Worst pitch of the month: Barley & Britches chinos and poor first impressions

Every time you hear about a new business venture these days, chances are it trails back to Kickstarter.

The crowd-sourcing fundraising platform certainly hosts a few gems waiting to to be unearthed. But there's a lot of clutter that venture capitalists and potential fans have to sift through first.

As with any online community virtually handing out carte blanche to anyone with an idea (bad or good), there are your requisite oddballs.

And then there are just the daily humdrum projects that are about as tame and unprovocative as a pair of khaki pants.

-----Original Message-----

From: [REDACTED]
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 7:45 AM
To: David Chernicoff
Subject: Story Idea: Do pants really make the man on a first date? (Five Nines: The Next Gen Datacenter)

David --

I'm writing to suggest a fun, story idea for Five Nines: The Next Gen Datacenter based on timely survey data: "What are your pants communicating about you on a first date?"

I'm a publicist for Barley & Britches and their Everyday Chinos.

Do women actually judge you on a first date based on the pants that you wear to the bar or the restaurant?  To answer this question, we conducted a survey representative of 1,300 respondents.

Some interesting findings on men and their "first date pants" include:

* If you want women to think you're rich, responsible and a perfect long term partner, wear khaki colored pants.

* If you want to seem like a wild, adventurous, offbeat, or creative date, wear colorful pants like dark red or bright blue - but you also run the risk of being seen like just a hookup.

* If you want ladies to think you like the finer things in life, wear dark but still colorful pants - such as dark purple.

* Wearing green pants will communicate that you're a world traveler - but that you also may live with your parents.

To make dating fashion easier, Sim has created The EveryDay Chino, a premium pant that fits your lifestyle and wallet at $38, comes in 5 great colors, and is delivered straight from the manufacturer.

The Chinos are live on Kickstarter now and the page is available here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1022959772/1168026880?token=fb5b62a8

VIDEO: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1022959772/1168026880?token=fb5b62a8

I can help arrange an interview on this topic with Sim Gulati about how to make the best first impression with your pants on the first date. He is available for , email and phone or Skype interviews this week (November 25-29).

If you're interested in a guest blog post from Sim, let me know as well.

Best,
[REDACTED]

As David remarked sarcastically to me via email, this is "clearly a datacenter-oriented pitch."

To start, the PR flack who wrote this pitch made the rather desperate (and ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to try to connect the product he was pitching (pants) to David's area of coverage (datacenters).

Clearly, there is no connection to be made here.

Both the product and the survey advertised in the memo are completely irrelevant to David's beat and ZDNet overall for that matter. It's just one of many more examples we receive on a daily basis in which these senders obviously don't know, understand, or even care about the audience.

I'm not really sure how to even begin to answer the question proposed in the subject line ("What are your pants communicating about you on a first date?"), but I can attest that pitches like these make very poor first impressions.

Twitter closes first day on NYSE near $45 per share

Unless you're not on social media at all, then you probably know today marked Twitter's first day as a public company.

Without even having to compare the San Francisco-headquartered business to other tech companies (say, Facebook, for example), it's safe to say that Twitter had a stellar debut.

The micro-blogging service that launched back in 2006 was supposed to open at $26 per share when the bell rang at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning.

With 70,000,000 shares up for grabs, Twitter's estimated value was pegged at more than $18 billion before it could even go public -- rather astounding (if not unbelievable) for a company that has yet to turn a profit.

Regardless, investors were eager to get their hands on shares, spiking the initial price up to $45.10 per share, an increase of 77 percent and valuing the company at $31.6 billion.

By the closing bell, Twitter shares stayed close to the starting gates at $44.90 per share. The high of the day was $50.09.

Naturally, given an IPO of this magnitude, there is plenty of buzz about who is getting rich quick today. In reality, that's going to take awhile to sort out while institutional investors clamor over each other and the hype dies down.

But as MarketWatch points out, there are at least three newly minted billionaires (if they cash out) walking around today, including Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Ev Williams.

In fact, Dorsey and IPOs seem to be going hand-in-hand this week following reports that the entrepreneur's other brainchild, Square, is on its own path for a market debut in 2014.

Chart via Yahoo Finance

Acer C720 Chromebook first impressions: Fast and cheap

(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet)

Acer is not a stranger to the Chromebook world and the new C720 is looking to outperform the rest of the pack. The decision to use an Intel Celeron with Haswell technology was a sound one by Acer based on our hands-on testing. The Acer C720 Chromebook is the fastest model we've tested with the exception of the $1,200 Pixel by Google.

(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet)

What makes the presence of the Haswell Celeron so unusual is that Acer is able to use it while keeping the price of the C720 at $249.99. That makes this Chromebook an outstanding value given the performance compared to the ARM and Atom Chromebooks on the market.

