The Brooks Review

Category: Articles

  • Steve Jobs Gives Consumer Reports the Bird

    Today Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at a press conference to talk about the iPhone 4 antenna issues. In case you missed the 15 minute presentation here is what Jobs said (paraphrased by yours truly):

    “This new iPhone has killer reception even after we corrected the bars being displayed – in fact this new phone is so good that there are less returns and more sales than we ever expected. There is a problem but every smart phone we tried has this problem. To make this right everyone gets free cases and we will refund money to those who bought a case already (bumper cases). Also be sure to check out this futuristic chamber that we test the iPhone in so that you can see just how serious we are at Apple.”

    Consumer Reports forced Jobs to give out cases for free – in fact the media as a whole forced this, so you can thank them for your free case. The egg however has shifted from being on Apple’s face to being on the media’s, specifically Consumer Reports’ face. Apple didn’t provide a ton of data showing that the iPhone is fine even given the problems with the antenna (they did show some) – what Jobs really showed was that the antenna problem is a non-issue as evidenced by the sales, returns, and lack of dropped call increase (the increase Jobs showed really is not statistically significant).

    Basically if you got Consumer Reports and Jobs in a room here is how the discussion would play out:

    CR: This new iPhone is better than anything else.

    Jobs: I agree, our best phone yet.

    CR: Yeah it tops our charts, but what is this about Gizmodo saying the antenna is flawed?

    Jobs: It’s not flawed, they are showing something that happens to all phones. There is no problem.

    CR: Just because it happens to all phones doesn’t mean that there is no problem.

    Jobs: Still the iPhone is less problematic than other phones. Just put a bumper case on it and all will be fine.

    CR: Well we tested the problem by watching over 30 YouTube videos, so given all that data there is just no way we can recommend this phone to our 10 readers. We will write an article about this and send it to you and every email address we can.

    Jobs: Isn’t your job to tell consumers to buy the best products?

    CR: That is what we do everyday.

    Jobs: But you said this is the best phone and here is a crap load of data to support the fact that this problem is being blown out of proportion. (insert press conference data)

    CR: Can’t change now – we are get way to much attention about our article.

    Jobs: OK here is my AMEX I will buy you and every iPhone 4 owner a case.

    CR: …

    Jobs: One more thing… (uses left hand to give them the bird) Boom.

    Yeah that conversation sounds about right to me.

  • Thoughts on the iPhone 4 Apple Press Conference

    Not to beat a dead horse, but as many of you are aware tomorrow Apple will be holding a press conference about the iPhone 4 at their Cupertino campus. Nobody knows what will be said, but I think it is pretty given that CEO Steve Jobs will be there himself.

    What I do want to say is that short of a recall or handing out something for free (i.e. gift cards or bumper cases) I doubt that anything that happens will be all that earth shattering. People who are upset by the iPhone antenna are not going to be satisfied by anything that is said, and it is not going that change anything that is going on today. That is unless there is a recall or something along those lines.

    In a roundabout way I do expect Jobs to dismiss the Bloomberg report that he was warned of such issues. The problem is that executives are warned about things all the time and 99% of the time these things never happen or are stopped before they do. This is the 1% case scenario and it will be really interesting for every PR person to watch how Apple handles this case.

    What I am saying is that short of a product recall anything that happens tomorrow will only be done to redirect / shape / focus the discussion around the iPhone 4. The problem for people wanting a recall is that the phone is still selling (and fast) and returns are presumably really low. Given that why would Apple want to change course? They are only concerned with making sure that it keeps selling without having to recall the product.

    We should however all be watching to see if Jobs brings an iPhone on to stage with him and if he does, which had he holds it in.

    [Updated: 7/15/10 at 1:18 PM]

    This is a really interesting bit posted by John Gruber:

    I was thinking the same thing yesterday, but I now have a hunch it’s going to be more — maybe a lot more — than just a defense of the iPhone 4 antenna. Sounds crazy, I know, but I think something big, or at least biggish, is going down tomorrow. This is not one of those “hunches” I get where I actually know something and play coy; I could be wrong and the thing could wind up just being 20 minutes of Steve Jobs telling us “not to hold it that way, or buy a case”. I’m betting on my hunch, though, and flying out late tonight.

    The fact that Gruber sees fit to fly across the country on short notice is telling. Yes it is his job to do so, but he certainly could have covered it from Philly – obviously given what he said in the above quote he thinks this is more than what I am thinking the press conference is.

  • Email Mistakes That Irritate Smart People

    There are a lot of ways to send an email, and given that it is a tool that many of us spend a large chunk of our day using, I thought I would share some of the annoying things I come across when reading email.

