Cuts on the Bias

This is a test

WWD reports today that Conde Nast, the company that has laid off a bazillion people this week, has launched a new iphone app for GQ.

Conde Nast says the app will not only make money, but is also vetted by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the first of its kind to get the agency’s approval. That means sales of the app will count toward the magazine’s rate base. The memo goes on to read,

"The GQ application, which replicates the entire December issue, will be available on iTunes for $2.99, and will include touchscreen control, video, music and zoom features that make the screen easily readable. Users can buy music featured within the magazine through iTunes, and the application will include links to Web pages and phone numbers for brands listed in the fashion credits and interstitial advertisements that aren’t in the magazine."

Now that magazines are starting to catch up with technology, are readers going to adapt? I have always felt that print will never be dead-have you ever travelled on a plane or train? You can't read your ipod or Kindle when you're stuck on the runway for 2 hours due to minor technical problems. And you certainly can't read in a subway (yet), I also just like to look a big pictures right in front of my face, especially if they're fashion images.

Can both print and digital provide unique value that don't compete? Does print become more mass appeal and digital more niche?

Fast-forward Future

My love of computer technology stems partially from its speed of evolution. I'm stunned by how fast it improves and progresses into areas thought impossible only a few years ago. Most industries are content to pop out a few subtle innovations every few years. We get a new teeth whitening formula, a re-sealing bag or stain resistant khakis and we're supposed to be thrilled. But how can you get excited by incremental, slower than slug improvements when the computer software and hardware developers are lobbing out radical inventions practically every week? 

Here's Mirror, a device that gives computer powers to every day objects. And Pauchub, a service that lets you "tag" and share sensor data (about the weather, about movement, about objects, etc) with a community. Or FourSquare which tells your cell phone which friends are nearby and what things you can do in the area. And this is only what's coming from tiny start-ups. The big boys keep their developments under wraps until announcing to the world and forcing you rethink your "must have" list.

Yes, sometimes I get "new stuff" whiplash, especially when I'm trying to learn how to use all these things. But I'll take that over "bored numb by me-too-ness" any day.

iPhone Update

I love Americans. We don't see any problem in putting a Cinnabon shop right next to the entrance to a Whole Foods store. There both food, right?

But that's not why I took this photo. My real purpose was to try out my new iPhone 3Gs. That's right, I stuck with iPhone even though it's a mediocre phone from a company that annoys me and a service provider who is anything but. Why not the Palm Pre? Too complicated to recap here, but the deal breaker was I would have to get a new phone number and sign a 2 year contract with a carrier I didn't know. It was kind of like having to marry someone new the minute I got divorced.

Instead, I got the new iPhone and I'm glad I did. It's still a mediocre phone, but now it's a much better handheld computer. It's faster and lighter weight. The compass is cool, the camera is much improved, and I really like the voice activation (a feature I had years ago with LG...). Oh yea, and the apps. So many to choose from. Right now, top favs are "Where" which lets me find local spots like a theatre then review movie times and buy tix; "G-Park" which reminds me where I parked my car; and a new time-sucking game called "StoneLoops."

And then there's the killer phone app of all time which made me renew my mobileme subscription even though I hate mobileme:  "Where's my phone?" Log onto mobileme, and it will find your missing iphone. If it's not where it should be, it lets you wipe your missing phone clean of all data.  wow. makes you wonder why cars and computers don't have that feature.

New Sandbox

Technologist have been very busy lately. In a rough equivalent of Fashion Week, tech companies have been strutting their stuff this past week, launching many more new ventures than average. Why now? I'm not sure, but I'm hoping it's because they know the only way out of a bad market downturn is new inventions.

I mentioned one last week: Topsy. Very cool site equivalent to a global uber-gossip with no personal agenda. Another one that could be a game-changer is Wolfram/Alpha. The name is geeky and so is the site, but I dare you to not play with it. Read "a few things to try" in the right-hand column and follow their suggestions. My personal favorites were typing in a given name and typing a series of music notes (eg. a c e d f g).  Boggles the mind what this has the potential to do.

