EV charging technology is rapidly expanding and evolving in the United States and beyond. The global EV charging stations market is expected to grow by almost 50% over the next seven years. As 2019 comes to an end, we have decided to take a look at the industry and to summarize the most important trends that will shape the EV charging space next year.

1. DC fast charging

Although DC fast chargers make up only 15% of EV charging stations in the United States so far, market research reports predict them to become more and more common. Many EV charging networks already focus their efforts on DC (or level 3) chargers. Those chargers add about 60 to 80 miles of range in 20 minutes, making them 10 to 20 times faster than the more common AC (or level 2) chargers. As EV owners travel more and take longer trips, they will appreciate a larger offer of public fast charging solutions with more affordable pricing.

2. Accurate prediction of charge time

The technological progress of both, EV charging hardware and software will change the way EV owners use and benefit from EV charging apps. Thanks to technologies like the Smartcar API, charging networks are now able to determine a vehicle’s exact charge time even before the driver plugs their car into a station. The accurate prediction of a vehicle’s charge time is crucial whenever EV owners want to plan trips, building charging schedules, or make use of green EV charging features and V2G technology (see below).

3. Green EV charging

Green energy will play a big role in both, the residential and the public EV charging space. Vehicle owners are increasingly concerned about carbon emissions, while EV charging networks rapidly advance their charging technologies. Green EV charging programs allow EV owners to set a schedule for when and how far they need to drive their car each day. Using smart charging technology, the EV charging network then automatically charges the vehicle at times when electricity is 100% generated from renewable sources (e.g. solar or wind energy).

4. Vehicle-to-grid technology

Another EV charging trend that helps reduce carbon emissions is vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. While green EV charging focuses on picking the right energy sources, V2G technology aims to smoothen times of peak electricity demand. The average car is parked 95% of the time. V2G technology makes use of this fact. Whenever they aren’t currently driving or charging their vehicle, EV owners can leave their car plugged in at home or at work. At times of peak demand, EV owners can let the charging network draw power from the car and feed it electricity back into the grid. This way, V2G provides a huge relief for local and state electricity providers and allows EV owners to earn money for the electricity they sell.

5. Rewards programs

With a tighter net of public EV charging stations and a larger variety of affordable home chargers, charging networks need to spend more effort retaining customers and making them loyal to their brand. Rewards programs allow EV charging networks to do just that. Apart from rewarding customers for charging at stations within a certain network, rewards programs even go hand in hand with green EV charging and V2G technology. For example, EV owners receive points or credits for charging at times when electricity demand is low and the share of renewable energy sources is highest. Finally, EV charging networks can reward customers for ecologically friendly driving behavior. Based on how many miles they drive and how much they charge their EV battery, EV owners receive rewards for keeping their per-mile electricity consumption low.

Link: Originally published at Smartcar.com on December 31, 2019

More than 65 vehicles debuted at AutoMobility LA this year. Roughly 35% of those were hybrid and electric vehicles. While many automakers introduced their new cars directly at the show, others held press conferences at their own offices. Here’s a breakdown of the most exciting announcements we heard about last week.

Ford launched its all-electric vehicle Mustang Mach-E at AutoMobility LA last week. The Mach-E is the first electric vehicle and the first SUV under the Mustang brand. The extended range version has a 300-mile range. The first of four models will be available for sale in 2020.

Toyota rolled out the 2021 RAV4 Prime, a plug-in hybrid version of its popular RAV4 SUV. The vehicle has a 39-mile all-electric range and will get 90 miles per gallon of gasoline. It will go on sale in mid-2020.

Lincoln announced the 2021 Corsair GT plug-in hybrid. It’s the first electric version of Lincoln’s Corsair compact luxury SUV. The GT’s all-electric range is expected to be over 25 miles. The car is expected to be available before the end of this year.

Audi introduced the all-electric 2020 e-tron Sportback, a coupé version of the 2019 e-tron with a 220-mile range. It will be available in the U.S. in fall 2020.

Volkswagen debuted its ID. Space Vizzion Concept, a fully electric concept car. It’s a low-slung station wagon with a 300-mile range. Volkswagen didn’t say when the vehicle will go on sale.

Karma Automotive introduced the electric concept car SC2 and the performance luxury gasoline-electric vehicle Revero GTS. The SC2 has 1,000 horsepower and a 350-mile range. The Revero GTS has a 360-mile range with a fully charged battery and a full gas tank.