    1. Reply All

    This is one of those buttons that we like to hit so that everyone is kept in the ‘loop’, but the problem is not everyone needs to be kept in the loop — nor do they want to be. It is fine to hit reply all, but be sure to edit the list of people that you are replying to, keeping only those needed in the conversation in the email chain. If you are even in doubt about when to use reply all, don’t use it. Better to forward an email to someone later then to waste 50 people’s time reading email that they don’t care about.

    2. The “I CC’d You” Emails

    Let me tell you about the CC field, it is used to keep people in the loop that need to be kept in the loop. What it is not for is to be used as a way to show me that you are doing your job, or to ask me to do something. When I get an email that I have been CC’d in and somewhere in that message there is a task you want me to do — 90% of the time I miss that task. The reason is simple: I don’t read emails I am only CC’d in past the subject line. If you want me to respond or act on an email you send me, make sure I am in the ‘TO’ field.

    3. Look at a JPG of My Company Logo

    It is really awesome that you figured out how to embed your company logo in your email signature, but I know who you are and what your company logo looks like. I still hate it. Don’t waste bandwidth sending me email attachments of your logo. Further, it really screws me over when I go to look for emails that you sent me a file in as every email you send me has a damned attachment. Don’t even get me started about downloading that crap over AT&T’s sucktastic data service when I read your emails on my iPhone.

    4. Yes I Have Your Contact Info, Thanks

    Raise your hand if you just have one email signature that you use on all your emails — now drop your hand really fast on your head. We all have those fancy email signatures that include our contact info and maybe even a vCard ((insert OOooos and Ahhhhs here)), they definitely say our name and title. These are great for people who don’t know you, but when you are corresponding with other people in your office and regular contacts – your first name will suffice.

    Think of it like a phone call: if it is someone, who when you call, you need to introduce your full name and company to then use the big fancy email signature. However, if just saying your first name on that same call will do the trick, use that same etiquette for email. I have my email set to default to the signature: “`-Ben`”. If I need the other longer signature I can switch to it, otherwise the short and sweet one works best.

    5. Stop With the Cryptic Subject

    Think of your subject line like a title of a book — would you buy a book called “RE: Report”. Nope. We need to tell people what the email is about in the subject line, so that they know if they need to open it now or not. For instance instead of saying “Report” as your subject how about put the actual subject in – “Please Review My TPS Report” – oh snap now I know whether to read that now or later. ((probably later))

    6. Sending Large Files

    Most people I suspect never look at the file size that they are sending to people, they just know that if it bounces back they can’t send it as is. I would ask that if your email is over 3mb please send me a file link so that I can download it faster. There are a ton of services out there that do this, many that are so fast and easy you will be amazed. Sending and downloading large files over email is not what the protocols were designed for, and they are agonizingly slow – help yourself out and use a service like Droplr.

    7. Capitalization

    If you send me an email in all caps I will assume you are yelling at me and take my damn sweet time responding. Likewise if you send me an email in all lowercase I will assume that you couldn’t care less about the email you sent — resulting in me taking my damn sweet time responding. Typos and grammar problems abound, but we all know how to properly capitalize an email, so don’t be lazy.

    8. Keep It Short

    It is really great that you like details, but I don’t have time for them. Tell me what I need to know and what you need from me. Don’t waste my time asking about the weather or how business is going. Being concise in emails can often lead to people thinking that you don’t have the time for them – I am not talking about one line email responses (ala Steve Jobs), just say what you need to say in a clear and concise manner. This helps people better understand you and makes you look smart.

    9. Legal Notices and Printing Notices

    Drop the legal notice, it is just dumb amd makes you look paranoid. Drop the “be kind to the environment and don’t print this email” notices because it is just rude. You wouldn’t walk up to someone at Kinkos and ask them if they are sure they need those copies. If I need to print the email I will, otherwise assume it is filed away on my computer never to be revisited.

    10. Addressing People

    You don’t need to address me in the beginning of the email (e.g. ‘`Ben,`’ ) I know you are sending it to me because I received it – just get on with the email. The only exception to this is when you are sending it to multiple people in the “To:” field and you want to call certain peoples attention to different areas of the email (e.g. Ben: Can you please take care of the TPS report cover sheet issue. Janet: Please take a shower before coming to work.).

    11. The ‘Thanks’ Emails

    If I send you some information that you requested, there is no need to respond to me by saying just ‘Thanks’ it clutters up my inbox and is useless. I assume that, unless you keep asking me for information, you received it when I sent you, any problems and you will contact me. I sometimes write “no response necessary” at the bottom of my emails, but that just confuses most people. Just stop with unneeded emails and we will be good.

