Mike is...

Broken Step From Apple Store Goes For Over $10k on eBay. WTF

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:06:29 -0800

Broken Step From Apple Store Goes For Over $10k on eBay. WTF:

You no longer need to question the strength of the economic recovery or Apple’s fan base. Steve may rethink the price point of the iPad after seeing a broken step from the his 5th Ave Apple Store in…

Checking Out: Why I'm Stepping Down From 43 Mayorships

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:38:25 -0800

New York City, Thursday, June 4th 2009 I checked in to Saigon Grill with several other folks before heading over to Webster Hall, the site of my second check-in and watched a live taping of Diggnation.

I woke up late the next morning for a flight to southern California out of JFK, the site of my 4th check-in. There was a 5th at LAX and a 6th at the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara. This pattern of arriving and checking in continued until today. 467 check-ins and 43 mayorships later and I’m calling it quits. Well, maybe.

I have been wondering a lot lately why I bother checking in to these places. Why do I feel compelled to announce my presence or stake my claim of a venue that I’m not really mayor of?

I have spent countless hours updating, merging and adding venues but if asked “Why?” I probably wouldn’t have an answer that made any sense.

“Because I want to make sure there aren’t two of the same Ralph’s Pizza’s on Carrillo St - on my phone-in case someone else wants to announce they’re here-to someone who isn’t here-and become mayor-of the pizza place.” Huh?

I dont have some amazing insight here so if you’re waiting for it I hope you aren’t disappointed. I just have unanswered questions. Well, one, really. Why? Why do I check-in. Why do I care if I’m the mayor. Why do I care if someone goes to that place more than me?

After all my check-ins and time spent on Foursquare I find that I have gotten NOTHING in return. It has never yielded free food or drink. Never yielded a serendipitous rendezvous that led to something great. It has led to an unbalanced relationship. I give and give and give and get nothing.

We expect this balance in everything we do. Go to work, get paid and or satisfaction from performing a task. We give something of ourselves in our relationships hoping for reciprocation. If you’re in a one sided relationship with someone the chances are it won’t last long. We have all been there.

The point I’m trying to make is that I don’t feel like I’m getting ANYTHING AT ALL out of Foursquare. It’s a one sided relationship where I am tired of giving. It’s a game with no winners. It doesn’t even need to be played on the same field. In football, 22 men play on the same field in an effort to score points and win at the end of 4 quarters.

Foursquare lets me check into a venue from my bathroom if I wanted to. I could mayor every joint in town from my toilet and so the fact that people can so easily game the system ruins the gaming aspect for me.

For some a game is enough value but for me I require more for my time and so what I get out of it needs to be a little more substantial. I like Foursquare and respect the team behind it. I’m just struggling to find something I value these days. Maybe I have grown out of it.

I wonder how many others feel like me? If there are many is it only a matter of time before there is an exodus? I think that Foursquare needs to get venues on board to survive. I am curious how they intend to do it. Early on I see that by being 1 of 4 coffee shops on the block that offer a free latte to the Foursquare Mayor will draw some traffic but I don’t see how that works when all shops offer it.

So it seems that Foursquare will need many but not all venues. Many venues participating in some way makes it attractive to users but too many makes it unattractive to venues.

So with that said I am going to give Foursquare until after SXSW to show me something in return or I’ll be checking out for good.

Stay tuned, Mom…

Recent & random iPhonography.

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:17:55 -0800

Recent & random iPhonography.

Where's the iBacon?

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:08:00 -0800

After reading the initial reviews and insights I’m less than excited about the iPad. I own an iPod Nano, 2 iPhones, a Macbook and so I qualify as a mac user.

I think the iPad looks cool but if it doesn’t offer me more than what I have today why should I buy it?

No (real) GPS.

No USB support the way we know and love.

No in-browser flash support

No camera.

No dragon drop file management.

No HDMI out.

No 1080p.

No SD slot.

It has ADHD (No multitasking).

How do you make breakfast beter? Add bacon. Apple needs to use that same recipe for success.

Make it irresistable. Make it tempting.

iPad? iPass this time around.

paulscheer: LOST: THE SUBWAY MAP by John Cabrera Here’s a...

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:41:38 -0800

paulscheer:

LOST: THE SUBWAY MAP by John Cabrera

Here’s a Higher Res Version

Free idea for AT&T: No Call Left Behind Act

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:37:10 -0800

AT&T is in a great position BECAUSE their network is perceived as unreliable. It’s not that they are on undesirable phones or their customer service is horrible as per a recent study done by the Noit-Mussa Group. It’s easier to fix a network than corporate culture or public sentiment based upon bad customer service experiences.

