Another cool idea from Quirky is the new Pivot Power, a clever “twist” on flexible power outlets. I can definitely see the application for this in my home and office. It’s amazing how many outlets go unused due to awkward AC/DC converters and ridiculously large chargers for cell phones, etc.

At the time of this writing, the Pivot Power is in the Pre-sale (“Commitment”) phase with a price of $25. Visit Quirky.com for more!

It’s not very often I stumble upon a press release, new product or demo video that truly rattles my cage. What you see in this demo of Time Magazine’s new tablet application is a glimpse of what the future of news and media will look like for the foreseeable future. Watch the video after the jump.

For the first time in a long time – I’m blown away. The copycats will be fast on the heels of this app, and I believe that’s a good thing. Funny…maybe Steve Jobs did know something about the future.

Here’s a “making of” video which demonstrates the app on the Apple Ipad.

1. Time Magazine App | app.time.com
2. Get an iPad locally | www.machaus.net

I recently came across Quirky.com in my search for ways to take something from idea to reality. Having recently moved on from my old company, I had some time on my hands – plus my partner had recently come up with a really cool software idea that had grown into something bigger, better and infinitely more complicated to create (i.e. hardware).

We began our search like many probably do, by reaching out to friends, local contacts and scouring the web for advisors on LinkedIn, etc. What you quickly discover is that turning an idea into a real, tangible and physical product is going to take quite a bit of two precious commodities: Time and Money. So, unless you’re already independently wealthy or have family ready to bankroll a year long development and speculative business – you’re going to get frustrated looking for alternative ways of getting it done.

Enter: The Social Product Development business, aka “Quirky”.

The quick intro.

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How does it work?

The basics.

• Sign up and start engaging the community with ratings, comments and voting on products you think have a chance to succeed.
• Submit your idea (the more you can diagram or describe via a YouTube video, the better) – this will cost you $99.
• Your idea is judged, graded and voted on by a jury of peers, lurkers and professionals
• The process of vetting the idea takes about a week
• If your idea is chosen, it goes through a series of design, marketing and development steps that finalize more about the product name, design, tagline, etc.
• Off it goes to production. Stand by for 8 weeks, give or take.

Making money.

• Based on the idea, the amount of “influence” that each individual has in the process – the revenue per sold item varies.
• Generally, the person with the idea is going to earn about 12 cents on every 1 dollar for items sold via Quirky’s store.
• For products that go “big time” and sell wholesale, the rule is about about 4 cents on the dollar. Not bad at all, considering the investment to submit the idea was only $99.

Protecting the idea.

• At the point of submission and review process, the idea is yours and only yours.
• Obviously, there’s some public exposure here – but that can work in your favor too.
• If your product makes the cut, you DO transfer the rights of that idea to Quirky. After all, they do have to front the costs to prototype, manufacture and build the sales channels.

To get the whole scoop, visit the quirky.com site and read the FAQs under the Learn section.

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My idea.

TBD Product 0032

My concept will be in the Idea Evaluation stage until around Valentine’s Day. I’d love to give away the idea here, but the goal is to get you to visit Quirky and check out my entry under Product 0032. I’ll give you a hint, it’s under my name and the title of the idea is: Dynamo Phone Case.

As this develops and I have more experience with Quirky, I will definitely follow-up with a story or two. Thanks for checking out my idea and I hope I get your vote too!!

-Kevin

First off, the best news about the KTUU iPhone app is – it’s FREE. Giving something away is always a good way to attract tirekickers and followers. So the question is, is it worth it – even for free?

Searching for “KTUU” in iTunes app store was easy and obviously only gave 1 result, the KTUU app. Not putting the app under Alaska news might not have been the smartest decision, but if you already know KTUU – this is not a big deal. Okay, so the free install went as expected, nothing new here.

To some the terms and conditions may not be that big a concern, but this was one of the first apps I’ve installed that came with such a long legal agreement to accept. A minor negative for some and likely a non-issue for most…but what’s in that agreement anyway? So, now that I’ve accepted the terms that will never be read – they want to know where you are. Okay, I gave you my first born and gave you permission to track me…moving on, what do I get out of this deal?

My initial reaction to the interface was, “wow, nice”. Overall I think this off the shelf app from doapps (http://www.doapps.com/) is pretty slick. The menus are well sorted and smooth looking with a nice set of icons to represent the news, weather, sports, etc.

The news content is what you might expect from KTUU. It’s good, it’s local and it’s now inside an iPhone app. I did experience some problems with the app initially, categories not loading and some minor formatting issues that could be easily resolved (story images are too wide for the app).