Masterful media

Barack Obama is one mean communication machine. A few days ago, I got an email from him asking for support on health care. Yesterday, I was invited to listen in on a conference call he conducted from Air Force One this morning on the push for health care reform. Joe Biden sent me an email this morning asking for a show of support for Sonia Sotomayor. I'm not so naive to think these men are typing in my email address by hand and thinking "gee, hope Christopher replies quickly." But compared to the communication I got from Bush (nada), I'm feeling pretty special.

Mostly I'm impressed with how extraordinarily well-organized his administration is when it comes to communication. It's a full-court press, use every medium available enslaught. Their branding is superb; their messages are tight and on target; their spokespeople are articulate, gracious and intelligent. Their website is useful. If they only serve as role models to other organizations dependent on outreach, they will have contributed tremendous value.

While the tools may seem overwhelming at first, the process is straightforward:

• Build a stable, well-designed website that either is your business or accurately reflects its essential tenets
• Blog or post regularly in paragraphs to further announce and clarify your opinions, ideals, desires and developments
• Email as needed in sentences to connect with clients, customers and audiences
• Tweet often in phrases and links to identify your expertise, your areas of interest or your immediate observations

There's more out there, but these basics are enough for most businesses. The secret sauce is that everything needs to be linked to other relevant people and places, and structured in a way that's searchable. But that's why we hire the cute guys with the big glasses.

On Top

Time for some tech (and a good news start-up story). A new type of search engine launched yesterday called Topsy. You may be saying "I have no need for a new search engine. I have a perfectly good one already." True, but for reasons you probably don't want to know, Google, Yahoo and others can't really keep up with all the content being added by people using Twitter, Facebook, Digg, et al.

Topsy is different, and the most lucid explanation of what it does can be found right on Topsy's About page:

"Topsy listens to the conversations taking place all the time on the living, social web. This is the rapidly growing, exciting world of Twitter, Blogs, Flickr, Digg, Yelp, Identica and many other communities. People use these communities to share reviews, opinions, messages, comments and discussions about things. Topsy indexes those things. Topsy indexes what people are talking about.

When you search for something on Topsy, such as "free music", it finds snippets of conversations that match what you're looking for. Topsy results are the things people link to, when they're talking about your search terms. Topsy ranks results based on how well they match your search terms, and the influence of the people talking about them."

That's right, Topsy is the world's best gossip. It mills around the globe, paying attention to what everyone is tweeting about, then tells you just the good stuff you want to know about right now.

What's even more interesting about Topsy is how agile and committed its founders are. I first met Vipul Ved Prakash and Gary Iwatani when they were building their last company, Cloudmark. Over the past three years, I watched them tweak and retweak Topsy endlessly, while always looking for the right market "wave" to show up. Less patient and less experienced entrepreneurs would have launched when the product was ready; they chose instead to launch when the market was ready. I hope they are good surfers--this is one monster of a wave.

Google Earthquake

What did we do before Google? I can't remember a day recently when I didn't search for something from this invisible oracle. I'm already content with their services, but they continue to amaze me with "gifts" I least expect and dearly want.

Tonight I learned of the LA earthquake from my daughter who got a text from a friend living there. I jumped online and searched for "earthquake" assuming I'd get the link to the USGS, which is where I usually go for info when the ground beneath me liquefies.   Instead, up pops Google's own earthquake data, tied to Google Earth. I checked out the earthquake location, but quickly wandered off to stare at the undersea typography captured in a zoomed out view of Google Earth. Mesmerizing.

Designer data

Hopefully by now you know how much I love visual data. To me it's the fashionable side of math. Google apparently agrees because they just launched a new search feature, "Public Data Search" that takes the reams of numbers collected by the US and puts them into easily understood, possibly beautiful, charts and graphs.

To try this out, go to Google search and type in what data you want followed by a location. For example, I typed in "unemployment rate hawaii". That action delivered a nice blue line on crisp white chart, slightly nautical looking. Clicking on the chart brought me to a page where I could choose other states to compare. I've always been told (mostly by people in Hawaii) that the state's economy trails the US. Turns out this was right--in the past. But the next time this comes up in conversation (it could happen), I now have an orange, blue and white wavy print (Missoni-ish in a minimalist way) proving this is no longer true.

