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Hey Godaddy! You’re Driving Us Crazy

Jeff — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:31:29 +0000

Over the years I have registered a lot of domain names. We got into web development about 15 years ago and now there are about 300 url’s on our domain farm. Some good. Some not so good.

I recently went on a “round up” and moved all the domain registrations to a single registrar because it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with renewals.

I chose to use Godaddy.com because their pricing seemed a little lower and they offer hosting services as well.

Now I am reconsidering that decision.

Godaddy.com is the “hands down winner” of the contest for the “most characters per page contest” and they lead the competition by miles in the “most in-your-face upselling contest” as well. It is impossible to complete any sort of transaction at their site without their making dozens of attempts to sell you more products and services, and completing any sort of complicated administrative tasks almost always requires a phone call.

There ought to be some way to turn off all the special offers, deals and contests and choose a simple menu option for the task you came there to get done.

It is past time for Godaddy.com to provide a simple-to-navigate option for customers who know why they came to the site. We can save looking at the Danica Patrick pictures till later.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Got an alternative to Godaddy.com that you would like to share with our readers? Let us know.

That Song You Can’t Get Out Of Your Head

Jeff — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:50:34 +0000

You know that feeling that you have “a radio in your head” and some song gets stuck there and you can’t stop hearing it? New research on “no battery” electrical devices at Duke University might someday mean that you really would have a radio in your head.

This article caught my eye in yesterday’s New York Times . Matt Reynolds, an electrical engineering professor at Duke, is working on “self-powered” devices that use the radio waves all around us in the atmosphere to power electrical devices. He has founded a company whose first product is a “beeper” built into a hard hat that can warn the wearer when he is too close to a piece of dangerous construction equipment. The amazing thing about this beeper is it needs no external power source (no battery) because it is powered by radio waves.

Equipment on the job site transmits its location and when a wearer of the beeper-equipped hard hat gets too close, a warning buzzer lets him know to watch out. Since the radio waves that provide power for the device are around all the time and free to anything that can utilize them, this device has perpetual power-no battery change required-ever!

Radio waves are all around us in the atmosphere, produced by radio and tv towers, cell phone transmissions, Wi-Fi transmitters and lots of other sources. Professor Reyonolds research and development allows harvesting of the the power from random waves without impacting those transmitted for a specific use.

Major companies like Intel have expressed an interest in this research and exploitation of “random” waves has already proved that they can power some calculators and clocks, replacing a AAA battery.

Someday, your inability to “get that song out of your head” may be complicated by the fact that a radio wave powered device could actually be implanted in your head.

Hey Steve! Here’s A Roll of Black On Us

Jeff — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:52:20 +0000

Apple has been taking a beating over problems with the antenna of the new iPhone, and it has been interesting to hear the reasons, the excuses, and the solutions regarding this problem.

The most recent (and our favorite) way to solve the issue involves something dear to my heart-gaffers tape. It seems that much of the problem caused by how you hold the new iPhone can be solved by putting a small piece of gaffers tape over the part of the external antenna where you might normally touch the phone. This keeps your hand from interfering with the antenna transmission. (CBS News video of this solution)

Naturally, we are intrigued by the fashion statement that your choice of gaffers tape to stick on your new $300.00 smart phone would make. Pink for Pink. Neon green for Al Green, and, of course, black for Steve Jobs.

I was pretty excited about this potential new market, until I realized that a single roll of gaffers tape would be enough to handle every iPhone in North America.

Why Did This Take So Long?

Jeff — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:22:53 +0000

By the time you reach my age, changing batteries in the remote control (or anything else) usually starts with a search for my reading glasses. If I can put the batteries in the wrong way, I will.

Microsoft (go figure?) has come up with a really elegant and practical solution for this problem. They have designed a battery holder that has both a positive and a negative terminal. This means that no matter how the battery is oriented, it will still work. Genius.

All these combinations are possible

By using this

Microsoft’s Instaload system is compatible with AA, AAA, C, D and CR123 (all the major battery types used in multiples) and it will require only a minor redesign by any manufacturer of a battery powered device that wants to integrate it.

Surprisingly, Microsoft is making this design available under a royalty free license so that any manufacturer can adopt it.

Maybe Microsoft has finally come up with a winner.

Who Really Profits From The “White Space” Frequency Reallocation?

Jeff — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:17:15 +0000

I have written a number of times regarding the recent decision by the FCC to outlaw wireless mics operating in the 700 MHz range, the so called “white space” frequency allocation that has been part of the roll out of digital television broadcasting in this country. There is lots of speculation regarding the government’ss announcement of how making this spectrum available for new wireless uses will lead to lots innovation.

Companies like Microsoft and Google have paid billions in auctions to be able to control spectrum once used by wireless microphones and many believe that they will make their billions (and much more) back by being able to take advantage of this government mandated monopoly.

