GeekwithEnvy

Technology

The Online Shopping Revolution

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The way we shop has changed drastically since the dawn of the internet and the retail landscape is changing with it.E-commerce concept

It’s no big surprise that millions of Americans shop online, but what’s interesting is how this impacts brick and mortar stores like Best Buy. We have already seen the decline of many retail companies over the years and with more people shopping online than ever before, it makes you wonder how these businesses will fair.

Convenience plays a huge role in the success of online shopping but other factors like pricing,selection,auction sites,and the ability to easily flip to another page to check on competitor pricing  are also major contributing factors that pull in the masses. User reviews, although sometimes manipulated, are also another major advantage to shopping online.

It’s not just the convenience of online shopping that has been pulling customers away from their local stores, it’s also the general experience itself that has also been on the decline. Many in-store associates seem uninterested in assisting you and when they do help, their answers to your questions are often improvised and loaded with inaccurate and misleading information. Unfortunately, this lackadaisical style of customer service has become commonplace in our modern day retail environment.

The transition of physical media to digital media has also had a significant impact on storefronts around the country. Many americans prefer to get their music, books, magazines and movies online. Going back to the days before the iPod you could find a record store in almost any city, now you’re luck if you find one within 25 miles of your location. iTunes by itself has almost completely replaced several major sections in retail stores.

Long gone are the days when that expert sales associate explained every detail of every model, to aid you in making an educated and informed decision when purchasing a new product. Today, we rely more on YouTube reviews and our favorite websites to help us make these decisions. We watch unboxing videos to find out exactly what it will be like to bring home a new product and open it up for ourselves. What’s so great about all of these aforementioned means of researching a product? Well, many of the people who create this content really care about what they’re talking about and usually offer accurate information about the product they are reviewing, unlike the in-store associate.

Even with all the benefits of shopping online, there are still many good reasons to shop at a brick-and-mortar retail stores. One major advantage retail stores have over online competition is immediate satisfaction. When you make a purchase online you typically need to wait a few days or even weeks before you receive your new product and if you want to get it any faster you will have to shell out more money. With your local store you can open your new purchase within minutes of buying it and that instant gratification is nice. What about returns? Online returns are not always so straightforward and you can’t necessarily know ahead of time whether or not you will need to return the product before you receive it, this means that you have to take in consideration that you will not only be waiting to receive your item but, if you need to return it, you will also be waiting for the manufacturer to receive the defective or unwanted item and then send you a replacement or refund and this could take up a significant amount of time.

So who is really loosing here? Many would argue that these once dominant retail companies could just adapt with the market and embrace the online world, which many have done so in a significant way, but how does that affect our jobs? Earlier I mentioned that the employees were usually less than enthused to be assisting you, but is this necessarily their fault? Declining retail stores are most likely not re-investing in their company from the bottom up and that usually means theres also a big disconnect between the corporate office and the customer facing employees, which will ultimately result in a lack of interest in the company and it’s health. It really is a vicious cycle that ultimately results in store closures.

I feel that ultimately, both online and brick and mortar stores can and will co-exist, but with some physical stores having a reduced presence in our neighborhoods. I say some stores because another thing to consider here is that not everything fits well into an online shopping experience. In the meantime I see this as an overall win for consumers and as for most major retail companies, as long as they adapt and create new and innovative ways to interact with their customers, they should be just fine.

 

Looking at The Business of Tech and How To Make a Smart Purchase

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Cellphone with dollarsHave you ever just stopped and looked at the technology around you? Take your smart phone for example, it’s pretty amazing how much power these little devices have. Gaming on your phone was virtually non-existant 10 years ago and now we can do just about anything including having a face-to-face conversation with someone.

When we first get our new shiny device home we feel great about our purchase and can’t wait to use it. However, with todays tech culture we quickly lose this good feeling as internet buzz and advertisements start to roll in featuring a new product that outshines ours. This phenomena isn’t anything new, it’s been going on like this forever, but it’s the pace at which change is happening that really makes you feel left out.

It used to be that when you bought something it would last you for a few years or more before you needed to update, now it only takes about a year or sometimes even just a few months before we feel pressure to buy the latest and greatest. Were are told our current gadget is inferior and won’t be able to have this feature or our current device won’t work with this version of new software, then we are asked to shell out the big bucks again to play catch up.

So, what are we going to do about this? Is this ever going to change?  No, quite honestly it will probably get worse if anything. Is this really a bad thing though? I’m not so sure. I think that keeping the industry moving forward does drive the economy and can breed innovation, although I think that most of these updates are mostly cosmetic to begin with, but I digress.  It’s really about the consumer (us) and how we decide on what to buy and what not to buy. Even if you can afford it, upgrading every year can really put a hurting on you financially.

