Gadgeteer Spotlight articles are short informal interviews with some of this industry’s most influential and interesting people. Gain some insight and learn some interesting facts about the people behind some of our favorite gadgets, gizmos and gear.

Today we sit down (virtually) with John Starkweather of Microsoft. John is the International Director of Product Management for the Entertainment and Devices Division. John is responsible for Windows Mobile product and partner marketing in the division’s Mobile Communications Business. John’s team functions as the marketing interface between the product planning and go-to-market teams for the entire Asia Pacific and European regions. I know John as the enthusiastic person behind the ever enjoyable annual Mobius events.

John in Singapore

How long have you been involved with the Windows Mobile / Mobius group at Microsoft?

I started with Windows Mobile just before the first Pocket PC phones were coming to market. However, I’d been working with Sierra Wireless in late nineties where we built wireless data cards for version 1 Windows CE devices – the old Handheld PC days. So I’ve been involved with Microsoft’s mobile platforms several times over a decade.

Is this your dream job?

That’s a difficult question. As a kid I loved to tinker with gadgets and I was an entrepreneur: I’d had four businesses by the time I entered college. But I never dreamed of working at Microsoft. Growing up close to Silicon Valley, my skewed image of big companies was IBM: suit and tie, chained to a desk, counting beans. This was definitely not me.

Microsoft is nothing like what I imagined big companies to be when I was a kid: it’s entrepreneurial, suits are not allowed and I’m traveling the world – definitely not chained to a desk. And I can’t neglect to mention the gadgets – I’ve got access to everything, and we’re creating the future; it’s definitely one dream job.

If there was one thing that you could change about Windows Mobile right now, what would it be?

The big one for me, and something that is being addressed by our team now, is simplifying the process for people to customize a device and make it truly their own. I’m talking about a spectrum of things from the simple (making your own ringtones and wallpaper) to more the more advanced tasks like adding applications that fit your work/lifestyle. You’ve always been able to customize a Windows Mobile device, but I think making it easier is extremely important. Phones have become intimately personal things – definitely more so than any other product and probably person in our lives. We believe people want the freedom to customize a phone to make it their own.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

As a kid we were friends with a family who had a professional drag racing team. We spent a lot of time watching races, and hanging out with other racers. I wanted nothing more than to grow up and go fast – I even dreamed of someday joining General Motors’ sports division where they turned typical cars into lust-worthy machines. To this day the smell of burning rubber mixed with nitrous is intoxicating.

Where do you call home?

It may sound corny, but ‘home’ is with my family – currently we’re living in Singapore. But I’ll always be an American country boy at heart. I spent my teenage years in country town of Hollister, California; sorry to the burst the bubble of kids who overpaid for Hollister clothing, but Hollister is a farming town – the high school mascot is a Hay Baler.

I know you are probably constantly playing with lots of different devices all the time, but which phones do you keep coming back to and use on a daily basis?

The HTC S620, also known as the Excalibur, T-Mobile Dash, etc. For some reason every time I go back to this phone I feel like I’ve gone home. For me, it’s hands down the best QWERTY keyboard design built to date. I just wish HTC would take the same form factor and add 3G, and throw out the Joggr strip in the process; and add a higher-resolution screen, more memory and faster processor. I think HTC tried this with the Cavalier, but they added some bulk and the battery life was nowhere near the 2+ days I get with the S620. As you can tell, it’s tough for somebody who plays with a lot of phones to be content. But bottom line: HTC created a winner here. It also doesn’t hurt that Microsoft uses this device for a lot of future software testing; in fact I’m using a future version of Windows Mobile on the phone now…

What is your primary computer?

My primary machine – a Toshiba M7 Tablet with Windows Vista – is nearing the end of its life cycle. I’m about to order one of the small solid-state drive Sony Vaios (love the idea of getting 9 hours on a single battery) and a HTC Shift.

What is your favorite gadget right now?

This is definitely the hardest question, I own and use a dozen different Windows Mobile phones at any given time – not to mention I’ve recently been using an iPhone and a N82. But the phone I’m carrying on trips this week to Australia, China and Japan is a HTC TyTn II – it’s definitely one of the best touch-screen Windows Mobile phones available today.

