zerologic

Who cares about the iPhone?

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:34:21 GMT

What's with all of the hype around the iPhone? Haven't we had phones that have all of these features for years? In 2003 (6 years ago!) I had the Nokia N-Gage. I was able to install apps, play games, browse the web, and text like crazy. Ok, so it didn't have a camera, but I had plenty of friends with cameras in their phones, and some of them even did video.

In 2006 I had the Cingular 8125, a Windows Mobile based phone that had a completely customizable interface. It took pictures and video, it could do email, SMS, and had a neat slide out keyboard. Let's not forget the swanky stylus! It had Bluetooth, and WIFI too, and that was three years ago. I loaded all kinds of custom ROMs on it, and installed apps like crazy.

So why is the iPhone so great? It's just now getting features that have been in other phones for years, right? Let's take a look.

It was June 29th, 2007, I had been in line for about 15 hours, we camped out of course. I ended up being second in Boulder to get my hands on an iPhone - the line was around the corner and then some. We all had certain expectations of course - it was called the "Jesus Phone" after all. It had it's short comings, no Flash, no GPS, no 3G, the keyboard was weird, and the pricing? Yikes.

Then came July 11, 2008. We got started a little earlier in the evening this time, but I still ended up third line line. Not too bad for a line of hundreds. Again, the iPhone was the next best thing to water, though it still had it's shortcomings. The camera hadn't changed at all, and there was still no video. Turn by turn directions were nowhere to be found, voice dialing, and a decent Bluetooth implementation were missing. Don't forget Copy and Paste. And again I bought it, the white 16GB to be exact.

Then came June 18th, 2009. This time there were two lines: those that had reserved their phones ahead of time, and those that hadn't. I fell in the second line, in third place. I ended up being about 15thish into the store. Sure there are things missing from the iPhone 3Gs, like... SMS groups, Flash, and a "complete" Bluetooth A2DP profile, but you know what I've determined? It doesn't matter. It really doesn't.

I've been asked by many - what is all the hype about? Why are people so passionate about the iPhone. The Blackberry does all of this stuff, and has forever. There's the Palm Pre, and the newer Andriod phones are full of features too.

Let me tell you why I think the iPhone is a popular as it is. It's because all of it's features, the things that make the iPhone what it is, are right beneath the your fingers. Nothing makes this more clear than having my three year old (at the time) pick up my iPhone 2G and scroll through the photos, pinching and zooming away. A day later, he was taking pictures, and playing accelerometer based games. I would have never given him my 8125 (well, I did later as a toy without service).

The iPhone is so great because everything you want to do is right at your finger tips. It's not buried under levels of menus or mouse (nub) clicks away. There is no "start menu" and there's no need for a stylus. Want to take a picture? Touch the Camera. Want to send an SMS? Touch the chat bubble.

But you get far more with the iPhone than a simple phone. You get the internet to your pocket. It gives everyone the ability to keep in touch, have fun, and learn. Anywhere with a wireless signal.

Note: Apple is on the third version of the iPhone software. The software is freely available to all iPhone owners, including those of the original iPhone. This brings lots of features to a three year old phone, including copy and paste, and better performance. Think about it. Apple still releases software for it's first phone giving it new features.

TV and movies neuvo: Getting rid of cable and satellite TV

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:49:35 GMT

This is a story that cable and satellite TV providers will find increasingly familiar. It's possible and even easy to ditch your cable/satellite box for good. We've done it - I'll show you what we use, and if you have questions ask away - I'd love the answer them. First up? AppleTV.

AppleTV is hands down the easiest way to get internet based video to your HDTV. It has outputs for any HDTV, and makes online viewing of TV shows and movies an absolute breeze. You don't need a computer to use it, but if you have one it also acts a lot like an iPod. You can sync your music and movies from your computer to the AppleTV giving you access to tens of thousands of songs with the click of a little white remote. CD changers are so ancient in comparison.

