San Francisco Has a Vibe

I love this city. There's a vibe here. I don't feel I can quite explain it in words, but this is one of the places on Earth which resonates with my soul. San Francisco. Like Seattle, Maui and Edinburgh, too. It's mysterious to me, but I somehow feel more alive when I am in one of these places. There's a combination of factors, the lighting, the atmosphere, the proximity to water, the hills and mountains, the typical weather, the aromas of the types of food around, the coffee, the bustle or complete lack thereof. Geographic love. The feeling of not wanting to go back. The desire for change of pace.

This trip, I got to re-connect with an old friend thanks to the simultaneously best and worst thing which has ever happened to mankind, this here beast you're reading this on: The Internet. It would have been extremely unlikely I think, for me to have taken the opportunity to reach out to a few of my old friends, to let them know I'd be here for a few days, without the advent of email and Twitter and Facebook.

Thankfully, however, I mentioned to two friends (and more) I'd be in SF to demo my company's work near a trade show. Andrew took me up on the invitation and came to see what I've been working on for the past two years. And I am so glad he took the time to come hang with me for an evening and grab some dinner. It was great to catch up in person after 20 or so years, and shoot the breeze about school days, friends, biking, work, kids. All the stuffs.

We talked about our kids, as parents are wont to do, and of course, the "best and worst thing" came up. How can you be a good parent if you allow unfettered, uncensored access to all the (disturbing, pornographic, senseless, racist, homophobic, myriad-other-pejorative-adjectives) bullshit available on all the servers Google crawls? Let alone just letting them connect with their own questionable peers on Facebook or its ilk. And yet, how can you be a good parent if you deny access to all the (wonderful, literate, scientific, artistic, factual, reasonable) content of the world wide web? And their own friends! The www both rules and drools at the very same time. Parenting is becoming more difficult as time goes on, because keeping our kids from knowing things "too soon" is harder than it used to be.

Used to be you could rely on the librarian to let you know if your kid was checking out (or even just checking out) a book of questionable morals... Now, there ain't no librarian between clicking the search button and instantly seeing the top 100 images on any topic 13 year olds can imagine. Access to knowledge is a great thing, but access to certain knowledge before you're ready for it is just not the best thing for kids sometimes. Parents: take good care of your babies, and help them figure it out when they are inevitably exposed too soon to something they weren't quite yet ready for.

Dinner dinner dinner. Ah, Thirsty Bear, my old friend. As I order my second beer, while he's still half done with his first, I'm reminded I can (fortunately? unfortunately?) handle more alcohol than my friends of Asian descent who weigh less than me. More sorry for them than anything really. ;-)

We talked about biking, and racing bikes, and commuting by bike. He far exceeds my own feeble attempts at bike commuting. My commute is flat and 10 miles one way. His is through the hills surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area and 25 or 30 miles one way. I do an average of 27 miles a week. He does 200. He races. I do not. But hey, I commute by bike 1 or 2 or 3 days a week, and I'm loving it. And he tells me "every ride is a good ride." I couldn't agree more.

And... since he works for Synaptics, I took the opportunity to ask him "why the fheck does my Dell trackpad suck, but my old MacBook Air trackpad rocked?" And, as it turns out, there's actually a reason for it. It's not just "all in my head." Most PC manufacturers still connect the trackpad via the old school PS2 mouse/keyboard hardware interface because they don't want to sacrifice a USB port to have a higher speed connection between the trackpad and the motherboard. But Apple, oh Apple, paragon of producing engineered consumer delight, once again trumps every other company on the planet by designing a custom interface from the trackpad itself to the board. Their higher speed interface allows them to produce the infinitely better experience of actually tracking my fingers across the trackpad accurately. I remember fondly the days when I could actually click and drag on my trackpad. Oh, to work on a MacBook again. What I wouldn't give.

As it turns out, my friend Andrew is listed as one of the inventors on something which Apple, somehow, mysteriously, after some of them saw a demo of it in action, "invented independently" very shortly thereafter. Or something like that. Wouldn't it be cool if you could have a touch-based trackpad, but like a clear one, so you could put it on top of an LCD screen and make, oh, I don't know, a touchscreen cell phone or tablet?

http://www.google.com/patents/US7030860

(Note the dates, and recall, if you will, the first iPhone went up for sale in 2007.)

Despite the obvious use of the patented technology, which, you know, could have been an independent simultaneous invention, Andrew tells me he's grateful every day for Apple and their iPhone explosion around the world. Since they won't sell their parts to anybody else, all the other cell phone manufacturers look to Synaptics to get their transparent touch screens for their phones, which turn out to have quite a high market demand these days... Thanks, in large measure, to Apple. Moral of this particular story: if Apple wants to steal something from you... Let them!

