After a lengthy delay, there will finally be a Thunderbolt expansion dock ready for actual purchase tomorrow, according to MacRumors. The Matrox DS1, first unveiled back in June and then updated in September, will be a real shipping device beginning tomorrow, with a $249 price tag.

The DS1 will provide your Mac with a Gigabit Ethernet port, two additional USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0/2.0 port, dedication audio in and out 3.5mm jacks, and either an HDMI or DVI out, depending on which model you choose. It’s the first time we’ve seen anyone deliver USB 3.0 over a Thunderbolt connection, so that’s interesting in itself. The other elements are stuff you can get via other alternatives, like a Thunderbolt Cinema Display, but those will cost you a lot more than $250.

Speaking to MacRumors, Matrox product manager Charles Amyot said there were a number of engineering challenges involved in getting the DS1 docking station to market, owing to the relative youth of Thunderbolt tech. Macs have boasted Thunderbolt ports since 2011, but they’ve seen precious little uptake in the consumer accessory market, with the exception of external hard drives, where they appear generally on more expensive, SSD-toting models. A bevy of added ports is a much more useful addition to most notebook setups, especially for a home or office docking situation, than simple storage that is available much cheaper in USB 2/3 incarnations, which serve the needs of most.

Big name accessory maker Belkin still also has a Thunderbolt expansion dock in the works, one that offers a second Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining, a FireWire 800 port and three USB 3.0 ports in addition to the other things the DS1 brings to the table (though it lacks dedicated display options). That was originally supposed to launch in Summer 2012 for $299, but it has since been pushed back to Q1 2013.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

I love me some subscription commerce. Whether it be getting new underwear sent to me in the mail, or having someone pick out shirts for me, I love the idea of paying a flat fee and having shit just show up at my doorstep once a month. It’s even better if whatever’s being sent is kind of a surprise.

That said, there’s a recent trend in subscription commerce that’s disturbingly popped up and recently been flagged in the TechCrunch tips line: The rise of the subscription condom service. Over the past few weeks, it’s been suggested that we (separately) look into DollarRubberClub.com, as well as Rubber of the Month Club. A cursory Google search reveals that there are others, like Lucky Bloke — “the ultimate condom subscription service,” it claims — and Sir Richard’s Subscription Condom Service.

Now why would anyone subscribe to a service that sends you condoms by mail once a month? Dollar Rubber Club touts, “No more embarrassing trips to the drug store. No more funny looks from that pimple-faced kid behind the counter.” Rubber of the Month Club, meanwhile, has a number of different “humorous” reasons that pop up each time you show up on the site. Like Reason #25: Nobody wants to drive a minivan. Or this:

So basically, the target demographic for these services are shut-ins who are not only afraid of growing up and joining the population of adults that might eventually reproduce, but are also desperately afraid of teenaged checkout workers. Apparently these folks don’t want anyone knowing they’re getting laid. Which really, in my experience, is the exact opposite type of person who would need a box full of rubbers showing up at his door every month, but whatever.

So ok, the big argument for buying condoms online isn’t even about the embarrassment factor, it’s about the cost. I mean, let’s face it, buying condoms from the drugstore is a rip-off, everyone knows it, and there are plenty of places online where you can buy a fuckload of condoms, cheaply and easily, and have them delivered to your home or office in very discreet packaging.

The thing I don’t understand is why anyone would feel the need to subscribe to such a service. The services work just as you’d expect them to: You sign up, choose a subscription — generally of 3, 6, 12 condoms or more — and you pay some nominal amount to have that number of rubbers show up at your house once a month.

But here’s the thing: No one really ever knows how much they’re going to get laid in a month. I’m sure there are people out there in the world who keep notes and spreadsheets and collect data and can reasonably guesstimate their average amount of coitus per month, but come on. Unless you’re employed as a professional, or you’re some sort of weird fuck robot, chances are you’re either going to use less condoms than you’re paying some weird shady online company for. Or you’re go over your monthly allotment, in which case you’re screwed. (“Sorry, partner, I guess I just underestimated how often I was going to stick it in.”)

