grows — not for short-term gain, but for long-term value.

By/Association isn’t a dating site. It’s more an all-out networking/connections site. Membership is supposedly based on a stringent application process and costs $30/month if you’re selected. While far more low-key (not to mention cheaper) than Virtual Dating Assistants, something about makes it seem more impactful in my mind. It’s more about making a lasting (platonic) connection with someone who might truly interest you. That, to me, is an innovative use of the connectivity offered to us by today’s technology.

Have you heard of Fitbit? It’s one of the up-and-comers in the fitness-meets-physical-computing world. If you want to learn more, give a quick look at my ThingsAmongMany post on Fitbit and their competitor, GoWear Fit. This post isn’t about the devices themselves, but rather the social media experience/mistake that they’re demonstrative of.

Fitbit has been “in production” and available for pre-order for months now - they originally stated a target launch date of Dec. ‘08 (I ordered mine in mid-January). They’re now predicting a launch in “late spring or early summer”, much to the chagrin of those who have pre-ordered. They’ve done a decent job of keeping buyers looped into the production process on their blog which has featured in-depth progress posts at a rate of around one per month.

So what’s my complaint? Simple: we want more. A monthly update with the information offered in their blog posts is fantastic. But how about a quick sentence more often about the state of the state? Twitter is the perfect outlet for this kind of communication, and it seems that this fact hasn’t gone entirely unnoticed by Fitbit. They’ve already created an account @Fitbit_Inc that has 350+ followers - not bad for a company that hasn’t even launched its product. BUT they’ve only updated the account twice, the first of which appeared in November and stated

We’ll be making more frequent updates on the Fitbit here

Well…where are said updates? The only follow-up came six weeks later and then silence. The silence speaks volumes, and it’s begun to create some backlash (something a new brand can hardly afford). And, worse-yet, it’s given me (and other Fitbit_Inc followers) the opportunity to stumble onto two viable competitors who’s products are already available for purchase: GoWear Fit originally came to my attention because they followed me on Twitter (though it appears they’ve either given up or there’s something wrong with their account since it’s now empty). Bodybugg is another version that uses the same hardware, but runs a proprietary software.

In my research for this post, I also came across James Park’s Twitter account. James is apparently the CEO of Fitbit and has recently offered some responses to Fitbit-related tweets. BUT he hasn’t told anyone about those updates! There are 350 people follwing @Fitbit_Inc who are anxiously waiting for news (myself included), and here James is offering it only to people who he happens to find talking about the product. Get out there and connect the two accounts James! Give the people what they very clearly want, and in return they’ll be that much more interested in spreading the word about your product.

The point? This is pretty basic as far as social media involvement goes. Smaller brands have much to benefit by getting involved directly with their fans/consumers - conversely, frustration mounts quickly when those brands ignore their customers. A six month delay after I’ve already payed for a product is almost inexcusable…almost. With something truly unique like the Fitbit (there are some distinct differences that separate it from the GoWear Fit and Bodybugg), people are willing to go out on a limb and put up with more. But there is a limit to that willingness. It seems like Fitbit is on the brink of stepping over that limit.

Well, there’s another company going down in the annals of “making the customer’s life difficult”. I’ve been a fan of Valentine One for years. Their technology is above and beyond most other radar detector manufacturers (let’s not get into a moral discussion on the issue here). Granted, at $400 a pop, you pay for the privilege.

Two days ago, I placed an order for a new Direct Wire Power Kit (about 1/2 way down the page) to replace the one that came with my unit. I had installed that one in a previous vehicle and, at $13 for the kit, it’s easier to simply leave it in place and buy a new one than it is to remove all the necessary panels to retrieve the kit. The online purchase experience was satisfactory, though the lack of any confirmation email was a little annoying.

I didn’t think any more of it until the call I just received from their customer service department. They needed a “little more information” in order to process my order, which was odd since their purchase form didn’t ask for any information that I opted not to give them. The woman wanted the serial number from my Valentine. I asked why she needed it and tried to explain that I didn’t have the unit handy to retrieve the number, to which she replied that it was for fraud protection for the customer in case the Valentine were stolen.