Tesla introduced its new Cybertruck in Hawthorne, California last week. Although the announcement wasn’t made at the LA Auto Show, it might have been the most discussed EV launch of the week. The all-electric pick-up truck has a distinct retro-futuristic look. During the press conference, Tesla’s design chief smashed two of the supposedly shatterproof windows with a metal ball. The incident was widely discussed in national news outlets and on social media. The vehicle will be available with a 250, 300, and 500-mile range, and production will start in late 2021.

Overall, AutoMobility LA 2019 shows that the automotive industry is facing times of rapid change. Electric vehicles are driving the future of mobility, and more and more automakers are focusing on this emerging trend. We can’t wait for next year’s LA Auto Show and its 2020 EV debuts!

Links: Originally published at Smartcar.com on November 26, 2019

I have been using Dropbox since 2010 and have nearly 290 GB of storage space in my account. However, I decided to give OneDrive another shot since it comes integrated deeply with my new Windows 8.1 device out-of-the-box. Unlike Dropbox which currently lacks document editing capabilities, OneDrive brings the added benefits of Microsoft Office online integration. This seemed like a good reason to switch, but I quickly noticed a few critical drawbacks after spending a week using OneDrive exclusively for all my documents. Here are some much-needed features:

1) Revision History

Dropbox maintains an unlimited number of snapshots for every change to a file in the cloud over the past 30 days. I was quite shocked to realize OneDrive lacks this feature entirely. If I were to accidentally tweak a image in Photoshop and re-save the file, there’s no way to restore a previous version. Fortunately, OneDrive does at least offer revision history for Microsoft Office documents.

2) Shared Folders

While I can share a link to a specific file, it’s 2014 and OneDrive still lacks shared folders. Dropbox had this feature even before I began using their service in 2010. OneDrive users still have to click on a link in an email to view a shared file while Dropbox users have already been enjoying seeing content magically appear on their computers automatically.

3) LAN Sync

I was recently migrating from my Vizio Notebook over to a Surface Pro 3. After installing Dropbox on my new device, all 15 GB of files transferred over in minutes since the software fetched the data from my old laptop on the same local network. Meanwhile, just OneDrive took nearly twice as long to fetch just 10 GB of data since it had to resort to the cloud despite the same data being available on my other computer just a few feet way.

4) Differential Sync

I was editing a large PSD (Photoshop Document) which was over 100 MB in size. If I save an edited file in Dropbox, it would complete syncing in a few seconds. On the other hand, OneDrive was taking much much longer. After a bit of investigating, I found that Dropbox saves bandwidth and time by taking advantage of differential sync which only transfers pieces of a file which have since changed. OneDrive unfortunately still ends up having to re-transfer an entire file for every edit.

Edit 8/27/14: Turns out there’s another limitation. The max file size limit is 2 GB for any file stored in OneDrive while Dropbox supports up to 10 GB files!

Edit 9/4/14: Microsoft has removed the 2 GB max file size limit.

Although I do not blog too regularly over here anymore, I would like to share something which I began working on a few months ago. This morning I’m launching Smartcar which aspires to bring automation to the next-generation of connected vehicles.

Here’s what it does: We’re starting with two features. The Intelligent Climate technology learns a person’s driving habits and automatically pre-conditions their vehicle to the perfect temperature before they even get into it by anticipating their next commute. In addition, the Intelligent Charging feature helps significantly cut utility bills by analyzing local electric rates and automatically finding the best hours to charge a vehicle in areas offering dynamic pricing.

How it got started: I launched an app called GlassTesla last year which lets you control your Tesla via Google Glass. I was absolutely humbled and caught off-guard by the incredibly warm reception it received. It was picked up by many media outlets including CNBC, Forbes, WIRED Magazine, PC Mag, LA Times, TechCrunch, GigaOm, InformationWeek, Business Insider, NY Times, CNET, FastCompany, Engadget, DigitalTrends, International Business Times, and more!

What’s happening today: I’m kicking off a crowdfunding campaign to make Smartcar a reality. It will be compatible with the Tesla Model S when it becomes available in Summer 2014. Support for other vehicles will follow.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to drop me a note or leave a comment below!

Links: Smartcar

Start-ups have come into vogue. Today’s Silicon Valley has brogrammers, swag galore, and even its own reality TV show. Geeks are the new party rockers and we’re starting to see the resurrection of crazy start-up launch parties. Lean mean start-up machines will tell you that launch parties are poor customer acquisition strategies. And 99% of the time, these bootstrappers are correct. However, at least 1% of the time a well executed party can really accelerate early growth for your company.