Little has been said about another windfall. That is sales that will go to wireless mic manufacturers. An article buried in the back pages of FOH Magazine about sound for Cirque du Soleil shows caught my eye. Dave Stephens, a sound engineer for one of Cirque’s Las Vegas shows dropped the fact that the MGM Grand had spend $140,000.00 in order to replace their 700 mHZ wireless microphone equipment. That’s just one entertainment center in one city. Admittedly, the Grand is a major facility, but there are hundreds more of comparable size and complexity around the country and hundreds of thousands of churches, theatres, schools and entertainers that will also be replacing their mics.

In theory, all of this activity needs to take place in the next three months in order to meet the FCC deadline. While that will surely not happen, it is reasonable to assume that the majority of this “soon to be illegal” equipment will eventually be replaced, reaping multi-million dollar sales for companies like Shure and Sennheiser.

It’s a good time to be a manufacturer of wireless mics!

What’s Google Up To Now?

Jeff — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:50:50 +0000

Some dismiss Google’s announcement that they plan to enter the business of providing broadband internet service as just more dabbling by a company that has too much money. They will probably regret it.

Taking on the problem of slow internet access that puts the US near the bottom of the world’s developed countries in internet speed could end up making Google a lot more wealthy and powerful than just online advertising ever could.

If Google is able to build and control the data delivery pipeline, then we have a clear historical example of what could happen next. This is what broadcast television was about 70 years ago. The moves that the three major tv networks made in controlling the airwaves gave them decades of exclusive control over the ability to deliver advertising to the entire country with little or no competition.

If or when Google builds and controls a data delivery system-particularly if it is better (read, faster) than what is currently in place, then the value of their advertising delivery capability to ad buyers will go through the roof.

If all you have to do in order to download a movie in minutes rather than hours is watch a couple of ads during the downlaod, then most people will happily watch those ads served up by Google while the download is going on.

If a doctor can stream 3D medical images at almost real time speed, then an ad from a pharmaceutical company being served up at the same time is, at worst, a minor annoyance.

Real time sports in high definition online? I’ll click on the Budweiser ad.

Delivery of internet services by the telephone or cable companies is basically an “add on” that is burdened by infrastructure built for a very different purpose. Their networks are already overloaded and their ability to expand has severe limitations.

When Google builds a network that shows consumers, advertisers and the government what really fast, open broadband networks can do, then they’ll have a choke hold on the ultimate ad delivery system.

Would I sit through a few sales pitches to have my internet speed increase by a factor of 10? Can I have it now?

Monster Cable Says “Thank You” But “No, You’re Not Invited”

Jeff — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:47:53 +0000

We sell speaker cables. Lots of cables. They are intended for the pro audio market and and work great in high end concert and audio visual production. They’re fairly priced and come with a solid guarantee.

I’m always amazed at how much black magic is applied to the science of selling cables. No one excels at this as well as Monster Cable, a manufacturer of high end cables marketed both to the pro and the home market.

Believe it or not, Monster sells a HDMI hi definition video cable for as much as $1000.00. That’s not the price for the television. Just the cable!

An article in Monday’s New York Times shed a little light on why Monster wires are so incredibly expensive. Chalk it up (mark it up?)to a very special sort of high end marketing.

At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Monster sponsored an invitation-only concert featuring John Legend and Stevie Wonder. A Monster party featured Dr. Dre and Diddy, along with Monster CEO Noel Lee riding a Segway scooter trimmed in flames.

A Monster press conference featured Lady Gaga, who was in Las Vegas to introduce a new line of Monster headphones.

Talent like this doesn’t come cheap.

Study after study has shown that most of Monster’s claims regarding the superiority of their cables is mostly hype. One of our favorite tests even compared their speaker cables to coat hanger wire and claimed to hear no difference in audio quality between the two.

Did I mention, the Las Vegas events were not for Monster customers, they were for Monster Cable dealers, the sellers who share in the astronomical markups sales of these cables genterate. Those heaping plates of shrimp and the flowing champagne at the event hosted by Diddy and Dr. Dre were paid for by you, if you’re a purchaser of Monster Cables.

No Wonder Google Wants To Sell Hardware

Jeff — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:41:08 +0000

The ongoing battle between the Google mobile operating system for cell phones and Apple’s IPhone was accelerated last week with the release of the Nexus One, a smart phone that is actually branded as a Google device.

There has been lots of speculation as to why Google was interested in getting into the hardware business, as they are primarily a search engine driven advertising company.

This article in Forbes makes it clear why Google has such a keen interest in this market. The profit potential is amazing.

The Nexus One is sold directly from Google (web sales only) and can be purchased in one of two ways. You can purchase a subsidized phone along with a two year contract for service from T-Mobile. The price of the phone is $179.00.

Or, you can purchase the phone outright-unlocked (no service contract) for $529.00 and make a deal with your own choice of service providers.

Forbes estimates that the actual cost of manufacturing the phone is $174.15. That means that Google’s gross profit on every phone is $354.85, a whopping $204% markup.

