Today is: Tuesday, 9th February 2010
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Hosting and Web Development
Over the years, I’ve noticed that when most people start talking about web development, they immediately throw web hosting into the mix. ”Okay, so you develop in PHP, where do you host?” is often the flow of things.
The problem is, your website is YOUR BUSINESS ASSET, not mine. Hence asking me where I host is the wrong question. It should be “where do you recommend that we host our site.”
That bit was drilled home to me again last week. A friend asked me to talk with one of his friends, and it turned out he’d had a web development deal that went totally south on him, and even worse, the site was hosted on the errant web developer’s server. A potently bad mix…
Luckily for this fellow, he had control of his domain names for both of his sites, so I was able to put up a couple quick lander pages for him and change name servers, and he was no longer at the not so tender mercy of his former developer, and in a spot where he could start searching for a new developer (that won’t be me, I’m quite busy enough with my regular work now and couldn’t do his project justice).
So let’s all repeat after me: my domain names and my website hosting services are business assets, and no matter what I should maintain control over them!
08 Feb 10 | Love Your Geek – Print Version Available
Karl Susman’s book “Love Your Geek” came out on Monday, and he just told me it’s already gone for a second printing. Excellent news! You can still get your copy on Amazon in the Kindle format, or order the print verision.
You can also join the forums and help Karl come up with topics for his next book by registering here for the LoveYourGeek.com forum.
Even better, he’s going to be interviewed on Craig Crossman’s Computer America show tonight at 10pm EST. You can listen online here.
Friday Music Video: Pat Metheny
Last Train Home – reminds me of my days at UVM when Pat was everywhere.
Dig deeper:
PatMetheny.com – his official site
Red Sox Ticket Prices, StubHub and Ace Tickets
Back in the day, I used to go to Red Sox games…lots of Red Sox games, as many as 30 or so a year.
In the past couple years, not a game. In fact, I’ve never taken my two daughters. Prices obviously enter into this – read this on the pricing thisyear from ESPN
Following an across the board freeze of all ticket prices in 2009, approximately two-thirds of the tickets at Fenway Park will stay at 2009 levels or increase by $2 for the 2010 season and no single price category will increase by more than $5. In 2010, 63% of the tickets at Fenway Park will be $52 or less, with the lowest ticket price remaining at $12.
For many of you, you’re saying, that’s not so bad, go for the $12 tickets. That’d peg you immediately as someone that has never been in the bleachers at Fenway. It’s traditionally not a place for your kids…at least not for my kids.
The real rub in my mind is that I can’t get tickets to the games I want, such as the May 7 game against the Yankees without going through a scalper like StubHub or Ace Tickets. Both have hundreds if not thousands of tickets to that game. Meanwhile, Redsox.com, the official box office has none…not a single ticket for the game. This, just ONE DAY after tickets went on sale.
So how’d that happen?
You see in 2007, Stubhub.com signed a 5 year deal with MLB to resell tickets. On the face of it, the deal was to allow fans to resell their tickets. Are we honestly to believe that thousands of Red Sox fans waited online Saturday and then changed their mind on Sunday and are now selling their tickets.
No, obviously not.
The big question here has to be asked of the Red Sox: are you providing tickets directly to StubHub? If so, then that ought to be figured into the average cost of ticket prices.
If this is the case, then the Red Sox and MLB have found an excellent way to increase revenues, without having to face the bad PR of drastically increasing ticket prices. Also, if this is the case, then both the Red Sox and MLB need a trip to the woodshed.
I fired off an email to the Red Sox box office:
Why is it one day after tickets went on sale, games such as the May 7 Yankees game are unavailable from your site, but StubHub has hundreds if not thousands of tickets. Do you sell or in any way provide tickets to StubHub?As a fan, this situation is not acceptable.
What do you think? Should fans be forced to buy their tickets from secondary sources?
Kind of funny to think that StubHub’s motto, “Sold out? Not us…” when for MLB for this is definitely a Sell Out.
(Note: I contacted the Red Sox via email on Sunday and as of the publish time of this post, have not received any sort of reply).
NY Times: When iPhone Apps Are Too Smart
The big secret of iPhone apps is coming out of the bag: most apps that are downloaded are rarely, if ever used.
While I’m not saying we’ve jumped the shark here, it is important to note that if the New York Times has picked up on this fact, then it’s approaching common knowledge. Read their article, “When iPhone Apps Are Too Smart” here.
So, for every zealous owner whose iPhone is loaded with little-known programs that predict asteroid fly-bys, there are many more Caroline Cuas, who seldom venture outside the predictable. Most say they’re too busy, too lazy or just plain flummoxed by the choices.
“I think I’m supposed to want more of them than I have,” said Julie Graham, a psychotherapist in San Francisco who echoed Ms. Cua’s vague anxiety. “There’s this sense that I’m missing out on something I didn’t know I needed.”
Ms. Graham, 50, said friends were shocked when she confessed to having failed to download Urbanspoon, a compendium of restaurant reviews. She now has it — and seldom uses it. “I don’t have time,” she said.
So what does it all mean? I’ll put it simply: don’t put too much stock into how many times your iPhone app (or any other) was downloaded from the App Store. More importantly, build in the appropriate mechanisms to allow you to find what the actual usage was. Once again, it comes down to a pure matter of metrics. How many page views, how many purchases, etc.
