Hasta La Gadget!

The PlayStation. The Walkman. The Trinitron. The transistor radio. All icons in Sony’s storied history from an era when the Japanese giants still roamed the earth. The Sony of today is not like the Sony of yesterday. For every memorable blockbuster, there’s an infamous flub: The late embrace of MP3, losing its hold on the digital imaging market and of course, failing to attract adoption to Betamax, UMD, MemoryStick, and endless other formats and systems.

The Sony of today is a bloated industrial machine barely holding together. It’s worn out and slowed to a crawl. The once innovative company now follows instead of leads. It’s playing catch-up instead of breaking new ground. But things are changing.

The Sony of tomorrow is looking leaner than ever. It doesn’t look like the Sony of old with total market dominance, but for the first time in ages, Sony is becoming a competitor.

Sony’s harsh reaction to bloat is not the exception throughout the electronics world. HP is being crushed under its own weight. Samsung makes everything from semiconductors to home appliances to 50 ton war machines. Dell is shedding employees as it streamlines the only thing you get from a brand name PC these days – service.

During the 1980s, after the launch of the Walkman and Trinitron, the market crashed. Sony was in crisis. But it weathered the storm, and as most companies that survive global recessions, emerged stronger than ever. Co-founder Akio Morita took the reins in 1989 and set about to diversify Sony’s business, likely as a shelter against future crashes. It was under Morita that Sony’s brand took a hit. New SKUs flooded the market as Sony grew. His venture into producing movies stumbled for a few years. The Sony name no longer held the same cachet it once did.

Sony grew during these years, but not in a way that set it up for future dominance.

Sir Howard Stringer took over the company in 2005. He was the first foreigner to take over the Japanese company. Attempting to tighten the belt of the bulging company, he cut 9,000 jobs under his tenure. When Kazuo Hirai succeeded Stringer in 2012, Sony’s brand was in tatters. Once holding over 20 percent of the digital imaging market, it had slipped to around 5%. Mobile was the future and at that time Sony was not correctly positioned in the market. Their events were strange amalgams of star watching (they’d trot out Will Smith and Tom Hanks and other greats at CES just to wake up journalists during their interminable presentations) and ham-handedness.

Kaz quickly set to reinvent Sony by focusing the company on mobile, imaging and gaming. This ambitious strategy notably excluded some of Sony’s older strengths including TVs and home entertainment. Kaz also quickly set out to cut the company’s headcount, and during his first two years at the helm he eliminated at least 12,000 employees. On the heels of a disastrous financial forecast, Sony announced this week intentions to cut another 5,000.

In late 2012 Sony killed its venture with Ericsson which had yet to acquire a competitive share of the mobile market. Sony announced the PS4 in early 2013, which saw a blockbuster launch later that year. Sony also offloaded Gracenote two days before Christmas 2013. In the early days of 2014, Sony sold its PC business, exited the ebook market and repositioned its TV division after 10 years of losses.

Just this week Sony Corp. unexpectedly forecasted a $1.1 billion annual loss. Some investors and analysts have requested Sony completely leave the consumer electronics market, yet the company stands by its efforts in mobile, imaging, and games.

Give Sony credit. Over the last few years, Sony has released notable cell phones, cameras and gaming advancements. The company states that it has seen a significant increase in sales of smartphones. Sony is currently the third largest camera marker after Canon and Nikon and its recent photo products are stunning. Then there’s the PS4, which launched to blockbuster numbers and is currently riding high on consumer sentiment.

Sony still has cutting to do. The company is forecasting another $1.1 billion loss in 2014. It’s clear Kaz and Co. are willing to make the hard call and cut off underperforming divisions. But can they do it fast enough? There are still a gazillion SKUs sold under the Sony brand. With the right focus, the Sony of tomorrow could be as strong as the Sony of the past, but that takes dedication, a desire to slice and dice accreted business units, and a lot of vision.

Sony had all of that, long ago. Can it get it back?

Google is rolling out an update to its Google Search for Android app today, and with this, it is introducing a number of new features for Google Now as well.

