Brian Deyo

Wedding Music Project Update

2012-01-22T02:39:00.001-05:00

We're still plugging away over at the Wedding Music Project. We're slowly improving our rankings in Google's results pages and are beginning to break into the first page on some major terms. What seemed like a fluke after the new site launch was a move up in ranking for the term "wedding music" from about 100-200 to 6th place on page 1. I have absolutely no explanation for that. We're also seeing great traction for terms like Wedding Music Samples, which is probably our most valuable content and unique product offering. The site is slower and nothing changed from an architectural standpoint so I'm not sure what is going on. Either way we're quite happy and are beginning to see some real traction in the space.

We still don't know how big the market is for what we're doing, but considering how poorly we're executing because of time constraints, we're actually selling a good amount of music and should be able to really increase that volume by a significant multiple once we finish the last bit of polishing we have to do for the site before promoting it heavily.

Blogger and Google+

2011-10-24T19:48:00.003-04:00

I'm back to posting on my Blogger account again. There are a number of reasons, but the main one is that I am sick of messing with Word Press and HP and Palm aren't really worth commenting on anymore so I've pretty much abandoned hpalmnews.com.

Other than that, I'm loving the new layout and updated Google interface that has made its way to Blogger. And the upcoming Google+ integration is providing even more reason for me to build my online presence on Google and Blogger instead of Facebook.

So, I'll be posting commentary here about pretty much everything include Last Bite, consulting efforts and the technology industry in general.

Windows 8 initial thoughts

2011-09-13T14:14:00.001-04:00

Windows 8 looks really good. I think we're going to see Microsoft positioned nicely as processor speeds increase and battery consumption falls. The convergence of compact design, handwriting input, docking, keyboard input, and full computing power is going to make devices like the iPad look a little childish I think. Apple is converging from the other direction. They're bringing a mobile OS and making it more powerful and adding more robust features where Microsoft is bringing a desktop OS and letting the hardware catch up to it while also making it more user friendly for more inputs.

The reality though is that users will always still need real computing power and multiple input methods. As cool as the MacBook Air is and as prolific as the iPad is, they are still two devices. Microsoft seems to be making an attempt to replace the desktop, tablet, and notebook all in one single device that can dock with a keyboard, be taken on the go as a tablet, and function very nicely with all of the old inputs people are familiar with (keyboard, mouse, touch, pen, voice, etc.)

If Microsoft can pull this off and make the whole thing a unifying experience, they'll be the leader again. Right now Apple can avoid this convergence because they don't have to cater to 90% of the market. Microsoft has to have a solution that fulfills the needs of the 90% but also is cool enough to reverse their downward trend in marketshare and capture a significant portion of a massive new market in tablets.

On top of all of this they have the connections with Windows Phone 7 and all of their services.

As it stands now, I'm firmly planted in the Android and Google world and hoping that they can provide for all my computing needs for the future, but I write this on a windows device that has been spectacular from a software standpoint, but the hardware is not great. As much as everyone loves Apple, I just don't see as much head room for them as people think. Without the services that are owned by Google and Microsoft (maps, nav, local services, ads, etc.) I just don't see how they are going to compete long term.

Having said that, Apple is still producing the best hardware in the world and most consumers aren't aware of what they are missing with more functionality on other platforms. They are winning in areas Google and Microsoft can't control. They have stores with amazing service and hardware/software unison that only a vertically integrated hardware maker can have. Microsoft is going to try with Nokia and Intel is pushing with Ultrabooks, but it just isn't the same. Google isn't likely to do much with Motorola, but they could. It is all going to be very fun to watch. Sadly, it appears one of the most innovative and visionary platforms in the business will not be a part of it. you might consider this my final farewell. I'm sad to say webOS is probably dead. Only if a company like Amazon were to buy it would it have a chance. HP might surprise everyone when the spin out of the larger company, but for now my efforts will be spent writing here about other platforms.

Wedding Music Samples Album

2011-01-19T19:24:00.000-05:00

Our Wedding Music Samples Album is just about done at the Wedding Music Project.

The goal of the album is to provide our customers with a unique set of content that isn't being produced by any other wedding music producers in the way we are going to.

The album is just about done and we're hoping to get information out there about it soon. Let me know what you think about the page, the album will be coming very very soon!

New HP and Palm News Site

2010-10-12T15:34:00.000-04:00

There is a great new HP and Palm news site out there. Similar to www.precentral.net and www.webosroundup.com, but focusing more on the analysis of the market that HP and Palm are trying to capture with their webOS operating system and its many product implementations, www.hpalmnews.com is hoping to become the best place on the web to find in depth industry and product analysis related to HP, Palm, and WebOS.