Pros:

• Nice UI
• Relatively bug free
• It’s local Alaska news under a single button

Cons:

• Free = data mining and banner ads

All said, I would say kudos to KTUU for jumping in and putting it out there. Will I keep or use this app? Maybe, but likely not, only because I can get the same content more timely in most cases from other sources during my regular use of a desktop browser. I still applaud KTUU for doing it.

Get the KTUU app
Download the KTUU app from the iTunes app store.

Looking for a great Alaska iPhone app for travel?
Check out the Alaska HDTV travel app on the iTunes store.

Okay, say you’re creating a new iPhone app or you just want to DEMO an app in a screencast or maybe even in a presentation. Simple right? Try again, it has to be the most cluster ****ed process I’ve ever run into.

Unless you are the developer and have the simulator you are pretty much out of luck if you want to create a nice clean screencast without having to shoot the screen with a video camera. Having considered everything from animating still screencaptures to doing it all in Motion, I was near my wits end when I decided to go outside the protective realm of the Apple-only approach. Enter, the God forbidden realm of the “jailbreak”.

Before you do anything!
Back up your iPhone – iPod Touch data to your Mac.

Let’s get to it. First off you are going to need the following to make this tutorial work:

1. Blackra1n software for PC or Mac
2. iPhone or iPod Touch
3. Synch cable
4. Your Mac OS computer

Step 1: Prepare the computer

1. First things first, make sure the PC has the latest copy of iTunes installed (then reboot).
2. Attach iPhone – iPod Touch to PC via synch cable
3. If iTunes launches, close the app and do nothing to update or synch with the iPhone – iPod
4. Go to http://blackra1n.com – Dowload the file, make a donation to GeoHot!
5. Launch the application and follow the incredibly simple instructions
6. Make sure you choose Cydia after the reboot!

For more detailed how to on the Blackra1n install: Jailbreak Your iPhone With BlackRa1n Tutorial

Step 2: Install Apps

1. Install ScreenSplitr on your iPhone or Ipod Touch using Cydia
2. Go download DemoGod for your Mac and install
3. Start ScreenSplitr (the icon will indicate that it is “On”)
   
4. Launch DemoGod
   
5. Select the iPhone or iPod Touch in DemoGod
6. Confirm the connection to your iPhone
   
7. Voila! You can now see on screen everything you’re doing on the iPhone!

Step 3: Screencapture

There are loads of ways to get this done. I’m not going to attempt to answer this one yet. I am testing different apps right now. So far I am more impressed with Screenium, but you can use the latest QuickTime (assuming you are using Snow Leopard). Example video at the top of the post was created using ScreenSplitr, DemoGod and Screenium.

3G is available throughout Alaska Update: 12 June 2010
Many people ask whether or not their iPhone, Blackberry or Android phones will work in Alaska. The short answer is YES, there is AT&T service most towns around the state of Alaska. AT&T 3G service is available in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Wasilla. For Verizon or Sprint customers, you’ll most likely be able to get access via ACS service.

Update: 26 May 2009:
Reports are beginning to come in that 3G is now active in the Anchorage and Wasilla areas. Karen Whitworth mentioned via Twitter that she is now getting 3G in Wasilla.

The debate (and wild guesstimates for the launch date) rage on about whether 3G will ever arrive in Alaska. We’re approaching the 3rd generation of the iPhone and yet we in Alaska haven’t even experienced the first generation of 3G. Check out the original post and comments here.

I spent nearly the entire day at the Wild Berry Theater in Anchorage today geeking out over amazing high end video cameras. It was also a great time to visit with some great people from around the state and those who are now making Alaska their new filmmaking home. Below are a few snapshots from the Alaska Filmmakers Clinic that included a great presentation by Ted Schilowitz of RED camera and other great presentations by Apple (ProRes), Sony cameras and Fujinon lenses.

The attendance was very strong and I believe this event ignited the “real” filmmaking industry in Alaska. Time will be the judge, but it really felt like Alaska may be breaking into the what-was-once-only-Hollywood kind of productions.

After the Clinic, hands-on with the cameras (including the amazingly Transformer-looking 3D rig) and presentations, many more people crowded into the theater to catch the “premiere” of Evergreen Film’s release of ICY KILLERS. This great movie about Alaska’s salmon sharks can be seen on National Geographic channel, check it out.

There’s lots more to say, but I wanted to share the photos right away while the rest of the experience sinks in. I’m personally grateful for the Alaska Film Office, Alaska Film Group, RED, Sony, Fujinon, Evergreen Films, AlaskaUSA (my credit union, yay!) and all the rest who made the event possible. Truly inspiring, thank you!

(Plug: We use Apple and Final Cut Studio for all our editing and are extremely grateful for the support that MacHaus has shown us over the last year. Seriously, if you are in Alaska and want help with your Apple and Mac products, you really need to visit MacHaus. They’re in Anchorage, Wasilla and Fairbanks. Thanks, Ben!)

