JimYounkin.com

"Mikey" by Chris Younkin with Animation by Jim Younkin

2013-05-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

YouTube: "Mikey" by Chris Younkin with Animation by Jim Younkin

Music Copyright © 2004 Chris Younkin. Animation by Jim Younkin.

My brother Chris is an amazing musician. In 2004 we both happened to be at my mother's house in East Wenatchee.

I had my 12" PowerBook and he had his acoustic guitar. We decided to record something. This is the result.

The distortion you hear on the guitar solo near the end was added in GarageBand. The backing vocals were recorded by Chris.

The animation was created live by Jim in Expression 3 while he recorded this video in XSplit. (Yes I added the speed limit sign in way too early.)

Logitech G400s Gaming Mouse Unboxing, Review & G400 Comparison

2013-04-19T03:23:00.001-07:00

In this video we unbox and review the new Logitech G400s G Series gaming mouse. We also compare it to the previous version the Logitech G400.

You can watch the video directly on YouTube here: Logitech G400s Gaming Mouse Unboxing, Review & G400 Comparison or head past the jump for the embedded version.

We will have to use the mouse longer to see if the special coatings really make a difference.

One thing to note is that after recording this video we started ising the G400s and noticed that the reound DPI button that is just below the mouse wheel (towards the rear of the mouse) didn't seem to work properly.

No amount of fiddling with the software would solve the problem. We'll be taking the mouse back to exchange it for another G400s which hopefully won't have the same defective button. Until then it's back to the old G400.

UPDATE: We returned out original G400s and the new one exhibits the exact same problem of the DPI Up and DPI Down buttons not allowing you to properly use long-presses when mapped to be Middle Mouse buttons.

The mouse wheel click and the second button (with the graphic of the two windows) work perfectly fine for long middle clicking.

I imagine it is the G Series software that is not working properly. My original G400 allows use of the DPI Down and Up buttons to be mapped and used as long middle clicks.

Hopefully Logitech will fix this issue with a future software update. Until then I'll just have to settle for middle mouse clicking with my mouse wheel. Pity too. I really like using the DPI down button for middle mouse click for some things.

If you like this video be sure check out our Logitech G400 (MX518) Full Disassembly & Reassembly video to see what's inside a Logitech G400.

Path of Exile - Silver Supporter Pack Unboxing

2013-04-08T19:18:00.001-07:00

Last year I decided to support the action RPG Path of Exile by Grinding Gear Games. During pre-open beta I paid $100 for a "Silver Supporter Pack". This video is my unboxing of the contents of the supporter pack.

The package included a letter from Chris Wilson, a Path of Exile Install DVD, soundtrack CD and a huge poster of the world map. I'm happy to have supported PoE during pre-open beta (plus I now have lots of cool PoE stuff!). Keep up the good work GGG!

You can find the on YouTube here: Path of Exile - Silver Supporter Pack Unboxing

Logitech G400 (MX518) Full Disassembly & Reassembly (For Repair, Research, Etc)

2013-03-22T15:33:00.001-07:00

YouTube: Logitech G400 (MX518) Full Disassembly & Reassembly (For Repair, Research, Etc)

If your looking to fix or repair your Logitech G400 (or simply want to see someone else disassemble it) than this video is for you. This video is a full disassembly and reassembly of the Logitech G400 (the new version of the MX518).

The reason I did this video is I want to eventually lighten my G400 from the standard 106g down to the same weight as my favorite mouse the Razer Diamondback which weighs in at 91g.

I also talk about how I fixed my Razer Diamondback's scroll wheel problem as well as how I was able to lighten my E-Blue (E-3lue) Cobra Junior by 19g so it ended up at a very light 76g.

While I didn't find any easy ways to lighten the mouse (mostly due to it being built like a tank) I did get some ideas on ways I could lighten it as well as a really good look at how the mouse was built.

If you ever wanted to see any of the parts inside this legendary mouse it is very likely it is in this video some where.

E-Blue Cobra Junior (Razer Diamondback Clone) Unboxing & Review

2013-03-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

YouTube: E-Blue Cobra Junior (Razer Diamondback Clone) Unboxing & Review E-3lue

Nothing feels exactly like the classic Razer Diamondback but the Cobra Junior is damn close. Overall the E-3lue Cobra Junior has almost exactly the same feel as my Razer Diamondback. I bought this E-3lue Cobra Junior on eBay for $12 with free shipping.

From what I could gather from teh packaging and reading online when considering purchasing the Cobra Junior it seems to have a button that switches the DPI between 400/800/1600. The Razer Diamondback runs at 1600 and so far the tracking seems very similar when I (hopefully) have the Cobra Junior at 1600 DPI.

How does the shape of the Razer Diamondback it was replacing? Surprisingly close. I was amazed at how close this mouse feels to my Razer Diamondback. The Diamonback is was clearly the "inspiration" for the Cobra Junior.

In this unboxing I was only able to cover the external feel of the mouse. I haven't used the mouse yet so I have no information on how well it actually will hold up. I will likely do another video on how it is in use if I end up using it a lot.

If you want to buy a Cobra Junior, the eBay auction I found was entitled "E-Blue Cobra 1600DPI Adjustable 6 Buttons USB Wired Optical Gaming Mouse Mice PC" by the seller "newlaunch".

You can also find it on Amazon by searching for "E-Blue Cobra Junior". The Amazon price at the time of this video was around $13 but you also have to pay shipping.

Both mice weighed almost exactly the same on my kitchen scale right around 91g.

Shufflephones 2.0 - New Hotness Edition

2013-02-22T03:00:00.000-08:00

This photo album and instructions for my second project for making an iPod Shuffle fit inside a pair of headphones was originally posted on my now defunct mac.com site back in 2005. Thanks to Archive.org I am now able to resurrect it. You can find the page as it originally looked (more or less) here.

I've also tried to leave the original typography/layout intact as much as possible. Unfortunately is seems the higher resolution images didn't seem to survive and I had to cludge the HTML tables a bit to fit. ~~You can find the flickr set for these images here.~~ (Appears my Flickr Pro ran out.) I uploaded higher resolution images to an imgut album here. Head past the jump for a blast from the past.

NOTE: The images below look like the have links to something but in fact they simply link back to this post. Apologies. Resurrecting the dead isn't perfect. I uploaded higher resolution images to the imgur album Jim Younkin's Shufflephones Ver. 2.0.

This post was linked on slashdot and got 90,000 views in one day. That was the day I decided to start my shufflehacks blog. I was even featured in Wired Magazine (online and the physical magazine) for my work on shufflehacks. The blog and the shufflehacks flickr group which I started were mentioned by Mathew Honan in Macworld. This hack was also mentioned on Hack A Day which was one of my favorite blogs at the time.

Shufflephones 2.0 - New Hotness Edition

Here you'll find version 2.0 of my iPod shuffle in heapdhones hack. View more shuffle fun at http://shufflehacks.blogspot.com

The finished hack. Read on to see how it's done.

