Tecca is a consumer electronics content and commerce startup based in Santa Monica, CA. We’re building a new online destination in the personal technology space and are looking for smart and creative folks to be a part of our freelance writing team.

Want to know more about Tecca? Read about us on GigaOM or check out socalTech’s interview with CEO Mickie Rosen.

About you

You should have lots of interest in technology as well as ideally some experience producing content in the realms of personal technology and consumer electronics. You should enjoy working in a fast-paced publishing environment and have the self-discipline to work effectively in a distributed virtual office. You’ll be expected to be able to talk about a broad range of technology topics (or a smaller set of topics in depth) to all levels of technology consumers, from the experienced to the technophobic. You must have a fun, friendly, and positive attitude, and should love helping others solve technology problems and learning more about the industry.

Writers

You will be part of a large team crafting fun, easy to understand guides and original feature columns about topics in consumer electronics. You’ll be covering both the buying process and usage after purchase. We expect you to both tackle assigned tasks and bring your own original ideas to the table.

We are particularly looking for writers with expertise in:

• Audio/Music Players
• Cameras/Camcorders
• Car Tech/GPS
• Home Theater
• TVs and Video

News Editor

We’re looking for a motivated news editor to cover current technology news for a primarily mainstream audience. You will be tasked with selecting major tech stories that are worth bringing to our readers as well as writing them up in an easily accessible format.

How to apply

Send an email to apply AT tecca DOT com with the following information:

• Message title: please indicate which position you are applying for in the title of your email (news editor or writer)
• Your background: let us know what you’ve been working on, what you feel your skills are, what your experience in the realm of personal technology/consumer electronics is, and what interests you about this position. If you have special expertise in any category of CE, be sure to let us know. Keep in mind that mobile and gaming are very popular topics almost everyone wants to write about, so if you can demonstrate knowledge and enthusiasm for any of the other areas listed above it will improve your chances of becoming a contributor!
• Your contact information: full name, email address, phone number, instant messenger handle, where you’re located, the best methods and times to reach you, and your general amount of availability for freelance work.
• Example work: 3 or more bylined writing samples linked somewhere online. No attachments, please!
• For writers, column pitch(es): You are also encouraged to pitch us on an original feature column idea (or several). For each column you’d like to pitch, please give us the overall theme and title for your column and between 5 and 10 example topics you would feel confident covering that fit within the overall theme.
• For news editors, news posts: We’d like to see 3 write-ups on current news topics of your choice. These should be geared towards a mainstream audience of readers who may not be tech experts.

We look forward to reading your application!

Tecca is a consumer electronics content and commerce startup based in Santa Monica, CA. We’re building a new online destination in the personal technology space and are looking for smart and creative folks to be a part of our freelance writing team. Do you love gadgets and call writing your craft? Read on for details on how to apply.

About you

You should have lots of interest and expertise as well as ideally some experience producing content in the realms of personal technology and consumer electronics. You should enjoy working in a fast-paced publishing environment and have the self-discipline to operate in a distributed virtual environment. You must have a fun, friendly, and positive attitude, and should love helping others solve technology problems and learn more about the industry.

Writers

We are building out our team of freelance contributors. We need people who can speak to all levels of technology consumers, from the experienced to the technophobic. You will be part of a large team crafting fun, easy to understand guides to and original feature columns about topics in consumer electronics. You’ll be covering both the buying process and usage after purchase. You’ll need to excel at working in a virtual environment and covering a broad range of topics (or a smaller set of topics in depth, if you have expertise in a particular area: home theater, mobile, car tech, etc.). We expect you to both tackle assigned tasks and bring your own original ideas to the table.

How to apply

Send an email to apply AT tecca DOT com with the following information:

• Your background — let us know what you’ve been working on, what you feel your skills are, what your experience in the realm of personal technology/consumer electronics is, and what interests you about this position. If you have special expertise in any category of CE, be sure to let us know.
• Your contact information — full name, email address, phone number, instant messenger handle, where you’re located, the best methods and times to reach you, and your general amount of availability for freelance work.
• Example work: 3 or more bylined writing samples linked somewhere online. No attachments, please!
• Column pitch(es): You are also encouraged to pitch us on an original feature column idea (or several). For each column you’d like to pitch, please give us the overall theme and title for your column and between 5 and 10 example topics you would feel confident covering that fit within the overall theme.

We look forward to reading your application!

• You should have lots of interest and expertise as well as ideally some experience producing content in the realms of personal technology and consumer electronics.
• You should enjoy wearing multiple hats, be flexible as roles and duties shift, and thrive on working in a fast-paced startup environment.
• You must have a fun, friendly, and positive attitude.
• You must either be in the Los Angeles area or willing to relocate.

About us

We’re a startup based in Santa Monica, CA. We’re building a new online destination in the personal technology space and looking for smart and creative folks to be a part of our editorial team. Our work environment is fun and energetic, and we offer competitive pay with benefits.

Here are the three positions we’re currently hiring:

Producer

This role will work closely with our in-house programming staff as well as help oversee a geographically distributed freelance team of writers and content creators. You will be responsible for helping to program major content areas within the site, contracting new writers, ensuring a high level of quality and accuracy in editorial, and using analytical tools to evaluate content performance. We would expect you to bring vision to our editorial direction, be able to iteratively craft original content strategies based on performance, have cogent ideas and methods for building an audience, and be able to execute on them.

The ideal candidate should have managerial experience as well as experience working with virtual teams.

Editor

This role will work closely with our in-house programming staff to develop and execute compelling original content as well as assist in the overall programming of major content areas within the site. You will be responsible for helping assign and approve creative content ideas as well as bringing a keen editorial eye to overall quality and voice. You should be extremely detail-oriented yet always be able to keep the big picture goals in mind.

