It's Worth Noting

A near perfect alarm clock

I tweeted a few weeks ago that I hate every alarm clock I've ever used.  Some took this to mean that I just hate the idea of alarm clocks or having to wake up.  What I really meant by this quip was that I despise the product design of every alarm clock I've used.  Universally, alarm clock functionality and programing is very poor.  There has been little innovation in over 25 years except to change the skin, improve the speakers and add cd/iPod source options.

I keep a list of features I'd put into an alarm clock and have been committed to either finding a suitable product or working on manufacturing it myself.  It may not be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but there's something valuable to gain by offering the standout version of a product that everyone uses and would be willing to replace if a substantially better option existed.

Well, I've got news.  I've purchased a product that comes close to meeting my expectations.  It's not perfect, but it's close enough to warrant a recommendation for a product line that I've only castigated in the past.

  

The American Innovative Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock has a lot going for it.  Here's a summary of the features that I think set it apart:

• Snooze duration is customizable
• There's a descending snooze option, which reduces the snooze time each time you hit snooze until it won't let you snooze anymore.
• The alarm volume is separate from the radio/sleep volume.
• The alarm duration is customizable.
• The clock illumination can be turned off, not just lowered (helpful if you like your bedroom to be as dark as possible)
• There are three alarm settings, which can be used in any combination: every day and two seven day alarms.
• There's a nap feature, which lets you set a quick alarm without changing your regular alarm.  Default duration is 20 min, but you can quickly adjust up/down from there.
• The snooze button is also a review button.  Hit it and you'll see when the next alarm is set to go off.  If you want to adjust the next alarm, you can easily do so when reviewing without changing your regular alarm.
• The alarm (beep, radio or media source through axillary jack) can be set to escalate in volume.
• You can easily skip the next alarm if you wake up before it goes off
• When you set the alarm, you begin adjusting from 7 am instead of 12 am.  The rotary dial is also quicker than the tradition button hold-down.
• It's small - 5" square
• Has a USB charging port (useful if you want to charge your phone on your nightstand)
• Includes radio station presets

You can purchase the alarm from Amazon link above for $50.  If they added a numeric keypad to set the time, more granular volume and back lighting control, required simultaneously pushing two buttons to turn the alarm off or relocated the off button, displayed the next alarm information without an additional button push and provided the option to have the time announced when the alarm goes off, I think this unit would be perfect.

Do you provide good instructions?

I recently got a new table saw made by SawStop and have spent several hours over the past few days assembling it.  Although it's taken a some time, it was a pleasant experience because the instructions and packaging were so well done.  Unpacking sheets were at the top of boxes, hardware was package with color coding/numbering and instructions were on large color sheets with easy to read text and pictures.  There's a lot to assemble, but by simply following color coding and numbering schemes that matched across instructions, packaging and hardware, assembly was a pleasant experience. 

This got me thinking about all the terrible experiences I've had assembling or setting up purchases, from furniture and DSL service to opening routine plastic packages (thank you Amazon for trying to fix this).  Companies are paying a little more attention to assembly and setup design today, but it's still woefully inadequate.  They go to all this trouble and expense convincing you to purchase a product, but give little thought to the experience you're going to have trying to use it for the first time.  Do they care if they waste your time or make your blood boil?  You've made the purchase and you'll fight through like the good little consumer you are.

I believe the tide is turning here, but only market innovators realize this and are getting ahead of the curve.  Consumers will increasingly lean towards products and services that are easy to open, setup and assemble because their access to reviews and purchase options continue to expand.  (I'm reminded here about how I used to go to the library to look through magazines for product reviews before making a purchase.  Wow.)

No matter what type of product or service your company provides, consider whether you are an innovator in this area.  Are you dramatically leading rather than frantically following?  Are you letting a competitor, maybe even an unknown start-up, differentiate themselves at the expense of your market share?  Time is not on your side.  Consumers are not on your side.  If you make the first use of your product or service unnecessarily challenging, consumers will find someone else to purchase from.