My start-up, UpOut, threw a low-cost launch party in the Mission District of San Francisco last year. We managed to signup our first 500 users, got several back-links from bloggers, and built local buzz at the event. Below I’ll share some tips we used (or wished we used) to assess, measure, and throw a rockin’ launch party.

Let’s NOT party like it’s 1999! Let’s get analytical.

Why on earth would you throw a party?

For start-ups  a launch event is a big ad for your business, potential employees, users, customers, press, and even investors. A well executed event, like an ad campaign, builds legitimacy with your audience and can be cheaper than other forms of branding. Unlike almost all other marketing, events bring you face to face with your customers helping you build a personal relationship with them.

The lead up to and post event provide other interesting opportunities. People who hear about the event may signup for your product regardless of whether they plan to attend. I highly recommend getting media outlets to cover the event or possibly join in as a media sponsor which is a great method of co-marketing. This helps build your relationship with them and helps send traffic to your website when mentioned. Pictures and other forms of social media help build buzz among friends of the attendees following the event.

Understanding the costs

Start-up launch events are often organized solely by the founders who have little event planning experience. Even if you can afford it, hiring an event planner is often a poor choice because they have a hard time throwing the creative event you need. The biggest cost for the event will be your time. You should expect to spend 40 to 150 of employee hours to pull off the event successfully. In dollar terms, at a modest $35/hour, you will spend $1,400 to $5,250 of your own time.

There are also hard costs to throwing a launch party. Costs will almost certainly include venues (min ~$800), entertainment (min ~$300), and swag (minimum $5/head). Your launch party is also likely have drinks, food, decorations, photographers, fliers, and staffing. You can certainly save money using trade or other techniques like “bar minimums”. However, at least in my experience, you will end up paying for it in quality, hours or favors. After all,  you don’t want to be doing coat check at your own party! The fact is, most event material is fairly commoditized so it is unlikely that you can swing a serious deal. I would expect that any memorable party would have at least $2000 in hard costs.

Ballpark costs: at least $3400.

Setting ROI

After estimating your costs, you’ll quickly realize that you need to extract a substantial value from the event. Most launch events are about customer acquisition growth but you may set your ROI differently. Branding and relationship building is harder to measure, so I generously assume that its worth 25% to 50% of the total cost of the event. From throwing an event, you acquire through some or more of various channels:

• Event listings [small unknowns; medium rewards]
• Media coverage of/from the event [big unknowns; big rewards]
• Post-event pictures [small unknowns; small rewards]
• Social media interactions [medium unknowns; big rewards]
• Event attendance [small unknowns; medium rewards]

Use the above and more to estimate expected returns on each channel and compare with other customer acquisition mediums. Understanding these ROIs also helps you figure out where you should spend your efforts.

Tip: entrepreneurs often fear charging at the door for an event to help cover costs. I always recommend charging for your event (even your launch event). Having an event fee helps weed out bad customers/users and throw a more memorable party. Besides, you can always discount prices!

So, should you do it?

For most people, I doubt that a launch party would help substantially. I encourage anyone thinking about throwing a launch party to get seriously analytical about the event’s return on investment. As part of a larger marketing strategy, events can make a lot of sense. That said, as with everything, planning and foresight make all the difference.

Links: UpOut.com

I decided to purchase a Microsoft Surface Pro when it made a debut last month. It seemed like the perfect device which could function both as a laptop and a tablet. Since it features a full-blown Windows 8 Pro operating system, I could use for just about anything including Photoshop or running Ubuntu in Virtualbox when coding.

The 128 GB model goes for about $999. Throwing in a type keyboard brings the price tag up to about $1,100. The Intel i5 processor, a full HD display, and a USB 3.0 port makes the package even more attractive. A comparable 11-inch Macbook Air with a 128 GB SSD still lacks a touch screen display and a HD resolution.

After just a few days of use, I quickly realized the hybrid form-factor has one major flaw: the kickstand. While seated at a desk, the display faces the user at an appropriate angle. However, it becomes quite problematic in just about any other situation. Since the kickstand is non-adjustable, using it on a kitchen counter is quite difficult since the display faces my chest. Sitting on the floor? The display once again faces my chest. Using the Surface Pro on my lap while seated on a couch is also quite uncomfortable since it is quite easy to tip over compared to a laptop.

Believe it or not, the biggest nuance with the Surface Pro by far is the kickstand. I also own an Apple iPad, Asus Nexus 7, and Amazon Kindle Fire for compatibility testing and while they all entirely lack a kickstand, they are are primarily content consumption devices. I wouldn’t be using these devices for writing code, composing important emails, creating presentations, editing large spreadsheets, or organizing photos. The Surface Pro can actually handle all those tasks without a sweat, but the form-factor makes it difficult.