Google Now already tells you to leave for work so you can arrive on time, and it will now do the same thing for your trips to the airport, event and dinner reservations. Basically, any Google Now card that used to only remind you when you needed to be somewhere (flights, calendar events with locations and times, restaurant reservations, movie and concert tickets) can now also tell you when you should leave to get there on time. You’ll be able to specify whether you’re taking public transport or driving, and how early you would like to arrive (which comes in pretty handy when you’re driving to the airport).

In addition to this, Google’s voice recognition feature now lets you make calls and send texts. Just say “call John” or “send text to my brother” and the app will pull the right contact up for you. If you have a few John’s in your contacts, it will check who you want to call and if you have multiple numbers, it will ask you about that, too.

As Google has previously said, it wants to be your personal assistant. And just like some of its other voice features, these new features allow you to have a relatively complex interaction with your device without ever touching the keyboard.

Other new features in this release include a new Google Now card for the Sochi Olympics, with easy access to medal standings, news and upcoming events.

The team has also increased the number of languages users can use to set reminders by voice in Google Now. The app now supports, French, German, Japanese or Korean, so if you feel inclined to do so (and you are in Germany), you can now say “Erinnere mich daran um 12 Uhr Rolf anzurufen” and Google will indeed remind you of your call at noon.

Action camera company GoPro has filed the initial documents for its initial public offering, according to a press release from the company this morning and confirmed by GoPro to TechCrunch. The announcement is brief, revealing only that the San Mateo company intends to go public as soon as the Securities and Exchange Commission completes its review process of the IPO submission draft filed today, February 7.

GoPro only just appointed a new Chief Financial Officer February 4, bringing former Qualcomm Atheros SVP Jack Lazar on board to occupy the spot. Lazar has occupied high-ranking financial roles at a number of companies both public and private over the years, and began his career as an auditor at Price Waterhouse. At Atheros, he helped the company IPO back in 2004, a year into his tenure. In hindsight, it seems likely Lazar was brought on to help prepare for this transition.

The camera maker was originally planning an IPO back in 2012 before its $200 million private investment round, but CEO Nicholas Woodman confirmed to TechCrunch back in September that one was still in the works. When the company raised its $200 million round from strategic partner Foxconn, it was valued at around $2.25 billion.

In an interview at Disrupt SF 2013, Woodman discussed the challenges of fundraising for a hardware startup, and the benefits of bootstrapping even at a time when crowdfunding platforms are prevalent. The founder talked about how he started with $64K of his own startup capital, followed shortly from $100K put in by his father, and how that afforded him the ability to start with a clear and singular vision.

GoPro has seen its sales numbers for its action camera products and accessories double ever year, according to the company. It made over $500 million in gross revenue on the strength of 2.3 million cameras sold in 2012, and racked up over $100 million in sales last January, and Woodman hinted that the company might exceed $1 billion in revenue for all of 2013 in a Bloomberg TV interview last October.

.@GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman hints at $1b in revenue this yr & shows me the new Hero 3+ bloom.bg/GzLTvh—
Emily Chang (@emilychangtv) October 01, 2013

The lack of wearable technology created just for teenagers is surprising, especially when you consider how tech-obsessed kids are: the average American teen spends 7.5 hours consuming media, while 70% of 13 to 17 year olds now own a smartphone. A new startup called Ringblingz wants to tap into this potentially lucrative market.

Ringblingz, which will start taking pre-orders in March, is currently part of the connected devices accelerator program launched in December by digital agency R/GA and Techstars.

Its first product, a smart ring that will make its public debut tomorrow at New York Fashion Week, focuses on what’s most important to teens—their social lives—by sending them alerts from favorite contacts on different social media channels so they don’t have to constantly check their phones. Photos won’t be available until the ring is unveiled, but head of marketing Jeanniey Mullen gave me a sneak peek. It looks like a signet ring and has an O-shaped diffused light on top that flashes different colors.

The first Ringblingz is aimed at teen girls and the most avid consumers will probably be high schoolers aged 15 to 17, says Mullen. The device taps into two lucrative markets: teens in the U.S. spend a total of about $208 billion each year on things for themselves, while the wearable tech market hit $8 billion last year.