The ideal candidate should have previous experience in an editor-level role as well as a significant background in writing for a web audience. Experience working with virtual teams is a plus.

Designer/Developer

This position will play a key role in helping define a visual style for content within programmatic sections within the site as well as handling front end coding duties as assigned. You should have a flexible toolkit of skills across design and web standards-based development in XHTML/CSS/Javascript, plus be a strong multi-tasker with the ability and enthusiasm to tackle a changing assortment of projects from small to large. You should have a flair for “making things look awesome” but also enjoy touching code and “making things work.”

The ideal candidate will have handled design and/or development duties for one or more high-trafficked new media sites and have experience working with content management tools. Server-side skills aren’t strictly required in this role but if you can bring any, it would be gravy.

How to apply

Send an email to barb AT project-austin DOT com with the following information:

• Your background — let us know what you’ve been working on, what you feel your skills are, what your experience in the realm of personal technology/consumer electronics is, and what interests you about the position you’re applying for.
• Your contact information — full name, email address, phone number, instant messenger handle, where you’re located, and the best methods and times to reach you.
• Bylined writing samples (Producer and Editor positions) or portfolio (Design/Dev position) — preferably linked, or alternatively as an attachment.
• Your resume — linked or attached, as well as your LinkedIn URL if you have one.

Please include the title of the position you’re applying for in the title of your message. If you’re sending us writing samples, portfolio, or any other part of your application as an attachment, please make sure to tell us something about yourself via text in the body of your email. Don’t make us launch Microsoft Word just to get a sense of who you are!

Below is a track by Kenny Mosher set to video produced by Showdown Productions. After the break is “Love, Love, Love” by Reyna Perez.

Music Video Shot on iPhone from Kenny Mosher on Vimeo.

I wonder if the current spate of anger relates to two things: 1) a conflation of the general hatred being levied towards AT&T right now over their completely craptastic reception and service, and 2) a new market of iPhone 3G owners who have never previously purchased a smartphone, and thus don’t have much direct experience with how cell phone subsidies work in the U.S. and on carriers around the world. The actual cost of a smartphone device as sophisicated as an iPhone or G1 or Nokia N97 et al is many hundreds of dollars — I tend to think of it like “car trouble” price: whenever something goes wrong, I steel myself to be out $500-600 no matter what the heck it is. Some phones climb as high as a cool $1k for an unlocked GSM handset. The only reason smartphones can be had cheaper is because the carrier subsidizes them: you agree to be locked in to this 2-year contract and the carrier is guaranteed to extract $XXXX from you over that period, in exchange for which they discount the price of your phone because they’re guaranteed to make that money back from you (unless you cancel early, which people seem loathe to do even though a $150 early termination fee (or less, depending on how much of the contract has elapsed) is far less than you’d pay to stay stuck in the contract… maybe it’s the principle of the thing).

Thus, if you want to pick up a new phone before you’ve completed that 2-year contract you signed, you’re just plain SOL. There is no special deal for you, and if there were the whole phone subsidy house of cards would fall apart. What would stop me from popping in every month to pick up the latest hot smartphone on deep discount, and what incentive would carriers have to support that?

What these folks are really angry about is the underlying racket of the phone subsidy. It’s spurious to blame Apple or AT&T for “allowing” this pricing scheme — this pricing scheme is typical for the mobile market. Still, neither Apple nor AT&T have done much in the way of educating a First Time Smartphone Buyer market about how this works, and they could have softened some of the blow if they had. Nevertheless, it’s a rude but entirely fair wakeup call to phone buyers about how the subsidy system works.

Baker believes Amazon.com got more than it gave. “The iPhone becomes a seeding platform for e-book distribution,” he said, and an upsell opportunity for Amazon.com. “At a minimum, I think a lot of people with iPhones are going to try [the Kindle reader]. When they do, some will say, ‘I’d like to download directly, and I want a bigger screen, so maybe I should buy a Kindle.’ “

via Analyst: Apple turns its back on e-book market.

I think with Windows Mobile 6.5, there will be phones in market this year. We still don’t get some of the things that people want on the highest-end phones. Those will come on Windows Mobile 7 next year. Certainly I’m not, um — there’s opportunities for us to accelerate our execution in this area, and we’ve done a lot of work to really make sure we have a team that’s going to be able to accelerate.

via Ballmer: Microsoft needs to make faster Windows Mobile advances – TechFlash: Seattle’s Technology News Source.

The Republic Project reinvents the special edition music box set for the digital age. Users who pre-order albums on the service will get access to exclusive behind the scenes video shot by the band while recording the new album, access to artist blogs, as well as additional ‘fan only’ content like live chats and access to rare tracks. The albums on the Republic Project will be available as DRM-free MP3s.

This is a really smart approach that makes use of the 80/20 rule — those top 20% of your fans/users/readers will pay more to get more of your brand/services/content if you give them a reasonable way to do so. Also cool: makes use of the Flip Mino HD handheld camcorder. What other business models does cheap handheld HD make possible? Can’t wait to find out.

[via Republic Project: Reinventing the Box Set for the Digital Age - ReadWriteWeb]

Among the more brilliant bits of marketing I’ve seen. Hilarious re-imagination of uses for a cell phone on the scale of a cute baby animal universe. The handset is the Samsung UltraTouch recently announced at Mobile World Congress 2009.

“If there was any doubt in your mind that the iPhone is the next disruptive viral platform, it is.”

iMafia’s Charles Ju: How We Launched a Social Game on the iPhone.