    12. Telling Me Versus Asking Me

    Unless you are my boss then you need to ask me for things, telling me to do something will get you no where. Don’t send me an email saying “I need you to get me this information ASAP” – ask me to get you that information and let me know if there is a time constraint. In doing this you will find people are far more helpful – even if you are their boss.

    13. The Follow-Up Call

    This is not strictly and email irritation, but I hate it when people call me to discuss an email chain, or in lieu of responding via email. If I sent you an email I did so for good reason – please respond in the format that I initiated the communication.

    14. Sent from my…

    Guess what no one cares where you sent your email from, and what device you are using. No one. It was cool for the first few weeks of iPhones, then Blackberry users started adding it and it naturally became lame. (( BlackBerry had this first but it said something like: “Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless” before the iPhone.)) Further I don’t get the thought process in having such a line attached to begin with – should I thank you for responding while you are not at the office? I am confused.

  • Why USB Syncing Needs to End

    If I had to pick one thing to complain about on the iPad it would be the syncing mechanism. I rarely sync my iPad because I don’t have time to wait for it to finish – I need to use it, or I am at the office (my iTunes library stays on an external drive at home). The same goes for my iPhone – what a pain to take the time and sync it.

    It is not the actually syncing of content that takes the longest either, it is the ‘backing up iPad/iPhone’ part that is horrendously long. Let’s say I download a new album on my Mac and I want to sync that over to my iPad and iPhone – I have to plug them each in and wait for the back up and then the sync. If I download a song in the morning when I first wake up and try to sync this music to both my iPhone and iPad at the same time I will barely have enough time to pack up and leave. This is 2010 – we should not have to wait that long.

    • iPad Sync Time: ((This is a normal sync that I do about once a week. It includes a full backup, transferring of recently updated apps, putting on new photos and podcasts.)) 13:49 minutes for the total sync, of which 10:33 minutes was for just the backup.
    • iPhone 4: 5 minutes
    • iPod nano ((original)) : 46 seconds.

    At the very least Apple could allow us to disable the backing up portion of the sync, but they don’t. You can click the ‘x’ when you see the backup part start to skip it, but then errors pop-up and sometimes it will cancel the entire sync (annoying).

    Of course for my setup I only have to sync the media portions (photos, music, videos) as everything else is either wireless (contacts and calendars) or I download straight to the iPad/iPhone (apps and their updates). I can understand not wanting to allow Wi-Fi syncing of movies (given how large they are) but why can’t we wirelessly sync music and photos. Each file is small enough that if the sync was interrupted it could easily be resumed.

    Sure this may not speed up the syncing speed, but at least I could sit on my couch and use the iPad wirelessly – as it was intended. Even now I can’t use either device while syncing – which is just absurd. How can we not surf the web while data is being loaded onto the device – they are certainly powerful enough to do this.

    The Ideal

    Ideally we would be able to set our mobile devices to sync wirelessly with our computers / media servers while they are charging. In this scenario say I am going to sleep and I throw my iPad and iPhone on the charger – at this point the device would wait 30 minutes and then start syncing all data before finally performing a backup.

    Then in the morning if I wanted to load more songs the device would recognize that I have a current backup (made within the last 24 hours lets say) and would quickly sync all new media over Wi-Fi. Thus the syncing done while I am awake is only what I want to sync (setup in settings) and most all the other data is recent within the last 24 hours.

    I don’t want to be too demanding, but given that I labeled this portion of my rant ‘ideal’ it would only be natural for me to want Apple to implement a “Back to my Mac” feature that allowed syncing over the WAN (Wide Area Network).

    Where Is It?

    One company already has such awesome technology: Dropbox. Everything is in sync and I never notice it syncing. So the technology is out there and can move large chunks of data quickly – why the hell don’t we have it on mobile devices yet?

  • Backup Reminder – A look at my Backup system

    A couple of months ago I had a stark reminder of just how important backups are. I didn’t have my hard drive fail – though I thought it did – my Macbook Pro’s hard drive just wasn’t right. The system was running slow and the keyboard was unresponsive. I took the computer into the Apple Store where they did and archive and install for me that solved the problem. Up and until that point in time my backup strategy was as follows:

    • Backup internal hard drive with iBackup once a week.
    • Store many files in Dropbox.
    • Archive older documents and design files on iDisk.
    • Store Aperture libraries and Music on two separate hard drives.

    That was it, short sweet and simple. My rationale was that I didn’t need to worry about lost files from the current week as they are easily reproducible. However when all of this happened it meant I lost and entire day of work time and spent it at the Apple Store. Had I had a proper clone of my internal HD I would have been able to diagnose the issue as software related and restored myself later (spending the rest of work off of the cloned drive).