I also happen to be the founder ;)

New Site is Live

2010-09-19T08:32:00.000-04:00

I'm finally following up on my last post. www.hpalmnews.com is finally live. You should be able to check it out now. Not much there right now. I'm still using the default theme. Hopefully that will change soon. First order of business is to pick a theme and get everything set up for SEO, then I'll be blogging every day about HPalm. Right now Palm is still in the process of revising the product roadmap now that they are fully a part of their parent company HP. It looks like progress is being made but right now I don't have a ton of confidence that we're going to see any products any time soon. You'll see why when I start blogging. Hopefully there is a bunch of news soon.

New things to come

2010-09-14T11:11:00.000-04:00

So I've spent some time blogging here about Palm and HP and the recent aquisition and what the future holds for both. With that in mind I am launching a new site that will hopefully become everything HPalm. The site will be www.HPalmnews.com The goal is to provide consistent reporting and analysis of the companies and what the future holds. There are already a few very good sites out there like www.precentral.net.

I think that Palm is going to influence HP in some major ways and that there will be a need for reporting and a community to discuss products and news items in a similar way to the current community and following that Apple has.

So once that site is live, you will no longer see anything HPalm related here unless it is my personal reflections about the process of working on www.HPalmnews.com

Rahul Sood and HPalm

2010-09-14T09:03:00.000-04:00

Here is Rahul Sood's latest commentary about HPalm. I'll write a commentary tonight.

http://www.rahulsood.com/2010/09/test.html

If you want the context, read his last 30 tweets or so

http://twitter.com/rahulsood

More Palm News -- WebOS 2.0 Coming Soon

2010-08-21T16:44:00.000-04:00

So it looks like webOS 2.0 is right around the corner. Just like with the iPhone it is expected that Palm will release their new device with a new version of the opperating system. This past week we've seen some confirmation of this news in the logs of two different apps. One app - foursquare has revealed a device called the "roadrunner" showing up in device logs of a popular analytics tool that is used for mobile applications. For those of you who don't know what that means, essentially a person who builds an app. to run on these devices typically tracks the traffic that those apps get via an analytics software that use to put tracking into the app itself. When they look at the reporting, one of the things that is gatthered from the users of the app is the type of device they use. WebOS app makers are familiar with the 5 current devices in the US running webOS (original Palm Pre for Sprint, Verizon Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, and the AT&T Pre Plus and Pixi Plus). So when they see something called the "roadrunner" device show up in the logs you can imagine it stands out quite a bit. After seeing that, it appears that this device is also running an updated version of the OS. All of this most likely means that Palm is beginning to reach the late stages of testing with this device and are beginning to load popular apps on the phone to test performance. It is also possible that they have worked with foursquare to develop a new app for the phone to take advantage of new functionality. This is purely speculation along with the device information itself, but it does make some sense. All of this is supported even more by the latest news that the same analytics software is showing another app "cloudhopper" is seeing records of the same device and webOS version 2.0. This is another common app that really tests the performance of the accelerometers of the device and its ability to quickly handle smooth graphic scrolling. I'm not sure how difficult any of that is from a technical standpoint but it makes sense that this would be a good app to test a new phone with. Especially one with a higher resolution screen like we might be seeing with the new device. That same analytics report shows that this latest report has a device running the same very high resolution screen that the iPhone has.

All of this may not mean anything. It is possible to fake all of the analytics stats but it is highly unlikely. The latest cloudhopper stats are from an app that is closed and it would be very trickly from what I hear to fake the device designations. Either way, it sure does feel like there are new devices coming soon. If the screen resolution is true and the device is the rumored "Pre 2" , it will likely have a screen size larger than the current pre but not quite as big as the mamoth devices like the Droid X and Evo4G. I'd predict that the screen will be in the neighborhood of 3.7 - 4.1 inches. Presumably every new webOS device will need a gesture area so that does take up a bit of space but without an hard buttons on the current devices I could see a screen similar to the Droid X, but just not quite as tall. The EVO 4G is substantially wider and shorter than the Droid. If Palm where to design a device that has the iPhone's resolution, but with a slightly larger screen that can accomodate a larger hard keyboard underneath, one has to think that would be a pretty killer combination. I'm not a huge fan of hard keyboards and am happy with my swype equipped DroidX and really loved my iPhone keyboard when I had it. If HP and Palm really can pull off a device that is like I've described, they may be able to have the best of both worlds. They could have a very blackberry-esque keyboard AND a smart softkeyboard like the iPhones. I guess there isn't any reason why they couldn't implement Swype. Having something gesture based to type words would really harked back to Palms of yesteryear with the "gesture zone' that used a stylus. There really isn't a device right now that strikes a nice medium between all of these things. The Droid phones are polarizing. The DroidX and Droid 2 are loaded with Motorola junk software the messes with Android. The original Droid is getting old and the screen seems small in relation to the new DroidX. The DroidX however, is massive and too big for most people. The iPhone has maintained the consistent 3.5in screen for a long time, but has upped the resolution to be better than anything on the market. It just seems like if Palm can pull off a device that is a slider with a hard keyboard like the new Blackberry but equip it with a larger screen to the tune of 4.0 inches or so AND increase the resolution like the iPhone, they'll have everything. High res = high quality, Large screen = flashy and appealing, AND Hard keyboard = Functional. I hope they let us know soon. Maybe I'm just too picky, but I have yet to find a device I like enough to really be happy with.

