Forget Apple. Forget salespeople. Monster just won CES. The company’s just-announced Inspiration line of headphones combines the fashion of weirdoes with the technology of Monster. Perfection! → Read More
If you’ve found yourself yearning for a new memory card but all your options are just too pedestrian, then Monster and SDJ Technologies may have just brightened your day. The two companies have just announced that they have inked a long-term licensing deal that means Monster Digital flash memory products will soon hit store shelves. → Read More
I was lucky enough to get a look at Monster’s new Beats by Dre headphones at their Holiday Launch party recently, and it’s safe to say they’re pretty sweet cans. The company has developed two new sets of headphones: the Beats Wireless on-ear Headphones and the Beats Studio HD Powered Isolation Headphones, which come in a number of color flavors.
I got the chance to go ears-on with both of the new products, and I can honestly say I enjoyed my time with each of them. Both sets are super comfortable, too. → Read More
It wasn’t that long ago that HTC partnered up with Beats Audio to give their phones a boost in the audio department, and now it seems Nokia may be contemplating something similar. A newly leaked pair of images popped up earlier today, and they reveal what may be the first Nokia-Monster phone accessory.
Given Monster’s history, it’s really no surprise that the first product to surface would be a pair of headphones. → Read More
Exclusive: Professional social network LinkedIn has shut down API access to a number of developers for terms of service violations, according to the company. The six developers whose access to LinkedIn’s API include Facebook-focused professional network BranchOut, Monster’s social recruiting app Beknown, brand management app Visible.me, resume service Daxtra, professional reputation manager Mixtent and CRM-Gadget.
The shut down of access for BranchOut and Monster’s similar (and recently launched) app BeKnown are particularly surprising. According to LinkedIn, BranchOut, which has been compared to a LinkedIn for Facebook, violated the network’s API TOS with its plans for a premium enterprise recruiting search tool. Charging fees for access to LinkedIn’s content, is a no-no, says the network. → Read More
Here’s something I want for Christmas: Daft Punk edition TRON headphones! Made by Monster—I’m assuming quality similar to the Beats—these ear cans come with LED lights. A first for Monster, the LEDs will light up and mimic movements from the character’s costumes. → Read More
In October, Job search engine Indeed.com slipped past Monster.com to become the largest job site in the U.S. According to comScore, 12.3 million people visited Indeed in October, up 19.6 percent. Monster.com attracted 12.1 million people, and CareerBuilder.com came in third with 11.3 million job seekers. It is still pretty close, with Indeed just barely edging out Monster. But this could very well be a turning point for leadership of the online job search category. → Read More
Although the press release, below, is full of garbage jargon, the bottom line is that Monster, in their infinite glory, has released a “universal” pair of RF 3D glasses. The glasses support almost any 3D TV kit and cost $249.95 for a starter kit with transmitter and and $169.95 per pair of standalone glasses. Why are these good? Well, presumably if you’re moving from 3D TV to 3D TV, they’ll allow you to watch almost anything without having to buy new glasses. The rest of the mess of buzzwords in the press release makes little sense except that you program the glasses to work with future technologies, which is nice. Sadly, they’re expensive as heck. → Read More
Dost thou love Diddy? Then do not squander Diddy, for that’s the stuff life is made of. Monster has just announced the avilability of the Diddybeats earbuds in black, white, and pink for $179. Best of all? Les Diddybeats includes a free track from Diddy’s latest album, Last Train to Paris. But wait! There’s more. Actually, that’s it. They’ll be available at Best Buy and, because they didn’t mention much about the audio, expect these things to be a little bass-heavy and actually fairly good, although the price is a bit high. Although folks complain about Monster all the time, I’ve been impressed with the Dr. Dre Beats, so these should be on par with those. → Read More
(Editor’s note: Centralized Web job boards are in decline. Dan Finnigan, CEO of Jobvite, explains why in this guest post. Previously, he was Senior VP at Yahoo and GM of HotJobs, and before that a Director on CareerBuilder’s Board as CEO of Knight Ridder Digital.
Monster’s acquisition of Yahoo HotJobs signals a significant landscape change for a job board industry facing significant economic pressure and I believe the deal also marks a “new normal” in how companies are hiring talent. Online recruiting is transitioning away from “the Big Three” job boards. The Internet is becoming the job board.
Of course, unloading and closing properties that are not part of Yahoo’s strategy going forward is smart. (Though selling a job advertising board smack in the middle of this downturn and extreme unemployment must have been as hard as selling an empty, foreclosed home in Las Vegas right now.) → Read More
Even though unemployment is at the highest levels in a decade, companies are still finding it difficult to find the best qualified candidates to fill the positions that are available. The reason for that is because more often than not, the best qualified candidates are already employed and not necessarily looking for new jobs. Certainly not on job boards like Monster.com or HotJobs. So if the best candidates won’t seek out job openings on employment sites, the jobs need to seek them out.
That is the idea behind TalentSeekr, which is essentially an ad network for jobs. Companies fill out what jobs they are trying to fill in what locations, then TalentSeekr creates and tests multiple ads across the Web—social networks, blogs, forums, search engines, you name it. Based on the response rate and quality of the applicants that come through the ads, TalentSeekr optimizes the mix of ad types (banner, text, video, creative elements) and placement. (Watch the video below to see how it works). If more qualified applicants are coming in through LinkedIn than Facebook, it readjusts the mix. Hiring managers get a dashboard (see screenshot below) which shows the number of ad impressions, clicks, and ultimate applications resulting from the ads, as well as the geographic distribution.