The AppleTV gives you a couple of options for watching movies. First, you can rent movies for between $.99 on sale and $3.99 (for an HD version of a new release). Once you start watching a rented movie, you'll have 24 hours to finish it, or it simply evaporates. If you don't start watching it right away, you'll have 30 days to start, then the same rules apply. The other option is to buy the movie outright, allowing you to watch it entirely on your own schedule. Purchasing movies costs between $4.99 (on sale) and $14.99, depending on the movie. Either way, the movie will sync to your computer giving you the option of watching it there or to move it to an iPod or an iPhone.

Television shows from many major networks are available for purchase through the AppleTV. They're $1.99 per episode, and aren't available for rent. You can buy entire seasons of shows through the iTunes store, just as you can on DVD. Many shows are also available as a subscription - they'll be downloaded automatically as soon as they're available - usually the day after they air on TV.

If that wasn't enough, Apple gives you access to the entire iTunes music store as well. You can buy songs and albums right from your TV - no more trips to the CD store or even to your computer. You can literally click and buy music. Since every song in the iTunes store is now DRM free (you can play it anywhere) there's no reason not to buy from Apple.

All in all, the AppleTV is an amazing device, whether or not you have a computer. If you're going to use it to watch movies and TV shows from the iTunes store, you'll want to have reasonably fast broadband internet access. AppleTV is $224 at Amazon.

The Web

Most popular shows on television are also available through the network's website. It's been a slow transition - just a couple of years ago, very few shows were available online legally making it pretty much impossible to enjoy. A few startups have popped up that make this process ever easier: Hulu for TV shows and a small library of movies, Boxee for movies and other internet based content, and Netflix for thousands of "watch it now" online movies. Other options include Amazon Video On Demand, Crackle, and of course the iTunes store.

There are really two options for getting these kinds of sources to your TV. The first is to simply connect a computer to your TV. Many HDTVs have the most basic connector - the VGA connector - and almost all newer HDTVs have Component and HDMI. Your video card will always support VGA, but may need an adaptor to connect to the other types. Once you've made this connection, watching TV from from website is as simple as going to the site, finding the show, and clicking the "full screen" button.

Finding a PC to connect to your TV can be a challenge. I built my own, but there are many options available to you if you'd prefer to just buy one. There's the Apple Mac Mini for starters, and there are a slew of Home Theater PCs too running Windows of some kind. If you'd like me to help you build one, let me know below and we can work on details and pricing.

Another way to get these shows to your computer is to buy a set top box that was developed for just this purpose. One such box is the Roku Digital Video Player - for just $99, this box connects to your broadband internet and your TV giving you access to Amazon On Demand and Netflix instantly. I've never used a Roku Digital Video Player, but I've never heard anything bad about it by those that have.

Live TV

Every Thursday for the past 5 years, my wife Heather and I have hosted a dinner party we've come to call Survivorhetti (thanks to David Cohen for the name). A group of friends come over for dinner, wine, and dessert. As a part of the evening we watch several TV programs depending on what's in season. Survivor is the focus, but other shows enter and leave the evening. Dollhouse, Eureka, Lost!, and Smallville have all been staples - lately we're trying out Big Bang Theory, and Castle.

Survivor is now the only show where we need some form of "live" TV capability – it airs on Thursdays at 7:00 PM, so we need to be able to record and watch it that night. The DVR (Digital Video Recorder) has made this a non-issue over the past 5 years, but without a cable or satellite DVR recording, live TV takes a little more effort. The solution I implemented turns a computer in to a TV, literally, allowing you to watch broadcast TV in a window.

Set up was simple. I bought the Elgato Systems EyeTV Hybrid TV Tuner Stick from ElGato - an HD TV tuner with great Mac based software for tuning and recording shows. There's a simple hack that allows it to run on a Windows based computer, but if you're only going to run on Windows, get a Windows specific device like the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q TV Tuner Stick. I bought a really nice antenna as well, the Terk HDTVa Indoor Amplified High-Definition Antenna that lets me tune in to the local HD TV signals.

