Proud to announce the launch of our Blog and a new release of DigiSpoke. We’ve listened to a lot of feedback over the past 3 weeks and worked hard to incorporate a lot of it into our latest build. And now, it’s shipped! So enjoy. If you’re still waiting for your account, we’re happy to send one your way if you promise to send us your feedback.
After months of hard work, we’re proud to launch the DigiSpoke Private Beta.
DigiSpoke allows your entire team to manage projects together by building a mind-map of tasks. It predicts progress and delays, keeps schedules up-to-date, and enables secure collaboration with easy permissions.
Join the Beta. Sign up now — http://www.digispoke.com
The slow decline of mobile apps has begun and not a moment too soon. Over the past six years, we’ve witnessed the world go head over heals for phone apps starting with ubiquitous farting applications and ending with SoLoMo. While the native app approach has been profitable for gatekeepers and app store operators, the time has come for them too to embrace the mobile web or get blindsided like the license software titans of yesteryear. Apps like forecast.io and HTML5 frameworks like famo.us are putting the browser back into the spotlight. We live in a world where we no longer have to install word processors, email clients, spreadsheets, chat, maps, and even video editing software on our desktops. Why should mobile be any different? After all, the whole premise of code reuse gets broken down by proprietary API’s and sandboxes of mobile OS providers. It’s time to let go of the past.
We released a new video. Check it out:
http://www.digispoke.com — DigiSpoke(tm) is a mind map for getting things done. DigiSpoke allows you to organize complex projects and tasks visually while tracking progress in real time. The schedule is kept up to date for you and integrates seamlessly with Asana. Visit digispoke.com to request a free beta account.
When I was in Middle School, I taught myself to code in HyperCard on an already dated Mac+ that looked just like this one. Prior to that, I was obsessed with Legos. My two childhood pastimes have been combined in this image.
My thermostat is updating itself. Neat.
Several months ago, San Francisco passed a city wide ordinance mandating, amongst other things, that all retailers charge 10 cents for every bag at checkout. The charge is meant to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags and save the environment in the process. While the nature of the ordinance is certainly well intentioned and in good taste, it creates a bit of a nuisance at checkout. It’s not that I mind the charge. I don’t. However the process for how a customer is charged for a bag had never been thought out before and this leads to some awkward moments at checkout.
Over the weekend, I was checking out with half a dozen bottles of various 1.5 liter beverages. The friendly clerk asked if I needed bags. Coming back from a day of hiking, naturally bags were not a part of my arsenal. After the 30 cent charge, it turned out that one of the bags needed to be double-bagged. So now what? Another transaction?
I, like many of my fellow SF residents recycle all of the paper bags (already mandated) that I pick up in stores. So in the end, nothing is accomplished. The people who used to bring their own bags, still do. Those (me) that recycle all of their bags are slapped with an inconvenience with no ecological gain. As for those irresponsible hooligans that throw away their shopping bags, well… maybe you’re just not really worth all this energy. But here’s what is:
SF Examiner: I read you on Flipboard, yet you keep delivering a printed newspaper to my door every single day! I’ve asked you to stop on several occasions. And you have, only to restart again. Seriously?? C’mon! I realize circulation is down and you need to boost those numbers to stay attractive to advertisers, but realize that you’re doing a huge disservice to this city.
AT&T: Phone books. Stop printing and sending them to everyone by default already. Enough is enough. Create a phone number for those who don’t have access to the internet to order them. Everybody wins.
So what’s the solution? There are many different types of direct mail. Coupons, offers, catalogs, etc… However, one specific type is the biggest offender. Catalogs of random ads with some residual value to small audiences. Newspapers, phonebooks. Yeah stuff like that. Not sure what the technical term is, but they need to be stopped immediately. Next, focus on the bag problem in your local municipality.
That may be true about some, Woz. But the rest of us live in a world of public data with an option to pay a premium for privacy.
After my MacBook, the iPad takes the prize for the device I use most. It’s remarkably engineered inside and out, so I don’t plan on switching to a competitor anytime soon. However, something just doesn’t sit right for me with this court ruling. Competition is a big part of what drives innovation and a part of the competitive spirit in the tablet arena was lost today as a result.
The ink has dried on the $1.2b MSFT acquisition of Yammer (http://tcrn.ch/Q4sZgc) and I’m reminded of a talk from their CTO, Adam Pisoni. I listened to Adam and thought, “now there’s a guy that really gets it.” Here’s the video of the talk: http://bit.ly/N4Rs67 At the end, Adam answers my question on measuring team velocity.
