Posts Tagged ‘Amazon’
Motorola HS820
Are Bluetooth headsets for cell phones cool? What’s a Bluetooth headset? It’s that doohicky you occasionally see sticking out of some dudes ear that kind of makes him look like a character from the movie Tron or a lost Star-trek fan. I’m just not sure – living in Eugene Oregon I don’t always have the best perspective on what’s in and what isn’t. Why do I ask? Because I bought one for my Bluetooth enabled Motorolla Razr and I can’t bring myself to wear it in public. Maybe it’s just because my ears are a little on the big side of Dumbo ears.
I bought the Motorola HS820 from Amazon for $25 – a good price considering I’ve seen the same headset for sale here in town and on-line for as much as $75. You need to buy it from the "used and new" section to get that price. The sound quality is excellent and establishing the connection with the Razr was straightforward. When I press the little button with the phone icon on it the Razr’s voice activation features come to life and I can make a call without even touching the phone. I love the headset and for $25 it’s a no-brainer add-on for your cell phone. Great for driving and talking in the car – I use mine while I commute on my bike.
Amazon Text Books
Amazon.com has their sh** together. Did you know you can sell your used text books on Amazon? Yeah – they do it all for you – just enter the ISBN number off the back of your book and they’ll take care of the rest. And … it pays better than your campus bookstore! Bezos is making a lot of smart moves.
Update: Scoble knows what I’m talking about … Amazon, the new Google? 09/08
Amazon’s Mechanical Turk
I’m going to follow the development of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service closely. I’m not sure if it’s an original idea but Amazon is implementing and branding it well. I wonder how much you can make an hour working the Turk?
Amazon’s: What is Amazon Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate "artificial, artificial intelligence" directly into their processing by making requests of humans.
Complete simple tasks that people do better than computers. And, get paid for it. Learn more.
This is a good example of how the service can be used.
Some of the tasks currently in the marketplace benefit Amazon’s search subsidiary A9.com. Amazon Mechanical Turk is being used to increase the quality of A9’s BlockView pictures that show users street-level pictures of businesses. These HITs ask people to select from several photographs the one that best presents the front of a business. Thousands of these HITs are still listed on the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site.
Amazon.com collects a fee of 10 percent on top of what Requesters pay to have tasks completed. For example, if a HIT pays $0.20, Amazon Mechanical Turk collects $0.02. The minimum commission charged is $0.005 per HIT.
Tivo and Amazon.com Unbox Partner
0 CommentsWednesday • February 7, 2007 • by Cale
Tivo’s new partnership with Amazon.com Unbox is going to be good for Tivo – I’ll use the service to download and watch movies. Actually, I might use it for TV shows I don’t have access to as well. Smart deal.