What is your all time favorite gadget?

My first radar detector. My need for speed drew a lot of tickets…

John on his Suzuki Hayabusa (world’s fastest production motorcycle) on the Oregon coast; notice the Garmin GPS unit on handlebars, headphones into helmet

What car do you drive?

Singapore is so small and congested that I don’t drive much anymore – which is tough on a car guy. But I have my first car – a restored 1968 RS/SS Camaro – in storage in the US.

Which gear bag do you use and what is in it right now?

Skooba backpack

Laptop
Ultimate Ears headphones
Canon Digital Elph camera
San Disk Cruzer Mini 2GB thumb drive
Western Digital 200 GB portable hard drive
San Disk 2-in-1 mini and micro SD adapter
Pre-paid SIM cards for China, US and the UK
Radio Shack worldwide travel plug adapter
Mini-USB cable
Network cable
Oakley Razrwire Sunglasses
Motorola S9 stereo Bluetooth headphones
Phones: HTC TyTn II, HTC S720, T-Mobile Shadow, Motorola Q9H, Samsung i-620
Assortment of drugs: Tylenol, Advil, Sudafed, Claritin, Ambien
Peanut M&Ms

Outside of your day job, what other activities / hobbies do you enjoy?

I’m a huge fan of the outdoors: camping, backpacking, canoeing (just did the Singapore version – Dragon Boats). Nothing is more relaxing than sitting on the shore of a mountain lake, skipping rocks along the surface with my kids and nothing but pine trees and white-capped mountains to keep us company.

Thanks John!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, Gadgeteer Spotlight

Gadgeteer Spotlight on John Starkweather of Microsoft originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 21, 2008 at 4:22 pm.

Gadgeteer Spotlight articles are short informal interviews with some of this industry’s most influential and interesting people. Gain some insight and learn some interesting facts about the people behind some of our favorite gadgets, gizmos and gear.

Today we sit down (virtually) with John Hindaly of Vaja…

John sporting a Vaja messenger bag

When was Vaja first started?

My first steps in the leather cases arena began in 1989… a lot of things happened in the middle… till we create “Vaja” the brand in 1998. However the actual company vajacases.com started in 1999..

What prompted you to start the company?

I was just trying to create a good leather case for my Palm III, I wanted something different, I was basically focusing on the look and feel, as this was the case that I wanted for me. When we finished it, the WOW factor was all over it. At the same time I was spending a lot of time surfing the web…

So one day everything seems to puzzle… and our first website, debuted in 1999, it was basically a catalogue….. without e-commerce… in Spanish…

What was the first product that you put on the market?

The Classic book style case for Palm III was our first product…

The first Vaja product that I reviewed on The Gadgeteer was The Palm V case back in 2000. Does that bring back any memories?

Oh, yes, it brings back some fantastic thoughts…following your first review we start selling to the US market, and our web page was all in Spanish, So I had to personally answer all the emails and translate everything to any possible customer… it was a lot of work, but it was well worth it.. we started to have a good base of US customers… and some months later we finally upload the English version of the site…

The Vaja team at a company party in 2006

How many employees do you have?

Now we are more than 70 persons working behind Vaja, and we manage to design, develop and produce our site and cases in house…

Artisan’s hard at work making cases we all drool over

Stitching…

More stitching…

Final touches on a handcrafted case…

What do you like most about your job?

Ok, what I most like about my job… is working with our design team, brainstorming over the upcoming products… and also I love to work with our web development team, trying to improve our site every day…

Where do you call home?

Buenos Aires, Argentina… I love this city.

What mobile phone do you currently use?

I usually change my mobile phone every week, as I’m constantly beta testing all of the cases that we design… when you send me the interview my primary phone was a Motorola V3i, now I’m using an iPhone…

What PDA (if you use one) do you currently use?

Same as the Mobile phones, I’m constantly changing my PDA, If I have to choose I keep the Treo 700p as my primary PDA.

