Aliph's New Jawbone Headset: Smaller and More Stylish

Confession time: This is a quick headset review by a guy who's never liked headsets much. McCracken's First Law of Eyeglass Wearing correctly posits that it's impossible to comfortably hook more than one device behind your ear at one time. I'm a four eyes, so I've always struggled to enjoy 3D movies. And in recent years, I consistently have trouble hooking Bluetooth headsets on my ear and feeling comfortable with them on they're there. I'm much happier simply holding a phone up to my ear,

But as of July 1st, I'm going to be a headset user: My beloved adopted state of California will give me a ticket if it spots me holding my phone up while driving. And as of this moment, the leading candidate to be my headset of choice is Aliph's $130 Jawbone, which goes on sale at AT&T stores on Thursday.

I may be a headset skeptic, but I've admired Aliph's work for more than three years now, since we gave the clunky, corded first-generation Jawbone an award. (Everyone, including Aliph's CEO, seems to consider this new Jawbone to be the second-gen version...but that's only if you ignore the original corded version and start counting with the first Bluetooth model, which came out in 2006.) Aliph's proprietary noise-reduction technology has always let Jawbones block much of the ambient noise that makes it hard for the people you call on a cell phone to understand you, and the company's induatrial-design chops have always been impressive.

So what's new about the new Jawbone? One fact says it all: The old Bluetooth Jawbone was rather bulky, and this new one is surprisngly svelte. It's both shorter and narrower than its predecessor, taking up roughly half the space overall. Here's a quick and dirty comparison photo, with a quarter in the picture to give you a frame of reference:

The bulky old Jawbone, nice though it was, sort of felt like a barnacle hanging off your ear; the new one is small and light enough that you might forget it's there. In fact, you might forgo using an ear loop--which is why I left them out of the photo above--and simply tuck it into your ear sans a clip to hold it in place. That's certainly what I'll do when using it, and it'll be a real relief to avoid futzing with a loop.

That's what I've done with the Jawbone I've been trying over the past couple of days, and I've never felt like it was about to tumble off my earlobe. That alone makes it more appealing to me than most headsets.

Beyond the convenient size, the new Jawbone also ups the ante considerably on sheer industrial-design panache, as a $130 headset should. Its faceted surface gives it a jewel-like feel, and both the informational LEDs and control buttons are hidden beneath the surface. They're there, of course, but the LCD seems to shine right through the Jawbone's plastic skin, and the buttons perform their actions (such as turning the headset off and on) when you press the entire headset at the appropriate spot. The ear loop is wrapped in leather, like a sports car's steering wheel. (You also get additional, less lavish loops, plus ear buds in multiple sizes to customize the Jawbone's fit.)

Even the packaging exudes style--the Jawbone comes in a sizable box that holds it up like a museum artifact in a display case, and the documentation is on classy black paper that wouldn't be out of place in an art store. Basically, if Apple made headphones, they'd probably produce something very much like this. (It doesn't, but it does sell Jawbones in its stores; this new model, however, is an AT&T exclusive for the first two months.)

As much as I admire the new Jawbone's looks, I'm not in love with it in terms of sheer function. I had trouble remembering which button sequences to push for various functions, and the fact I couldn't see the buttons didn't help--sometimes I got confused and pressed the headset where it didn't have a button at all. (Presumably, I'll remember them better with extended use, but I would still prefer more tactile controls.) Also, the new AC charger (which can also be used in USB mode) is more portable than the earlier version, but I found that if I didn't press the Jawbone into the adapter's magnetic connector just right, the connection was wonky and the headset didn't charge.

One other issue for some folks: The new Jawbone claims four hours of talk time, versus "over six" for the old one, which had a larger battery. Standby time is about the same as before, at eight days.

Ultimately, of course, the single most important thing a headset must do is to make you and the people you talk to sound good to each other. I want to use the Jawbone in more environments before I give it a final verdict, but in my initial tests, everybody involved was pleased with audio quality. Aliph has renamed its Noise Shield technology with the flashier moniker Noise Assassin, and the name is not unwarranted. It blocks background distractions well enough that I should be able to use my phone at an airport gate without putting it on mute every time an airline agent starts shouting over a loudspeaker.

All in all, this new Jawbone is an impressive piece of work. I'm not sure if it'll turn me into a headset fan, but I'm going to give it a try. And as I use it in more settings and get used to the invisible buttons, I'll report back here if I have more thoughts...