The idea here is to really think ahead before you make a purchase. Think about what you need the device for and consider all of the features it offers and how it will fit in with your life. Remember, these devices are here to work for you, not the other way around. Also, take the time of year into consideration as many deals can be found earlier in the year, and make sure you’re not buying a product right before a company is about to release it’s next big thing. Making your purchase should be a planned event and not spontaneous, do your research at home where theres no sales person trying to push you. Walk into a store well informed about the devices your interested in and that way you’ll have some confidence when it comes to making smart decisions on what you’re buying.

A little research can save you big headaches later on, look into the details like storage space for example. Do you have enough space for what your doing? Can you upgrade the device later on if your needs change? Answering these questions only takes a few minutes and the benefits are huge.

What’s not so great about the latest and greatest? Well, if you have ever bought something when it was just released you will most likely have figured out that waiting might have been a better idea. Rushing out and buying the latest can leave you to deal with all of the new bugs that come with your device. Although most new products go through varying amounts of testing in-house, the biggest test comes along on launch day. Sometimes it’s best to wait a month or so after a new product hits the market then check online forums to see and any undesirable functionality has been occurring like things failing or major glitches.

Reviews have been an extremely popular way to help you decide on what to buy next, but I caution you to take these reviews with a grain of salt. Firstly, many manufacturers will submit their own positive reviews on a product and can mislead you into thinking they are fellow consumers. This happens on more then just electronic devices, these fake reviews can pop up anywhere, like for apartments.

Sometimes you can get someone who has has a bad experience but it’s only limited to one bad unit. These people have had a truly poor experience because they happened to be unlucky enough to get the oddball defective unit. The best way to jude a review of a defective unit is to see how easily their problems were resolved, find out how their customer service responded to the problem.

Good customer service is unfortunately very rare these days and should also be considered when choosing a particular brand over another. Good customer service should be considered as a feature of the device. Look into device coverage, you may even find that you can receive discounts towards new products by sticking with that brand for the next upgrade, this happens with video card companies quite often.

Resale value is another thing to consider here, the smart phone market is a great example of how easy it is to save money on your upgrade by selling your old device. Chances are that old Android device or iOS device will sell really well, mostly because consumers have realized that they can get a great “last generation” phone for a great price from those who absolutely have to have the next best thing. This means that you too can get a great deal, look on online auction sites around the time a new product like the new iPhone is released and I’m sure you will find a ton of great deals.

The best advice that I can offer is to take your time when making decisions. Don’t be the should have, would have, could have person, be the, I planned ahead and made a smart buy person.

Forget 3D Glasses I Want Virtual Reality Gaming

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When I was a kid I imagined that the games of the future would include virtual reality and while gaming technology has come along way, theres still plenty of room for innovation.Red Or Blue Pill

While many great game titles have been released over the years, gaming technology has remained pretty much the same. Consoles will continually upgrade their graphics capabilities, tweak their shape, size, and the way we control our games, but I want to be able to jump into my games and truly become a part of that world in every way possible. The idea kind of reminds me of the movie The Matrix, eventually you should be able to be that connected to an experience.

Fortunately, there are many smart people who are interested in making virtual reality happen, including some at Sony Entertainment and Valve. Chet Faliszek of Valve has mentioned that they are actively working on a virtual reality project and Microsoft has filed VR based patents. So, it would seem that companies are taking virtual reality seriously, and it’s about time.

What makes this so interesting is that VR technology really is still in it’s infancy, nothing has been perfected and no one is sure who is going to have that breakthrough moment and create something amazing. Most people involved with VR are fiddling around with all kinds of ideas as they mash up screens,mirrors, circuit boards, cables and software to create a truly unique experience.

With VR you also have to consider how that type of gameplay differs from sitting at your computer or on the couch playing with a normal, hand held controller.  Virtual reality will require you to move around much like Kinect for Xbox 360. Chances are you won’t always want to burn 500 calories chasing and killing zombies but I guess it would be nice to at least have that option.  Now what would really be amazing is if you could control your character just by thinking.

Many of the technologies needed to make all of this happen already exist, it’s just a mater of of making them all work together. As for now, we can all remain hopeful as we watch and wait to see who comes out with the best VR solution.

CA Governor Signs Self-Driving Cars Bill

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California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed a Self-Driving car bill at Google’s headquarters. The bill is designed to help lay out safety guidelines for self-driving cars.Robot Driving Car

Google co-founder Sergey Brin talked about how autonomous cars will make our roads much safer and will allow others who would not normally be able to drive, to have a personal, safe, and reliable mode of transportation.

It all sounds like science fiction but autonomous cars already exist and the technology is getting better. We already have cars that park themselves, so why not keep going and take the technology further?  My current question is, would you ride in a car that you’re not controlling? I don’t know exactly how I feel about this but if it had been through extensive testing and had a override switch, then I guess I’m game. A few questions come to mind when I think about self-driving cars. I would imagine that if you take human error out of the equation you can increase travel speeds. Why not have speed limits of around 200mph?

