Last fall I had to scramble to have a home Security system installed. After getting some death threats at work, I raced home, hit the internet, went through Google and came up with the top picks and contacted them to come out and provide an estimate once I got back to town after hiding outside of town for a few days.

Now you may ask why I was getting death threats from work? Well, long story short and without releasing any juicy details that will come out in the book, I was an accountant for a company that learned they were not covered under Sarbanes-Oxley and rather than bring the books into compliance as I and my fellow accountant were proposing, they decided to threaten us instead and hope that we went away. (In case you didn’t know it there’s a loop hole in Sarbanes-Oxley big enough to drive a freighter full of goods from China through it 24 hours a day 7 days a week 52 weeks a year.)

Long story short we didn’t go away until they fired us, and now their stock trades as a penny stock and their auditors have questioned their ability to remain as a going concern. Its amazing how some people will avoid doing good business and make a fortune as they try and squeeze a buck or two out of a company by cutting corners or worse.

So I learned my lesson last year, when I got back into town after hiding out for a few days, I met with a security consultant and bought an alarm.

Very expensive, if I hadn’t been scared for the life of my kids (who were threatened too) I may have researched the topic more or even haggled more. Lesson Learned: haggle when you have time and your loved ones aren’t being threatened by goons on the otherside of the planet.

So these days I keep my eye out whenever security systems pop up, I already have my system, but would recommend that everyone else don’t make a rash purchase while you are Under the Gun!

Home Security Systems offers home security information and might be one more source you can check out as you start your search. Google is a good source also, but sometimes you need to get at trusted information that doesn’t show up on the top ten list of a google search.

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Summary

I’m reviewing the debate on a Digg.com post.

This Digg debate covered several areas of understanding of the technology to bring more video options to handheld units. Many voiced their doubts about the demands in the marketplace and some explained that the market will be there as the technology matures.

The insights provided a significant amount of information that must be considered for this technology to succeed.

Articles

See also: LA Times Article: No Big Demand for Small Screen by Matea Gold

LA Times Article: No Big Demand for Small Screen by Matea Gold 8/10/06

See document: la-et-polltv10aug10,1,3332297.story

Article suggests teens will not be interested in watching videos on Small Screen products like the iPod and PSP and other devices.

Was the writing Tainted?

Poll Subjectivism at Play?

“About half of young adults and 4 in 10 teenagers said they were uninterested in watching television shows or movies on computers, cellphones or hand-held devices such as video iPods, the poll found.”

This quote from the LA times, could have easily been written to state, ‘About half of young adults and 6 in 10 teenagers said they were interested in watching television shows or movies on computers, cellphones or hand-held devices such as video iPods.’

Insights from Comments

Below are some of the insights that I pulled from this dialogue:

Understanding the medium

• PixelCloud, “Portable music is good because you don’t have to do anything to listen to it. Just press play. Watching a video requires that you watch it, and hold the device.”
• Portable DVD players are too large for watching movies in bed???
• Handheld video is great for a subway, bus, train or plane but might not be so great for people that drive cars ~ Passengers???
• Do you want to watch a small video? No Would you watch a small video? Yes
• Would Video iPods take off as educational tool? iPods had a good start thanks in small part to Duke University.
• Resolution stupid not screen size
• Having the Daily Show fresh in your Ipod every day to watch during spare intervals is Great

Obstacles

• Battery life - always a concern.
• Teens don’t dictate all markets, especially heavy business travelers - from Willynilly.
• Reflective surface on PSP makes it difficult to watch video in sunlight.
• If the price of video is right, people will watch it!

Funny Comments

Kajoob mumbled, “I’m still in the womb and I think these tiny devices are perfect for my small fetal hands and eyes.”

DesertSquirrel stated, “If you have to take a massive sh!t (explitive edited), watching TV on a small screen might be all right.”

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