Summary

As you can see, there are lots of options for watching video on your HDTV without having cable or satellite. There are literally tens of thousands of shows and movies out there. If you can let go of the perceived need for live TV, you can also let go of the $50 to $150 per month fee you're paying for TV. Really, save the money, get Netflix, and start enjoying TV the modern on demand way.

As always, if you have questions or thoughts, comment away. Let's talk.

Moving a Boot Camp disk to a Parallels Virtual Machine

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:38:12 GMT

The day Windows 7 RC was released, I wanted to get it installed on my MacBook Pro. My MacBook has the power, and I already have a 40 gigabyte partition dedicated to Windows Vista Home. I rarely boot directly in to Vista using Boot Camp, but I do use Parallels to run that copy of Vista in a virtual machine (Parallels lets you use a Boot Camp partition as a disk in a virtual machine).

Having Vista available in both environments has been very handy, it's saved gigabytes of hard drive space by not having to dedicate 40GB in disk space to Boot Camp, and another 20GB to a disk image. In order to get Windows 7 installed, I wanted to make the existing Vista partition in to a Parallels virtual hard disk.

It took a while, but I found the perfect solution. Parallels has an application called Parallels Transporter for Windows that helps you move a real Windows PC to a Parallels virtual hard disk. It's perfect for people that want to move to the Mac, but that aren't yet ready to let their Windows applications go completely.

But for us, this means we can trick Parallels in to moving a Boot Camp based hard drive partition to a Parallels virtual disk. Simply install and run Parallels Transporter for Windows in the running Boot Camp based virtual machine. Run the Mac version of Parallels Transporter - the windows virtual machine looks exactly like a Windows based computer, and does it's job just as well.

The result is a virtual hard disk with an exact copy of your Boot Camp disk.

Thoughts? Comments?

Hacking Starbucks: Cheap, and free.

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:29:20 GMT

There are very few people that spend as much time in a Starbucks as I do - somewhere between 20 and 40 hours a week. There are lots of reasons I choose to spend that much time in a Starbucks, and I'll cover those in another post. This post is about saving money while there.

The Gold Card
Last year, Starbucks started a preferred customer program called the Gold Card. It's a simple proposition: buy the Gold Card for $25 per year, and get 10% off of every purchase. The math is easy... if you spend $250 per year at Starbucks, you'll at least break even. For me, this would be a simple decision, I spend that in no time at all. (Truth be told, I was invited in to the program, so my Gold Card was free. ;-)

The Gift Card
Starbucks also started a rewards program with the standard Starbucks cards last year. If you register your gift card online, you get several benefits. The important ones for this post are 1) free refills and add-ins, and 2) Two hours of free WIFI per day as long as there's activity on the card. Oddly the Gold Card doesn't offer free refills, so you need both to really gain.

Starbucks, by policy refills americanos with drip coffee only. If you make friends with the baristas, you can often have them "refill" an americano because it's easier.

Here's the trick
I use the gold card to make the initial purchase to save the 10%, and the Starbucks card for free refills. I have my gold card set to refill when a minimum balance is reached, and use it to pay for everything. That includes my initial coffee, and any food items I buy. This also makes tracking my coffee/Starbucks purchases really easy.

My preferred drink is a decaf americano, but this works for drip coffee too. I used to get a venti (the largest size), roughly twice a day. That's $5.54 per day, and the drip refills are free. Since refills are free, I decided to drop down to the smallest size, the "tall" size, which is $2ish before the 10% discount ($1.80 after). That means I'm saving $1.94 or 35% on my coffee drinks total per day all told.

