Starting to think about the tough stuff, as I'm distracted from my coding time by the impending departure from the big 'oceanographic research' firm that has been home for a couple of years. The tough steps are getting other people involved (ie building a team) and looking for funding. The latter sucks, as everyone immediately puts themselves in the place of mentor, regardless of their experience. The talking in platitudes, and telling you obvious stuff is that hardest to take. Someone who has never held down a real job, will sit there and explain the 'importance of market research' or 'revenue' to me. Puhleese.
Oh well - it's a necessary evil if I want to avoid mortgaging my house for a risky venture. Meanwhile, I've nailed down a name, and need to buy the URL and incorporate. Best jump into this thing full bore or I'll not be committed enough to make a go of it.
And I've still got to round up some reasonable collaborators and advance the coding side of things!
Researchinator wonders if he should just look for a job!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
No Show
Ugh - migraine morning. Not a good one, but trying to focus on some work, and making a bit of progress. Really would rather just sit in a dark, windy room. (Yeah, I know doesn't make sense but just ask someone who lives with migraines).
Staring at this white background is hard on the eyes, so I'll stop there.
Staring at this white background is hard on the eyes, so I'll stop there.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
What is in a Name... and is it Available?
Well I should get used to this - I'm in the home office and trying to get stuff done on my project. I've been thinking about company names and not having really good luck. I've got a short list of perhaps 20, but I'm not sure which one to go with. My original working name is a bit too long and perhaps not clear. I'd like something that's vague enough to not paint us into a corner on product direction, weird enough to be unique on google, and specific enough to make sense with what our initial core offering is.
Then on top of that, finding an available URL is a challenge as well.
Searching URL availabililty is a bit of a hassle, but I came across a great site, with a live typing box (no doubt using a back-end xmlhttprequest) to give you live feedback as you type. So you can check dozens of names in a very short time. It's located here: instantdomainsearch.com There, my first plug for someone else's venture.
So working from home so that I could get ready (done) for a visitor who will take my kitchen cab's away from me for a few bucks. Finally, the garage will be cleaned up a bit, and I can do some other stuff that requires that space.
Anyway, I've not been too productive today so far, but am comfortably positioned in the home office. And, it's time for lunch.
Researchinator ponders what's edible in the house.
Then on top of that, finding an available URL is a challenge as well.
Searching URL availabililty is a bit of a hassle, but I came across a great site, with a live typing box (no doubt using a back-end xmlhttprequest) to give you live feedback as you type. So you can check dozens of names in a very short time. It's located here: instantdomainsearch.com There, my first plug for someone else's venture.
So working from home so that I could get ready (done) for a visitor who will take my kitchen cab's away from me for a few bucks. Finally, the garage will be cleaned up a bit, and I can do some other stuff that requires that space.
Anyway, I've not been too productive today so far, but am comfortably positioned in the home office. And, it's time for lunch.
Researchinator ponders what's edible in the house.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Back to School
Even those outside the kids-to-school ritual can't help but be aware of the goings on this morning, and I immediately think about getting my Susan Anton binder and my Star Wars pencil case together to head out the door, and catch the bus for the hour-long ride to school.
Thankfully that has turned to putting the laptop in my back and my cell in my pocket and driving a leisurely 20min to the office... And soon that will involve rolling out of bed and shifting to the room on the left.
But the morning school thing has kicked in again. Glad to see that structure return, but will be sorry to see the parking lot fill up next week, with the vacations all over and the traffic picking up. But hey, just for a week or two.
Meanwhile, I'm also eager to get back into my project and make some headway. My previous entry probably sounds suitably positive and raring to go. Alas it was not to be as a nasty headache showed up later that morning, and I managed merely to launch the deployment of my project archive, while holding my head in pain, and it went it's usual 14 hours wiping out all my eagerness and positivity.
So here I am again - feeling reasonably coherent this morning as I head into my day, the project beckons me, but so does email, as I can take a look to see if their is any response to my deployed archive.
