More WhoHas Awards!

The WhoHas Award for Best Consumer Electronics

The Panasonic PtAE2000U Projector blasts out 1500 lumens of 1080P magic, with a contrast ratio of 15,000:1. Not only is it 40%+ brighter than any other 1080P projector on the market, but with most new HDMI projectors priced at or above $10,000, the Panasonic's $2,500 price tag is frankly suspicious. (Did these beauties "fall off a truck" on the way from the SONY plant?) Since I replaced my old Runco with this projector, my neighbors have been camping out in my basement.


The WhoHas Award for Best Security Product

I've experimented with just about every home automation gizmo available. Most of the time they languish unused due to complexity, bugs, or low utility. For example, I'm not sure I'll ever really get around to controlling my irrigation system through my browser. (Who has time for this?)

But my latest pet project has worked out just great. I've replaced the key locks on my doors with numeric keypads. Access is now faster, and no longer dependent upon carrying a key around. Keypad codes, unlike physical key locks, can be changed immediately. You can provision multiple key codes, and each with access at different times of day. A log is kept of which keys are used when.

I've got my keypads working off a server that connects to digital locks on the doors, which has the added feature of locking and unlocking doors around the house on demand or on schedule. But the core value can be had without the central server--just retrofit your old fashioned door with a locally controlled mechanism. They range in price from $100-400, depending upon quality and programmability.


The WhoHas Award for Best Pen

Why pay $500 for a shiny Montblanc when the same price will buy you a LiveScribe Pulse? The Pulse's internal memory stores every word you've written, and it even stores an audio recording of the conversation that took place in the room right at the time you wrote those words. It's so simple--you just take notes as usual in their spiral paper notebooks. Later on you click on a word and the pen's internal speaker starts playing the conversation!

The Pulse has an LED display, speaker, headset port, camera, and connector for transferring all its visual and audio contents to a PC or shared web space. It comes with some other very cool but not really practical apps, like the ability to play music (with accompanying repercussion!) on a hand-drawn piano keyboard, and real time language translation of what you're writing (both written and aural).



The WhoHas Award for Best Culinary Product

For our anniversary last year, Nathalie surprised me with a Citrus Press grapefruit juice squeezer from Williams Sonoma. It quickly captures every drop, enabling my juice addiction. This beautiful steel machine evokes the power of a '73 Buick--you'll want to park it on open counter right there between the Sub-Zero and the Thermador.


The WhoHas Award for Best Car

I own three cars: an electric GEM and two Odyssey minivans. Odyssey is the perfect family vehicle. It drives like a car, the third row seats and second row center seat can disappear into the floor, and it has all the bells and whistles you need with kids--like a rear-view cam and dual power sliding doors. It's affordable, fuel efficient, Honda-reliable, and damned sporty-lookin.


The WhoHas Award for Best Fashion Product

Even if you don't have frail Ashkenazi skin like mine, you need to ward off the skin cancer. So when you swim outdoors, consider wearing a sun shirt to partially obviate the sunscreen regimen. (Who has time for this?)

Coolibar has a great line. My favorite is the one on the right that zips off easily when wet and, more importantly, qualifies for Star Fleet as a Star Trek TNG uniform.


The WhoHas Award for Best Pharmaceutical

Sonata (or the generic zaleplon) sleeping pills are shorter acting than Ambien or Lunesta, so you don't wake up tired.

Legal disclaimer: Ignore my advice--I know nothing. I'm a blogger, not a doctor. Medicine has risks. For example, the manufacturer of Sonata advises:

"...discontinuation of Sonata should be strongly considered for patients who report a 'sleep-driving' episode."

Now that's good advice!

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Diving in Hawaii

With our streets blocked by the triathlon yesterday, there was only one way off the island...




Son snorkeling





Nathalie's the best swimmer in the family.




I'm feeling at one with the Spaghetti Monster.



Thank you Robert for taking us on this dive!

