The Brooks Review

Year: 2010

  • It’s As If Apple Has Hired Don Draper

    MG Siegler:

    As we’re all well aware, video chat, even on phones, is nothing new. Sure, Apple has simplified it, but they’re not really showcasing that here. Instead they’re going right for the heart strings. They’re doing something rather incredible. They’re conveying how you’ll feel if you use the product, by making you feel alongside those in the commercial. They’re creating this sentimental bond.

    Spot on, it is an amazing commercial. This commercial is the reason parents and grandparents want every member of the family to have and iPhone 4.

  • SSD Performance in Macbook Pro (late 2008 Unibody)

    I ordered up an SSD drive for my Macbook Pro and just finished installing and testing its performance. It is mind blowingly fast – incredible.

    My Macbook Pro’s specs are as follows:

    • 2.8ghz Core 2 Duo
    • 6gb RAM
    • Late 2008 Model (expresscard model)
    • All test performed plugged in while using the faster graphics card
    • Hard Drive was a 300gb 7200rpm drive
    • SSD drive is a 240gb OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD

    Now for the results:

    Cold Start
    Hard Drive 1:47.9 mins
    SSD 59.4 secs
    Restart
    Hard Drive 1:44.7 mins
    SSD 1:10.6 mins
    Launch Photoshop CS5 Extended
    Hard Drive 16.2 seconds
    SSD 3 seconds
    Lauch InDesign / Photoshop / Illustrator (CS5 Same time)
    Hard Drive 1:54.4 mins
    SSD 10.3 seconds
    Load Dashboard & Widgets
    Hard Drive 16.9 seconds
    SSD 3.5 seconds

    As you can imagine I am quite happy with these results. (Please note that during each restart I had to enter my password, that takes me about 1.5 seconds on average.)

  • An interview with Michael Lopp from The Setup

    Loop:

    I’m a Mac OS X nerd and have been so for the past eight years. I’m a LaunchBar guy. Any time I have to touch the mouse, I feel inefficient.

    Amen to that.

  • Small Biz: 5 Quick Tips for Success

    Here are five quick small business tips that have helped me out over the past 5 years – let them soak in over the weekend and get going on them Monday.

    Pay yourself as little as you can get by on

    A lot of small business owners and freelancers pay themselves whatever is left in the account after all the bills are paid. I am here to tell you that this is a terrible idea. For the first year you need to be paying yourself the least amount of money that you can afford to live on. This comes in handy for those months that you have no work – as you can still pay yourself.

    After a year you should have a pretty good idea of what you make and can afford to pay yourself. Don’t bother projecting out the year ahead – base your salary off of last years revenue and stock pile a couple months worth of your salary in the business account. This has saved my ass time and time again.

    Indulge on things you use the most.

    I see small business owners make a ton of stupid purchases – a 60″ LCD for the lobby – and really skimp where it counts. If you use something for more than a few hours a day, take the time and money to buy the best thing you can. For instance you should start with your desk chair. A good office chair should cost you between $700 and $1500 and you should be happy to pay that. It will last years and benefit you for the rest of your life (your back will thank you when you hit 60).

    Lose the fear.

    Want to know how to fail fast? Be afraid to do anything, see how at works out for you. Self-employment is risky, but it is even riskier to wait until you have other peoples salaries that you need to pay. If there is a risk you are debating – now is always better than later.

    Be courteous always.

    Business is built on relationships, and ‘throwing your weight around’ only makes you look like a dick. Instead just smile and be nice, it goes a long way and you wick be surprised what great service and relationships you can forge out of it.

    Build up favors and don’t cash them in.

    One of my favorite things is when someone owes me something because I did something helpful for them. I have a ton of favors built up, and I try ti never cash them in. The result is that when I truly do need a favor there are a lot of people there ready and willing to help. If you always cash in every favor people will be far less inclined to really want to help you.

  • Grain of Salt Warning: NDrive GPS App Disappears from Apple App Store, Kill Switch the Culprit?

    Evan Selleck:

    The application itself went for $2.99 in the App Store, and it provided upwards of 1.8GB of US map data. However, it sounds like people didn’t have long to download it, or enjoy it for that matter, before the application itself was pulled from the App Store. And then subsequently pulled from customer’s iPhones as well. It’s also disappearing from people’s Macs and PCs, too.

    No sources listed and the company is not confirming either way if this is true.

  • I Have a Fever: Ashes for iPad

    I had been waiting for some way to read Fever on the iPad. I was a hardcore Fever user but switched back to Google Reader so that I could use Netnewswire and Reeder. Sad that Ashes doesn’t live up to the hopes of Fever users. It is also sad that Shaun Inman has seemingly put Fever development on hold so that he can finish his new projects.

  • iPhone 4 as good as the 7D? No, but it’s amazing for what it is

    Damn impressive side by side video comparing the iPhone 4 and Canon 7D.

