So I finally got to play around with the iPhone SDK and it doesn’t seem too bad. Sure, I’m not really familiar with Objective C and the syntax is much different than I’m used to, but I don’t think it will take a huge effort to learn and apply what I need for the few, simple, applications ideas I have so far.

iPhone SDK

That said, I think what’s motivating about the iPhone platform is the potential audience.  Not only are the users generally “Internet-savvy”, but they’re also very loyal to the Apple brand and platform.

One thing that’s pretty unique in the way iPhone applications are delivered is that because new applications are automatically featured at the top of the ONLY distribution channel (the App Store), every new submission has a chance to become popular.

I’m not at all saying it’s easy to create a successful app; however, the initial exposure for an iPhone app is virtually unparalleled in most software markets.

Okay so I’m a fan of John Resig.  His work surrounding JavaScript has been so incredible and important that his blog has become one of my top 5 favorite to read.  One of his recent projects was to write a simple shell script to convert PDFs to simple PNG+HTML+JS presentations for viewing in a web browser. Resig’s script makes use of Image Magick for image processing and conversion, which makes the script very simple and powerful at the same time.

I have always wanted somebody to explain how freeways slow to a crawl without an accident or other large “event” blocking one or more lanes.  Apparently traffic planners call this situation a “shockwave”.

Traffic Funnel

Shockwave basically describes a situation in which you are forced to slow down on the highway without seeing what’s ahead causing the change in speed.  Once you get in position to see further ahead, traffic begins to pick up and speeds are returning to normal.

Not only was that news to me, but I didn’t even know there was a job called “traffic planner”.  I mean, it makes perfect sense for the position to exist – I guess I just overlooked that aspect of urban planning.

Here’s the full graphic.  If you already knew this then you are certainly a better person than I am.

I’m writing this post on my shiny new MSI Wind Netbook using the ScribeFire Firefox add-on.  So far I really like the size – it’s even smaller than I imagined – and the speed is more than adequate for everyday tasks.

Setup was a breeze – I was able to connect to my wireless network and wireless printer without a problem.  Of course, I was expecting everything to run pretty smoothly considering it runs Windows XP Home and I’ve never really had a problem with this OS.

My biggest complaint is probably the keyboard, which is obviously smaller than a normal keyboard. The period and slash buttons are cut in half like most smaller laptops, so I constantly type “./” instead of “.” because my finger presses both keys at the same time.  That being my only real issue, for $300 I’m pretty impressed.

I’ve been in love with the Gotham font family for a few months now, so this morning when I found out that they were adding 46 new font variations and styles I was extremely pleased.

Gotham: 46 New Styles

Though I’m not much of a graphic designer, Gotham commands a sort of “respect” from me that I don’t fully understand.  It’s one of those things that irks me because I know my subconscious is having a field day, but I can’t put my finger on exactly why I enjoy seeing Gotham in headlines and other important messages.

According to the Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Gotham is being used “on soda cans, boarding passes, billboards and banner ads; we’ve seen it engraved in marble on a cornerstone, and cast in rubber on the sole of a shoe.”

Not too mention, of course, that Gotham was the font chosen for all of Barack Obama’s campaign signage and marketing.

What if you got a short alert message (email, Twitter, SMS) from the library when your book was in, or when your laundry was done, or even when your car needs service?  One of these was already hacked together, but what if this was mainstream technology?  Imagine having Growl-like alerts on your laptop for all your “offline” tasks.  Add archiving and the ability to push alerts to other applications using standard formats and I think you have a pretty interesting concept.

Sound futuristic?  Okay, then let’s start with software.  What if all applications published events in the same way, perhaps to a central server on a network?  What if an enterprise application aggregated all these events and presented them in useful ways depending on the context and the request?  I jot down a note in Outlook, it gets recorded.  I submit my timesheet hours, and it, too, gets recorded.  Soon we’d have a personal “work stream” of everything we did during the day, providing insight into how we work and what we can do to become more efficient.

I wrote a quick blurb on Snowdrop’s website describing the three ways to be successful in affiliate marketing.  Here’s my main point:

Beginner affiliate marketers rarely see high returns in their first few months because they focus too much on increasing sales volume and not enough on decreasing the cost of a lead/action.

I think it boils down to this: because online advertising is so easy to track, analyze, and tweak, it’s insane not to be ridiculously efficient when purchasing a lead.  And that’s what you’re really doing – you spend money on advertising to purchase a lead, and you succeed if the cost of that lead is less than the revenue generated per lead.

That’s why I’m always confused when I hear about companies that have fixed budgets for advertising.  In reality, a business should have a fixed budget for “experimental” advertising, but an unlimited budget for successful advertising.  For example, if every time you handed me $1, I gave you $2 back, would you cap yourself at handing me $100 per day or would you continue to trade me dollars for more dollars ad infinitum?

I’ll admit that the only Aldous Huxley book I’ve read was “Brave New World” and that was required reading in college, so I may not even be qualified to comment on the quote, but what the hell.

This quote makes me wonder how much I miss by thinking too small and not asking why. It’s much easier to believe what others say than to challenge what they don’t say.

Seems to me that most successful entrepreneurs think both outside of themselves and the present state of affairs. They may apply a standard of one market to another, or use a seemingly contrary, though proven rule in a yet unproven industry.