What is your primary computer?

Mac Book Pro 17″ with Intel core duo processor.

What is your favorite gadget right now?

The Nintendo Wii and my iPhone.

What is your all time favorite gadget?

My first computer a Sinclair 1000 and my Atari 2600, those two gadgets change my mind and my life…

Do you have any hobbies?

I have a small farm outside the city, that’s my weekend hobby right now, and my full time hobby… are my two daughters… Juana & Lola…

What car do you drive?

I drive a Land Rover Defender TD5 and a Volkswagen Vento FSI.

Which gear bag do you use and what is in it right now?

Of course I carry one of our Messenger bags, made in a very special and unique leather “renato carchofa” that i love… I put a lot of stuff that I rarely use… but I still carry it everywhere…

I have an Ipod 80gb, some magazines, work papers, pens, keys, a lot of black and color pencils and some white papers where I love to draw whenever I have some free minutes…

Thanks John!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, Gadgeteer Spotlight

Gadgeteer Spotlight on John Hindaly of Vaja originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 6, 2007 at 9:21 pm.

Gadgeteer Spotlight articles are short informal interviews with some of this industry’s most influential and interesting people. Gain some insight and learn some interesting facts about the people behind some of our favorite gadgets, gizmos and gear.

Today we sit down (virtually) with Brando Ng of Brando Workshop…

When was Brando Workshop first started?

2001.

What prompted you to start the company?

In 1998, I started up www.brando.com.hk, a Palm related informative personal website where I shared my Palm knowledge and everything related to Palm with many Palm users and friends. Since then, my website has become well-known in Hong Kong PDA user groups. The increasing number of Palm users as well as the popularity of mobile devices inspired me to start a business specializing in PDA accessories.

What was the first product that you put on the market?

It was a plastic PDA Case called Pal Pal Twister, later on we made a screen protector and it became the most well known product in our company.

The Pal Pal Twistor for the Palm V was the first product from your shop that you ever sent me to review. That was back in 2000:
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/pal_pal_twistor_review. Remember the Palm V? Wow, PDAs sure have come a long way since then, don’t you agree?

Yes, and I loved the Palm V very much, and used it to read lots of electronic books. It could do everything, a wonderful machine gun!! I used it to check e-mail, read news, read books, store my address book, view pictures (B&W), and even used it as a remote control. It kept all my personal data and schedule plans and was always kept in my pocket!

How many different products do your shops currently sell?

Approximately two thousand items of PDA accessories and three thousand of others.

How many employees do you have?

13 employees and some business partners, 17 people in the same office.

Any hints you want to give the readers on new products or product categories that you might be adding soon?

Funny, innovative gadgets.

Where do you call home?

Hong Kong.

What mobile phone do you currently use?

The iPhone and SAMSUNG U708.

What PDA (if you use one) do you currently use?

The Palm Tungsten T3 is still the best device for me to carry my personal data since 1997.
This platform is actually called PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT (PDA) which helps me to carry all my data in any circumstances, no matter changing PDA device or changing PC. It has a backup on the PC and the PDA, you have no worry about data being lost! I hate those devices which cannot transfer your data to a new device or new desktop, that is not an ASSISTANT, that is a burden instead.

What is your primary computer?

My first computer was an Apple II, which someone sold me for US$100 in 1986. However, due to the incompatible software and the application usage, I changed to IBM/DOS compatible computer, and currently to a Windows PC that I built myself.

What is your favorite gadget right now?

The iPhone, definitely iPhone. I found it had the shadow of Palm, also with a good OS platform inside. People can do development on it, there are lots of 3rd parties applications/games/utilities online now. I believe it will become more popular soon! Besides, Canon Xh-A1 and Canon 40D help me on taking nice baby videos and pictures, their quality is nice.

What is your all time favorite gadget?

Palm helps me a lot! No matter on daily life or on business, it helps me on everything.

What do you like to do when you’re doing working? Any hobbies?

I like ball games, I can play almost all of them, such as table tennis, football, basketball.

What car do you drive?