Researchinator is back at school.
Thankfully that has turned to putting the laptop in my back and my cell in my pocket and driving a leisurely 20min to the office... And soon that will involve rolling out of bed and shifting to the room on the left.
But the morning school thing has kicked in again. Glad to see that structure return, but will be sorry to see the parking lot fill up next week, with the vacations all over and the traffic picking up. But hey, just for a week or two.
Meanwhile, I'm also eager to get back into my project and make some headway. My previous entry probably sounds suitably positive and raring to go. Alas it was not to be as a nasty headache showed up later that morning, and I managed merely to launch the deployment of my project archive, while holding my head in pain, and it went it's usual 14 hours wiping out all my eagerness and positivity.
So here I am again - feeling reasonably coherent this morning as I head into my day, the project beckons me, but so does email, as I can take a look to see if their is any response to my deployed archive.
Researchinator is back at school.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Entrée to Long Weekend
Whoa, just turned around to see the rain. Glad I missed it on the way in, but happy that I had the forethought to bring the brawly from my trunk.
Last night went to a software geek-a-thon event with talks on three programming 'scripting' languages (that moniker is pretty passé these days). The topics were perl, python and ruby. The speakers ranged form okay to poor, but they knew their stuff. One younger guy made the mistake of trying to surf and 'show us stuff' while presenting. Bad idea - nothing says boredom quicker than watching someone surf. But it feels like a great thing to the guy doing it, I guess. Another guy had huge issue with huffy, faux exasperation, and slagging every programming language.
I don't hold it against them too much - they're software guys and relating to groups of people isn't their strong point. There was some good info in there, and it was a nice change for an evening, so I can live with that. And a pretty casual crowd too. I was hoping to network a bit, which I did. Just the start of collecting contacts for the venture - assuming the prototype works out okay.
We're just rolling into a long weekend, but I have a full day ahead of me, and feel pretty positive. I need to do a bit of real-work on my archive of past work this morning, then can get back to my project. Getting closer to seeing a first prototype of the vision in action.
Researchinators dreaming in technicolour.
Last night went to a software geek-a-thon event with talks on three programming 'scripting' languages (that moniker is pretty passé these days). The topics were perl, python and ruby. The speakers ranged form okay to poor, but they knew their stuff. One younger guy made the mistake of trying to surf and 'show us stuff' while presenting. Bad idea - nothing says boredom quicker than watching someone surf. But it feels like a great thing to the guy doing it, I guess. Another guy had huge issue with huffy, faux exasperation, and slagging every programming language.
I don't hold it against them too much - they're software guys and relating to groups of people isn't their strong point. There was some good info in there, and it was a nice change for an evening, so I can live with that. And a pretty casual crowd too. I was hoping to network a bit, which I did. Just the start of collecting contacts for the venture - assuming the prototype works out okay.
We're just rolling into a long weekend, but I have a full day ahead of me, and feel pretty positive. I need to do a bit of real-work on my archive of past work this morning, then can get back to my project. Getting closer to seeing a first prototype of the vision in action.
Researchinators dreaming in technicolour.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Contemplate First Real Estate Options
Listen to that - pretty much silent. At 9:08 in the morning (never believe blogger time stamps they're always out of whack). Oh drat, the silence broken by distant chatter. It was just me and the HVAC for a minute there it seemed, even though there are hundreds of desks around me - well dozens anyway.
I'm thinking more about offices these days as I'm contemplating picking up some office space rather than do the work from home thing again. If I could economically do that - say for $3000 for a year. That wouldn't be too bad. Some mini-office with shared reception perhaps. And security. Last thing I'd want to do is set up software-based company in an office and have someone steal the whole thing. Perhaps a robust, firewall protected network drive on my home network would help.
Anyway, I've been through this set-up a company thing before, and it's not pretty. The resources for the initial phase of a business are slim to none. There are multi-million dollar handouts for large firms - like this oceanographic research organization I'm currently sitting in. But as someone trying to start a business that would grow at 1000% p.a. for a few years, there's nothing. Sure the odds are small that it will succeed, but some bets should be placed based on experience and good product concepts.
