The Anti Corporate Culture of Boombotix

Creating corporate culture isn’t something every entrepreneur thinks about initially.  A lot of founders don’t start off with a big team, so the early stages of a startup have more to do with character and work ethic than culture. Corporate culture is created when you have an organization (for better or for worse). The culture of a company defines the brand and thus has a tremendous impact on the success or failure.  Boombotix has a very unique corporate culture and I wanted to spend a little time reflecting on what we’re doing well and where we are really screwing up. If you have a bootstrapped startup, this is a pretty useful article to understand how to get people to give their 110% at 50% of the market rate salary. This isn’t about money. This is about culture.

Boombotix Team

I’m going to admit that I am guilty of not finishing a book cover-to-cover for at least 19 months. Maybe I failed to find content that held my interest or offered unique insight. More likely, I leaned towards content on blogs that was narrowly focused.  It solved immediate problems and curiosities but failed to give me a bigger picture on what I was trying to accomplish. Tony Hsieh’s book on Delivering Happiness helped drive a major paradigm shift in my business strategy. If you are in the middle of pivoting your company or at the start of building a great brand, this is an awesome read that takes you through the roller coaster of being an entrepreneur (without having to lose millions of dollars). This book helped me think about our culture on a deeper level.   Continue reading

Sync up Multiple Boombots with Seedio App

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3 Boombot REX speakers synchronized using Seedio App

the closest attempt at making a music synchronization app that we actually want

Ever since we started our company, we had a vision to create a social experience through portable audio.  One of the pieces of technology we have been trying to develop is a way to synchronize audio across multiple mobile devices to enhance our portable speakers with ad-hoc networks.  We’ve seen a number of apps come through that attempt to do it, and Seedio is probably the closest we’ve seen so far.  The Seedio full version allows one person to play DJ and create a local broadcast over a Wi-Fi network.

Seedio Screenshot

Seedio’s user interface is pretty simple.  There are two modes (seed and receive).  To “seed” a song, pick a song stored locally on your device (you can also pay an extra $.99 if you want to use Youtube or Soundcloud as a content source).  This creates a channel that will pop up on anyone set up on the “receive” mode on the same network.  The range is basically as big as you can make a single Wi-Fi network.  I used a good length podcast (DnBRadio Drum and Bass to be exact) and my first attempt broadcasting was successful.  My broadcasting was being done on my iPhone 5 and the receiving on an iPhone4S.  The channel quickly popped up on the 4S with my phone I.D. and the song that was being played.  The first time I attempted to jump on the channel, the songs were a little bit off sync.  I stopped and restarted the broadcast and the second time, the songs went into sync pretty nicely.  I rounded up three phones to get a set of Boombot REX speakers synced up and it sounded pretty rad.

On the iPhone4S, you can pull up a list of previous sessions. This is kind of cool because it offers receivers a convenient way to purchase the content that was being streamed to them.  The list remains on the device so that even after the broadcast is done, you can still go back and locate the content…possibly even download it if it’s that awesome.

Seedio has several shortcomings.  It is not yet truly mobile while using Bluetooth devices.  The app claims that you can use the tethering from your iPhone to create a network (which you can).  This worked fine when we used speakers or headphones on line-in modes, but not while connected to a Bluetooth audio device.  I’m not quite sure why Bluetooth would interfere with the song buffering.  On some occasions, I got a song to start on the receiver device, but the performance was off sync and short lived. The tethering Wi-Fi signal off a phone not only guzzles phone battery, but the range is relatively short (less than 30 feet)  This doesn’t exactly solve our music synchronization conundrum for biking, skiing, flash mobs, or silent discos, but it does enable some functionality anywhere we have a good WiFi spot.  The other issue is that if you use music streaming over a tethered connection, be prepared to rack up some data usage.

limitations with music synchronizing audio over bluetooth and wifi

There are limitations to music synchronization on Bluetooth. The bandwidth is too small to handle streaming music to multiple devices.  We’ve seen some speakers use CSR’s True Wireless Stereo protocol for getting a single device to pair to two speakers, but it takes three to make a party.  Bluetooth on most devices is also pretty limiting in distance (30-40ft in most Class 2 Bluetooth devices).  On WiFi, when you use a public network, there is actually a lot of noise on the network that results in latency and poor sync performance.  This is perhaps where 4G/LTE networks might actually be even better.

