Comment on Shooting an Elephant: " Making Hyperlocal Work"

Here's a commment I left on - Meghna Chakrabarti's blog: Shooting an Elephant, on her request for ideas about local radio.

First of all, forget about the radio as the medium, or don't worry so much about the medium. Radio or Internet, it doesn't matter. The content matters, and some consistency matters.

I really love what Leo Laporte is doing with all of his TWIT podcasts. He's build a one-man radio network using the Internet as his medium. I must spend five hours a week listening to his shows.

What I like about his approach is it's very consistent. He has shows that come out reliably, usually weekly. There's a core set of talent, usually Leo and one or two others, and then guests. The quality is first rate. I don't know how many podcasts, like the Gilmore Gang, I have stopped listening to because of poor sound quality. I have earbuds in my ears. I can't listen to a cell phone conference call. Think about the user experience.

Leo is very focused on technology, and I think this same model could work for local. Local, regular podcasts, with you and an interesting co-host, and then a different guest or two. I also think Leo has taken a very long view of what success means. For now he's just building an audience with the faith that money will follow.

Here are some suggestions for shows:

Boston Week in Business

Boston Week in Sports

Boston Startups

Boston Fun

Why Charge $0.99 for an iPhone App?

I don't get why some Applications are $0.99. What's the point of charging? I think it would be better to just offer the app for free and then there's no barrier to downloading it. Money could be made with Medialets, the new ad platform for iPhone apps.

Moto Racer: Best iPhone Game So Far

I've downloaded a few free games, and paid for one, so I thought I'd
send a round up of what I think so far.

First of all, Moto Racer is a great motorcycle racing game, taking
full advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer.

I also really enjoy Blip Solitaire, a super simple pong like game that
uses the touch screen, and Cube Runner, another simple game where you
steer clear of blocks titling the iPhone to steer.

Quick Observations on iPhone 2.0 Software Update

I've been running the new iPhone 2.0 update on my iPhone. Here are my first impressions.

• The App Store on the phone. It's actually easier to select and/or buy and install applications on the phone than it is in the iTunes store. You select your app and it installs wirelessly, even over the EDGE network. This is the way the phone should work, independent of an attached computer. I'd like the same behavior for iTunes, especially podcast updates.
• Camera integration. Many of the apps, including the Facebook app, smartly integrate the camera. So If want to take a photo and upload it to Facebook, it's very fast. I no longer have to take the photo then e-mail it to a special Facebook e-mail address.
• Geo-Tagging integration. Many of the apps, including the camera and Weather Bug, ask to use the location information from the phone. This is really smart. And since this works so well on my first generation iPhone (2G?), it's all the less reason to get the new iPhone.
• Too many pop-up dialogs. Every time you use an app that wants to use the phone's location, you get a pop-up asking if the phone's location can be included, you get a pop-up dialog asking for permission. There should be a setting allowing all apps to use location by default.
• Changes to the way the Airplane mode works. I use airplane mode all the time to save battery time, and then expect the phone to ask me if I want to turn off airplane mode if I'm checking e-mail or using the browser. In the old operating system, I could turn off airplane mode withe the dialog that appeared. Now the dialog takes me to the wireless settings, and then I have to tunr off airplane mode, and then go back to my original application. This ads about three more screens to the flow.

iPhone App Store Includes Kindle Killer

In a quick look at the new Apple iTunes Appstore, I see that there are quite a few eBooks, with a reader, just as I was hoping. If the publishers start selling content for this reader, then this will kill the Amazon Kindle.

What would you rather have for $300? A dedicated eBook reader that looks like it was designed by Radio Shack in 1986 or a fully functioning mini-computer that also happens to be the best piece of product design in ten years?

The Trouble With Icons, Illustrated by an Example Found in Most Cars

As a designer and creative director for the last 15 years or so, one conversation I've had more than any other is about icons. People love to add icons into a design to save space or add a visual element, but I've always felt that users do not know what most icons mean.

Now I think I've found a good example of this problem with icons. Below is a photo of my Ford Focus' gas guage.

I've been staring at a gas gauge like that for my entire life. But recently in a rental car, the gauge was slightly different. It looked something like this:

This was the first time I've ever noticed that the gas gauge on most cars points out which side the car's gas tank is on. Now, the icon makes perfect sense. It's an icon of a gas pump. I always thought that it was there to indicate that this was the gas gauge, but it was there, with the tiny arrow, to point out the gas tank.

I see the same problem on car locks, where icons of locks are always more confusing than the words lock and unlock.

When in doubt use words with the icon, and if you don't have room, keep the words and ditch the icon.

1 App I'd Like to See in the Apple iPhone App Store - A Kindle KIller

The release of the 3G iPhone on Friday is overshadowing a more important iPhone release the same day, the Apple iPhone App Store. I have high hopes for the store. Back in the day I had dozens of applications on my Palm Pilot, Palm III, and Palm V. All were simple little apps that did one or two things very well.

Here is one App I'd like to see:

A book reader that reads several formats: txt, doc, pdf, and the Amazon Kindle format. I used to be able to drop Web pages, documents, and PDF's into my Palm V and read them in a simple auto-scrolling reader. I'd like to do the same with my iPhone. A bonus would be if somebody write an app that let me buy Kindle books from Amazon, so I could have the Kindle experience on my iPhone. Would Amazon allow this? I'd pay the same fees, just not buy the Kindle, and I get the impression that Amazon makes no money on it anyway. This would be Kindle Killer.

