Amazon's head of consumer electronics names 'excellent' convergence devices

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Amazon’s head of consumer electronics cautions: Don’t let the marketing speak convince you that the Xbox 360 or latest Motorola set-top box is truly “excellent.”

Paul Ryder, who’s in charge of CE at Amazon, thinks so-called convergence devices fall into one of two categories: the “capable”, like the 360—good enough, but often too hard to fully exploit for the average person—and the excellent, those that work perfectly without any headaches. What makes the excellent list?

• The EyeFi. A 2GB SD card with a built-in Wi-Fi antenna. Instantly, and easily, upload digital photos and video straight from your camera.

Slingbox. Your TV shows wherever you go. I take it you’ve heard of it before.

Flip Video. A VGA-quality video camera with a built-in USB port. No headaches there.

Unbox and Kindle. I think the Amazon guy was just shilling, but I do like the Kindle, you may remember.

Converging On Greatness [Forbes.com]