The Larger Screen Matters
Ever since watching the first Harry Potter movie, I’ve been fascinated with the idea of having newspapers with video and continually updated content. I have always hoped that someday we would have the same experience, and the iPad is the first gadget to finally succeed in bringing us this reality. After using the iPad for a few months now, I think that it is still a luxury consumption device that could definitely fit between the laptop and phone markets. It really is just a larger iPhone, and with similar resolution to the new iPhone 4 Retina Display ™, but it’s amazing how having a larger form factor makes apps and games so much more enjoyable to use. While it is currently meant for consuming content, the addition of a bluetooth keyboard and more powerful apps will allow for creating content such as drawing, composing music, documents, presentations, and writing screenplays as just a few examples.
While it can replace the Amazon Kindle for most people, I still enjoy reading on the Kindle due to it being very light to hold, and it’s excellent for reading in bright sunlight. But, if you only want to buy or carry around a single reading device, then the iPad is definitely the device to have. It is a great replacement for reading books, magazines, newspapers, and cookbooks. It works very well as a PDF reader, especially with the new support in the Apple’s official e-reader app iBooks. It can also be used for playing games, watching movies, viewing photos, browsing the internet, looking at maps, and much more.
Back in April I ventured to Boulder to participate in a event called Startup Weekend, founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde. The idea is for people with different backgrounds to gather together to form a startup company with the hope of having a working prototype to present by Sunday evening. The focus of the event is to pitch ideas, then form one or more startup groups and create a product or service based on the selected ideas. However, it also gives people an opportunity to network with other locals who share a similar interest in entrepreneurship, as well as with a few venture capitalists or other mentors and sponsors who are willing to share their expertise and experience, as well as ideas and comments on the various projects. Continue reading »
Having been given a complementary advanced reading copy of the book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
The book gives you an insight into the life of Tony Hsieh, whom many have only heard about through the recent acquisition of Zappos by Amazon. He discusses his adventures in entrepreneurship – from worm farms, through building a customer service enterprise – in his pursuit of delivering happiness to the world. Along the way Hsieh dabbles in the art of making and selling buttons through a mail-order catalog, running a pizza business during college, building Link Exchange and selling to Microsoft for $275 million, and finally, through the survival of Zappos during a period where they were walking within inches of financial bankruptcy.
Just the story of Tony’s life is an interesting read in and of itself. You learn of why he acquires a love for the peace-love-unity-respect (PLUR) culture after attending a rave for the first time, why he sold his million dollar loft after throwing a massive birthday bash, why he left a stable well-paying job at Oracle, and of course, the journey from an initial investment in ShoeSite.com to what we know today as Zappos.com.
Our Brand, Culture, and Pipeline are the only competitive advantages that we will have in the long run. Everything else can and will eventually be copied. – Tony Hsieh
This has been discussed to death, but I have decided to weigh in a few thoughts. If you love to customize your PC, run Linux, or would give up your netbook only from your cold dead hands, then this post is not for you. If, on the other hand, you think that the iPad is actually a bit more than just a large coaster, feel free to continue reading.
The main thing to keep in mind is that the iPad hasn’t been released, has only had a limited hands-on time for a handful of people, there will be a version 2, and most of my thoughts could be somewhat translated to another appliance-like tablet device.
That Really Is The Name. No Joke.
There have already been hundreds of jokes and parodies about the name, some recent, a few in the past. Will we continue to mock it 6 months from now? Probably not, as either it will have failed as a product, or the name will fade into the background as almost every name does (think Microsoft, Bing, even Google for that matter). Sure this name may sound the most ridiculous right now, and there is merit to women being upset that it wasn’t thought out even a little. But over time it will just be the name and in six months it won’t matter anymore.
Hyper-Hyped Up Beyond Imagination
Is it even possible that Apple’s reveal could have lived up to most of the hype showering the internet? I don’t think so. It may have been short of many reasonable expectations, but the hype was definitely an impossible goal to be reached (especially since Jobs did claim the device to be magical). I think I can safely say that the version they showed off at the event was not magical, and really was just a larger iPhone. That said, I think Apple delivered a product very similar to the first iPod, something that initially is a letdown, but with lots of potential.
The next decade will see the continued rise of the browser as the platform, and I’m ready to ride the wave. Here’s a look into five reasons why I enjoy the web and all that it offers us.
Install Not Required
Open a brand new computer, start the browser, access a website, and finally close the browser. No more 5-hour reformat process, only to then have to install ten or more applications which can each take quite a while. Now you just access the application by URL and login. That’s it, nothing to install, no keys to enter – just register, pay if required, and login. Now you are not tied to a single machine, but instead can use any computer device that has a browser. Also, beyond just not needing to install anything, you also always have access to the latest and greatest version of the application, even if this does allow companies like Google to keep their apps in perpetual beta.
After finally paying for my first Apple product – the iPhone – I decided to also purchase a MacMini so I could start developing apps, as well as record music and video using the quality iLife suite.
#5 Window Dressing
Ironically, one of the features I love about owning a Mac is that you can also run Windows at the same time using virtualization. I wish the opposite were true, but alas Apple holds the keys to Zion close to its chest. Just having the option to run Windows makes the purchase of an Apple machine much easier, as I know that the same machine can be used for anything I would need OSX, Unix, or Windows for.
The following are a few of the reasons I enjoy the PC, and thus Windows. While I also use Linux, it’s only a small part of my PC experience.
#5 Custom Build
Not long after learning what a computer was I found out how to take them apart, upgrade the memory and processor, and ultimately build an entire PC from scratch. It’s one of the great aspects of the PC market, as opposed to Apple, is being able to choose from a wide range of components and parts, which also means lower prices due to competition. There was fun in figuring out how powerful a computer my money could buy. It seems that this era of hacking together a machine is slowly coming to an end as the computers of today are becoming more specialized and built in smaller form factors.
Bringing in the year with a goal to post an entry once a week and eventually move the blog itself to another more entertaining domain. Since many people don’t know how to pronounce the new year please see twentynot2000.com for a logical reason to say “Twenty Ten”
My goals for the upcoming year:
- Write weekly on this blog on code, finance, health, self, tech
- New Design for portfolio and blog
- Establish emergency fund for 3-6 months living expenses
- Reduce weight by 30lbs (Try no-carb 6 days/wk for 30 days)
- Finish work on Condo [completed]
- Finish a Triathlon (any length or type)
- Run in the Boulder-Boulder
- Summit two new 14ers
- Register for an LLC
- Launch web application or service
- Submit a paid iPhone app to the App Store
- Submit a paid iPhone game to the App Store
- Submit an app to the Android Marketplace
- Improve writing of C#, (X)HTML/CSS, and Javascript
- Learn node.js
- Learn and use Ruby on Rails
- Learn and use Asp.Net MVC
- Learn and use a NoSql Database
- Experiment with Haskell, Scala, and Erlang
- Develop a serious Backup Strategy
- Change all passwords to unique using LastPass + KeePass
- Move all accounts to use separate email account
Motto: Just do it!
Happy New Year!