Google's acquisition of GapMinder's Trendalyzer software a few years back makes all this possible. While they are starting off with somewhat boring data, the Google blog claims they will soon add things of more interest like the price of cookies. That's commendable as long as they keep the colors pretty.

Talent Search

 

When they are out of work, some people parade around in silly costumes with dogs on their shoulders, while others reinvent themselves in more notable ways. One of the best ways to take what you've got and get more out of it is to freelance. But freelancing usually requires contacts or referrals, transportation and at least one good interviewing outfit. That is, unless you use Elance.com.

This company has been around for a long time in internet years. They survived the dotcom crash, and kept on improving. If you're looking for talent (web developers, designers, writers, accountants, engineers and lawyers), you can search for people by their specific expertise, then filter the thousands of available talent by how highly they are rated and how much they've earned thru the site. Still not sure who you want? Click on their ratings and read the reviews of people who have paid for their services thru Elance in the past. The site helps you manage the project and the payments.

If you're looking for work, you can list your capabilites, your rate and your resume. When jobs become available, you can bid on the ones that interest you from the comfort of your home without changing out of your jamas. Do this often enough and you'll find a good match. If you don't like companies who's name starts with E, then choose Odesk for the same capabilities. Somewhat less popular, but same business is Guru.com. Those nerd boys like their vowels.

I [insert here] Do [insert here]

It's officially Spring. I know because I've packed away my winter clothes and I'm wearing my beloved flip flops again. Spring reminds me of weddings which may be why this Wall Street Journal article on wedding vows caught my eye. I'm not sure why the WSJ cares about wedding vows but apparently they do as long as the process of creating them is efficient and makes money.

The article highlights several web sites that help couples write their marriage vows. My personal favorite-- primarily for the kitsch factor--is InstantVows.com. The site's headline reads: "Need Amazing Wedding Vows? Here's How You can quickly and easily get your hands on warm, loving, proven wedding vows in just 3 1/2 minutes."

Need I point out that this text surely was written by a man?

In Love with Vista

There, I said it. I'm happily in love with a Microsoft product; one that lately has been synonymous with the word "failure." I no longer consult to anyone at Microsoft, so I'm under no obligation to hype their wares or explain their strategy. I am a lowly user--and one who has a high-end Mac laptop sitting right next to my cheap PC.

I'm in love with Windows Vista because it's whiplash fast and it makes complex, cross application actions easy. Here's an example: Davis sent me photos of our ski trip via gmail. I wanted to download them to my computer and upload them to Facebook. On my mac, I spent 20 minutes fighting with it to download the photos. Apparently they weren't the proper format. wtf? If I send Davis an email saying "pls resend your photos in the proper format" I won't see him for the rest of the day.

On my cheap little Acer PC with Vista, I clicked on one photo, chose "upload" and instantly viewed my "Squaw 09" Picaso web album. Then I clicked on one photo, chose "download" and they promptly copied themselves to Picaso on my computer. One more click and my Facebook friends see what a swell time I had last weekend. In other words, the ads showing a 4 year old doing this are real.

What I've learned about Macs is that they work wonderfully if you never leave the Apple compound. If you use all Apple devices and all Apple software, everything is fine. Vista lets you be a free agent.

Miz Pee

It's happened to all of us. You're in unfamiliar territory and you have got to pee. Quickly. Now. Right away. If you're a guy, this problem is solved by any random large bush or door with "Hombre" on it. No sanitation issues for you--all you have to touch is yourself. Women face a completely different dilemma.

Women seeking a public restroom have to weigh their personal discomfort with risk of death from infectious disease. Unless they are very fit or carry one of those weird penis funnels, women have to place their naked private parts adjacent to a surface previously visited by possibly thousands of other naked private parts. Thankfully, our friends the technologists, feel our pain.

Miz Pee does what you wish all websites did. Identify a simple, widespread problem:  "find a clean public toilet near me right now" and solve it with up-to-date information accessible from your phone. I tested it out in Palo Alto, and it sent me to Peets on Santa Cruz Avenue, giving it a rating of 3 (out of 5) toilet paper rolls. I couldn't check the validity of the review because this Peets burned down last week, but they make great coffee and I'm reasonably sure they clean their toilets regularly.