    Since that time I have drastically altered my backup strategy. Here is what it looks like now:

    • Backup internal hard drive with SuperDuper! every other day on two different drives.
    • Store all working files on Dropbox.
    • Archive older documents an design files on iDisk.
    • Store Aperture libraries on 3 different external hard drives.
    • Maintain one small ‘working’ Aperture library.
    • Keep iTunes music folder on external drive with a backup copy on another two drives.
    • Store one of the duplicate backup drives in fire safe.

    The main difference is that I have more redundancy, and cloned copies of my internal HD (both on a pocket sized external drive and larger more reliable drive) and that I am keeping a lot of data in Dropbox. I have yet to – and hope never to – run into a problem where I have to put my backup system into effect, however it offers quite a bit of comfort.

    My Wife on the other hand refuses to use some of these tools and instead I have her Macbook Pro backing up to an external HD wirelessly through Time Machine. It is better than nothing, but it is far from great.

    It is Monday – we all had a nice weekend (hopefully), give yourself the little extra piece of mind this week. Go buy an external HD (they are really cheap) and download a backup program that clones your HD (I recommend SuperDuper! for Mac users) and clone the drive while you sleep. Make it a habit and you will sleep better.

  • 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.)

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Thoughts on Foursquare and Venture Funding, Revenue, Profits & Cash Flow

    The other day Foursquare announced a successful series B round of funding that raised the company $20 million – a huge amount of money given the size of the company. This really got me to thinking about whether such funding is really a good healthy thing for a company – especially for companies that are not profitable.

    I fully understand needing money to become profitable, or being willing to invest in a company hoping for future profits – what I don’t understand is throwing your cash into a black hole.

    In the article linked to above Erick Schonfeld says:

    As far as making Foursquare a great company that makes a lot of money, Horowitz says the “monetization” opportunities are “very obvious and straightforward.” There are many ways Foursquare can start charging businesses once it reaches a larger scale. “Would you pay to know your most frequent customer?,” Horowitz asks rhetorically. “Probably.” The bigger issue is how to take Foursquare from nearly 2 million users to tens of millions of users and beyond.

    I think they should have bought a Lotto ticket if that is the way they invest, having huge potential is great, but having it contingent on a “tens of millions of users” is just damn risky. Facebook and Google could swing into the fold and decide to make a competitor that easily crushes Foursquare. Gowalla could easy add users faster and crush them as well. I see Foursquare as MySpace in the early days – a ton of potential if ran right, but a huge downside if mis-managed. Could Gowalla be the Facebook to Foursquare’s MySpace?

    Taking Venture Funding is Like Playing Monopoly

    Everyone knows that the key to winning in Monopoly is to build hotels and lots of them – those hotels also cost a ton of money. Many start-ups seem to think this same way, they need to hold the Boardwalk monopoly and build a hotel fast before the other players in the industry can build their own. In pursuing this path many start-ups decide to take on venture capital funding to help build the company fast.

    The problem – as often pointed out by Jason Fried of 37Signals – is that this leads you down the wrong path more often than not. Let’s go back to the Monopoly analogy, say you have bought everything you landed on for the past 2 turns, including Park Place, making you just one property away from the coveted Boardwalk monopoly. Now, on your 3rd turn, you land on Boardwalk and you want to buy it, but you can’t afford it. Your choice is to let it go to auction against the other players, or mortgage what you need in order to buy it.

    Most people mortgage their properties (venture funding in this case) and now they are stuck not collecting rent on those properties, unable to build the hotel and in debt. This is not a good spot to be in. Same goes for people that would rather mortgage everything then sell it to another player. When I play I let things go to auction, and sell off assets only keeping the core monopoly that I own debt free.

    I have won entire games with a monopoly on the light blue row – a cheap monopoly to hold – by choosing a plan of attack and sticking to it. When companies take on venture funding to pursue new growth avenues without making their current product profitable first – I start to get pretty worried. A company needs to focus on their core product and making it the best it can be – in doing so they will attract customers and profits. Adding more and more in hopes of exponential growth is often a fools game.

    Now of course Monopoly is not real life – I know this and so do you – but the strategy involved plays out. Foursquare is not in debt – they owe those investors a return – a return that can only come from two things: profit or a sale/acquisition.

    Profit is not Revenue or Cash Flow

    Here is where things get tricky, when people talk about how well a company is doing they like to talk about Profit and Revenue. These are not the same thing, profits are a factor of revenue, but revenue alone will not give you a profit. If you have $100 in revenue for a year and costs of $100 then you have no profit. Likewise if you have $10 in revenue for a year and $1 in costs then you have a $9 profit. Thus the $10 a year company is more profitable than the larger $100 a year company.

    The more debt you take on from loans or people demanding a return on investment, the less profit your company will have for you to take pay yourself (not withstanding salaries). Stop looking at revenue numbers and start looking at profits. A good company is profitable and leverage company has large revenue and no profits.