Here we have the phones to be hacked. In this case a pair of Sony MDR-CD280's.

Gathering up materials to use in the hack. Used all but the bottom right phones.

A $10 mini radio I had laying around will provide our "expansion jack".

Unsoldering the headphone jack. I heat then tap on paper to remove the solder.

We'll use this bad boy to add some cool new features to version 2.0.

Preparing for the operation. Let's crack this bad mama-jama.

Foam ear cup removed. Three screws hold it together.

Outside shell slides off. Aren't these sweet looking phones!

Getting to the meat. These head phones are about 6 years old.

Here we see for the first time what we're dealing with. Looks pretty hackable!

I want to use the location of where the cord exited for the expansion jack.

I needed to enlarge the opening to fit the expansion jack.

One of my favorite tools. A ground down screw driver. Bored the hole out first.

I cut down the insides to accommodate the jack. It was careful work.

Testing the fit. Lot's more time to go. It took an hour to finish this part.

I ended up trimming down the jack casing to get a nice close fit.

Here the fit of the jack is perfect. Now it's time to make it stay there.

J-B Weld is the greatest stuff on earth. Cap'n Crunch box for mixing.

Here I've applied J-B Weld liberally under the jack. I let it set overnight.

The finshed jack. By far the most time consuming part of the hack but worth it!

The fit of the jack turned out really nice.

Here I soldered the jack up to the connections on the headphones.

Here I bored a small hole for and soldered the inside headphone plug.

Close up of the wiring. I think it is a bit sloppy but it works perfectly.

I used a twisty tie to remove some slack from the plug wire.

All wired up and ready to reassemble.

Assembling the headphones.

All screwed back together. Only need to put the foam cup back on.

Another shot of the expansion jack. Trust me this thing is cool!

Here it is awating the shuffle.

Perparing to insert the shuffle.

I found removing the USB cap gave me the little bit of extra room to make it fit

I notice the material covering the foam split. They're 6 years old.

Listen to the shuffle with no wires! Or use the expansion jack. Read on.

The expansion jack can be used to share your music with a friend on the go.

A patch cable allows use as regular phones or plug the shuffle into a stereo.

A thing of beauty. A delight to wear. Better sound than version 1.0.

It takes a tremendous amount of effort to create something that looks effortless

You can't feel the shuffle while wearing the headphones. Weird huh!

Version 2.0. I think it turned out quite good. An improvement on version 1.0.

Product testing shot. I am wearing them while writing this and they feel good.

Thanks for looking! Be sure to email me with any questions, comments, confusion!

Shufflephones 1.0 - Old Skool Edition

2013-02-22T02:04:00.001-08:00

This photo album and instructions for making an iPod Shuffle fit inside a pair of retro headphones was originally posted on my now defunct mac.com site in 2005. Thanks to Archive.org I am now able to resurrect it. You can find the page as it originally looked (more or less) here.

I've also tried to leave the original typography/layout intact as much as possible. Unfortunately is seems the higher resolution images didn't seem to survive and I had to cludge the HTML tables a bit to fit. ~~You can find the flickr set for these images here.~~ (Appears my Flickr Pro ran out.) I uploaded higher resolution version to an imgur album here. (Phillip Torrone from Make Magazine even commented on this photo.) Head past the jump for a blast from the past.

NOTE: The images below look like the have links to something but in fact they simply link back to this post. Apologies. Resurrecting the dead isn't perfect. I uploaded higher resolution versions of the images to the imgur album Jim Younkin's Shufflephones Ver. 1.0.

Shufflephones 1.0 - Old Skool Edition
This is a fun iPod shuffle hack I threw together. It completely eliminates cord clutter! View more shuffle fun at http://shufflehacks.blogspot.com

Here I am listening to my shuffle without a cord in sight!

The finished hack. You can see the shuffle tucked inside the headphone cup.

iPod shuffle: $99 (Besy Buy). MURA SP-503 headphones: $1 (Goodwill).

Each ear has it's own volume adjustment. Sweet!

Let's see what we're dealing with here.

Check out these speakers! Xzibit aint got nothin' on these! Dubs for your ea...

The thing opened up real nice. I gotta love late 70's-early 80's engineerin...

In it goes! I was suprised the thing fit.

I tried on the headphones and the cups are so big I barely felt the shuffle.

Testing possible orientations. Here you can see how massive the phones are.

Found a suitable headphone plug donor. Headphones are from a $10 cd player.

Snipped the old curly headphone cord. Saving it for another hack.

Getting the wires ready to splice. Girls only like guys with soldering skills.

Am I the only person who always strips wires with my teeth?

Put the shrink tubing on the wires BEFORE soldering.

Soldered and shrink tubes shrunk. It pays to read the shrink tube directions.

Bigger shrink tubing shrunk over smaller. Looks like a python that just ate.

Ready to reassemble. Tucked wires up inside the earphone cup.

Headphone wire comes through the notch used to open the headphones. Perfect.

This hack was really born out of my hatred for headphone cords.

Finished. It all fits very nicely. The front controls are easily accessible.

You can reach the shuffle sliding switch by pulling it up like so.

Close up of finished product.

My brother testing them out.

Here I am testing out various shuffle extraction options.

With the headphone plug plugged in this was the easiest way to take it out.

Removing the shuffle for updating, charging, whatever.

Quite a neat and functional little hack with a good dose of nostalgia thrown in!

Bringing Back the Rainbow Apple Logo 12 Inch Powerbook Style!

2013-02-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

This photo album and instructions for changing your logo on the 12" PowerBook from white to original Apple logo rainbow colors was originally posted on my now defunct mac.com site in 2004(?). Thanks to Archive.org I am now able to resurrect it. You can find the page as it originally looked (more or less) here. I've also tried to leave the original typography/layout intact as much as possible. Unfortunately is seems the higher resolution images didn't seem to survive. Head past the jump for a blast to the past.

Bringing Back the Rainbow Apple Logo 12 Inch Powerbook Style!

If you want to get the swatch book I use copy and paste this link into your browser: ~~http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/swatchBookRequest.asp?type=roscolux~~ (Try http://www.rosco.com/sbreqs/index.cfm instead.)

This is the finished piece. It is lit but in somewhat subdued light.

My inspiration. I used this pin for all my color choices.

I got this "Roscolux" gel sample book a long time ago in a photography class.

My final color choices. I got each color by holding the gel up to the lit logo.

Green: #2004 "Storaro Green"

Yellow: #14 "Medium Straw"

Orange: #23" Orange"

Red: #25 "Orange Red"

Purple: #2009 "Storaro Violet"

Blue: #376 "Bermuda Blue:

Choosing colors involved seeing how they looked with light passing through them.

I made a paper template and worked with that when taping and cutting the gels.

Clear gels were used to prevent tearing when putting it in the lid.

