My iPhone 5 Dock with Lightning Connector

Ever since the iPhone 5 arrived I’ve been missing being able to throw it on the dock on my bedstand at night and have it fully charged in the morning. Right now there are no docks for the new Lightning devices, everyone waiting for Apple to authorize manufacturers to move forward, or to see what the grey market brings.

Enter the iPhone 5 Lego dock station, which my son and I built today using plans from The Daily Brick. It takes some unusual pieces, but a little digging in our “legoland” room we found everything we needed and even some parts to give it a splash of CableJive color. I wouldn’t say it’s the most stable solution, upon completion we immediately had ideas to make it better, but it will do until we decide it’s worth re-engineering to make it more stable and robust.

Of course, if you have an iPhone 5 or other Lightning device and need to dock to an older speaker or car system with a 30-pin connector you can always pick up a dockBoss iPhone 5 Kit which lets you charge and listen to your iPhone 5, iPod touch 5th gen or iPod nano 7th gen on an older speaker dock.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday: 75% off iStubz Short iPhone & iPod Sync Cable

We’ve had lots of folks asking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The big deal is we’re doing a major clearance sale on 7cm iStubz cables. Instead of $7.95, you can pick up one (or two, or three) of these awesomely useful, super portable sync cables for $2. Yes, $2 to have a stubby iPhone, iPod, and iPad sync cable in your pocket wherever you go.

Thanks Steve

Solemn mood at CableJive today thinking about the passing of a legend. Like so many others, reflecting on the impact Steve Jobs had on the industry and on us personally. I’ve been a fan of Apple since I was very young, first hacking on an Apple II for hours at a time at the local public library.

We will miss you Steve, your example and passion will continue to be an inspiration as we march forward.

Andriod to iPod/iPhone Dock Adapter Cable

I’ve gotten a Zune connected to an iPod/iPhone dock in the past, but what seems more compelling these days with the rise of Android is to make an adapter or a cable to get a micro USB device to an iPhone, iPod, or iPad docking station.

Important caveat: it’s technically impossible to provide the same kind of device integration that an iPod/iPhone car or speaker system provides; audio, video, track and playlist control, viewing track information on the car system, etc. Those are things that Apple’s 30-pin docking adapter all have built in, which is why it is so compelling and revolutionary. A micro USB connector can only really charge and sync a device, it doesn’t not have the connections to do all that fancy integration.

I wish there wasn’t this caveat. However, if you’re willing to accept the compromise that Android integration cannot match what Apple provides, but want to at least get something out of that iPod/iPhone speaker or other docking system, there’s a way.

Apple’s dock connector (the 30-pin plug on the bottom of the iPhone, iPod, and iPad) provides many functions. Most Android phones include two jacks; a micro USB connector for charging and syncing, and a standard 1/8″ (2.5mm) audio jack for standard headphones. The pins for these two connectors on Android phones can be isolated on the 30-pin connector and provided for

CableJive’s dockBoss+ adapter cable does exactly this, it lets you plug a smart little adapter onto your iPod or iPhone speaker dock or car system, and provides a micro USB and audio cable so you can charge your Android phone and listen to audio, both through your docking system.

It’s not the ultimate solution, but until Apple decides to open up their proprietary communication system (never going to happen), getting micro USB and audio to connect an Android phone to your iPhone, iPod, or iPad dock at least keeps your phone charged and keep the music playing.

Inventory Management and Forecasting for a Growing Business

dockXtender Shipment

CableJive has been looking for an inventory management and forecasting solution for a few years now.

Back in 2006 when we first started selling cables we could easily keep track of things using a spreadsheet. By 2008 we had added enough new products from a variety of suppliers and manufacturers that it was time for something more.

I looked around and couldn’t find what we needed; a simple, powerful inventory tracking and forecasting solution that would easily integrate into an existing business. We didn’t need a full ERP system, our other systems were working well and sufficient for us. We just needed a system that would track our inventory and give us basic reports so we could keep inventory in stock. With no good fit to be found, CableJive developed a homegrown piece of software that integrated very nicely as an add-on to our order management system.

