Karm City

"Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services."

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:05:00 -0500

“Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.”

- Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter To Facebook Investors

I know it’s cool to make fun of Facebook, but you can’t doubt that they focus a heckuva lot on the user. Unlike Google, the advertiser is not the customer per se. Evidence of this: constant design changes to features (read: Pages) without pandering to a business’ request. Facebook’s message: adapt, or die.

Certainly not a bad company to invest in, regardless of perceived value.

newsweek: [via] And so, we continue to propagate...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:10:00 -0500

newsweek:

[via]

And so, we continue to propagate misinformation about the national debt.

Consider this simple premise:

When you borrow money, who do you typically borrow from? A bank.

When the US government borrows money, who does it borrow from? Itself.

This image attempts to explain the national debt by comparing bottom lines. It can’t be done, as US government debt is a) accrued and b) under a completely different category.

McDonalds' McRibbing

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:14:51 -0500

But seriously, folks.

I love how all the social media marketing folks are piling on McDonalds for their recent hashtag highjacking gone awry.

McDonalds followed the social media best practices to a T and still got burned. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.

While it’s easy for the Chris Brogans of the world to create a new post about “Lessons Learned from McDonalds’ McFail,” the truth is, nobody knew it would backfire until it did.

The campaign was executed per the formula, but we humans are unpredictable.

It’s the fundamental nature of disintermediation.

zachklein: Scorekeeper’s interaction design is air...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:05:36 -0500

zachklein:

Scorekeeper’s interaction design is air tight.

Incredibly functional and fun. I wish more apps were designed with these fundamentals.

How to name your startup

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:38:10 -0500

I think, more than anything, the name has to follow the two-syllable rule. Tumblr. Twitter. Facebook. Olark. Reddit. Slashdot. Google.

If a company does have a longer name, users will inevitably invent a two-syllable nickname. For example, Huffington Post -> Huff Po.

Lots of folks try to name their company after what it does, following the FreeCreditReport.com model, but it’s kinda lame and not very memorable.

The real difference between iOS and Android

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:23:50 -0500

Anandtech is highly regarded for their incredibly in-depth reviews. Their take on Android 4.0 is no different.

They have the absolute best description of the two mobile OS ecosystems (iOS and Android) on how they’re fundamentally different and really shouldn’t be compared.

Apple is trying to deliver more of an appliance experience, whereas Google is providing you with a modern take on a traditional computing experience. If the appliance is a smartphone, then both approaches are equally capable — it’s just a matter of personal preference.

After reading that, I suddenly understood why some folks might prefer Android over iOS, and accepted it. Why did it take me so long?

2012 Milestones

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:57:59 -0500

As I have done since 2008, I reflect on the goals I set for myself the previous year, and make new ones to try to meet for the following twelve months.

Here were the achievements I set in 2011:

× Read at least 30 books
Not even close. I managed to crack 10 before year’s end. One silver lining: I discovered a love for fiction, which helped break up the monotony of DIY books, technical manuals, and biographies. It also sparked my imagination; I felt like I was accessing a part of my brain that’s been dormant for a long time.
× Win a bike race as a CAT4 / Upgrade to CAT3
My 2011 racing season was plagued from the start. Despite some early-season fitness, I spent many races over-thinking and waiting too late to make my move. The season ended with a bad crash that broke my collarbone, taking me out of ideal training conditions for three months.
✔ Host at least 10 get-togethers
While I didn’t host anything at my house per se, I co-hosted many parties with Mary, so I count this as being achieved. We’re living together now, so I’m looking forward to hosting more parties in 2012.
× Go camping at least twice
Weekends were either packed with day excursions, or bike racing.
× Finish Pump as a native iOS app
Despite an early-year push to learn true native iOS development, I didn’t continue long enough to achieve fluency. I did build some fun little one-off mobile HTML5 apps, however.
✔ Redesign KarmCity.com
I managed to squeeze this one in near the end of the year. The new design allows for more freedom of content with a fluid width, but keeps things simple.
× Build a self-designed computer desk from reclaimed wood
I finished the design, but realized I would need some serious tools to pull this off. Deferred.
✔ Collaborate with someone on a Web project
I worked with Mike Brenner on BaltimoreTech.net conceptually, but I didn’t quite hit the full collaboration I was looking for.
✔ Wake up no later than 7:30am every day
For the majority of the year, this was not to be. However, I’ve been waking up consistently at 7:40 every day since we moved to DC in December so I can get to the office by 9am.
✔ Attend networking and community events whenever possible
I picked up a bit on this, focusing on events that are conducive to meeting new people. I also attended a trade conference that turned out to be very helpful for Localist.
× Keep in touch with my close friends more actively
I made a decent effort to do this, but it seems we were all very busy, so finding time to get together was tough.