Just a few weeks ago, my sister-in-law finally traded up from a dying Toshiba (Windows XP) laptop after about a year of cajoling and incessant praise for the Apple computers that we have in our home/office. Fast forward to the day she takes home her shiny new Apple Macbook (unibody) – everything is as beautiful and flawless as expected, until later that night.

10:00PM
I get the call later that night from a very frustrated and obviously disillusioned new Macbook owner. As she’s telling me how the mouse won’t move and one of the keys has popped of the keyboard, I’m thinking to myself, “Great! She finally makes the investment and it turns out to be a turd.” Now, it’s up to me to convince her that it’s a fluke, this never happens and I’ll find a way to make it right. Nothing ruins your new purchase experience more than having to immediately pack it up and mail it off for service!

The next day, I pick up the Macbook from her hoping I’ll find some magical solution to fix the broken keyboard without having to send it all back to Apple. (The mouse was fine, she was just getting used to the multitouch trackpad.) After taking a look at it myself, I immediately called MacHaus to see if someone was available to look at the Macbook and gauge whether or not they could do something about it. Their service tech quickly answered my questions and suggested I bring it by to see what they could do.

2:00PM
Stopped by MacHaus to see if they could fix this day old Macbook with a broken keyboard. The service tech was super friendly and sympathized with the situation while trying to evaluate the root of the problem. As it turns out, the key was in fact broken, likely due to manufacturing issue. Normally, this means a round trip flight to some Apple repair facility and a further delay in gratification for a new Macbook owner.

2:10PM
Problem solved, permanently. I won’t give you all the details on how he managed it, but MacHaus just happened to have what was needed to make a permanent fix to the broken key! This had to be one of my single most painless visits related to any sort of repair.

Okay, so maybe it was luck or maybe MacHaus really is that good. What dawned on me at that moment was the real value of supporting a local business that has the products, the know-how and positive attitude. Had MacHaus not been around, the overall experience would have been significantly marred for someone brand new to Apple products.

Mostly I wanted to just say thank you to MacHaus for making an otherwise blemished Macbook feel new again! I also think this example illustrates the value of supporting local businesses that take pride in their service and support. This experience has definitely restored my interest in supporting the “Buy local” ideology.

On that note, be sure to check out Buy Alaska’s website: http://www.buyalaska.com

You can search for almost anything here and find a local company in your area. Look them up, buy local – it really pays to keep the business in Alaska!

Disclaimer: We did order this Macbook from an online retailer, only after we had shopped every store in town to find they didn’t have this model in stock. Even then, MacHaus took the time to make it right regardless of where it was originally purchased.

MacHaus
Alaska’s Apple Specialists
www.machaus.net

The Alaska online classifieds world has been divided yet again with the introduction of AlaskasList.com. According to the founders and the catch phrase on the website,

“That guy in California has his list. Now Alaskans have their own…”

I suppose the real question is do we need another classified ad service in Alaska? We already have Craigslist, local newspapers and one of my personal favorites: Oodle.com  

With the ever withering newspaper decline, I’ve often wondered why they haven’t picked up on how easy it would be to build a free online classifieds service to keep their readers coming back?  There are a few reasons why Alaska’s List could be a better option for Alaskans.

Guns!
Let’s just throw out the biggest reason that Alaskaslist.com has unique and local appeal. We love our firearms up here in Alaska. Leaving the obvious political debate aside, it’s nice to have a marketplace to list your guns for sale. There are a few other resources that I’ve used or seen where people can buy/trade and sell firearms to each other, but most are niche community sites like the Alaska 4×4 forums.

Animals
You can find pet and animal listings on most other classifieds, but according the Alaskaslist.com, Craigslist has notoriously been under attack by animal rights activists, etc.  I tend to agree with the author of the About Us where they state “The creators of this Web site know first-hand how frustrating it is to place a classified ad at Craigslist, only to have it flagged-down moments later.”

Who is behind this?
At the time of this post, I have an email out to the webmaster at Alaskaslist.com and did a little investigative digging of my own. I’ll save the final WHOIS until I’ve heard back from the site’s creator(s). The best I can do right now is guess that the founder of the site is a local in Anchorage that runs a small web design shop and currently uses GoDaddy to host the domain. 

Update: I was close. The guy behind Alaskaslist.com is a local in Chugiak (just down the road from me) who I’ve met in person a few times in the past. Mike runs a few other Alaska sites, like akweb.com which is a sort of local portal with an emphasis on Alaska weather.

In their words…

“What we promise you at AlaskasList is freedom from the anarchy that you get at Craigslist.”