Similarly, we’ve got to bridge the gap between coding neat little apps that get downloaded and get to the point where we have serious apps that get used.
A few things to consider:
- What is the core user need your app is fulfilling?
- If there isn’t an existing need, what need are you creating?
- Are you applying the tenets of online community building to maintain user interest?
- What are the top apps you use? What is it about those apps that makes them compelling to you?
- Have you closely examined competitor apps? What’s good about them? What isn’t? What can you do better?
- What are the real metrics for your app? Compare downloads vs. actual usage.
- Talk with real iPhone app users, not the Tech/SM crowd. What do they really use for apps?
Let me know what you see…I’d love to share info on this!
Geo Location Services and the Coming War for Our Whereabouts
Over the past few months I’ve been messing with Foursquare…the geo location service-based social network-game. Frequent readers will possibly remember that I’m not a really big fan of sharing geo location information, even though I’m perhaps one of the few who has directly had his life saved by cell phone geolocation.
Foursquare is an interesting study. By turning the geo location service into a game and allowing the most frequent visitors to locations to earn the title of ”Mayor” of that spot, as well as providing badges which users can earn for certain actions, they’re amassing a fairly comprehensive database of mostly bars and restaurants around the globe. They’ve beautifully applied some of the best features of online communities in a way that has allowed them to expand at an exponential rate. (more…)
No, Uh, We Don’t Have an App for That…
Think about this: much of the “web traffic” we see now doesn’t actually go through a web browser at all, instead a lot of traditionally “web” type interactions are now happening on smartphones, etc. through applications. It’s pretty cool stuff.
On my phone I have all kinds of neat stuff, such as the Navionics app that allows me to carry around every navigational chart for the eastern seaboard of the US, and navigate in real time, which is great if you’re a boater, a database of knots, the New York Times app, the MLB app that gives me real time scores and access to live game video, a db of recipes and nutrional info from Big Oven, as well as cocktail recipe guide, tides, a translation app, surf reports, and a bazillion other things.
This stuff is truly transformational. I kind of pity you folks stuck with Blackberries or, ugh, regular old cell phones.
However, there’s a problem on the horizon, and it’s due in large part to Apple’s attempts to control what happens within the Iphone universe. You see, now that we’ve got a worthy competitor, the Google Nexus, and the other earlier Android phone apps, we’ve got a Balkanization going on. Apple apps require Objective C code, while Google is using Java. Hence developing smartphone apps has become what developing computer apps used to be: either code for both platforms, or forgo one of the two.
We’ve been here before. Most of these apps don’t really do much, basically they access info on the web and display it on a small screen. Maybe they access the GPS, but one is left asking the question: would it have been such a problem to come up with a common application protocol?
I thought we’d learned this lesson before. Now instead of having commonly shared apps, for the Iphone, the Nexus, the iSlate, the Lenovo UI, etc, we’re looking at one off app development for each.
Oh well, on the other hand, I guess there’s lots of money to be made redoing work to make it function on divergent platforms…
Friday Music Video
This one is a left-handed request. A “new” reader requested it, in an off handed way…
The Foo Fighters – “You’re So Vain” from the 2008 Grammys.
MA Senate Campaign, Change is in the Air
I don’t talk publicly about politics much. Not that I don’t have something to say, but more because I think our votes are personal things. I respect your right to use yours however you want.
I live in Massachusetts. That makes it easy to be apathetic about politics, as we’ve got a one party state government. Personally, I am an an independent.
Throughout the fall, I watched as the Democrats argued over which of them would become the heir to “Senator Kennedy’s Senate Seat.” I have to admit, that rankled me. It’s not “the Kennedy Seat” as the NY Times called it yesterday, it’s a seat owned by the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and conveyed by us on he or she who is best able to do our bidding in DC.
After the Democratic Primary, their candidate, Martha Coakley, the State Attorney General, literally disappeared from the election. She tried to avoid debating the Republican candidate, and she acted as though the election was a done deal so long as she kept her mouth shut and managed not to commit any capital crimes before the election.
During that period, in that vacuum, we heard from a seldom heard voice, a Republican with a heart and a message. That message resonated with many who were troubled, like I was.
Last Monday, Coakley realized that things were rapidly coming unglued. She tanked in the debate on Monday, then instead of taking to the campaign trail, flew down to DC to get an infusion of cash from the DNC. In that same period of time, her opponent was out on the campaign trail, talking to voters in Massachusetts, and managed to rake in $1.3 m in contributions via the web.
Now we’ve got attack ads sponsored by unions, by the DNC and approved by Coakley herself. It would appear, from listening to them, that they’ve found out some shocking news: her opponent is a Republican.
I can’t speak for my neighbors, but I can tell you that I’m not impressed with Coakley. I’m voting for Scott Brown, and if you’re one of my neighbors, I hope you will too.
About Us
I'm Mark Cahill - Online community developer and content management wonk since 1995. I'm interested in new media, communities and social networking, and love saltwater fly fishing. For a longer version, you can read my full about us page.
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Recent Posts
- Love Your Geek – Print Version Available
- Friday Music Video: Pat Metheny
- Red Sox Ticket Prices, StubHub and Ace Tickets
- How to Report the News
- NY Times: When iPhone Apps Are Too Smart
- Geo Location Services and the Coming War for Our Whereabouts
- No, Uh, We Don’t Have an App for That…
- Friday Music Video
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