If AT&T was smart and really wanted to make an impact with their newly announced $2 Billion network upgrade they would put 100 towers in Austin, Texas for SXSW. Then they’d announce their new campaign “No Call Left Behind”.

AT&T would then magically begin monitoring dropped call rates on the networks present. Since most of the tech world and “now web” media will either be at or monitoring SXSW from afar behind a wall of LCD monitors in their Dr. No-esque lairs, AT&T could leverage the web coverage and boast about their cell coverage, hopefully, announcing that the No Call Left Behind Act was a huge success. Finally Apple should help in this effort because the better the perception of AT&T the fewer excuses people have to not buy an iPad.

I was lucky enough to participate in the filming of a Food...

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:39:00 -0800

Mike is getting mic'd

Lake and snow capped hills

Our accomidations

Mark & John

I was lucky enough to participate in the filming of a Food Network show last week. I’m going to keep this short and post a video or two in the coming days. There was 6 of us surrounded by a crew of 30, sound guys, executive producers and camera people.

The views up at Lake Cachuma were incredible. Chefs that cooked for us were awesome and only had a camp fire to use in preparing our food. I’m not talking hamburgers I mean salmon, quail and things I’m not fancy enough to know the names of.

The premise of the show was simple: 6 CEO’s go on a luxury camping trip. I couldn’t have asked to go with a better bunch of guys. They are thought provoking and know how to have fun. Thanks to you all.

The show should air in April.

That’s all.

-end

4000 cups of coffee recreate the Mona Lisa

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:19:23 -0800

4000 cups of coffee recreate the Mona Lisa:

Watch as people with a lot of time on their hands use cups of coffee to recreate…..just read the title. I loath redundant descriptions.

This Guy is a Ninja with a Tape Measure [VIDEO]

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:25:16 -0800

This Guy is a Ninja with a Tape Measure [VIDEO]:

Watch as this construction worker has deadly accuracy with a simple tape measure.

Could it be that all we are is matter shaped by sound?

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:30:54 -0800

Could it be that all we are is matter shaped by sound?:

This video and the science of Cymatics suggests that the universe and everything in at is nothing more than the effect of sound on matter. Different frequencies create different shapes out of the…

Woman called 911 over McDonald's chicken nuggets.

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:30:50 -0800

Woman called 911 over McDonald's chicken nuggets.:

A Florida woman called 911 three times after she paid for a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets at a McDonald’s but the fast-food restaurant ran out of them and refused to give her a refund. Hear the audio.

OMG News!

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:41:57 -0800

OMG News!:

Crazy video showing off the theories behind Cymatics.Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration, typically on the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane.Some scientists now believe that…

Your Predictions Suck Cap'n Obvious

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:27:35 -0800

As we begin to say goodbye to 2009 it seems every other tweet and blog post is someone offering their unsolicited predictions for 2010.

As if everyone on the web has become the Great Karnak.

Cloud computing, Internet TV and Location based apps are poised to go main stream say several “Karnakians”.

I say, no shit. Many of the predictions being made are simply picking each horse on the track and saying that they will cross the finish line in 2010. Most if not all predictions for 2010 are for technology that has been busy gaining traction of the last couple of years and are showing that they are poised to blow up so it’s not really a prediction to say that Foursquare and Gowalla will be big.

I say, no shit. They are already big. Both are funded which means many people smarter than you or I did their homework on location based apps and saw enough potential to sink their kids’ Xmas present money into them in a down economy. Yeah I’d bet on that horse too if someone with experience had that much faith in it.

Cloud computing? No shit.

You use the cloud everyday whether you know it or not. Ever use Google, Yahoo, Salesforce, or Amazon? Here’s a link. Get your learn on.

Mobile Payments, Social Gaming and Augmented Reality. No, shit shit & shit!

This all exists and is popular. I think if you are going to make “predictions” they should be for things that don’t yet exists, have traction / funding and or competition that validates the existence.

Guessing whether or not something that is or is likely to be successful isn’t predicting. It’s guessing. The only people that should be guessing but saying they are predicting are weathermen.

You want to give Miss Cleo a run for her money and go out on a limb?

What’s the name of Apple’s tablet?

Will Verizon get the iPhone?

Will Jersey Shore get a season 2?

Tell me when I’m getting my hover board!

This is a high speed train built by the Alstom rail group in...