What you see when you get the lid open.

Cutting the tape to allow me to put stufff under the logo.

This is the final logo all taped up, trimmed, and inserted.

Holding the bottom like this and pulling the top towards me seemed to work good.

This picture shows the anntena wire in front of the clip=bad.

Here the wire is behind the clip where it should be.

I actually bent one of the clips. Be gentle & don't force anything!

Here I am using a small pocket knife to gingerly bend the clip back into shape.

The fixed clip. After bending this clip I figured out the technique above.

Watch at these points. The screen should be flush at both. My mistake was here.

SIde by side comparison of the pin and the finished logo. Not too shabby!

Here if the completed project in a dark room to show it off. Email me!!

On Internet Trolls and Critics

2013-02-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

You can always tell you are doing something right because people start trying to tear you down.

When I worked as a community manager for an MMORPG developer I had plenty of practice dealing with internet trolls and other loud, bilious and spiteful people. Read on past the jump my thoughts on internet trolls.

Great Advice

The best advice I ever got was "Never go negative." No matter what others say always keep your responses positive. This means in public and in private. You never know when something said "in confidence" will somehow be made public.

Another rule that served me well was "Don't feed the trolls." Trolls thrive on agitating and getting reactions from others. If you don't react how they are anticipating then they don't get what they want and you win.

The Definition Of a Troll

My favorite definition of an internet troll comes from Wikipedia:

"Troll (Internet) - In Internet slang, a troll (pron.: /ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion."

Perhaps a slightly more accurate (but certainly more NSFW) explanation of an internet troll was posted by Penny Arcade in 2004.

Image Source: Penny Arcade - Green Blackboards (And Other Anomalies)

The truth is it is easy to criticize and try to tear others down. It is much harder to build something and provide a positive force in a community.

Don't Like It? Do Better.

If people don't like what I do (or the way I do it) my advice to them is: "Do better."

Make your own creation. Build your own thing. Put in your own effort. Make something better than what others are doing.

If your work really is better creation then it will succeed and you'll have done it without tearing anyone else down in the process.

A Parable

This parable will hopefully explain what I'm getting at better than I can. Over the years it has helped me keep perspective.

"The Parable of Two Lamps

…One summer evening I sat musing studiously and withal restfully in the open air outside the door of the room in which I lodged and studied. A stranger approached. I noticed that he carried a satchel. He was affable and entertaining. I brought another chair from within, and we chatted together till the twilight had deepened into dusk, the dusk into darkness.

Then he said: “You are a student and doubtless have much work to do of nights. What kind of lamp do you use?” And without waiting for a reply, he continued, “I have a superior kind of lamp I should like to show you, a lamp designed and constructed according to the latest achievements of applied science, far surpassing anything heretofore produced as a means of artificial lighting.”

Argand Student Lamp. Image Source: A Fine Collection

I replied with confidence, and I confess, not without some exultation: “My friend, I have a lamp, one that has been tested and proved. It has been to me a companion through many a long night. It is an Argand lamp, and one of the best. I have trimmed and cleaned it today; it is ready for the lighting. Step inside; I will show you my lamp; then you may tell me whether yours can possibly be better.”

We entered my study room, and with a feeling which I assume is akin to that of the athlete about to enter a contest with one whom he regards as a pitiably inferior opponent, I put the match to my well-trimmed Argand.

My visitor was voluble in his praise. It was the best lamp of its kind, he said. He averred that he had never seen a lamp in better trim. He turned the wick up and down and pronounced the adjustment perfect. He declared that never before had he realized how satisfactory a student lamp could be. …

Rochester Lamp. Image Source: Democrat and Chronicle

“Now,” said he, “with your permission I’ll light my lamp.” He took from his satchel a lamp then known as the “Rochester.” It had a chimney which, compared with mine, was as a factory smokestack alongside a house flue. Its hollow wick was wide enough to admit my four fingers. Its light made bright the remotest corner of my room. In its brilliant blaze my own little Argand wick burned a weak, pale yellow. Until that moment of convincing demonstration, I had never known the dim obscurity in which I had lived and labored, studied and struggled.

“I’ll buy your lamp,” said I; “you need neither explain nor argue further.”

-Three Parables—The Unwise Bee, the Owl Express, and Two Lamps by James E. Talmage

What I love about this story is that the lamp salesman didn't need to try to tear down the student's lamp. All he had to do was show how superior his lamp was.

The same is true for people who create things. The person who created a better thing will succeed without needing to disparage what others do. The superiority of the creation will be self evident.

Trolls don't build anything worthwhile. They only try (and the key word here is "try") to tear down what others build.

Don't Waste Your Energy

Don't spend more time worrying about what trolls say then the time they actually spend criticizing you.

Do you think the troll gives you a second thought after the 20 seconds it takes them to write a comment on your blog/YouTube video/forum/chat channel? No.

Many trolls have honed their skills over many years to get the maximum amount of response from people for the minimum amount of effort.

If they put so little time and effort into criticizing us why are we spending the entire day worrying about what they said? Why are we letting them stop us from producing work we love?

Instead we should simply block them, delete their comments and go about our day.

Focus On The Positive

It is easy to pay attention to the negative. To focus on the critic to the near exclusion of any positive feedback we may receive.

What we have to train ourselves to do is focus on the positive.

Surely that will contribute more to our success than looking back at what any internet trolls or critics may say about us or our work.

Cheers,
-Jim Younkin

How I Use Archive.org To Podcast For Free - Quick & Dirty Edition

2013-02-14T16:31:00.000-08:00

I produce a podcast for my Power Word: Gold blog called (unsurprisingly) The Power Word: Gold Podcast.

I was asked by another blogger wanting to start a podcast for any advice. I've decided to share my response to them with all of you in hope that it might help point you in the right direction if you are thinking about getting into podcasting and are looking for a completely free podcast hosting solution.

Read on past the jump for more.

Quick & Dirty

What I will be detailing below is a rough outline on how to host your podcast for free on Archive.org as well as how to get a podcast-specific RSS feed set up with Feedburner to be able to submit to iTunes.

I won't be going into intricate detail on each step in this post (hence quick & dirty). If you get hung up along the way feel free to leave a comment or email my at jimyounkin@gmail.com and I might be able to give you more detail.

Below is the response I gave to the questions about any advice for getting started podcasting. The person asking the question was using an all Mac setup. I use an all PC setup.

Recording/Editing

I use a PC for my podcasting. For recording alone and editing I use an old $99 version of Sony Vegas. On a Mac GarageBand is probably the (free) way to go.

For recording Skype calls I use Call Graph which is free but I think may be PC-only. I like Call Graph because it records myself on one stereo channel and my guest on the other.

This allows me to edit our sound separately. I do this by duplicating the audio track and making one track left channel only and the other right channel only.