What is the best I've used so far? The Palm Pixi. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this blog while in the car using the wi-fi hotspot on my wifes Palm Pixi on Verizon's network. The cute little thing is just sitting there while I browse, watch video, check e-mail, and blog on my laptop. Truly amazing times we live in!

Palm's New Phone

2010-08-17T00:29:00.000-04:00

Looks like Palm may be preparing for a new phone right around the corner. I'd predict we'll hear something before the end of the month. Earlier today many tech blogs were reporting that Verizon and ATT no longer had the pre plus available. Looks like the Pixi Plus has fallen under the same fate for ATT this evening. As shown in the image below, they are claiming to be out of stock for both phones.

® Pixi (TM) Plus

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Requires a minimum data service starting at $15/month. 2 year contract & new activation required.

20 customer reviews

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Palm® Pre (TM) Plus

$99.99

Requires a minimum data service starting at $15/month. 2 year contract & new activation required.

75 customer reviews

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One can only hope that this means new Palm phones are around the corner. With the news of windows phone 7 gaming and Xbox live integration coming out tonight, it appears that Palm and HP need to move as quickly as possible to keep up with the competition. This fall is going to be a major battlefield for smartphone dominance. As the iPhone prepares to move to verizon and verizon continues to push out android phones at a rapid pace, it is almost as if there are about to be two total newcomers to the part with the next Palm WebOS phone and the coming onslaught of Windows Mobile 7 devices. The Palm loyal fans are getting restless and there is no time like the present to make sure as many of them as possible don't jump ship to Android and iPhone. There is much discussion about whether or not the next future Palm phone needs to be a "superphone" like the HTC 4G and Motorola Droid X. Being a Droid X user myself and having plenty of experience with the Palm Pixi (my wife's phone), I don't think they need a superphone to have the best device on the market, but I do think they will need a superphone if they want to claim enough market share to ever stand a long term chance at being a serious competitor in the smartphone space. Unfortunately, most people do not test and trial enough phones to notice the things that make WebOS a stellar user experience. They also are indoctrinated with the classic "my 3 year old can use my iphone" arguments when it comes to user interface design. The iPhone is simple. So is a baby toy. That doesn't mean that it is a high functioning device that is efficient in the way the user interacts with it. The point is this - WebOS is an ellegant platform that with a few tweeks and slightly upgraded hardware, would make the best phone on the planet currently. BUT. Palm and HP need to make a device that is going to be the biggest buzz in the industry for at least the next 4 months through the holidays. They need to bring a device out that excels in many areas. The interface is proven and the app. support is substantial enough to compete. Even the additional services that Microsoft and Google have the ability to offer (like maps, navigation, and gaming), do not relegate WebOS into a inferior class. Most users aren't even aware that Google has a great navigation app or that windows phone 7 is even coming out. They don't care that gmail integration on Android is flawless. What they care about is flashiness and cameras and "I want one with a touchscreen!". These are the kinds of things that Verizion and AT&T salespeople will be selling when new devices hit. 90% of them can't even explain the differences between WebOS and PalmOS.

So, having said that, here is my prescription for a successful WebOS device before the holiday season. In other words, NOW --

--The screen must be at least 3.7 in. The DroidX and Evo 4G are just to massive. Unless Palm can integrate the screen in a way that uses less physical space, those phones are just too big. And in order to power such a large screen they need the physical size to have a large battery.
--They need rock solid hardware. If anything the iPhone and latest Motorola Droid hardware is excellent. The devices are rock solid and just feel impressive in your hand. It is a first impression thing. The pre is a beautiful thing to look at, but it doesn't really make you happy to hold it.
-- There are obvious things as well - 5MP camera with flash and very responsive dedicated camera button. This is one area that every reviewer checks with a phone and also an area that every store shopper tests. Spend the time and make the camera FAST. Buyers won't even be able to tell the quality, just make it work well. Also good sound quality and touchstone compatibility etc.
-- This is the most important though: Release the next phone with webOS 2.0 and demonstrate its power. Run commercials with it an and iPhone trying to accomplish the same tasks. Show how hard it is to "muli-task" on an android device. Yes they can do it and so can the iPhone, but no one can flip between programs with advanced gestures like webOS (if you don't know what I'm talking about ask a Pre or Pixi user to show you, it will make you hate your current phone).