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:45:21 -0800

This is a high speed train built by the Alstom rail group in Belfort , France. They share manufacturing facilities with the GE Energy Products Europe (EPE) Gas Turbine group. The video was provided by the GE EPE Chief Engineer in Belfort .

I need an app

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:52:36 -0800

Since it’s launch in 2007 over 33 million iPhones have been sold worldwide. Hoards of patrons commandeer the walk ways outside of Apples’ museum-like stores, vying to be the first to get their hands on what Time magazine named “The Invention of the Year” in 2007.

Since then, despite Apple maintaining control of the development 100k apps have been created for iPhone users. A virtual limitless array of helpful tools and some with not so obvious uses have come from this gold rush.

Whether a user, “fanboy” or hater it’s hard to argue the impact that the iPhone has had on the handheld market.

With all that said the iPhone wasn’t the first smart phone and it isn’t the newest either.

Since its inception there have been numerous iPhone “killers”. The David that would inevitably slay Apple’s Goliath.

The Android G1, Palm Pre and Blackberry Storm seemingly had the upper hand in many cases but it seems that the wars waged have been lackluster. But why? These “Davids” have touch screens, apps, better cameras and even real keyboards. Everything the iPhone has and is lacking. How has Apple been able to sell 3 versions of the same device in numbers that far outweigh the competition?

Last week the latest iPhone ‘killer” hit the market and shows great promise. It’s sales in the first 2 weeks (250k) rival those of the iPhones first 2 months (270k).

I have been asking my Twitter peeps why the Droid is better than the iPhone. I keep seeing the latest news, blog posts and hyped up comments like “Droid FTW!” but have no real feedback that makes sense.

People keep citing the “real keyboard”. First of all, a real keyboard is about 10 inches wide and doesn’t require hands the size of tree-dwelling cookie chefs to type comfortably.

Then I was told that it has a 5 megapixel camera. Yes, very true but good luck getting a clear shot. Early reports are in and the camera is slow to fire and processes blurry. This was demonstrated live on Attack of the Show and tested by yours truly.

Turn-by-turn navigation is pretty rad and so is this walking/ transport navi I keep reading about. This is the type of innovation I like to see. Applications that prove useful in real life. Directions and street views via Google maps. Analog interaction via digital means. However, these are things that I either can do now with my iPhone or could do next week or month as soon as an app is created.

So I pose the question again. What can the Droid do that the iPhone can’t?

Sure it runs stuff in the background but as soon as I launch my iPhone apps they update so a saving of a couple seconds isn’t enough to get me to switch. What about battery life? Same. Cost? Same.

Many people responded to my question citing the service. “At&T sucks!” is a popular reply and it’s this popular response that tells me everything I need to know.

The Droid is NOT better than the iPhone. Just like the Pre is not better than the Droid. The Pre has everything the Droid has and arguably a much better OS, multi-touch and sweet charging thingy. When I asked why the Droid was better than the Pre the response was surprisingly not feature based but again service based. “Verizon is better than Sprint”. Sounds a lot like “AT&T sucks”

This leads me to the conclusion that the Droid is not the iPhone killer. AT&T is. Apple is sleeping with the enemy.

It’s monogamous relationship with AT&T is causing a shift. If Apple was able to remove “AT&T sucks!” from the anti-fanboy fanboy’s arguments then the conversation would be reduced to a semantic argument over who has more apps. Droid in this case with 12k apps loses to iPhone’s 100k, for now. With a mere 320 apps, Pre loses to the Droid.

It could be said that Droid users are Google fanboys and that being anti-Apple is the new black.

If you ask me Palm needs to open their eyes and realize they are sitting on a gold mine and open up development and hire some kick-ass ad agency to relaunch the Pre although it’s likely too late.

I roll with a 1G iPhone. I don’t have 3G, though have used one, but don’t feel I need it. I use about 5 apps any given day and have about 20 downloaded.

I’m not sure that being able to cite quantity over quality is the best method for app development but I guest quantity boils down to quality. Like cooking with wine.

For me this is not the Droid I’m looking for. It’s a great step in the right direction and 3.0 will undoubtedly be better. Just remember that as long as we have several companies dueling for our ducats we as consumers win.

The Droid’s success will likely be followed by AT&T improving service or Apple expanding with another carrier. Good for Droid and good for iPhone users.

It’s when we all become fanboys that we lose and give the companies what they want most which is blind devotion. It’s cheap to maintain and very profitable. How many iPods have you owned? They all play the same music.

Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humans

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:58:58 -0700

Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humans:

Sophisticated computer scans of fossils have helped solve a mystery over the nature of a giant, ancient raptor known as the Haast’s eagle which became extinct about 500 years ago, researchers said…

Dating An Angel

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:54:00 -0700

It occurred to me that there isn’t that big of a difference between courting someone you are interested in dating and a possible investor for your start up.

Share a general interest. If you want to date someone it helps that you share similar interests at some level to help foster growth in a relationship. It’s likely that if you meet at an art exhibit you share an interest in art.

An investor will be more inclined to sink some funds into your business if he/she is shares an interest. Someone who likes to invest in alternitive energy probably won’t put money into a retail website. Investors like to know something about a particular space and be interested in it because if they are going to cut that check they need to be excited. Now there are instances where an angel will invest in an individual or team but I have found that to be a rare instance.

Many of my three readers (thanks mom and dad) are familiar with the scene from the movie “Swingers” where Jon Favreau’s character, Mike, scored a phone number from a girl at a bar. He was so excited that he wanted to call her that night despite the advice of his friends telling him to wait at least 2 days before doing so.

As determined as a fanboy in line for the new iPhone 3Gs Extreme Limited Edition he called the girl repeatedly that evening and scared her off. His obvious inexperience and desperation told that girl all she needed to know; that he isn’t seasoned in the way of wooing and doesn’t have many options in terms of other girls.

This same exhibition of inexperience and desperation will scare off any potential angel or VC just as quickly. They will see that you likely don’t have your ducks in a row. Or worse, tell a seasoned investor that you are in fact desperate and will likely let them negotiate better terms for them and not so good for you.

If you exhibit patience and hold off on the phone calls you just may get that date. Think about what comes next. With an actual date you want to pick a place to meet that shows you care but that you aren’t trying too hard. If meeting with a potential angel you’ll want to pick a place thats convenient, nice and that will allow you to talk comfortably.

As with a date always remember that investors are looking at you as much as they are looking at your business idea. If you want to impress and get to second base (with the date literally and investor metaphorically speaking) you’ll want to dress appropriately, show some manners, be polite, follow up with “thank you” emails or phones calls.

A quick game check is to ask yourself when with an investor is “How would I act if this was a date?”

Just use judgement. Holding hands and flirting probably isn’t appropriate but neither is burping, swearing or talking about the hottie at the table next to you. (In most cases).

If a potential investors likes you, likes your business and sees that it could work with a great team in place you are on your way to seeing some funds, or at the very least getting great advice. Which IMO is sometimes worth more than funding.

Every so often I hear someone talk about the (Google, Digg,...

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:21:00 -0700

Every so often I hear someone talk about the (Google, Digg, Twitter) killer. The next big think that will certainly knock the current champion off its pedestal.

What I feel these people fail to realize is that web goers tend to utilize a range of tools to manage their digital lifestyle. There is no magic all in one portal that can do it all.

Would MacGyver have gone off on missions with just a knife, or just a paper clip? No. He had a Swiss Army Knife that contained a range of utilities for various scenarios and used those tools harmoniously with other items in his environment.

I think that applying the same philosophy to interwebbing will lead to a more fulfilling experience.

I’m not saying adopt EVERYTHING but don’t be so fast to judge the new thing as the killer of the last.

Just sayin…

Mike is eating Alphabits… Everywhere I look these days it...

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:46:43 -0700

Mike is eating Alphabits…

Everywhere I look these days it seems I see Twitter. The glorified string between two tin cans seems to spawn a new snack for the news cycle every week. Random celebrities are finding it as a way back into the spotlight after not having worked for a decade.

Tweets, fail-whales and hash tags were words that would’ve seemed nothing more than nonsense little over a year ago and now they are commonplace.

I remeber way back in the day when Twitter was expected to go down like a (insert hooker joke here) and today it operates with limited interuption.

I guess in the internet space you know you have made it when spammers find you appealing. There must be enough of an audience for the bastards to come out of Myspace for 10 seconds to tweet.

Twitter is not only a utility for free advertising but an example of how it’s done. Build, ship and revise. WOM will take care of the rest even if all doesn’t go smoothly early on. Did Digg advertise? I don’t believe so.

I see more and more internet companies going the way of key influencers via social media. It says a lot about the future of how brands are built.

Done properly and your brand will be a part of the conversation. A place in the daily routine of its users. They will eat it for breakfast without even knowing it.

Ok..I’m done here.

Making Of: Boeing Super Hornet

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:20:25 -0700

Making Of: Boeing Super Hornet:

A timelapse video of a Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet being constructed.