My tips for the founders

• Get your RSS feed setup through Feedburner
• Make money off the traffic, even if it’s cleverly and tastefully done with *gasp* Google ads
• Offer some widgets for people to easily embed searches on their PC or own blogs
• Offer an automated “watch” feature that emails alerts when a new listing matches keywords
• Drop the fee for 365 days ads – who wants to see an ad that’s 6 months old, make them come back and update it for free
• The $1.99 fee for being featured – I dunno, okay I guess, PayPal option is nice

Will I use Alaskaslist?
Probably not. At least not in its current form. There’s a certain aesthetic and simplicity to Craigslist that makes it super functional and a more pleasing and rich experience using Oodle.com.  That being said, if the local adoption of the service picks up and they manage to keep the spam like “Yorkies for sale” out of the mix…I could be persuaded to add it to my bookmarks.

As the economics of decline take hold, I’m sure many are looking at their technology spending very closely. I’ve personally been treading water for more than three years as a small business owner/entrepreneur and can tell you from first hand experience that some things are worth buying!  I’m not a Mac fanboy, but I’d like to explain my reasons for making the leap to Apple and Mac OS X.

PC History

My design and layout experience goes back to the early 1980s in the printing business where I also started using PCs for typesetting and simple layout. The first time I used Photoshop was on a then super fast 486sx PC running Windows 3.1. To make a long story short, I stayed with PCs and continued to amass huge investments in Windows software from Microsoft, Adobe, Macromedia and plenty of others. No doubt, I was heavily invested in Windows applications, literally thousands of dollars (maybe even tens of thousands).

I’ve always appreciated the Macintosh (Apple) systems, but had been too heavily vested in the PC world to ever justify the expense of “starting over”. All of that argument went out the window the first time I got my hands on the Leopard operating system. About the same time, we had some failing PCs and were considering whether to upgrade and move to Windows Vista. We had an opportunity in one of my small businesses to buy an entry level Apple computer  for a very good price right about the time Mac OS X Leopard was released- so we made the leap.

Converting to Mac

It only took me about 2 weeks before I decided I needed a Mac for myself, so I bought a Macbook to “compliment” my regular PC. In less than a month, I had completely stopped using the PC in favor of using my Macbook plugged into an external monitor. This laptop and the latest Mac OS was so much faster and more productive it truly made using the PC feel like a chore. Since those first baby steps, I’ve made a complete conversion to the Apple/Mac platform both personally and professionally. The heavy reinvestment in new software was not as bad as I had expected and came with a few hidden benefits.

One example: In all my PC days, I used the Adobe suite of video editing tools such as Premiere and After Effects which were fairly expensive and in many ways very difficult pieces of software to maintain. The number of crashes, hardware issues and general user interface (especially After Effects) was a huge time wasting event. Since reinvesting in Apple’s Final Cut Studio, I’ve experienced almost zero problems and have been vastly more functional with tools that were completely brand new to me at the time. My abilities in Motion, for example, are far more advanced in less than a year than what took me more than three years to figure out in After Effects. 

The old PCs are still around, mostly used for test platforms to check PC (Internet Explorer) user experience for websites and videos that we produce in either of my small businesses. 

Every time I fire up one of the old Windows XP machines, it’s like watching paint dry and I am instantly reminded of how much time I must save daily just in startup time. My current MacPro boots and I’m checking emails in less than 30 seconds!

It’s really difficult to capture all of the benefits that I’ve personally experienced by working on the Mac OS platform. Some of the most simple and powerful tools such as Quick Look, which allows you to view almost any document, image or video without having to actually launch the application, is an enormous time saver over the span of even just a week. I spend far less time opening and closing applications, restarting or any of the annoying time wasters that typically come with the “normal” PC experience.

Bottomline

Lots of people argue that Apple is overpriced, the cost to convert is too high and right now it’s just not feasible. I said the same thing for years! Not only are the Apple products generally 10x more stable – they look good, they last a long time and age very well. You can buy lesser expensive computers, but I guarantee you’ll waste more of your productive time and ultimately end up replacing that cheaper PC with another one long before you replace a Mac purchased at the same time!

The sheer productivity increase has easily more than made up for the cost, reinvestment and mental switch from Windows to Mac OS. All I can say is, if you’re in Alaska, you really need to go visit MacHaus in Anchorage, Wasilla or Fairbanks. Seriously, they know their stuff, have the expertise and know how to set you up with the right computer including keep you up and running for years to come!

Final thoughts

As much as I enjoy my Apple computers, I’ve still not been able to justify the purchase of an iPhone. As much as I’d love the integration, the mobility of the Mac OS and all the cool factor that comes with it – I can’t endorse the iPhone as I would Apple’s computers. The iPhone has lots of room for improvement including detangling from AT&T, opening the OS, killing the “app store” and letting people develop in a free market environment…but, I digress. The iPhone is an entirely different topic really, but it illustrates that I’m not just a Mac fanatic out to evangelize all things Apple.