I don't know if the site owner will be able to sustain its growth because lame online advertisers think the only ads we'd want to see on the site are ones for toilets (how about tampons? sexy underwear? beer?). Help them out by visiting the site and sending its link to your cell phone. If you don't ever need to use it you're either remarkably controlled or wearing Depends.

Digital Doodles

Every once in awhile (well, maybe weekly), all my great ideas for new adventures start fighting each other and end up a jumbled mess in my head. When that happens, I doodle. Not mindlessly but with purpose. I put all my ideas on paper, then I connect them with circles and lines until I figure out how they relate to each other. Some may see this as a sign of pending craziness; I think it's the height of sanity.

Apparently, so do several software makers who provide digital means of doing the same thing.  Check out LifeHacker's Five Best Mind-mapping Applications.  MindMeister is the simplest.  Don't worry about finding a collaboration partner--you can pretend to be two people (although, for the record, that is not always sane).

All Ears

How often do I get to write about an intersection of fashion and technology?  Not often enough, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to showcase some clever earrings a friend forwarded. They are by Himes, a company based in Budapest (thank you, global internet goddess) and they turn 1 gigabyte USB drives into handpainted drop earrings. Why would a normal person want to walk around wearing 1 gigabyte earrings? Glad you asked:

• Carry all your family and vacation photos on them. When someone asks to see pictures of your kids, take off your earring and plug it into a computer.
• Carry your complete medical records on them. Of course, you'll also have to wear a bracelet reading "check my earring for medical information."
• Smuggle company secrets out the door (just kidding--only do this if you're starring in a movie)
• Store your resume and complete portfolio on them. Next time you run into a potential employer in a bar, give him or her one of your earrings.
• Carry your favorite porn around on them (also just kidding, but I bet a few fashion-forward men are saying "hmm, not a bad idea).

Ok maybe there aren't that many good excuses for wearing earrings with a gig of storage, but I like the concept. And I really like the concept of hand-painted earrings from Budapest, even if they aren't useful.

Hand Made

Here's a good weekend project for those of you who don't knit, sew, whittle or collect stamps. You can make your own font based on your handwriting. This could come in handy when you want to send email that looks like a letter. Or maybe if your teacher requires handwritten homework. Or you want to send a handwritten thank you note except you don't want to hand write it.

Just kidding. The only reason to turn your handwriting into a font is if you think your scribbles are unique and fabulous and worth sharing with the rest of the online world. Out of 100+ friends, family and acquaintances, I'd recommend about 5 of them do this. My mother is one.

Of course using someone else's handwriting as a font can be a very good idea. Sacre Bleu, a handwriting font based on a sample from the 1930's is exquisite. Miss Claude is another fav.

Account Me In

If you miss Kelley, here's a post of her apparently attacking something edible. The site is Thomas' CutandBaste, a lovely food focused blog that he doesn't update often enough (but when he does post, it's beautiful and delicious).

Unfortunately, I'm not on vacation. In fact, today I'm on the opposite of vacation. I have to learn accounting. Why? Well, the ugly side of being an entrepreneur is you can't just do what you know. You have to be willing to take on tasks that are foreign to you (unless you have money to burn in which case you're not an average entrepreneur). The most foreign task I know is accounting. I failed it in business school and I haven't gotten any better in the interim. Ironically, I understand finance well--it's accounting that baffles me.

Fortunately, I'm the type that can learn from written instructions. I don't need a "hands on" experience or auditory influence. All I need is a real life motivation like a business launching in two weeks to get my brain cells open and ready to be re-wired. Google of course likes my type of person and quickly serves up a free online accounting class as soon as I ask for it. I prefer downloading an accounting chip to my brain but that's not available--yet.

Happy Places

I knew I felt good and this report proves it. The folks at Gallup and Healthways have created an interactive map that lets you see how people in your congressional district (otherwise known as your neighbors) are feeling about key components of their personal well-being including emotional health,  quality of work and physical health. They rank each attribute on a scale of 1-435 (the number of congressional districts), then color code the map to show you at a glance where people are happy and where they are not.