Gather a small team at your company to investigate, strictly from the consumer's perspective, how enjoyable and effortless getting to the first use of your product or service really is.  Listen to their feedback, make needed changes and transform this critical interaction into an experience consumers will praise.

By the way, for anyone looking for a great table saw, and one that has an amazing safety feature to reduce the risk of injury from the most dangerous piece of equipment in a wood shop, I definitely recommend that you take a look at SawStop's line of table saws.  You'll love the saw, it could save your fingers and it won't raise your blood pressure during setup and assembly.

Some tips & tricks for fellow road warriors

If you're like me and spend time on the road traveling for business or pleasure, you're happy to find anything that makes the experience a little easier. This is especially true if you need to stay connected and take your technology along for the ride. I enjoy reading suggestions from other travelers and hope this brief list proves useful for you.   

• Checkpoint friendly laptop bag: I like the Checkpoint Flyer from Tom Bihn, but most laptop bag manufacturers make similar models. These bags let you get through airport security by laying your bag flat on the x-ray belt instead of taking your laptop out. In addition to being quicker and less frustrating, you're less likely to forget your laptop on the belt. Just saw someone do that last week.
• Organized Itinerary: If you're still carrying a paper folder full of reservations and maps or trying to keep them in one folder on your laptop/phone, an app like Worldmate can be very helpful (free and paid versions). You forward reservation emails to Worldmate and the app compiles it all into a trip timeline that is accessible online or on your phone. It captures map locations, phone numbers, etc. and providers you with alerts, weather forecasts and other information you request. You can also manually add items like office locations, etc. so it's all in one place.
• Taking notes: If you need to take some notes on the road, I recommend Evernote (free and paid versions). Works online, via an app on your laptop or on your blackberry or iphone. Let's you sync and record text, image or audio notes. Evernote makes it really easy to rely on your phone for note taking on the road without fretting over how you'll organize or share it all when you get back to the office.
• Power Adapter: An all in one AC/car laptop and usb power adapter is essential. I only bring this one power adapter with me since everything besides my laptop can be charged with a usb cable. The car charging option has come in handy many times and is essential for being able to charge your phone/gps, etc. while in the car without having to bring other power adapters. I use a model from Targus.
• Cables: I carry a single retractable usb cable with necessary tips to let me connect/charge everything I bring with me (via the power adapter above). I also carry a retractable VGA cable so I can hook-up my laptop to a TV in the hotel room (to play DVD or streamed movies) or a projector. The retractable cables are lightweight and don't get tangled up in my bag.
• Speakers: I carry a mini amplified speaker, which charges via USB, to plug into my laptop or phone to play music or movie audio.
• USB powered light: This is helpful if your laptop doesn't have a built-in light or lighted keyboard. Also helpful if you travel with your spouse and want to read at night in those hotels rooms with limited light options.
• Preparing for failure: I carry a keychain USB with copies of presentations, etc. in case my laptop goes crazy. I recommend that you or your IT person setup your laptop with recovery options and that you carry a BartPE recovery CD for system recovery on the road (remember your slim CDROM/DVD if your laptop doesn't have one built-in).

Hope this list is helpful. If you have additional tips & tricks, please share by commenting on this post. Thanks

Latest Read: The Reagan Diaries

Just finished reading The Reagan Diaries.  I recommended it for anyone who is interested in Reagan or the Presidency.  It was a fascinating look into the day to day activities of the President.  Reagan came across as genuine, personable and engaged.  Whatever you think of his policies, accomplishments or shortcomings, the diary entries expose the human side of a very public life.

Presentation on productive and inexpesive tech tools

I put together a quick presentation for a business group and thought others might find it helpful.  The idea was to briefly describe several tech products or services that could improve productivity without incurring significant costs.  Touches on everything from hosted email to brainstorming, collaboration and travel tools.

Tech Toolbox

View more presentations from Levi Smith.

Are you expanding at the expense of consistency?

