Jeff Richards' Demand Insights

One of the questions I frequently get asked is "If consumers are downloading videos to their PC, how do they get them to their TV?"

While there are several answers (including basic connection through the PC Input slot that most new tv's come with today), one of the cooler options will be via a USB flash drive (probably 2GB+) - enabling consumers to take digital media anywhere, any time and play it on almost any screen (television, pc, mobile phone, etc.).

Sandisk announced its USBTV product line at CES in January, and hasn't received much coverage since. When the products come out later this year or early next, I suspect they'll be a hit. Why? It's easy to use and makes downloading and viewing videos a cinch.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've been waiting for someone to create a consumer-driven referral and shopping site (I'm not a shopper, I just think the concept is a no-brainer), and I think this is pretty close to what could work: ThisNext. Check it out. I found it via VentureBeat, then linked to a post on CNET. Unclear how they'll drive traffic to the site, and as we saw with YouTube, traffic wins...

Posted by Jeff Richards at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check it out: Moixa Energy. Another really cool technology - this one I discovered on MobileCrunch. I haven't used the product yet, but per my post about CFL's in September, there's a lot of potential, and it goes beyond just getting more people to use rechargeable batteries.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As covered in a great article by Scott McCartney in the Wall Street Journal this weekend, this Fall we'll start to see the first Very Light Jets delivered to customers. If you like technology, and you travel, you'll want to learn more about this very cool shift taking place in the air travel industry.

Continue reading "Very Light Jets = Very Cool" »

Posted by Jeff Richards at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FastCompany magazine recently had an article describing an initiative by Wal*Mart and GE to get every one of the retailer's 100 million regular customers to purchase a compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL). According to the article, the environmental impact of such an effort would be massive:

"the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads. "

Continue reading "Get out and buy a lightbulb (CFL, that is)" »

Posted by Jeff Richards at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)