I know that list seems underwhelming. When writing I realized that there isn't much that needs to be improved. The devices just need to be upgraded and the marketing team at HP needs to dump some serious money into making Android and iOS look stupid because of how poorly they accomplish simple tasks on a touch interface. The reality is that Palm can fill Black Berry's void as they loose market share. It is the only other platform that is even remotely as efficient and task focused. At the same time they can compete feature for feature with the most cutting edge devices. WebOS is THAT good. It is efficient and intuitive for business, but also fun and appealing for the mainstream buyers. Here's to hoping I wake up tomorrow to good news of the latest Palm WebOS device!

--Brian

® Pixi (TM) Plus

FREE

Requires a minimum data service starting at $15/month. 2 year contract & new activation required.

20 customer reviews

Compare selected devices

Palm® Pre (TM) Plus

$99.99

Requires a minimum data service starting at $15/month. 2 year contract & new activation required.

75 customer reviews

Compare selected devices

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Wedding Music Project Summary

2010-08-02T22:53:00.000-04:00

Wedding music is spectacular. There are great classics like Cannon in D and modern hits like Bless the Broken Road. No matter what the choices one makes for their wedding, it can be a difficult task and I imagine most neglect spending enough time to really make their music great. I was fortunate enough to have a professional musician in my family to help me work through the process. Out of that experience, he and I have decided to work together to build a website designed just to help people pick the best wedding songs to make up the music at their wedding. It is called the Wedding Music Project. My uncle Steve Millikan is the musician with over 30 years of experience making great music. With the help of Steve's son (and my cousin), we are setting out to create and sell the best wedding music on the web. I know that seems like a pretty daunting task. As it stands now the space is fairly competitive and we're not exactly sure what the demand is. I do know this though. We are good at what we do. Steve is good at producing music. Jesse is good at building websites, and I am good at analyzing and building the business. Hopefully with those three pieces we can turn this little experiment into something that provides amazing value to our customers and in return brings us a bit of side income!

We now have wedding music!

2010-04-22T11:35:00.000-04:00

Our wedding music project has been live for a while now at www.weddingmusicproject.com for a while now, but we have an album up now. It is just the first of many, but we will be tweaking it and providing many more options probably within a few weeks. The site itself is still not done but is at least live and will continue to improve. Check it out! If you have a friend that is getting married soon, let me know, we have other songs that haven't been posted and might even be able to do something custom since we are just starting the site and are looking for new songs to produce.

Microsoft vs. Google vs. Apple

2010-04-16T00:02:00.002-04:00

Interesting to me that I just posted an article about this before Gizmodo did. This map in their article is a little more cool than what I did though.

http://gizmodo.com/5517993/the-dogs-of-war-apple-vs-google-vs-microsoft?skyline=true&s=i

weddingmusicproject.com

2010-04-15T10:20:00.000-04:00

My Uncle, Cousin, and I have just started a new venture of sorts. We are launching a wedding music website where we will produce and sell wedding music.

My Uncle, Steve Millikan, is a professional piano player and music producer. He helped Audrey and I with all of our wedding music for our wedding and even performed all of it live. He did a fantastic job helping us pick what we wanted to use and then really added to the wedding by singing and playing for the father daughter dance and then playing a really good rendition of a lifehouse song for our first dance. I would have never believed that we would have picked a lifehouse song, but it really was beautiful on the piano and we loved it.

Now we have launched the site weddingmusicproject.com where Steve will be producing music and his son Jesse and I are going to build and market the site. We hope that this project turns into a really great place for couples that want to do their own music for their wedding can come and get everything from prelude tracks to classical music of different lengths for the ceremony.

The site isn't finished right now, but we'll be continuing to build it over the next few weeks and should be done with stage one very soon.

Why Microsoft Matters and Apple Doesn't

2010-03-20T13:30:00.004-04:00

This post must be taken in companion to my last post. The statement in the title reflects each companies relevancy as a major player as a dominant global company. It may also be very wrong, but that has never stopped me before.

Microsoft will matter for a few simple reasons. Reach, enterprise, and... reach.

Apple has massive influence with its iPhone. They are in nearly every country and heralded as the most important phone and possibly the most important mobile device to ever be created. The problem is that doesn't really get them much. They don't have information in any significant ways about their users, they don't have any service they offer on the phone that increases their revenue. Other than iTunes and maybe some in-app. advertising, they are still just a consumer electronics company. Yes they are very big, and a very good consumer electronics company, but they are still going to play second fiddle to Microsoft and Google no matter what they do. They do not have a search product, and they are going to potentially be handing all of their search traffic from the iPhone and presumably their laptops to Microsoft. The linked article talks about Microsoft being a "pawn" in the battle between Google and Apple. That seems a bit short sited.