From Jibbitz to Ringblingz

The startup boasts a team with an interesting pedigree. Co-founder Rich Schmelzer launched Jibbitz, a line of decorative charms for Crocs footwear, with his wife Sheri from their Colorado basement in 2005. 

If you don’t like Crocs and were mystified by their phenomenal success in the early 2000s, you are probably wondering why anybody would want to start a business dedicated to making the foam clogs look even more outrageous. But Jibbitz proved to be extremely popular and was acquired by Crocs for $10 million in 2006. Since then, the Schmelzers have also launched GeoPalz, which makes activity trackers for kids.

Mullen says Schmelzer’s background in kids’ accessories and wearable tech has been key to Ringblingz’s development. The founding team’s collective experience also includes Mullen’s stint as CMO of Zinio, one of the first newsstand apps; Alexandra O’Leary’s position as COO of GeoPalz; and Bill Phelps’ time as a product manager at EB Brands, which develops and licenses wearable tech to companies like Reebok.

RingBlingz has a good chance of grabbing the attention of teenagers for several reasons. First, a ring is more affordable (Ringblingz will retail for about $40 to $60) and less obtrusive than a wristband. Its alerts lets users watch for social media updates, texts, and calls from their best friends, crushes, parents, and other important people without having to keep their smartphone out.

This may seem frivolous, but less time spent fiddling with their mobiles every single time they get a push notification means teens can turn their attention to friends, studying, or not accidentally walking into things.

Ringblingz is also customizable, which Mullen says was a key point in focus groups because teens want to coordinate all their accessories with their outfits instead of wearing the same black band every day. The first ring is targeted at girls, but Mullen says there are styles planned especially for boys.

How it works

Ringblingz, which uses Bluetooth LE and connects to an iOS or Android app (a Windows Phone version is in the works), has to be within 100 feet of its paired smartphone to work and alerts teens when they move too far away. This will probably be a major selling point for parents who fret about kids losing expensive devices (maybe Ringblingz will also figure out a way to pair retainers).

Notifications on wearable devices are especially tricky. For example, when the Pebble smartwatch first launched, its constant stream of vibrating alerts for emails, texts, and calls was dubbed “a great way to be constantly irritated by technology.”

Since teens send a median of 60 texts each day, the Ringblingz team knew they had to make sure its app offers plenty of room for customization, with different light colors and patterns for each contact and social channel. Alerts can also be set for group conversations and the ring can be put into vibrate mode for class.

The ring’s non-rechargeable battery lasts three to six months and free replacements will be provided by the company. Mullen says the startup is looking at other sources of power, such as inductive charging, that will work with the device’s small size.

Ringblingz can serve as an introduction to wearable tech for kids–a novelty that is useful for them, but doesn’t have so many functions or such a high price tag that it puts off parents. The startup, which is currently looking for seed investment, plans to develop new devices for Ringblingz’s users as they enter their early twenties, as well as different consumer demographics.

“Ringblingz is meant to be a full line of products that will expand over time. We have considered a number of factors, like the engagement level of kids who have the ring, as they move into adulthood, and adding features like two-way communication,” says Mullen. “The potential is endless.”

Who doesn’t want to hang out in the museum after hours? London’s Tate Britain art gallery houses a treasure trove of great works from Hogarth, Gainsborough and Whistler, to Bacon and Freud.

The gallery gets more than a million visitors a year passing through its lofty halls during opening hours, but after dark its passageways fall silent and the works fade from public view.

That’s going to change next summer thanks to the inaugural winners of a prize aimed at expanding access to Tate’s collection via digital means.

Visitors to the Tate’s website will be able to remotely control robots that are left to roam the galleries after opening hours, using torches (and cameras) on the bots to view the works remotely, and in a new light. 

The winning idea of the 2014 iK Prize is the concept of digital product design studio, The Workers, and is called, aptly enough, After Dark. The studio won £10,000 in prize money for the concept, and a further £60,000 to take the project from prototype to ready-for-public-use.

“We’re not trying to give you this perfect representation of the art,” says one third of The Workers, Tommaso Lanza, in the group’s shortlist video (embedded below). “It’s giving the art a different angle, and different light — both figuratively and literally.”

Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales was on the judging panel for the prize, announcing the winner yesterday.