How did I do? Not great. I think this is mostly because I never developed a habit of checking in on the list, so I quickly forgot what was on it. A few goals in the list were part of my daily life, so I was able to stay focused on them, but some, like going camping, were quickly forgotten.

I’d like 2012 to include specific checkpoints throughout the year, perhaps each quarter, so I can monitor my progress.

With that, here are my goals for 2012, split into personal and health categories:

2012 Personal Goals

BHAG: Participate in at least two media-free weeks, or six media-free weekends
Read at least 30 books
Host at least 10 get-togethers
Spend more “offline time” with Mary, playing board games, going on walks, etc.
Get a dog (Greyhound)
Get married!
Create 3 new paintings
Build 2 adirondack chairs out of old pallets
Build a stool for sitting in the kitchen
Travel to another country

2012 Health Goals

BHAG: Upgrade to CAT3
Transition weekday workouts to the mornings
Be asleep no later than 10pm
Focus more on diet, beyond just eating healthy. Monitor supplements, carb intake, etc.

This year, I’m focusing on measurable goals, with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) in each category. I will revisit this list in April, July and October.

View my goals from 2008, 2009, ~~2010~~ and 2011.

jstn: This is Mercedes’ new embedded car computer infotainment…...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:32:23 -0500

jstn:

This is Mercedes’ new embedded car computer infotainment… thing. Look how fucking awful it is. Car companies are getting dragged kicking and screaming into a world where they have to pay enormous attention to software and user interface, and they’re blowing it in spectacular fashion. Even BMW, the “Apple” of automobile engineering, has an in-dash UI so terrible that I think it’s doing significant damage to their brand. Why do all of these things have a “command knob” surrounded by a zillion other anonymous buttons? Have none of these designers used a cell phone since 2007?

Nissan is at least trying with the Leaf, though it still looks a bit like a tumorous growth rather than something smoothly integrated with the rest of the machine. Seriously, is anyone else doing anything interesting with car UI?

Car software has three huge challenges most other devices can be forgiven on more readily: reliability, speed and integration.

Reliability
Car software needs to be bug-free, or darn close to it. A person can’t be driving down the road when suddenly their radio volume knob stops working, or their navigation system crashes. For this reason, auto manufacturers have a strong impulse to build in-house, where they have complete control of the end-to-end experience. Outsourcing, or investing in a startup is too high a risk (on paper) when it comes to driver safety. Could you imagine driving a car with version 1.0 of an Android-based system developed by a mature company, let alone a startup? I’d be terrified.

Speed and Integration
When you turn on your car, the software needs to be available immediately, or within a tenth of a second. No functionality can be locked behind any kind of “Loading…” screen. The radio needs to switch on right away and navigation needs to be available, at the touch of a button. For true performance, the UI and software for cars needs to be one step above hard-coded.

If a software company is focusing on modular software for cars, they would need to build software specifically designed for each manufacturer to be fast and integrated enough. In that scenario, there’s no business model that makes sense. Imagine setting out to reinvent Mercedes’ car computers. Now, imagine them agreeing to a deal with your company without seeing a flawless prototype. It’d never happen.

So, to answer the question posed above, existing as an external company providing software for cars is a pretty tough business model to pitch. The only way to yield a truly great UI is to hire amazing designers in-house. Since the software doesn’t necessarily sell the car (for most people), the company’s investment follows in kind. I, too, hope this changes in the future.

Random idea: Maybe an HTML5 UI would allow for re-use, despite a completely different low-level code base.

Transitioning from management to leadership

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:55:00 -0500

A mentor and I recently had a great conversation about leadership at a startup versus leadership at a mature company. In a nutshell, it’s hard to be a leader at a startup, and it’s not solely because of inexperience. It’s all about the environment. When your company of three is just getting started and you’re wearing twenty five different hats, deeply involved in every one, it’s very difficult to lead effectively.