Last time I was here was about four years ago, in 2011. I attended Apple's WWDC that year, the last year Steve Jobs was alive and spoke to the conference attendees. I do hope I get to visit again sooner than four years from now. My honey's got a conference lined up out here for July. Hopefully I'll get to go with.

San Francisco has a vibe. It resonates with my very being. And I love it.

All About Info.plist Keys

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/General/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009248-SW1

You're welcome.

From 0 to 1,000,000 in 8 months

Possible? Or am I crazy?

Could we possibly go from 0 to 1,000,000 users in a mere eight months?

So far, only a handful of people have purchased and downloaded Sgt Fitness since its release 2 weeks ago. Thank you. You know who you are. ("Thanks, Mom, Rob, my sisters and my cousins.")

But it will ramp up. I am trying to figure out strategies to get the word out. Writing and publishing the app was a piece of cake... now comes the hard work of continuously promoting it. I'd like to see everybody who buys Sgt Fitness "talk it up" and convince one other person each month moving forward to check it out. And by check it out, I mean, buy a copy, use it, and then convince one other person each month to check it out.

If we can somehow get that sort of a user base as the first 4,000 Sgt Fitness devotees, and we can get to that 4,000 level quickly, watch what happens:

Starting with 4,000 people, each convincing one other person to check it out each month, after 1 month, we'll have 8,000 people.

Then after 2 months: 16,000 people

After 3: 32,000

4: 64,000

5: 128,000

6: 256,000

7: 512,000

8: 1,024,000

Perfect. Eight months from 4,000 to over a million people once we get that rhythm established.

Now: how to establish such a rhythm?

Will you be one of my first 4,000 that helps launch us to the "million dollars to charity" level? I hope so.

If you are one of my early adopters: thank you. Help spread the word by leaving Sgt Fitness on all the time, and actually using it. When people see you doing pushups in the office, they're bound to ask "What's up?" When they do, tell them it's all Sgt Fitness's fault and they should do it, too.

Leave the sound turned on for your iPhone. With the sound on, people will hear your phone saying "Drop and give me 20!" and ask "What's up?" When they do, tell them...

Of course, to go from my first 16 users, to 4,000 may take just as long. It may take sixteen months rather than eight to hit the goal. I might not achieve the million dollar goal until 2012 at that rate... :-)

Starting with 16, which we will definitely have by the end of May, 2011, we can get to 4,000+ after 8 months by doubling each month:

1: 32

2: 64

3: 128

4: 256

5: 512

6: 1,000

7: 2,000

8: 4,000

Which, if it actually pans out that way, would put us at 4,000 users by end of January, 2012.

Or... we could get somebody famous to be our spokesperson, and accelerate the whole thing, by speaking to millions of people at once. Got any famous friends who'd be willing to have lunch with me?

 

Sgt Fitness: now available in the App Store

Help me give $1,000,000 to charity!

My latest creation for the iPhone, Sgt Fitness, the workout coach for the Twitter generation, is now available in the App Store.

It's an exercise reminder app that drills you daily with short workout sessions that you can do anywhere, anytime. Each one only takes a minute or two, but over the course of the day, these drills add up to way more activity than you normally get just sitting in front of your computer.

If you've been making excuses like "I don't have time for a workout" or "I can't afford a gym membership" or "there's no shower at work" or ... then Sgt Fitness is for you. Everybody's got time for a minute or two here and there, the app costs way less than a gym membership, and working out in micro-bursts of activity won't get you too sweaty for your officemates.

Sgt Fitness converts your iPhone into a pocket-sized dose of self-discipline to help you get and stay fit.

Watch out, though. Sgt Fitness has a voice! If the sound is on, sarge'll let you know it's time for a drill with a verbal "Drop and give me 20!" Or, if you're like me, and you hate it when your phone makes sounds in the middle of a conversation with somebody, you'll get the old "vvvmmmppp" vibration alert. Either way, it's time for some activity, private.

Got ADD? No worries: the sergeant tells you exactly what to do and when to do it. You don't even have to think about it. And by the time you get distracted while doing the drill, it's over anyway. On to the next shiny thing, and before you know it, another couple of hours and a few hundred web pages have gone by, and it's time for the next drill.

"David, this is fantastic!" you say. "I've been thinking I should get more fit, and Sgt Fitness will help me there. I get it. But how will this help you give a million dollars to charity?"

I'm glad you asked. But I'm not going to answer that question until the next blog post. For now, suffice it to say that I am seeking the first 4,000 users of Sgt Fitness, and that I hope to recruit them within a month. Friends and family, I implore you: help me sell Sgt Fitness to the whole wide world -- blog, tweet, linked-in and facebook it up for me.