It is rather disappointing considering the whole product was designed around the notion of more flexibility. If Microsoft had simply designed a kickstand with 3-4 adjustable positions, the Surface Pro would be a lot more comfortable to use. While the device is perfectly usable as a tablet, it truly requires being seated at a table for use with the keyboard. That’s rather unacceptable when just about every laptop display is fairly adjustable for just about any viewing angle.

Microsoft actually got just about everything right with this device. Even the 5 hour battery life wasn’t a concern since it’s quite comparable to most Ultrabooks. I ended up returning the Surface Pro about a week after purchase. I’ll keep an eye out for other hybrid Windows 8 Pro devices, hopefully one which has a clam-shell laptop form-factor and a screen which snaps off. The Lenovo Helix seems to fall perfectly into that category, but has yet to hit store shelves.

Guest Author: Pierre-Simon Ntiruhungwa (@pierresn) is a French student in ESCP Europe Business School, currently interning in Ifeelgoods in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the co-founder of the student organization Silicon Students and the summer program Startup Dream Team.

Ideas are cheap. They are often stolen and copied easily. Simply having a good startup idea doesn’t guarantee success for entrepreneurs. What matters is the ability to execute that idea and transform it into a real company.

This statement is common sense in the startup world and this is why Startup Dream Team, a 9-week summer program created by Silicon Students for young aspiring entrepreneurs, decided to focus on “the team” which many often consider as the most important aspect of a startup. Indeed, building dream teams will be our goal this summer from June 18th to August 12th.

So, what is a “dream team?” Some great entrepreneurs, teachers, VCs and startup experts gave their views on the topic. Even if the actual structure depends on the industry, Steve Blank states a good team generally needs “great technology skills (hacking/hardware/science), great hustling skills (to search for a business model, customers, and market), great user facing design (for web and mobile apps), and a long-term vision and product sense.” One person simply can’t have all these skills. Many laud the model even if the definition varies among many.

The “Hacker, Hustler, Designer” trio often gets recognition, Jeff Clavier calls it the 3D rule (Development, Distribution, Design) and David Weekly adds an “Operator” to that trio. Sean Parker, who comes up with the same structure as David Weekly, adds that at the end of the day, he assesses a team on its potential to create and execute a vision.

Even if we can argue for hours over the definition of a good team, as we have just seen, there are definitely some really efficient existing models. Furthermore, the hardest thing is not defining a good team but rather actually building one. You have to identify your needs and most importantly find the people.

Indeed, you have to surround yourself with great people who have complementary skills and can work efficiently with you. Last but not least, as any ambitious company should aim at being around for several years, the team should have people who get along very well and have possibly known one another for a long time.

Moreover, luck is often not enough. You also need spend time in the right places to find people. Schools and local tech communities are some of them as they generally gather people with many common interests, different set of skills, and who are about the same age. Once you are in one of those environments, you have to be aware enough of the fundamental importance of teams in startups to realize that you need to enjoy this situation to build real and meaningful relationships with people you can work well with and who share your visions. Startup Dream Team’s  goal will be to create a perfect environment for aspiring entrepreneurs to build great startup teams by:

• Gathering people with the same dreams and aspirations: 30 entrepreneurially-minded students willing to stay in the Silicon Valley to intern at a startup
• Having them live together in an entrepreneur-friendly environment during two months: the Startup House in the heart of San Francisco
• Inspiring them with talks of top entrepreneurs and startup experts: Robert Scoble, Hiten Shah, and Aaron Levie
• Fostering teamwork: every week, a team of five interns will actually organize the logistic of the talk and a hack day on Sunday

On a daily basis, the students will work at their internship job. Therefore, they will learn a lot about the startup life and Silicon Valley ecosystem.

As a way to assess the interns at the end of the program, we will have them create teams based on efficiency and affinity at the end of week 8. They will then work during the last week on ideas pitched by entrepreneurs and VCs and present them in front of a jury on August 12th. If it seems like a program for you, you can apply on Startup Dream Team website until May 26th 11:59 PST.

Startup Dream Team is an attempt to create a perfect environment for team creation while enabling aspiring entrepreneurs to have an amazing Silicon Valley experience.

This is Silicon Students answer to the question “How to build dream teams?” But this is a really difficult question with several possible answers. What’s your opinion?