The point is that all of us have ebbs and flows. But subscription commerce services, if done right, should be built on consistent and reliable actions. It sure would be nice to get a new piece of clothing once a month, dudes need to shave every day, etc. etc. But even for the luckiest of those getting lucky, sex isn’t like that.

So anyway, don’t pay once a month knowing that you don’t know how many condoms you’ll actually need. Buy in bulk instead — then you never have to worry about not having condoms when you need ‘em.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from dealing with wireless carriers for years, it’s that everyone takes ideas from everyone else.

Sometimes it signals a real benefit for customers (AT&T now offers a “mobile to any mobile” feature that seems suspiciously like Sprint’s), and sometimes… well, sometimes it doesn’t. Case in point: AT&T’s appropriation of T-Mobile’s arguably spurious definition of “4G.”

Fortunately, today’s example falls into the former category. Taking a page from T-Mobile’s playbook, Sprint has announced their new Phone Connect service, which allows customers to plug landline phones into a nifty little adapter that connects to Sprint’s network.

Customers can port their existing home or office numbers to Sprint’s service, with a caveat: unlike wireless-to-wireless transfers, which generally port within 3 days max, home-to-wireless transfers often take up to 7 days to complete.

It may sound similar to the T-Mobile @ Home service of years past, but Sprint has a different target in mind for their attempt: small business owners.

As part of their Sprint Biz 360 initiative, Sprint is positioning Phone Connect as a complete replacement for existing (and often pricey) landline phone solutions. They remain mum on plan pricing, so it’s difficult to tell exactly how much customers can expect to save by switching. Launching on August 11, Phone Connect is a bold move by Sprint, considering their smaller network footprint. It works out to their advantage, considering the devices themselves won’t be moving around, but one thing seems clear at this early juncture. If all goes well, you’d better believe Sprint will milk their “Most Reliable Network” tag line even more going forward.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

TurningArt, a startup that aims bring a Netflix-like model to the art world, has secured $750,000 in seed funding led by NextView Ventures with participation from Niraj Shah, Steve Conine, Thomas Lehrman, and Will Herman.

Launched in August 2010, TurningArt allows customers to rotate prints of contemporary artists in their home or office for as little as $9.99 per month. Similar to the way you pick movies on your Netflix account, customers can build a queue of artwork they’d like ‘rent’, and TurningArt will then ship that artwork at their preferred frequency.

Customers can rotate pieces for as long as they like, and have the option to purchase whenever they are ready. Every dollar spent during the subscription plan can be applied towards the purchase of a work of art on TurningArt. Currently all art on the site is 17 inches by 21 inches but the startup plans to expand to larger formats soon. Prices for art range from $50 to 5,000 on TurningArt and all pieces come framed.

Applying a Netflix model to ‘renting’ art is an interesting idea. I’ve been tempted to buy artwork on sites like 20X200 but I’m not sure how the artwork will look in my home and would like to see the piece in person before making the investment. TurningArt allows me to test out a price and buy it if it ends up being a fit.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Facebook is introducing two new measures to beef up security: expanding HTTPS connections as an all-the-time option and using social captchas to authenticate users who have lost passwords. Let’s take these one at a time.

HTTPS is a secure connection (more secure than plain-vanilla HTTP connections), and Facebook already uses HTTPS for when you log into an outside site through Facebook Connect and send your passwords back to Facebook. But now you will have the option to set HTTPs as the default connection for everything you do on Facebook itself. Pages will load slower over HTTPS, but you also won’t be vulnerable to people sniffing your password over WiFi using something like Firesheep. (Maybe Facebook should offer a “more secure” on/off button you could click every time you are not on a secure network at your home or office). Some app developers will need to use a new “Secure Canvas URL” so that their apps can also be accessed over HTTPS.

The social captcha feature is pretty clever. It will replace regular captchas (those slightly warped letters you are asked to re-enter to prove you are human) with a picture of one of your friends. You will need to identify the person to authenticate yourself when you are trying to retrieve a lost password or Facebook detects suspicious login activity on your account. You do know what all your “friends” look like, don’t you?

Article courtesy of TechCrunch