    + to Cash Flow or + To M&A

    This is the real debate that entrepreneurs are making right now. One camp is saying that you should build a business that cash flows and pays you a nice check each month. The other camp is trying to get big (really big) and fast (really fast) in hopes of a cash out in some form or another that will make them set for life. To clarify both models make you set for life, one model does it without you having to work anymore.

    I am clearly in the cash flow camp – getting a sale that will make you set for life is a gamble and doesn’t happen that often. It is however easy to setup a nice company that cash flows each month and can pay you for quite sometime. This is exactly what I have done with the company I run – we cash flow each month and I get paid. This is not to say that my company will be around forever – we must adapt like any other company – but our underlying philosophy is not one that pushes to make risky moves and to take on debt, ignoring profits in hope of a sale.

    There is one thing I have not touched on: what happens when you get venture funding and can’t find a buyer or profitability? Most people assume that when a company like Twitter or Foursquare take on funding that it is because they are close to making money – they usually aren’t, after all if you are making money then you don’t need funding.

    Once you have that funding in your bank account you have investors that want returns, they often hope to push you into a fast sale long before you are profitable. They push you into this because they know one thing: profits are never a guaranteed.

    So what if a year later you are out of money and have no interested buyers and no profits to show for it? Often you are S.O.L. ((shit out of luck)) and on rare occasions you can raise another round of funding to keep you on life support. This life support though will only put more pressure on your company.

    The Point

    My point is not that venture capital is bad or good, just that it is not the only way to make money. Most importantly though: just because someone gives you $20 million dollars does not guarantee:

    • Success
    • Profits
    • Sales
    • Acquisitions
    • Mergers
    • Happiness

    All venture capital insures is that you now owe money to more people than just you and your co-founders.

  • Reachability & Honesty – The New Business Model

    On my way into the office this morning I was listening to Dan Benjamin’s latest episode of “The Conversation” where he was talking to one of the Slicehost co-founders, Matt Tanase.

    Tanase got to talking about start-ups and what is needed – he brought up an interesting point about honesty and reachability. Basically saying that Steve Jobs’ one line responses to customers is a powerful marketing force, Benjamin popped in at this point to add that the reachability of company founders these day is almost expected by consumers.

    This really got me to thinking about the business models that people are using these days – I am amazed that there are some many companies doing the same thing out there, but the winners are the ones that are focusing on customer service. Here in 2010 you will not get very far with a new startup if you are not responding to customer concerns and you are being dishonest with your customers.

    The business model then becomes:

    • Find some product or service to sell.
    • Get a following.
    • Treat your customers like royalty.
    • Respect everyone.
    • Be honest when you screw up / humble when you succeed.
    • Respond to your customers (no matter what your role at the company is).

    Take note of that above model, because it is not what you are going to learn in school. In school they will teach you to try and sell for less, or sell for more, to have huge advertising campaigns, to grow fast. This has worked for many years, and will continue to work for many more. This new model, the interactive and responsible company model is faster and more sustainable. Here are a few companies that I see using this model:

    • Zappos
    • USAA
    • Woot!
    • Nordstrom
    • Glazer’s Camera (Seattle only)

    There are a ton more that I could name, but the above five are something special. I have never heard someone speak and ill word about the customer service of the above companies – sure they may not like the prices, but once you are their customer, you are their customer for life.

    This is a powerful new business model – it is a reflection of a changing society. It is not about profits (those will come) it is about relationships, those need to be won.

  • Changing with Technology – Welcome to the Future

    Mobile technology is changing everyday, forcing all of us to keep changing with it. That in itself is not a bad thing – it does however become detrimental when we spend more time trying to change, than we do working. Technology brings with it the great promise of enabling us to do more with less time – to be more productive – is this necessarily true?

    Merlin Mann says ((source)):

    Every time you feel like trying a new todo app, turn off your computer, and complete one task.

    Poignant advice to be sure.

    My life since April 1st, 2010 has changed dramatically – both technologically and personally , but I am only going to focus on the technologic changes. The beginning of April brought forth the iPad, May brought me from OmniFocus to Things and from using my MacBook Pro monitor as a second monitor to one monitor. June has brought me the iPhone 4. These were seemingly small steps along the way – in aggregate they may just be the most significant steps forward that I have taken in a long while.

    Any single step along the way would not have been enough for me to think about (let alone write about) but taken together it is a change that is hard to wrap your head around. The difference between now and March is the difference between the Original iPhone and the iPhone 4 – both are great, but there has been a pronounced change for the better.