  • The Danger Of What Could Come – Apple Post Steve Jobs

    We all know what happened to Apple when Steve Jobs was forced out of the company ((Source)) by then CEO John Sculley. Apple without Steve Jobs’ direction was not the Apple that we know today. Jobs has turned Apple into a market leader, innovator, and design oriented company. The natural question then is what happens to Apple after Jobs leaves again?

    As reasonable people we know that at some point in the future Jobs will not be with the company (most likely through age or retirement). At this point should we advice that everyone dumps stock and runs away scared? I think not.

    If you look at the current landscape we have a pretty clear idea of what I would consider to be a worst case scenario for Apple – that scenario is Microsoft. Bill Gates left the CEO role, then left the company – handing over the reigns to those that he had been working closely with for years. ((Source))

    Many see this as a terrible outcome for Apple and for Microsoft – but is it really that terrible? They are sitting on roughly $37 billion in cash and gross profits in the $46 billion range. That is not a failing company by anyones standards. ((Source))

    Remember too that I said early this is a worst case scenario for Apple post Jobs. If Jobs leaves Apple and appoints a reasonably competent CEO then at the very least Apple retains profitability and produces mediocre products (such as Microsoft has been doing). As a consumer and Apple fan(boy) this is tragic – as a stock holder this is not the best news, but hardly worth jumping out of a window over.

    Now of course this is all assuming that Jobs leaves Apple rudderless when he leaves. I would guess that when Jobs leaves he will be leaving with a 5 and 10 year road map already in place at the company. The product cycles may or may not slow after he leaves, but the vision that he instills in the company on the daily basis will still serve as an over arching compass for the company.

    Add to all this the fact that because of Jobs every person currently with Apple (mostly the upper tier of management) knows what has driven the success of the company for the past decade and knows of that importance. Jobs has in effect instilled his personality and business belief system into all of the employees that he works closely with.

    Assuming there is no mass exodus or power struggles when Jobs leaves I would suspect that Apple will be just fine without Jobs. At the very least Apple with remain profitable and viable for the short term (10 years) after Jobs leaves.

  • Microsoft’s Kin Humiliation

    John Gruber:

    I can’t vouch for the following, but a well-placed little birdie told me over the weekend that they sold a grand total of 503 Kins before they pulled the plug. 503.

    Holy…

  • Small Biz: DIY or Hire a Pro?

    This is the question that most small business and entrepreneurs face when they are starting or running a small company. I am a one man shop (I have two business partners who step in to fill my void when I am sick or on vacation) so it is a question that I have to think about quite a bit.

    Can I do it?

    The very first thing I consider when I am about to start a task that I could hire another to do is whether or not I can do that task, and (most importantly) if I can perform that task to my standards of quality. An example of this is server administration – most people are surprised to hear that I actually pay a company $50 a month (average) to administer our Windows based server. They do thing like install updates and patches and manage backups, insuring that everything is running correctly.

    I could do this myself – easily – but I don’t know if there is a known bug in an update and therefore I shouldn’t install it, because I don’t follow that news. I don’t know common Windows Server problems and the quick solutions. Certainly if I have a OS X backend I could do it myself, but on a platform that I don’t know about, or care to know about I don’t want to waste me time learning about and working with it.

    Likewise for Accounting. Accounting is one of the most crucial aspects of my industry and one of the most crucial parts to any business. Doing it properly is paramount, so while I understand how everything works why should I also burden myself with having to do this work? It is tedious and not a productive use of my time.

    Do I have the time?

    Almost as important as the first question is trying to figure out if you actually have the time to run your business and do this task at the same time. A prime example is painting – everybody thinks that they know how to paint and could re/paint their office if needed, but do you really have the time to do this? You may have the needed skills but every hour you spend painting is an hour you fall behind in your work that you get paid for.

    Another example is tedious and monotonous work. I had to send out a bunch of notices (over 150) one day and they all needed a certified mail slip with them, hand written. I knew that I could do it, but I also knew that I didn’t have the time. The solution was to hire my sister to come in after school and do it for me.

    There Is a Reason People Make a Living Doing It

    I eluded to this earlier when I said that every one likens themselves a painter. The truth is that there is a difference between the quality of work that a pro painter does compared to the average person. If I say yes to both of the above I look at what people are getting paid by the hour to perform the same work, the hire the wage the stronger the deterrent should be for you going in the DIY route.

    Surely we all can take a wedding picture and maybe it will even be up to our standards. There is a reason though that pro wedding photographers get paid upwards of $1500 for one days worth of work: they take pictures that an amateur simply can’t get. They know what they are doing.

    How to Decide

    No matter what anyone tells you, there is no cut and dry way to decide when to DIY and when to hire a pro. You are the only one that can make that call – but if you are even a little unsure then you need to hire the pro. Many people think it is cheaper to DIY, but the opposite is usually true when you look at the long term costs, and factor in your time.