My New Adventure

As I've often said, I'm one lucky guy. In my position as editor in chief of PC World, I have one of the best jobs in technology journalism. I get to do work I thoroughly enjoy, and to be part of a remarkable team who serves an equally remarkable universe of online and print readers. PC World turns 25 this year, and I've been very proud to be associated with it for over half of that quarter century. When I joined the staff in October 1994 as an associate editor, I never, ever would have believed the ride would last this long.

I could happily do this job forever--but new challenges are good, too. And here's a bit of breaking news for you: After giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to step down as editor in chief and launch a technology site of my own--one that I'll build from scratch and launch this summer.

You can take the editor out of PC World; it's harder to take the PC World out of the editor. For one thing, my last day on staff here is June 2nd, so this isn't the last blog post you'll read from me. Even after I depart the staff, I'll be a contributing editor and my byline will likely show up from time to time.

PC World has lots of ambitious things in the works. Even though I won't be on staff, I'm looking forward to seeing all of them become reality in the coming months.

Before I sign off from this blog for the last time, I know I'll want to share more PC World thoughts and memories with you. But right now, it's time to get back to work...

A Win for PCW!

I'm pleased to say that several of us PC Worlders spent Friday night at the Western Publications Association's annual Maggie Awards banquet, which recognizes magazines and Web sites published west of the Mississippi--and we didn't go away empty-handed. Chris Null's feature "The 50 Best Tech Products of All Time," which we published on PCWorld.com last year, was recognized with the award for best consumer Web article.

The story wasn't just a hit with the Maggie judges; it was also a blockbuster with site visitors. And it remains a rollicking good read. If you missed it the first time around, check it out here...

No MicroHoo? Hallelujah!

When I saw the headline, I smiled: "Microsoft Abandons Yahoo Acquisition." Absent a surprise ending, the behemoth of Redmond's attempt to go head-to-head with Google in Web advertising by paying billions to snap up Yahoo has failed. And I'm relieved--if the merger had gone through, it would have been one of the more soul-crushing moments in recent tech history.

I didn't like the idea when Microsoft went public with its bid back in February, and nothing in the last three months has made me reconsider. With the likely exception of Yahoo stockholders, I can't imagine that anyone would have ultimately been happy with the outcome of a merged Microsoft-Yahoo--not Microsoft or Yahoo's users, not its employees, and probably not even Microsoft itself.

Not that the bid falling apart leaves Yahoo in great shape: It's likely to face a bruising reaction from investors in the form of a hit to its stock price and lawsuits from shareholders who think that CEO/founder Jerry Yang and the rest of the company's management should have taken Steve Ballmer's money and ran. The company is still short on bright ideas for truly competing with the Google juggernaut. And it may yet have to undergo dramatic change--in the form of a scaling back of its ambitions, the outsourcing of its ad business to Google, or an acquisition by somebody else. Despite everything, though, I think the company's far more likely to come up with interesting new services for consumers than if it had been gobbled up by Microsoft.

And as for Microsoft? I'm not saying I know how to run the company better that Ballmer and Company, but I kinda think it would make sense if the company gracefully backpedaled on its desire to be an advertising kingpin. Modest proposal: Howsabout going back to basics and doing everything in its power to come up with a next-generation Windows that the world will find more appealing than Vista in its current form?

So what's your opinion on all this?

The $199 iPhone: Cool! Possibly Imaginary!

As nifty as the current iPhone is, there are muliple reasons not to buy it: It's got a slow data connection, it doesn't yet run third-party applications...and at $399 with no subsidy from AT&T, it's kinda pricey. We know that a 3G iPhone is on its way, and that Apple's upcoming iPhone SDK will make the phone into a first-rate platform for apps of all kinds. And now it looks like that 3G iPhone might be downright affordable.

In theory, at least. A Fortune blog is reporting that a source has told it that AT&T will offer a $200 subsidy for iPhone buyers who sign up for a two-year contact, bringing the price of the hip handset down to $199. That would also address one of the most irritating things about the first-generation iPhone: The fact that AT&T currently makes you sign up for a two-year contract and doesn't offer any sort of price break in recognition of that commitment.

(I hate phone contracts myself, so I'm assuming and hoping that you'll also be able to pay the full-freight $399 for the iPhone without a contract.)