    The iPad was First

    When Apple launched the iPad I was disappointed, I wanted more and didn’t see why I needed it. Pressure from family and friends set in and I purchased one. Today I can’t imagine not having an iPad (funny how technology always works like that), my brother-in-law recently asked if he should get an iPhone 4 or and iPad. My answer: If you already have an iPhone 3G S (assuming no cracked screen) then I would get the iPad over the iPhone 4 – however if you don’t have an iPhone already, then take the iPhone 4 (not 3G S) over the iPad any day.

    I still feel that is great advice (I gave it after only having the iPhone 4 for a couple of hours) but I would seriously encourage people to splurge on the iPad as well. Don’t bother with a laptop that you will carry with you anymore – my Macbook Pro is 5.6 pounds and the iPad is 1.5 the amount that I cannot accomplish with the iPad alone does not warrant the extra 4.1 pounds in weight.

    Here are some situations I use my iPad in (string together for space saving): meeting notes, iPhone 4 line entertainment / productivity, couch surfing, book reading, news reading, reading, vacation, car trips, watching videos, watching podcasts, weather information, weekend email, cooking recipes, magazine reading, calendaring, task managementing, supplement to watching baseball, watching baseball when the wife doesn’t want me to, reviewing photos from my last shoot, 1024×768 web site testing (kinda a little), RDPing into works Windows servers and using the Windows apps on it instead of my Macbook Pro (via Parallels), sketching, finding a restaurant for the night, entertaining the cats (NobyNobyBoy), and entertaining myself (FlightControl HD).

    That is a lot of stuff. All of this can be done easily on a computer, and most of it can easily be done on my iPhone. None of that is the point – the point is that I have chosen, that I find it better, to do all of these activities on the iPad.

    The magical part of the iPad for me is not that apps, the form factor – it is the on-demand nature that the device has. You pick it up and press one button and the iPad is on and ready to go. There is no wait, instantaneous gratification is delivered to you. Yes the same is true of the iPhone, but the iPad has the large screen, the type-able keyboard, etc..

    Things Came Next

    Ah the ever lasting debate between which task management app to use – since its inception I have been a diehard OmniFocus user – sure I spent a few months here and there using trying out the ‘other guys’, but in the end I always came ‘home’ to OmniFocus. This time it is different, this time it is not about power and flexibility it is all about: simplification.

    Hours of my life have been wasted customizing and tweaking OmniFocus, changing the font (a dangerous option to give a wannabe designer), the colors, the perspectives. I think that most days I played with the app rather than do the tasks it was storing. I probably even made tasks to do things in the app.

    Things offers simplicity in that respect, it is everything I need and gets rid of the distraction of customization. I can do everything I need to do in the app that will help me get things done, without the distraction of the app itself.

    There is of course other reasons – the iPad app is a major reason I made the move. But more than that the switch from OmniFocus to Things represents a larger move of mine away from complex ‘best in class’ apps to simple ‘gets your shit done’ apps. ((Yeah I made that phrase up)) I switched to Things for the very reason that I switched from Evernote to Notational Velocity: I wanted the app to get out of my way.

    Oh Then Came My 4th iPhone

    I have resigned myself to the fact that every year I will have to upgrade my iPhone to the newest model. There are many reasons for this, the main reason is that I am very hard on my phones. I use them with no cases, dropped into my pocket with change and money clips. My iPhone 3G S had no less than 4 cracks on the plastic casing and a few specs of dust behind the glass that you could see.

    More than anything else though I wanted the iPhone 4 for its expected better battery life (thus far it has been twice as good as my iPhone 3G S’ was) as I have been spoiled by the battery that Apple included with the iPad. I have grown tired of chargers – or more specifically charging.

    Three Things – One Transformation

    For the first time in my life I truly feel like I am living in the future. It has nothing to do with these device or software choices and everything to do with one concept, a concept that it seems engineers and developers are beginning to get:

    The tools we use to get the job done – need to stay out of the users way.

    That is the dramatic change that has happened in my life these past months – I finally see the future and am getting a small taste of it.

    What the Future Holds

      Battery life becomes irrelevant in the future – at least in so far as having to worry about a battery charge not lasting a normal day of use.

      Connectivity is all wireless – what the hell is an ethernet cable?

      Syncing is everywhere and seamless.

      Typing accuracy is irrelevant – the device will guess what you mean to type.

      Remembering multiple passwords is for the paranoid – secure databases will store those for you and log you in when needed.

      Carrying heavy bulk (e.g. Laptops) is a thing of the past and completely unnecessary.

      Scratches – they don’t happen.

      Instant on is on its way out, predictive is in.

    Welcome to the future that I have started to realize.

