I really, really hate companies that don’t let you use their devices without registering them in some way. Even Apple isn’t that evil.1

But Barnes & Noble is.

I recently purchased a Nook Simple Touch as a gift for someone and wanted to set it up with some books for them. I’ve done this before with a Kindle without any problems.2

However, the Nook Simple Touch forces you to create a Barnes & Noble account and add a credit card on file before you can actually use the device you paid for.

Aside from being a bad out-of-box experience, it also makes things like selling the Nook down the line harder (assuming you like to reset your devices before selling them and the buyer wants to see them actually working before paying.)

Well, for anyone else in the same boat, here’s how to get your Nook Simple Touch up and running without registering. Please note that all credit for this solution goes to crazy_jake from the xda-developers forums.

1. Turn on the device, but do NOT start setting it up. B&N devilishly waits until the last step to ask you to create an account, at which point the following instructions don’t work. If you do start setting it up, just turn it off and back on again.

2. Hold down the top right button on the front of the device and slide your finger from left to right across the top of the E Ink screen. (It’s a little hard to see, but it’s the Nook’s default next page button if you were using your right hand. For past Kindle owners, it’s the one in the same spot as the previous page button on a Kindle.)

3. A ‘Factory’ button should appear in the top left corner of the screen. Press it.

4. Once in the Factory menu, hold down the top right button on the front of the device and tap the bottom right corner of the screen.

5. You should now see a ‘Skip Oobe’ button. Tap that and the Nook should finally load the home screen.

Hope this helps someone. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

I once read an article about the things that taste most like chicken.1 First was chicken.

But second was Tofurky.

I don’t know if that’s true or not. What I do know is that Tofurky puts quotidian vegetarian fare to shame. And it keeps getting better every year.

Try one sometime. You might—nay, will—be pleasantly surprised.

PS. Some Black Friday advice from a battle-hardened veteran: skip the stores, shop online.

I’m continually fascinated to learn what hardware and software people I admire use. The Setup does a fantastic job interviewing prominent technologists about this exact topic. One of my favorite bloggers, Paul Stamatiou, has created a version of this as well, which I’m blatantly stealing (with permission!).

Computer Setup

• Laptop: 13.3-inch unibody MacBook Pro (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo/4 GB RAM/250GB hard drive)
• Monitor: BenQ 24-inch LCD
• Mouse: Logitech MX Revolution wireless mouse
• Keyboard: Logitech Wave wireless keyboard
• Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers
• External Hard Drive: Seagate Freeagent (500GB), Western Digital My Book Essential (1TB)
• Home Server: HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server (4x1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 HDDs)

Gadgets

• Cell Phone: Apple iPhone 4 (black 32GB)
• Tablet: Apple iPad (16GB Wi-Fi)
• Digital Camera: Canon EOS Rebel XS 10.1MP DSLR
• Router: Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 (802.11g)
• eBook Reader: Amazon Kindle 2 (sold)
• Video Games: Xbox 360 (sold)
• Media Receiver: Apple TV, original Xbox with XBMC (sold)
• Projector: Optoma DV10 DLP Projector (built-in DVD player) (sold)

Services

• Email/Calendar: Google Apps (custom domain)
• File Sync: Dropbox
• Online Backup: Mozy
• Video Rental: Netflix
• Web Hosting: MediaTemple (gs)

Software

• Web Browser: Firefox (primary), Chromium, Safari
• RSS: Google Reader
• Blogging: WordPress
• Twitter: Tweetie
• To-Do Lists: Things
• FTP: Transmit
• Web Development: Coda
• Virtualization: VMware Fusion with Windows XP
• Media Player: VLC Player
• Office Suite: Microsoft Office 2008
• Music: iTunes
• Photos: iPhoto
• Backup: Time Machine
• Other: TextExpander
• Other: TunesArt
• Other: iStat Menus

Before I started this little experiment, I was wary of just how big of a monopoly Google seemingly had on useful web services.

So, I decided to live without Google for a week.

How difficult was it? Well, at first I was incredibly frustrated. I recorded a short video (but to abide by my own rules, I sent it to someone else to upload to YouTube for me):

As you can see in that video, recorded on only my first day of the experiment, I was already second-guessing myself. However, as I progressed through the week, I found it became easier and easier to use some of the alternatives.

I chronicled my story in tweets, where you can see an evident progression from being obsessed with Google products to finding equal, if not superior, alternatives from other companies.

In the end, I found myself rather happy with the results of the experiment. I recorded another video, where I further expounded on the reasons I believe myself and others feel so connected to Google, but also why we have reason to be legitimately excited for the future:

All in all, I must say that I found this little experiment to be a bit of an eye-opener on the power a single company has over the Internet. However, after trying so many new products this week from startups and competing online behemoths, I believe that singular stranglehold on trailblazing products may now be waning. More than anything, I am ridiculously excited about the future of the Internet and what the days and years ahead will hold.

What about you? Could you ever go a week (or longer!) without using Google products, now or in the future?

Could you live without Google for a week?

I survived just that harrowing experience, despite being a very heavy user of the wide breath of Google services and products. I was happy to be joined in this crazy little experiment by Nitesh Arora, a relatively light Google user; the contrast in our experiences by the end of the week was very surprising indeed.

