Saturday, April 16, 2011

My Review of FreeMotion 770 Treadmill

Originally submitted at The Sports Authority

Get ready to walk, jog or run your way to the body of your dreams! The FreeMotion® 770 treadmill is designed with a 3.5 CHP motor and roomy 20" x 60" 2-ply commercial belt. The 10" full-color touch display lets you select any of the 28 preset workout apps with ease, and iPod...


Heavy duty, quiet

By Clay from Denver on 4/16/2011

 

5out of 5

Pros: Sturdy Design, Quiet, Easy To Setup

Cons: Confusing Controls

Describe Yourself: Casual/ Recreational

Was this a gift?: No

Use this nightly with my baby asleep in the next room and not a peep. The grade is awesome, and the iFit is cool to match up with folks.

Very sturdy design and easy to fold up which gains some space, but still - its a big unit. You'll want room for it.

(legalese)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

My Review of The North Face Aconcagua Jacket Mens

Originally submitted at The Sports Authority

The North Face® Aconcagua men's jacket is a rugged, down-filled insulating piece constructed for warmth and comfort. Recycled materials are incorporated into the shell fabric for a reduced environmental impact. 550-fill down insulation traps heat close to the skin for exceptional warmth in...


Warm, warm, warm

By Clay from Denver on 2/27/2011

 

4out of 5

Sizing: Feels true to size

Sleeve Length: Feels true to length

Pros: Lightweight, Warm, Durable

Best Uses: Outdoor Activities, Daily Use

Describe Yourself: Casual Dresser

Warmest jacked I own, great for skiing on dry days. I worried initially about the fabric getting ripped, but its been very durable.

(legalese)

Thursday, February 10, 2011

My Review of Sole F80 Treadmill - New for 2011!

Originally submitted at The Sports Authority

The Sole® F80 treadmill boasts a strong, continuous-duty 3.0 HP motor that delivers challenging speeds up to 11 MPH; the Cushion Flex Whisper Deck reduces impact on your joints by up to 40% as compared to running on asphalt. As an additional perk, the console is designed with built-in speakers...


Heavy duty and quiet

By Clay from Denver on 2/10/2011

 

4out of 5

Pros: Sturdy Design, Quiet

Best Uses: Heart Rate Training, Endurance Training

Describe Yourself: Avid Athlete

Was this a gift?: No

This feels like a heavy-duty, gym-style treadmill. Real upgrade over the cheaper units and worth the extra $$$ to me.

(legalese)

Monday, December 06, 2010

My Review of Mountain Hardwear Monkey Man Jacket

Originally submitted at The Sports Authority

Plush with a trim fit, the Mountain Hardwear® Monkey Man men's fleece jacket is an essential layering piece. It's crafted using a high-pile fleece fabric for outstanding thermal efficiency and warmth-to-weight ratio. The MicroClimate Zoning™ construction delivers built-in warmth, brea...


Softest fleece around

By Clay from Denver on 12/6/2010

 

5out of 5

Sizing: Feels true to size

Pros: Versatile, Warm, Attractive Design

Best Uses: Daily Use, Going Out

Describe Yourself: Casual Dresser

This is the softest fleece I've found. Very warm. Perfect as a foundation layer, and warm enough to wear on non-windy days without a shell. Fantastic.

(legalese)

My Review of The North Face Men's Scythe Jacket

Originally submitted at The Sports Authority

An all-around mountain favorite, the North Face® men's Scythe jacket is a high-loft performance fitted fleece with a superior warmth-to-weight ratio. It's versatile enough to be used as a layering piece or on its own and constructed using ultra-lightweight Polartec® Thermal Pro...


Very comfortable and warm

By Clay from Denver on 12/6/2010

 

5out of 5

Sizing: Feels true to size

Sleeve Length: Feels true to length

Pros: Warm, Versatile, Attractive Design, Lightweight

Best Uses: Outdoor Activities, Daily Use, Going Out

Describe Yourself: Casual Dresser

Very comfortable, soft, and warm fleece. Needs a shell over it if too windy, but great for daily use.

(legalese)

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Things that don't make sense: Buying a house

Read a great article in the NYT yesterday that reminded me of some silliness that has never made sense to me - Why do people get so hung up on owning a house?  The rent vs. buy analysis nearly always says 'rent' in most non-flyover markets, but with all of the plummeting home prices (in SF at least) a lot of really smart people get roped into it being "a great time to buy."