  • iPhone Halo Effect

    When the iPod came out with a version that allowed Windows syncing there was a lot said about the ‘iPod Halo effect’ ((See Wikipedia for a definition.)) – essentially because the iPod is so popular Apple would sell more Macs to people. The same thought has come about with the iPhone. Essentially pundits are arguing that people will like their iPod/iPhone so much that they will want to give Apple their computer business.

    The Halo Effect I Saw

    Standing in line on Thursday I witnessed a very pronounced halo effect from the iPhone. The first part was from those in line. While standing in line a lot of people came by asking why we were in line and if it was ‘worth’ it for a phone. Every person who answered these questions extolled how awesome the phone was (though they had never used it) and talked it up quit a bit. People walked away stunned and you could see that their interest had been piqued. This alone is not a halo effect but it takes us right to the most pertinent part of the halo effect.

    A lot of the first time buyers that I talked to had never been inside an Apple store, which is a shame as it is probably the best retail experience you will get. From what I could see inside the store is that the people who already purchased their iPhones really did not want to leave the store. No they wanted to stay and look around – leading to a lot of frustrating delays outside the store. Apple employees were using Macs to activate phones – with very little trouble. They were using an iPod touch to sell you the phone and so forth.

    The halo effect I saw was not from people loving their iPhones so much that they wanted to try a Mac – it was people loving the store and immersion in the products so much that they wanted to try more stuff.

    This is not to say that people there is not the traditional iPhone halo effect (where people love the phone so much they buy other Apple products) – I am simply saying that there is another component that is often ignored. The Apple Store is such a great retail experience that it makes people want to come back, and want to stay for quite a while. Even – especially – on the stores’ busiest day.

  • My Life Without Facebook

    I have not missed it one bit.

    Believe it.

  • iPhone 4 Reception Issues

    As many of you may know already iPhone 4 users are reporting reception issues when the phone is held in the left hand with the hand bridging two of the antennas. I have had my iPhone for two days know, my wife has one as well, and I have tried to replicate this issue on my phone.

    It might be my iPhone, or my hands – but I have yet to be able to replicate the problem. I have no doubt that it exists and is a real problem. It would seem however that it does not effect everyone – perhaps just those with sweaty hands. Drop me a note if you are not able to replicate it as well.

  • Right of Passage (iPhone 4 Launch Day)

    Today I went through and Apple right of passage – I stood in line for 9.5 hours to get my wife her iPhone 4. I was in the non-reserved line at the Bellevue, WA Apple store from 5:30a to 3:00p. A lot of people wondered why I did this for my Wife, given that I already had mine.

    The bottom line is that a lot of screw ups led to me getting an iPhone a day before it launched and my wife not getting hers at all. I decided that since I had never stood in line for one of these launches, and that I am a diehard Apple fanboy, and I love my wife – that I would go stand in line for her.

    I honestly thought that I would be done by 10-10:30a at the latest. When noon came and went I was really hungry, but at no point was I on the verge of leaving. I think I set a record for the number of tweets I have ever made in any 9-hour period, so if you follow me I am sorry.

    The Experience

    What an experience this was, interestingly there were quite a few people in line next to me that were first time iPhone buyers. Nobody that I was next to really knew a lot about the iPhone – all they knew is that it was the best phone you could get. There were a couple of people that I talked who were finally getting one because they were tired of waiting for a Verizon model.

    Starbucks and Specialty’s Bakery were handing out drinks and snacks to everyone the entire time I was there – courtesy of Apple. This was absolutely great, had they not been there I probably would not have made it past hour 5. Apple employees also came around with water (Smart Water) and there were two employees just circulating to answer questions. The most common question I heard was: “Will there be enough?”, to which the response was a very cheery “We think we are doing really well and you are looking really good where you are in line!”. Yep.

    In the end I would gladly do it again – only this time I would bring a chair and wear tennis shoes. 9.5 hours in dress shoes, and standing was not all that great.

    Thanks to all those around me in line for being awesome.

    Here is a shot of the line just before the Mall opened (sales had started about 2.5 hours before I snapped this).

  • Initial iPhone 4 Thoughts

    I got my iPhone 4 at Noon on 6/23/10 since then here is what I am thinking about Apple’s latest gadget.