Comments on Robert Scoble's "Waiting in line for iPhones is glorious"

Was there ever a supply issue last year? I thought after the lines died down people just walked in and out with a phone.

Apple better hope that the lines are not long this year, because they won't be moving as fast as an Apple employee swiping a credit card and giving you a phone. In-store activation is going to slow things down ten-fold.

Lines will not be as long because the 3G iPhone AT&T plans are too expensive and the cost of the phones are too high for people who do not qualify for an upgrade.

There are more details on my site here:

http://www.joeranft.com/2008/07/6-more-reasons-from-att-not-to-upgrade.html

5 Things I Miss About Windows XP Since Switching Back to Apple

It's been about six months since I switched back from about 8 years of using Windows to an Apple MacBook Pro 15" laptop, and while I love the Apple for the most part, there are some things I miss from Windows. Here are a few:

1. File transparency. Apple's OS X seems to make a lot of copies of files and stores them all over the place, especially iPhoto, iTunes and Mail. One of the reasons I bought the Mac was to organize my years worth of photos, but that's a failure, and now I feel less organized than ever. When I imported all of my photos into iPhoto, it made a copy of each, and the same thing happened with iTunes. I've installed Windows XP with Parallels just so I can use Windows File Explorer and get a handle on things.
2. File Structure. Again, this is just my own ignorance, but the Mac has made a user directory for me and then a lot of sub-folders inside there. I like to keep my file structure simple and just store everything at the root level of the drive, but I've heard on the Mac that this is not safe. I have no mental model of the OS X file structure.
3. Alt-Tabbing. This is minor, but I miss it dozens of times a day. Alt-tab on Windows cycles you through each open window. Command-Tab on OS X cycles you through each application. When I have five or six open browsers or I'm cutting and pasting from one Word document to another, I want to switch back and forth more quickly.
4. Microsoft Outlook's Calendar and To-Do List Integration. While a lot of things about Outlook drove me crazy, I've always felt it was something Microsoft got right for the most part. it is a much better e-mail application than Apple Mail and a much better calendar than iCal. I also really miss being able to drag and drop from one application in Outlook to another. Like I can drag an e-mail to the Calendar or Task List to make an appointment or task out of the e-mail. Mail and iCal can do this, but it's not as fast.
5. Fav Icons in Bookmark Bar in Safari or Firefox. Again, this is minor, but I loved having just the icons for Web sites as bookmarks in my link bar in Internet Explorer, with no text. There is no way to do this in Safari or Firefox for Apple OS X. I can't believe it. I had dozens of sites bookmarked this way, and now I can only fit ten or so up there.
   
   Update: I found a Firefox 3.0 Plug-In for this. Here's a link: Mac Toolbar Fav Icons (via Lifehacker)

Comment on NY Times Bits - What Is Facebook Worth? (Part 37)

If you figure that Facebook is valued at $50 per user (which is higher than any social network has been acquired for), then if they have 60 million users, a valuation of $3 billion is fair. I don't know how $15 billion makes any sense.

Only 28 Sunscreens out of 952 Tested Are Effective and Safe

In a new investigation of 952 name-brand sunscreens, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that only 28 sunscreen products offer protection from the sun and contain safe ingredients.

6 More Reasons From ATT Not to Upgrade to the 3G iPhone

Crunchgear has the details on AT&T's 3G iPhone plans, and it's really full of great reasons not to upgrade. Here are a my six.

1. $5 Extra for 200 SMS messages. The rumors were right, so maybe they were not rumors.
2. My current plan is Nation 450 Rollover & 5000 Night/Weekend & Unlimited Mobile-To-Mobile Minutes for $59.95. This will increase to $69.95 plust $5.00 for the SMS messages. So I'll have to pay $15.00 more per month, for really bad reception.
3. The AT&T Web Site is unusable. It says I can log in and check for my upgrade eligibility, but I can't find it. But this policy really does punish previous iPhone customers, who all paid full price for their first iPhones. I could see limiting upgrades to one per every 2 years, but none of us received a single discount when purchasing our first iPhone.
4. If I am not eligible for an upgrade, I have to pay $499 for a new phone. That's more than I paid for my current iPhone. A Palm Centro is $99. I'm sure the Blackberry Bold will be less as well. Update: one of the commenters posted that all current iPhone owners are eligible for an upgrade. Still, I'm leaving this point. That's a lot for a new phone.
5. Upgrading will include an $18 upgrade fee. This is another low-class nickle and dime charge, like the SMS messages. These fees are added on so the main rates can seem lower, when they aren't.
6. Cheesy marketing writing on the AT&T web site, like this: "So, AT&T retail stores will be open at 8AM local time on the 11th, so be iReady!" iReady? That wasn't even creative in 2002.

Typical Morning Captured Easily by Apple and YouTube

There's something about usability here, but I'll admit it's a stretch.

I left my MacBook sitting in the kitchen, and my 5 year-old son Hal started messing with Photo Booth. Between Apple and YouTube, it couldn't be easier to post this.

This is why Apple and YouTube dominate. It's the opposite of the Bill Gates memo, with the little things getting in the way. Both Apple and YouTube have focused on the little things and getting them out of the way.

Here's the result.