Now, I understand that radar detectors are an oft-stolen item and I respect their interest in trying to protect the consumer. But the fact of the matter is that once the thing is stolen, that person can buy whatever they want to go with the unit. They’ll HAVE the serial number right there in front of them in order to verify it. So, in reality, their “fraud protection” program has done absolutely nothing for me, the customer, other than make my legitimate purchase more difficult.

Granted, the woman on the other end of the phone was very insistant that I couldn’t possibly place an order without giving her the serial number, and that this was in my best interest. No matter how much I tried to explain that my Valentine was not easily accessible and that I had purposely created this situation to make my life easier when I went to install it, she wouldn’t budge (and became increasingly rude to boot).

This is incredibly frustrating! Companies, I implore you. If you’re going to put policies in place that benefit your customer, make sure they actually benefit your customer. I run into this type of issue all the time, and frankly it’s getting old. If you’d take ten minutes to think through your policies and approach them from the customer’s point of view, you’d save both you and I a lot of headache. What you fail to realize is that this is just as much a part of the “user experience” of your brand as visiting your website or calling you directly.

Valentine, you wouldn’t have to call to ask for more information that you could have just as easily asked for when I placed the order, and I wouldn’t have to get angry at your utter incompetence in understanding my situation. And as for your “privacy policy”? Well, you screwed that one up:

The crossover between fitness and technology is something that’s of great interest to me, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Fitbit device for a few months now (according to a recent email, I’m looking at a May/June arrival). I’m really excited to see what kind of information the device offers and how it’ll help me in my everyday life. As far as I knew, the yet-unreleased device is the only one of its kind.

So, obviously, I was surprised this morning to catch a follow from GoWear Fit on Twitter. Turns out that the GoWear Fit is similar device to the Fitbit and actually offers a little bit more information about the wearer. In addition to tracking movement (via accelerometer) to count steps and calculate calorie expenditure, the GoWear Fit also tracks galvanic skin response and temperature to offer a more complete picture of your activity throughout the day.

Unfortunately, the extra information comes at a cost - or rather a few significant costs. Whereas the Fitbit runs a rather stomachable $99 including software, the GoWear Fit clocks in at twice that for the basic device. Plus, they charge as much as $12.95/mo. from then on to continue using their software to see the information you get from the device.

If costs aren’t enough of a deterrent, the GoWear Fit is also considerably larger than the Fitbit and has to be worn on an armband in order to function correctly (the Fitbit can simply be clipped to your belt/pocket/etc.). I’d imagine that armband might get a little stinky after continuous wear (but you can buy an extra for $8).

So, while I’m really impressed by GoWear Fit’s integration of further technology to offer more information, it appears that their product design and business plan leave a little something to be desired. Granted, you can actually get a GoWear Fit right now whereas the Fitbit is still in production…

Yeah, I’m a fan of Twitter. And yeah, I have to wash my clothes occasionally. Put the two together, and you’ve got Ryan Rose’s tweeting Washing Machine. Need I say more?

I’ll let him explain the rest:

EDIT: Apparently YouTube hasn't approved the audio for the video yet. Hopefully it'll be up soon.

As a devout tech geek and also reasonably enthusiastic car guy, anything that demonstrates the collision of the two (no, not literally) is of immediate interest. Back when I owned a car - a joy that I both miss and and dread returning to - I went through my fair share of radar detectors and other gizmos (the Valentine One earns my vote in that department).

Of course, this was well before the iPhone was available and every manufacturer had their own app store. Now that this is the case, there’s a whole new tech gadget available for your in-car needs. I’ve already used my iPhone as a wayfinding tool on trips out of town, etc. But I don’t bother to travel with a radar detector, which did cause me to be a bit more conscious of my speed on my last trip…

This is where Trapster comes in handy. Essentially a virtual, socially powered radar detector, Trapster is an application available for a variety of mobile devices. Power it up while you’re driving and simply click on the map as you pass a speed trap. When another Trapster user drives by the same spot, they’re warned of the impending speed trap, which they can also click to confirm.

There’s also a brief demo video on the Trapster site (but be forewarned, it’s pretty corny).