If Google is successful in getting a phone to market that people will buy without a contract, then it might force cell carriers to open up their market and be more competitive when it comes to pricing.

Google’s decision to price the Nexus One at such a ridiculously high price means that this probably won’t happen any time soon.

A Copper Top For My Rag Top

Jeff — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:05:47 +0000

The saddest days of the year for me is the day in the late fall that I decide to put the removable hard top on my car in place of the convertible top. One of my guiltiest pleasures is long fall drives with the top down and it’s always depressing to see that come to an end.

All that is an intro to a new product announcement by Duracell. They are rolling out a new line of automotive batteries.

Duracell is positioning this product line as a battery intended to meet the needs of today’s automobiles that have so many electrical accessories. We gone from batteries that start your car and let you listen to the radio to needing a power source that will handle a two bedroom apartment.

There is no end to the electrical accessories that cars can have these days. Cars have become workplaces and auto batteries need to be able to power all sorts of devices when the engine is not running. That’s a prescription for a dead battery.

Oddly, this line of auto batteries does not yet appear on Durcell’s web site, so detail are hard to come by. They are currently available in limited areas and there has been no announcement about a national roll out.

We’ve been a distributor of Duracell Procell batteries for many years and are always surprised at how poorly this company uses the web to support product information. It is amazing to me that the day after you announce a new product line that there is no mention of it on your corporate web page.

Duracell may not understand how to use the web, but they sure understand the value of their brand. Auto batteries by Duracell is a logical extension of how brands are leveraged and if this is a good product, they should be able to grab a big percentage of the market.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords andOnStage Stand mic stands. You might enjoy our “How Not To Test A Battery” animation

A Job That Comes With A Target On Your Back

Jeff — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:55:55 +0000

As part of their plan to roll out a retail store initiative, Microsoft is hiring away Apple Store employees to run the new Microsoft Stores.

These ever loyal Apple employees are apparently jumping at the chance to make a little more money.

According to The Loop, a tech blog that covers all things Apple, Microsoft is approaching managers of Apple Stores and offering them positions with Microsoft at significantly higher salaries. Once on board with Microsoft, these managers are then contacting Apple Store employees who are apparently also succumbing to Microsoft’s generous offers. I guess that’s why Apple calls them geniuses!

After 20 plus years of banging my head against the wall over countless Microsoft software problems, I am really looking forward to being able to put a face on Microsoft. Getting a one on one explanation of why a simple OS upgrade takes two days and two dozen system reboots is something on my “must do” list.

Unless they lock the doors to anyone except purchasers of a new Zune, there are going to be so many angry MS customers lined up at the “Guru Bar” (Microsoft’s version of Apple Store’s “Genius Bars”) that people interested in making a purchase won’t even be able to get into the building.

As to those former Apple Store managers, they can go ahead and start thinking about what they’re going to do once the plug is pulled on this project.

Microsoft has really raised the bar on billion dollar bad ideas.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Here’s a link to our new “How To” animation series.

Ready To Make Your Own Glow Tape

Jeff — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:18:08 +0000

The idea that the products we sell might someday be generated organically and thus solve the disposable problems that selling expendables cause is exciting. I have written about this in the past.

A recent article in the Telegraph highlights the discovery of bomber worms, an aquatic organism that lives in the Pacific ocean at depths of several miles. These creatures, up to 3 or 4 inches in length, have the ability to release fluid-filled balloons which glow in the dark as a way to apparently defend them from predators. Once the balloons are released, the worms have the ability to regenerate more.

The chemical science of making glow tape is complicated and requires a multi-step process which creates some environmental waste disposal issues. A way to do this organically would be a great advance.

Maybe someday the organic process used by the bomber worm will lead us to making glow in the dark products that can regenerate and dispose of themselves.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Here’s a link to our new “How To” animation series.

My Phone Needs Another Button

Jeff — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:12:22 +0000

The ability to make a free (or almost free) phone call by using a computer with a broadband connection is a great innovation. It opens up lots of opportunities for new telcom services and helps keep the big phone companies like AT&T scrambling.Unfortunately, this technology is not quite ready for everyday business use.

While it is fine for casual phone calls, business users who are trying to make an impression or make sure that detailed information is transmitted accurately run into lots of problems. VOIP calling (voice over internet protocol) is still not ready for these users.

The biggest problem we have encountered is receiving customer calls that we don’t realize are being made on an internet connection. The call sounds clear but there is a delay between the time the customer speaks and when we hear them. When there is a delay, you tend to talk over each other’s words and both parties to the conversation can appear that they are being rude to the other. At worst, its embarrassing. At best, it can still be confusing.Until this technology is perfected, I wish I had a button on my phone that would tell me that the caller was speaking through a computer. It would make things a lot easier.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

This Drummer Is Hot!