    • The form factor, being squared instead of round, is very different. Personally I love it, but it won’t be for everyone. The size is also significantly smaller than the iPhone 3G S and it really shows. I have noticed it is impossible for me to squeeze the phone between my shoulder and ear when on a call (I am able to with the 3G S) when I am wearing a collared shirt. This size change is most noticeable when you put the iPhone in your pocket, which is a welcome change for all smartphone users.
    • The flash is nice, but is limited in its usefulness. I have found that it is great so far for macro shots of text, they come out much sharper than without the flash.
    • The video and camera are far superior, and will prove to be one of the best reasons to upgrade to this phone.
    • That screen, wow it really is amazing. The text is so damn sharp – it seriously looks amazing, if you don’t believe me go to an Apple store or find a friend with an iPhone 4 and take a look at it for yourself. Open up the text messages or email and look at the text, bar none.
    • Reception is spotty in my office and a regular AT&T dropped call zone (not very cool). In the limited time I have had with the iPhone 4 I have noticed that it gets far more bars at my desk (previously got 1-2 bars now gets 3-4 bars), this is most likely a 3G versus EDGE decision it is making – but I’ll take it.
    • Call sound quality thus far is much different from the 3G S. To me it sounds cleaner, and deeper than it did before. My wife tells me that I sound like I am in an isolation booth (when I am sitting in my office), almost like I am in a bathroom – which I am not sure if that is good or bad. Time will tell what the difference really is – but for now there is a difference.
    • App installations seem much quicker. I installed a few new apps after getting the phone up and running and the installation part (not the downloading part) seems very fast in comparison.
    • Non-optimized iPhone Apps are clear as day – not in a good way. The icons for apps that have not been readied for the higher resolution screen look fuzzy and really are annoying to use. The text is still sharp, as are the Apple UI elements, stray from those and you get a fuzzy view reminiscent of the 3G S’ screen.
    • All I can say about the battery life thus far is that it has a battery. Reports say it is amazing, stay tuned on that front.
    • The iPhone 4 feels about 10 times stronger the my old 3G S that has several cracks in the plastic casing.
    • The fact that there is no light to let me know when the front facing camera is on bugs me, if I am in an app and that front camera turns on, I want to know about it. It isn;t like I can flip the phone over and know that no camera can see what is going on – cameras on both sides prevent this. Don’t get me wrong I love the front facing camera, up until a hacker figures out how to activate it.

  • Over-the-Air vs Wi-Fi Syncing: Looking at Things & OmniFocus for iPhone

    One of the biggest requirements I also have for iPhone apps is to make sure the app provides some way of Over-the-Air Syncing (OTA). For the past year I have been settled on using OmniFocus for task management because it synced using MobileMe OTA to my Mac. When I found out about SimpleNote that also had OTA syncing I immediately switched from Evernote to it. ((Evernote does sync OTA, but I hate the look of the app both on the Mac and iPhone))

    Recently I made the switch from OmniFocus to Things – the primary reason being that there has been no OmniFocus for the iPad. ((This is something I find to be unacceptable and has really pissed me off. They even missed their tentative ship deadline of this month.)) Things syncs between the Mac and iPhone/iPad clients using Wi-Fi only ((you have to be on the same Wi-Fi network to get this to work. You also can’t sync between iPhone and iPad without a Mac involved.)) which had been one of my major points of contention with the app.

    I have been using Things now for about 3 weeks and could not be happier. There is maybe one time during the week when I miss OTA syncing – the rest of the time it is never an issue. Especially when I take into account the speed that Things syncs with my Mac, in just a few seconds it is synced – where most OTA syncs take 10-30 seconds each. ((based on my experience in using OmniFocus and Simplenote on Wi-Fi or 3G networks.))

    That Got Me Thinking

    This past weekend I began asking myself just how important OTA syncing is compared to Wi-Fi syncing. My conclusion: it depends. ((weak I know)) What it really depends on is what type of data you are syncing – how you are using that data. For things like task management apps the only reason to want it to sync OTA is so that you can sync if you forgot to before you leave your main computer. Other than the occasional forgetfullness there really is no difference between OTA and Wi-Fi syncing with task management apps.

    This line of thinking lead me to the conclusion thatOTA syncing only becomes crucial on stuff that you rarely use – or that you don’t use on one device when you are using it on another. Think about how lame it would be if the Dropbox iPhone/iPad app only did Wi-Fi syncing – that would make it a useless program. ((No one wants to keep all that data on their mobile device if they don’t have to.)) Think about notes applications where you type a new note on your Mac and grab your phone to leave our office – rarely do you prefer to type in a note on your iPhone when you have a computer at hand. This is not the case I have with task management apps (perhaps I am in the minority) – I find that I use the device closest to me to enter a new task regardless of where I am.

    Given that I spend a lot of time in task management apps on all three of my devices ((iPad, iPhone, Macbook Pro)) I rarely leave my main computer without an up to date copy of Things on my devices. It also helps that if I just leave Things open on each device they sync automatically, thus staying up to date with little involvement from me.

    The Future

    This is all inconsequential to most people, but moving forward I would suspect that most app developers use the cloud in some form to make OTA syncing the default – as it should be. For now though don’t be shy to use a program that only offers Wi-Fi syncing, there are a lot of great ones out there – you don’t want to miss out. ((Things for example))