Of course my savings are larger since I usually buy a food item in the morning. (FYI, the lowest calorie decent item on the menu is the Oatmeal, and it's $1.65)

Decaf refills in the afternoon
Starbucks recently changed to decaf drip on-demand in the afternoons. This sounds like a pain as you would have to wait for drip coffee to brew for your refill. In fact, it's a good thing, since making an americano is easier on the barista than getting a fresh pot of decaf going. Nine times out of 10, I'll get the refilled americano if I just ask for it.

WIFI
The rule with a registered Starbucks gift card is that you get two hours of free wifi. The funny thing is that the limits aren't enforced as far as I can tell. So, for $5 one time on a gift card, and as long as you use the card (free refills count!) you get wifi at Starbucks.

AT&T WIFI service
Unlimited monthly service on the AT&T wifi network is $20/mo. That is a GREAT price if you spend anywhere as much time as I do in a Starbucks. Generally speaking, the reliability of the internet at a Starbucks on the AT&T network is incredible, and fast. This is the main reason I go to Starbucks so often... my business is the web, so it needs to be reliable. Indie shops, as much as I love them, come nowhere close.

I recently found a service called Boingo. It gives you access to all of the same locations as the $20/mo AT&T plan, for $9.95/mo. Why wouldn't you spend $10/mo for unlimited access at 75,000 locations? You would, go do that now.

Summary
Starbucks is in business to make money, I understand that, and these tips will not break them. There are plenty of people buying $5 drinks to more than make up for it.

If you have any other tips or suggestions for saving money at Starbucks, I'd LOVE to hear them. Leave a comment below!

New Photo: Tree Star

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:41:54 GMT

There are several giant blooming Cottonwood trees behind my house - they're one of the reasons we chose our lot. The views from the back of the house, the back yard, and the kitchen are full of these trees. There's also a small pond, and cat tails forever.

As the sun was on the way down just before #zoosketti, I noticed through our sliding glass door these huge, dusk-lit trees. I just had to go play. I took several photos - of the leaves and the bark but my favorite of the bunch was this... "Tree Star."

If you don't know, I dabble in photography from time to time. If you like my work, head over to my Flickr site. There are snapshots there too, so you may have to browse to see the good stuff.

The Global Backyard BBQ. Or, Bring the Social Back!

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:49:05 GMT

This idea came to me as I was listening to C.C. Chapman's podcast Managing the Gray. Specifically, the episode was Bringing the Social Back - a look at how the face to face aspect of social networking is disappearing. Those of us that live in the social media bubble can relate - the only time I see many of the people I follow is at a tech event, or in passing at a coffee shop*.

I propose that we organize and promote a global potluck barbeque. Let's pick a day (the same day everywhere, and roughly the same time), and on that day we gather at day long parties and actually get to know one another. No planned pitches, no selling, no fundraising. Let's get to know the people we see in Twitter and Facebook. It's a pretty crazy idea, I know, "socializing."

The gatherings could be in someone's backyard, or in a park with a grill - wherever you think is appropriate, and family friendly. Each event would need a host or an organizer, and there could be multiple parties in the larger cities or metro areas.

Here are a couple of Saturdays I've picked (from thin air): July 11th 2009 or August 8th 2009. If you have a better day, let's chat, this idea is totally open and I'd love the feedback. I wanted to schedule them far enough in the future that conflicts are less likely.

For Boulder, CO I'm thinking Eben G Fine Park.

It's a big idea that'll take a lot participation, so who's in? Do you want to help organize an event near you? Leave a comment below! Let's get started!

*In Boulder it's pretty easy to hang out with the people. It's a small, charged community, with lots of events and things to do. That said, I'm not sure people are getting to know people outside of their normal social circle. I'd like to see that change, starting with my participation in said events. See you soon!

Want to be debt free? I'll give you the book. Literally.

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:17:06 GMT

One of the most positive changes in my life is that besides our mortgage, Heather and I are totally debt free. We don't have payments to on credit cards*, cars, or loans of any kind. It is remarkable, so remarkable in fact that I'm going to help you get there. I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, as they say.