The days of window shopping are coming to an end for some customers. Instead of holding off on a purchase for a better price, shoppers can use Paidpiper to engage with businesses for immediate rewards. Paidpiper is a mobile CRM platform that lets brands directly communicate with consumers.

Businesses pour money into advertising to increase brand awareness, but they are often missing out on information about their customers that would increase sales and customer loyalty. With Paidpiper, businesses can learn more about their customers and incentivize customers to make a purchase on the spot.

If you find yourself debating a purchase, you can use Paidpiper to make your decision easier. You can engage with the brand through your phone, such as by filling out a survey. In return, the platform will reward you with money to spend toward the purchase. A credit card number will be issued to you with a monetary credit on your smart phone. Engaging with companies that participate in Paidpiper’s service could save you money and the stress of a hefty receipt.

Atif Hussein, CEO of Paidpiper, started the company in the summer of 2011 after he left Nokia where he was responsible for Products and Engineering. “After some research, I realized that no one had a simple payments and redemption system in place for consumers and brands over mobile at PoS,” says Hussein. Determined to simplify a subset of problems that come with mobile payments, Hussein brought on Prem Deb as a co-founder of Paidpiper. One of the most rewarding parts of development for Atif Hussein was watching his team transform the product “from a white board sketch to being a launch partner of MasterCard at CTIA in under 6 months.”

So what’s next for Paidpiper? The team is developing Ok’d, the first consumer facing app on the Paidpiper platform. According to Hussein, the app “showcases the deep CRM and Payments functionality in Paidpiper.” Parents could use Ok’d to give their children money and place restrictions on where that money can be spent. Ok’d will be available as a free app later this summer.

Links: Paidpiper

The dorm room isn’t just a place of innovation for the all too familiar tale of creating mobile apps and social networks. Eric Migicovsky, the creator of the Pebble e-paper watch, started working on smart watches four years ago in his dorm room at TU Delft. In 2010, Migicovsky launched the inPulse beta, a Blackberry watch. He joined Y Combinator in 2011, generated revenue and raised an additional $375K from a few angel investors. But then Migicovsky found himself in need of more money and as his hands opened to investors, their wallets closed.

Migicovsky turned to Kickstarter to continue with his vision of creating a watch that worked with a smart phone. His team developed Pebble, which connects to your iPhone or Android smart phone. This lightweight watch can run apps which display important messages, show you who’s calling, monitor your workouts (pace and distance, and control your music apps (e.g. Pandora and Spotify). Thanks to an e-paper display, reading the Pebble screen even under direct sunlight is easy. The Pebble team recently announced that the watch will support the new Bluetooth 4.0 standard in addition to Bluetooth 2.1, which can potentially extend the current 7-day-long battery life when paired with a compatible device.

The Kickstarter project will end in less than a week and the Pebble team will have access to the funds. Last month, the Pebble team pledged a goal of $100,000, but to the surprise of the whole team, they received over $10 million in funding from 67,423 backers. The team also plans to publish an open SDK, to let developers improve the Pebble with their own apps.

Investors were not willing to bet on Migicovsky’s watches, but that didn’t stop him. Migicovsky’s perseverance led to Pebble becoming the most highly funded Kickstarter project. More impressive than their funding is the support and enthusiasm from their customers. In September, the company will deliver about 85,000 watches to backers who believed in the project.

The watch is now sold out but you can sign up here to get alerts when more watches become available.

Links: Kickstarter | GetPebble

Last fall, I took a leave of absence from college and had the pleasure of being part of the third batch of 500 Startups. I’m excited for this new class to experience the strength of the 500 community, the best workspace view of Silicon Valley and the work hard, play hard mentality.

Many of our Monday batch meetings began with Dave McClure, founding partner at 500 Startups, asking the founders, who weren’t generating revenue, to raise their hands. As time progressed, the number of trembling hands dwindled. It comes as no surprise that a majority of the startups are revenue focused.

Yesterday’s newly announced class is slightly smaller, with 27 startups compared to the last batch of 34. Of these 27, there are five that stood out to me. McClure stresses the default being that you will die, but here are my favorites that I think can survive.

Let the Funding Games begin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLTriRxzShQ&hd=1

1. CardFlick

CardFlick lets you easily create custom business cards and share them with those around you. You can choose from one of their 30 aesthetic themes, and you can also integrate your Instagram or Facebook photos into your card. Hoping to eliminate physical business cards, CardFlick lets you exchange your card with other users via your iPhone (and soon Android, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry, too). Their templates include some of the most beautiful business cards I’ve ever seen.