Jeff — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:49:47 +0000

So, I’m watching a Metacafe video of the drummer for The Dave Matthews Band (Carter Beauford) while the site serves ads for “printer drums”, drum heaters” and “ear drum” protection.

I realize that keyword driven advertising has a long way to go before it can be counted on to deliver up relevant ads, but this is ridiculous.

What most advertisers don’t seem to recognize that only they are in a position to be specific about how their ads are served up.

It would be fascinating to know what percentage of keyword advertising is totally irrelevant to the subject matter being delivered.

Just a quick thought!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands. Sometimes we have some interesting ideas about web development too! Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Nobody Likes To Get Old

Jeff — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:52:08 +0000

As part of our new marketing strategy built around goodideaguys.com, I am trying to work on a new social media presence for our business.

I have resisted using sites like Facebook and Twitter to date, partly because they can be pretty complicated to use effectively, but more importantly, they are so difficult to read.

I’m not talking about actual postings (not too hard to read a 140 character twitter posting). I’m talking about reading the instructions for setting up profiles.

I realize that most of these administrative pages are intended for eyes younger than mine, but who thinks that green type against a blue background is easy to read, even if you are a twenty-something?

The basis of good design may be negotiable on the web, but the presentation of information that requires the reader to comprehend instructions and actually do something still call for good contrast, an easily readable font and text size large enough that you don’t have to constantly zoom the text in order to get the job done.

The standard settings for web text that present black type against a white background are one of the most powerful tools the web has for presenting information and it is something that most people take for granted.

Just because it’s the “default” doesn’t mean that it isn’t also the best!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands. Sometimes we have some interesting ideas about web development too! Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

This Will Make One Heck Of A Tape Ball

Jeff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:53:26 +0000

I keep my Google News Alerts set for stories about the manufacturers products we sell. Today I got this one about Shurtape, a tape manufacturer in Hickory, NC.

Sun Kwak, a Korean artist, is using over three miles of black masking tape to create an abstract art installation at the Brooklyn Museum.

Deploying a special six inch width black masking tape provided by Shurtape, Kwak has developed a method of applying and then tearing the tape she applied to columns in the museum’s rotunda. This appears as wavy lines and patterns contrasted against the museum gallerie’s walls. The effect is stunning. To a casual observer, it looks like thousands of feet of painted patterns.

The artist has spent almost 300 hours on this installation and it will be on display until July 5.

After that, its three miles of tape headed for the landfill.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment ONe extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here for lots of useful graphic arts supplies.

Intelligently Searching For Intelligent Search

Jeff — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:39:04 +0000

I subscribe to a news alert service provided by Forbes Magazine and find that about once a day I will click on a link to one of their business-oriented stories. They are useful and well written.

This morning they sent me a link to a new service from Yahoo that they called “Yahoo’s Intelligent Search“. It sounded interesting so I clicked over to Yahoo and entered the search term “Yahoo’s Intelligent Search“. Not only was there no information on this new service at the top of the page-the first result was for “Extraterrestrial Intelligence” and the second was something about ebay-there was no reference to “Yahoo’s Intelligent Search” anywhere on the first two pages of search results.

It’s easy to see why Yahoo lags so far behind Google when they are not able to push their own new products to the top of their own search results.

We continue to show good search results for many of our products at Yahoo, but it becomes more and more difficult to understand how they can survive in the search business. They should have sold Yahoo Search to Microsoft when they had the chance.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful production supplies.

I Don’t Play Cello But I Could Have Done This

Jeff — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:29:09 +0000

One of the highlights of this week’s inauguration ceremony was the performance of a John Williams piece by a well known classical quartet made up of Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Itzhak Perlman (violin), Gabriela Montero (piano) and Anthony McGill (clarinet). It was (at the time) an impressive presentation.

I was particularly interested in this, after reading about Yo-Yo Ma’s plan to play a new carbon fiber cello that was supposed to be immune from effects brought on by cold weather.

It turns out that what the audience (and the world) heard was a little world class karaoke. The whole thing was a recording, and the public was kept in the dark until today.

In an interview on National Public Radio, Mr. Ma explained that the performance was impossible because of the temperature and that he had even gone so far as to use soap instead of resin on his bow so that his cello would not make any sound. A piano technician “decoupled” the piano keys from the hammers so that played keys would make no sound.

Maybe it was a great idea to plan to make this performance part of such an historical ceremony, but why not chose performers who could play live regardless of the weather. There are lots of instruments and performers who can play in cold weather, as was apparent over and over again during the inaugural parade.

I, for one, am incredibly disappointed to learn of this sham, and am sorry that it mars, for me, what was, otherwise a ceremony for the ages.

Want to pretend you had a front row seat at the inauguration. Click here.

Want to record your own inauguration “lip sync“. You’ll need a microphone, a mic cable and a microphone stand.

Circuit City Closing Leads To Customer “Short Circuit”

Jeff — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:51:58 +0000

It’s a long standing business business practice that the “seller sets the terms“. While its true that you can bargain with a vendor if you think they will sell at a lower price, in the end, if you are not willing to meet the seller’s price, you’ve got to walk away.