Mercedes Benz SLK 350 and a Honda Stream

Which gear bag do you use and what is in it right now?

Well, it’s not a special gear bag, just a Porter bag from Japan, its quality is good. I have a Palm Tungsten T3, iPhone, SAMSUNG U708 and a Toshiba 1.8″ HDD inside.

Thanks Brando! I appreciate you allowing me to do this interview and I look forward to reviewing many more of your products in the future!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, Gadgeteer Spotlight

Gadgeteer Spotlight on Brando Ng of Brando’s Workshop originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 1, 2007 at 11:32 am.

Gadgeteer Spotlight articles are short informal interviews with some of this industry’s most influential and interesting people. Gain some insight and learn some interesting facts about the people behind some of our favorite gadgets, gizmos and gear.

Today we sit down (virtually) with Peter Rojas (Editorial Director) and Ryan Block (Editor-in-Chief) of Engadget.com…

Peter and Ryan, gadget rock stars

When was Engadget first started?

Peter: March of 2004.

Peter, did you originally start Engadget with Ryan or did he come along once it was already established?

Peter: I originally started Engadget, and suckered Ryan into writing for me in June of 2004.

Ryan, did you already know Peter before you joined the site?

Ryan: Yeah, we knew each other from around town, mutual friends. Pete and I have different versions of the story of the night we met, but both stories more or less involve he and I getting in a fight about laptops, and not really liking one another for a while. We should have read the signs — we were obviously way more similar than different!

How many employees does Engadget have now?

Peter: Four full-time editors and an amazing crew of freelance contributors and columnists.
Ryan: …we actually just hired our fifth full time editor this week! I don’t think Pete counted himself, but that’d be six…

I know Peter had a stint on HGTV demoing gadgets for the I Want That! Tech Toys show. Any plans for more face time on TV?

Peter: No, but perhaps at some future point. I like doing TV, but it totally doesn’t come natural to me. I find it to be a LOT harder than blogging.

Ryan, do you have aspirations to be in front of the camera too?

Ryan: I’m with Pete, on-camera work is a lot harder than it looks. I’ve been doing some video for Engadget lately, but I know my strengths aren’t in hosting. I do hope Pete does some more TV though, if I’m anything to go by then he’s pretty friggin’ talented at it.

Peter where do you call home?

Peter: I live in Manhattan, but have been spending most of this summer in California.

How about you Ryan?

Ryan: I spent a while in New York, but I moved to SF just over a year ago — I’m still getting adjusted to the pace, but I really love it out here.

I know you both are constantly playing with new phones all the time, just like I do, but what phones do you keep coming back to and use on a daily basis?

Peter: I’m still using a Treo, currently have a Treo 700p, which I tolerate more than I love. It’s sort of the least bad option for me given what I need out of a phone, it seems like there’s a trade-off with every smartphone out there these days.

Ryan: For a while the device I kept coming back to was the HTC TyTn / Hermes. And then along came the iPhone, which has so many issues of its own, but so many things I instantly couldn’t live without (like visual voicemail, the browser, etc.). I still look longingly at the Hermes on my desk, though.

What is your primary computer?

Peter: When I’m at home I do most of my writing on a beat up old HP that I’ve tricked out, but I’m on the road for two months this summer, so right now my main machine is a Dell X1. It’s served me well.

Ryan: Well, on my desk right now I have a Vista Ultimate box (with Drobo) next to a MacBook Pro — but obviously it’s the laptop that walks out the door with me.

What is your favorite gadget right now?

Peter: The Xbox 360, even though I never have enough time to get at any of the games I buy.

Ryan: Tough call. It’s so easy for me to say my Sharp HDTV, since that’s the conduit all these great devices are pushed through — but if you wanted to be really specific, my TiVo Series3 and Xbox 360 are at the top of the heap for favorite gadgets that don’t leave the house. I know you didn’t ask, but my least favorite gadget was the POS Comcast HD DVR the Series3 replaced. That thing caused me so much friggin’ heartache.

What is your all time favorite gadget?