Here is our story, in tweets:
Continue reading →

Google, in little over a decade, has become the most pervasive company on the Internet. They freely give away their best products and we have correspondingly embraced them.

Off the top of my head, here’s a quick list of the Google products I frequently use (and you probably do too):

• Google Search
• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Google Docs
• Google Maps
• Google Reader
• Google Voice
• Google Chrome
• Google Image Search
• Google News
• Blogger
• YouTube
• FeedBurner
• Picasa
• Google Adsense
• Google Analytics
• Google Checkout
• Google Buzz
• Google Talk
• Google Latitude
• Google Alerts
• Google Groups
• Google Translate
• Google DNS

These are just the ones I personally use; more of you probably use things like Android, Buzz, or Latitude, not to mention all the different Google services hidden in the code of millions of websites across the Internet. The full list of Google products is downright scary (click here if you dare to take a look).

Continue reading →

Twitter is on a warpath and the casualties are counting.

iPhone apps? Twitter bought the best one, Tweetie (and they recently released their own official apps for BlackBerry and Android).

URL shortening? Twitter gave rise to bit.ly and now they just cemented its downfall.

A better web client and built-in picture support? The smart money says it’s coming, and Seesmic, TwitPic, and others should be scared.

Back in the Good Ol’ Days

TinyURL launched in 2002, but didn’t gain widespread appeal until Twitter adopted it as its official URL shortener. Back then (2006-2009ish), Twitter had nary a concern for money. They were focused on building the best service possible (or at least one that didn’t go down every other minute) and welcomed an ecosystem of outside apps and services built on top of the basic Twitter platform. This dichotomy worked out beautifully: Twitter wanted to grow and scale, and they basically got free outside help.

Back then, it was actually in Twitter’s own interest to avoid monetizing the service. As the anecdote goes, you don’t know what a company’s worth until it starts making money. That is, without ads or paid subscriptions, Twitter’s earning potential seems limitless. Seem counterintuitive? Perhaps at first. Basically, once a company starts making money, by implementing ads or charging for premium services, investors start realizing just how much — or how little — a company is truly capable of making. But until that point, everyone can still dream of fistfuls of cash just dropping from the sky.

However, the honeymoon can’t last forever. Now, with investors presumably breathing down their necks and Twitter becoming a true pop culture phenomenon (the Oprah moment!), Twitter needs to start figuring out how to pay off investors and become a financially successful company with plans for an IPO down the line.

In Pursuit of Money

Make no mistake, all of Twitter’s recent changes are a result of the company “growing up” and preparing to launch its advertising platform.  Without controlling how the end-user views tweets, it becomes impossible to guarantee the wide dissemination of Twitter’s own advertising platform (that is, without hijacking the Twitter stream with spammy and unimaginative advertising tweets, now explicitly prohibited by Twitter’s recently revised Terms of Service).

Twitter bought Tweetie and rebranded it Twitter for iPhone because it was, by far, the best mobile client available.  Creating its own app from scratch would’ve required significant effort and expenditure and many power users may have stuck with Tweetie anyways if they believed it to be better. By adopting the best client as its own, Twitter guaranteed widespread initial acceptance.

In contrast, Bit.ly picked up steam on its own, but only went mainstream after Twitter started using it as the default shortener on Twitter.com. Power users liked it because it provided analytics and, more recently, branded URLs for its Pro service users (such as TechCrunch’s tcrn.ch or the New York Times’ nyti.ms). However, with Twitter’s impending t.co shortening service, Bit.ly will lose its most valuable asset: prominent placement on Twitter.com

In short, URL shortening services went viral, but only because they helped users maximize the utility of Twitter’s infamous 140 characters limit. If Twitter now allows full URLs in tweets, why would anyone bother using a URL shortener?

Without Twitter, can a URL shortening service still be a viable (and profitable) company? If Facebook’s copy-rather-than-acquire precedent is any model, competing services are going to have a tough time.

Will Bit.ly Get Rocky Balboa’ed or Can It Bounce Back?

Now, the onus is on Bit.ly to innovate or die. They have already begun offering some premium services, but they need to go much farther.

I suspect they will need to shift some of their focus from their core business (short domains) to other ancillary services, like small landing pages for consumers or a full-fledged analytics service for microblogging services (like Tumblr and Posterous, in addition to Twitter).

Or they can just hope Google acquires them.

What do you think – can Bit.ly survive this onslaught from Twitter or are they just a feature, not a company?

[photo credit: flickr/mdverde]

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Hulu, the premier online legal TV watching destination, will be launching a paid subscription version next month.  Hulu Plus, as it will be called, will charge $9.95 monthly for access to the back catalog of some of the shows which they currently only have up to 5 episodes of.  Would you pay for such a subscription service?

Despite being an avowed television and digital media aficionado, right now I would NOT pay for this type of plan.  As it stands, access to a few more episodes from the current season of the shows they have available is simply not compelling enough for me to fork over $120 of my hard-earned money every year.  However, what can Hulu do to get my money?