Apparently, customers hoping to walk out of a bankrupt Circuit City store with a $1.99 flat screen television aren’t willing to extend the seller that priviledge.

Lots of shoppers who showed up last Saturday for the beginning of Circuit City’s liquidation sale not only left the stores empty handed, they left mad as well.

Unbeknown to most of these vultures, once Circuit City declared bankruptcy, the court turned their assets over to a liquidator whose job is to get as much money for Circuit City’s creditors as they can. The management of Circuit City really has nothing to say about pricing.

I, for one, will miss Circuit City. While neither their selection nor their pricing was anything special, the competition they provided for Best Buy was good for both the local and national electronics marketplace.

Unfortunately, those customers who waited to show up at Circuit City until it was time to turn out the lights are now finding that liquidation pricing is not even as good as sale pricing was before the bankruptcy.

Lots of challenges for retailers and bargain-hungry customers will be presented in the next few months as our economy works through a really difficult retail environment. Circuit City’s experience has lessons for all of us.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

Wonder If They Gave Him A Gold Nose Ring?

Jeff — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:04:29 +0000

I wrote a piece sometime back regarding where new concert sound techs were going to come from. The pro sound industry continues to “gray” and pursuing jobs in concert production attracts fewer and fewer young people interested in this career.

A recent story in the online version of Pro Sound News points out what is happening in the pro sound field. This story highlighted the “retirement” of Paul Owen, after mixing monitors for Metallica for 22 years. That’s right. 22 Years!

While it is a little surprising that anybody could live through the Metallica soap opera for this long, it is certainly no surprise that there are touring sound techs out there who are actually reaching retirement age.

Paul Owen has logged 1340 Metallica shows and reads lips so well that no one realizes that he has been deaf since 1994.

Metallica’s lead singer James Hetfield honored Owen from the stage at this week’s concert in Detroit. Wonder if his replacement will be under 40?

Why The Arts Won’t Be Exempt

Jeff — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:23:09 +0000

If you think that those who work in the arts field or in businesses that provide support for the arts will be exempt from the economic downturn? Think again!

I recently came across this article in the The Daily Tar Heel, the newspaper of my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill. The article quotes Emil Kang, UNC’s Executive Director for the Arts. UNC arts programs have been valued customers of ours for many years.

Here’s what Mr. Kang had to say:

“If you talk to anyone who manages a budget they’ll tell you that they’re worried. The arts sector, like most sectors that are not financial markets, are always lagging behind. I’m included; we’re worried.”

“We are at the mercy of people’s disposable income. Unfortunately the arts are about six months behind,” he said. “I think we are going to see a lot of worse news over the next couple of years.”

Those arts organizations that count on private donations and government appropriated funds for their core support are already planning fewer shows for upcoming seasons. Donations from patrons and foundations are falling off and their return will trail the recovery of the economy as a whole.

Most arts funding not directly related to ticket sales is usually appropriated a least a year in advance, giving a false sense that the arts are not facing the same sort of downturn as General Motors and DHL.

Recent closing of Broadway hits like Hairspray and Legally Blonde reflect the current softness in ticket sales, sales that come almost exclusively from people’s discretionary income. Poor sales for this year’s touring productions of shows like The Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Backyardigans will slowly and surely filter down to those who are employed in the arts and to the businesses that count on the arts for much of their sales.

If you make your living in the arts or derive a significant portion of your income from arts organizations, get ready. Rough seas are on the horizon.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords & OnStage Stand mic stands . We are a proud supporter of the arts community in Chatham County, NC.

Wireless Warriors Step It Up A Notch!

Jeff — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:06:18 +0000

The interest in acquiring the broadcast spectrum currently used by many professional quality wireless microphones has been raging for a while. Everyone knows that some changes will take place in February 2009, when the FCC reallocates some of the spectrum in the 700 mhz range.

I have written before regarding these licensing requirements and speculated at the time that the FCC could really make things chaotic for the entertainment industry. Get ready for a new player to turn up the heat!

As reported in Forbes, The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition, a coalition of consumer’s rights organizations has filed a complaint with the FCC regarding the failure of almost all wireless mic owners to obtain an operator’s license for what is essentially a low power radio transmitter. This complaint accuses manufacturers like Shure and AKG of deceptive advertising in how their products are marketed.

This is a complaint that could potentially impact millions of microphone owners.

More importantly, it makes a very powerful argument on behalf of those companies that are vying for use of this part of the broadcast spectrum when digital televison comes online in February 0f 2009.

Bids of as much as $19 billion dollars have been placed for access to these airwaves and lots of major players are vying for the space.

While the FCC has rarely, if ever, enforced the licensing requirements for wireless mics, the law is not new and it may not be possible to ignore it any longer.

Want to know more? Here’s a link to the FCC rule.