My district, California 14, is numero uno in well-being. Why? Well, we've got the ocean, the SF bay, Silicon Valley and several very fine wine shops. Good to remember on those days when I'm grumpy. The worst district?  Mississippi's 2nd district. I don't know much about that part of the country, but I'll take a wild guess and say it has something to do with their household income being around $26K. Probably low on good wine shops too.

Not sure if you're happy? Check the map.

Music to my ears

Kelley is still wandering in the desert, no doubt wearing her caftan and jewels. I, on the other hand, am home listening to jackhammers. Fortunately, thanks to iTunes and some clever engineers, I can transform the racket by accessing any of the several thousand digital downloads I have at my finger tips.

Of all the areas transformed by personal computing, music must be near the the top. If computing impacted fashion similarly we'd all be able to scan the world for new clothing, try it on and then download it to our closet. We'd receive emails saying "your black and white tulip skirt will look great with this..." We'd be able to carry our wardrobe with us at all times, changing outfits on a whim.

That reality is probably more than a few years away. In the meantime, Mashable offers five ways to find concerts in your area; 16 music add-ons for FireFox; and five free iTunes apps (hint: Shazam is the best by far). enjoy!

God is Online

I find I have much to be thankful for this morning. My beloved daylight savings is back so I no longer have to have my sunset-watching cocktail at 4:30pm. The rain has cleared for two days in a row so the snails are no longer creeping up my windows. President Obama has pledged a return to decision making based on science (such an odd requirement in a supposedly progressive country) and the US has fewer Christians and more Muslims, Mormons, Wiccans, atheists and pagans. 

If any of these developments make you nervous, you can take your concerns to a higher authority and have a chat with God online. He or she will start by asking your name (if you want to retain the illusion of direct contact, don't list your name as "Jesus"--you will be disappointed by God's response.) All kidding aside, this online God is quite humorous. I asked if he granted wishes--thinking maybe he'd reverse the Dow if asked--and he responded "No, do you?" Refreshing quality in a God don't you think?

Intuiting Prada

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you may notice that I try to find a technology relationship to Kelley's fashion observations. Sometimes that's easy; today may be more of a stretch. I'm hoping our readership includes people who aspire to be the next Prada, as well as those who long to buy the next Prada. For you, I have Intuit.

Yes, I know you think Intuit is all about tax software and a few of you may know them for Quickbooks or Quicken accounting software. This characterization is accurate but incomplete. The best way to explain the quiet evolution of this longtime Silicon Valley presence is to say they have become one of the world's best backers of startups.

They are not VCs--they are better. They provide countless resources for someone starting, expanding or reviving a business and they are often the lowest cost provider available. Start with an idea and a web connection and you could be in business days later. They will build your website, create your business cards, design your logo, provide a merchant account, and link you into a community filled with other entreprenuers asking questions and providing answers to each other. (In case you're wondering, I'm not just trying to fill space here--I've personally used all these features and they are as advertised). So, continuing in my theme for the week and tying in to the Prada reference, this i's your startup capital: now get off the couch and go design something new.

Tech toys

I'm headed for Honolulu this weekend and am trying out my two newest tech toys. The first is the Kindle 2 from Amazon. I didn't buy the first version because I'd tried too many earlier ebooks and thought they all sucked. But everyone I know who has a Kindle raves about it, so I have to give it a go.

It looks like a giant iPhone, only much slimmer and lighter. The hardware buttons and keyboard have some irritating flaws (whoever came up with the idea for a white keyboard with pale gray letters has not flown on many planes--at least not in coach), but the screen is very readable and that's the key performance variable for reading digital books.

My second toy is a $429 PC from Acer. That's no typo--the fully powered laptop, an Aspire 5155, has all the gigahertz and gigabytes you need, a 15" screen, built-in wifi and webcam and runs Microsoft Vista. I'm still stunned that it cost less than my iPhone (and probably answers calls better as well).

With these two in tow, I will be in instruction manual mode for 5 hours while flying over the Pacific, but nothing calms me quicker than the silent hum of new microprocessors.

Drop7, the drug

I've posted before about my weakness for online games. Strategy games, in particular, can get in my blood stream quickly and stay there until forcibly removed. Thanks to Kelley, I am once again battling game addiction--this time to the new iPhone app Drop7 by game makers Area/Code (for those of you without iPhones, Chain Factor is a similar game that you can play online).