The first step to becoming debt free is having a plan. It takes a certain amount of discipline too of course, but having a game plan and a reference is immensely helpful. Heather and I read a book by Dave Ramsey called The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness and used that as our plan. In short, Dave suggests seven "baby steps" to becoming debt free and taking control of your money. They work, very, very well but you have to follow them.

I believe in this concept so much (and in Dave's plan in general) that I bought 10 copies of Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" to give away to my readers. I have five physical books, and five audio CDs to give away.

All you have to do is post a comment below explaining why you want to get out of debt (you don't have to include amounts of course) and how it would affect your life. From the comments, I'll pick 10 of you to send the book to. That simple. In your post, indicate which format you'd like and as supplies last I'll send you what you'd like.

If you have no interest in the book or being debt free, but know someone that might, please share this post with them. If you really want to get the word out there, retweet my Twitter post or post it in Facebook as your status.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Why do you want to be debt free?

P.S. Dave Ramsey also has a podcast on iTunes. It is an hour long, and really got me fired up about being debt free. Listen for yourself.

* We have a credit card, but I pay it off literally every 4 days. Chase doesn't like us because we don't carry a balance (they make no interest), and we earn $1 for every hundred we spend. They literally pay us to have that card. There is a certain amount of risk we're taking by doing this. I'd recommend that you do away with all credit cards, no matter the circumstance, then once you're totally debt free maybe do something like this. It is literally playing with snakes and takes a lot of discipline. Start simple, really.

What I use for: Word Processing

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:26:53 GMT

Since my first post on piracy, I've been asked a few times to outline the programs I use day to day. Today I'm covering word processing and notes. I use a mix of online services and desktop programs. It sounds cumbersome, but it is pretty simple as each program has a specific use.

For notes and my blog posts, I use a simple program/web service combination called Evernote. It's a cross platform program with native apps for Mac, iPhone, Windows, and Windows Mobile. It is also accessible through the Evernote web site on any computer. All of these sources sync via Evernote.com, so I'm always up to date, everywhere. Think about that... your notes everywhere you are. The Mac version is my favorite because of the interface design. The built-in spell checking on the Mac is pretty amazing too. The Windows version is fine, but I'm not a fan of interface to the documents. It's like a long sheet with a strange cumbersome slider. Oh, be sure to check out the cool text recognition features of the iPhone app!

While Evernote is great for notes and blogs entries, most people don't use it. When I need to edit Word documents or send them to others, I use either Apple's iWork Pages or OpenOffice. Since all I typically do is read documents, the odd rendering problems I may encounter aren't that important. Compatibility in those applications has come a long, long way however. iWork '09 from Apple is $64.99 at Amazon. It includes Pages (word processing), Numbers (spreadsheet), and Keynote (presentations). OpenOffice is free and can be downloaded from OpenOffice.org. There are Mac, Windows, and Linux versions, all available for free.

For work and when I need to collaborate on documents with others, Google Documents is simply amazing. It's 100% web based, and is great for allowing others to edit and view your docs. There is a revision history so you know who did what and when. It isn't as robust as a stand alone word processing program, but you should at least try it as it will serve the needs of a whole lot of you.

What do you use?

The Personal Technology Advisor

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:17:40 GMT

Do you know someone that needs a technology makeover? Someone that hears things like Twitter, iPhone, HD, etc., and really wants to know how to leverage these things in their daily lives? I'm looking for freelancers, CXOs, or simply GSDers that have a strong desire to learn about, and embrace technology.

I'll teach them about latest and greatest in computers and consumer technologies and services. I want to help them become comfortable enough with technology to enjoy it - to use it to improve their lives. They can make the move from technology as a necessity, or even a point of fear, to technology as a lifestyle enhancement.

Over and over again, I'm told that I have the ability to take technical subjects and present them to non-technical people in ways that make sense. Clearly there's a need to help people understand and embrace technology - and it happens to be a passion of mine. Ask anyone that knows me.