Peter: I don’t think I’ve ever given a consistent answer to this question! Might be the 14-hour Series 1 TiVo I got when it first came out. Totally amazed everyone who came over that I could pause live TV. Still works, too, I gave it to a friend of mine a few months ago. Though I’d have to say that my favorite was the Sony D-88 Discman my dad gave me for Christmas when I was 12, it was designed to play 3-inch CD singles.

Ryan: Tough call! On the nostalgia tip, it might have to be a tie between NES, SNES, and original Game Boy. I think those were instrumental in my gadget lust, they were just so different from everything else out at the time. Remember the N64 kid? ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=pFlcqWQVVuU ) That was totally me for the original Game Boy. If I had to pick something else, it might be these crazy Japanese robotics sets that my parents got for me as a kid. To this day I still don’t know what they were (it wasn’t Macross or anything like that), but I’ve always been obsessed with robots.

What car do you both drive?

Peter: I’ve never owned a car.

Ryan: No car! I’m actually waiting for a mass-market electric, or at very least an hybrid with an electric drivetrain, like the Chevy Volt.

Which gear bag do you use and what is in it right now?

Peter: I bit Ryan’s style and got a black Jack Spade messenger bag. Usually carries my X1, my Sansa e280, a Sprint USB EV-DO modem, and a notepad for jotting down ideas (for some reason I prefer taking notes on paper than on my Treo).

Ryan: I have this totally nondescript Jack Spade messenger bag, which actually makes for a fantastic gadget tote. You’d normally catch me with my laptop, Panasonic point and shoot, EV-DO modem, a bunch of expense receipts, and whatever seven phones I’m testing that week. And a few pens — I’m totally with Peter, it’s hard to imagine something replacing a pen and paper.

Outside of the running Engadget, what are your other interests / hobbies?

Peter: Right now I’m spending most of my spare time on RCRD LBL, this new all-digital record label I’m starting with the guys from Downtown Records, but when I do have a free moment I like to read (real, actual books!) and go to the movies (NYC is great because it gets every independent and foreign movie).

Ryan: I’m fairly average in my extracurricular pursuits, I guess — a bit of city biking, exploring SF parks (plus the occasional movie in the Dolores park, which is always a good time), some Xbox when the mood strikes, slowly trying to work my way through countless books I probably should have long since read. I also spend a lot of time in local coffee shops, it’s kind of like the new bar hopping.

Thanks guys! Engadget is one of a few sites that I visit multiple times each day. Keep up the exhaustive onslaught of gadgets!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, Gadgeteer Spotlight

Gadgeteer Spotlight on Peter Rojas and Ryan Block of Engadget.com originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 30, 2007 at 4:25 pm.

Gadgeteer Spotlight articles are short informal interviews with some of this industry’s most influential and interesting people. Gain some insight and learn some interesting facts about the people behind some of our favorite gadgets, gizmos and gear.

Today we sit down (virtually) with Michael Hess of RoadWired.com…

Michael with gear bags galore!

When was RoadWired first started?

December, 1999, but we officially launched the business on January 1st, 2000 and the website in June/July of the same year. This year, we are going through a major transition, changing the name of the company to “Skooba Design,” to reflect the evolution and design/marketing direction of the company.

What prompted you to start the company?

My family had a well-known, 50 year-old business manufacturing professional photographic equipment and accessories–everything from darkroom equipment (anyone remember that?) to flash accessories, tripods, camera bags and much more. We were also the largest publisher of photographic “how-to” books in the industry. When we sold the business in 1998, I worked for the new owners for a little while but then got the itch to do something new. Laptop computers and certainly handhelds–there was pretty much just the Palm Pilot back then– were still relatively small markets then compared to now, but the coming wave was pretty obvious. I had already sketched and filed lots of “napkin and back-of-envelope” drawings of bags and accessories for that emerging market, so I decided to stay in the soft goods end of things and start an upscale carrying case company that went beyond photography into many other areas of portable technology.

What was the first product that you put on the market?

