kazabyte

I got my first IPhone on June 29, 2007, the first day it was available.  Has it changed my life?  It certainly occupies most of my time.  Consider:

I Spend More (Personal) Time on My IPhone Than All Most Anything Else

• Time on IPhone > Time on laptop/PC
• Time on IPhone > Time watching TV
  
• Page views on IPhone > Pageviews on Laptop/PC
• Tweets from IPhone > Tweets from Laptop/PC
  
• Minutes using "data" (Internet/SMS) on IPhone > Phone call minutes on phone
• SMS messages > Phone calls
• Time listening to music on IPhone > Time listening to music all other channels
• Time on IPhone > Time sleeping (?!)
  

Other Tidbits

• I'm within arms reach of my IPhone at least 90% of the time
• My IPhone is not a phone.  I primarily use it for stuff other than phone calls.
• I've never redeemed a paper Borders' coupon.  I always redeem an electronic Borders' coupon from my IPhone
• Heavy transactions stuff (like buying airplane tickets) are still more likely to be done using my laptop.  But, this is changing.

But,

• I still author more content on my laptop (code, blog posts, word/ppt/excel docs) than on my IPhone.  This is almost exclusively work related stuff.
  
• I watch more video (movies) in the theater or on TV.  This is one area where the IPhone experience is massively inferior.  The physical viewing experience sucks (screen is too small, bandwidth sucks).  And, every time I click through to a web page that has video that can't be played (usually because it's Flash or some other non-supported format/player), I feel like I've been Rick-Rolled.  It's hugely disappointing and frustrating.
  

 If You Know My IPhone, You Know Me
Apple and AT&T know all.  Now that's kinda scary.

Blippy for IPhone usage -- that would be revealing!

If

If you can keep your head all about you
When others are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Commentary

There is a wealth of information for entrepreneurs on the web.  Just a decade ago, much of this information was generally not available to first time entrepreneurs doing high tech (software/Internet/hardware) startups. In particular, the lack of  information regarding financing and  working with venture capitalist made it very difficult for these entrepreurs.  They were oftentimes "working in the dark."  Those that had this knowledge had advantage over those that did not.  And, those that did not were severely disadvantaged when negotiating financial terms with venture capitalists.  The asymmetry of knowledge gave VCs a lot of power and, ultimately better terms and more control.

Fast forward ten years.  The playing field has been largely leveled.  The Internet -- mostly blogs and tweets -- (and sometimes conference talks) provides the channel to access knowledge.  And, people like Fred Wilson, Dave McClure, Allen Morgan, David Hornik, Jeremy Liew, and Mark Suster (I've singled out a few VC's --  but there are many others, including those on the "other side of the table") have shared their wisdom for all.   And to the benefit of the first time entrepreneur.  I think, ultimately, this access to information results in better deals and increases the likelihood of success for a company.  Sure, maybe the entrepreneur might get terms that are more "fair" but, in the end, we all -- entrepreneurs, investors, and customers  alike --  win from the greater availability and commoditization of information.  To all those that have shared their wisdom, thank you.

That said, Kipling's "If" is sound advice and complements  the well heeded advice of our contemporaries.  Perhaps I've applied this poem far away from the original context.  But, in the context of the high tech entrepreneur, it works well.  Read.  Enjoy.  Learn.

(Special thanks to Bob Ebert for bringing "If" to my attention.)

Apparently, an uncommon side effect of Taxol is turning brown eyes blue!

Hear the sound track on blip.fm.

In the past I've most always favored function over form.   Perhaps it's the practical engineer within me.   Aesthetics?  An added bonus only if it is on top of superior performance.

But, I think Apple has gotten to me.  Make no doubt, I like Apple products, current backlash non-withstanding.  I'm no fan boi but there's something about Apple's design aesthetic.  Granted, the products are pretty good (but there have been bombs along the way too -- Mighty Mouse I, Time Capsule, Newton...) but I truly appreciate the aesthetic.  The products are beautiful.  However, beyond the products themselves, the packaging in its own right has an aesthetic and beauty that is unmatched.   It's a joy getting and opening a package from Apple.

This is the box my MacBook came in:



It speaks to me and I can't wait to open it.  It screams Fun.  Sexy.  Cool.

Compare this to:



From a utilitarian perspective, this is a great product.  A terabyte disk for less than $130!  (Moore's law and increasing disk densities -- that's a blog post for another day).  It clearly says (in a boring kind of way), "Here's that big disk that you wanted."  But it doesn't generate the excitement of the joy of opening that box of the MacBook.

And this:





This is the Roku device that let's me play movies from Netflix on my TV from the Internet.  It's wireless (and wired) and makes on-demand movie viewing at home easy, fun, and awesome.  It's $100.  It's truly an amazing device! And, yet, when it showed up on my doorstep, I was nonplussed, disappointed and bored.  The aesthetic of the packaging (never mind any potential coolness is hidden behind the FedEx labeling) is a huge yawn.  For such a great device and awesome experience it will be, initial disappointment is not the first impression Roku should want to create.

The Apple experience is end-to-end.  From the announcement at MacWorld (potentially preceded by leaked rumors), the branding and advertising, the in-store experience, and the packaging,  a frenzy of excitement is created.  It's like Christmas morning as a  kid every time you get something new from Apple.  The packaging is a huge differentiator.

Never mind if the product is any good.