“What we are doing is what job boards did to newspapers. Everybody knows the space is about to shift big,” says Ryan Caldwell, the CEO of EnticeLabs, the company behind TalentSeekr. → Read More
In the early days of energy drinks, the tiny 8-ounce Red Bull can was the only game in town. Then somewhere along the line, someone decided to double the can size to 16 ounces. Great — twice the punch for the same price. Then came the 24-ounce energy drink can. A little excessive, sure, but sometimes you need a little extra, extra pick-me-up and a big 24-ounce can is always good for a laugh. Then came the 32-ounce Monster Energy “BFC” — the biggest F-ing can I ever did see. → Read More
Now that I’ve had a couple days with the Turbines, I think it’s time for a full review. I’m sad to say that my initial praise may have been premature having listened to a few CDs (I had to open up moving boxes in my apt to find one) and comparing these against my Shure SCL3s and Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pros. I also brought in my secret weapon Dave R. to consult. He’s a professional sound engineer who specializes in monitors and has toured with The Cure, The Used, Linda Ronstadt, Interpol, Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy, so he knows this stuff inside and out. With any in-ear monitor the biggest challenge is to find a tip that actually isolates and blocks everything out. I’ve found that foam tips work best, but the Turbines come with two types (trees and mushrooms) each having three sizes. You might as well skip the mushrooms because they don’t block anything out. → Read More
It’s gonna be a long, cold, dark, cord-filled winter for those of you waiting for wireless HDMI devices from the likes of Belkin (FlyWire shown above) and Monster Cable. Electronic House is reporting that the technology’s not quite there yet. An unidentified owner of an A/V store in Manhattan told EH the following: “HDMI is not perfected yet. I was eagerly awaiting shipments from both Monster and Belkin but I understand there have been more difficulties in getting various products to talk to each other in this fashion.” It was thought that Belkin would reveal ready-for-market devices at CES in January this year but company spokesperson Melody Chalaban says that Belkin is “now planning a spring launch and expect it to be perfect then.” Monster is expected to reveal its devices sometime in the second quarter of next year. UPDATE: Apparently the FlyWire devices from Belkin will be available in late January, so that’s a good sign. Melody Chalaban sent over an e-mail saying the following: “Just saw your post about FlyWire being delayed. Yes, it’s been delayed due to compliance issues, and it will be available late January 2009. I was misquoted in the original post from Electronic House.” So that’s late January, not a spring launch as originally reported. Sorry for the mix-up. → Read More
Writing anything about Monster is fraught with peril. Everyone knows the traditional lime: Monster preys on morons. They sell expensive cables to people who don’t need them and they made a mint doing this over and over again. But this is a new era. Wireless is soon going to eat Monster Cable’s lunch and unless they can diversify – and convince the jaded public that they’re not out to screw them – they are stuck. So where does that leave the Beats by Dr. Dre? This is a relative first for the company and I believe the headphones, taken at face value and considered in a vacuum, perform quite admirably. First off, I’m coming at these headphones from a non-audiophiles perspective. I don’t know the lingo and I don’t want to get into a penis-length war with audiophiles because some of what they say is batshit crazy. → Read More
Monster Cable, the makers of cable, just sent the new Beats by Dr. Dre, a pair of noise cancelling “studio” headphones aimed at the mid-range audio consumer. At $349, these are priced at exactly the same point as the Bose QuietComfort 3, these headphones closest competitor. I’ve been wearing them for the past hour and found them on par with the QC3s in terms of noise reduction. They have very crisp tight bass and a nice separation as well. Best of all the, the Beats use AAA batteries instead of the QC3′s battery pack, which means you’re not stuck if you forget to recharge. I’ll be taking a flight tomorrow and I’ll bring these along to test – I’m just about sold on the QC3s when it comes to noise reduction but I’m game to try these out in a real-world scenario. The ear cups are quite nice and isolate the ear well and the styling is slightly younger and cooler than other massive headphones out there. Monster is entering a wireless age and they have to excel at stuff that doesn’t get electrons from point A to point B just to survive. In my brief testing, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on these. → Read More
It’s no secret that I love my Monster Outlets To Go power strip. It’s the most used gadget in my gear bag no matter where I am. Such a simple device with so many perks like instant friendship with the hot girl waiting at your gate. It won’t get you laid, but you’ll look cool in front of the other nerds. The release isn’t very clear on how many USB ports there are, but I’d assume it’s just one. There is no image attached either, so we’ll have to wait on that. However, the Outlets To Go 3 USB will retail for one penny less than $30 and comes in black. → Read More
It’s a little unclear in the AP report whether or not Monster is releasing two separate wireless HD kits or just one. I’m positive the latter is the case here. Monster is utilizing the Sigma Designs’ UWB technology. You may recall that Westinghouse announced an LCD TV back at CES with built-in UWB. The Digital Express HD kit includes a receiver that connects to your HDTV via HDMI along with a transmitter that connects to any source of content like your DVR, Cable box or DVD player and streams said content back to your HDTV, upscaling when necessary. The Digital Express HD kit is set for an October launch for $299.95. → Read More
We’ve received word that Monster has decided to lay off the 30-35 employees that work for subsidiary Tickle, a company that it acquired for about $94M in May 2004. Tickle includes not only a tests and quizzes site that shares the same name but also Ringo, a photo and video-sharing site, and LoveHappens, an online dating site. As part of the decision, Ringo and LoveHappens will be completely shut down while Tickle will be absorbed into Affinity Labs, a content verticals company recently acquired by Monster. The Tickle site will change focus once absorbed by Affinity Labs, although just how is yet to be seen. All layoffs will be complete by the end of June; employees were told of the decision at an internal meeting yesterday. Ringo and LoveHappens are now in the DeadPool. CrunchBase Information Monster Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