2. Chalkable

Chalkable provides schools with an educational platform and a curated app store to enhance the classroom. Many teachers are hesitant to adopt new technology because of the time commitment it takes to learn the new interfaces, but Chalkable’s easy to learn platform helps teachers take advantage of tools they might have otherwise shied away from. With Chalkable, teachers can manage their classroom, distribute grades and assignments, and foster a learning environment through the content in the app store.

3. Publik Demand

Publik Demand has got to be the most badass startup of this batch. They help consumers change bad company policy. The idea for the startup originated from a terrible customer experience by Publik Demand co-founder, Courtney Powell. She experienced the struggle of the small consumer against a huge corporation, and now she wants to amplify your message and help customers be treated like customers.

4. Groupiter

Groupiter adds real-time conversations to your DropBox files. Finally! Collaboration can be disjointed when you’re switching from a Dropbox file to a Skype or email conversation just to make a few tweaks in the file. Now that Dropbox has Google Drive as a competitor, it will be interesting to see if Groupiter aids in making Dropbox a more compelling product than Google Drive.

5. Monogram

Monogram is a shopping app for the iPad that learns your taste and recommends fashion items that fit your style. Instead of browsing fashion sites and clicking through pages just to find a piece of clothing you like, Monogram presents to you your own style. It also alerts you of new releases and sales. Now we can all find the most fashionable items that pertain to our individual taste.

Just a few hours after publishing a story regarding my experience participating in the Windows Phone challenge at the Santa Clara Microsoft Store, my article hit the Reddit front-page. It was not long before dozens of publications picked up the story as well.

Microsoft Evangelist Ben Rudolph (@BenThePCGuy) was kind enough to offer a rematch as I had requested. However, he publicly tweeted the following message this morning before I had a chance to respond likely due to a storm of angry tweets.

I exchanged emails with Ben regarding the matter earlier today and learned that a laptop and phone were aside for me at the Santa Clara Microsoft Store. I dropped by this evening and after spending a few minutes chatting with two rather extremely friendly store managers, I walked out with a $1,049 Hunger Games Special Edition HP Folio 13 and a $899 Nokia Lumia 800 Bundle.

I recently just purchased a new HP Envy 15 and I am rather happy with my smart phone, so I decided to put both of these up for auction on eBay. I will ship the highest bidder of each listing the respective device and donate 100% of the proceeds to a charity of with the help of Reddit’s choosing.

eBay Auctions:

1. HP Folio 13-1051nr, Hunger Games Edition
2. Nokia Lumia 800 Bundle

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

I headed down to the Santa Clara Microsoft Store this morning after hearing about the Windows Phone challenge last night. For those not familiar, anyone who completes a task faster than a Windows Phone on their own smart phone can win a $1000 Special Edition Laptop assuming they meet some standard terms and conditions. Those who “get smoked” by a Windows Phone, have the opportunity to trade in their existing device for Windows Phone.

After signing a waiver agreeing to let Microsoft use a photo of me in their advertising, I got in line for the challenge. I was using a Samsung Galaxy Nexus which runs the latest Android operating system on the Verizon Wireless network. As requested, I shut down my phone and powered it on in front of an employee when it was my turn. (I’m assuming they don’t want anyone pre-launching any apps in advance.)

The Microsoft Store employee I was up against then explained the selected challenge. Her exact words were the following: “bring up the weather of two different cities.” The one who could do that first would win. I felt like I struck gold since I knew I already had two weather widgets on my home screen: one for my current location (San Jose, CA) and another for Berkeley, CA.

After a three-second count down, I hit the power button on my phone and said “DONE!” out loud. I had disabled the lock screen entirely, which is a rather awesome out-of-the-box feature of Android that takes you straight to the home screen with a single push of the power button. I didn’t even need to touch the screen, since the two weather widgets were already there.

My opponent finished a split-second later. She had two live tiles on her home screen displaying the weather of two different cities as well. Why does it take longer on Windows Phone? She had to perform two actions. First, she hit the power button to turn on the screen. Second, she had to swipe away the lock screen. That’s pretty much as fast as it gets on that platform. Windows Phone takes two interactions. Android takes just one.

I excitedly thought I won out of pure luck. However, I was quickly told that I lost. I asked for a reason and was told Windows Phone won because “it displays the weather right there.” That was rather unclear. I showed her my device which also was showing off the same information with two side-by-side weather widgets on the center home screen. After pressing for a better reason, I was told that Windows Phone won “just because.”