Hardware specs as reviewed:

CPU: Intel® Celeron® Processor 2955U, (1.4GHz, 2MB L3 Cache) OS: Chrome OS Memory: 4GB Storage: 16GB Display: 11.6-inch, 1366x768, anti-glare Camera: front webcam (1280x720) Connectivity: Wi-fi a/b/g/n Ports/slots: USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, SD slot Battery: 3,950 mAh, 8.5 hours Thickness: 0.75in Weight: 2.76lbs

The Acer C720 Chromebook is constructed of plastic as befitting its low price. It doesn't feel like it's poorly constructed but there is no doubt it's made of plastic.

(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet)

The keyboard facilitates fast typing and the keys have the right amount of travel when pressed. It is a standard Chrome OS keyboard with all of the expected Chrome control keys on the top row.

The trackpad works very well but is smaller than those found on other Chromebooks. This is no doubt to keep the C720 size as small as possible, but a slightly larger trackpad would be appreciated.

(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet)

On the left side of the C720 is the power jack, HDMI port, USB port, and an the audio in/out jack. The right side has a lock slot, USB port, and SD slot. There are two blue and orange LED indicators on the front of the Chromebook that indicates power and charging status.

(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet)

Acer claims 8.5 hours on a charge and this seems to be accurate. The use of the Celeron is a good choice by Acer due to the low power requirements which yields good battery life.

The C720 is a fast performer due to this processor. The Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook that's been out for a while is a fast performer due to its last generation Celeron, and the Acer C720 Chromebook is much faster with the Haswell version. Both of those Chromebooks have 4GB of system memory so its a valid comparison of the Haswell processor. It's worth noting that the Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook is currently selling for $500.

Using the Celeron in the C720 allows Acer to include 4GB of system memory, and this means better multi-tasking than other Chromebooks with only 2GB. In our testing the C720 Chromebook was able to handle lots of open tabs at once with no page refreshing when returning to earlier visited tabs as is common with models with only 2GB.

Of the many Chromebooks tested, the Acer is easily the fastest with the exception of the Chromebook Pixel. The Pixel costs over $1,000 more than the Acer so that's to be expected.

(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet)

The 11.6-inch display is just the right size for a portable system and it is an anti-glare screen. It is the standard resolution of 1366x768, which may be an issue for some. In our testing it is a decent screen, not the brightest but sufficient.

The Acer C720 Chromebook will be available shortly from Acer, Best Buy, and Amazon with a list price of $249.99. It's worth noting that this price is less than that of most tablets, an exceptional deal for a laptop.

Buyers of the Acer C720 Chromebook get 12 sessions of Gogo in-flight wi-fi access included along with 100GB of free storage on Google Drive, further enhancing the deal.

Pros:

Cheap

Faster than most Chromebooks

4GB memory

Battery life

Fast charging (1.5 hours from 10 percent to fully charged, less than 3 hours when completely drained)

Cons:

Plastic construction

Small trackpad

Additional Chromebook coverage: 

Acer unveils first Chromebook with Haswell for $249

Summary: The fight between ARM and Intel just got more interesting as Acer unveils a new Chromebook for $249 with Haswell.

(Image: Acer)

The Chromebook space is rapidly evolving, and Acer's new model is the first to bring Intel's Haswell technology to the Chromebook. The new Acer C720 has an Intel Celeron processor with Haswell technology with a quoted 8.5-hour battery life.

The Haswell Celeron should bring improved performance over the previous generation processor. Samsung's Series 5 550 Chromebook yields good performance with the older Celeron, so the Acer should be even better. Samsung's older Chromebook gets six hours run time per charge, and the Haswell Celeron should easily beat that. Significantly, Acer is introducing the C710 Chromebook for $249.99.

The Samsung Series 5 is over $500 on Amazon at the time of this writing. Acer's price is the same as the Samsung Chromebook which uses an ARM processor.

The Acer C720 has decent specifications for such a cheap laptop:

Processor: Intel Celeron 2955U Display: 11.6-inch, 1366x768, matte, outdoor viewable Memory: 4GB Storage: 16GB Battery life: 8.5 hours

This is packed in a 2.76lb laptop that is only 0.75in thick. Acer has also worked two USB ports in the C720, one 3.0 and another USB 2.0. 

The Acer C720 Chromebook is available for pre-order now from Amazon and Best Buy online shops.

It is noteworthy that Google and HP recently announced the Chromebook 11 with an ARM processor for $279. That Chromebook only has a quoted battery life of 6 hours.

See related: 

James Kendrick has been using mobile devices since they weighed 30 pounds, and has been sharing his insights on mobile technology for almost that long.

HP debuts first ARM-powered Chromebook

(Image: HP)

In an attempt to keep up with consumer demands for ever-cheaper PCs, HP has launched its first ARM-powered Chromebook running Google's Chrome OS operating system.

