June 2011
1 post
3 tags
Share on Twitter: Right Within your Current...
I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds, and use a great application called Reeder to read my subscriptions. A great feature of Reeder is that I can share articles on Twitter quickly, with only a few clicks.
When I find a great article or photo using my web browser, easily sharing it on Twitter is much harder. I have to open my Twitter application (or go to the Twitter web app), copy & paste my...
April 2011
3 posts
1 tag
My SEM Experience utilizing "Startup Lessons...
How do you build a new product with constant customer feedback while simultaneously staying under the radar? - Eric Ries
If you are part of a startup, you have likely read Startup Lessons Learned by Eric Ries. The quote above is based on this post, and details his experience utilizing Google Adwords to attract initial users to IMVU. I wanted to slowly increase our user base at lloquy.com,...
2 tags
Content Curation at lloquy.com
Content aggregation and consumption is inefficient. There’s just too much information for people to consume at any point in time. This is true even though the amount of information humans are able to consume continues to increase every year.
A few weeks back, I read an article from VC superstar Fred Wilson regarding curation.
I’m a big fan of curation in these services… If...
1 tag
The Theory, or Hypothesis, of lloquy.com
I browse hundreds of articles from websites, RSS feeds, and social news websites each and every day. A few weeks ago, I noticed something about my web surfing habits: I skip the majority of content that is sent to my RSS reader or found on the front pages of social news websites. Even though I subscribe to each RSS feed I receive, I do not read most of the articles. There’s just too much...
March 2011
4 posts
1 tag
Quit Telling Me to Invite My Friends for Early...
I get it. Hipster got 10,000 people to sign up by offering “early access” to their product if they invited their friends, and LaunchRock started an entire project based on the concept. With these successes (as well as fork.ly), it seems many new projects are utilizing this concept, even when it doesn’t seem to make much sense.
I really respect the companies who have had success...
1 tag
Introducing lloquy.com
For the past month, I’ve been working on a new web app/service called lloquy.com. The purpose of the website is simple: Discover new people through their content. If you like discovering interesting stuff to read through Twitter, Facebook, Hacker News, or some other similar website, lloquy.com may be interesting to you.
Online, people are consuming data at an incredible rate. In fact,...
2 tags
Objective vs. Subjective Risks →
When analyzing problems or questions, it’s important to get past the first answer and find the root cause. In my experience, the first answer usually only looks at the immediate problem or obvious solution, ignoring everything around it.
The URL provided takes a similar approach to risk. In many instances, we may not do something because we view it as risky. We may avoid showing people our...
1 tag
Lo, My 21 Subscribers, Who are You?
I have a belief that social engagement is a required task to increase trust with your audience. Unless you already have a huge following (and startups have zero followers), you have to create content and engage your audience to gain their trust before they use your product(s).
I’m proud that this blog is starting to increase in followers as I put more focus to it. If a startup...
February 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Better Content Discovery
Connecting with people online has certainly changed in the past 15-17 years. My first internet-connected computer came with Prodigy, and I still remember speaking with people through their online message boards. The only way to communicate with people on the message boards was through email, but this service provided a great way to communicate with people online, and share information that aligned...
1 tag
Is it Better to be Smart, or Get Good Grades?
I know what you’re thinking; The answer should be “both”. You’re right, in that if a person could be both smart and get good grades, that is the best outcome. What if you could only choose one, though? Most people would probably say “Smart”*, but I believe in many cases their actions say the opposite.
I understand this question is really an oversimplification...
2 tags
Startups must be Proactive
The first habit, or the foundation, of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is being proactive. In short, you are responsible for your own life, and therefore possess the initiative to make things happen.
I’m not through the entire book yet (I’m actually only on Habit 2), but this first habit applies to startups as much as life. If you own a startup, you are responsible for that...
January 2011
7 posts
2 tags
Tailoring your Features to Decrease Burn Rate
I launched TweetAfter.me with a minimal feature set. I had (and still have) many ideas to enhance the service, but made a conscious decision that none of them were necessary on the very first day. This allowed the service to get in front of users faster, allowing feedback to be received quicker, which ended up changing my view of which features were more important in my backlog.
Besides deploying...
2 tags
From 0 to Anything
If I had to describe the Lean Startup Methodology in less then 5 words, I would say “Ideas, Product, Learn, Repeat.” First, people have ideas and deploy a minimal product. You then learn from customers who use your product and repeat the same process, modifying your ideas and product(s) based on customer feedback.
Learning is the toughest step in this cycle, as it is the only state...
1 tag
3 Ways to Save Content
TweetAfter.me provides a bookmarklet that allows users to to save and share interesting things they find on the internet with their Twitter followers throughout the day. When the service became available, the bookmarklet only stored the page’s title. However, you can now use the bookmarklet to dynamically change the text that you tweet along with the URL.
Tweet the page title
Tweet...