After trying to push for a real answer since I clearly won the contest by their rules, another Microsoft Store employee (possibly a manager) came by after noticing me asking more questions. Thinking on his feet, he quickly gave a ridiculous out-of-thin-air reason that I need to display the weather of different cities in different states and that “my phone could not do that”.

I calmly and politely tried pointing out that I was absolutely never told about having to show off two different states, but at this point I realized there was no point in even attempting to argue since the Microsoft Store employees clearly had no intention of even potentially discussing the possibility of considering me the winner.

I was then asked to snap a photo in front of a sign that read along the lines of “My Android was smoked by Windows Phone” before leaving the store.

I was quite excited to take the challenge, but left the Microsoft Store in distaste. I sure hope the purpose of this marketing ploy is to attract new customers by demonstrating the highlights of Windows Phone, not frustrating them instead. If anyone from Microsoft would like to have a rematch, I would be happy to smoke a Windows Phone with Android, again.

Update: I Got My Laptop & A Windows Phone. Both Are Up For Auction. 100% Of Proceeds Go To Charity.

After spending about a week with the third-generation iPad which went on sale last Friday after Apple’s grand unveiling in San Francisco earlier this month, here are several features I hope will go into next year’s model.

Stereo Speakers

This one seems trivial, but will go a long way. Every iPad to date only packs a single mono speaker. Considering movies and music are key features, the lack of stereo speakers is rather disappointing. Several Android tablets including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 offer stereo speakers. Even the BlackBerry PlayBook has a speaker on each side.

FaceTime Camera

Apple threw in a vastly improved rear-facing iSight camera, but the FaceTime camera on the front remains the same: it shoots at just 0.3 megapixels. For those wondering, Apple describes it as a VGA resolution which translates to just 640 x 480 pixels. Considering Skype just bumped video quality up to 1080p last month, including a 2 megapixel camera on front seems reasonable at the very least.

Thinner and Lighter

The original iPad weighed 1.5 pounds and the iPad 2 slimmed down to just 1.33 pounds. Unfortunately, the third-generation iPad weights 1.44 pounds. The much larger battery is the obvious culprit, but it was probably the only option to maintain the same 10 hour run-time with the power hungrier hardware. Tablets should continue shedding weight, not adding bulk.

The new iPad’s 0.37 inch thick body is thinner than the original 0.53 inch model, but bulkier than the 0.35 inch thick iPad 2. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 weighs just 1.25 pounds and is only 0.34 inches thick. The Asus Transformer Prime is even thinner at just 0.33 inches and weighs 1.29 pounds.

Micro USB and HDMI

Every iOS device to date uses the same Dock Connector. I do not see a change happening, but I hope Apple will eventually adopt microUSB. While it might be a pain for those who already own accessories with dock connectors, it would help keep things consistent with other products on the market. I would love to charge my iPad with the same cable that also charges my Bluetooth headset, smart phone, Kindle, and many other devices.

Jumping to Micro USB would also open the doors to supporting HDMI thanks to MHL. Apple offers a $40 AV Adapter for HDMI output, but generic cables are usually more affordable.

Siri Please

Some claim the new iPad lacks Siri to because WiFi-only models do not always have a constant data connection and it would be inconsistent to only offer the feature to the mobile broadband enabled ones. I also came across reasons including hardware limitations and Apple possibly holding it back until next year to entice users to upgrade again.

I am not really sure why Siri isn’t available, but the hardware is definitely capable and Apple already has the technology to make it possible. I really do hope an update will introduce the feature soon. It would be nice to check the weather, set an alarm, send a text message, or search the web quickly when my hands are tied up doing multiple things. Voice dictation already works great.

Quad Core Processor

The third-generation iPad has a quad-core graphics processing unit (GPU), but still runs on a dual-core processor. While the current configuration makes major strides for graphics intensive tasks, the new hardware does not necessarily speed up every day use. Several of the flagship Android smart phones and tablets are making a leap into quad-core territory this summer and Apple will hopefully do the same for the iPhone this year and for the next iPad in 2013.

WPS Support For iOS

Just about every router now offers WPS (WiFi Protected Setup) for one-click pairing with a wireless home network. Clicking a button to let guests connect to your network makes things a whole lot simpler than having to share a complex network key. Windows 7 has the feature built-in and many Android devices offer the feature too. Though a tiny addition, it is also a huge convenience.

Runs Cooler

Consumer Reports claims the iPad runs nearly 13 F warmer than the previous model. I probably would have never noticed if it were not for all the buzz that followed. Even if comfort is not an issue, pushing for cooler running temperatures in next year’s iteration does not hurt. Lithium-Ion batteries are prone to loosing capacity when exposed to high temperatures for extended periods of time.