The 36-pocket “MegaMedia” Bag–still being sold successfully seven years later. It has its own mini cult-following among the ultra-tech-organized set. We even have one customer in our “hall of fame” who has taken the bag to something like 100 countries and sends us pictures and stories of him with his MegaMedia from all over the world. We posted one of his bag-travelogues to our “customer hall of fame”

The first RoadWired product that I reviewed on The Gadgeteer was The Pod Bag back in 2002. I believe you still sell this exact bag! How have things changed at RoadWired since 2002?

We do indeed still sell The Pod, as well as its bigger cousin the “Podzilla” and other products in that product family, and they remain popular. But for sure, things have changed a lot in those 5 years. Aside from just the growth of the business in general—both domestically and internationally—our product portfolio and design direction has evolved quite a bit, as mentioned above. Most notably, the introduction of our “Skooba®” collection a few years ago really sent things into high gear. The combination of ultra-light weight without compromising protection, unique shapes and colors, and other features clearly hit the mark, and the Skooba collection has dominated our business ever since (sorry, I really did not mean for that to sound so much like a product plug). As I mentioned in my answer to your first question, we are changing the name of the business to reflect the success of Skooba, and our new website at www.skoobadesign.com will go live within a few weeks (right now it forwards to our current site, but all info on the current site is still up-to-date).

The other major development is that we are in our third year of a very exciting joint-venture with the 30-year old Tenba® camera bag brand. Tenba (ironically a former competitor from our earlier camera bag days) is largely credited with inventing the modern, soft-sided camera bag, and has been a hallmark of top-level professional photographers. We now do all of the product development, manufacturing (both offshore and domestically) and warehousing for Tenba, while our partners in the venture concentrate on sales and marketing to a base of several hundred photo stores in the US and distributors in about 35 countries. That business is growing dramatically.

How many different products does RoadWired currently sell?

Going by catalog number (which means counting all color, size, and fabric variations), we have about 100 different items, with a bunch more on the way in the second half of this year. And that does not include the Tenba brand, which adds about another 300 items.

How many employees do you have?

We have 10 direct/full-time employees at our Rochester, New York office, where we focus on product development (all done in-house), marketing and warehousing. Our joint-venture partners in the Tenba camera bag business have around 80 employees plus 25 or 30 salespeople “on the road”.

Any hints you want to give the readers on new products coming down
the pike?

Where do I start? Our product development schedule this year is “insane” (in a good way). We have set the bar higher for ourselves than ever before, as we are in an extraordinarily competitive category and our goal is to always be innovating and avoiding the “me-too” product trap. In the very near term (this summer), we’ll be rolling out some products that we are very excited about. One is the Skooba Skin “DIY,” a new version of our popular convertible laptop sleeve/tote. The “DIY” version is made of blank canvas, so that the owner can draw, paint, or otherwise decorate it him- or herself. The people who have seen them so far have gone nuts for the idea, and we’ll be having decorating contests and other events around the product.

Also coming soon, new laptop bags with the most amazing shoulder straps we think anyone has ever seen (in our humble opinion), a new backpack collection, and some very unique surprises. It is going to be a very exciting second half.

Where do you call home?

I grew up in New York City but moved in 1980 to Rochester (about 350 miles upstate). Rochester is best known as the home of Kodak, but a city with a tremendous high-tech innovation and small business/startup base (most people are surprised when they learn about some of the companies which started and/or are based here). The area also has some really great cultural, sports and other quality-of-life offerings. We have Lake Ontario, the Erie Canal, the Finger Lakes (spectacular recreational, nature and wine country), and even the highest vertical elevation ski mountain between The Adirondacks and the Rockies, all within 15 – 30 minutes from anywhere. I won’t try to compete with Scott Jordan from ScotteVest for best ski area, but ours ain’t bad, and it’s close. So we’re very happy here.

What mobile phone do you currently use?

Motorola RAZR. Although I love gadgets, I am so over-connected already (3 computers, etc.) that when it comes to phones, I just want, well, a phone. That’s it. Camera, web access and other popular phone/smartphone features are unimportant to me. I like the RAZR for its truly pocket-sized form factor, and I have always been loyal to Motorola because their phones are high quality and—compared to many—virtually indestructible. Drop ‘em, sit on ‘em, you name it, and they keep on working (and no, Motorola doesn’t pay me to say that, I’m not a shareholder, and I don’t have any family members who work there).

