Since we launched Tag Team Tech in April of 2010, it has always been our second blog.  We've only posted 62 times here in almost two years compared to over a thousand posts over at Hoperatives.  We still love the name and still love the concept.  But, when Posterous announced that they had been purchased by Twitter, it became really obvious.  When the thought of possibly having to move to a new blogging platform seemed like too much of an effort, we knew it was time to call it quits.  We're going to leave Tag Team Tech up for now, but not for forever.

Thanks for your readership and support in the past.

Carla and Tom

Sometimes, a piece of new tech is actually making a piece of old "tech" work better.  The Albatro bookmark is one of those things.  Its inventor Oscar Lhermitte describes it this way:

"The Albatros is new kind of bookmark that follows your reading. No need to remember the page number, each time you turn one, it inserts itself at the right place."

Currently, this is a Kickstarter style project on the IndieGoGo.com website. Lhermitte asked for $3,000.00 and he already has ten times that amount. Contribute on his page (link below) and you are essentially pre-ordering your own Albatros bookmarks.

http://www.indiegogo.com/Albatros-bookmarks-1

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines technology as:

1 a : the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area

b : a capability given by the practical application of knowledge

2 a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge

3 the specialized aspects of a particular field of endeavor

In the two months since we decided to take a hiatus from writing, we have lots of conversations about what we wanted to do with this blog. We kept coming back to what kind of information about technology do we personally find most useful. As we listened to some of our favorite podcasts (This Week in Tech, MacBreak Weekly, etc.) and talked with fellow tech lovers, it became obvious. We love to hear about technology that makes something in your life easier and really works.  This is why the MacBreak Weekly Picks of the Week are usually our favorite part of that show.

So we have decided to re-launch this blog as a space to share the tech that we are using ourselves and that we love. And, while many of the things we may write about may be related to what is traditionally thought of as tech, we also plan to include other types of tech like tools for making cooking easier, tools for making fashion easier, etc. No matter what it is, you will get a discussion of the piece of technology (and why we love it) plus a link to where you can get it for yourself.

For years, Tom's e-mail signature line has been "New technologies only allow people new opportunities to be people." That's as true for us as it is anyone else. We're going to be writing about technologies we love, which means we'll really be writing about things important to us and the objects we use to help us do them. Some things we do are sort of mundane, others are more exciting. It's hard to get through the day without stuff no matter who you are, so we're going to tell you about the stuff we use.

We hope you enjoy it.

It has become very apparent in the last few months that, when our many interests pull us in different directions, this blog is the one that suffers the most.  We love tech and always will, but blogging about tech may not be the best use of our time right now.  We're going to take a break from tech blogging and see how it goes from there.

We still think the idea of a group blogging together about their tech experiences is a good thing.  If you are interested in becoming part of the Tag Team Tech team, please contact us at tagteamtech@gmail.com or leave a comment here to this post.  Who knows? Maybe we just need some fresh blood to get us going again.

Thanks!

--Carla, Tom and Geoff

Really looking forward to trying out this phone. Actually hoping that we get it and the iPhone 4S at the same time so we can do a true side-by-side comparison.

Today, Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) and Verizon Wireless announced DROID RAZR™ by Motorola, the world’s thinnest 4G LTE smartphone. A true marvel of design, this smartphone packs strength and smarts into a stylish package offered exclusively from Verizon Wireless.

Measuring 7.1 mm thin, made with KEVLAR® fiber for strength and Corning® Gorilla® Glass for scratch resistance, the DROID RAZR is ready to face the elements.  Speed limits are just an illusion with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Verizon Wireless 4G LTE. DROID RAZR customers can expect to rip through the Web with speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.

“DROID RAZR by Motorola combines style, performance and the power of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network into one innovative device,” said Marni Walden, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “These are two iconic brands that separately symbolize the best technology available today. The combination will provide an unsurpassed wireless experience for customers.”

“DROID RAZR by Motorola is a testament to the innovation and design possibilities that stem from a strong partnership between Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless,” said Sanjay Jha, Chairman and CEO, Motorola Mobility. “We set out to design the best smartphone on the planet and delivered DROID RAZR which is thinner, smarter, stronger than any device on the market.”

Not only does DROID RAZR by Motorola deliver heart-pounding speed, but it has a mind-bending 4.3-inch hyper-vibrant display with more colors than most LCD HDTVs. The Super AMOLED™ Advanced display with qHD resolution dishes out beautiful images and smooth action so on-the-go movies and TV shows aren’t a blur, whether customers stream from Netflix™ or rent from Android Market™. It’s the first smartphone capable of streaming movies and TV shows through Netflix with up to HD resolution.

DROID RAZR customers can take advantage of the Super AMOLED Advanced display and 4G LTE speeds to stream videos with NFL Mobile, only from Verizon. Fans can stay up to date on news, schedules and scores from their favorite teams on the go. NFL Mobile is included at no additional charge for 4G LTE customers for the remainder of the 2011 season.