Apple is a big company, but they do not have the product offering that Microsoft does. Apple themselves announced with the launch of the iPad that they are "a mobile device company". That makes it even harder to consider them as anything more than a niche player in the tech world. Think about your everyday interactions with these three companies - Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Some of you own apple devices. If you do, you interact with them every day. Some of you listen to music all day. If you do, it is likely that you are using Apple's music service. However, the overwhelming majority of you, even if the previous statements are true, are using one of Microsoft or Google's products. If you have a Mac, you might use Excel, if you have an iPhone you use Google for everything from search to maps. Even if you are a pure Mac/Google person, you still interact with the network of Microsoft devices and software all around you. On top of that, even Microsoft has niche products that provide compelling alternatives in some cases and in others just downright market dominance. They have the Xbox. They have development and enterprise tools that Apple as a mobile device company won't even consider competing with. (Update - and now Microsoft has Skype)

That is my point. Microsoft may not make better laptops (or at least their partners may not make better laptops). And they may not make a better iPod or iPhone, but they do have pretty compelling alternatives. They also have things like Xbox, and a dominance in enterprise that neither Google or Apple will be able to compete with anytime soon. Apple said it themselves - they are a mobile device company. Wow, even Palm is a mobile device company. It just doesn't seem like the sky is the limit in that world. Where with Microsoft, even if they perform slowly and don't innovate or market better than Apple, they have a much bigger audience and their scope is many times larger. Their offerings are more diverse, and much more dominant in their given segments. Balmer said something the other day that was interesting. "The big things we're doing don't really seem optional". He was responding to a question about all of the different things they are doing that we've talked about here. Bing, Xbox, Widows 7, Windows Phone 7 Series, ZuneHD, Zune on Xbox, Cloud Computing, etc. The question came back, "Apple isn't really working on search right now?" - implying that Microsoft didn't really need to mess with search. The essence of Balmer's response - Apple isn't really a big player, when you look at the number of users they reach it is pretty small, we can mess with search, they can't.

I think that captures what I'm trying to say here. Apple is probably going to become the best mobile device maker in the world and they are going to reach some sort of market dominance in that area - maybe. (Update - they have and it has made them the second largest company in the world, BUT they still don't have the same influence. Their size and profit is due to margin not scope.) Microsoft, however, can not only compete with them there with Zune, Windows Phone 7 Series, and tablet computing; they also have market control in the areas of personal computing platforms and enterprise software. They are also moving into cloud computing in a big way and have a whole industry revolving around gaming.

Oh and they are the only legitimate contender with Google in the search and advertising markets.

That is why Microsoft matters and Apple Doesn't.

Google vs. Apple vs. Microsoft

2010-03-19T13:24:00.002-04:00

Google vs. Apple vs. Microsoft

Google - Ads, Search Engine, Mobile Platform
Apple - Ads (with purchase of Quattro) Mobile Platform, OS
Microsoft - Ads, OS, Search

They all are missing something

Google doesn't have an OS
Apple doesn't have search or Ads yet
Microsoft doesn't really have much of a mobile OS

That is all changing

Google is adding an OS with Chomium
Apple just added Ads but probably will not enter the search world
Microsoft really has all items but is "re-entering" the Mobile world with windows phone 7 series

Why this matters

Because of the differentiators and the similarities between them. Apple now hates it's search partner Google and may partner with Microsoft (really, Apple may partner with MICROSOFT, evil Microsoft). Google is beginning to enter the one area that Microsoft has on all of them and that is enterprise dominance on the backbone of their Windows dominance. Microsoft has the key thing they all don't and that is premier Enterprise and Developer dominance. If they continue to inovate and dominate that space, they should be able to stay out of all of the consumer product bickering.

(More to come tomorrow after I complete the promised post about why Microsoft matters and Apple doesn't)

Google is about to take over the world and Facebook will join them (part 2)

2010-03-17T20:59:00.002-04:00

A few days ago I wrote about google's impending dominance in the advertising world. How they own nearly every major platform of web advertising and with the aquisition of AdMob are prepared to become the single source for everything in the digital advertising world.

Today I am going to write about their only real competition and the ONE company that might be able to join them or compete with them in their global advertising dominance. That company is Facebook.