Being able to have cars navigate themselves though dense fog,heavy rain or even driving at night would be a huge benefit for anyone. Perhaps we can wipe drunk driving out of the picture for good as your car can take you home safe and sound.

My major concern here with anything that becomes computerized and automatic is can it be hacked? Actually, we should be asking how will it be hacked because this technology will be vulnerable just like anything else we create and something like this could be dangerous in the wrong hands. There would have to be some digital connection to your drivers license that identifies a driver or passenger, kind of like in the movie The Fith Element, and there would have to be some way to detect whether or not drivers are using a “modded” vehicle that may allow them to exceed regulated speeds or drive irradically.

Another major concern of note here is liability. These self-driving cars will inevitability mess up at one point and damage other cars, property or people, and who will be responsible? How do you determine who was at fault? Computer “A” hit Computer “B”? Send the bill to the auto manufacturer? These are all questions we will have to answer when we move into a world with self-driving cars.

The bottom line seems to be that the potential safety advantages of having a self-driving car are what will push this technology forward. With law enforcement cracking down on texting and making phone calls while driving, this seems like an obvious direction to head. We really have nowhere to go but up here, traveling by car is a dangerous task. Perhaps we will be looking back many years from now and talking about  how crazy it was that people used to drive themselves around and how inefficient and scary that must have been.

Guide To Understanding The Technology of OLED and LED LCD

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Many of us hear the terms LED LCD and OLED and assume that they are pretty much the same thing, and some people might not even know the difference between LCD T.V’s and LED LCD T.V’s. One reason for all of this confusion is the way that manufacturers market their products and how they refer to the new “technology”  that they put into their devices.LED Abstract Image

A liquid crystal display (LCD) does not emit light itself, it requires some type of back light in order to see whatever is on the screen.  LCD screens basically control light, sometimes they let it through and sometimes they don’t, this is what produces the image we see. Using voltage and transparent conductors, each pixel can be controlled precisely.

When LCD screens first came on to the market they were primarily backlit by CCFL or Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps. These CCFL lamps are usually positioned at the edges of the LCD screen and then a light diffuser is used to spread the light across the entire screen. This method of backlighting works really well but dose not produce a very good black. The reason this method doesn’t produce a good black color is because the CCFL lamps remain at full intensity even when displaying the darker part of images, which results in a glowing effect on the screen. Often we hear commercials for T.V’s mention that they have blacker blacks, they are referring to the contrast ratio which is directly related to how backlighting is managed.

More recently, manufacturers have been using small LED lights to illuminate the LCD screen. The LED’s can be placed at the edges of the screen and the light they produce can be diffused just like the CCFL back lighting method. LED lighting uses much less electricity and are much smaller than CCFL’s, which mean you can have a thinner, lighter, and more energy efficient display panel.

In order to achieve a better contrast ratio manufacturers began to dim the backlighting when darker images appear on the screen but this method only helps when the majority of the screen is dark, which is rare in most cases and means that the contrast ratio is basically the same for the majority of what your watching since the display almost never dims. So, how can we get a better contrast ratio for every image that appears on the screen?  This is where WLED comes into play. WLED uses an entire array of LED lights that span the entire area of the LCD display. WLED allows for dimming in very specific locations of the screen which results in a very good contrast ratio. Another variation of WLED backlighting involves using RGB LED lighting instead of pure white LED’s. RGB LED  backlight screens produce superior color compared to an all white WLED display and also have a solid contrast ratio.

So now that we have a basic understanding how how LCD screens are illuminated we can start to look at why OLED is actually quite different.

Organic Light Emitting Diode or OLED technology, as the name suggests,  is an LED that uses organic compounds that emit light when electrical current is applied to them. As we mentioned before LED LCD T.V’s use and LCD screen that is backlight by LED lighting, with OLED displays, the OLED itself is the display, which means there is no need for a backlight. Since OLED displays lack a backlight they offer extremely dark blacks and very vivid and precise colors. OLED’s are basically flat in comparison to traditional LED’s which resemble little bulbs. With OLED’s being so small, manufactureres are able to make extremely thin and even flexible displays.  OLED is relatively new and still has a lot of issues including saturation problems. OLED is also quite expensive at this time due to a difficult manufacturing process.

So where does Apple’s Retina display fit in? Well Apple does utilize LED backlight LCD screens that are similar to other displays, except Apple has squeezed in more pixels which creates a higher pixel density, so high that Apple claims the human eye can not see pixelation from a normal viewing distance.

So next time you head out to buy a new display, you can walk into the store with confidence now that you have a better understanding of  how todays display technologies work.