What PDA (if you use one) do you currently use?

See above… other than calendar and contacts, which are sync’d among my 2 desktops and my laptop, I go seriously low-tech when it comes to keeping daily notes and similar info. Yellow lined paper pads, sticky notes and a Moleskine notebook… if it is important, or I have an idea or a product sketch in my head, I write it down the old-fashioned way. It just works for me. I have actually read and heard of many “tech”-related executives and managers who share this somewhat ironic attachment to pen and paper. I might be sitting in a hotel room having a Skype video conference on my laptop, with XM playing in the background and my digital camera recharging on the desk, but you can bet there will be a pen and pad in my hand. When I get back from a trip to the Far East and unpack, it looks like there was an explosion in a Post-It factory. But as I said, paper just works for me… and the batteries last a really, really long time.

What is your primary computer?

Much like Motorola, I am very IBM/Lenovo loyal, as I think they make the best quality machines to this day, and their service is—at least relative to the state of the PC business—far better than most. They are not the most exciting machines to look at, but that’s not what I use them for. Our office is nearly all IBM, I have an IBM desktop system at home and at work, and a super-light IBM X-series laptop (I can’t stand trackpads, and to me, the “eraser-head” is still the best laptop pointing device ever). My wife, as well as many of my colleagues and friends, are Mac-heads, and I must admit that nobody touches Apple from a pure design and elegance standpoint—not too many people would argue that. But I am a PC guy (not the dorky one in the commercials, though).

What is your favorite gadget right now?

Tough question. I guess since you specifically said “right now,” I’d have to say the Suunto M3 wristwatch, since I just got it recently. It’s a multi-function watch/computer specifically designed for sailboat racing, which (aside from family) is my biggest outside-work obsession. I have yet to figure out all of the features of this watch, but I love knowing that they are in there somewhere. Suunto makes a huge range of amazing “wrist computers” for many sports and activities, and the price and value are really impressive. It’s 2:15 pm EST right now, by the way… is that a great watch, or what?

What is your all time favorite gadget?

Oooh, an even tougher question. Come on… could *you* answer that one, Julie? Seriously, though, I guess I’d have to say, if it counts as a gadget, it would be my aforementioned X-series laptop. Best I have ever owned, a pleasure to travel with, and I don’t know how I would survive without it on the road. A very close second choice–maybe even a tie—is probably XM radio, and third may or may not be Coleco electronic football (the one with the LED “players”), circa 1978. And I’d be remiss if I did not mention Airzooka, one of the most addictive toys ever, and a favorite around the office. Did you really think I could name just one gadget?

What car do you drive?

Lexus IS. I just traded in a BMW that I drove and loved for 8 years, since I am a “car guy” and was jonesing for something new. I am frankly disappointed with the design and value direction that BMW has taken in recent years, so I tried something different. I like the Lexus a lot, but I have to say that as a true “driver’s car,” in my opinion nothing compares to a BMW.

Which gear bag do you use and what is in it right now?

That’s a sort-of funny question, because even though I have a relatively tiny laptop, I am primarily using one of our larger bags, the “Skooba Seventeen+“. I bounce around from bag to bag, and have used all of our products (as you might expect), but I just love the design and capacity of the Skooba Seventeen. Right now in my bag I have my laptop, Canon Powershot digital camera, iGo multi-adapter system, Logitech mini-webcam (fantastic for Skype calls when overseas or otherwise far away from home), Plane Quiet noise-cancelling headphones, cards, adapters, cords, tons of papers, etc. When I travel, especially to trade shows or long trips overseas, I sometimes switch to a rolling case, like our Roadster Convertible.

Thanks Michael!

Thank you, Julie, for inviting me. We are all fans and it’s an honor to have been asked.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, Gadgeteer Spotlight

Gadgeteer Spotlight on Michael Hess of RoadWired.com originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 6, 2007 at 10:00 pm.