Facebook currently has 125 million users in just the US. That is very impressive. They just recently passed Google as the number 1 site according to hitwise - http://goo.gl/GDUo. What is most impressive is that they are currently serving well targeted ad impressions to every one of those users. They're scope is the largest advertising scope to ever be presented to consistent advertisers. While they're not the first company to be able to target ads, they are the first to be able to target ads with massive scope. That is why they are with Google in these posts. Google dominates the advertising market, but Facebook may have the more compelling platform. Google still dominates and will continue to because Facebook isn't in the search business and apparently aren't working to hard on it because it stinks. With partnerships like the one they have with Bing, they'll improve in that area, but the place that they will gain the most is messaging and robust refining of their communication. People will get sick of all of the news feeds and status updates eventually. That probably has a upper ceiling just like search volumes on Google do. What facebook can do is improve on the things users are already using but just because it is a part of facebook. Google built and maintains massive adoption of their search by getting you to use gmail, picasa, finance, apps., etc. Facebook will build massive adoption of mail(messaging), photos, apps. because you are already there and might as well. It is the reverse process of what Google employs. Neither is wrong, it is just the nature of what the foundations of their businesses are. The major difference is that Google is striving very hard to find out about you. Right now they are left to figure it out based on where you go, how often you go there, and what kinds of things are there once you arive (essentially they look at what you do on the web, how often, and the content you look at). Facebook just flat-out got you to tell them who you are. Who you are married to, where you work, how old you are, what you gender is, when your birthday is, your sexual orientation, your political views, your religious views, your interests, AND what you are thinking about/doing. WOW, now do you get why Facebook is about to join Google. They have over 200 million people in the world that they know everything about. THAT is a powerful ad platform. One that will make them very rich and very powerful.

(next post - why Apple doesn't matter much and Microsoft does)

Google is about to take over the world and Facebook will join them

2010-03-16T00:26:00.003-04:00

Google now is positioned to be dominant in so many ways it is getting scary. Forget Apple and Twitter and Yahoo and AOL. Only Microsoft and maybe Facebook stand a chance to stop Google. One more company might, but Google already bought them and the only way they can stop Google is if the FCC doesn't approve the purchase.

Google now owns Double Click runs, AdSense, AdWords, Analytics, bought AdMob, Vark, Gmail, Buzz.... you get the picture. The key component to all of that is the advertising revenue they bring in. Everything else is just a platform for more ads, better ads, faster ads, more expensive ads, bigger ads, etc. The next platform they will dominate is mobile. Android is said to be getting substantially more revenue for ads than other mediums. That is NOT because they are more valuable. It is because Google knows that if it over pays now on the apps and programs that the development comunity will flock to their platform and away from the iPhone. While the iPhone isn't going anywhere anytime soon, it will become a niche product just like all of Apple's other products. Google is likely to dominate and there will be a four way battle between RIM, Apple, Palm, and Windows in the US for the rest of the smartphone market. All of which will be dominated from an advertising standpoint by Google. Soon they will be releasing their OS. That will be one more way to offer rock bottom software at a cost to users that will be supplemented by creative new ways to advertise. The advertising industry is ultimately limited. In Google's case it is only limited by how much of it they can grab. Soon they will dominate.

Part 2 tomorrow will discuss Facebook

Blogging

2010-03-16T00:23:00.002-04:00

I'm going to give this blogging thing a go again. Mainly because I am fascinated with traffic and content and am curious as to what my ability to generate revenue might be. We'll see. May involve some experimentation with some advertising and more "economically" friendly posts.

This is mainly an experiment for future endeavors. If anything I've learned at chacha it is that content is king. Not always good content, but content no-the-less. Content that is arranged and optimized right has much value.

Great Hymn

2010-03-04T09:55:00.002-05:00

This hymn was written by two different people over nearly a century. It was translated into English from Welsh in 1900 in The Bap tist Book of Praise. Great, great hymn of revival. We sang it in church the other day and I stumbled upon it in Pandora so I figured I should send it along.

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting,
Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only
And my life be to Thy praise;
Thou alone shalt be my glory,
Nothing in the world I see.
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,
Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct me
By Thy Spirit through Thy Word;
And Thy grace my need is meeting,
As I trust in Thee, my Lord.
Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring
Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless,
Drawing out my heart to Thee.

What do you want for Christmas?

2009-12-19T18:20:00.005-05:00

I am beginning to hate this question. It has been asked of me many more times this year than in the past now that I have a whole new family by law(in-laws). Let me be clear, they aren't asking me more than the rest of my family, it is simply because I now have two families asking me. It can be a tempting question. As I think about it, I really do want many things.

The problem is this. Are we supposed to want? Should I want the kinds of things that we normally get for Christmas. Honestly, I don't really think so.