  • 6 Current Technologies The Jetsons Predicted

    I always wonder if the TV show spurred the idea for these inventions, or if they were just a natural progression. I would assume a combination of both.

  • Hybrids are not the Future

    Everyday I spend an hour and a half driving to and from work, as you can imagine I see a lot of cars and think a lot about what I drive. I have a gas guzzling Range Rover, and I see a ton of hybrid cars on my drive each day. This morning that got me to thinking about how big a failure hybrid cars have been.

    They are not overly expensive to buy (often only $3,000 over the price of the same non-hybrid model car) yet they have only taken off among the ‘status conscious’ individuals – those that care about what people think of them. And why is that?

    Perhaps it is because they are more expensive to own in the long run – taking about 12 years to break even. More than that though, they truly are not that impressive. Nor are fully electric cars such as Tesla’s cars. No hybrid cars are not the future, they are a stepping stone.

    The future of cars has yet to be invented.

  • What 583k People Do Without iPods

    Apparently they pay for Sirius radio.

  • Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: iTeleport

    37Signals:

    This is a good question. We believe there’s a strong culture, especially here in Silicon Valley, of taking investment early, and lots of it. If you don’t do this, you’re considered a “lifestyle” company, which is in most circles, a derogatory term. Starting off it just seemed like getting investment was the “normal” thing to do.

    At the same time, we wanted to shape iTeleport in our own vision — a company that was about more than just profits, instead it would be a place where awesome people would work on a whole range of problems — whether for-profit, or non-profit — and also wanted to create a space for personal growth and development for each of us. We didn’t believe that the investment community would have let us get away with this — and we didn’t want to spend our time trying to explain ourselves to someone else. Most importantly though, we just didn’t need any money — we had plenty of it from our products.

    This is what I was talking about.

  • New Russian Law Looks to Crack Down on Internet

    Owen Matthews:

    A law currently before the Duma would give the FSB and prosecutors the most sweeping powers they have had since the fall of the Soviet Union, from censoring Internet sites to arresting people for “obstructing investigations.” The draconian new law is in the name of fighting “extremism”—defined as anything “undermining the authority of state officials” or “insulting the honor of the Russian nation.” Internet service providers must shut down offending Web sites within three days of receiving a complaint from the FSB, and the burden of proof will be on the sites to disprove extremism charges.

    China may soon be joined by Russia.

  • FaceTime – iPhone 4’s Biggest Feature

    Over the holiday weekend I was on the Oregon coast with my in-laws – it was a great time and a great fireworks show – one thing that happened right away is the my Wife started showing off her iPhone 4. She immediately started by showing off FaceTime – interestingly enough this was the feature that I show off last (have you see the text on the iPhone 4?).

    Much to my surprise everyone seemed enamored with FaceTime, even though they all use Skype to video chat with people right now. To most in the room FaceTime became the reason to get an iPhone. Upon thinking about it now I realize just how ‘futuristic’ having video chat on a mobile device really is – much more so than doing it on your laptop.

    Of course as the weekend progressed we saw at least five commercials for FaceTime / iPhone 4 on TV and it always brought up more questions and the inevitable “I gotta get one” comment. Amazingly I think FaceTime is what is going to sell the iPhone 4.

    It is not just going to sell the iPhone 4 because FaceTime is so new, or that it will soon be coming to other devices – it is going to sell the iPhone 4 because of the ease that it does video calls. Skype is a completely different interface and because of that it is not as easy for parents and grandparents to initiate a Skype call. They usually need their grandkids or kids to set it up for them – and show them how to use it.

    Enter FaceTime – parents and grandparents that would love to video chat now can do it easily, all they have to do is buy the phone for the people they want to chat with. There is the key, the demographic that holds the most amount of money now has been given a reason to buy an iPhone.

    Boom.

  • Is the Web outdated, or is it just Prince?

    “The Internet [is] like MTV,” Prince said later in the Interview. “At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated.”

    Nope – that is not true.

  • Apple reportedly hard at work on serious Apple TV update

    Chris Foresman:

    First, Apple is reportedly working on a major update to the software that runs the Apple TV, which may be based on iOS. No details about the hardware are known, but it would make perfect sense for Apple to build it around an A4 variant and utilize iOS, which is already optimized for small devices and media consumption.

    Perhaps but I saw the Mac mini update as the Apple TV update. You don’t make the Mac mini look like the Apple TV and give it an HDMI port for no reason – not if you are Apple that is.

  • It’s Not The Device Or The File, It’s The Internet, Stupid!

    Mike Cane:

    Files are things. Things are on the way out.

    We already have something that can be accessed by all devices and can’t be corralled by any single company. It works wonderfully and is improving all the time.

    It’s called the Internet.

  • App Store, Hacked

    Zee:

    Some users who have had their accounts hacked have left comments on the apps they have supposedly bought complaining that up to $200 has been spent on apps they’d never personally bought themselves. (update: we’ve now heard reports of $600+ spent on some users accounts, more details at the foot of this post)