History has proven time and time again that if you want to destroy a fad, a sweeping trend, or runaway success, all you have to do is make a rap song about it.? There is nothing more pitiful than watching a non-rapper attempt to rap and nothing that enrages the inner soul more than listening to a non-rapper trying to rap.? The 1985 Chicago Bears were perhaps the greatest team in NFL history, throw in the “Super Bowl Shuffle” and you haven’t heard a thing from them since.? The last time the New York Mets won the World Series was right after the team produced “Get Metsmerized”.? One of the latest victims is the Large Hadron Collider, humanity’s most expensive and important science project that is now BROKEN.? Blame it on this abomination:
If the Rapping Gods are listening, and I really, really hope they are this time, this latest horror show may save the printer industry.? Lyrics follow:
I bought a new printer for a bargin price
Printed out some pictures and they came out nice
Suddenly the warning light began to blink
Looked like my photo printer just ran out of ink
So I went to the store, money in hand
Looking for the cartridge of my printers brand
Found the one, but to my surprise
The colour cartridge cost more than I could buy
I found a member of staff
And said whats this?!
Your sign must be broke
Cos its too expensive
So doing his job, he double checked it
And confirmed the price of the ink cartridge
Calmly he says, as he turns
The price of your printer was as cheap as dirt
But when you need more ink thats when you pay
All the printer companies make their money this way!
When we gonna realize stupidity sells
Stop giving up your money to the ink cartels
Wake up everybody cos we’ve all been sold
Printer ink is more precious than gold
If you owned an ink guzzling car
A tank full of ink wouldn’t get you very far
Just one gallon of this printer food
Would cost more than a big barrel of crude
Cost you much more than a pound of gold
So when we gonna realise we’ve all been sold
*******, *****, ** and **** **
Are the real kingpins of the big ink set
But to save
The money you pay
Print economy mode every page
And to get more ink without breaking the bank
Dont go to the store for the brand name swank
Get a refill cartridge buy it online
Get good ink and save money and time
Economic mind through credit crunch time
Quality design with a price downsize!
This past weekend was the 19th annual AIDS Walk San Diego. I signed up to run the 10K race for the second year in a row.? Overall, the run went really well.? As I have mentioned, I am a leisure runner averaging about 4 to 5 miles a few times each week. This is my third attempt at a 10K and each time it gets a little easier. I will admit, however, that at around mile 3.5, I had thoughts that I would not be able to finish. I pulled through, with just a little walking, and ended up finishing after a little over an hour.? I would say that my average pace was between 11 and 12 minutes per mile.? For most this is pretty slow, but hey, at least I finished! Seeing and then crossing the finish line was definitely an amazing feeling. The crowds of people cheering you on and encouraging you all the way through the run really makes the difference.
It felt really great to be part of such a large fundraiser and see everyone out there supporting each other. The number of volunteers and sponsors to make an event like this happen is incredible and even more so, the diversity of people that attend events like this always impresses me.? Large corporations and small local shops form teams to support the cause at hand, raising money and awareness. High school students take part as volunteers directing walkers and runners and helping to distribute water.? Senior citizens and 10 year old kids all run and walk alongside each other and help support AIDS research.? The response is amazing and the vibe surrounding Balboa Park this Sunday was indescribable.
Once again, thank you to everyone that supported me with donations and encouragement. We managed to raise $805 in a little over a week?s time ? pretty incredible! I look forward to next year?s run where hopefully I can run with NO walking!!
The?Olympic Games held in Beijing, China represented the climax chapter in an epic story of a rebuilding country. Dozens of journalists, some of whom covered President Nixon?s historic visit to China in the 1970?s, spoke in wonder about how radically different the country is today. The bicycles of yesterday have been replaced with motorcycles and cars that scream past the Forbidden City. Chest slapping negotiations at the old world farmer?s markets have been replaced by cheering greeters at Shanghai?s new Walmart.
?