OK!-Who are you guys?

Jeff — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:55:21 +0000

In reading one of my favorite business oriented blog sites, ducttapemarketing.com/blog, this article resonated with me.

My blog (buygafferstape.com/blogs) is almost two years. Its a project that I have really enjoyed.

The article I am referring to addresses the issue of bloggers trying to maintain their anonymity and not posting any information about who they really are. It has never been my intention to remain anonymous, but the idea never crossed my mind to do a posting about who I am.

Here goes!

After 20 years in the special event and concert production industries our company, Harrison Bros. Inc. gradually migrated from being a “hands on” production company to a seller of production supplies online.

My background as a sound tech and special event producer covered both freelance work and a stint at Duke University Technical Services during the 1980’s. I left Duke at the end of 1985 to start Harrison Bros.

As a production company we offered multiple services, including sound, lighting, staging, labor brokering and production management. The scale of the events we were involved in spanned a huge range from building dedications with one microphone to constructing the stage for one of the stadium dates on The Who’s 1989 “The Kids Are Alright Tour”.

It was challenging work and I had a chance to travel the country and work with some really high profile acts-Frank Sinatra, DollyParton, Bill Cosby, and lots of others.

Realizing that there wasn’t a great future in hands on work for someone staring down the barrel of his 50th birthday, I knew that it was time to turn our little company in a new direction.

We started out selling colored duct tape, and quickly found that there was a customer base for production supplies out there who were more than happy to tell us about production supplies they needed that were either difficult to find or way to expensive.

I gradually added other tape products like gaffers tape, then batteries, flashlights, tie lines , extension cords, etc. to the point where we now offer about 400 products.

We started by doing catalog sales and direct mail marketing, long before the internet evolved into a an ecommerce engine.

It didn’t take long to realize that the internet provided a perfect medium for marketing and selling and we rolled out thetapeworks.com and buybattery.com. This took a little while to gain traction, but after a year or so, it really took off.

2003 was a really important year in our business development. We left Main Street in Carrboro, where we had been since day one and built a new building about 5 miles south of Chapel Hill, and only four miles from my house. The entire back of the building is a 100′ wide loading dock and having a “purpose built” facility has provided a tremendous asset for our growth.

In the summer of 2006, we rolled out an important new web strategy, goodbuyguys.com. This allowed us to combine lots of websites, including buytape.com, buybattery.com, buyextensioncord.com, buywireties.com, buyspeakercable.com, buymicstand.com and buymiccable.com, under the same web portal.

One of the best things about developing this site was being able to use cartoon characters that my Father, Bill Harrison, had drawn for his 1960’s comic strip “Guess Who“. They are great spokesmen for our company, and using them to represent us has really helped me “find my voice” when blogging and creating web material.

I spend my spare time gardening, sailing, building furniture, and doing metal sculpture (my yard is full of this work).

Even though I left Duke University as an employee, I am a charter member of the Duke Chapel Congregation. My wife Gina (we were married in Duke Chapel) is a 25 year member of the Duke Chapel Choir and I enjoy being part of the usher team there, along with my two children, Charlotte and Kevin.

Being able to work for myself for the last 23 years has been a wonderful blessing, and I am grateful to all our loyal customers who have helped our business grow.

I am anonymous no longer!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

Making The Case For AN XLR Patch Bay

Jeff — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:40:03 +0000

We used to do lots of church and auditorium sound system installations and many times, some sort of a patch bay was called for. While including a patch bay in an installation can be both expensive and time consuming, it is always worth the trouble, even in a simple installation.

The industry standard for audio patch bays uses quarter inch connectors or something similar called “TT” (”TT” stands for “tiny telephone”) a standard left over from when telephone systems used physical switchboards. Early sound system patch bays actually used hardware intended for the phone company.

We quickly realized that using the “TT” standard, even though it was embraced by console manufacturers and recording hardware makers, was not the best solution for the job.

While not universally accepted for patch bays, using the XLR standard for these patch bays was a much better solution. It’s hard to come up with a connector design better than the XLR3 connector. It is durable. It can be used balanced (3 wire) or unbalanced (2 wire), it is readily available in places like Radio Shack, and it is inexpensive.

Best of all, it doesn’t require a different kind of cable from the other wires used in most sound system installations. If you have almost any kind of sound system, you are already using XLR3 cables, as these are what is used on almost all microphones.

We tried to include patch bays in several locations along an audio signals path (both inputs and outputs) so that rerouting, patching in temporary sound sources, routing signal to temporary output sources, etc. could be done without unpatching the primary console inputs and outputs.

Using XLR connectors allows you to pass both balanced and unbalanced signals, including phantom power when necessary and use standard XLR “barrel” type adapters like ground lifts and isolation transformers. The “TT” standard does not allow for any of these adaptations.

XLR cables can be patched together “head to tail” to make as long a cable as you need. XLR cables are available in short lengths for standard patch bay use, but any size XLR microphone cable can be used.