This allows me to turn me up or them down or adjust the EQ on each of us separately. More importantly this allows me to take out unwanted background sounds and/or things like coughs and odd noises out.

There might be a similarly free Mac program for recording Skype on Mac but don't have a need so I can't recommend one.

As for hosting the podcast I use Archive.org which is free. I found this post on using Archive.org to host a podcast and used it to get the basics. Not everything in the post applies to me as I didn't need to use Wordpress for example because I wanted to use my current blogger.com blog.

Podcast-Specific RSS Feed

As far as submitting it to iTunes I needed a Podcast-only RSS feed. The way I accomplished this was tagging the podcast posts with a specific "podcasts" tag in blogger and then using a tag-specific RSS feed.

The nomenclature for a tag-specific RSS feed looks like this:

http://www.powerwordgold.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/Podcasts

In the above example "Podcasts" is the tag you use for all the podcast posts.

Once I had the podcast post tag-specific RSS feed I used that in Feedburner to burn a new feed and use Feedburner's "SmartCast" feature and options under the "Optimize" tab.

Once you have your new podcast-specific RSS feed which may look something like this:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/PowerWordGoldPodcast

Once you have this RSS feed it should only be pulling in posts that are tagged with the blogger tag you chose ("Podcasts" in my example"). This allows you to run your podcast posts right along with all your other blog posts but still have the podcast-specific posts split off and funneled into iTunes.

Submitting Podcast RSS To iTunes

To learn more about actually submitting your podcast-specific RSS feed to iTunes you can read more from Apples official "Making a Podcast". That is the page I followed when setting up my feed in Feedburner.

Raw Link Supersition

This only thing after that that I do (although I've never "not" done this so it may not be necessary) is include a raw link to the Archive.org hosted mp3 at the bottom of all my posts.

I read somewhere that you needed to do this and although I include a link to the MP3 further up in the podast episode posts I've always added a raw MP3 link at the bottom because it has always worked and I don't want to mess with something that works.

You can see an example of my MP3 link as well as my raw MP3 link at the bottom of this post.

Another Option

That should get you all set up for running a podcast right inside your current blog. Another option that some people find easier is instead of using blog tags and blog tag-specific RSS feeds is that they create a new blog specifically for the podcast and only post podcast episodes.

They then use the RSS feed from that new blog and put that into Feedburner as mentioned above. I don't like that option because I like all my regular blog readers to also see the Podcasts and I've obviously figured out a way to get it to work just fine running inside my blog.

More Advice

The only other advice I'd give is to wait until about episode 3 of your podcast to submit your podcast to iTunes. You can give people your podcast-specific RSS feed early but after episode 3 you should be fairly confident that you'll continue your podcast and can feel comfortable adding it to iTunes.

Also after submitting it to iTunes it may take a while to show up so check and wait until it shows up before telling people.

Blogger.com/iTunes Quirks

The only other quirk I'd mention is that iTunes seems to take blogger.com's last edited date as it's date for the order of the podcasts in iTunes.

What this means is that if you go back and edit a podcast post later it may end up showing up out of order in iTunes as iTunes feels it is the newest episode because it is the most recently edited episode.

Basically if you can help it don't go back and do a lot of editing of old podcast posts if you don't want them to be listed out of chronological order.

I'm sure that is a bit more than you were asking for but I thought I'd share what I've learned over the last nearly 2 years doing the podcast.

My Instagram Replacement Apps For The IPhone & iOS

2012-12-18T15:38:00.001-08:00

I'm probably not the only one who deleted their Instagram account in protest (and disgust) over the recent user agreement changes that allowed Instagram to sell your photos to third parties without your knowledge and/or providing any compensation.

But many of us have come to love the retro aesthetic that Instagram provided with it's easy-to-use filters. We've also come to love how simple it was to upload photos to multiple services with a single click.

So, what will I will be replacing Instagram with? Read on past the jump to find out.

The Search

I spent lots of time last night going through my various photo editing apps on my iPhone looking for something that worked similar to Instagram. While nothing worked quite as simply and quickly as Instagram (I really loved the Instagram filters and that is the part I will miss most about the app) I did find some apps I fell will do a good job picking up the Instagram mantle on my iPhone.

My picks for an Instagram replacement are below. I've broken them down into editing/filtering and uploading/posting.

(Disclosure: The app links below are affiliate links which means we get a small amount of revenue if you choose to use them.)

Editing/Filters

Edited/filtered in the Snapseed iPhone app.

Snapseed (Free) - Some of the most unique user interfaces and most powerful filtering I've experienced. I love Snapseed. Now(a bit ironically) after its purchase by Google called Google+ Snapseed.

Although I used and loved Snapseed before Google bought them. Hopefully they won't mess up its great functionality by cramming Google+ into it. Well worth the time learn how to use.

(Bonus Tip: In the Retrolux section of Snapseed hit the "shuffle" icon to shuffle through a bunch and the "star" icon to pick them one by one. You can also shuffle a particular starred (favorite?) looks elements.)

Edited/filtered in the Camera Awesome iPhone app.

Camera Awesome (Free) - This app has some really nice filtering if you take the time to get used to the app. The filters in this app are very good. Also, about the only app I'll take photos with live filters applied to them. Normally I always shoot first and filter later.

This app is also created by a photo sharing site, SmugMug, but actually doesn't get in your way. They let you simply use it as a photo editing/filtering app without ever having to do anything with SmugMug's site. This is good because I don't really need another photo sharing site.

Edited/filtered in the Fotor iPhone app.

Fotor™ ($2.99) - Fotor is an app I have an on-again off-again relationship with. While I'm not a particular fan of its "one-thing-at-a-time" user interface it does have some great filtering options if you play around with it. It also has a great HDR option which I recommend.

Edited/filtered in the Camera+ iPhone app.

Camera+ ($0.99) - This is one of my favorite camera apps and the filters are quite expressive. You don't have to take the photos in Camera+ to filter them but I've had some of my most interesting experiences with filters with Camera+.

Uploading/Posting

Photo Editor by Aviary (Free) - I really loved (and miss) Instagram's ability to upload my photos with one click to Facebook, Instagram (not important anymore), Flicker and Twitter. This is all I really want out of an app like this. Aviary (while I'm not sure if that is the official title it's what i like to call it) has this down pat.

I open the app it, shows me the latest photo in my photo roll (usually the photo I've finished editing/filtering in another app and saved it out to my camera roll), give it a title and in a few taps it is uploaded/posted to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr all at once.

While Aviary does have filters (Aviary also powers the Flickr app and Twitter app filters) I found them to be a bit too harsh and lacked the ability to tone down the effects. One of the things I liked about Instagram's filters was that they were, for the most part, quite subtle.

Conclusion

So now you have a few choices for apps you can use to fill that Instagram-shaped hole in your app collection.

If you aren't really *that* picky about the filters I'd recommend starting with Photo Editor by Aviary. It has filters (although not my favorite) and very easy uploading/posting. (Plus it's free.)