The buzz surrounding today?s China is impossible to avoid and has been the daily focus of countless journals and publications for the last 10 years. However, the sheer magnitude of what is happening in China cannot be conveyed in words. What we are witnessing today is of the same historical significance as the development of the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and the building of the Great Pyramids. A pilgrimage of tens of millions of Chinese, who have descended from rural towns and villages to find opportunities in China?s bursting metropolis, is so enormous in scale, that sociologists have called it the greatest migration (human or animal) in history. The growth and development of China is so big and so fast that it has choked global supplies of resources. Ask any architect about the global shortage of steel and the skyrocketing price of concrete and all will say one word: ?China?.
One of my favorite proverbs is “May you live in interesting times.”, which the Chinese consider a curse and has been of some historical debate in regards to accuracy. ?Historians suggest that the actual curse is, “May you live in an interesting age.”, linking a second Chinese saying that “it is better to be a dog in peaceful times than a man in a chaotic period”. ?As late as last June, I never thought that gap intelligence would somehow remotely be involved in China, but as the last few months have proven – we are living in interesting times.
While the United States is still the hotbed of consumption, manufacturers have looked to other global markets to fuel the next decades of growth. ?Four countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China have been tagged the hotbeds of growth in the new?millennium?and the collective group is commonly referred to as BRIC. ?While the focus is clearly on BRIC, detailed information about?the countries themselves is very hard to come by.
How is retail shopping managed?
How do products flow from manufacturer to customers?
Who controls pricing?
And, perhaps most importantly: ?Where do people shop?
The thirst for information about BRIC and the absolute void of data regarding the countries has pressured many of our clients to turn to gap intelligence to collect, report, and analyze data from these regions. ?Actually, our clients didn’t turn to us for information, they pushed us off the plank to go get it – and we have.
For the last six months, gap intelligence has been building a foundation for data collection and reporting in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. ?The obstacles and hurdles that we have cleared so far have been?enormous and our work is far from complete. ?However, I am happy to announce that gap intelligence now has people combing retail outlets in China and India and we are now distributing prototype reports for printer hardware, supplies, and digital cameras that cover all four BRIC countries. ?The pictures dotting this blog post were shot by our Chinese collection team at retailers Suning, Gome, and Yolo. ?
gap intelligence in China? ?
We are indeed living in an interesting age (oh, and call Tom if you want to see the reports).
?The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn?t exist.? – Baudelaire
About a year ago, the locals say, was the first time anyone had witnessed it. Hundreds gathered and squinted at a web cast presentation of an inkjet printer that would turn the world upside down. A little inkjet that could print 60 pages-per-minute, three times faster than anything anybody had ever seen. The video showed an inkjet that could print a photo in two seconds and churn out posters at a rate of one foot per second. Like footage of the infamous Bigfoot walking through the river valley, witnesses viewed grainy footage of a little printer as fast as a Ferrari. An online viewer frantically typed in her chat window “Is this for REAL?!?!?” Panic engulfed the crowd and as quickly as it came – Bigfoot disappeared.
*Poof*
After the initial sighting, Bigfoot came to be known as Memjet, an inkjet technology developer tucked away in Australia. For years, Silverbrook Research founder Kia Silverbrook had quietly horded printing patents that everyone thought collected dust in his closet. During the 90′s the industry thought of Silverbrook as a clever inventor who hoped to sell his patents al la’ carte to any curious manufacturer. Nobody had a clue what Silverbrook was really up to.
Silverbrook had more than a couple of printing patents. Over the years he amassed over 1,400 of them and hired over 300 engineers to perfect his revolutionary new printing system. That system would later be called Memjet, the industry’s first commercially viable page-wide-array printing technology. Unlike typical inkjets, where an inch-wide print head sprays ink while being pushed back and forth across a page, the Memjet print head spanned the entire page. With such a wide array, the Memjet print head can spray ink simultaneously on either end of the page, eliminating the time it took for a smaller print head to be pushed back and forth.
A Memjet printer can print as fast as one can push paper underneath it. Memjet boasted that 60 pages per minute was just the beginning and with improvements, the system could hit speeds of 180, 360, or even up to 64,000 pages per minute. The speeds that Silverbrook claimed could only be matched by million dollar industrial presses. The world had indeed been turned upside down.
