The Parallax Perspective
Oldbitcollector (Jeff)
Posts: 8,091
If you have your bookmark fixed on a specific section of a forum you might have missed this:
The Parallax Perspective
Just a comment: Thank you Parallax for not treating us like morons like TI did their customers with their videos.
These are spot on, solid burbs that promote. John Williams looks like he's comfortable in front of the camera. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Excellent stuff!
OBC
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Post Edited (Oldbitcollector) : 12/6/2008 12:43:01 PM GMT
The Parallax Perspective
Just a comment: Thank you Parallax for not treating us like morons like TI did their customers with their videos.
These are spot on, solid burbs that promote. John Williams looks like he's comfortable in front of the camera. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Excellent stuff!
OBC
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?
Getting started with a Propeller Protoboard?
Check out: Introduction to the Proboard & Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card connected? - PropDOS
Post Edited (Oldbitcollector) : 12/6/2008 12:43:01 PM GMT
Comments
They could show these during the previews before the inevitable "Wall-E 2". Of course then we'd have all the best parts continually "out of stock", and a collection of forum newbies asking questions like "how do I program my BoEBot to hover in mid-air and raise plants?".
Maybe that's too pessimistic, though. I'm reminded of the doom-and-gloom going around the internet in the days just before AOL gave its members access to the net. Everyone was sure that the AOLers were the great unwashed heathen, and that the internet would be destroyed by letting them in. Instead, of course, we have the wonderful source of completely reliable knowledge shared by the ever-so-well-behaved netizens we know and love today.
Thanks for the link Oldbit!
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You guys should consider little 20-30 minute videos explaining how to do special tricks or add new features to your products...
something like the Make videos but Parallax-focused.
I also agree with SRLM, a 30 second intro (although its beautifully done) for a 1 to 1:30 minute video is a bit much.
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· -- Carl, nn5i@arrl.net
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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto for SunSPOT, BitScope
www.tdswieter.com
Feel free to tell us what you'd like from Parallax in these videos. We needn't feature only newbie content.
Jon Williams is indeed a·fine actor. I've·known him for over a decade and·acting is·a passion of his that he takes really seriously. On the days we filmed these videos he even had a bad head cold but you can hardly see that on your own - these guys get trained to perform no matter what's going on around them. You can also see Jon in the Valkyrie and Knight of the White Pants - two recent released movies. He plays a retentive straight-edge hotel front desk clerk in the latter movie who's got to check in some whacky guests with big problems·(don't remember their exact issues).
More on Jon:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1501313/·and http://www.jonmcphalen.com/
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
Some of what makes Parallax great IS PERSPECTIVE. So, go and share it. Chip doing the one man CPU thing is just amazing! That story needs to be told more often. It's a seriously good differentiator. Couple that with ideas on openness, accessibility, fun (and lots of fun), passion, innovation, and other core things we all feel so strongly about, and demonstrate not only what the products do, but why they do what they do and most importantly, HOW THAT MATTERS. Edit: During my time with all of you, I've seen lots of great successes! That's great stuff too. Don't know how to pack that into a short video though. Just worth noting.
Perspective.
That's why I am here honestly. I caught wind of that on a lark really. A friend and I were lamenting the 80's as a time when it all seems so more accessable, and it was more fun too. Clearly our eyes are jaded ones, as any ones are as they age and look back, but... and this is a big but!
When I arrived and browsed the forum, I saw the chip, saw the people talking, jumped in and asked a few questions, and could just feel the good vibes. After a month or two, I ended up having a back and forth with Chip on this and that, and found that all of those things I feel strongly about, and the WHY's behind them were all right there. Most of us feel this, and it's good.
I bought some stuff and have been having a great ride, learning a lot, and am targeting making money at this stuff in a few years. I'm 40, and somehow I thought perhaps it was too late. I was locked in, etc... None of that is true at all, and seeing others get after it, get cool things done, and done in the spirit so often seen here is just great stuff.
Sorry for the longer post, but I feel quite strongly about this.
There are three things: (well ok, maybe 4)
1. Interest and inclination
2. A scene, movement, just the sense that one is part of something and that all ties back to this little thought idea:
If you build the coolest thing in the world, just how cool is it, if there is nobody to share it with? I think a great many of us would say that it's not so cool, unless shared. This is the core of why I am posting right now, on this thread, on this topic. This is a differentiator that a lot of companies --well most of them I've interacted with, just don't have. It's a good one too. Hard to reproduce because it's people as much as it is tech and process. Just FYI.
3. From the sales perspective then, building those two convert right to purchases. Regular and recurring ones. That's the holy grail, IMHO. Worth some thought on.
There is so much out there, and it's all so capable. I think it's quite easy to get lost in the noise. I can't help but wonder how many good sales, of this kind, are going to the Arduino (SP?) people, due to the recurring MAKE focus. That's the kind of stuff that really builds a base that endures over time. And I'm offering that not as a beat the Jonses kind of thing, but more as an example of how some of the stuff in this post can contribute to sales, more than anything else. This is a marketing discussion essentially, and that means sales at the end of the day, right?
4. Finally, I think it's important to differentiate those people who think this stuff is cool, have understanding, and will buy based on feature * benefit / value, and those people who will buy because they are goal oriented and want to go places, do things, experience stuff. The latter kind are more numerous, and less catered to these days, and that's a clear niche to be exploited. The success MAKE is seeing, clearly hints at a fairly large and evolving market that, frankly, we need to exploit for our own collective good anyway.
To sum that up. There is a story behind Parallax that brings it the PERSPECTIVE it has, and that story is as compelling and engaging as the tech is. When the viewer can identify with the presentation, there is a bond there that makes a purchase more likely. This is exactly what happened with me, and I'm very likely in that more numerous market where goals play a larger part than perhaps just experiencing tech does, or feature * benefit / price does.
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Propeller Wiki: Share the coolness!
Chat in real time with other Propellerheads on IRC #propeller @ freenode.net
Post Edited (potatohead) : 12/9/2008 3:48:57 AM GMT