Links: Apple iPad

It is well-known that a bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) could ultimately lead to online censorship as dictated by government protocol. Erik Martin, general manager of Reddit, put it best, explaining that, “SOPA would kill Reddit” and other community-driven forums of its nature. Not everyone agrees with Martin and several companies chose to stand behind the anti-piracy act, only to face an immediate revolt among online communities. Following this reaction, the faces of some industries have pulled back from their alliance in the bill, while others may be a little more superficial in their retreat.

Just a week ago, GoDaddy was one of the first big-name corporations to declare their alliance for SOPA only to almost immediately retract it after enduring an intense Internet backlash against the decision. Skatter Tech reported on the following reaction of social forums’ CEOs, including Ben Huh and Paul Graham, among others—all willing and eager to transfer their business from GoDaddy to competitors. The disaster that ensued from their public alliance wasn’t the only reason GoDaddy recalled their support—much of the responsibility was assigned to the outcries, boycotting, and petitioning held by the Reddit community.

The online censorship act would also greatly affect the way the gaming industry utilizes the online community in the attempt to offer the ultimate gaming experience. And thus major players in the gaming industry have declared their support for the anti-piracy act and, much like GoDaddy, have had to face the wrath of the internet in return. Nintendo, Sony, and Electronic Arts have all declared their alliance with SOPA and have had to recall it after the boycotts and criticism followed. On the surface, it looks like the internet has successfully protected itself from censorship by influencing the industrial giants that could sway its future entirely. However, that may not be the case.

While it is confirmed that Nintendo, Sony, Electronic Arts, and others have all pulled out of their alliance with SOPA, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has not. This is notable because ESA is a significant driving force behind SOPA and members of the ESA include (you guessed it) Nintendo, Sony, and Electronic Arts. ESA’s influence doesn’t stop at SOPA, either; it also reaches sister acts like PROTECT IP. It is also capable of targeting specific websites and shutting them down as seen fit. This leads to the obvious question—has their heavily criticized support for SOPA truly been lifted?

Online communities have spoken and effectively made it clear to major players like Sony, Nintendo, GoDaddy, and others that SOPA will not be passed without a fight. These corporations have reacted appropriately by removing their association with the anti-piracy act on the surface, but whether or not that actually removes their influence on the bill is questionable. Regardless of opinion, it is our responsibility as contributors to online communities (of any caliber) to understand just how deep the influence and effects of SOPA go. And, as always, “hell hath no fury like the Internet’s wrath.”

Links: Reddit /r/SOPA | S.O.P.A. Supporters

The Stop Online Piracy Act (aka. S.O.P.A) has been making headlines around the web in recent weeks. The bill introduced by the U.S. House of Representatives aims to cut down illegal file sharing. However its critics say the bill will do more harm than good. Big tech companies such as Google and Facebook have come out in strong opposition, pointing out that if passed, the government would have the power to shut down websites and order search engines to modify search results to combat piracy. Opponents say that this infringes on basic online freedoms and will not actually solve the issue at hand. Proponents of the bill include the usual suspects, big entertainment companies such as Disney and the NFL, who have suffered great losses due to piracy and are desperate for a solution.

Today, many were surprised to read that domain registrar and web hosting company, Go Daddy is in support of the bill. A link to the announcement posted on the popular social sharing site Reddit has sparked outrage around the web and has called for a boycott of the company. But it is not just a small minority transferring personal domains, I Can Has Cheezeburger CEO Ben Huh has threatened  to move over 1000 domains off Go Daddy unless they change their stance on S.O.P.A.

Many web host competitors are taking advantage of the situation and offering discounts to Go Daddy customers to switch their hosting provider. Regardless of whether S.O.P.A. is good or not, the announcement by Go Daddy has created a PR nightmare. A quick look at Go Daddy’s twitter feed reveals a stream of public replies reading “We encourage you to visit our blog to view the details of our position on SOPA”. The company does not seem to be backing down from their position or doing anything to retain the customers they are loosing today.

The boycott has even spread past Go Daddy, YCombinator founder Paul Graham announced that he will be banning any companies supporting S.O.P.A. from his Demo Day events.

“If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good investors?” — Paul Graham.

If the trend continues it may not only be unpopular to support S.O.P.A. but also unprofitable. Let us know what you think about the boycott in the comments, did Go Daddy make the right move by taking such a strong stance?

Links: Go Daddy Announcement | Reddit Post