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The 2008 WhoHas Awards

The day has come--Just in time for the Father's Day shopping season--to announce the winners of this year's coveted WhoHas Awards for the best products of 2008, an annual tradition since earlier today.

(Click on the WhoHas trophy to the right to get your own Flying Spaghetti Monster medallion--a must-have spiritual connection to our Noodly Creator.)

The winning products of the WhoHas Awards have been carefully selected and tested at home by an esteemed, hand-picked panel of expert judges. And when I say "judges" I mean "judge", and when I say "judge" I mean me.

To maintain the high standards that the world has come to expect in a WhoHas Award, I've refrained from considering any Bessemer portfolio products. That's okay--Flock and Yelp will just have to settle for winning the PC World Best Products of 2008, also announced today (no doubt timed by PC World to get some PR lift by coinciding with the WhoHas Awards).


The WhoHas Award for Most Useful Product

After years of searching for a replacement to my trusted purse, I finally found a worthy successor. The Tumi  T-Tech Jane Flow Small Flap Bag has everything I've been looking for in a purse: quick access flap (with magnetic connector--easier than velcro); zipped compartments; waterproof and durable; and the perfect size (just big enough for a Kindle).





The WhoHas Award for Best Value

"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there." -- George Burns

The shoehorn is an oldie but a goodie--a classic, yet timeless invention. This particular unit comes in attractive natural grain wood so you can leave it in plain sight. It's extra long so there's no unnecessary bending or delay as you rush out the door. Save your shoes, save your thumbs, and save your money with this value gift...




The WhoHas Award for Most Fun Product

This is the most fun toy my family has acquired for years. Gobble is a bank that eats coins and paper money. Gobble talks a lot (and belches, too, from too much money). I can't explain--you've just got to be there. For ages 3 to 42.




The WhoHas Award for Best Picture

Really, I'm not a foreign film snob, but this film was the best I've seen in a long time. Great story line, great acting.


Congratulations to the first group of this year's WhoHas Award winners!

Subscribe to this blog feed for more WhoHas Awards in the coming week...

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Open Letter to Ron Lieber

Dear Ron,

A month ago Experian sued Lifelock, and soon after some enterprising class action attorneys filed their own lawsuits. The lawsuits certainly make some disparaging claims about Lifelock. Since we at Lifelock know the claims to be false, we satisfied ourselves to gracefully wait for our day in court to present the compelling evidence, even though we expected the plaintiffs to sling mud at us in the meantime.

And sure enough, eager for a juicy story, a parade of journalists (and I use the term generously) lapped up the mud, seizing the opportunity to disparage a successful business (always an attention grabber). But what surprised me today is that you--a New York Times columnist--joined the lynch mob, and did so in a particularly naive way. Such fluky foolishness hurled from the bastion of good journalism demands a response.

In today's column on Your Money, you follow the herd in reporting Experian's claims as though they were true. You imply that Lifelock's service doesn't work because our CEO is one of the several dozen Lifelock customers (out of a million!) who once had to resort to our service guarantee for protection when a lender screwed up. (You do acknowledge that the CEO's single $500 exposure came after a year of publicizing his social security number on radio and TV.)

But then you add some original analysis, distinguishing yourself as a trustful friend of Experian:

"And if the alert repeatedly fires off false alarms, forcing creditors to constantly double-check the identities of LifeLock customers who have never been victims of fraud, it is possible that those credit issuers will pay less attention to them. Experian is so worried about this, along with other issues, that it has filed suit against LifeLock."

That is so sweet! Those kind-hearted execs at Experian were so concerned for consumer privacy that they launched a legal campaign to shut down Lifelock. That's just the sort of philanthropy we have come to expect from a fine credit bureau like Experian (who just reported $4 Billion in revenue last year primarily from selling consumer data). Someone should give those darlings a medal!

Unless... neah, there couldn't have been another motive to sue, could there?