Gadgeteer Spotlight articles are short informal interviews with some of this industry’s most influential and interesting
people. Gain some insight and learn some interesting facts about the people behind some of our favorite gadgets, gizmos
and gear.

Today we sit down (virtually) with Scott Jordan of SCOTTeVEST.com…

Scott and wife Laura, along with their 3 poodles

When was SCOTTeVEST first started?

In December 2000.

How did you come up with the idea for it?

As a lawyer for a now defunct dot.com company, I was commuting from Chicago to New Jersey every week. I found myself juggling all my devices all too often, and my wife, Laura, suggested that I should design a better looking photographer’s vest to hold my gear. She was sick of me asking her to hold my stuff too. Now, she is handing me her stuff to put in my SeV.
This page on our website summarized the inspiration behind our company:
http://www.scottevest.com/v3_company/our_story.shtml

What was the first product that you put on the market?

Version 1.0, eVEST. The one you reviewed below.

My first review of one of your products was the eVest:
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/scott_evest_review

Does that bring back any memories?

Oh yea! That was just after September 11th (9-11). Your review was awesome, and helped motivate me to continue with this business. After 9-11, like many others, our business came to a complete halt. As a result, we re-doubled our efforts, and started marketing our products to help you save time during the security process at airports.

Since that first version, we now have a
full line of
products, not just Vests. We sure have come a long way!

Where do you call home?

Ketchum, Idaho, also known as
Sun Valley, Idaho. It is home to a world class ski and mountain resort. It is truly awesome. It is so beautiful, that often it is hard to work. However, I can often times work while riding the ski lift, or hiking.

What mobile phone do you currently use?

After trying most PDA’s and phones, I am now using a old fashioned Blackberry hockey puck style. I have been frustrated with the other products out there that try to do everything, but do nothing well. Although my Blackberry is bulky, and doesn’t have a camera, the phone works fine, and the email rocks. I am waiting for Verizon to bring out the Blackberry 8800 with GPS.

What PDA (if you use one) do you currently use?

I use my Blackberry for my PDA and Phone.

What is your primary computer?

I used to use a Toshiba Tablet, but found that it was too slow, so now I have a Desktop Dell Dimension E521 with memory upgrades and 2 big LCD screens. I miss my Snippet features from my Tablet, but all things considered, the speed is much better.

What is your favorite gadget right now?

I have a real nice
Canon PowerShot
SD900.
It takes 10 Megapixel pics and is really small and fast.

What is your all time favorite gadget?

Tough to say; if the commercials are accurate, I crave an
iPhone, but I am going to wait until they work out the kinks.

What car do you drive?

I have 3 cars, 2 cars too many.

1. Our daily driver is a Jeep Unlimited 4 door. We just got this and we love it. You can remove the top, in sections, and it is fun off road.

2. Porsche 911 C2 Cabriolet: It is a 1990, and we bought it used. It only has 45K miles on it, and I love this car, especially in the summer here. I got it instead of having a kid. In sum, after 2 years of being married, I turned to my wife, Laura, and kept bugging her about having kids. One day she flippantly said, “what’s it going to take for you to stop bugging me about having kids?”, and I replied quickly: “Porsche 911 Cab White”. So the next day, we went shopping, and I haven’t bugged her about kids since. We now have 3 standard poodles instead, which look very funny crammed into the Porsche.

3. MINI Cooper S -2002. I love this car, but I don’t drive it much. I used to race it against BMW’s and Porsche’s and win! It has only 14K miles on it, and I don’t drive it much any more. I think I am going to sell it soon.

If you carry a gear bag, which one do you use and what is in it right now?

I don’t typically carry a gear bag, since most of my gear is in my SeV, but if I did it would be a
Roadwired.com product. They make the best bags on the market.

Thanks for taking time to answer my question Scott! Keep up the good work at SCOTTeVEST as I look forward to learning about and
reviewing your future products.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, Gadgeteer Spotlight

Gadgeteer Spotlight on Scott Jordan of SCOTTeVEST.com originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 22, 2007 at 1:18 pm.