Visit with Boxee

We had a great visit with the folks at Boxee. Their offices in New York were a beehive of activity. We should expect great things from them.

We were able to demo the Myka ION for them. They loved it. We are getting a pre-production Myka ION ready for them to test. They are very eager to have many 'Boxee Enabled' devices on the market. We actually have an opportunity to be the first one out of the gate.

Watch for more announcements.....

Welcome Myka ION

We just announced Myka ION. It's based on work we have been doing for our private network customers. We felt it would really rock in the consumer world. After getting some feed back from the forums we decided to go ahead and commit to production.

This machine is a blast. You should see it run Boxee. Details are up on the website.

New Viral Marketing Test

With our customs issues behind us, myka is in stock and shipping. We've added a new disk drive size - 500 GB. New software has some nifty features.

In a previous life I was with an internet direct marketing company. We ran a number of viral marketing campaigns. On of our largest was emailing David Lettermans top 10 list. That campaign reached into the millions.

We've decided to try a twitter viral campaign. We are giving away FLIP cameras. The way you enter the drawing is to simply create a tweet with #mykatv anywhere in that tweet.

More info is HERE.

We'll see how it goes.

Your Governement at Work

We had a scare last week. We got a call from our shipper saying the latest batch of Myka's have been seized by customs for an IPR violation. YIKES!! It took us almost two weeks to resolve the issues (did you know that customs agents work the graveyard shift). See the port labeled HDMI on the back of Myka

Well, during a routine spot check, a customs agent noticed that we did not have a trademark symbol on the HDMI port label. The whole shipment was held up. Turns out that on a port label, the trademark is not required. Issue resolved. Now I have to make up for lost sleep.

First myka Private Networked Signed!

Haven't had much time to blog recently. We've been working on our first private network. Well, we did it. Closed our first one. I can't release the details. I can say it is sports related.

Customers of our private network product get:

• Completely customizable user interface. Your network, your brand.
  
• Content subscription services. Automatically send shows to your customers.
  
• Custom case (with a minimum of 100 units).
• Easy to add functionality
• Flexible pricing options.
  
• Complete turnkey solution - your network can be up and running in as little as 60 days.

Once we are further along we will release more details. Thanks to everyone (both internal and external) who helped close this.

Happy Fourth!

I love the muppets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDA9NbPAK8o

Netflix and Hulu

We have been working on ways to provide access to both Netflix and Hulu. NetFlix does not publish their device API unless you are a major CE player. We're not there, yet.

We have been working with technology from a company called Media Mall. Their product is called PLAYON.

It works great. I'm able to watch NetFlix movies and full shows from Hulu. Myka renders the video stunningly well on a HD screen.

A few issues:

• Your network has to be up to snuff. 802.11/G won't cut it. You need to be N or wired.
• Your PC has to be moderately beefy. The PLAYON specs need to be looked at.
• It does require that your PC be on and running the PLAYON server.

All that having been said, it's very nice. You have access to all the full episodes on HULU. Checkout the CBS/Classic TV/Star Trek. Anything that let's me watch Star Trek is a good thing.

There is a free trial and then a one time fee.

We'll be posting this to the main site with instructions in the next little while.

Some Early Customer Feedback

Our team has put in a lot of work getting Myka out the door. We have developers on both coasts, a graphic designer, a manufacturing partner in China, hosting services, packaging help and friends and family that support us. There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of risk.

It is always nerve wracking to release your product, then have to wait to see if anyone likes it.

Well, we're starting to get some feedback posted in some forums.

And they're good.

Here is an EXAMPLE

This is our moment of truth! Can't pop the champagne just yet but it sure does feel good.

New Service Added

One of the main reasons we designed the software the way we did was to enable people to set up their own video distribution networks. If you wanted to set up, say, Juggling TV, we would have a hardware/software solution for you.

Even before we shipped, we began getting inquiries for small, private networks. We have a few in the works that I can't talk about just yet.