If you want to get more advanced in filters I'd recommend trying Snapseed. Its "Retrolux" set of filters can easily create some very neat looking retro photos.

We will all move on from Instagram and it's terrible business decisions. I have little doubt that some day Instagram will feel to us then like MySpace does to us now: irrelevant. A victim of forgetting that users built up your service and are the most important thing for your survival.

UPDATE: Just wanted to add a bit of an update. Having continued to use the various choices above I have also been very happy with the Flickr app. It not only has great filters but as an 8-year user of Flickr it has renewed my appreciation for Flickr as a whole.

How To Delete Your Instagram Account (And Why I Did)

2012-12-18T14:26:00.002-08:00

To delete your Instagram account go to the Instagram website, sign in, click on your name in the upper right, select "Edit Profile" and look for an "I'd like to delete my account" link at the bottom right of the edit page. Click that link and follow the instructions to delete your account.

Interestingly, even within Instagram's account deletion process they use three different words to describe what is happening. (See screenshots.)

"I'd like to delete my account"
"Permanently deactivate my account"
"Your account has been removed."

I mean how hard would it be to unify those? I was a bit thrown off by "Permanently deactivate my account" be cause deactivating seems to apply that it can be reactivated and/or your information is saved for reactivation.

Regardless of the semantics of the deletion process I did delete my Instagram account today. I wanted to do so before their new Terms of Service come into effect on January 16, 2013.

Deleting My Instagram Account

I deleted my account because I didn't want them to be able to sell my copyrighted photos to third parties to use for advertising (or for what ever else they would use it for) without notifying me or giving me any kind of compensation.

This is bad. get out while you can and tell Instagram (and its parent company Facebook) that you won't stand for these types of money-grabs that make services worse for the user.

I'm not sorry to go.

This is what happens when services stop looking at us as users and start look at as as products to sell (in this case quite literally).

Turn On iTunes 11's Missing "File Edit View..." Menu Bar

2012-12-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

TL:DR - Hold Alt > View > Show Menu Bar (Or press Ctrl + B)

If you've updated to the new iTunes 11 and have noticed some of the useful items missing then you're not alone.

After updating I wanted to simply select "File > Add Folder to Library..." which is how I normally add albums to iTunes. The only problem was that there seemingly was no "File" menu to speak of. It just wasn't there.

After hitting a few modifier keys to try to find the menu I stumbled upon holding down "Alt" (I'm on a Windows 7 PC) which temporarily showed the "File" "Edit" "View" etc. Menu Bar.

Holding "Alt" Brings Up The iTunes 11 Menu Bar

This was helpful but the fact that something as useful as a "File" menu is hidden by default is very bad design in my opinion. We're all used to "File" and "Edit" menus and we can often get lost when we can't find them or even worse think features (like "Add Folder to Library...") have been removed.

If you like the iTunes Menu Bar to only appear when holding "Alt" then simply press ALT when you need to use it.

If, however, you are like me and want the Menu Bar to show up all the time you can select that option by:

Holding down Alt to bring up the Menu Bar
Selecting "View" from the Menu Bar
Selecting "Show Menu Bar" (or press Ctrl + B)

The menu bar should now be visible without having to hold Alt.

Turning Menu Bar On: View > Show Menu Bar

Having to hold a somewhat obscure (or any) modifier key to access something as fundamental as the Menu Bar is really a UI fail in my book. If I hadn't stumbled upon it I would have simply assumed iTunes 11 didn't have a menu bar and therefore was less useful.

Having just started using it I can't say for sure whether iTunes 11 is a step in the right direction but I think hiding much-used and familiar features is not a good route to go.

How to Fix Youtube "This feature is currently not available in your country." Monetization Error.

2012-10-31T17:58:00.000-07:00

So I went to monetize my personal YouTube account today only to be greeted with a strange "This feature is currently not available in your country. Learn more." error.

After searching google and the YouTube forums fruitlessly for a solution I think I finally found the reason why I was getting this error.

The possible solution was buried deep in a very unintuitive place inside of YouTube's settings. Read on past the jump for the solution.

The Solution

Update: Commenter Rich let us know in a video that due to a change in YouTube's layout some people might not be seeing the options outlined below. To get the old options back go to http://www.youtube.com/onechannel, scroll down and choose the "Switch Back" button. Hopefully this will help people with issues but I'm not guaranteeing this will work forever. Gotta love change. (Thanks Rich!)

In short you have to:

Be signed in to YouTube account.
Click your name to bring up the menu that shows up below your name.
Select "My Channel" in the menu.
Look for "About (Your Name) on YouTube Edit" in your channel layout. (Mine was in the upper left area.)
Click the small "Edit" link mentioned above.
Clicking the "Edit" link drops down a menu that has sections called "Country". (My country was set to "Afghanistan" which wasn't correct at all.)
Change the "Country" setting to the proper country. (I changed the 'Country" to my county of "United States" and I was able to get to the "Monetization" settings properly.)
Click "Apply".
If your country is allowed to monetize videos you should now have a 'Monetization" link in your Settings > Channel Settings section.

YouTube > My Channel

About (Name) On YouTube > Edit

YouTube Channel Country Options

Channel Settings > Monetization Showing Properly

A Few Notes

I should say that I couldn't even see the "Monetization" option in my YouTube Channel Settings until I had my country set properly. If you're looking for the "Monetization"link and you don't see it under "Channel Settings" then this may be why.

I had been using what I like to call "rat trails" of various YouTube links (Creators & Partners > Become a Partner > Get Started) to try to simply find the Monetization settings because I had easily set up monetization on other accounts.

The fact that there was no way (at least that I could find to designate your country right on any of your actual proper "Settings" pages is just dumb-founding. I'm not a tech-illiterate but the fact it took me this long to find out how to do something like make sure my YouTube account listed me as in the right country is crazy.

Also a noted from a few of the YouTube forum posts that users in some countries are required to apply for partnership via the normal Partner Application process. This solution is only what worked for me as an American that had my country wrongly listed as "Afghanistan".

Conclusion

So there you go. I hope this post find any of you out there that are struggling with getting the "This feature is currently not available in your country. Learn more." error when working on getting monetization set up.

I think your country setting should be in a far more obvious location, perhaps right in the Channel Settings section? It makes even more sense to have your country be part of your "Account Information". That's where I'd look for it.

Perhaps even instead of simply "This feature is currently not available in your country. Learn more." how about "This feature is currently not available in your country of Afghanistan. (Not correct? Click here to review your country setting.)"

In the end I was just happy my 3 hour search down this technological "rat hole" was finally over and I can properly monetize my channel.

My First Day On App.net

2012-09-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Last night I couldn't hold out any longer and went ahead and paid $50 (@jimyounkin) for one year of access to App.net. App.net (often shortened to "ADN" by its users) is a new short message service (read: twitter) that is being built around the idea of users paying for use of the service rather than the service being paid for (and beholden to) advertisers.