When we think about what Christmas should represent, the last thing we should be driven constantly to think of is what we want. Why is it so selfish and internal. Why shouldn't we be thinking about what we have and why we have it. About the gift of Christ and how it is not earned. Before Christ came, did any of us "want" him? No, in our sinful state we never "wanted" to be saved. That is the beauty of Christ and his work in birth and most importantly in his death and resurrection. He came to give us something that we never wanted but that we most certainly needed more than anything. To me that is what gift giving should be about during Christmas. Ideally we would be people who are not in want of the kinds of gifts that are given at Christmas time. If we do give the typical gifts they shouldn't be because someone "wants" them. How much more special would it be during Christmas if we were to open presents that we honestly could say in our heart that we didn't desire or want, but were still special to us and quite overwhelming because we know that we don't need them but that someone special in our lives knew that we would enjoy them and be happy having or using the gift. By asking someone what they "want" for Christmas, are we encouraging them to sin by doing so? I have many things that I want. Sinful things that I want and covet and desire other than what I should. When someone asks me what I want, I can always give an answer. The thing that keeps hitting me is - I don't want to want things. I honestly wish that I was content. I try to put on a bit of a show when someone asks me what I want for Christmas and say, "Well, I really don't want very much". And that is partly true. I am so blessed and so happy to have a new wife, new home, and wonderful job. There just isn't much else I need and therefore much that I want. Goodness, we have so many gift cards left from our wedding that anything I could possibly want, I could just get at Target. But I think we should desire to be content. We should stop trying to get things for people that they want. We should try to know someone and find something special for them. If someone tells me what they want, and I get them everything on their "list" and they do the same for me, then we essentially just went grocery shopping for each other. Except that it was much more stress full and we wasted a ton of wrapping paper. AND if we don't get them what was on their list, then their expectations weren't met and they end up with a depressing Christmas morning. Kind of misses the point doesn't it.

So, let's shoot for this on Christmas morning - Forget what you told people you wanted. Prepare your heart in a way that is grateful and content. In fact, don't even tell people what you want. Ever. Get in the practice of not talking about the things we want and try to not want. If someone does get you something, you'll be elated no matter what it is. You'll know that it is only because of their love for you and overflowing kindness that they demonstrated grace by getting you something. You are getting something you don't deserve and something you never really wanted. Let me be clear, that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it. I very much enjoy the peace I have with God because of what Christ gave me by justifying me and saving me. It is my joy. Ultimately it is only through Christ that I can be happy. The same goes for a Christmas gift. Just because you don't want it doesn't mean that you won't enjoy it. If someone decided to get me a book for Christmas that I didn't want because I had never hear of it but it was from an author that they know I love and a topic that they know I enjoy, it doesn't mean that I wouldn't enjoy the book just because I don't want it. Many of you may be thinking that you don't want to say you don't want anything because you are afraid that you might get something that is just clutter and not needed. I think my approach solves for that as well. Either you literally tell people that you don't want anything and they won't get you anything, or if you do get something you don't want, you will be content because you can give it away or find a use for it. The problem is that when we get these "useless" type gifts, we are not unhappy because the gift inconvenienced our lives, but because we didn't get what we truly wanted.

I'm not sure that the view presented here is comprehensive enough for you the reader to catch the vision that I have for the interactions we have in relation to gift giving. I hope though that you can be as content as possible this Christmas, and that will lead you to a more happy season of celebration of the gift of Christ. I hope that any gift you do get creates joy and happiness not because it is what you wanted but instead because it is a symbol of the unselfish grace God has given you.

Why I don't use an iPhone anymore

2009-08-13T01:07:00.003-04:00

The reasons are listed pretty easily, but the explaination of each is not quite as simple. I hope that if I list them now, you will continue reading because my lack of writing skills requires that I encourage you to read my many words to replace the ineffectivness of my few words. Either way, here is the list. Please read on though.

1.) Costs too much. I realized that for the savings, I could put away enough money to probably become a millionaire in 30 yrs.

2.) The user experience with the iPhone OS is pretty much terrible. Bad implementation of touch interface.

3.) I love my old phone. Love the battery life, the camera, and the convenience

4.) It became a source of pride and social status

5.) It began to really hurt my relationships

6.) I can now sell it for more that I bought it for (I love french co-workers that are familiar with Jailbraking and unlocking phones)

Details

1.) The plan just costs to much. After all the wedding planning calls I've been making during the day my rate plan was well over $100 a month and with overages sometimes broke $130. On top of that, of all the carriers, At&t is the most expensive. I considered switching to an unlimited plan on Sprint because of their faster network and much cheaper service, but I just couldn't justify breaking my contract and moving to a plan that really isn't that much cheaper.

2.) This is the hardest point to defend, but is also the one that was the greatest motivator for me. All of you who are iPhone diehards might as well skip to the next one because I imagine by this point you are totaly brainwashed. Here's the deal, I was sick and tired of calling my Fiance and having to click then swipe (unlock process), then push the phone symbol (I finally got to the point where I could do this without looking at the phone), then I would press the name of the first contact on my favorite list. For this I would have to look at the phone. It was the difference between telling my roomate or my future wife "hey love, how's your day going". Let's run through that one more time so we all get it. Click, swipe, look at phone, press phone icon, look, press contact, and avoid the end button while placing phone to ear. That user experience absolutely stinks. My current phone, involves an onlock method that I can do in my sleep. The phone sits well in my hand and it is a simple two botton combo that you can't miss. The iPhone however is weighty to the point that the swipe to unlock is difficult until the phone is positioned right in your hand. I know I'm nitpicking, but the cell phone interface was pretty good before the iPhone and I am not willing to make an excuse for a device just because it has a massive screen that can flip and swipe. Back to the point. With my current phone (my old Sony Ericcson w810i), I have to unlock (two button combo), then press 2(the favorite for Audrey), then press call. All of which I can do without looking at the phone. It is very fast, predictable, and accurate. None of those things can be said about the iPhone.

