The founder of Australian electronics retailer Kogan has penned an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a publicity stunt designed to promote his company’s recently launched ‘Zuckerberg Selfie Stick’.
In the letter, Ruslan Kogan, founder and CEO, says that in building Facebook, Zuckerberg has also become “the creator of the Selfie” but notes disappointedly that he has never actually posted one. To rectify the situation, Kogan has sent (and has confirmed receipt of) his newly launched Zuckerberg Selfie Stick to the Facebook founder.
Essentially just a long stick with a mirror to which you can attach your camera, the Selfie Stick claims to be able to help you pull off that selfie like a pro. Presumably, you’ll need to use the timer function on whichever device you attach, as you won’t be able to reach it to actually press anything.
Kogan notes in the letter that if Zuckerberg still won’t relent and post a selfie on Facebook that “we’re going to go to plan B and call[ing] this the Kardashian Selfie Stick, as we know she’ll be up for it”.
Although this is clearly a tongue-in-cheek promotional stunt, the head of the Australian electronics retailer is never far from a more serious controversy. In a war of words over TV pricing in Australia he has publicly fallen out with Gerry Harvey , founder of Australian retailer Harvey Norman , leading Harvey to brand him “a con” . He also criticized the Australian government’s set-top box scheme for its expense, it was later revealed during parliamentary question time that Kogan Technologies had tendered for the scheme to roll-out set-top boxes for New South Wales.
In August this year, the company was forced to close its low-cost mobile service after its wholesale supplier ISPone filed for insolvency .
➤ The Selfie Stick – An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg [Kogan]
Spotify launches Connect for Chromecast-style streaming from your home speaker system
Spotify has partnered with a handful of music hardware specialists in the past including Sonos , Onkyo and Bang & Olufsen . These have been rather isolated affairs though, offering Spotify’s vast catalog of music through a bespoke user interface or entirely separate mobile app.
Spotify is expanding its support for home speaker systems today though with Spotify Connect, a new feature controlled through its iPhone and iPad apps.
Premium subscribers choose what they want to listen to using their smartphone or tablet, then tap the new speaker icon located just to the right of the app’s playback controls. Similar to Google Chromecast, the content is streamed separately by the dock or home speaker setup over a Wi-Fi network.
Spotify users can therefore control multiple speaker systems from the same device and not have to worry about dropping down to a 3G connection, draining their battery or racing through their monthly data allowance. The independent streaming also means that the user can close the Spotify app on their iPhone or iPad at anytime, and the music will just continue playing.
Multiple Spotify Premium subscribers can also control the music being played from any one speaker setup; a feature Spotify hopes will be useful for parties and other social gatherings held in users’ homes.
Argon, Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Marantz, Hama, Philips, Pioneer, Revo, Teufel and Yamaha will support Spotify Connect at launch with a handful of devices each. Theoretically, most home speaker systems offering Wi-Fi connectivity should be able to use the feature though; it’s just a case of individual manufacturers choosing to support it and offering an update.
Pascal de Mul, Global Head of Hardware Partnerships at Spotify, told TNW that the company has been in talks with 40 to 50 hardware manufacturers. If the majority of them decide to support Spotify Connect, the music streaming service will be opened up to considerably more devices, and also provide Spotify with a far simpler solution for managing its various partnerships.
Spotify Connect will be added to the firm’s Android and desktop apps over the coming months. Speaker systems that support the feature will also be identified with a logo on the packaging and hardware itself, notifying existing and potential new subscribers.
If enough speaker systems adopt the feature, Spotify Connect could be a pretty effortless way to stream music in the home. The cross-platform functionality sets it aside from AirPlay , but Spotify needs to persuade as many as device manufacturers as possible to back it. Without extensive hardware support, it’ll benefit only a fraction of its existing userbase.
➤ Spotify | iOS
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PlayStation Vita Slim on sale in the US from today via $200 Borderlands 2 special edition bundle
The slimline PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) that’s already been on sale in Japan and the UK is today going on sale in the US as part of a special Borderlands 2 bundle available for just under $200.
While it keeps the same core experience as the previous generations of Vita handheld gaming consoles, the WiFi-only device has a thinner and lighter chassis than the older models.
The new Vita ‘Slim’ also includes 1GB of onboard storage out of the box, and there’s also an 8GB PS Vita memory card included as part of the bundle, which will come in handy for downloading that digital copy of Borderlands 2.
Offering the new hardware as part of a bundle that includes a much-beloved FPS/RPG hybrid is a smart move for a system lacking big-budget games at the moment. It’s not clear right now how long the new hardware will be offered exclusively as part of this bundle, or when it will go on sale as a standalone product. We’ll let you know when we get an official response from Sony.
Featured Image Credit – Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/ Getty Images