Sgt Fitness is available exclusively for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Buy a copy today, and then let all your friends know there's a new workout in town. No gym membership required.

Stay fit!

Follow @SgtFitnessApp on Twitter for news and updates about the app... And check out the Sgt Fitness web page.

The iPad will be another game changer... and here's why

Changing the game? Will the iPad really change anything? Did anybody really think different here?

Yes. It will. And they did.

The simple facts are:

• it weighs 1.5 pounds
• it's about half an inch thick
• its battery lasts 10 hours
• it's bigger than your phone
• it's full color
• it has a multitouch screen
• it's a multi-function device

Let's put these facts into perspective, into terms we can relate to.

It weighs 1.5 pounds. That's less than two pints of Guinness. That's less than my dinner weighed last Friday at Red Robin. It's an order of magnitude less than your average backpack, purse or briefcase. You have to admit: carrying it around is going to be easier than carrying around a laptop.

It's about half an inch thick. It's thinner than most of the books on your bookshelf. It's a little thicker than your laptop's screen, but not quite as thick as your laptop's base. It's approximately the size of a regular pad of paper.

Its battery lasts 10 hours. Ten hours. Ten. Hours. Of real, actually using it time. That's long enough to watch the entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy on a single charge. One charge will last longer than your longest domestic flight ever. Even most international and overseas flights. No fair counting time stuck in airports when flights are cancelled. You can plug in when that happens...

It's bigger than your phone. Which means you'll be able to see the movies you watch on it without a magnifying glass, or holding it up just a foot in front of your face. Reading web pages in the browser, facebook, twitter, email, reading books, checking out photos, viewing map details, playing games: all are bound to be nicer on a larger screen.

It's full color. Obviously. Why anybody would make a black and white or even gray scale device these days is beyond me. I just don't get it. Even granted that you're trying to emulate a book or a newspaper... I still don't get it. Books and newspapers have bits of color in them, especially books with charts and figures and photos. The Kindle app on my iPhone has color: the covers are full color photos and the chapter headings are blue underlined hyperlinks. I wonder what those things look like on the real Kindle...

It has a multitouch screen. Using your fingers on a touch screen is a way better interaction experience than a mouse, keyboard, pen or set of mechanical buttons ever dreamed of. If you haven't tried a good multitouch device yet with your own fingers, you gotta try one. It's just really cool. The tactile sensation of controlling stuff with your fingertips rocks.

It's not "far superior" -- it's way better. What's the difference? "Way better" is what regular people say. And that's where the iPad will find an audience. Regular people around the globe will flock to the iPad, maybe even faster than they did to the iPhone. This is not just for geeks. It's not even for geeks. It's for everybody.

It's a multi-function device. It does everything regular people need a computer to do. It surfs the web, plays music, movies and games, reads books, shows you photos and maps, helps you organize your life, stay in touch, share with friends and family. And more.

Yet some people are saying it won't be successful. Why would anybody pay such a high price for it?

Um. Because it's a better watching-movies-on-airplanes device? Because it has a battery that lasts all day? Because it's not really that much more money than a digital picture frame or a Kindle, but it does a bazillion things more?

And actually, it's extremely price competitive with lots of computers from lots of manufacturers. High price? With the exception of my iPhone, graciously subsidized by AT&T, the iPad is way cheaper than any other computer I have ever purchased. Ever. Manufacturers who have counted on Apple keeping their computer prices high forever have got to be a bit apprehensive about what this means for them. Their competitive landscape just got a whole ecological makeover with Apple selling portable, capable stuff in the $500 to $800 range.

I'm not a big one for making predictions, but this time I'm going out on a limb. I foresee all of the following happening...

The iPad is going to be a huge success. It will transform the entire worldwide market for computing devices. There will be several copycats in the months and years following its introduction. Some computer makers will go out of business because their sales will decline sharply after the iPad comes out and they won't be able to adapt quickly enough.

High school and college kids will be carrying these around instead of the 30# backpack full of textbooks. People will be watching movies on them on airplanes instead of on their tiny little phone screens or their "this-laptop-doesn't-quite-fit-on-my-lap-when-I'm-on-an-airplane" laptop screens. People who do presentations all the time will abandon Microsoft PowerPoint and start using Keynote on an iPad.

The iPad is the Apple computer for the people who have until now been thinking that Apple computers are just a tad too pricey. Now that they're just as cheap as any other computers, people will flock. Stampede even.

The cool factor doesn't hurt either.

You'll see. Mark my words. :-)