The Memjet revolution did not end there. The company had no plans of entering the business on its own, but would rather license its technology to the highest bidders. Through Memjet, countless manufacturers, who previously could only dream of entering the lucrative inkjet business, could now buy a ticket to the dance. The thought of dozens of new competitors who could all offer 60 page per minute printers kept HP, Canon, and Epson wide awake in their beds.
Memjet also promised to revolutionize the business end of the printing industry. The company suggested that it would collaborate with a global network of ink re-fillers, who could re-supply empty ink cartridges at a fraction of the cost. While Kodak boasted a 50% savings through its printers, Memjet hinted that its business model would save consumers closer to 80%. The company envisioned a ?Netflix? style of supplies ordering as consumers would simply return their empties through the mail and have them automatically replaced.
Moreover, the revolution was coming fast. Memjet promised licensee agreements by the end of 2007 and the first printers would be ready for the public by early 2008. The industry braced itself for a huge impact.
*Poof*
Since Bigfoot?s first sighting, we know little more about the mysterious printer maker from the land down under. There have been sightings of a US headquarters in Boise, Idaho and of marketing offices in San Diego, California, but nothing has been discovered about Memjet?s technology, manufacturing, and most of all, its partnerships. No clues have been given about Memjet?s printers, how much they cost, or how fast they print. A google search for Memjet results in four articles for the year. No partners announced, no products unveiled, and no champagne bottles popped.
Despite its fanfare and jawdropping technology, Memjet may be the victim of entering the market too late. The printer industry has slowly become a commodity market as shoppers perceive few differences between manufacturers and products. An inkjet printer is no different than a toaster to many of today?s consumers. Would a toaster that burns bread to a golden brown in half a second revolutionize the consumer toaster market? One can argue that speed doesn’t matter anymore and that the printer business has been absorbed by the “Experience Revolution” that places usability, interfaces, design, and packaging ahead of actual performance.
More so than speed, Memjet?s cloudy vision of its ink supplies business may have slowed the company?s progress. It?s no secret that printer makers earn their money on ink and there is no greater pilferer of those profits than re-fillers. By relying on re-fillers, Memjet?s licensees run risk of losing control of quality, return rates, and pricing. Memjet has asked the fox to guard the chicken coop and the chickens happen to be the most vital element of the business.
In a recent article (one of the four), Memjet all but admitted that the consumer market may be out of reach. The company claimed that it has now focused on the wide format sector, where its one-foot per second speeds would have major implications in the market. Professional print shops, who have invested millions in hardware to make posters, banners, and flyers, could easily be unseated by a new shop and a $5,000 Memjet business inkjet. Memjet’s hyper print speeds could also overturn the commercial print market, where presses waste millions of sheets of paper on “test” prints to perfectly set color. A potential high-speed Memjet press could accomplish the same task at the loss of a handful of sheets of paper. Memjet may have realized that its real opportunity is in not in the retail printer aisle, but the corner print shop and commercial warehouse.
The locals will tell tall tales of what they saw that fateful day in March 2007 and spin yarns about a quiet inventor who would hand the riches to the thieves.
We don’t know what they are up to. No articles to read, no rumors to spread, just that grainy video to analyze over and over again. No one knows what Silverbrook and his 300 engineers are coming up with right now. People have forgotten that Memjet is approaching new customers and is solidifying a business model around its ink supplies business.
Today, Apple?s iTunes accounts for 70% of all digitally sold music worldwide, meaning that Apple could potentially sell 28% of ALL music in five years.
First ? don?t let go of that Apple stock.Second – there have not been enough accolades said that stress how impossibly incredible Apple?s accomplishment really is.
How did Apple make an empire out of something as simple as music?
Especially since the world was first introduced to digital music through Napster, which let people download music for FREE.Apple has actually made a system so good, so user friendly and so cool that people are willing to pay money for content that is otherwise free.buy The President’s AnalystThe Rainmaker pspdownload The Dead Zone
Everyone will or should copy Apple?s software interface for iTunes, iPods, and the iPhone.Apple has also made product packaging a critical component to user experience.Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy trailer
Un-wrapping an iPhone is like opening an engagement ring.