If cutting-edge visuals are its beauty, apps on DROID RAZR are its brains.  Enter MotoCast™, the free Motorola app that lets you stream or download your music, pictures and more from your PC to your phone. The Smart Actions app helps automate everyday tasks and optimizes battery efficiency by letting customers create rules, such as automatically setting the phone to vibrate during work hours or dimming the display at a specific battery level. The revolutionary webtop application allows customers to combine the device with separately sold accessories, like the Lapdock™ 100 or HD Station, unleashing the power to edit documents and browse the Web with a full Firefox® browser on a larger screen – all while charging the device

Additional features:

• Powered by Android^™ 2.3.5, Gingerbread
• 1GB RAM  for a fast user interface and multi-tasking
• 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p HD video capture and image stabilization technology for crisp and clear videos
• Front-facing HD camera for video chat over 4G LTE, 3G or Wi-Fi
• 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot capable so customers can share 4G LTE speed with up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices
• Water repellent nanocoating protects the phone, and even the inside components, against everyday spills
• Remote wipe, pin lock and government-grade encryption for email, calendar and contacts as well as voice and video chat conferencing
• Use Quickoffice® to view, create and edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on your mobile device from anywhere at anytime
• Bluetooth 4.0 low energy
• 32 GB memory: 16 GB on board and 16 GB microSD^™ card pre-installed (actual formatted capacity is less)
• Powerful 1780 mAh battery

The DROID RAZR will be available in early November for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at: www.verizonwireless.com as well as at authorized retailers. Customers can visit www.droiddoes.com/droidrazr to pre-order DROID RAZR beginning on October 27. For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to  www.verizonwireless.com

From today's New York Times:

"Netflix Abandons Plan to Rent DVDs on Qwikster" http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/netflix-abandons-plan-to-rent-dvds-on-qwikster/

 As of 3:01 this morning, you can now pre-order your iPhone 4S from Verizon. For more information, check out Verizon's press release below.

BASKING RIDGE, N. J. - Verizon Wireless today announced the new iPhone 4S will be available on the Verizon Wireless network beginning on Friday, October 14.  Verizon Wireless customers, as well as those who want to make iPhone 4S their reason to switch to the nation’s most reliable network, will be able to pre-order iPhone 4S online beginning on Friday, October 7 at 3:01 a.m. EDT at: www.verizonwireless.com/iPhone.  In addition, the company announced the iPhone 4 8 GB model is available now for $99.99 and has lowered pricing for iPhone 4 16 GB and 32 GB models.

iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.  With the launch of iPhone 4S also comes the launch of iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features; and iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

“Verizon Wireless customers have embraced iPhone 4 on our network and we fully expect the enthusiasm will continue to grow for iPhone 4S,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer for Verizon Wireless.  “With more and more customers depending on their iPhone every day, it is important that they have the device they can count on and a network that delivers.  As millions of customers can attest - reliability matters.”

Verizon iPhone 4S customers can travel globally and seamlessly in over 220 countries for voice and over 205 countries for data with 140 of those countries offering 3G data speeds. Global service at Verizon Wireless includes 24 hour customer service from trained Verizon Wireless U.S.-based employees.  Verizon Wireless global service was selected by readers of Global Traveler Magazine as the Best Wireless Service in the World in the 2010 GT Tested Reader Survey.

Pricing & Availability 

iPhone will be available starting at $199.99 for the 16 GB model, $299.99 for the 32 GB model and $399.99 for the 64 GB model with a new two-year customer agreement. 

Customers will need to purchase a voice plan beginning at $39.99 for 450 minutes and a data plan beginning at $30 for 2 GB monthly access.  The iPhone 4 8 GB model is available now for $99.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. iPhone 4 16 GB model is $149.99 and the 32 GB model is now $199.99 with a new two year contract.

iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will be available at more than 2,200 Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide, online at  www.verizonwireless.com/iphone and by calling 1-800-2 JOIN IN. 

Then you redesign your product and make it harder to use. 

I'm speaking, of course, of the Netflix / Qwikster thing. It's is a great day for some grad student. He or she just got a thesis topic.

So you have this brand. It's called Netflix. Your business is delivering movies on DVDs by mail. The envelopes you use to mail them become an iconic symbol. You pour millions of dollars into promoting that red envelope with that name printed on it.

Then streaming comes along and you start delivering movies that way, too. That name you spent millions in promoting? It turns you into the 900-lb gorilla of streaming media. If YouTube was the John the Baptist of streaming, Netflix is the Touchdown Jesus of consumer acceptance. There are other streaming movie services. Lots of them. Yes, there's Blockbuster, Amazon and Google. Can you name another? Probably not. That's the point.

The biggest mistake Netflix made was probably the bundling of streaming with DVD delivery, but it sure didn't seem like it at the time. I don't think they realized that they'd never be able to back away from it. And to be fair, I'm not sure they ever thought they'd have to. Netflix streaming has been amazingly successful. I have a pretty good grasp of the economics of both delivery modes and I completely understand why they had to unbundle them. Like a lot of people we droppped the DVD delivery almost immediately, but we wound up ponying up for the one DVD plan as well. It works for us. Adding videogames to the DVD side might have even gotten more folks to come back eventually, as long as they were cheaper than Gamefly. 

The thing is, Netflix's business has never been about DVDs or streaming. It's about on-demand entertainment. It's about being a tool in the modern tool belt that allows you to watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it. "What do I want to watch? Oh, let me look on Netflix. That looks good. I'll watch that. Darn, it's not available on Instant Watch, but I really want to see that, so I'll have them mail it to me, but this other thing looks good. I'll take that now." Or "Darn, it's not on Instant Watch. I'll just watch something else that is." 

Now they're breaking that. 

The significance of that screenshot I've posted is that you rarely get to see a CEO admit that he didn't understand why people sent him money every month. As I read the e-mail and the even-longer blog post, I kept thinking "I know what this is doing for you, I can't see what it's doing for me." I'm reasonably confident that the folks who make GE lightbulbs and GE jet engines have different operational concerns, but somehow they manage to keep the same name.

And Amazon seems to have figured out how to deliver things physically and online without bothering me with their problems. And what do you know? I can get movies from them too!