Bye-bye itunes and XM; hello Slacker & Amazon ?

I've ranted enough about itunes. Time for an alternative. Clear example of poor user experience. Some people may love it. Personally, I hate it. My main gripes...

1. I store my library on an external drive, the same external drive everytime and itunes never remembers. So each time I plug into my network, it fails to recognize the drive. Drives me crazy.
   
2. For various reasons (no comments, Charlie), I reinstall my OS fairly often. itunes only allows 5 computers per account, so I am constantly in a deauthorize/authorize war.
3. I have more duplicates of songs than you can imagine. I am sure it is operator error, but give me a break.
4. For an Apple product, the ui sucks. Try multi-selecting and then trying to right click to create a playlist on the fly? Just lame all around.

So, now, what's my alternative? Good question. I am not totally sure. But, I am narrowing in on a few alternatives. Evaluating Banshee and Rhythmbox. Ideally, would love the manager to be web based???

Saying goodbye to satellite radio (XM) is hitting me a bit harder. I have been a huge fan of satellite radio for a few years. Recently been dedicated to XM but at one point I had both Siruis and XM. The merger was music to my ears. I listen to XM online, in the car and via DirectTV. But recently received an email that I had to commit to a year contract in order to continue listening online or pay an additional fee. Fair enough, I tried upgrading online to pay the monthly fee, no dice. After an hour on the phone and countless solicitations to commit to a 3 year contract, I am done. Really bummed. Here is where satellite failed me.

1. There is close to ZERO online support.
   
2. The online player hasn't been upgraded in years, its clunky and old.
3. Lack of effort supporting portable devices. They missed the boat altogether with this one. They partnered with Napster but there was no easy way to seamlessly have my music wherever, whenever.
4. No iphone app. Biggest mistake they made and believe it was one of the final straws that they are a dinosaur and not able to quickly capitalize on a perfect oppty. I don't want yet another device to listen to my music.

I've been listening to Pandora, Last.fm and recently, Slacker. I like Pandora but the selection is limited and repeats are common. Last is ok, but the interface is too busy, I can't seem to want to use it. A friend suggested slacker. So far so good- upgrading to the Pro account for a few $ a month is worth the no commercials and unlimited skips. I like their automatic link to amazon for purchase.

I am not a slacker power user, but I do have one gripe. I am able to create a playlist by song, and it begins to play my songs but then includes "similar" songs. I want ONLY my songs???

They are also pushing their own portable player, would rather use my own mp3 or ipod player. Their iphone application is awesome! So, how about allowing me to listen "offline" for a fee for flights etc.

So, who is using Amazon? What do you think? What are you using to manage your music? How about Rhapsody, Napster, what else?

Upfront CFD for Consumer Products: A Wake-Up Call

The more I do an unofficial market analysis, the more I think the potential for Upfront CFD is endless. There are all of the obvious applications for fluid flow and thermal simulation, but I find that often engineers do not even realize that they are having issues.

I was at an event a few years ago manning our booth. People were stopping by to see what all of the buzz was about. I gave him my 30 second pitch to what we do. I then said, "so do you have any flow or thermal issues?" He gave me the standard shrug and said, "no, not really. I don't see any application for us." Forever being stubborn, I said, "what does your company make?". "Vacuum cleaners!", he responded proudly. It was a defining moment for me. It is not in his mind-set to identify with "flow & thermal issues". It is my job to ask, "what are your design challenges?" Once I asked this question, the flood gates opened and they are now a great customer.

I tell people that the applications for Upfront CFD are endless. I woke up this morning and within a few minutes, I identified 15 applications. My mobile phone alarm buzzed early this am. As I rolled out of bed, I heard the roar of a public transportation bus (valves, hvac, hoses, radiators, electronics, hydraulics) outside my window. I walked into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, looked in the mirror and saw the washer and dryer in the corner, debated about a shower and went downstairs. I clicked on my XM radio player, walked into the kitchen for some coffee and noticed the refrigerator, coffee pot, blender, oven, microwave etc. Strapped on my shoes and ipod to walk the dogs as I heard the heater kick on. Oh yeah, I forgot to check my email on the laptop. Point is begin to think about devices and products and and ask yourself is there a fluid flowing in or around it or does it need to heat up or cool down? If so, you can probably optimize the design using Upfront CFD.

The above images are only a small percentage of the 1000s of applications out there in the world. CFD has been around for along time, but has really been used predominantly by specialists. Often people in the Consumer Product world, thought CFD was too complicated or was over-kill for their needs. Times have changed -- go see for yourself.