I don't have any reason to think that Fortune's report is false, but it always pays to be extremely cautious about accepting any fact about an upcoming Apple product as gospel until Steve Jobs himself declares it to be so. And the New York Times' Saul Hansell points out that it seems implausible that an iPhone sold at an AT&T store could be had for $200 less than one sold at an Apple Store, especially since Apple-Store iPhones must be activated on AT&T's network anyhow. The bottom line is that I wouldn't be the least bit amazed if the $199 iPhone turns out to be fantasy.

And speaking of being suspicious of Apple rumors, the Fortune story says that the 3G iPhone will be 2.5mm thinner than the current model. Just a few days ago, Engadget was reporting that the new phone would be a tad thicker than its predecessor. Somebody's got it wrong. (My money's on Fortune being right; it's hard to imagine Steve Jobs ever releasing a next-generation product that's even a nanometer thicker than the one it replaces.)

As I've mentioned before, I passed on the first-gen iPhone, for all the reasons I outlined at the top of this post. But if I can snag the 3G model for $399 with no contract, I'll be tempted.

How about you?

Sorry, MSN Music "Buyers!"

As I've said before, I don't have any religious opposition to the very notion of Digital Rights Management. But boy, does DRM in the real world keep turning out to be a compelling argument for the elimination of DRM, period.

I'm thinking of today's news that folks who "bought" songs on MSN Music won't be able to move them to new PCs after August. That's because Microsoft, which shut down MSN Music's "buy song" option when it launched the Zune in 2006, is deactivating the DRM servers that would allow a new PC to become an authorized device for music playback.

In this interview over at News.com, Microsoft exec Rob Bennett justifies the company's decision, saying that making the DRM work properly with operating-system upgrades was impractical. It's a shame that thecompany discovered that DRM was tough after marketing its DRM under the name PlaysForSure, a boast that was disproved again and again. ("PlaysForSure" has since morphed into the less sweeping-sounding "Certified For Windows Vista.")

So the upshot is that anyone who purchased tracks from MSN Music didn't really buy them in the traditional sense that you'd buy, oh, a CD. Microsoft's server shutdown means that the songs will be forever tied to the computers they're authorized for as of June.

The situation is pretty similar to what happened with Google Video last August, when the company stopped selling video downloads. After some squawking by consumers, Google ended up both giving customers their money back and providing an additional Google Coupon credit. I haven't seen any word on what if anything Microsoft plans to do for MSN Music customers who feel like their time and money was wasted.

Both Microsoft and Google are, ahem, rather large companies that aren't short on money or resources. And both cheerfully took consumers' money for content that those people were allegedly buying, and then decided that maintaining the DRM that made that content usable was inconvenient. It makes me glad that I've bought most of my music on CDs, where it's safe and sound from any business decisions made after the fact by the companies I bought the discs from. (A high percentage of my CDs came from Tower Records; it doesn't even exist anymore, and my music still plays just fine.)

Both the Microsoft and Google DRM decisions leave me just a little less likely to believe any claims those companies make when they're trying to part me from my money--and a whole lot more distrustful of DRM in any flavor.

If content wasn't locked up with DRM, of course, none of this would happen. Coincidentally, I've been visiting Microsoft in Redmond over the past couple of days, and I met today with Brian Seitz, senior marketing communications manager for Zune, the music device and platform that essentially replaced MSN Music. He told me that about two-thirds of the 3.5 million or so songs available on the Zune Marketplace are now available in DRM-free MP3 form--and that the company's goal is for all of its catalog to be available without DRM by the end of the year.

Sounds good to me. Perhaps Microsoft might like to give all those folks who purchased MSN Music tracks free versions of those songs in MP3 format?

Mysteries of Lending Tree

Okay, so I'm trying to buy a house. As with anything I do, I naturally wanted to do as much of it as I could online. So when mortgage shopping, I signed up for Lending Tree--the guys with the TV ads involving bankers lining up to beg for the business of consumers.

So I guess I can't complain that bankers did, indeed, beg for my business--sometimes by calling me and sometimes by e-mailing me. I settled on a bank that I didn't find through Lending Tree, so when I just got another e-mail from a Lending Tree bank, I decided to tell Lending Tree to stop soliciting my business.

But when I tried to do that, I got a database error and the following message:

Apparently, Lending Tree thinks I applied for mortgage information in December, 1899. If I had, wouldn't I most likely have found a loan in the interim, and/or passed away? And therefore be less than an attractive loan candidate?