Meanwhile I struggle away on my concept in the background. There's a downtown event tonight on a few software topics... sounds mildly interesting, but more so as a networking opportunity. Should be chock full of awkward, socially challenged folk with whom I could find some avenues toward collaborators.
Researchinator dreams big...
I'm thinking more about offices these days as I'm contemplating picking up some office space rather than do the work from home thing again. If I could economically do that - say for $3000 for a year. That wouldn't be too bad. Some mini-office with shared reception perhaps. And security. Last thing I'd want to do is set up software-based company in an office and have someone steal the whole thing. Perhaps a robust, firewall protected network drive on my home network would help.
Anyway, I've been through this set-up a company thing before, and it's not pretty. The resources for the initial phase of a business are slim to none. There are multi-million dollar handouts for large firms - like this oceanographic research organization I'm currently sitting in. But as someone trying to start a business that would grow at 1000% p.a. for a few years, there's nothing. Sure the odds are small that it will succeed, but some bets should be placed based on experience and good product concepts.
Meanwhile I struggle away on my concept in the background. There's a downtown event tonight on a few software topics... sounds mildly interesting, but more so as a networking opportunity. Should be chock full of awkward, socially challenged folk with whom I could find some avenues toward collaborators.
Researchinator dreams big...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Instant Accidental Fame
Fun story this morning on the iPhone girl. Whoa, there's some google bait. AP has picked it up and so it's all over the place - unfortunately with the identical wording everywhere. Amazing how news outlets don't do any work. Just pay AP the fees and stick the stories directly into your paper/website etc.
Anyway, someone at a factory takes a pic of a girl across from them and it doesn't get erased from the phone before it's sold. A guy in England buys the phone and shares it.
The best response I saw is that a bunch of people wish they had a pic of a cute Asian factory worker on her phone. It's only a matter of time before they identify her (she's asked her company not to divulge her name).
Beyond the appeal of a story about a cute girl, I'm interested in the reactions to this, as evaluated by looking at the comments on the macRumors site or elsewhere. First, people speculate that she would be fired hy the heartless Chinese company. (Hello? She's sitting at a workstation on the far side of the bench. She didn't take a picture, it's someone else operating the camera feature). Then there is the huge need to know who she is. Even to the point of someone standing outside the factory trying to identify her among shift changes.
The next thing to expect is that her life is now hugely changed. She will become a brief huge celebrity - bigger even if the story gets further into mainstream press. And lets face it, iPhone + cute + China: it's got all the hallmarks of a media feeding frenzy.
Anyway - a brief digression but an interesting insight into pop-culture, random fame and emerging consumer electronics.
Researchinator now goes off to check his AAPL share price...
Anyway, someone at a factory takes a pic of a girl across from them and it doesn't get erased from the phone before it's sold. A guy in England buys the phone and shares it.
The best response I saw is that a bunch of people wish they had a pic of a cute Asian factory worker on her phone. It's only a matter of time before they identify her (she's asked her company not to divulge her name).
Beyond the appeal of a story about a cute girl, I'm interested in the reactions to this, as evaluated by looking at the comments on the macRumors site or elsewhere. First, people speculate that she would be fired hy the heartless Chinese company. (Hello? She's sitting at a workstation on the far side of the bench. She didn't take a picture, it's someone else operating the camera feature). Then there is the huge need to know who she is. Even to the point of someone standing outside the factory trying to identify her among shift changes.
The next thing to expect is that her life is now hugely changed. She will become a brief huge celebrity - bigger even if the story gets further into mainstream press. And lets face it, iPhone + cute + China: it's got all the hallmarks of a media feeding frenzy.
Anyway - a brief digression but an interesting insight into pop-culture, random fame and emerging consumer electronics.
Researchinator now goes off to check his AAPL share price...
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