While I have more to say about Twitter's recent missteps when it comes to 3rd party developer relations and their increasing push to monetize their users to advertisers I won't do it here. Suffice it to say that in my mind twitter, while still a very useful service, has "jumped the shark" in the last few weeks.

I chose to put my money where my mouth is and commit to paying for App.net even at this early stage because I want a service like this to exist and the best way I can do that is by supporting it now.

So, how did my first day inside App.net go? Did it meet my initial expectations? Where can I see it going from here? Read on past the jump for my impressions.

My First Day

My first day went very well actually. I was able to have multiple conversations with total strangers and was able to chat with multiple app developers. I also discussed ethics, ideas about the service and more.

Those I met were surprisingly nice and the discussions were often very thoughtful. Perhaps this is due to the types of people that might be drawn to a service like this (developers and early early (early) adopters) but I enjoyed the experience.

Meet Expectations?

It did meet (and even exceed) my initial expectations for the service. While I know much of the chatter now is about the service itself I have to say that even without those conversations the service itself worked as intended.

I was able to send short posts (not quite sure what to call them really yet) out as well as receive mentions and re-post other's posts. I fiddled around with a few different webapps for App.net (quickApp was one of my favorites) and was even able to install and use the first-ever native iOS App.net app (AppNet Rhino) available on the Apple's App Store.

Where to Now?

So where do I see App.net going from here? I hope that is will grow into an almost compete replacement for twitter. I'd love that to happen but in reality it will likely not happen. Or if it does it will take years to happen. (But it could happen. Remember when the thought of MySpace going completely away was a bit far fetched?)

The initial $50 fee is a really commitment. I can't see my mother paying $50/year just to be able to reply to me on App.net. I can see here getting a twitter account thought.

I can actually see myself using App.net as more of a one-way, outward-facing short message service (at least initially). Something more akin to twitter but without the interaction from as many people. I wouldn't actually mind that. I kind of like the idea of having a short message service to myself (at least for now).

A Twitter Replacement?

Will App.net replace twitter for me? Not any time soon (but I really want it to someday). The reason that twitter is so important (and the reason I think twitter can get away with treating 3rd party developers so bad) is that it has all the users.

How many of my 1000 twitter followers do I think would pay $50 to be able to reply to me on App.net? My guess is one or maybe two. Perhaps, over time, there would be more but even then I think it would initially be people like me who are advertising-averse and cognizant of the treatment of developers by twitter as well as tiwtter's continued march toward more obtrusive and harder-to-ignore ads.

Make no doubt about it. The "suits" are now at the helm of twitter. Suits like to make money. It's their job to make money even if it means changing what many consider to be the very definition of what something is.

In the coming months you will likely see lots of new articles and blog posts hailing App.net as a "twitter replacement". It isn't (at least not yet).

As it stands App.net is really a service for people who want to know that the service they use has their (the customer's) best interest in mind rather than an advertiser's best interest.

It's been said before but it bears repeating: If you are not paying for a product, you are the product.

Conclusion

Having played around with App.net and, perhaps more importantly, having paid for App.net I now have a vested interest in seeing how the service grows and evolves over time (at least for the next year).

So far I am impressed with not only the App.net service but also the development community that has sprung up around it and is almost continuously giving App.net users new, useful and interesting tools to use to interact with the service.

For the foreseeable future I expect much of the chatter on App.net to lean heavily toward the techie/developer/early adopter side of things but I don't mind that. I've already given feedback to multiple app developers and find these kind of conversations quite enjoyable.

If you want to join App.net you can do so for $50 for one year of normal access or $100 for one year of developer access.

You can find me on App.net here: @jimyounkin.

How To Fix Blogger "Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist." Error

2012-07-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

"Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist."

I was a bit puzzled today when I received multiple messages from some of my readers that the store page on my blog was no longer loading. I went to the page and sure enough I got the above message "Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist."

I freaked out a little bit wondering what might have happened to my page. Read on past the jump to see what the problem was and what my (imperfect) solution was

The "The" is The Problem

So after spending a few minutes looking at the URL for my store page and the URL I had previously been using I realized why my pages weren't loading. Apparently Blogger.com is now including the word "The" in it's URLs.

Previously if I created a page called "The Power Word: Gold Store" Blogger would omit the "the" when creating the URL.

The URL for the above page would be "http://www.powerwordgold.net/p/power-word-gold-store.html". Please note the lack of a "the".

The Cause?

So today I spent some time updating my store page, saved my changes and thought nothing more of it. Apparently when I saved my changes, Blogger.com decided since the page was called "The Power Word: Gold Store" it would go ahead and change the URL for that page for me.

I received no notice, no warning that the URL was changing. I had not way of knowing all the places I had linked my store would all of a sudden stop working.

The new URL for my store page was now "http://www.powerwordgold.net/p/the-power-word-gold-store.html". Please not that the new URL includes the work "the" in it, breaking all previous links to the page.

I'm not sure why they made this change to include "the" (and what ever other words they may have been excluding from URLs in the past) but if people are going to be breaking links when they update page with the word "The" in the title that is not good.

If Blogger is going to be retroactivly chaging the URLs they should at least make sure that the old URLs are reserved and redirected to the new URL. Or better yet don't change the URLs if the page was created before this change.

Updating Blogger.com pages may change (and break) your URLs without notice.

The (Imperfect) Solution

So I had two choices for how to solve this dilemma. I could either 1) redo all the places I'd ever linked my store page to the new "the-ified" URL or b) build a new "the-less" titled page and replicate my store page there.

The fact that I even have to choose between both of those bad solutions is kind of silly. That said, what I decided to do was create the duplicate page without a "the" in the title.

While having a page named "Power Word: Gold Store" (Ugha, ugha! Me caveman! Me go to Power Word: Gold Store!)isn't perfect I prefer it to risking having broken links scattered in the hundreds of places they exist.

Again to restate state the issue:

Old Blogger page title: "The Power Word: Gold Store" = Old URL: http://www.powerwordgold.net/p/power-word-gold-store.html

Updated Blogger page title: "The Power Word: Gold Store" = New URL (no warning or notice): http://www.powerwordgold.net/p/the-power-word-gold-store.html = broken link = no good.

(Imperfect) Solution: Create duplicate of the store page.

Duplicate store title (to match old URL): "Power Word: Gold Store" = New (old) URL: http://www.powerwordgold.net/p/power-word-gold-store.html

My Advice?

If you're having this issue I would say if you only have something linked in a few places I would change the links to the new URL (that includes the "the" etc.).

If you're like me and have links scattered all over the place create a duplicate page and name it what ever it needs to be to match (and enjoy the caveman speak).

A Word of Caution

I have no idea if this is this is a new permanent Blogger.com feature of perhaps just a bug. Either way I'm not risking it.