The poor user experience doesn't stop with placing calls. The phone is lacking many features that are problematic. I'm not talking about the typcial ones that the blogs all rage about and were slightly pasified when the 3gs was released. I'm talking about things like a calendar that is about a functional as

Foundation of start-ups

2009-05-14T12:26:00.002-04:00

A conversation I had this morning with an older friend and very experienced buisness analyst promted me to think about what it takes to have a good start-up. Not a good start up idea, or a successful product, but a good start-up company. It is important to point out the distinction because there are many ideas that are great ideas that are never going anywhere financially. These ideas garner lots of funding and a great deal of hype but they ultimately fail, or are overwhelmed by the competition (i.e. google, microsoft, adobe). These companies have the ability to put somethign together in a matter of days that a start-up might have been working on for months and months.

Back to the conversation. There was one point that really stood out to me. The idea presented was on that stemed from a percieved revenue stream. He saw the revenue that was availabe in a specific industry due to a huge change in the demand, so he combined the potential revenue with his current experience and the field that he is an expert in to come up with a buisness model

Blogging vs. Facebook vs. Twitter

2009-05-12T19:25:00.002-04:00

This blog started out as a comparison between facebook, twitter, and blogging. Since I realized my thoughts on the matter are significantly lacking of any real content, I'll spare you.

What I'd rather discuss is the nature of consumer goods stores and more specifically, restraunts. I am conserned about what they have become. My consern is more or less because of what they represent in the greater condition of society. These thoughts stem primarily from recent experiences at local restraunts that have had less the stellar service. I am going to point out specific restraunts both good and bad.

My hope by the end of this post is to encourage you to not settle when it comes to customer service. I'm not sure there is any other solution to the problem I am o

Saturday's

2009-03-21T13:24:00.006-04:00

What a wonderful thing we have here in our culture. We are able to work only five of the seven days of the week. The last two are available for doing pretty much anything we want. As Christians, it seems appropriate that one of the two of those days should be reserved for the Sabbath. I don't want this post to be a theological treatise so I'd like to leave Sunday as the Sabbath for the general population and assume that Saturday is the one free day we have that most of us do not have too work a full 8 hours.

Given those two presuppositions (mainly because that is my situation), I am amazed at how difficult it is to be productive on Saturdays. This is not a new thing. I spent four years at college waking up at 1 PM on Saturdays and then moping around the rest of the day until I realized late Saturday night that I should get some sleep so I don't drool on my shoulder while sleeping during church the next morning. Not much has changed other than the facts that I'm a home owner, married, have a job, investments, bills, etc. Each of those things require me to now make use of my Saturdays, lest I loose my house, offend me wife, get fired, etc. Life is now requiring me to be responsible. Believe me, this is not a bad thing. I now try to go to sleep before midnight most nights, I live during the hours that the sun is up, and I'm able to contact most businesses because during the hours that I'm most productive they are still open.

The problem is that I don't want to do this out of responsibility. I want to love my wife by spending significant time with her, I want to perform with excellence at work, and most of all I want to commit time to my Lord, Jesus Christ, and allow him to fill me so that I can glorify him in everything that I do.

This is my challenge on Saturdays. I am rested and alert because of the extra sleep. I can think clearly about my duties and habits that need to be performed and I have a good knowledge of what extra things I need to do so that my week is able to be effective. The problem is that I don't want do to it. It is as simple as that. I don't want to work, I don't want to mow the grass, do my taxes (although the $8,000 first time home buyers credit was a HUGE motivation), read my Bible, pray for friends and family, communicate clearly with my wife. These things require pro activity, and effort. The biggest thing running subconsciously through my head during a Saturday morning is that I worked all week, how can I possibly be expected to do anything but sit and watch college football all day long.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do about this. I don't think I'll every be a hyper productive, super active person. I may become a hyper active, sort-of productive person. I guess there is nothing wrong with recognizing my tendencies and performing to the best of my ability. My goal is to become a person of productive habits that enable me to be more consistent. The challenge is to develop those habits. Every moment I have a decision to make. Typically the easy choice is the wrong one. It is very easy for me to eat out for lunch every day but it is particularly hard to prepare a lunch for myself every morning by waking up 10 min. earlier (my wonderful wife is much better at this than I, and her help is immeasurable). The difference amounts to about $100 a month though. That's no insignificant amount. That is the difference in a missionary staying or leaving the field. That is the difference in paying off my school loans twice as fast as I would without it. I guess following this methodology it is the difference between a life of stewardship and a life of foolishness. Well that was quite the butterfly effect. Anyways, the point still stands. I just hope I can act on it!