As hard as I try, I am not a blogger.Blogging to me is no different than dancing.Some people trip and step on toes, others are Britney Spears.I trip and fall.
There is also no denying that everyone blogs, whether it be message board rants on Facebook or an extremely personal online diary, almost all of us broadcast ourselves online.I can?t dance, but I?ll give it try.
There are three inspirations behind the ?mind the gap? blog that I would like to mention and may shed light on what you might see here.1) Kelly Abbott is the MC Hammer of blogging.His passion for blogging drove him to create the ?blogging on steroids? site www.dandelife.com.Dandelife enables you to ?lifecast?, or project your life in a chronological time-line that can be shared, tagged, and referenced with other lives.2) My favorite corporate blog is HP?s Insights, tips, and information from Corporate Analyst Relations.Unlike every other corporate blog, which is typically a press release and advertisement, HP?s Analyst Relations team posts extremely honest and behind the scenes topics.The blog doesn?t always paint them or the company in the best light and asks tough questions about ethics and industry standards. 3) Ben & Jerry, who pioneered the idea of values led corporations and making even the creation of ice cream a personal endeavor.
With that, the mind the gap blog hopes to share articles about the industry that may enlighten all of us on topics outside of printing and imaging.You?ll also read about the people of gap intelligence, from Ravi our prot?g? programming guru to Sarina, our MVP of 2007. You may even hear more ideas about the social impacts of the internet and the digital world from our friend Kelly here (pictured).
The blog will also boast gap intelligence?s social endeavors and charitable causes.We have worked with non-profits such as Partnerships with Industry and Mama?s Kitchen and raised money for dozens of other causes.
Finally, mind the gap will be a timeline of the trials and tribulations of a young company getting bigger.I?ll try to be as forthright as possible and post complaints about the rising costs of health insurance, unscrupulous businesses, and rant about the cast of characters that shape this great company.The blog is here to entertain the staff of gap intelligence as much as the outside reader.
Actually, this will probably be far more entertaining for us.
gap intelligence is proud to announce that Nicole Manko has joined our team. Nicole started with us as a part-time employee in October 2007 and instantly made an impact in the office. As our business grew and new opportunities developed, it was only natural to add Nicole to our full-time staff.
Nicole escaped Los Angeles to attend San Diego State University where she earned a degree in marketing and communications with various backgrounds including merchandising and retail sales. Fluent in Polish, Nicole received the first annual ?Quote of the Year? competition and actually swept the nominations. In her full time role, Nicole will spearhead our international services and will be lead Analyst covering our European services. Nicole is the project leader in developing our new global coverage regions ? BRIC ? Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
For Nicole, San Diego is a place for any outdoor activities, especially the beach and attempting to surf every once in a while. Nicole is an active runner, practices yoga, and spends time with Oscar, her pet Dachshund.
We are thrilled to have Nicole on board and can?t wait for her to sweep the nominations again in 2008.
This weekend is the 19th annual AIDS Walk San Diego.? The event brings thousands of San Diegans together for either a 5K walk or a 10K run through Balboa Park and the surrounding areas.? This year will be my third time participating in the San Diego AIDS Walk.? Prior to living in San Diego, I went to school in Boston, where I participated in the local AIDS Walk for 3 years.
Since 1989, the AIDS Walk San Diego has brought in upwards of $7 million that has gone to help those living with the virus as well as educating the community.? My goal this year was to raise $500 and I am happy to say I have exceeded this amount (http://aidswalksd.kintera.org/2008/sarinad).? After knowing someone very close to me live with and die from the AIDS virus, it is very important to me to contribute in any way that I can.
This year is my second attempt at the 10K run.? I would classify myself as a leisure runner who has participated in a couple of 5K races since I moved to the San Diego area.? I look forward to the run this weekend and joining thousands of others who contribute money and time to finding a cure to AIDS.
