circaviso http://www.circaviso.com starting from zero Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:50:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Circavisohttp://feedburner.google.com Wanting a PAYG iphone plan http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circaviso/~3/1zWp4wJBkCI/ http://www.circaviso.com/2011/12/wanting-payg-iphone-plan/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:08:16 +0000 Michael Mayes http://www.circaviso.com/?p=366 My contract is up soon for my AT&T iPhone and I’m trying to figure out what to do. Should I stick with it and get the 4S ? Should I take Fred Wilson’s advice in his post on the Samdroids and make the switch to a Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy S II?

What I really want is something like whats available in the UK and have a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) iphone available from O2. I hate being locked into a plan, being tied to a package deal that I don’t use, and being stuck with one carrier. Europe and the UK, along with Japan and others are way ahead in how they decoupled the carriers from the phones and plans. Who will bring the disruption to the US?

Looking forward to it when it happens, and when the same thing happens to cable TV via streaming and online video. That’s closer, but not quite here.

In the mean time, I think I’ll try to sell my old phone on Gazelle – there’s at least a little disruption there in the mobile phone space. Makes buying an iPhone 4s a lot more tolerable.

]]> http://www.circaviso.com/2011/12/wanting-payg-iphone-plan/feed/ 0 http://www.circaviso.com/2011/12/wanting-payg-iphone-plan/ My history with Apple Computer http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circaviso/~3/QAUZ_lwrzkA/ http://www.circaviso.com/2011/10/my-history-with-apple-computer/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:14:15 +0000 Michael Mayes http://www.circaviso.com/?p=356 1988 – Apple ][e at school
1991 - Mac Plus at home - it took about 50 3.5" disks to back up our files and apps
1992 - Mac SE/30 - used to make brochures and banners for local businesses in Pagemaker
1993 - Mac Classic II
1995 - PowerMac 7500 for college - speech recognition long before Siri
1996 - Mac IIfx at mom's office (w a 20" b&w monitor to do accounting work)
1999 - PowerMac G3 blue and white for work (lots of time in Quark)
2000 - PowerMac G4 for work
2000 - iMac DV special graphite edition at home
2000 - iBook clamshell in orange at home
2001 - PowerBook G3 at work
2003 - PowerBook G4 at work
2004 - ipod
(2004-2009 dark days at work with a PC)
2005 - ipod mini
2006 - new ipod
2007 - MacBook Pro 15" at home
2009 - iphone
2010 - iMac 21.5" w 3.33 core 2 duo at home
2010 - iMac 21.5" w 3.33 core 2 duo at work
2011 - ipad2
[2012] – [macbook air], [iphone 5]

thx to http://apple-history.com/ for date and names

]]> http://www.circaviso.com/2011/10/my-history-with-apple-computer/feed/ 0 http://www.circaviso.com/2011/10/my-history-with-apple-computer/ Minimum product is for pussies http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circaviso/~3/tn7NhYjE9_4/ http://www.circaviso.com/2011/02/minimum-product-is-for-pussies/#comments Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:04:22 +0000 Circaviso Admin http://www.circaviso.com/?p=338 We are deep in the product development phase at Work Market as we release our initial feature set to Beta customers. The process started in June and July, and really took off in September when we had the full engineering team on board.

Today, so many startups focus on MVP, or Minimum Viable Product. Wikipedia has a good definition of MVP, and Eric Ries is probably the most well known writer on the topic, having built a speaking career around the concept.

Me? I think it’s all horse shit. It’s a cheap way to avoid going after the real deal and make something that is a serious market-changer. At Work Market, we’ve been speaking to customers every day, working with prototypes and mockups, and keeping them involved in the process. And what we are hearing is that the minimum product isn’t minimum at all. They need enterprise software with hundreds of advanced features that work for one task or thousands of tasks at scale. Customized, global, market-changing.

The point is that ‘minimum’ is a misnomer. And Eric tries to make this clear. The problem is that the phrase has run off the tracks and companies throw it around like they know what they are doing. MVP is all about the customer first and if your customer has a lot of needs, then your MVP is really the Most Valuable Product.

]]> http://www.circaviso.com/2011/02/minimum-product-is-for-pussies/feed/ 0 http://www.circaviso.com/2011/02/minimum-product-is-for-pussies/ Its time to raise taxes http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circaviso/~3/5z9b6yJ-m9g/ http://www.circaviso.com/2010/11/its-time-to-raise-taxes/#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:42:24 +0000 Michael Mayes http://www.circaviso.com/2010/11/its-time-to-raise-taxes/ I was doing a little thinking and research about taxes at wikipedia. When the country was founded there were none. But consistently through the years when the US was at war or through the rebirth of America post WWII, taxes were higher in the US than perhaps anywhere in the world. One may say that the high taxes on top incomes are what made this country what it is today.

Perhaps democrats and republicans should look to history instead of lobbyists and corporations for direction on how to solve our budget and deficit issues.

“In 1932 the top marginal tax rate was increased to 63% during the Great Depression and steadily increased, reaching 94% (on all income over $200,000) in 1945. Top marginal tax rates stayed near or above 90% until 1964 when the top marginal tax rate was lowered to 70%. The top marginal tax rate was lowered to 50% in 1982 and eventually to 28% in 1988.” source: wikipedia

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