Here’s a breakdown comparing the key differences in leadership at a startup and leadership at a mature company:

Startup:

Consciously incompetent
You know nothing. You know you know nothing. You’re learning as fast as you can.
Smart
When you make a mistake, you can figure out how to fix it quickly.
Long hours
18-hour days with no break are regular occurrences.
High risk tolerance
You’re used to the roller coaster and can commit to decisions despite the risk being high, or unknown.
Short-term focus
Your thoughts center on things like, “how do we make payroll next month?”
Tactical
You’re wearing many hats and are knee-deep in each department.
Self-centered
The company represents you, and you’re focused solely on growing it.
Manager
You make decisions when you’re forced to, rather than deciding at will.
Multi-tasking
Many hats. Many, many hats. Simultaneously.

Mature company:

Consciously competent
You’re deciding when to execute, why and how, confidently.
Wise
Your decisions are based on experience, not solely on your smarts.
Works in spurts
Productivity is peppered with sections of deep thought, walks, contemplation on where to go next.
Calculated risks
A decision that goes wrong has a more measured effect on the company, so every decision is made carefully.
Longer term focus
Making decisions today that will affect the company three, five, ten years from now.
Strategic
Big-picture thinking, delegating tasks instead of being knee-deep in them.
Develops others
Identifying others to take the lead on major aspects of the company and helping them achieve their goals.
Defined role
Your have a single role: leader.

If things are going well, things should naturally transition into a leadership role. The key indicators that you’ve successfully crossed the chasm:

You’re delegating more than doing things yourself.
You spend most of your time developing others in their roles.
Your role is defined (i.e. one hat).

My company is absolutely still in startup mode, but it’s exciting to see the transition happening in some areas already; glimpses of what’s coming down the road.

Thoughts on the GBTC

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:56:00 -0500

The Greater Baltimore Technology Council recently announced a shift in leadership, from Sharon Webb to Jason Hardebeck. On the surface, this looks like a great move. Jason, by all accounts, really gets the startup perspective and knows how to start shaping the GBTC into something attractive to emerging companies.

That said, I was very surprised to learn recently that the GBTC’s board is made up of thirty people. For a city as small as Baltimore, there is no need to have a board of that size. It just means agreeing on a strategy to move forward takes years instead of weeks. I really hope the board’s decision to appoint Jason was unanimous, because they need to be completely behind him if radical change is going to come to the GBTC.

Such a massive board size explains a lot of things, including why GBTC’s recent announcement about “startup focused” initiatives completely misses the mark.

To start, here’s a graphic that compares the (recently revamped) tiered membership costs of the GBTC:

Here’s a list of what the GBTC offers the startup community, how they compare to free offerings developed by the community itself, and some constructive criticism.
==========
Peer-to-Peer Roundtables
- Here is one area of the GBTC that I feel currently has a leg-up on the grassroots community. I’ve heard some great things about the GBTC roundtables, with some good collaboration coming out of it. The grassroots

Searchable Member Directory
- The Baltimore Tech Facebook group has a pretty solid membership. You won’t find the CEO of Under Armour on there, but anyone who’s truly interested in the community and helping it grow is already there and contributing.

Jobs & Gigs Board
- I’d be curious to see the overall reach of this. I’m not sure how many potential employees know about it. From the employee side, employers have just as much incentive to spread the word about a position opening, so if it’s on the GBTC board, it’s probably also on LinkedIn, the Facebook group and the BaltimoreTech.net jobs board.

GBTC & Community Calendars
- A calendar for paid GBTC events only, not an accurate snapshot of all the great tech events happening in Baltimore. We’d love to help solve this. The GBTC should also host (or sponsor) more free events to attract new prospects. Work with the community instead of competing against it.

Weekly eNewsletter
- How truly substantial are these newsletters? From what I’ve seen, these are just marketing missives that most folks subconsciously delete. It’d be awesome to see profiles of new GBTC members, fostering connections for them out of the gate.

Online Forums
- I’d be interested to see how active these forums are. I have a feeling the Facebook group is much more vibrant.

