Panbo: surveys, comments, & Paris
I’m headed to Boston and then a flight to Paris where my wife and I hope to enjoy the sights and also see our son Curran, crack drummer for Today is the Day, help marry “metal, noise and psychedelic rock” at le Nouveau Casino our last night there. Panbo entries may be scarcer than they’ve ever been during my six years here (birthday last week). But there will be an interesting new product announcement next Monday, and I have a few other entries more or less in the can, including some written by the market research team who surveyed us a year ago, before market conditions caused a hiatus in their plans. Frankly, my growth plan for Panbo has been slow going too, but I did recently compose some guidelines that might help make the comments even more valuable than they’ve been. And I’d appreciate your feedback on my draft, which follows. If all goes well, I’ll be reading your comments about commenting on my iPad while sitting in a Montparnasse sidewalk cafe…
Constructive and specific feedback on Panbo content is much appreciated by all, and even a bit of silliness is enjoyed. However, we are determined to moderate comments so that people with valuable opinions and information — as well as those with valid questions — are heard. Here are some tips and policies:
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Good luck to your Son Ben, Jeez I wish I was young again, theres nothing like the exitement of a gig to get you going, but alas too old to rock and roll, and am slowly selling off my much loved gear on Ebay (under pressure I may add).
Looking forward to the new announcements coming and hope that one of them is that little gadget that I told you about. Have a good break chap, and don’t forget the ear plugs, dont want to make the tinnitus or frequency loss any worse now.
Steve
Mon ami,
C’est un péché d’assister à un iPad tout en restant assis dans un café de Montparnasse. Mettez l’ordinateur rude, décrochez le pastis et de brioche. Bon Voyage
Mais je suis un méchant Américain (traduction par Google).
Sur la Montparnasse, tous sont Francais!
When I read “State of Panbo”, I expected something about Panbo’s outlook on the world of marine electonics, mixed with your goals or commitments for the coming year. Sort of the marine electronics writer’s version of the “State of the Union”, but perhaps with a French flavor this week.
So first addressing your policies, I fully respect that this is your forum and your bully pulpit. You can write whatever rules you want about comments and certainly you can enforce them as well.
That said, and at the risk of violating your first rule and being “off topic”, I would like to return to the “State of Panbo”.
You are in a unique position as a writer with access to manufacturers eager to have their products mentioned in your blog, and in contact, both through reader comments and personal email, with many consumers and installers. What is your assessment of the marine electronics industry as of April 2011? The good, the bad and the great?
And for your readers, without whom Panbo has no raison d’etre, what will you do, and not do, with regard to reporting, investigating, repeating and otherwise disseminating press releases, demo experiences, consumer feedback, installer feedback, personal experience and of course your opinions? Where will you draw the lines for yourself? What is the value proposition for your readers?
Certainly we have all concluded there is value here or we wouldn’t be reading, but it would be nice to read it as articulate and clearly as you have written the tips and policies above.
Must be something in the Maine air.
I’m another sailor geek that has a composer in the family. My daughter Christine (http://www.christinesouthworth.com) is an MIT graduate that now composes avant-garde classical music that has been performed in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
Good luck and enjoy the trip and the concerts.
Check the yacht basin just off of the Seine in downtown Paris in case there are some interesting electronics hanging off of the local money pits! Also, keep an eye out for a canal boat with an old James Bond amphibious car hanging on davits as a yacht tender – saw it a few years back but don’t know if it is still around.
Wow, no idea that your son was in Today is the Day. I’ve been a fan ever since way back to their first album on the AmRep label. Great band, great drummer. And my favorite marine blog as well. Have fun in France.
Yes Bill, it’s amazing to find out how many fellow sailors are also radio hams, geeks and musicians, as well, and it’s worldwide, not just Maine or US, but spread everywhere. I’m sure that it’s something genetic, that draws us all together, toward sailing and communications in one form or another. I think it comes probably frome the Norse, now spread widely amongst those of European heritage, it’s just supposition, but maybe something in there?
Steve
Thanks, Brendan, and indeed you are one in a billion! Actually, though, Curran was not the original Today is the Day drummer. In fact, he was a fan like you in the early Amphetamine Reptile days (and still finishing high school). But that makes the story sweeter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Today_Is_the_Day
Cur started doing PR work for Steve Austin a few years ago and then he and the bassist Ryan (both members of Wet Nurse) became Steve’s sidemen last year. On a US tour some fans said they were the best version of Today is the Day yet, they recorded a CD of new material about to release, and now they’re doing the crazy Euro tour (a country a day). If you’re in Paris Thursday night come by Rue Oberlhoff for electronics talk and heavy metal ð
Hello,
I am a fellow boater/tech minded guy on Cape Cod. I stumbled upon your blog/site on the web and was interested in your focus. Being an electrical engineer and an avid boater I am constantly fascinated by the market and technology trends in Marine Electronics. It seems this is one of your areas of interest as well. I intend to keep following this site but could you point me in the direction of any other sources of this kind of info?
Thanks and calm seas to you,
Greg Bithell