Fast forward to 2011, CableJive has continued to grow (yea!) which means more products and suppliers, all handled well by our CableJive inventory add-on. What isn’t handled so well is that we now have multiple warehouses and multiple fulfillment centers shipping orders. We need to know a lot more than just how much inventory is in stock and when to order more. We need to know the overall picture of our inventory, but also how much is at each warehouse and how to allocate new inventory to the various locations in such a way that each one has the right amount to get through until more arrives. We’re in a painful spot trying to manage all of this manually.

So we’re in the hunt again for a small business inventory management solution. More details to come on what we’ve found as we’re digging into the options.

2011 CES Day 1: Awesome

We’re really, really happy about all of the visitors we had in the CableJive booth on day one of CES here in Las Vegas. It being our first CES we weren’t quite sure what to expect but were quickly overwhelmed with groups of people.

We’ve given away a lot of brochures, pens, and magnet chip clips. If you are at the show, swing by soon before we run out of awesome freebies.

CES Booth is Set Up

The CableJive CES 2011 booth is set up. We got to meet some nice neighbors who were also setting up. Booth 4625 in the North Hall for anyone who wants to swing by. We have some freebies.

Sorry about the fuzziness.

CableJive on the CES iPhone App

One week to go before CES 2011 kicks off. CableJive will be there, at booth 4625. We’re excited to meet folks and chat about all the good things that are going on this year.

I’ve been fiddling with the iPhone app, browsing around the maps and looking through the company listings. So much information, for so very many companies. A lot to look through, a hint at the promise of just how much there will be to see and do when in Las Vegas.

CableJive has it’s own corner of the iPhone app, with company information, booth location, and a few product PDFs.

Check it out.

The CableJive CES 2011 Simulator

We’re getting excited to meet a bunch of folks, have some fun, and see a whole lot of electronics at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. We’re booth number 4625, we’re looking forward to seeing you there.

CableJive (mostly our CES expert Cindy) has been really busy, working on all the preparations for the big event. There are a lot of details to coordinate for one of these shows, I had no idea. The sheer volume of the CES instructions handbook requires a dedicated person with a good memory to keep tabs on all of the details.

A few months back we set up a CES simulator in one of the CableJive offices. The office dimensions made for a perfect real-world practice area to get the spacing, materials, furniture. It’s been fun to get everything set up and then talk through what we’re seeing. Normally this is our conference room, so we’ve been having our weekly company meetings in the simulator which has spurred lots of conversations, creativity, and speculation about the event. We were there last year, but only to attend.

CableJive Products on Amazon

The short story:
Over the past few months we’ve made a more serious effort to have CableJive’s great products available on Amazon.com. We’re hearing and seeing how important this is to our customers, and wanted to make a few notes about what we’re doing to more fully partner with Amazon.

The longer story:
We’ve been fans of Amazon.com for years. In fact, I lived in the northwest when Amazon got started in Seattle and was surrounded by the excitement.

Fast forward many years, Amazon has become a very, very trusted seller of much, much more than books, and is also a destination for millions of people worldwide to browse, search, peruse, shop, etc.

Early on when CableJive was just getting started we recognized the importance of partnering with Amazon to get the word out about our products. Initially we did advertising on pages with related products so customers would learn about CableJive. Then we listed products on Amazon as a third-party seller so customers could buy directly on Amazon and have it shipped out from the CableJive warehouse.

The most significant partnering with Amazon has happened over the past few weeks when we moved quantities of our inventory over to be part of the Fulfillment by Amazon program. This change moves the entire purchasing and product delivery process into Amazon’s hands. Not only do they have the product listed, but when you purchase a product it is shipped from an Amazon warehouse. This means great CableJive products can be put into a box with a million other things sold on Amazon and delivered together.

We are extremely happy with the feedback we’re getting from customers who love Amazon and are happy to be able to purchase our products there. We’re also quite pleased with the increase in sales from folks who haven’t purchased from us before but trust Amazon enough to purchase there.

As an aside. The Amazon web services, which we’ve plugged into heavily, are incredible for managing, importing, exporting, researching, etc. Really cool how much is available to programmatically access.