For all of you that have been to CES, you know it’s an absolute madhouse.Over 200,000 attendees, 2,700 exhibitors, and well…a circus of performers.Manufacturers use a wide range of entertainment from Cirque de Soleil-esque men in tights to leopard painted women to entice you to stop at the booth and learn more about the company’s featured products.Though it makes for a good laugh, break-dancing triplets have never influenced my perception of a blade server.With that in mind, we prepared ourselves for cotton candy hand outs, cheetah girls, and high flying acrobats in anticipation of last week?s InfoComm Trade Show.Fortunately, Barnum and Bailey called and wanted their acts back because what was formerly The Big Top last January was reshaped as the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The most outrageous exhibit? Sony’s empty boardroom setup, complete with three extremely creepy mannequins.
Despite the lack of stage performers, InfoComm still hosted nearly 1,000 exhibitors, 35,000 attendees, and is the largest conference for Pro Audio / Video dealers and buyers.The show had some impressive imaging gadgets and display technologies, but beyond the plethora of home-theater and business projectors, converters, television mounts, and LCD panels was a product that is on the brink of either extinction or extreme proliferation…a mobile phone with an integrated projector.
Not only have multiple manufacturers taken aim at the market by developing component technologies, but consumers are demanding the product. Kids, teenagers, and young adults, the same users who went crazy over the iPhone, are the ones many are believe will go gonzo for a projector phone.The ability to take a picture and then instantly display it on a wall 50 times larger than the LCD screen would make other kids’ Razor phones look like origami.
Don’t worry parents, inappropriate content can only be seen on a 100+ lumens device and these projectors will only offer 50 lumens.
I couldn?t help but notice that the technology portions of the Mind the Gap blog have been sunny on Google and Apple and fair to partly cloudy on Microsoft.?This is not?deliberate, but more a reflection of today?s industry.? Headline making innovations are not coming from Microsoft – well, at least not positive ones.? Microsoft, for example, has really taken a beating on Vista, its latest and very highly anticipated operating system that I have avoided like the plague.? Vista has been so panned (unjustified in most cases) that the company is now showing screen samples of Windows 7.0 and hints that the new OS will be available for developers by late 2009.? The screen shots are very enticing and may keep disgruntled Vista users from going to Apple.?
For the record I have tried Windows Vista, which was included in a notebook computer that I purchased before a trip to Japan.? During the twelve hour flight to Tokyo my Vista driven notebook gave me the Blue Screen of Death six times.? Upon safe harbor in the United States I returned said Vista notebook crasher and bought a computer installed with Windows XP.? Noting my horrific experience with Windows Vista, the thought of storing my company?s data on Office 2007 has made me lose sleep.? Marketing experts say that my experience with Vista has ?tarnished? or ?de-valued? Microsoft?s brand name with me.? Apparently this has happened quite a bit, because Microsoft launched a massive headline stealing advertising campaign with Jerry Seinfeld ? which lasted two installments.??
Now going back to Google, the company has made massive headlines with two recent innovations.? First they sent the browser world afire with the release of Chrome, the company?s first internet browser and topic of a winding, topic-less, direction free, mind spewing blog rant by our friend Kelly.? The second was yesterday?s unveiling of Android, Google?s first smart phone operating system and engine behind T-Mobile?s new G1 mobile phone.? There is nothing that I can add about Android that has not already been written on hundreds, if not thousands of technology blogs (where I read about Android), but I can say that the platform sheds light on what will be the future:?
1)?People now expect their?phones to have the same power and functionality as their computers and will use the phone more frequently than said computer (peripheral companies beware).
2)?Open source systems, such as Android, Firefox, and Chrome, which tap into the creative minds of millions of eager programmers is the future of platforms (Microsoft beware).? Noting that over 100 million iPhone applications have been downloaded by just a few million iPhone users is clear evidence that the public is hungry for widgets, apps, and geeky programs that tell us how fast our phone is dropping.?