1 tag
TweetAfter.me Update: 09 January 2011
Listed below are updates to TweetAfter.me from this week. Feedback has been really good so far. Please continue to contact me with what you like/hate/would like to see enhanced.
Visual Recognition: After bookmarking a page, a visual confirmation is shown in the top-left corner of the webpage. It will disappear after approximately 1 second.
Tweet selected text: Find an interesting quote to...
1 tag
Installing the lloquy.com Bookmarklet
The bookmarklet is the only setup necessary to use lloquy.com. Registration isn’t even necessary. With lloquy.com, you could be setup, bookmarking, and having conversations to in under 30 seconds. This post takes you through steps to install the bookmarklet on some different platforms.
The easiest method is to just drag the bookmarklet image found on the main page to your bookmarks bar....
1 tag
Using TweetAfter.me
Did you know that 25% of tweets on Twitter contain links to interesting opinions, news, and photos? Posting interesting stuff, through links, is one of the best ways to increase the number of followers you have. However, update too many times in a short timeframe, and you’ll lose a percentage of people following you.
For me, I only have certain times I can tweet, mainly when people...
2 tags
The Lowdown
So, is TweetAfter.me a fully-featured service that provides me everything I could ever want as a supplemental tool for Twitter?
TweetAfter.me is an “un-launched” product that allows users to bookmark interesting content they find on the internet, and share that content at a later time. If you’re like me, you may find multiple things during one timeframe (such as when...
December 2010
1 post
1 tag
Work & Life Balance
Over the weekend, I read this (although I did not listen to the supplemental video). The author made a point to state he would never work for entrepreneur Jason Calacanis due to his views on work/life balance (in other words, there should be no balance). See a supplemental opinion from Jason here.
I’m a big proponent or work/life balance, so articles like those in the previous paragraph...
August 2010
1 post
July 2010
4 posts
3 tags
Antennagate
In response to Nokia’s “We prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict” article, John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote
Judging by how their phones look, must be a lot of conflicts.
I thought the same thing, but wasn’t able to succinctly state that message as well as Gruber. I think it shows, however, that “Antennagate” has...
1 tag
How to Really Innovate with AppleTV.
AppleInsider (via the NY Times) has stated Apple is working on a new version of their AppleTV, along with a potential new interface. Based on the report, it will be low-cost ($99) with low storage (16GB) and access to the cloud. It will be based on the iOS operating system now seen in iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. While this could all be true, I fail to see how these changes “Get it...
1 tag
4 →
No need to write a great opinionated review of iPhone 4 when there’s one already out there.
4 tags
4Notes Free
4Notes offers Universal access to your notes on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Access your notes from any device, and updates are automatically synced to your other devices and the web if you have a Press Start Games account.
Since the initial release, 4Notes has added a ton of features such as Data Detectors, Drag/Drop Support, group synchronization, iPad support, multitasking, reminders,...
June 2010
9 posts
1 tag
New Website Logo
I’m trying out a new logo. Not sure if I’ll keep it yet, but it’s much better then my old logo. Your comments are always welcome.
New logo.
Old logo.
3 tags
Quick iPhone 4 Impressions
As with my first day with MobileMe, I wanted to post some initial impressions on the iPhone 4. In short, the phone is a huge upgrade and well worth the cost. Note that I’m upgrading from an iPhone 3G, not the 3GS.
I’ve also owned the original iPhone before the 3G, but had to upgrade to the 3G due to touchscreen issues I had with my original phone (by issues, I mean it stopped...
4 tags
4Notes 2 Information →
Pretty excited about this release. With the introduction of iOS4, 4Notes syncs the way I’ve always wanted it to. First, it syncs when you start the application. Second, it syncs whenever you update a note. Finally, it syncs when you press the home button (sending the app to the background).
Also, check out Note Reminders, Fast App Switching, and finally, new users can register within the...
1 tag
Initial Thoughts (Pros/Cons) of MobileMe
So I’m on day 2 of my trial period with MobileMe. Here are some quick initial thoughts, starting with the Cons.
It Costs Money. We all know this, and it’s the main reason holding back widespread adoption of this service. I like to compare the cost to Apple’s Airport routers. Why would most people pay $200 for a router, when they can get a more fragmented solution for $60? Most...
1 tag
Why I joined MobileMe
So this afternoon I caved and subscribed to the free trial of MobileMe. I’ve always thought that MobileMe had some cool features, but at $99 / year, I just didn’t think it was worth my money.
Today, that changed, somewhat. There’s no one killer feature of MobileMe that made me try it out today, such as the “Find my iPhone” app that is entering the iTunes App Store,...
2 tags
New Support Images (Part 2)
2 tags
New Support Images (Part 1)
4 tags
4Notes v1.1.1
Version 1.1.1* of 4Notes has been submitted to Apple. Along with the enhancements for v1.1, this release provides the following.