Drop7 is like Tetris only much better. It drops numbers from 1 to 7 that "pop" when their value matches their placement in a line either vertically or horizontally (I realize that sounds confusing, but it's highly intuitive when you're playing).

How addictive is it? I ignored my car mates for over an hour while I battled to break 200,000. Davis left me sitting alone for 20 minutes in a restaurant this weekend while he tried for a high score in the john. Kelley keeps the iPhone charger by her bed so she can play through the night. Even now as I'm writing, the app is calling me. I hear its plea....one more time. You can do it. Come on, it will only take a few minutes.

My only consolation on this incredible new time suck... I apparently have a natural talent for it. My high score is 387,569. Hopefully, the game designers did not start their careers as true drug dealers or I'm screwed.

iRepurpose

I'm trying not to notice the continued downward tilt in the economy. I seek out bullish-sounding articles in the news and pretend I don't know what year it is when I look at the Dow. If worrying about it made a difference, then I'd worry with a vengeance, but it doesn't so try to stay optimistic by finding good news in the bad.

For example, only in a recession would you find an entire post devoted to ways to repurpose an old iPod. It's from Kevin Purdy at LifeHacker and it's not bad. Most of his ideas are going to appeal to guys with a slight nerdly streak, like "Make a stand-alone, bootable XP computer from it" (yep, right after my homemade robot wins RoboFest), but a couple of the suggestions are practical enough to be gender-neutral. My favorite: load it with drink recipes by downloading iPod Bartender. After all, you never know when you'll need to make an emergency margarita.

Twittered Out

Enough leather shorts. They are the fashion equivalent of Twitter. Functional for some (mountain climbers? yodelers?), but odd and annoying for everyone else.

You're probably surprised that I'm not in love with Twitter; after all, it is a fun, free Web2.0 innovation that anyone can use at anytime. With nothing more than a cell phone, I can text hundreds of "followers" and let them know I'm sitting on the couch. Or walking to my car. Or stuck in traffic. Or watching a video. In other words, I can share the minutia of my life while calling myself a member of the "twitteratti." Likewise, by signing up to "follow" my friends, I can get realtime updates that they are sitting on the couch. Or walking to their car. Or stuck in traffic. Or...hopefully I've made my point.

Does Twitter make sense for anyone? Yes, like leather shorts it has a functional value. A smart marketer can use Twitter to build a following that helps spread word of mouth. A popular CEO can use it to keep clients informed of when she's in town or where she's speaking. A mom with 14 kids can use it to call them to dinner. But for most, using Twitter in everyday life requires a outsized ego and an accompanying belief that even minor details of your life are fascinating to others. If you're Gwyneth Paltrow this may be true, but don't count on it if you're not.

Strut your stuff

The tech world doesn't have Fashion Week. Instead it spreads its shows out over the year in a series of different conferences, each trying to dominate the others or to find a special niche it can call its own. There's the massive Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas and the self-loving MacWorld in San Francisco. There's the D conference, Future in Review (FIRE), the Game Developers conference, E3 and CHI (i'm leaving dozens out). I've been to most of them at one time or another and, thanks to Kelley, I've also been to Fashion Week. They are oddly similar.

In both industries, the main idea is to strut your new stuff in front of potential buyers or promoters. Newcomers are either dismissed out of hand or lauded as the next Coming of the Savior. Models are revered, although they rarely if ever speak (and the ones at tech conferences border on skanky thanks to geeks fondness for massive tits). Sages roam the aisles with their entourages, nodding favorably toward the chosen few.

It's difficult to enjoy yourself at these events and like Kelley, I often prefer the online version. It's easier to scan the entries and find the ones that matter. Plus you don't have to stand in a long line to pee and the food is better. Ironically, few tech conferences have good online representation. One that does is TechCrunch 50, a small newcomer whose goal is to showcase promising startups. Their site provides full coverage of the conference, including videos and a profile of each presenter. Ever want to see what it's like to be a venture capitalist? Grab a handful of Monopoly money and watch all 50 demos--then place your bets. Oh, also be a guy and wear a black long-sleeve crewneck T.