That leads me back to Google.? Sergey Brin, one of Google?s founders, attended yesterday?s launch of Android and mentioned that he programmed an app for the G1 that takes advantage of the phone?s accelerometer.? Sergey wrote a program that times the round trip flight of the G1 when you throw it in the air.? Why?? Because he is a geek.?
I like Google because of its geekiness and the innovation that it generates by embracing Geekdom.? I am also a fan because the company keeps a warm focus on public goodwill, which leads me to Project 10 to the 100th.?
?
To celebrate its 10th Anniversary (10 years ? $175B market value) Google has launched its Project 10 to the 100th, a contest that will sponsor ideas that have the deepest impact on the greatest number of people.? The rules and regulations are pretty simple:?
Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
Longevity: How long will the idea’s impact last?
Categories: Community:?How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures? Opportunity:?How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families? Energy:?How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy? Environment:?How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem? Health:?How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives? Education:?How can we help more people get more access to better education? Shelter:?How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live? Everything else:?Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.
gap intelligence would like to sponsor the creation of an idea that we can take to Project 10 to the 100th.? Kelly, our primary altruistic idea generator, is eating crepes in France, so send us a note if you have a concept in mind.??
In the meantime, we are collectively scratching our heads.?
The?Olympic Games held in Beijing, China represented the climax chapter in an epic story of a rebuilding country. Dozens of journalists, some of whom covered President Nixon?s historic visit to China in the 1970?s, spoke in wonder about how radically different the country is today. The bicycles of yesterday have been replaced with motorcycles and cars that scream past the Forbidden City. Chest slapping negotiations at the old world farmer?s markets have been replaced by cheering greeters at Shanghai?s new Walmart.
The buzz surrounding today?s China is impossible to avoid and has been the daily focus of countless journals and publications for the last 10 years. However, the sheer magnitude of what is happening in China cannot be conveyed in words. What we are witnessing today is of the same historical significance as the development of the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and the building of the Great Pyramids. A pilgrimage of tens of millions of Chinese, who have descended from rural towns and villages to find opportunities in China?s bursting metropolis, is so enormous in scale, that sociologists have called it the greatest migration (human or animal) in history. The growth and development of China is so big and so fast that it has choked global supplies of resources. Ask any architect about the global shortage of steel and the skyrocketing price of concrete and all will say one word: ?China?.
One of my favorite proverbs is “May you live in interesting times.”, which the Chinese consider a curse and has been of some historical debate in regards to accuracy. ?Historians suggest that the actual curse is, “May you live in an interesting age.”, linking a second Chinese saying that “it is better to be a dog in peaceful times than a man in a chaotic period”. ?As late as last June, I never thought that gap intelligence would somehow remotely be involved in China, but as the last few months have proven – we are living in interesting times.
For the last six months, gap intelligence has been building a foundation for data collection and reporting in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. ?The obstacles and hurdles that we have cleared so far have been?enormous and our work is far from complete. ?However, I am happy to announce that gap intelligence now has people combing retail outlets in China and India and we are now distributing prototype reports for printer hardware, supplies, and digital cameras that cover all four BRIC countries. ?The pictures dotting this blog post were shot by our Chinese collection team at retailers Suning, Gome, and Yolo. ?
Memjet also promised to revolutionize the business end of the printing industry. The company suggested that it would collaborate with a global network of ink re-fillers, who could re-supply empty ink cartridges at a fraction of the cost. While Kodak boasted a 50% savings through its printers, Memjet hinted that its business model would save consumers closer to 80%. The company envisioned a ?Netflix? style of supplies ordering as consumers would simply return their empties through the mail and have them automatically replaced.
hat its real opportunity is in not in the retail printer aisle, but the corner print shop and commercial warehouse.
As hard as I try, I am not a blogger.
This weekend is the 19th annual 
For all of you that have been to CES, you know it’s an absolute madhouse.
Not only have multiple manufacturers taken aim at the market by developing component technologies, but consumers are demanding the product. Kids, teenagers, and young adults, the same users who went crazy over the iPhone, are the ones many are believe will go gonzo for a projector phone.