Last Note Shown on Startup (iPad). Previously, 4Notes on the iPad always showed the first note on startup. With this release, 4Notes starts with the last note shown on the previous run.
Group Synchronization Fixes: Specifically, Deletion of Groups now syncs across...
3 tags
“Remember too, that Pandora is coming. I know Pandora already has a popular...”
– - John Gruber
I do use Pandora pretty regularly on my iPhone. With a sweet iPod integration kit installed in my car, I’ll stream Pandora up to 90 minutes 10-12 days/month. My highest month was 600MB.
Therefore, I see data usage increasing, but the 2GB plan still seems reasonable (if not...
May 2010
5 posts
3 tags
My Love for Universal Applications
I thought that making it universal was obvious: my customers don’t need to pay again for it on the iPad, nobody accidentally buys the iPhone version on the iPad and gets a bad experience, and I get the benefits of only managing one app. Win-win.
- Marco Arment
I completely agree with the sentiment above. Universal applications are a win-win for users as well as developers. To me, as a...
1 tag
4Notes Support FAQ is Live
You can find it here. It will be continuously updated as I receive or think of new questions.
4Notes: 1 of "10 Best Note Applications for... →
Great praise from iPhoneness.com.
2 tags
4 tags
Coming Soon: 4Notes Version 1.1
4Notes v1.1 was submitted to Apple last night. It’s been a long road to get this new version completed, but I’m really happy with the results.
4Notes has received tons of positive feedback since its introduction 7 months ago, even being featured on the iTunes App Store front page. This version takes the simplicity of 4Notes and brings it to the iPad, allowing seamless syncing between...
April 2010
5 posts
4 tags
New Features for 4Notes v1.1
- Seamless Syncing for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. - Add URLs, email addresses, and phone numbers to your notes. - Drag/Drop Support. Manually reorder rows. - Better Group Control & Synchronization. - Better Accessibility, including support for VoiceOver. - All the features of version 1.0.
See the website for more information. Note that some aspects of this page talk about future features...
4 tags
4Notes is "Really" Feature Complete. Promise.
So. 3 Weeks ago I apologized for my lack of updates. I’d been working on version 1.1 of 4Notes extremely hard and my blogging really suffered. I announced then that version 1.1 was feature complete and I would return to the world of blogging.
Well, it turns out 4Notes was not done, sorta. What happened? The iPad came out. I made a decision when the iPad was announced that I would not make a...
2 tags
“The iPad, like any such project at Apple was developed by a team that was locked...”
– John Gruber of Daring Fireball, stating why iPad will not see OS4 this summer.
2 tags
“Sitting at my Mac in my office, I can send a long article to Instapaper. I go...”
– John Gruber
The “future” is coming to 4Notes soon.
1 tag
What I love (and do not love) about the iPad
I’ve had just about 1.5 days to play around with the iPad and wanted to post my initial impressions. Overall impression: It’s a sweet device. More detail below.
Safari for iPad is the best browsing experience. That statement sounds like I work for Apple, but I believe Apple nailed the browsing experience. With so many websites littering their pages with columns of ads, I’ve...
March 2010
7 posts
2 tags
Sorry for lack of Updates
Developing an iPhone/iPod touch app is hard while blogging. What’s harder, however, is figuring out your pre-release “I want to get some buzz” plan. Therefore, I stopped blogging for a few weeks to do both.
4Notes version 1.1 is feature complete and should be submitted to Apple in April. For now, a sneak peak.
1 tag
Fake iPad Opinions
Buying a new kind of product sight unseen is foolish.
This great line comes from PCWorld in a clever article titled iPad Pre-Orders: For Idiots Only. I find it amusing that many consumer electronics are bought “sight unseen” and we never think twice about it. People bought a Playstation 3 and/or Nintendo Wii without ever playing a game. Lines were formed to purchase iPhones without...
“Apple this summer will go a long way towards silencing critics and catering to...”
– - AppleInsider
John Gruber thinks this will be true. So do I, as I predicted in January.
2 tags
“The pitch that he gave wasn’t that interesting, but what was incredibly...”
– - Larry Marcus, a venture capitalist at Walden Venture Capital, making a comment about Tim Westergren of Pandora (that was Tim’s 348th pitch for capital). (via the New York Times).
2 tags
“I can have all the audience in the world, but if I can’t convert that somehow...”
– - Jason Snell
A great quote that summarizes many technology companies’ problem, including developers such as myself.
Using DRM →
Funny.
“We expect Apple to launch new iPhones in June that offer both a lower total cost...”
– - Katy Huberty (via AppleInsider)
Apple’s going to release new iPhones with new functionality? What a scoop! As far as lower cost of ownership, it’s hard for Apple to beat $99 for their part of COO. AT&T would need to go to a tiered plan, which I do see as a possibility (since the...