Unlike a two pole or three pole “TT” connector, the XLR3 connector can be patched without having to pass the tip of the connector through the ring(s) of the mating female connector. The likelihood of annoying and possibly damaging “pops” and “cracks” is greatly reduced.

Need to trace a signal? Standard tone generators and cable testers can be used with the XLR patch panel without any adapters. None of this can be done with a “TT” patch panel.

If you really want flexibility in your sound system installation XLR is the way to go.

How Much Longer Will We Need This Analog Link?

Jeff — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:31:04 +0000

When asked about the invention of the automobile, Henry Ford said “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse.” Ford realized early on that a potential purchaser of his invention had no way to conceive of what an automobile was. They were thinking about how to make their current reality better.

Digital audio is quickly bringing live sound to the point where Ford stepped beyond his customer’s reality.

Up to now, the design theory behind bringing digital audio to live sound has been to make the sound person’s reality better. Give them more powerful tools while keeping them in charge of deciding how something should sound.

Now that digital mixing consoles have come way down in price and complication, they are being embraced at every level of the live sound industry. It’s common to see them in churches and schools. Digital microphones are next. When this new mic technology is embraced (sooner rather than later) by the live sound community, the digital signal chain will be almost complete.

I say almost, because there is one giant analog bump in what is otherwise soon to be a complete digital signal path. If you mix sound, that bump is YOU!

How far are we away from the digital live sound reality that doesn’t include the sound guy?

Here’s what I’m talking about.

Take the latest Dave Matthews Band album. It’s recorded digitally and everything on the album can be reproduced and analyzed in the digital domain. Stick with me here. I’m not talking about how a song is actually played, but rather the volume, tonal quality and relationship of all the sounds on the album to each other.

If the band wants to closely reproduce the sound of the record (the “mix” if you will) in a live performance, then why not have the person who used to mix the sound be replaced by a computer that knows what the song is supposed to sound like. Every instrument on stage will soon be introduced into the live sound system either by a digital direct box or a digital microphone. Instead of a human moving faders and twisting knobs, the computer doing the mix will maintain the tonal integrity, relative volumes and dozens of other parameters analyzed from the recorded sound. There will be no problem if the arrangement on stage changes from night to night, because the mixing computer doesn’t really care about how the song is played, only about how it sounds.

It wasn’t long ago that most of us believed that cost, reliability and user-complication would keep digital mixers from ever being accepted in the live sound world. We’re over that.

Look for this to happen with spoken word first.

A presenter will simply read a couple of sentences into a digital recorder that interfaces with a digital mixer. When the speaker steps up the podium, the sound system will already know what he or she is supposed to sound like. When this info is combined with the digital analysis of the output of the sound system (we’ve had this software in common use for years) then the true sound of the presenter’s voice can be delivered directly to every seat in the house.

Will the future of live digital sound need us at all? Let me know what you think.

Has Duracell Solved the Rechargable Problem

Jeff — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:35:48 +0000

I’ve written many times about the problems with rechargable batteries, so I am anxious to try out Duracell’s newest attempt to make this concept work. Carrying the tongue twister name of Duracell Pre-Charged Rechargable Batteries, these nickel metal hydride (NiMH) cells have a couple of features that should be viewed as an advantage.

Nickel metal hydride technology is a lot more stable than other rechargable technologies and it allows Duracell to sell this product pre-charged. You can use them right out of the package. Even if they are a year old. This ability to hold a charge (and hopefully not leak while doing so) means that the problem of the rechargables needing to be charged periodically even if they are not used may have been solved.

It has yet to be seen if these new batteries will have a constant and predictable discharge curve that will make them applicable for wireless microphones.

Unfortunately, there is at least one downside. the suggested retail price for a package of four AA is $12.99!

Maybe The Road Does Go On Forever

Jeff — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:35:23 +0000

After years of involvement in the concert production industry, I gave it up several years ago. I went from seeing several shows a week to seeing none and thought that I really didn’t miss it.

Much to my surprise, my son Kevin gave me a couple of tickets to see the Allman Bros. Band in Raleigh for Father’s Day, and I had been looking forward to it all summer. The Allman Brothers had been one of my favorites since I was in college and they had had a major influence on my musical tastes.

Well, Saturday finally got here and we made our way to Walnut Creek Amphitheater. These guys were as good as they had been in 1972. It was amazing to see that a band (including three of the original members) could still be so tight. They were terrific, and the sellout crowd had a great time.

In addition to the original members (as well as a couple of others who have been with the band for years) the Allman’s now feature Derek Trucks on guitar. This wunderkind has already made a name for himself and is bringing new life and vigor to the jam band format. His contribution was understated and fit right end with guys twice his age. We’ll be hearing lots more from him.

Before Saturday, I had convinced myself that supplying major tours was all the involvment with this industry that still interested me. Maybe its time to reconsider that decision.