We just announced the service. - CLICK HERE TO READ

So all you video entrepreneurs, get cracking!

Good Article On The State of Internet Media

The reason we decided to get into this business was because of the changes we were seeing on the horizon. This work is much to hard and risky if you don't believe in the larger picture. Henry Blodget just wrote a great piece on this.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE.

One of my favorite quotes goes something like, "Change is the medium of opportunity".

There are fundamental changes happening in media. With Myka, we now have a seat at the table. Now that we are shipping, I'll spend some time talking about our view of the media world.

Got to go, pack and ship more Myka!

Get them while they're HOT

Production is in full gear now. We can ship units out immediately. It takes a lot of work by a lot of people to get to this stage. I'll post a more formal thank you to everyone after I catch up on some sleep. It's all good.

Units have ARRIVED!!

One of the fun things that happen when you do a project like this, is when a whole bunch of units arrive. Well, we got boxes and boxes in today.

Can't have anymore fun than this! More later.

Flip Camera

We've been playing around with a Flip Camera lately. Nifty little toy. It shoots HD video and has a USB connector built in, no fumbling for a cable. Turns out, it works great with Myka. Just plug the USB drive in and in 3 clicks, your watching you movie. Our USB copy tool also makes it very easy to transfer movies to Myka's hard drive.

We're going to video the whole process to show it off on the website.

Click HERE for our Flip Promo Video.

Let me know what you think.

First Unit!

First unit has arrived. We are very happy with how the whole thing looks. Better than we imagined!

First Look At The Production Case

This is a photo of the actual production case. Every once in a while, something exceeds my expectations.

Package Design

We are going with a very simple Apple like design. Few words, few pictures.

Case Artwork COMPLETE!

New images for our case are now available. We are so pleased with how this is turning out. New logo looks great, UI looks great, video output is spectacular, it's all good.

Well, I finally did it. I'm trying to catch up with my teenage son. You can follow Myka on Twitter.

We're at MykaTV.

Mercy!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Haven't posted in a while. We've been getting Myka ready for shipping. Been very happy with how the UI had progressed. Doing the classic 20 hour start up days (and loving it!). As soon as I catch my breath, I'll give a full run down.

Hulu Cuts Off Boxee

Well, it was bound to happen. Someone was going to step over the line. Making content available for viewing on a PC was fine as long as it didn't cut into the television audience. With Boxee making it just a bit too easy to watch internet TV on a TV, that was cutting too close to home.

Hulu announced that its media partners requested that their content not be made available through Boxee. (good summary article HERE at www.avc.com).

Any industry that feels threatened will fight tooth and nail to preserve the status quo. Remember when the motion picture industry lobbied congress to BAN the VCR? Remember when the record industry pushed for a TAX on DAT equipment and tapes?

Any business that lets people drive big cars, fly first class is not going to give that up very easily.

This is the new reality and it is really hitting close to home. Just like the VCR, big media will be forced to stop trying to kill it and figure out how to adapt to it.

People have been writing me and asking me if I was worried that this happened. My answer is 'no'. This is simply the natural, predictable progression. It is easy to predict the violent opposition by the entrenched. But just like the VCR, the industry will be compelled to figure all out.

Don't Always Listen To The Experts

When we started this adventure, we talked to a lot of venture capitalists. Part of my speach 2 years ago was a prediction that television sets were going to start adding internet connectivity.

Well, I was roundly dismissed. Don't get me wrong, these are very smart and connected people, but they were dead wrong.

Some of the reasons I was given -
1. I don't understand the TV manufacturing business. It takes 18 months to bring a set to market and no manufacturer would take that risk.
2. TV's with other stuff built in have never done that well.
3. I was being very naive to think that change could happen that fast.

I eventually had to pull that part from my pitch, go too many negative arguments I could not win.

Well, LG Electronics, Sony, Vizio, Panasonic have all announce TV's with internet connections.