GBTC Collaborators
- I’m not sure how you couldn’t get access to these people outside of the GBTC. What’s a GBTC collaborator? Other members?

Regular Event Tickets
- I’d be interested to see more “regular” GBTC events happen throughout the year.

Special Event Tickets
- So, as an entrepreneur, you would have to shell out $1,200 before you don’t have to pay to get these. There are many startups who would rather spend $1,200 on some solid PR for the next few months vs. attending a networking event.

Premier Event Tickets
- Again, you have to shell out $1,200 before you don’t have to pay to get these, and even then, only two folks in your company can attend.

Educational Content
- It’d be interesting to see what exactly this contains. Some substantive free alternatives: Quora, Hacker News.

Online Ad (1 month run)
- If you’re registered with the GBTC as a startup, this option isn’t available to you. Shouldn’t the GBTC be highlighting new companies in the area for free, to show that they’re aware of everything cool coming up?

Online Video Profile (1 month run)
- Again, if you’re registered with the GBTC as a startup, this option isn’t available to you. Again, the GBTC should be a champion of startups in the community.
=========

My ultimate suggestion to the GBTC: if you really want to attract startups. Don’t tie all your services to memberships. Host an event every once in a while where if a company is less than a year old, it’s $15 per ticket. A person needs to know what kind of value they’re getting before they commit.

If an entrepreneur is going without a paycheck month after month until their company gets off the ground, they’re not going to spend $1,200 to see if the GBTC might be useful for them.

All this said, I am very encouraged by the recent appointment of Jason and look forward to seeing where he takes the organization.

Photo

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:17:57 -0500

Baltimore woes

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:57:00 -0500

I’d like to preface this by saying I think the Baltimore Tech community is entering uncharted waters. There’s no denying it. I’m not claiming “the sky is falling,” just that we’re entering a time where anything could happen and it’d be prudent to tread carefully.

Over the past few years, it felt like the tech community in Baltimore was really growing into something magical. Lots of grassroots events, lots of passion, and consistent attendance at the Beehive co-working space were indicators.

But now, the community is on a knife’s edge and could just as quickly plummet. The few people who were effecting change in the city have moved on, or lost interest because of the bureaucracy, or personal issues. For the tech community to truly thrive in Baltimore, it needs the city’s support.

The loudest voices made their requests known, but none have borne fruit. Baltimore’s leadership is slower and just as corrupt. As an example, New York City planned and will launch their bike share system of 10,000 bikes before Baltimore will launch its 300-bike system. What’s worse, people who care deeply about the city and making it a better place to live are apparently snubbed by the city specifically because of how outspoken they are.

Example: Baltimore’s new Chief Digital Officer position. It was publicly known that Mike Brenner, a huge champion of the local tech community, pinged the city’s CIO, Rico Singleton, about the position and heard nothing back.

In a live chat with Singleton and three (inexplicably anonymous) CDO candidates, I asked why Mike Brenner wasn’t included in the running. Singleton responded, “Mike Brenner never submitted a resume and I was not aware of his interest.”

I replied, “If the ultimate goal is to find the best person for the job, why does it matter if he submitted a resume or not?”

The response from Singleton, “B/c if someone doesn’t submit a resume for a job, then the company doesn’t know of their interest. Mike never once told me he was interested and he never submitted a resume as the instructions indicated to get himself in for consideration.”

He didn’t really answer the question, but I’ll bite. We know this isn’t true. Over the past year, Brenner has been outspoken about the need for a CDO in Baltimore, and his interest in the position itself. He (literally) wrote the job description for the position. He even reached out to Singleton’s staff to indicate he was interested.

Regardless, my point still stands: if the goal is to find the best person for the job, it’s silly to not tap Mike’s shoulder. Even if Mike said, “don’t even think about asking me if I want to do it,” I’d be working my ass off to convince him. He’d be perfect for the job.

The mark of a good leader is one who can bring in someone with a different opinion without feeling threatened, or insecure. Differing viewpoints help catalyze change and move things forward. A perfect example of this is Obama choosing Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, despite them being fierce opponents during the primary.

Either way, the ultimate goal of both parties is the shared: to make Baltimore better and attract more people to move here.