I’m glad you asked.  I’d pay for a Hulu subscription if…

1. HD Video

   Simply put, the paucity of HD shows on Hulu is maddening. They have a few in a special walled-off section of the site, but they’re one-off episodes, not for entire series (or even seasons of a show).  In order for any paid subscription plan, Hulu simply must offer HD versions of their shows – 720p will suffice, but 1080p would be even better.

2. Can I watch on my TV?

   Hulu, understandably, has tried to restrict companies like Boxee from being able to play its videos on TV-connected devices. This is primarily because Hulu is actually owned by the major broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, and Fox each have a 30% stake in the company). However, in order for any Hulu paid plan to have traction, consumers MUST be able to watch shows on their TV. Ideally, this would be through partnerships with companies like Microsoft and Apple, on the Xbox 360 and Apple TV and other such devices.

   The most important caveat is that rights holders (read: the networks and production companies) should not and can not be allowed to restrict their shows from being watched on TVs. When Amazon released the Kindle 2, they included a text-to-speech feature on all ebooks; however, after pressure from book publishers, they allowed this feature to be restricted on a per-book basis. For Hulu Plus to be successful, Hulu must not succumb to outside pressures as Amazon did.

3. Access on more portable devices (Netflix model)

   Netflix has succeeded in the digital video space because of its ubiquitous access. Simply put, Hulu must follow Reed Hastings’ lead and do the same. As a consumer, I want to be able to start a television show on Hulu.com, continue watching it on my TV, and then finish it on an iPhone or iPad. Hulu Plus may find consumers willing to pay for access on their computers and televisions, but it won’t be a ball-out-of-the-park hit unless it is available on the products consumers are increasingly using: phones, tablets, and digital media players.

4. More formats (Silverlight instead of Flash?)

   Many people are happy with Hulu.com. I am not.

   Simply put, using Flash to display videos is a nice cross-platform solution (and easier for web developers), but it stutters like crazy on my Mac computer (and multiple underpowered Windows PCs I use from time to time). On the other hand, I have never run into these issues while watching an ‘Instant Streaming’ movie on Netflix. This is primarily because Netflix employs the competing Silverlight platform made by Microsoft. Silverlight is a newer technology and is optimized for streaming web video; Flash was never designed for this purpose and such features have essentially been hacked on in the aftermath of YouTube’s wild success.

   In an ideal world, Hulu Plus will support Silverlight instead of, or at least in addition to, Flash. A man can hope, right?

5. Fewer commercials

   Internet users are trained early to expect websites to fall into one of two categories: advertising-supported or subscription-based. Hulu.com falls into the former; users watch one or two commercials every so often in exchange for freely watching television shows. However, in order to get consumers to pay up for Hulu Plus, there must be fewer commercials.

   Unlike many other people, I do not expect Hulu Plus to be completely devoid of advertising. As NBC CEO Jeff Zucker has said on behalf of the entire television industry, “We can’t trade analog dollars for digital pennies.” With Hulu Plus expected to be only $9.99 monthly, it will already arguably be a much better deal than cable or satellite — which the average household pays nearly $75 for, but still has plentiful commercials on almost every channel.

All in all, that’s what it’d take for me, seemingly the perfect target audience, to pay for Hulu Plus.  What will it take for you to subscribe to Hulu Plus?

Note: Idea borrowed from Paul Stamatiou with permission.

This is a list of applications, products and services I personally use on a regular basis. I was not paid for placement of anything on this list, they’re all things I personally find useful. If you have any suggestions about applications, products or services to try out or replace what I’m currently using, I’d love to hear about it!

Computer Setup

• Laptop: 13.3-inch unibody MacBook Pro (2.53GHz processor/4 GB RAM/250GB hard drive)
• Monitor: BenQ 24″ LCD
• Mouse: Logitech MX Revolution wireless mouse
• Keyboard: Logitech Wave wireless keyboard
• Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers
• External Hard Drive: Seagate Freeagent (500GB)
• Home Server: 4 terabyte custom-built Windows Home Server (4x1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 HDDs)

Gadgets

• Cell Phone/DAP: iPhone 3GS (black 32GB)
• Digital Camera: Canon EOS Rebel XS 10.1MP DSLR camera
• eBook Reader: Amazon Kindle 2
• Video Games: Xbox 360 Arcade (20GB hard drive)
• Media Receiver: Apple TV (40GB)
• Router: Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 802.11g wireless router
• Optoma DV10 MovieTime DLP Projector With Built-In DVD Player
• Original Xbox with XBMC

Services

• Email/Calendar: Google Apps for my domain
• Telephone: Google Voice
• Backup: Mozy
• File Sync: Dropbox
• Web Hosting: MediaTemple (gs)
• Video Rental: Netflix

Software

• Web Browser: Firefox
• RSS: Google Reader
• Blogging: WordPress
• Twitter: Tweetie
• To-Do Lists: Things
• FTP: Transmit
• Web Development: Coda
• Virtualization: VMware Fusion with Windows XP
• Media Player: VLC Player
• Office Suite: Microsoft Office 2008
• Music: iTunes
• Photos: iPhoto
• Backup: Time Machine
• Other: TextExpander