david schultz dot org, dot com was taken

Who gives a fuck if it doesn’t have flash?

Need video? HTML5. Want to make a game for the iphone OS? Learn objective C. I’m not defending Apple (i’m not buying the iPad), but Flash is really on the way out. People who are annoyed at the lack of Flash need to think about what exactly they must have flash for that can’t be done on the iphone OS. Flash intro’s? Band & restaurant websites? Puhhhlease.

Loved this quote i read on Analog Industries:

“No Flash? Who gives a flying fuck? Flash is an improvement over Java only inasmuch as you don’t have to learn a computer language in order to have a gaping wound of a security hole on your system or kill your CPU. HTML5 gives that tragedy the death it so richly deserves anyhow. All the big video sites have HTML5 proof-of-concept players up now; by this time next year, Flash will be a bad memory.”

apple / ipad / iphone / observations — 1 comment
27
Jan 10

Why i’m not buying the Apple iPad…yet

The $499 price point is solid. It’s pretty & definitely well designed. But i’m not buying version 1.0 of the iPad (at least). Here’s why:

1. Nobody seems to be talking about this but i’m worried about how resilient the screen is. If i drop an iphone, it weighs a few hundred grams. The iPad weighs 1.5lbs. What does it take to shatter the screen?

2. No front facing camera.

3. No multi-tasking.

4. What’s the use case? When would i use the iPad vs my iPhone/Macbook Pro?

5. Don’t buy 1st gen.

business / marketing / music — 1 comment
16
Jan 10

Social media for bands: Q&A with a reader

Yesterday i got a random question from someone on Facebook who discovered my earlier post about social media for bands. I thought she had some interesting questions so here’s the transcript of our Q&A:

Ok! well the first question that i have is what do you do for a living? Is your blog something you do for fun?

A: I do online marketing/web application development & iphone app development on the side. My blog is for fun and to occasionally piss off hypocrite conservatives & Apple haters.

How do you think the internet has changed the music industry?

A: Its been bad for big pop artists, especially those who may have a lot of label money but make terrible music. On the other hand it has been great for indie musicians because no longer do you need millions of dollars to spread the word about your music. It also has changed the artist / fan relationship in some ways. In many cases fans have a direct line of communication to the artist via Twitter / Facebook etc…

Do you think there are any negative aspect to this method of promotion?

A: It takes a huge amount of persistence. There is no “silver bullet” to success. So i think for bands just starting out it can be hard to know where to start etc…I think it’s also really easy to give up early on when you don’t see results. You also have to be careful to maintain ‘an arms length’ relationship with the fans while still being accessible. Getting too close to your “coo coo for cocoa puffs” fans can end badly.

Do you have any tips for local bands who are looking to use social media to promote themselves?

A:
- Start by eating your own dog food. Follow/subscribe to artists on twitter/facebook that are already doing it and get a feel for what is working for them and how they are using the tools.
- Don’t give up, it’s gonna take time to build momentum.
- Use a service like ping.fm to make it easier to update all your social media profiles in one fell swoop.
- Use a service like www.artistdata.com to post your tour schedule once, and syndicate to hundreds of tour schedule websites across the internet.
- Find a good Twitter client. On Mac/iPhone i recommend Tweetie. Also there is a cool iphone app called Boxcar that will send you notifications on your iphone when you get @ replies or DM’s from fans which leads to my next tip:
- Do whatever you can to respond to every fan question/comment.
- Give your music away for free on your website. The bad news is people could be downloading your music for free anyways. The good news is digital content has a distribution cost of $0. Take advantage of this. People will still buy your music but more importantly you will make more money from touring due to a growing fan-base.
- Most of all: make amazing music. It doesn’t have to mainstream pop. In some ways it is easier to build a following if your music is unusual!

In your post about tips on using social media for bands, you said never spend a cent on traditional advertising. What was your reason behind this?

A: You only need to do this if your music sucks or you were signed to a major label and now need to pay back their investment in you asap. TV & print advertising is horrendously expensive. Making a music video with the objective of having it show up on MTV is a waste of time & money. Even MTV seems to have realized this as there is hardly any music on these stations anymore.