During the past few months, our family has been traveling to and fro through small towns in Texas. Good or bad, I've become accustomed to the pleasure of a homemade cappuccino early in the morning. Since my cappuccino maker doesn't travel easily and these small towns have limited options, we recently decided to give McDonald's coffee a try. I've ordered four coffee drinks on two different occasions now. Three were latte/cappuccino varieties and one was plain drip. The only drink that was prepared correctly was the plain drip, but that was after a ten minute wait for them to brew a pot. The other three drinks were all incorrect. Flavored instead of plain, unsweetened instead of sweetened, etc.. 75% ordering failure rate and I bet the corporate office would consider the 10 minute wait for the one correct order a failure too. I'll round down and call it a 99% failure rate. It was enough for us to call their customer service number for the first time.

McDonald's has made its name and fortunes on being consistent. Regardless of what you think of them, you know what you're going to get each time. Same food, same menu, etc.. Have you ever been apprehensive about how that Big Mac was going to taste? No. Their business is delivering the same experience no matter where you are. As you consider expanding the products or services you offer, can you assure customers that the results will be consistent and in line with what they've come to expect from you? Your customers may quickly grow tired of being asked to roll the dice. We'll skip the McDonald's next time and head across the Louisiana border where the casinos offer better odds.

Check out vlingo

I've been using this application called vlingo. It recognizes what you say, so you can text people, send email, search the web, call people, or write yourself notes just by speaking. It works well, it's fast, and it's free! Right now it's really just for BlackBerry. The iPhone version only allows speak to search, which Google already provides. http://www.vlingo.com

Recommended: Delicious Library

Having recently finished up our library/study, my wife and I wanted to organize our growing book library to make it easier to find books and lend them out.  Delicious Library to the rescue.

The app is $40 from Delicious Monster and at that is a good value.  The trial will let you add up to 25 books before you have to purchase.  The app is only available for macs running Leopard.

It uses the iSight camera to read the bar codes on books and a variety of other items (video games, DVDs, tools, etc.).  You can also use a wireless bar code scanner, but it's not necessary.  Based on our experience, the iSight camera works quite well.  You need a steady hand to stabilize the image, but if you had trouble or need to scan a bunch of items, a simple desktop easel setup would do the trick.  The app grabs as much information as is available from amazon including cover pics, size, page length, price, etc.  The linkup with amazon allows you to rate/review easily and buy/sell through amazon.  There are some standard fields you can edit like read, loaned, copies and location.  You can manually add items with a lookup feature that quickly retrieves likely matches with cover pics.

Once the items are in the library, you can customize the list view (similar to itunes interface) or browse for items on the virtual shelves it creates.  You can also search the library.  The app works nicely with itunes and bonjour.

If you're looking for a library cataloging app and have a mac w/ camera and Leopard, this is the way to go.

My highlights from the book Tribes by Seth Godin

Here are the sentences I highlighted while reading Seth Godin's book Tribes: * A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. * So great leaders don't try to please everyone. Great leaders don't water down the message to try to make the tribe bigger. Instead, they realize a motivated, connected tribe in the midst of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be. * Find leaders (the heretics who are doing things differently and making change), and amplify their work, give them a platform, and help them find followers-and things get better. They always get better. * Initiating is really and truly difficult, and that's what leaders do. They see something others are ignoring and they jump on it. They cause the events that others have to react to. * If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either. * Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you need to setup a life you don't need to escape from. * Too many organizations care about numbers, not fans. They care about hits or turnstile clicks or media mentions. What they're missing is the depth of commitment and interconnection that true fans deliver. Instead of always being on the hunt for one more set of eyeballs, true leaders have figured out that the real win is in turning a casual fan into a true one.

Free training for you or your team

We've utilized Franklin Covey for a number of training sessions, live and online, at our office.  The content and delivery has always been good, spurring our team to have thoughtful discussions and make valuable changes.  Their sessions can be a little pricey, but they offer free online sessions every month.  You can view the schedule at http://www.franklincovey.com/webcast/.  Well worth the time and five minute sales pitch at the end.