Surveys, Polls, and Data…OH MY!

I’m a huge fan of both qualitative and quantitative data, mostly because if analyzed correctly it can paint a very useful picture. However, data can be also be dangerous. How many times have you heard this from someone: “I read on [insert website here] that 75% of people think…”?

When considering data one must understand how the data was gathered, from whom the data was gathered, and from how many entities sampled.

Surveys can be a great way for a company to obtain data on its product(s), or a way to understand consumer wants and needs. A couple recent examples I want to present are: 1) The 2009 Engadget Awards and 2) Steam Hardware Survey

Both surveys produce lots of data in their results. Engadget is a survey completed by the user directly from their website. There are lots of categories and technology products to vote for. Below is a snippit of a few:

I consider myself fairly acute to the latest tech products. However, I was a little surprised to find some of Engadget’s survey questions…well…leading. For example, in the ‘Wireless Device or Technology of the Year’ category (see above), I feel like I am looking at the old Sesame Street bit entitled ‘One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other‘. The options are 3 wireless technologies, 2 consumer electronic charging devices and a home automation product. HUH? WTF?! Did they not have enough Wireless Technologies to have their own category? AND…the choice that is currently leading is a technology that while only recently officially *certified*, has been around for ages. I voted for MiFi BTW.

Also, ‘Tablet PC of the Year’ (see above). There are/were tablets before the iPad? hehe. I scratch my head wondering if the Lenovo is simply in the lead because no one knows ANY of the devices and simply chose it due to length of characters and inclusion of the word “capacitive multitouch”. I know I did.

Finally, and definitely not least (visit Engadget’s survey to see the rest) we have the ‘E-reader of the Year’. Yea Baby! The newest and arguably one of the biggest subjects in the tech world today. I don’t think there is any question the Kindle 2 (leading in the polls) should win this one. But wait, close on its heels is the Nook. The Nook? Wasn’t that released in very limited inventory only weeks prior to year end? Bravo Nook for capturing the hearts of the voters! You’re almost like a Republican with a Pickup truck!

One of my favorite surveys is the yearly Steam Hardware Survey. As a self proclaimed GAMER, I like to see where I fare in comparison to my running-and-gunning rivals around the world. For those of you not in the know, Steam is an online distribution medium for PC games. It’s an application that allows you to shop, pay for, and download games instantly. It’s also a community in the fact that it has built in friends lists, chat, and voice functionality. It allows you to see what games your friends are playing and join them (if you also have the game of course). Honestly, it’s great. Since Steam I can’t think of the last PC game I actually purchased at a brick-and-mortar store or other etailer in years.

Now that you know what Steam is, know that they have a mechanism for sucking all the technical data from your PC and sharing it with the world! Scared? I’m not, I love it! this method is harder for people to manipulate the results. In the end it produces more accurate data.

Would I use it to drive the optimum resolution I should build my businesses website? No. Would I use it to determine whether I should optimize my application to support multiple core CPUs? Maybe. Like I said earlier, take all this data with a grain of salt and consider the source (and sample).

Click on the image to visit the Steam Survey results…and feel free to consume the data anyway you see fit!

iPad Mania

Now that the hub-bub is all over. What are your thoughts? After a day (and night of sleep) I’ve had a chance to really think about the device. I’m still up in the air. I want one, but I think if I waited, I wouldn’t miss it. Anyway, here is my pro v. con list. Feel free to comment and post your opinion(s).

So You Like To Watch?

Unless you have been living under a boulder, you should be aware of Apple’s big unveiling today. The bar has been set VERY high so some web personalities are expecting crushed expectations and disappointment. Others are having prophetic dreams about a device that will change the way we consume content. Regardless of your assumptions, position, expectations, and predictions, if you are a techie, you *should be* interested!

There are enough sites out there splattered with speculation and rumor so I will save you from that here. Besides a possible new product line, I would expect many other great updates to existing Apple products. Now I’m starting sound like a fan-boy.

Here are a couple places where you can tune in to feed on Steve Job’s latest dissemination of Apple slices. The event is today (January 27th, 2010) at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco at 10am PST.

CNET Live Blog
Mac|Life Live Blog
Engadget Live Blog

This Is The Worst App Eva! I Think…

Maybe Coyote866 is an example of our failing school system. Maybe he (or she) is just confused with the scoring system. Or maybe just intoxicated. Either way, I have to laugh! Sadly, reviews like these are common for iPhone apps. Good review, bad score. Bad score, good review. :-/

YouTube To Enter Movie Rental Market?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that YouTube is considering entering the movie rental business with the likes of existing participants such as Apple and Netlfix.

The one thing I see missing is the delivery mechanism/application. :-/ …so Apple has iTunes and Netlfix has the Xbox (and other consoles), how will YouTube deliver it’s movie rental content? Via PC only? Roku maybe? I’m also hearing that the only payment medium is via Google’s payment service, Google Checkout…YUCK!

U.S. Geek Shortage

OH NOES! The U.S. Defense Department (The Pentagon’s DARPA arm) is saying that the amount of geeks rising in the ranks may be declining! They perceive this as a national threat! I agree. The Chinese don’t appear to be having this problem as seen lately with the latest attacks on American companies [PC World reports source could be from Google employees in China].

Darpa’s worried that America’s “ability to compete in the increasingly internationalized stage will be hindered without college graduates with the ability to understand and innovate cutting edge technologies in the decades to come…. Finding the right people with increasingly specialized talent is becoming more difficult and will continue to add risk to a wide range of DoD [Department of Defense] systems that include software development.”

Darpa is looking to attract teens to careers in science in hopes to effect change. According to the Computer Research Association, computer science enrollment dropped 43 percent between 2003 and 2006.

Read More at Wired.

(re)Hello world!

Welcome to the NEW hoody.net! If you’ve come here looking for my mixes, you can now find them here.

Over the coming days/weeks/months, I will be publishing cool tech-related articles. Of course these entries will contain my witty (and unrequested) commentary and opinion. My goal is to engage the community with relevant, informational and useful data. I regularly troll the likes of Digg, Lifehacker, MaximumPC, along with pod/net-casts such as: TWiT, CNET’s bol and many others. My goal is to extract the most relevant and interesting stories and discuss them here. While I will inject commentary, I vow always to provide multiple data points so the reader can form their own opinions on the subject matter.

Please feel free to comment and provide your opinion on any and all discussions! I look forward to the dialogue!

-Hoody