Yearly Archives: 2013

The End of Privacy Already Happened

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I have two things to say about the NSA gathering data from every major Internet social and e-commerce service, assuming it is true. Thing #1:

I wish I felt differently, but why does all this feel like we are whistling into the wind? The elected officials keep us focused on gay rights and abortion while it figures out who its enemies are in the name of security through every online service in the country, of which we willingly submitted all of our data and information. In another month, most of us will move onto the next government atrocity (or pseudo-atrocity). Saddened? Yes. But the ’60s are over and the hippies became yuppies. Surprised? Not one bit.

And thing #2:

There’s somethin’ happenin’ here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Tellin’ me, I got to beware

…

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

Okay, so I didn’t say the latter. Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield did almost 50 years ago. Some things don’t change.

—

Updated: apparently maybe not true. Glad I added that caveat originally. All the same, my sentiment doesn’t change.

WWDC Is Here Again!

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WWDC is like Christmas for Apple developers. We give Apple our list throughout the year via reports and blog posts and the like, and on one special morning Apple gives us a bunch of presents in a new version of the OS.

Apple’s developer conference starts on Monday. Every year I write an article on things I’d like to see Apple do (here, here, here and here for example) and every year none of them show up under my tree. My list this year includes making UIWebKit, Apple’s browser technology that we can use within our apps, into a first-class citizens. I want better control over the UI (menus and keyboards), simpler sharing between Objective-C and Javascript, and advanced access to device features. There are other things I’d like to see, too, like everything I’ve requested in the past, but this one sits at the top of my list this year.

From a user of Apple products perspective, the one I really want is apps for Apple TV. I want to get rid of more components under my television and hopefully opening the device to apps would let me do that.

Justin Williams over at carpeaqua created a post with everything expected of Apple this year for the Internet to be happy. It is an amazing list. Take a minute to read it. (My UIWebKit one, by the way, is not on it so, Justin? Please add #51.)

Adidas miCoach Smart Soccer Ball

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We don’t do a lot of contract work but were happy to help with this one. Adidas worked on a soccer ball that can talk to an iPhone. From the site:

Being able to control, strike and manipulate the ball is the key to mastering the midfield with the precision of Xavi, striking like van Persie or bending it like Beckham.

Now, with the innovative miCoach smart_ball you’ll be able to train yourself, improve your technique, challenge your mates or go up against the best in the world.

Get instant feedback on your power, trajectory, spin and accuracy, so you can stay on target and dictate play, from the park to the pitch.

And with the powerful wireless charger you’ll always have the energy and connectivity to play on.

While we didn’t handle any of the core components, we did write some history, favorites and social media stuff. Adidas was excellent to work with and hope we will get a chance again in the future.

What I Learned As An Oompa Loompa

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Interesting post from Elaine Wherry discussing her time helping her husband get a chocolates business up and running.

My husband, Todd, and his co-founder, Cam, had spent the last few years building chocolate machines and scouting the world for great cocoa beans in an effort to open a micro-batchchocolate factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. The construction crew finished converting the brick automotive garage to a food-safe bean-to-bar workshop and it was time to figure out the nitty gritty details like moving, merchandising, and designing the café & retail space. Todd needed all the help he could get and I was happy to pitch in during those critical months. Now that I’ve come up for air and returned to tech projects, I’ve had time to reflect on what I learned from brick-and-mortar operations:

What follows are her lessons learned. In short, why she won’t complain about writing code ever again.

I particularly liked lesson #6:

With Meebo, our business model went something like this: we built a product that people like. We monetized a fraction of those eyeballs with brand advertising. We tracked the percentage of users who clicked an ad and logged their engagement times. However, since correlating brand advertising with bottom line revenue is nearly impossible online, we also monitored ad partnership renewals. If all of those metrics were healthy, we were happy. (~60 words)

At Dandelion Chocolate, the business model is: we make and sell chocolate. (5 words)

It’s so much easier to build a sustainable organization around a simple revenue model. There are no tensions between ad partners, distribution sites, engineering, and sales teams. There are fewer points of failure. Instead, everyone is aligned towards a simple goal: make something people want.

Yeah… our best models do tend to get a little convoluted here in tech world.

Android Unlocked, Carriers Locked Out

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There’s been a meme going around the Internet recently about how rich people are the beta testers for the rest of us. The example most people pull is from the movie Wall Street. The scene is Michael Douglas walking around the beach with a big honkin’ cell phone in his hand.

This is true for far more than just technology though. My wife and I have been watching Ken Burn’s documentary National Parks: America’s Best Ideas. Rich people were the first to go to national parks, too. The train ride was expensive, the time was not there for normal people, and even getting into the park was insane. In 1890 it cost $40 to get into Yosemite. That’s the equivalent of $1500 in today’s dollars. (For the record, it costs $20 per car today.)

So when I saw the news that Google was expanding the number of devices they will sell direct with a standard version of Android installed on it, this is exactly what I thought of. In the coming weeks, the HTC One will be available this way, the Samsung S4 will be available this way, and the Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 already ship this way.

Why do we care? Because Google is quietly building a collection of devices that customers can buy off-contract and with the standard Android user interface experience. These devices are also immediately updated to the latest version of Android when it ships.

Sure, $650 is a lot today compared to the $0-200 we pay on-contract, but that won’t last long. As prices drop to $200 or $100 over the next years, I suspect more people will opt to buy these devices directly rather than through a carrier and on-contract. This will give us constantly updated devices without all the garbage on them? Sign me up!