Footnotes:

This goes beyond product.  Check out how an Apple offer letter is packaged.  I hope the job is just as good.

And, here's how Microsoft might approach packaging:

As the holidays approach, charities/non-profits nervously wait;  Will you be giving this year and how much?  The economic down turn, not surprisingly, has impacted our ability to donate to our favorite charitable causes.  Perhaps because it is the "season to be giving" and perhaps because we contemplate our tax deductions, December accounts for ~30% of our charitable giving (most of it on December 31!).  December is the make-or-break month for many non-profits.

Which got me thinking:  How much do we give?  I've been digging around for some numbers.  Here's some rough estimates.  They are huge!  Or in some cases surprisingly small.  (Someone, please correct me if I am wrong)

We give $300 billion a year (That's B as in BILLION).  Of this, approximately $100B come from big donations (say over $500K).  $100B goes to religious organizations.  And $100B are made in the amounts of a few dollars to a few thousand.  So, there are a lot of small donors out there.

Donations are only 23% "efficient."  Only  23 cents on every dollar donated actually make it to program services.  Give a buck, only 23 cents make it to your cause.  Wow.  This seems pretty inefficient.

Only 7% of donations are made on line.  Seems to me charitable giving is going to go the way of airline ticket sales, consumer banking, and searches for local businesses -- it will be mostly online.  We have a way to go.  This, I think will address some of the efficiency issues.

Causes.org raised $10 million in the past two years.  Causes is a great organization and forward thinking.  It's a superb example of how facebook and social networks can be used.  But, on execution -- $10MM seems just to be the tip of the iceberg.


My favorite charity is Operation Nightwatch.  (Disclousure:  My cousin is an employee there)  It is a small organization doing lots of good to help the homeless in Seattle.   How do organizations such as Operation efficiently raise contributions and "compete" with the big charities with "large" marketing budgets?



My interest in charitable giving on the small has been piqued.  How can we give more, maybe in small amounts, but at large efficiency?  If you are interested in helping me figure this out, leave me a comment.

I've had an iPhone for just over two years and just upgraded to the 3GS.  Over those two years, I've noticed an interesting trend -- my phone utilization for voice calls is down.  And, more importantly, the number of peak hour minutes (day time minutes that I get with my plan) that I use is WAY down.  What's up with this?

I hypothesize that SMS, email, Twitter, and Facebook are supplanting the voice calls for my choice of a communication medium.  Further, the iPhone, in comparison to my previous phone, a Razr, makes it much easier to message, email, tweet, and (update) Facebook.  So, I use these media channels a lot more.  And, consequently, I'm talking on the phone less.  I'm not sure if this is a particularly novel insight.

More interesting, I think the lower (day time) phone utilization is the (unintentional?) consequence of AT&T's exclusive relationship with Apple with respect to the iPhone.  This consequence is quite round-a-bout:  It turns out, that many of my friends bought iPhones and were forced to become AT&T Wireless customers.   Certainly, many more of the people I talk to regularly are iPhone users, and, hence AT&T Wireless subscribers. Second, in my plan, I have free "mobile to mobile" minutes."  So, for any call with someone who is also on the AT&T wireless network (e.g. iPhone users) does not result in a charge against my day time minutes.  Maybe this hasn't decreased the total amount of time I spend on the phone (maybe I talk even more) but it decreases the number of day time minutes that I use.

The accumulative effect of all of this:  The decrease in day time minutes was significant enough that it made sense for me to go to a cheaper plan.  Okay, it's only $20/month less, but for the cheapskate frugal nature in me, this makes me quite happy!

Now, when the exclusive arrangement between AT&T Wireless and Apple ends, this will probably change.  I'll enjoy it while I can...

Wow.  Buying an iPhone saves me money.  Never thought I'd say that!

I've been a loyal Yahoo!Mail user since the 1990's.  Regardless of how passe Yahoo!Mail had become, I've remained faithful.  Then, I started to have a few problems.   Occasionally.  Now with increasing frequency.  Like daily.  The final straw?  Search in Yahoo!Mail is fundamentally broken for me.

I've developed a (perhaps non-standard) usage pattern for mail.  Namely, I delete nothing, folder nothing, and rely on search to find and organize all of my email.  My disk space utilization is in the multi-gigabytes.  So, if I want to find anything, SEARCH MUST WORK.  I'm consistently getting two errors:

- A system error from Yahoo!Mail.  Not good.
- The search doesn't return a result that I know exists.  For example, I search for emails by sender email address.  I know a given message exists from a given sender, but Yahoo! won't cough it up.  Equally bad.

I'm panicked because I can't find old email messages.  What to do?

Solution:  I'm getting off of Yahoo!Mail.  I'm moving to gmail.  I'm currently forwarding all of my Yahoo! email to gmail.  So, sending me email to me at my Yahoo address should still work.  (Hopefully, this feature won't break too!)

I wonder how many other Yahoo users are having problems with Yahoo apps and are abandoning ship?  Yahoo might not be doomed because it lost the search wars.  However, it is doomed if existing apps fail and its huge user base leaves for greener (working) pastures....

Now, if I can only get used to gmail's threaded email interface...

Playing around with blip.fm.  I'm not a big music person.  In fact, I'm kinda stuck in the 1970's music-wise, except for maybe opera.   Jeff is a good guy.  I hope he can make this work.