The lesson here is follow your instincts, smart people are often wrong.

Guy Kawasaki has some great examples of experts being wrong

Don’t let the bozos grind you down

2 kinds of bozos:
- The slovenly bozo with no credibility
- The successful bozo, which is the most dangerous since people tend to believe them.

Examples of “dangerous bozosity”:
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”
Western Union dismissed the telephone in 1876
“It’s too far to drive and I don’t see how it can be a business” Guy’s reply to an offer to be CEO of Yahoo. He says it cost him $2bn.

Anyway, as I always say, "Being right is great! That and $1.25 will get you a cup of coffee"

Just don't believe everything people tell you, no how matter how smart they are.

Great Article in Linux Devices

Here is an example of homerun PR
Click here to view: Linux Devices Article

It does not get any better than this! This article will be picked up by others and we will actively promote it.

I got this by talking with the editor.

Some Internet PR Lessons Learned

We've had a wild ride in getting the word out about Myka. First, I'd like to thank my brother Howard for helping us through all this. He actually knows what he's doing (check out his blog - Nanobot).

We had just concluded our licensing agreement with BitTorrent and felt we needed to test the waters for demand. I dusted off my HTML skills and put up a website in 2 days. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done. We sent out a few messages to a few blogs and suddenly it hit. We were seeing almost 10,000 visitors a day and taking pre-orders. It was stunning. Before we know it, we were on Engadet and Wired.

So, fast forward several months. We send out a few test emails to some of the people on our pre-order list. Well, one of them leaked the letter to a tech blog. We were off to the races again. However, our website was not ready. We were dealing with both positive and negative press. It's been a scramble, but we got the new site up (www.myka.tv). I shifted from the notepad/hand rolled HTML to JOOMLA.

Here are some things I think I learned during this adventure -

1. Include a high quality picture. The big industrial blogs and news sites love them.
2. Make your text very easy to cut and paste into articles.
3. If things get picked up, use the opportunity to get to know the editors.
4. NEVER engage in a comment war on a blog.
5. Keep the news coming out of your site POSTIVE.

There are more minor lessons to be learned, but you will have to wait for the book.
Just talked with the Wired editor, we are supposed be mentioned this Monday!

Our UI Video

We needed to present our UI vision for Myka to a potential partner on the west coast. Instead of getting on an airplane or attempting a Skype video conference, we decided to create a quick UI demo. Pardon the low production values. We did this in one take and completed everything in half an hour.

It's HERE on YouTube.

Saved us a trip and got the point across. There just maybe a business there.

Times, They Are a Changin'

Great post on VideoNuze

Tom Rogers of TiVo is warning of the coming storm. The television business is going to change. Just look at how a 17 year old consumes media.

The Media gatekeeper business is not going to be what it once was. We are quickly approaching a point where a large aggregator/distributor is no longer needed. Every few months there is an article about someone turning off their cable and getting all their content from the internet. Today, the answer is that it's not quite ready. The difference between 'not quite ready' and a stampede is getting smaller.

In the next year, you will see a huge leap in what is available, direct to your home, over the internet.

That's why we're so excited about Myka. It's all happening.

My take on Mark Cuban's 'Great Internet Video Lie'

Mark Cuban has published an aggressive blog post about video over the internet.

http://blogmaverick.com/2009/01/27/the-great-internet-video-lie/

His argument is that video over the net is not viable because the current state of technology cannot support that massive numbers of simultaneous viewers the cable or satellite.

While that statement is true, it does not paint the whole picture. If you look at the content delivered by cable, most of it pre-recorded. It does not matter when you watch programs on The History Channel.

A background download of The History Channel makes perfect sense in that context. Add a little smarts to it, like always keep three episodes downloaded and you negate the CDN bandwidth issue.

Look at the Tivo model. People became very accustomed to the time shift. In that model, the device had to wait for another broadcast to record. In a pure download environment, the new episode is replaced when it is most convenient.