Continuing to keep Baltimore leadership behind a curtain of politics and loyalty stifles the growth that the city desperately needs. The community is lucky to have people like Mike Brenner, who will more than likely make greater strides by not teaming up with the city. For that, we can be thankful.

Debt

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:13:27 -0500

I don’t understand this perception of success when a company raises capital. Announcing a raise usually results in comments like, “congratulations!” and “you did it!” What they should be saying is “good luck.”

Let’s call it what it is: debt. Debt is not ideal, and I think the perception among tech startups is that when you raise capital, you’ve “made it.” Don’t get me wrong, raising debt means you get to scale faster, hire those crucial employees and see if your business idea really has merit; that’s a good thing. But really, you’re on step 1 of 100. When you raise a round, it means you’d better not mess it up.

Here’s an example: Let’s say a company recently announced a $30mm Series C. They made it! They’re killing it! Not exactly. They’re still cash flow negative and raised a down round, giving up more equity at a lower valuation, so they could stay afloat and survive just a bit longer. As an entrepreneur, that’s a terrible situation to be in. But this is just a hypothetical situation, right? Some recent news stories prove otherwise.

In short, raising capital does not mean that you’re done, that you made it, that you’re successful. Our perceptions should align with that.

thedailywhat: Celebrity Sighting of the Day: Daniel Day-Lewis...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:36:00 -0500

thedailywhat:

Celebrity Sighting of the Day: Daniel Day-Lewis was spotted today in Richmond, Virginia’s Arcadia restaurant in character as Abraham Lincoln.

According to one snoop, Day-Lewis has apparently been in character since March, and is so committed to the role that “[h]is real name doesn’t even appear on the call sheet.

By far my favorite actor. Daniel Day-Lewis has been incredibly scarce in movies since the 90s, but is quite a privilege to behold in the films he chooses.

Photo

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:51:06 -0500

Video

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:45:29 -0500

thedailywhat: SMBC.

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:51:15 -0500

thedailywhat:

SMBC.

Isaacson is just like Gladwell

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:49:00 -0500

What a disappointing book. Walter Isaacson, the author of Steve Jobs’ biography, reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell. He introduces a very simple point, then spends hundreds of pages reiterating the same point with different examples. In this case, Steve’s hot/cold attitude.

There are also some other embarrassing paragraphs that made me squirm, like this one, about design being prioritized over engineering:
“On occasion this could backfire, such as when Jobs and Ive [Apple’s head designer] insisted on using a solid piece of brushed aluminum for the edge of the iPhone 4 even when the engineers worried that it would compromise the antenna.”

…what? So a flaw that all phones inherently have was a design ‘backfire’? Sounds like someone’s using sensationalist media as their fact checker. He had access to the men behind the iPhone, and that’s his backfire example?

To summarize the entire book: reality distortion field, cold, distant, technology, art, a player, b player, bozo, hero.

Very little content came from Steve Jobs himself. Isaacson had all the time in the world to interview early Apple employees, investors, board members and competitors. He dedicated the majority of his book to their opinions of Jobs. Almost nothing is attributable to Steve himself, who had a finite time to share his thoughts.

What’s sad is Jobs isn’t around to offer the same access to an author who could do it right.

This is a set of results when searching for “Education...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:49:00 -0400

This is a set of results when searching for “Education Technology” on Quora. This is why allowing free-form tagging is a poison on content websites. When you give users the power to tag things on their own, it will inevitably result in fragmentation.

With just a little bit of curation (automated, even), these two categories could be merged, eliminating a split audience and ensuring that the best environment for discussion is available.

This problem is evident across the web.

On Reddit, for example, there is a bicycling subreddit and a cycling subreddit. They both have completely different audiences talking about the same thing.

With hashtags on Twitter, folks are tweeting about #Halloween2011 #halloween and #halloween11. There’s no way to consolidate these obviously similar topics together when there is no order to tagging.

A tag cloud on, for example, a mommy blog aggregator, might say: “children child kid baby learning education.” In absolute numbers, there are six tags noted. If realistically organized, two or three.

There’s no easy way to force people into accepting a pre-baked topic for what they’re writing about, but it’s absolutely possible to get to 90% accuracy; right now we’re hovering at around 50%.

Halloween Alleycat from Baltimore Velo

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:53:12 -0400

Halloween Alleycat from Baltimore Velo