Seven Ways to Fix Technology Retailing

No doubt about it: The last few months have been weird and dismal in the world of technology retailing. First, CompUSA announced plans to shutter all its locations--then got a sort-of-reprieve when TigerDirect bought the brand and said it would maintain the Web site and a smattering of stores. And earlier this week, ailing DVD rental outfit Blockbuster said it was trying to acquire ailing Best Buy rival Circuit City--a deal which nearly everybody thinks would result in one larger, possibly even more sickly entity. Did I mention that sales are down sharply at RadioShack, a retailer that seems to be in business for the purpose of making buying electronics a little like visiting the DMV?

With few exceptions--mainly Best Buy, the Apple Store, and west-coast geek outfitter Fry's--almost nobody seems to be very successful at being in the business of selling technology gear at retail. I'm convinced that's in part because almost nobody makes the experience very pleasant. Or, actually, provides compelling reason to buy at retail rather than online, where plenty of merchants do a good job of making the buying experience fast and even fun.

Herewith, some suggestions for making the tech retail experience less taxing on us poor consumers:

1. Make support less stressful. The Apple Store has a huge advantage over most retailers in the fact that the Geniuses pretty much only need to know the wares of one company that doesn't make all that many different models of computer. But there's a lot that any retailer could crib from the Genius Bar experience. Let us make reservations in advance. Give us benches to sit on rather than force s to slump in a line that never seems to get shorter. Provide free Wi-Fi so we have a way to kill time.

2. Don't cater to the lowest common denominator. Want the latest, coolest tech products? They're almost always available first online. Which is why when I need something like an 8GB MicroSD card, I don't even think about shopping locally. And too many PCs at retail are stripper models--bare-bones units that seem to be tailored to achieving a lowball price for Sunday circulars.

3. Let us check out the merchandise. In theory, the single biggest edge that brick-and-mortar stores have over online ones is that you can see and touch products before you buy them. But many retailers throw away this advantage in multiple ways. Computers aren't connected to monitors, or are missing keys. Laptops are bolted into anti-theft lockdown devices so you can't gauge how easy they are to tote. PCs, cameras, and other products aren't plugged in. Displays aren't calibrated. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

4. Fix pricing. And by that I don't mean "match the price of online merchants." That's probably not realistic given the costs involved in storefront retailing. But it drives me bonkers when it's difficult to determine the price of a product I'm planning to buy, and many electronics sellers are prime offenders here. In an ideal world, every single box in the store would have an old fashioned price sticker on it; short of that, there needs to be a tag on the shelf with a clearly-marked price. Also, when manufacturer price drops do happen, many electronics merchants seem to be ridiculously slow about marking down items correspondingly-a sort of de facto markup, since online sellers typically implement price cuts very quickly.

5. Tell us what's inside. Sometimes, retailers have pretty decent lists of specs next to desktops and laptops. Sometimes they're incomplete. Sometimes they're for the wrong system. Sometimes there's absolutely nothing there at all. We need system information that's at least as good as what we'd get at Dell or Amazon. Other products, like digital cameras, also need complete and correct spec sheets. After all, there's almost no chance that the salespeople will know any of these facts off the tops of their heads.

6. Make it easier to get stuff. One of the reasons I think Best Buy provides a better overall shopping experience than Circuit City is that a higher percentage of its merchandise has historically been out on the floor, so I can simply pick up whatever I want and proceed to checkout. But even there, some stuff--especially small, pricey stuff-is under lock and key, and it's often tough to find a clerk to retrieve it. (Mysteriously, the same clerks who I can't find when I need them are available in droves when I want to be left alone.) I've been known to throw up my hands and take my business elsewhere. Why not rip off the system once used by retailers such as Service Merchandise, which kept almost everything in a stockroom and let customers place orders by filling out slips of paper with stock numbers for the products they wanted (or, in later years, by using a terminal)? Seems like it would be faster for us customers and cheaper and more efficient for the retailer.

7. Speed checkout. Sorry to keep using Apple Stores as a point of reference, but checking out tends to be reasonably speedy in them, in part because of the roving clerks who can ring up your sale using a wireless terminal. Why isn't this standard procedure everywhere?

Anyhow, those are my ideas--ones which, if implemented anywhere, would earn lots and lots of my business. Got any proposals of your own?

Help Emru Townsend Find a Bone Marrow Donor

The blog item I'm about to write is one of the most unusual I've ever posted here on PC World. But it's also one of the most important. And while it doesn't relate directly to technology, it has an awful lot to do with PC World.

