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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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!