Experian's juiciest market is the community of spammy direct marketers who push pre-approved credit cards on our debt-junkie nation. These loan sharks are so busy, er, serving the public that they can't bother themselves to verify the identities of the people to whom they're sending all those credit cards. (Who has time for this?) So naturally, they won't buy credit reports "crippled" with fraud alerts. Perhaps then, as a New York Times reporter, you might suspect that Experian is just a wee concerned about their $4 billion share of the industry.

And if that isn't motive enough, consider that Congress had to pass a law forcing the credit bureaus to issue fraud alerts. Obviously Experian doesn't want the expense and hassle of accommodating these consumer requests. (Again, who has time for this?) But now, thanks mostly to Lifelock, fraud alerts are common, and Experian is forced to actually incur the expense that Congress mandated. Shouldn't that motive also intrigue the Times?

Not only was your inference naive, but your basic point about the false alarms is also wrong. A fraud alert is not an alarm--it is a process check. And not even a double-check, as you call it, but the only one in the process. Don't we want lenders to verify the identities of ALL their applicants, even those not already reported as victims?

You conclude that Lifelock's service isn't worth $10 a month because you can simply protect yourself by following these 10 easy steps:

1. Mail all three credit bureaus a letter and pay each one a fee to issue a credit freeze on your account. (Oh, and you forgot to mention that the letters have to be certified.)
   
2. Anytime you get a new job, or credit card, or a cell phone, or a mortgage, etc, first call the credit bureaus three days in advance, give them your password, and pay a fee to lift the credit freeze. (You'll also need to do this on your way to the hospital if you ever need to be admitted.)
3. In some states, call the bureaus again and pay a fee each time to restore the credit freeze.
4. Replace your mailbox with a secure mailbox (on sale now for only $445).
5. Contact all your service providers and ask them for online accounts instead of paper bills (because no one can ever get to your online data).
6. Buy a shredder (they range in price from $100 to $800).
7. Every day shred all your mail. (Who has time for this?)
8. Lock up your social security card.
9. Stop carrying a checkbook. (Er, isn't that a bit inconvenient?)
10. Keep an eye on any relatives having financial difficulties. (Really, it's what you wrote.)

Thank you, Ron, for demonstrating just how valuable Lifelock's service really is!

But please tell me: do you still think that Experian is sincerely acting openly in the consumer's interest, or furtively in its own? Who's the real villain in this story? If I have given you cause to re-consider, I hope you'll follow through in print.

Yours truly (and you can call the number on my fraud alert to check),
David Cowan

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Wyse to Ignore Vista?

While VMware was virtualizing the server, Wyse was on the cusp of virtualizing the client. And so I had filled my home with those hot little Blazer terminals, severing the chains of PC maintenance. As I'd wander through the house, my Windows desktop followed me like a labrador, popping up with the push of a button faster than you could say Operating System. No fan noise, no power drain, no wires, no expensive upgrades, no added backup, no updates...

But now that my office PCs run Vista (for better or worse, the new standard), my Wyse terminals no longer work. It's not just that the Vista-compatible RDP software is late. No, it's not coming ever, according to the one Wyse rep who actually bothered to call me back as promised.

Is this what happens when financial buyout firms acquire a great technology company?

UPDATE: On the second business day following this post, Steve from Wyse returned my call from two months ago. He gave me access to new firmware for the S10 Blazer clients that include Vista-compatible drivers, so my home is one again Wysed up. Apparently, the problem I encountered was not in Wyse's technology, but in the customer support process. Having said that, if you do need any help from Wyse, Steve knows his stuff.

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"Clear the way for those rabbis!"

The Union Station Master shouted these words on October 6, 1943, when 200 rabbis marched on Washington, DC in the only rally ever held there in support of the victims of the Holocaust. FDR refused to meet the 200 protesters, but Congress later held hearings on the plight of European Jews and formed the War Refugee Board in 1944.



I was proud to learn today that my grandfather, Dr. Moshe Blech, was one of the 200.

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Albert Einstein

From my son's school presentation...


Another Proud Dad Moment... During the Q&A, the Oak Knoll School principal asked the little scientist his biggest regret in life. Answer: "The letter I wrote to the President telling him to build the bomb."

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