For several years, Emru Townsend has been a frequent contributor to this site, writing such popular features as The 10 Worst Games of All Time and Five Things We Don't Miss About Old-School Computing. He's a friend of mine, a friend of PC World's, and a friend of yours if you've enjoyed any of his pieces. He's also a noted writer on animation and pop culture, and an all-around good guy--not to mention a devoted father, husband, brother, and son.

Emru continues to be a valuable contributor to our cause, but in recent months he's been fighting a battle of his own against leukemia and a condition called Monosomy 7. He's undergoing chemotherapy, but what he really needs is a bone marrow donor transplant. Finding the right donor can literally save his life. And while there are eleven million potential donors out there, identifying one and making the donation happen is a huge challenge.

Emru's family has set up a Web site, Heal Emru, to get the word out about his condition with the hopes of finding a donor--and to spread information about bone marrow donations in general.

Here's a favor you can do for me that can also help make the world a better place in general: Visit Heal Emru. You'll learn about bone marrow donations--an extraordinarily important subject which most of us know little or nothing about. You'll also get information on how to become a donor. And if you do that and turn out to be a match for someone who needs marrow, you can truly be a lifesaver. (I've given blood for years, but it never even occurred to me to register as a marrow donor--until now.)

You might or might not be a match for Emru--though anyone from any ethnic background could be--but anyone who's lucky enough to be healthy is a match for somebody.

Cancer touches every family sooner or later, not to mention every workplace--we at PC World lost our lab director, Uli Diehlmann, to it in January. It's easy to feel helpless. And good to know about things that literally anyone can do to help fight it.

Even if you can't register as a donor, you can help Emru and others who face his challenge by simply spreading the word about Heal Emru, as I'm doing here, and wll be doing elsewhere online. Emru and his family will thank you, and so will everyone here at PCW.

Microsoft's Bizarrely Patronizing Anti-Piracy Campaign

I've said it before: If you use Microsoft's software, you oughta pay for it. I have no sympathy for pirates, especially in an era in which there's a good-to-excellent free alternative to just about every major desktop application that hails from Redmond.

But just because I wish a pox on the houses of software thieves doesn't mean I'm an ardent supporter of Microsoft's anti-piracy efforts. Actually, they drive me bonkers. For one thing, the "Windows Genuine Advantage" technologies designed to foil pirates have a history of making honest customers jump through hoops--and sometimes screwing up innocent bystanders' PCs. (At least Windows Vista SP1 removes WGA's ability to almost completely disable a PC when it thinks it's running fake Windows.)

But it's not just Microsoft's anti-piracy schemes that rankles me--it's the way Microsoft markets them. Consider this new Q&A on the Microsoft site with the worldwide director of the Microsoft Genuine Software "Initiative." It says--over and over again--that Microsoft's anti-piracy efforts are all about protecting customers from unwittingly buying counterfeit software. For good measure, it throws in the argument that reducing software piracy can create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and billions in economic growth. (Full disclosure: It makes this argument based on a study conducted for anti-software industry group the Business Software Alliance by IDC, a sister company of PC World.)

It all sounds like benevolent work in the public interest. Pirated software is full of spyware! It's hurting the global economy! Kind-hearted Microsoft is stepping in to help us combat this menace!

I buy the notion that fake software can be a problem for the people who unwittingly buy them; I even buy that Microsoft sincerely wants to take steps to help folks who have accidentally bought stolen (and potentially spyware-ridden) merchandise.

But not once in the Q&A does the company mention the notion that it wants to impede software piracy because counterfeiting costs it money.

Am I the only person in the world who'd be more likely to sympathize with Microsoft's efforts if it honestly explained that it's entitled to a profit from its wares than when it insults my intelligence with propaganda that says it's acting selflessly? Wouldn't you rather do business with a company that treats you like an intelligent adult?

The Microsoft Q&A repeatedly says it's trying to help people who have been "duped" by software counterfeiters; by failing to be up-front about its anti-piracy efforts, it's doing some duping of its own.

Mentioned towards the bottom of the page is a new pilot program that will add nag notes to Office for customers in Chile, Italy, Spain, and Turkey. Okay, it doesn't use the term "nag"--I got that from ZDNet's indispensable Mary Jo Foley Microsoft's explanation involves words like "help" and "alert."

Gee, how thoughtful...