For a device that commands an price tag of $279.99, there's an awful lot of good tech crammed into HP's Chromebook 11. It features a Samsung 1.7GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 GAIA processor, an 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 IPS screen, 2GB of RAM, a 16GB solid-state drive, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/LTE connectivity, a lightweight yet strong magnesium alloy chassis, and a battery good for 6 hours of active use.

Weighing it at a little over two pounds, the Chromebook 11 is one of the lightest notebooks on the market, but it still sports a full-sized keyboard and trackpad, so there's been no compromises in term on input devices.

Also, the Chromebook 11 is totally silent, thanks to the fact that there are no fans or other moving parts. However, if you do want it to make a sound, it comes kitted out with a set of digitally tuned speakers.

The Chromebook 11 comes in a choice of white with blue, yellow, red, or green accents or black.

For added convenience the Chromebook 11 can be charged up using the same charger and cable as most Android handsets, which means less wires and clutter to carry about.

What's interesting about the Chromebook 11 is that it is virtually identical to Samsung's Chromebook released earlier this year, except that HP's offering is more expensive.

The Chromebook 11 also comes with 100GB Google Drive cloud storage that is free for two years, and a 60-day free trial of Google Play Music All Access.

Google's Chrome OS operating system is a Linux-based platform designed to work primarily with web applications. The user interface consists almost entirely of the Google Chrome web browser and applications come in the form of web apps.

The Chromebook 11 joins a raft of other Chromebook devices made by HP, including the Chromebook 14, the SlateBook x2, and the Slate, and will be available later this month.

iOS 7: first impressions of the Metro-ized iOS

Can I say that I like iOS 7 without having rotten tomatoes thrown at me? Probably not, so I'll don a raincoat and a laboratory face shield and say, "I like iOS 7". Even if you like iOS 7 too, you're not going to like the reason that I like it. I like it because it looks and acts like Windows 8. There, I said it. It looks and acts like Windows 8. So what? There's nothing wrong with it looking and acting like Windows 8. I think it's a good thing.

I can hear the knuckle-cracking and drink pouring already, while you prepare yourself to assault me with anti-Windows 8 rhetoric but, if you're honest with yourself, you'll admit that I'm right.

All iOS versions before 7 seemed a bit heavy. This one feels lighter, faster, and more mobile device compatible. Don't get me wrong, iOS is a cool operating system even at its clunkiest but 7 is smooth. iOS 7 is Metro for the Apple crowd. 

And I'll bet you a thousand Rupees that the next Mac OS comes out looking very similar to Windows 8 and iOS 7. Since Apple uses big cats for its OS X versions and the new look and feel is very similar to Metro, I'd like to call it MeOwS MiX. 

My favorite thing about iOS 7 is the way you kill apps, by just tossing them away out the top of your phone. No more hold, shake, and kill. I always thought that was a little weird. I'm happier now. In fact, the way you kill apps is vaguely (OK, blatantly) like tossing out YouTube videos that you're through watching. Have you noticed that?

I like that I can swipe through my open apps and then tap to bring it to focus. That part feels very Android-esque to me. But, in general, the whole iOS 7 experience feels very Windows 8.

My middle son and daughter both agree with me about the whole Windows 8 thing too.

"iOS 7 is Metro for the Apple crowd."

In fact, my son came home from school and said, "I've been enjoying iOS 7 today." To which I responded, "Did you notice how much like Windows 8 it is?" "Yes", was his immediate response, "Yes, it is". My daughter chimed in with, "Hey, yeah, it is like Windows 8".

So, it isn't just me and I feel totally justified in making that assertion.

Oh, and the fact that someone has already discovered a security flaw convinces me that iOS 7 is very similar to Windows 8. I won't go so far as to say that iOS 7 is based on Metro or aims to be a better Metro; I just think it bears noticing that they are similar.

Even if you don't agree and think that I'm coming out of left field, it's OK. You and I are both enjoying iOS 7 for what it is: a new iOS version. And that's fun, don't you think?

Does the Control Center make you think Charms Bar?

I like the Control Center. It's something that's been sadly missing from iOS from the beginning. We needed quick access to those things without all the swiping, wiping, and tapping through a bunch of stuff to enter Airplane mode, to turn on/off WiFi, to enable/disable Bluetooth, or to change brightness.

And I really love having the flashlight and stopwatch right there. Talk about handy. The calculator is another much used item for me. I'm always fumbling around looking for that thing when I need it at the grocery store or at home for calculating the cryptic way school grades are delivered to me. What does 33/46 mean to me without a calculator?

 I'm happy with iOS 7 and if you have an iPhone, iPad, or, iPod that's supported and iOS 7 capable, go for it. It doesn't take long to upgrade and I think you'll love the "new" look and feel. Heck, at its worst, it could make you embrace Windows 8 and Metro. Thanks Apple. I'm sure Microsoft is smiling today too.

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