iPhone SDK

That said, I think what’s motivating about the iPhone platform is the potential audience.  Not only are the users generally “Internet-savvy”, but they’re also very loyal to the Apple brand and platform.

One thing that’s pretty unique in the way iPhone applications are delivered is that because new applications are automatically featured at the top of the ONLY distribution channel (the App Store), every new submission has a chance to become popular.

I’m not at all saying it’s easy to create a successful app; however, the initial exposure for an iPhone app is virtually unparalleled in most software markets.

Traffic Funnel

Shockwave basically describes a situation in which you are forced to slow down on the highway without seeing what’s ahead causing the change in speed.  Once you get in position to see further ahead, traffic begins to pick up and speeds are returning to normal.

Not only was that news to me, but I didn’t even know there was a job called “traffic planner”.  I mean, it makes perfect sense for the position to exist – I guess I just overlooked that aspect of urban planning.

Here’s the full graphic.  If you already knew this then you are certainly a better person than I am.

Setup was a breeze – I was able to connect to my wireless network and wireless printer without a problem.  Of course, I was expecting everything to run pretty smoothly considering it runs Windows XP Home and I’ve never really had a problem with this OS.

My biggest complaint is probably the keyboard, which is obviously smaller than a normal keyboard. The period and slash buttons are cut in half like most smaller laptops, so I constantly type “./” instead of “.” because my finger presses both keys at the same time.  That being my only real issue, for $300 I’m pretty impressed.

Gotham: 46 New Styles

Though I’m not much of a graphic designer, Gotham commands a sort of “respect” from me that I don’t fully understand.  It’s one of those things that irks me because I know my subconscious is having a field day, but I can’t put my finger on exactly why I enjoy seeing Gotham in headlines and other important messages.

According to the Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Gotham is being used “on soda cans, boarding passes, billboards and banner ads; we’ve seen it engraved in marble on a cornerstone, and cast in rubber on the sole of a shoe.”

Not too mention, of course, that Gotham was the font chosen for all of Barack Obama’s campaign signage and marketing.

Sound futuristic?  Okay, then let’s start with software.  What if all applications published events in the same way, perhaps to a central server on a network?  What if an enterprise application aggregated all these events and presented them in useful ways depending on the context and the request?  I jot down a note in Outlook, it gets recorded.  I submit my timesheet hours, and it, too, gets recorded.  Soon we’d have a personal “work stream” of everything we did during the day, providing insight into how we work and what we can do to become more efficient.

Beginner affiliate marketers rarely see high returns in their first few months because they focus too much on increasing sales volume and not enough on decreasing the cost of a lead/action.

I think it boils down to this: because online advertising is so easy to track, analyze, and tweak, it’s insane not to be ridiculously efficient when purchasing a lead.  And that’s what you’re really doing – you spend money on advertising to purchase a lead, and you succeed if the cost of that lead is less than the revenue generated per lead.

That’s why I’m always confused when I hear about companies that have fixed budgets for advertising.  In reality, a business should have a fixed budget for “experimental” advertising, but an unlimited budget for successful advertising.  For example, if every time you handed me $1, I gave you $2 back, would you cap yourself at handing me $100 per day or would you continue to trade me dollars for more dollars ad infinitum?

This quote makes me wonder how much I miss by thinking too small and not asking why. It’s much easier to believe what others say than to challenge what they don’t say.

Seems to me that most successful entrepreneurs think both outside of themselves and the present state of affairs. They may apply a standard of one market to another, or use a seemingly contrary, though proven rule in a yet unproven industry.

Over the last two weeks – 6 days of PTO I might add – I made 17 lists of things to do. That’s a little OCD, no? I’m a little concerned. Now I could put that on my list of resolutions, but I’m staying away from resolutions this year. Maybe if I don’t call something a “resolution” I’ll have a better chance of achieving it.

Enter Versions, Beanstalk, and Lighthouse to check out code, manage and commit changes, and track issues.  Then, combine Basecamp for collaboration and Freshbooks for invoicing with Google Apps for mail, calendaring, and document storage, and Snowdrop is completely web-based (and hosted).  No software maintenance = less headaches.