Overall, I’m stoked that other people are looking at this type of tech.  We still don’t see anyone on iOS doing this type of music synchronization function over 3G/4G/LTE, so I guess we’ll have to do that ourselves.

 

Just in time for summer, skateboard that converts into surfboard in seconds

New Kickstarter project is genius idea for beach bound boarders everywhere

How could you not love an awesome idea like this? Called the “Waveskate”, this skateboard is totally amphibious, as it can convert to a surfboard in a matter of seconds.

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Boombot + iPhone = Match Made in Heaven

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finding the best portable speaker for iphones

So you just bought a new Apple iPhone and you love the retina display, the fast processor, and the sleek design. The iPhone is undoubtedly one of the nicest smartphones on the market. But something is missing. You turn on Pandora and you can barely hear the sound. You share a Youtube video with your friend at the park and you can’t hear the dialogue. You take your iPhone with you everywhere. It is your most vital gadget, and yet it has one major shortcoming: The sound quality coming from the speakers is garbage. If you’re looking for a way to alleviate this issue, Boombots are the best portable speaker for the iphone.

reasons why boombots are the ultimate extension of your smartphone

  1. Ultra-Portability: Don’t you take your phone with you everywhere? Shouldn’t the best portable speaker be able to go with it?  Boombots all incorporate a clip that makes it capable of clipping on to garments, pockets, bags and more.  This is wearable tech at it’s finest.
  2. Siri-Integration: The Boombot REX is one of few products that incorporate built-in Siri functionality.  Most portable speakers don’t even have this feature and other’s like the Jambox require you to download new firmware in order to enable the feature.
  3. Protects your Device: Nothing ruines the minimal perfection of an Apple product quite like a cracked screen or dent.  When you use a Boombot, in many cases you can keep your phone secured away and do a number of your commands through the portable speaker.  A cracked screen on an iPhone can cost anywhere from $60-100 to replace.  For a fraction more, you can get a wireless speaker that brings all of your media to life while also offering the protection/security of getting to store your iPhone away.
  4. Acoustics: If you use one of the top smartphones, you should probably have acoustic performance that is on par with the device itself.  Boombots incorporate a custom EQ profile that optimizes the sound output for a compact mobile device.
  5.  Customization: Boombots all incorporate some level of customization.  If you’ve fitted your iphone with a unique case, chances are you can get your Boombot portable speaker to compliment that design with custom grill kits and clips.

iphone accessory market vitals

The expected cost of an iPhone out the door with accessories is $369 (Source: Forbes).  With that in mind, the cost of a sick ultraportable speaker is a pretty small sliver when you consider the added value and functionality this portable media device offers.  If you have an iPhone, a Boombot is the best portable speaker to compliment.  Boombots are available starting at $39.99 from the Boombotix Store.

Entire list of Siri Commands

Most iPhone users seldom use Siri, the super intelligent voice assistant that is built into every iPhone that ships today. Why? To start, if you’re holding the phone in your hand (previously the only way to access Siri), all of the functions can be done WITHOUT SIRI, in the traditional method, as fast or faster than using the voice assistant. However, with Siri-enabled peripheral devices such as the Boombot REX or newer car model integration, the ability to remotely access the power of your smartphone has never been more convenient. Without taking your phone out of your pocket, you can set an appointment, ask the time, check the weather, call your mom, and even ask where you are. For this reason alone, the Boombot REX is one of the best portable speakers on the market today. Heres a look at all the things you can do, without taking your phone out of your pocket.

Here we go– the longest list of Siri functions that can be done, all without taking your phone out of your pocket.

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