I have a few other Blogger.com pages that include "The" in the title. I'm going to have to be very careful to keep an eye on the page URLs whenever I update them. If, like my store page, they insert a new "The" into my URLs I'll have to once again create duplicate pages with Titles that don't include "The" to make sure the links works.

Google/Blogger.com, Please Read This

If anyone from Google (who owns Blogger.com) read this, please please please revert this change or at least make it so previous URLs for pages that had "The" (or other common words) omitted automatically redirect to the proper page.

We can't have links breaking all over the place.

I Could Be Wrong

I may be wrong about the above. It may just be temporary or I may have hit some sort of bug or glitch but I tested creating new pages and if "The" was the first word of the page Title is was included in the URL.

I just rally wanted to lay out my solution so others that may have this issue can fix it.

I love you Blogger.com. We go WAY back but this change, if it is a change, isn't one of your best moments.

UPDATE: Blogger/Google is now taking forum posts discussing this issue. We are not alone. If you're having this issue one of the best ways to help get it fixed in the future will be to add your experiences to this forum post: [Problem Rollup] Static Page URLs Change, Though Link References Do Not Change.

YouTube Pushing Users Switch To Real Names

2012-07-23T02:55:00.000-07:00

YouTube pulling your real name from your Google+ account.

I went to make a comment on a YouTube video today and was welcomed with the above pop-up from YouTube basically telling me to "Start using your full name on YouTube" with an example of what my current YouTube account appears like ("jimyounkin") and how it will appear ("Jim Younkin III"). It appears in the image above that YouTube (owned by Google) is pulling your "real name" from your Google+ account.

I already use my "full name" on my YouTube channel but judging from almost every other YouTube channel name I've ever seen I am severely in the minority. Most people don't have their "real name" on their YouTube channel.

Read on past the jump for a few more screenshots of the popup dialog boxes YouTube (and by extension Google) is using to try to push "YouTubers" into using their real names.

Privacy? What Privacy!

I find this change especially tone-deaf mainly for the fact that the majority of users are likely to not want to make this drastic a change. Going from something like "skipro865" to "George Jones" sure does remove some of the "distance" that online pseudonyms afford.

Examples of your real name next to your YouTube videos.

Haters Gonna Hate

Of course that may be YouTube (and Google's) whole point for making this change. "skipro865" calling you an "ugly douchebag" doesn't quite have the same feeling as having "George Jones" call you an "ugly douchebag".

While removing anonymity may make some YouTube commentors (often held up as one of the most trustworthy examples of the Internet Fuckwad Theory at work) think twice about sprewing bilious nonsense all over YouTube videos, if previous attempts to "unmask" users for the sake of curbing "bad behavior" are any indication, YouTube/Google may be have an uphill battle on their hands.

That said, hasn't Google already gone down this street before?

You're asked to give reasons why you won't use your real name.

Me?

What will I be doing? Will I be using my "real name" on YouTube? Most likely since I already do but what if I didn't really want to? Perhaps I'll press the "I'm not sure, I'll decide later" button in the image above and wait for the backlash that is more than likely to come and wash away the feature from the site altogether.

Will you use your "real name" on YouTube? Why? Why not?

What Do The Candy Stripe/Barber Pole Borders On Facebook's Timeline Mean?

2012-07-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

New Facebook Timeline Striped Borders

I went onto my Facebook Timeline today and noticed a new (and very distracting) UI element. Apparently some of my Timeline posts have a new border that looks like a cross between an old Mac OS loading bar, caution tape, a candy cane and the stripes of a barber pole.

The funny thing was that it wasn't readily apparent what these new borders are supposed to indicate. Mousing over them gave no information. After puzzling over it for a while it seems that these borders may indicate a story that was added to my Timeline by an application (as opposed to me something to my Timeline "by hand").

UPDATE: As mentioned in the comments below these are likely messages/posts that are visible to you only. I checked a few of the privacy settings for some of these posts and they seem to all have been marked "Only Me". Mystery solved? Maybe.

Do you know what these mean? Is this the best way for Facebook to indicate posts added by other applications if indeed that is what they are?

Mostly it caused me a momentary bit of panic wondering if something was wrong with my Timeline. Usually those type of slanted stripes are reserved for things like caution tape. Usually they mean "warning".

You ideas?

Tools For Building Video Games With Little (or No) Programming Knowledge

2012-07-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

I recently asked all the super-smart people on my Facebook to help me identify ways to make video games with little to no programming knowledge. I am not a programmer. I'm an artist. I'm a designer but I am not a programmer.

Frankly the idea of programming frightens me. Maybe it's the "math". Maybe it's the complexity of the "code". Maybe it's simply the fact that I've never done it. For what ever the reason I decided that I had to find away around this handicap be cause I have some really fun ideas for games and I want to make them.

Read on past the jump for a list of the possible resources/programs that my Facebook friends identified as possible systems for me to create a game without knowing hod to program.

My Friends

Having worked in the games industry for the last 7 years has given me a wonderful collection of friends in the industry who are way smarter than I am. These guys and gals are geniuses and I'm lucky to have them.

I was also surprised that it was not only my game industry friends who offered suggestions but also old friends and even family. Apparently lots of people I know are excited about making video games.

I haven't decided which of the tools and/or systems to use but I'll try to make a short note about each one on the list.

If you're thinking about trying to get into game design but the idea of programming frightens you than perhaps one of the following systems/tools may work for you.

The List

Below is the list of the game making tools that were suggested by my friends. I've included links as well as any info.impressions I have about them.

I should state that I haven't actually used any of these tools yet but hope to identify one that works best for me and perhaps provide updates along the way if I do end up making some games with them.

Mostly I just want to be able to think up an idea and get it into game form in the shortest time possible.

Tools For Making Video Games With Little (Or No) Programming Experience:

Javascript and JQuery - This one I pretty much dismissed offhand as probably being too technical for me but I could be wrong.
GameMaker - This one looked to only be Windows. Felt a bit technical.
RPG Maker - This was perhaps a bit too specific genre-wise.
Stencyl - This is one available for mac and one I downloaded. One of the sample games was a Angry Birds clone which made me laugh. I may use this.
Scratch - Seemed a bit rough but fun. Maybe a bit web-based.
GameSalad - This one seemed pretty good and one I also downloaded on Mac. Seems may be able to test on iOS fairly easily.
Scirra Construct 2 - Looks to be for Windows. Haven't looked into it much.

What I'm Looking For

What will I be looking for in the above tools? Ease of use and the speed at which I can translate my game ideas into actual playable games. I'm far more interested in getting ideas into game form than anything else.

I plan to start very simple and once I master one simple game design to move onto others and slowly build of my knowledge of how to translate ideas into games.

Thanks again to all my friends on Facebook who tool the time to point me in the right direction. As time goes along I may post more about my experience trying to design games as a programming noob.