SF prices still (if you believe the fundamentals outlined in the NYT article - which I do) still has at least 20%+ to fall in a short order... and no reason to have returns greater than inflation for the next decade.  Makes no sense to buy as long as rents are relatively cheap.

My bet - lock in a ridiculously low lease in 12 months and then count yourself lucky that SF has tough laws for landlords as inflation kicks in as rents run up.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Micropayments...

PTI - but will try to use this as a bit of a forcing mechanism to clarify my thinking about the things I'm reading about when I'm 'getting my learn' as my wife says.

Article today on micropayments in NYT - basic gist is that only the cellphone companies get it right, b/c they had the billing structure set up to do small payments already from their legacy systems.  Pretty interesting point, and lots of business school-y academic types would support that (Clay Christensen, etc, etc...).

Made me think of what other industry should be dabbling (sometimes deeply) in micropayments:

  • Videogames:  They've started with downloaded content, add-ons etc.  Good move, and should continue...but still not entirely subscription based.  Think that next-gen consoles (and particularly handhelds) are the most likely candidates for a bigger shift as they'll be even more integrated with Web.  (Another to watch is OnLive:  Less bullish about them, but they're model will be used by GOOG, APPL, MSFT, etc soon)  Image: OnLive MicroConsole
  • Netflix / Movies:  They should be careful as they move to a much more variable all-you-can eat model as they move to digital distribution (e.g., $100 / mos for any content you want - HBO+, etc...) as they may lose opportunities to grab value.  Can also imagine them charging you flat rate + $2/ mos for porting to your iPhone, or DSi, etc...
  • Sports Teams (?):  Could have the NESN's of the world parcell out game broadcasts / player interviews etc at a variable rate based on variable pricing, micropayments for additional highlight footage.  Doubtful though... 

...hmm, well apparently I can't think of anymore... but want to try to do a better job of using this as my scratch pad.  

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Nin-ten-dough




So the WSJ (subscription required) ran a big front pager today on Nintendo's effort to fight the "video game console arms race" by ignoring the missile gap hype and concentrating on making core gameplay fun. While I've been beating the Nintendo is a disruptive company drum for a while, its nice to see them getting some press for concentrating on what really matters in an environment where games are too complex and expensive for the people that loved playing Ms. Pacman and Mario and have since moved on to other things.

I think it will be interesting to see whether non-gamers actually adopt the console - reaction has been a bit mixed... but I think the buzz will be big enough that a lot will give a try. Maybe not buy one for themselves, but not ignore their kids when they beg for one this Christmas... speaking of which...

Was in Target yesterday buying my 5th replacement power supply for my piece of shizzle Nokia phone, and couldn't help but notice the huge end cap that Target has up for its Wii display. Basically gave the Wii 1/2 of an aisle, at an intersection of another main aisle... and they have NO PRODUCT yet... pretty impressive, and the PS3 display could only be seen when you looked around the corner.

Let's see - Nintendo's going to have inventory, the channel makes more money from selling their product, and they're targeting non gamers, casual gamers, and hard-core gamers with a pretty unique proposition... at a price point thats 40% below the actual cost of buying a PS3 or Xbox 360 w/ controller. And - oh btw - we make money on every console we sell vs. losing a few hundred?

Net/net: I think Nintendo wins this game outright. The market has started to give them credit for dominating the handheld market, but doesn't really seem to give them their full due for the share that they're going to get in the console market.
  • Kids: buy 'em a Wii. They're already sold.
  • Hard-core gamers with $ (of which there are tons): 80+% say they'll by the Nintendo as a compliment to their PS3 or XBOX360. (Think I saw this on Joystiq a while back)
  • Parents: Intuitive games that I can play with my kids? Mario? Got it.
  • Non-gamers: Not quite sure they're going to get that audience yet... but with the DS Lite and Wii combo, they'll get a few.
And they're competition? Not sure that Xbox 360 and PS3 can come down after these guys? Too $$$ and too complicated. You can't reverse engineer cheap + simple into a complicated + expensive product. Anywho - I've been piping this tune for too long - but its stuck in my head like the RBI baseball music...

That being said - NTDOY.PK... dee-nee.