The one thing i think that’s worth spending dollars on, is getting mentioned by tastemakers. If you can get a tastemaker to plug you in in an authentic way to their fanbase, it can have huge upside.

And what about bands using YouTube? Do you think that this form of social media is a good way to promote their music and upcoming projects?

A: Absolutely. Get a cheap flip mino camera and take it on the road with you. If you have a mac iMovie is great for putting together quick video blogs. I’m sure there is something equivalent on Windows. Fans love this stuff. Also, if you have the resources you can stream your shows online via ustream for free (assuming you have the hardware required). Indie bands like Enter The Haggis are doing this and it’s a great way to boost the return your band gets from playing a show.

Great questions!

apple / business / iphone — No comments
13
Jan 10

Why the iPhone continues to win the smartphone war

Palm released the Pre. Google released the Nexus One. And then there’s Blackberry (lol)…

All of these smartphones claim to be iPhone killers. Bigger screens, expandable storage, camera flash, ability to run multiple apps at once etc…

The bottom line right now is the appstore, and the developers (“…developers, developers…”):

Graphic courtesy Gigaom.

apple / tech / unboxing — 5 comments
12
Jan 10

Unboxing my 27″ i7 iMac

Let’s have some fun.

The box, hat added for scale

Here we go...

Woot.

Packing about the same as my 2006 iMac

Includes a teeny tiny wireless keyboard, magic mouse, OSX disc & apple style manuals

The screen is gorgeous and enormous. (the cellophane is wrapping i haven't removed yet)

books / cancer / friends / pick of the week — No comments
22
Dec 09

“The Wolf at My Door” – Doug Gosling

And now on a more serious note…

On Sunday afternoon i went to the book launch party for “The Wolf At My Door”, something that my friend Doug Gosling has had in the works for a few years now.

The Wolf At My Door Doug was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002 at the age of only 49. The average age of diagnosis is 65. A few months after diagnosis he had a radical prostatectomy to remove the prostate, but 5 years later the cancer returned. Doug continues to fight what is now advanced metastatic cancer.

There are many books that prepare you to deal with the physical side of cancer, but not many that help you deal with the emotional side. This book describes nearly everything Doug went through emotionally & physically, in a very frank, honest & occasionally humorous way. It’s not just for those who have cancer, it’s for the loved ones of those who have cancer as well since cancer is as much an emotional disease as it is a physical one. Sidebar: My father was diagnosed with both prostate and thyroid cancer in 2007 so i have first hand experience with what it feels like to go through that (he was promptly treated and is currently in remission). I am about halfway through Doug’s book and while as a man who now has a family history of this horrible disease it can be hard to read at times, it does oddly bring some comfort to get such a blunt recount of what Doug has been through.

Doug saying a few words at the book launch

Doug also is the man behind the blog talkingaboutcancer.com, where he and other cancer survivors, friends & family share tips & experiences with both patients and their caregivers and can be followed on Twitter and Facebook.

Pre-order the book at Amazon today US store / CA store.

cute / funny — No comments
30
Nov 09

How does one go about getting a dog that does this?

IVgnN

cool — 1 comment
13
Nov 09

Guy mountain bikes down Whistler with a helmet cam

This is just insane.

Magento / coding / google / how to / php / troubleshooting — 3 comments
12
Nov 09

How to install Google Affiliate pixel tracking code in Magento

Took me a day of scouring the web to figure out how to get this to work. After adding this code do a test order and view source and confirm it worked.

#copy and paste to the bottom of
#app/design/frontend/default/theme_name/template/checkout/success.phtml
$companyID = "K123456"; #provided by Google
$category = urlencode("Your product category");
$lastorderid = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/session')->getLastOrderId();
$_order = Mage::getModel('sales/order')->load($lastorderid);
$orderID = $this->getOrderId(); #get the order ID
$aProduct = array();
$totalAmt = 0;
$prdsku = "";
$prdnm = "";
$prdqn = "";
$prdpr = "";
$prcatid = "";