Thanks Kevin. I had a great time!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. All the supplies a major entertainment tour needs.

Why The Internet Hates Miles Davis

Jeff — Wed, 30 May 2007 13:26:04 +0000

Miles Davis, the famous jazz trumpeter, once said “don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there”. That may be great advice for a musician learning to improvise, but it would not have gotten much traction with internet search engines.

When I write an article or blog post about gaffers tape or microphone cables I certainly hope that my writing is something that someone would actually like to read. Regardless, my true intended audience is something known as a robot or a spider. Internet search engines constantly send around these spiders to sample internet content and make notes of what links to what. This is the major source for data to determine what information you are offered when you enter a word or term in a search engine.

Since Miles was famous for playing a piece by completely ignoring what the composer had actually written, what he played would be completely invisible to an internet robot. At this point, robots are indexing text, not sounds, but you can be sure that someone, somewhere is working on a version of spider that can read music and index it for search engines. Its going to be an even tougher challenge to index Miles.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other great products for musicians.

Is More Better?

Jeff — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:15:23 +0000

We’re ready to roll out a new domain, and my task is to create new content to support this domain. We want to both make it more useful to our customers and appealing to search engines. While I enjoy the task and like the challenge, I am constantly wondering why I need to redo a job that someone else has already done, and probably done better.

Buymiccable.com is our latest edition of web sites at goodbuyguys.com. We know from lots of experience that there are few tools more powerful for building web site traffic than good, keyword enriched content. There’s not that much content online about mic cables, but what is out there is pretty good. When someone like Proco creates a really useful guide like “How To Choose The Right Cable“, then we are happy to link to it, even though we sell a competing brand of mic cables.

Rather than try to keep our potential customers away from competitors content, we’ll jump at the chance to provide our customers with good information, regardless of the source.

The challenge is, of course, to create new and useful content of our own that doesn’t simply restate the information that another web site has already provided.

I’ve got a lot of work to do!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, MagLite flashlights, Procell Batteries, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Entertainment 1 extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands , and, now, Hosatech microphone cables.

Where Google May Stumble & Fall

Jeff — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:06:33 +0000

Goodbuyguys.com is located in North Carolina. Its my home and a great place to live and work. It looks like we are going to be getting a new neighbor.

Google has announce their intention to build a server farm in Lenoir, NC, a town in the NC foothills, about 150 miles from here. There was a lot of excitement at first, with stories in all the local papers and coverage on newscasts. Google was promising an investment of as much as $600 million and at least a couple hundred jobs. This in an area of the state that has been really hard hit by job losses in the furniture and textile industries.

It wasn’t until the Governor’s office was ready to make the official announcement that the whole truth about the negotiations were made public. Google may pledge to “do no evil” but the taxpayers of North Carolina might not buy into their philosophy.

It appears that the game was “hardball” when Google executives came to the negotiating table. By the time the deal was sealed to build the server farm, the good people of NC had given up tax breaks and incentives to Google that could be worth $100 million over the next 30 years. This for 200 jobs.

Google will get abatements in propertya taxes, sales taxes, and infrastructure costs.

Most interesting is the level of secrecy this global information provider demanded during the negotiations. Google demanded that NC legislator s never mention their name when discussing the deal that would give Google millions in incentives. They demanded to have a hand in writing the bill that would go before the legislature and threatened to pull out a number of times during the 13 month negotiation if they did not get their way.

Lets hope that Google’s move to North Carolina will improve the business climate that they found to be so appealing in the first place.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful production supplies.

What’s Going To Happen With Permacel 665?

Jeff — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 19:31:59 +0000

We’ve been selling gaffers tape for a long time, and Permacel 665 has always been the first choice for most of our high end customers when they purchase utility-grade gaffers tape. Permacel has had a few stumbles over the years, but they are still recognized as the market leader in this segment of the adhesive-backed tape market. That may be about to change.

A couple of years ago, the division of Permacel that makes 665 gaffers tape was acquired by a North Carolina company, Shurtape. Shurtape already made a competitive gaffers tape, so it was a bit of a mystery as to what they would do with the new brand.

In a move counter to other gaffers tape makers, Shurtape announced a price increase on this product, effective at the end of January. This, at a time when oil prices were the lowest in 9 months and cotton prices were at the lowest point in a year and a half. Petroleum based adhesives and cotton cloth are the primary raw materials in gaffers tape, so this price increase just didn’t make sense.

More importantly, Shurtape has now discontinued all colors for this product except black, white and grey. This will have a big impact on how brand sensitive buyers make their purchasing decisions. Those who have never tried another brand of tape because they could get every color they needed in the 665 line, will now have to turn to another manufacturer for colored tape. If they like what they find in the avialable market for colors, then they will probably give the competing brand a try for their black, white and grey as well. I think they will probably like what they find.

We will, of course, continue to offer Permacel 665 for those customers who are willing to pay a premium, but this may be the beginning of the end game for this venerable product.