OtterBox Commuter Case For The iPhone 4S Video Review

2012-02-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

In this 20 minute video I give my review of the OtterBox Commuter Series case for the iPhone 4S. I also go over some history of my love for OtterBox Commuter cases.

I discuss what I loved about the OtterBox Commuter Series case for my iPhone 3GS. I also go over some of the major failings I found in the OtterBox Commuter Series case for the iPhone 4 which I had been using for my iPhone 4S.

If you have any questions or are a company that makes iPhone cases that you would like me to review feel free to contact me at jimyounkin@gmail.com.

Twitter and Google+: How To Follow, Circle Back And Say "Thank You"

2012-01-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

Following/circling back and personally thanking those who take the time to follow you on Twitter and/or Google+ is one of the easiest and most fundamental ways to show that you care about your community/customers/followers.

In this short video I go through the mechanics of how to follow Twitter users back as well as thank them. I also go over how to circle back and thank those who circle you on Google+.

If you have questions about anything in the video or about twitter in general feel free to email me at jimyounkin@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

A Super Basic Intro to Twitter

2012-01-16T00:25:00.000-08:00

This is a short 20 minute video to be used as a basic introduction to Twitter for all Devil Lopers.

While created for those working on projects with Devil Loper, the things I talk about in the video can help anyone who is feeling lost when getting started with Twitter.

Three Year Old Me Vs A Kitchen Timer

2011-10-29T13:23:00.001-07:00

The earliest instance that I can find of my relationship with technology was when I was 2 or 3 years old. My family was living in a small Spartanette trailer and I had done something to make my mother angry with me. She placed me on the bed and set a round kitchen timer and placed it on the bed with me. "When this goes off you can get off the bed."

After about twenty minutes he realized that she hadn't heard the timer go off. She came to the bed to find me still there with pieces of the timer all around me. In her absence I had apparently decided I needed to take apart the timer perhaps to see how it worked.

This story is a portent of what my relationship with technology would be like as well as an early indication of the fascination I would develop for technology over the rest of my life.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011 - My Example Of Excellence For Over 13 Years.

2011-10-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

> We all lost a shining example of excellence today.

On the Apple website announcing Steve Job's passing was the following: If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

Below is what I wrote to Steve.

Steve,

I came to really know and love Apple right after you had come back to the company. The iMac was so much more than any other computer I'd seen in my life. It was just "right". Since then you continued to build product after product that inspired my and changed my life.

More than anything you showed that excellence is possible if only you believe and are dedicated to making the absolute best product you can.

My life will forever be changed by your example and I hope to live up to that example.

You will be missed but not forgotten Steve.

With gratitude,
-Jim Younkin

While the ache I feel in my heart for the loss of Steve will take a while to pass the fact that even right up until the end he was leading by example will be something I will remember for the rest of my life.

Cutting Through Marketing Speak and Fluff

2011-10-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

When I read the post "Yahoo! vagues up leadership reorganization PR with cutting edge gobbledygook" over at WebInkNow I had to chuckle. This type of "marketing speak" always makes me facepalm. Do the people writing this stuff really believe they are being effective communicators or are their hands so tied that they can only turn out something so vague as to not be help accountable or be able to be pinned down to anything specific all?

Having worked in marketing and public relations I can understand how phrases that "sound good" but essentially mean nothing in the end can be tempting. Often you are writing press releases with very un-solid information. I worked in video games and if there is one thing I learned is that people will hold you to every concrete detail (such as a release date or published feature) down to the "t".

If you don't deliver each and every exact detail you give they are bound to hound you until you die. That said, I think there is a fine line that can be drawn where you give enough relevant information as to get the idea you need to across while leaving you enough "wiggle room" to allow for changes and/or delays etc.

I became very expert at using phrases such as "seems" and "appears to" and "all signs point to". These phrases give the illusion of certainty while leaving you a much needed "out" if not everything goes according to plan.

An example might be if there was a bug in a game and the developers told me that the bug was fixed in the new patch. If I was writing the patch notes (notes that goes out with game patches explaining changes/bug fixes/etc.) I would say "The bug that was making helmets sit on character's heads sideways appears to be fixed." rather than "The bug that was making helmets sit on character's heads sideways is fixed." While it may seem like a small thing in the end it makes a big difference if, for example, the bog really wasn't fixed but still showed up.

I'm getting of a bit of a tangent. What I really wanted to do in this post was quote the Yahoo press release and then "boil it down" to see what (if anything) is is actually saying. Here is an excerpt from the recent Yahoo press release with the amazingly original title "Yahoo! Announces Leadership Reorganization".

Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board, said, "The Board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and our primary objective is to leverage the Company's leadership and current business assets and platforms to execute against these opportunities. We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. We are committed to exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo! on a trajectory for growth and innovation and deliver value to shareholders."

Whaaaat? It reads like a joke paragraph that some sort of "marketing speak" auto-generating machine would spit out. Now lets take this paragraph and cut out all the cliche, overused, and/or worthless "fluff" we can.

Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board, said, "~~The Board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and~~ our ~~primary~~ objective is to leverage the Company's leadership and current business assets and platforms to ~~execute against these opportunities~~. ~~We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend~~ to return the Company to ~~a path of robust~~ growth ~~and industry-leading innovation~~. We are ~~committed to~~ exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will ~~put Yahoo! on a trajectory for growth and innovation and~~ deliver value to shareholders."

OK. So lets see what we come up with without all the "empty calories".

Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board, said, "our objective ...is to leverage...the Company's leadership and current business assets and platforms... to return the Company to...growth.... We are...exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will...deliver value to shareholders."

While this is a start some of the marketing speak is so embedded in the way these people talk that to take it out will make it difficult to understand what they are talking about.

Here is my final distillation of the edited paragraph above:

Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board, said, "[we want to] ...[use]...the Company's [employees] and [assets]... to return the Company to...growth.... We are...[trying to figure out] [things] that will...deliver value to shareholders."

From this:

Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board, said, "The Board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and our primary objective is to leverage the Company's leadership and current business assets and platforms to execute against these opportunities. We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. We are committed to exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo! on a trajectory for growth and innovation and deliver value to shareholders."

To this:

"We want to use the Company's employees and assets to return the Company to growth. We are trying to figure out things that will deliver value to shareholders.

That is quite a bit of "fluff". One thing I realized while evaluating this is that they use the phrase "deliver value to shareholders". Can anyone out there tell me exactly what is means to "deliver value"? Seems like a very loose term that can be interpreted many different ways.

Does "deliver value" mean increasing the value of the stock? Increasing the value of the company assets? Delivering dividends? Who knows. And that is the real danger of "marketing speak" it gives the illusion of concrete details without delivering on anything that you can actually hold them accountable for.

If you ever end up writing a press release like the one excerpted above stop for one second and think. "Am I delivering any actual information? If not why not? Are there people in the company stopping me from giving any "real" information and if so why? What may they have to hide?