My Blog

Why I like Products

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:13:56 -0700

I’ve recently come to a realization: I like products.
I find it enjoyable to research products, compare features, look at reviews, and pick the seemingly best one. It is satisfying to then hunt for the best price and get it as cheap as possible. Once acquired/delivered, it’s fun to unpack, explore and assimilate it into daily use. I’m the kind of guy who actually reads manuals/instructions and makes sure I understand and – where possible – use all the available features. Even months or years later, when I’m using a product, I still remember why and where I bought it and I really appreciate good design, manufacturing and useful features. And aren’t there cool things to buy these days? It’s hard not to be pleased with items such as the iPhone, big screen TVs, cars, and even a good dishwasher due to their usually high quality, reliability, design and features. To a large extent, the same applies to well-designed web sites and software. They’re fun to use and help meet a user need in a productive and elegant manner.
Just 15-20 years ago, it seems that products weren’t as cool, sophisticated and useful. It was more about the basics. The stuff we nowadays use is so much cooler as well as more affordable than back then. And who knows what’s still to come?
The other part of my realization is that not everyone loves products like I do. Maybe it’s stereotypical, but as a generalization I would take a guess and say men are much more likely to be appreciative of good products. Somehow I don’t know too many women who have the same love and appreciation for products, who research them, read manuals, and get excited about cool features. Is it that they’re just more into people vs. things or that while men are gadget aficionados, women tend to be more into clothes and decorative vs. functional items? (Yes, I know, it sounds even more stereotypical now…) There’s just a different level of interest there.
Whatever the case, I’m quite excited about all the cool products available today! This is a good time to be a consumer!

The nook

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:53:24 -0800

After several months of research, I went ahead and ordered the B&N nook in November of last year and finally received it early January. Prior to purchasing it, I looked at competing devices like the Amazon Kindle and some newer eReaders which had been announced. Ever since I got it, I’ve been reading books on this cool little gadget. During my recent 3-week jury duty, I used the nook daily during waiting periods and lunch breaks. When I received the device, it had firmware 1.1.1 pre-installed and just two weeks ago, the nook updated itself to 1.2, which made it even more responsive and addressed a number of minor issues.

Overall, I’ve really come to appreciate the nook. Here’s why:
• It’s sized like a paperback, light and can easily be held in one hand while reading. It’s very thin too.
• Due to it’s light weight and small size, it’s easy to slip into a backpack and hardly adds any extra weight - unlike most “real” books.
• The screen is awesome, like all e-ink displays, and is easy to read even in sunlight. It refreshes fairly quickly too, faster than I thought it would.
• The color display at the bottom makes for easy navigation and allows for displaying book covers in full color. Similar to the iPhone, one can scroll with one finger.
• It can connect to online content via 3G or WiFi and new books can be purchased and downloaded within seconds.
• The nook can store up to 1,500 books (without memory extension), so it’s like a personal library to go.
• Speaking of library, the local libraries have started to offer ebooks to lend and so I can get free books on the library web site without ever setting foot in the actual library. This is great for vacation reading.
• I can read ebooks purchased on my iPhone, PC or Windows PC.
• The nook supports the open EPUB format.
• The battery lasts me up to 1.5 weeks, which is awesome!
• Ebooks are pretty cheap - usually under $10.
• One can look up definitions of words in the built-in dictionary.

Anyways, I’ve gotten really used to reading on my nook instead of using regular books. The convenience and extra features make it well worth the upfront investment. Go check the nook out in your local B&N!

Why Being a Creature of Habit Makes Sense

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:47:16 -0800

I have in the past been accused of being a creature of habit, a person governed by routines: I tend to frequent the same restaurants, visit the same neighborhoods and locations, usually eat from a number of favorite dishes, watch similar movies in the same theaters, etc. I like certain types of vacations in certain types of places. Once I’ve found certain products I like, I keep buying them and shop for them in the same places.

While I might be a more extreme example, I am sure that to some extent most people tend to stick to their patterns as well (maybe except for the most spontaneous of people). (Apparently there is even evidence that there are roots in human evolution that prevent children older than 2-3 years from trying new food.)

But what is so bad about trying something new, driving a different route to work, ordering untried menu items in new restaurants? What’s the harm in changing your patterns and doing something different than you’ve always used to do? While there is most of the time an obvious, actual cost associated with the choices we make, that monetary cost may not be overly significant or prohibitive. However, there are other, less obvious reasons, hidden costs, that make us stick with “the same”. So here’s my attempt to argue for “sticking with the known”... (Read More)

Time To Assimilate

Sat, 8 Aug 2009 17:22:02 -0700

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend purchasing and assimilating things you acquired into your life? It goes about something like this (and I’m not even talking cars or houses here): You need to buy / replace an item. This could be anything from a book, a shirt, a kitchen utensil etc. In some cases you might do research prior to starting the hunt, so you might browse the web, read up on it in Consumer Reports, etc. Then you get in the car, drive to one or even multiple store(s), browse the selection, figure out what you want, buy it, haul it home. Then you unpack it, you might need to read the manual/instructions, dispose of the packaging materials and find a new permanent place for it at home. Basically I’m talking about anything from the initial identification of a need to assimilating an item into your life.

On any given weekend, I may just buy 2 or so items that fit this bill, but I’m spending about 2 hrs doing so from leaving the house to coming back. Let’s say I spend another 20 mins or so unpacking and assimilating the items, so in total we’re looking at 1:10 hrs on average per item. That’s a LOT of time!

Now, follow me on this one: How many items do you own? Let’s break it down to an average of items per room, to make it easier. I’m not sure, but let’s say the average room contains 50-100 distinct items. In a 3 bedroom house with living room, family room, kitchen, garage, 2 baths, that makes 450-900 items, which equals approx. 525-1050 hrs (22-44 days!). So if you had to replace every article you own, you’d have to spend 1 month, 24 hrs a day selecting, buying and assimilating products!

I don’t know about you, but that’s quite a number. Don’t like my assumptions? Feel free to tweak the numbers and run through this exercise again and I bet you’ll still end up with quite an impressive amount of time.
Considering the sum of all the things we surround ourselves with is like a living organism which needs to replace all of its cells every so often, we are spending a lot of time maintaining and replacing our collective possessions on a permanent basis.

I guess, I wish I was Borg...