###########store order data in array of objects###########
foreach ($_order->getAllItems() as $item) {
	$oProduct = new stdClass();
	$oProduct->sku = $item->getSku(); #sku
	$oProduct->price = $item->getPrice(); #price
	$totalAmt = $totalAmt + ($oProduct->price * $item->getQtyOrdered()); #total amt (excl.tax/shipping)
	$oProduct->qty = $item->getQtyOrdered(); #quantity
	$oProduct->name = $item->getName(); #product name
	$oProduct->category = $category;
	array_push($aProduct, $oProduct);
	$oProduct = NULL; #nuke it
}
###########build query string variables###########
for ($i=0; $i < count($aProduct); $i++) {
	if ($i == count($aProduct)-1) {
		$prdsku .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->sku);
		$prdnm .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->name);
		$prdqn .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->qty);
		$prdpr .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->price);
		$prcatid .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->category);
	} else {
		$prdsku .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->sku) . "^";
		$prdnm .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->name) . "^";
		$prdqn .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->qty) . "^";
		$prdpr .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->price) . "^";
		$prcatid .= urlencode($aProduct[$i]->category) ."^";
	}
}
?>

apple / how to / iphone — No comments
03
Nov 09

How to Jailbreak and Unlock Your iPhone 3G, 3GS Using BlackSn0w [ mac instructions ]

These instructions are from iClarified who seems to be getting slammed at the moment (this was just released an hour ago as i write this. These 8 steps took about 30 seconds->1 minute to complete (!!!), and i can confirm everything works great. I was able to replace my Rogers SIM with a RoamForce World Sim and make calls immediately. Having said that, proceed at your own risk:

These are instructions on how to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone 3G and 3GS using BlackRa1n and BlackSn0w for Mac.

These instructions will work with the latest 3.1.2 firmware, the 05.11.07 baseband, and iPhones which require hactivation.

For those with a new iPhone 3GS (updated Bootrom), BlackRa1n only supports a tethered jailbreak. This means that once jailbroken you should not let your battery die. If it does die you will need to reconnect it to the computer and use BlackRa1n to boot it.

Before continuing make sure you are on the 05.11.07 baseband by following this tutorial. If you are not please update your firmware to 3.1.2 using iTunes before continuing.

Step One
Open your web browser of choice and navigate to http://www.blackra1n.com. Click the Apple logo at the bottom of the screen (or Windows if you are on a pc).

Step Two
When prompted save the download to your desktop:
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Step Three
Then double click the downloaded blackra1n zip file to extract the application, then double click the application icon to launch the program.
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Step Four
Make sure your iPhone or iPod is connected to the computer then click the large make it ra1n button:
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Step Five
Once your device reboots it will be jailbroken and you will notice a blackra1n icon on the Springboard. Make sure you have an internet connection and press to launch the application.
You iPhone will now be placed in recovery mode.
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You will see a picture of GeoHot that replaces the regular recovery mode screen on your device

blackra1n will run and then your device will reboot.

A popup message will appear informing you that BlackRa1n is free software and if you appreciate it you can donate to GeoHot at geohot@gmail.com.

Step Six
Once your device reboots it will be jailbroken and you will notice a blackra1n icon on the Springboard. Make sure you have an internet connection and press to launch the application.

Step Six Once your device reboots it will be jailbroken and you will notice a blackra1n icon on the Springboard. Make sure you have an internet connection and press to launch the application.

Choose the installer application of your choice then press to select sn0w if you would like to unlock your device. Press the Install button at the top right of the screen to begin.

If you chose to unlock device using blacksn0w you will be presented with a Post Install log for sn0w. CommCenter will be restarted and there is no need to reboot. If your carrier doesn’t support 3G then disable it. Press the Close button to continue.
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Step Seven
Once complete BlackRa1n will respring your iPhone and you will find the installer package of your choice on the Springboard.
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Step Eight
Once you have confirmed your installer package is working correctly you may use the Uninstall blackra1n button inside the BlackRa1n app to remove it from your springboard.

***THANKS: A big thanks to Geohot for making this jailbreak and unlock possible. Also thanks to those who contributed to making it a success. You can donate to Geohot using the button below. Please note these donations go to Geohot and not to iClarified.

david schultz dot org(dot com was taken)