Posts from — November 2011

As few would have predicted, the popularity of tablets has soared over the past year, changing media consumption and internet user behavior forever. With a plethora of apps and new devices entering the market over the course of 2011, this hot new product has gone from a geeky gadget in early adopter mode to mainstream consumer electronic in record time. That’s why it should come as no surprise that these sleek media devices are expected to outsell their heavier, bulkier, collapsible cousins this holiday season.

According a winter holiday shopping survey by PriceGrabber, tablets will be much more in demand than laptops this year. When consumers were asked whether they would rather receive a tablet or a laptop computer as a gift this year, an overwhelming 79 percent responded that they would rather receive a tablet. Additionally, 72 percent of shoppers also indicated that they believe tablets will replace e-readers as gifts this year. The main determining factors for this preference were portability, convenience and that oh-so-friendly touchscreen.  Also not surprising was the response provided by consumer when asked which tablet they preferred to receive as a gift. An astounding 83 percent said they preferred the Apple iPad.

While sales of laptops and e-readers are obviously expected to experience the greatest decline, there are other products that are sure to suffer as well. Computer peripherals, software, laptop bags and many others will also have decreased demand. While this may be bad news for laptop makers like Dell and Toshiba, it’s not necessarily a long term disaster. With some innovative thinking they can dominate this space next year. With the market for technology products moving as quickly as has been, next year’s tablets could be this year’s laptops.

With high unemployment rates and economic uncertainty on the minds of so many American consumers, many are looking for ways curb their gift spending this year. In a recent survey by TD Bank, 64% of those polled say they plan to purchase gift cards this year.

“With the majority of consumers looking to spend the same as last year, gift cards are a perfect option to keep holiday spending in check,” said Nandita Bakhshi, Executive Vice President, Head of Products, TD Bank. “Giving a gift card reduces shopping stress, you spend exactly what you intend to, and are less likely to get caught up in the season and spend more money than planned.”

In addition to helping consumers better control their holiday spending, gift cards also ensure that recipients get what they really need. Indeed, 51% of those polled said they would actually want to receive gift cards. This may be less related to people trying to avoid receiving unwanted gifts, and more an issue of managing household finances. Of those polled, 31% said they use gift cards they received on day-to-day expenses and 11% would use them on household and living expenses. This is very much a reflection of the financial difficulties many families face today. Imagine giving an expensive bottle of perfume or a video player to someone that is having trouble paying for their basic necessities. Giving such gifts could be seen as insensitive to their financial difficulties. Instead allowing them to choose how to use the money is a great way to bring them holiday cheer and possibly improving their financial situations.

If you feel that a gift card is just not intimate enough or does not have any sentimental value, there are ways to compensate. Consider writing a thoughtful note or throwing in the recipient’s favorite snack. The idea is not to take the fun or meaning out of holiday gift giving, but rather to be more practical and considerate. And at the end of the day, everyone will be better off.

Have you ever seen a cell phone number you didn’t recognize and wonder who’s behind? Or perhaps you know who the number belongs to, but you want to find out a just a little more about who they are? Well, Robert Scott, a Los Angeles-based private investigator set out to help people answer those questions with SpyDialer.com.  This website lets users legally eavesdrop on the outbound voicemail message of any U.S. based cell phone number.

While this might sound like creepy service that may end up being used by stalkers, it actually does have some very legitimate applications. Imagine someone repeatedly calls your cell phone and hangs up as you answer the call. Or maybe you have suspicions that someone that repeatedly sends text message to your one of your children may be out to harm them. On one hand you really want to find out who it is that’s behind that number on your caller ID. On the other hand, you really don’t feel like talking to them. SpyDialer.com lets you type in their phone number and hear the first 10 seconds of that number’s outbound voicemail message, typically enough for you to know who the phone user is.

There are other ways to retrieve information about people using their phone numbers, but they can cost as much as $10 per phone number. Mr. Scott is offering this service for free on limited basis. Users requiring additional features and up to 100 look-ups per year, can pay a nominal $9.95 per year. Not a bad deal if this is the type of service you would use even a few times each month.

Spy Dialer also allows users to access their services via an app for Android with an iPhone version on the way. This may sound like a creepy product, but something gives me the feeling that as the apps gain popularity, more and more people will become comfortable with the idea of using these types of services.

When subscribers to online dating sites become satisfied customers, they tend turn into brand evangelists for whichever site helped them find their partner. This is naturally understandable since meeting a life partner for the mere cost of a dating site subscription, around $20 a month, seems like such a great deal that satisfied customers are often overwhelmed by feelings of gratitude towards the site that made it happen. That’s why it’s somewhat surprising that results of a recent survey conducted by SeekingArrangement.com suggest that some happy customers are unwilling to share their experiences with friends and family. These findings were much to the chagrin of SeekingArrangement.com CEO, Brandon Wad, who awkwardly labeled the problem as “customer selfishness.”

Of the 500 satisfied customers they polled, 38% stated that they would keep their positive experience with this dating site a secret. That 38% is broken down to into those that are embarrassed of using a sugar daddy site (18%), and those that want to keep their success a secret from their friends so that they do not end up competing with them on the site (20%). When first hearing of this, I was puzzled since the larger dating sites have numerous satisfied customers vouching for them publicly.

Then it occurred to me that I missed a very obvious point. This poll was taken of “satisfied customers.” If that’s the case, then why in the world would someone that has found a match be worried about competing with other subscribers of this dating site? Once one of these “satisfied customers” ends up in a relationship, one would think they would close their online dating subscription. The fact that after they have already met someone, 20% of these customers claim that they do not want to compete with other singles on this site is indicative of the type of members often found on sugar daddy sites like SeekingArrangement.com. Many of the subscribers on these types of sites are specifically looking for short-term flings. What separates the sugar daddy niche of online dating from the adult dating niche is that sugar daddy members prefer relationships primarily based on money to those based solely on intimacy.

While I don’t judge sugar daddy sites or their users, I do question how Mr. Wad did not see this coming. A site dedicated to connecting people that want to use each other should anticipate that a large segment of its customers may have selfish tendencies.