Why not send just people to the Apple store or Best Buy? Have a look at just about any store pushing technology (yes, even Apple). Sales people aren't in the business of teaching, they're programmed to sell. And sell they do. What's missing is the desire to help. That I have (to a fault at times).

It's time to bring people in to the modern age, without a hard sales pitch, and without the biased voice of the vendor. People don't want a pitch, they want technology that works.

For help with physical needs, such as installing networks or home theaters, I'll refer work to local business that specialize in those areas when it makes sense. The last thing I want to do is get in the way of local business.

What's my pricing model? I'll accept whatever the client determines the value of my services to be. There's nothing to lose. I'm doing this for fun, not for a living. I love technology, plain and simple, and I want to share my passion.

Do you know anyone that might benefit from my many years in technology?

I've got a new Startup. What do you think?

msitarzewski@gmail.com (Michael Sitarzewski) — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:35:15 GMT

Today, I'm announcing a new startup. I've been working on this one for more than 20 years (is that still a Startup?), so I think it's finally time to unleash it. It already has a blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and even a Flickr account. Soon it will have a video Podcast, and maybe even a live show from time to time on UStream. It will play in the "whatever-the-hell-it-wants" space. Sound like fun? Curious? Without further ado, my new Startup is... me.

Every startup has a mission, and here's mine: "To help others enjoy life as much as I do." It's that simple. I have many interests, most of which are centered around five topics: self, family, personal finance, business, and technology.

Technology
As if there were any question, I'm a geek - a technology connoisseur - and I'll share the things I see with you. I usually read close to 1000 RSS feed titles per day and have a constant stream of live news via Twitter and other social media sources. I see, read, and listen to lots of things, and I'm going to share them with you in the hopes that I can improve your technology consumption. Not just in quantity of course, but quality too. I've got another post coming that will add a little clarity to this concept. I'll get you up to date, and keep you there.

Business
Advanced Imagesetting was the name of my first DBA (I was 19). Today I run an 8 year old web software (startup?) company called HyperSites. HyperSites is a browser-based web development platform for web designers. My newest project is called Callisto. Callisto made it's feedback debut at Podcamp Boulder earlier this year as yourTuner. I'll put up a post about it soon, but the gist is streaming channels of podcast content with a super simple player interface. I think you'll like it, especially if you're a podcaster - or - if you couldn't care less about podcasts. I have a million stories relating to starting, and failing in business and I'll share them with you.

Personal Finance
In late 2007, my wife and I decided that we'd had enough. We were a little over $50k in debt, and could never seem to get ahead. I started listening to a guy named Dave Ramsey and the rest (and our debt) is history. I sold my favorite car, and we cut expenses to a minimum to pay it all off within a year. I'll share the gory details of how we did it, and how we continue to save and spend wisely. Being debt free is amazing, and I'll help you get there.

Family
My goal isn't to be a daddy blogger (not that there's anything wrong with that). My wife Heather and I have been together going on 15 years - we've been married for 7 and have never been happier. Communication started very early, and continues today on everything from our son to finances, and alone time. Our amazing son Zion is about to turn five. I'll share my relationship and parenting experiences with you.

Self
Looking back is always easy, right? I've had four, going on five careers. I've created companies all of my adult life and haven't had a J-O-B since 1992. I quit smoking cold turkey after 17 years of a pack a day. I dropped 40 lbs by simply paying attention. I've gone from 5 pets to one son. I've moved more times than I can remember since childhood and have lived on both coasts and several places in between. But above all, I've lived a full life and have a pretty unique perspective on the world. I'll be happy to share it with you.

If you haven't picked it up, this startup is all about sharing with you, the reader. It is about helping you create good things in your lives and building a conversations around it. Want to join me? Want to help? Spread the word, and most of all, participate. Leave comments, no matter how silly or serious you think they might be. I want to hear from you, however that works for you.