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Over a Billion Apps and Nothing on: Why should I install these apps?

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Have you ever had this experience; while surfing the web asked to install an app for every website you land on. What is happening? Why do I need all these apps when the website works fine? Installing the app brings no value. I have installed some of them and then as quickly as I installed them I delete them. They are the same thing as the website…no value. 

The more apps out there, the more the app stores are clogged with mediocre junk, the more the overall noise level keeps going up, which leads directly to this profligate nagging. Companies keep asking how can we get people to find and install our amazing app instead of the one question they really should have asked.

Why the hell are we building an app in the first place?

I want to know who exactly is going to all the trouble of installing the McDonalds app on their device instead of simply visiting the McDonalds website in the browser as needed. What problem does that app solve for french fry enthusiasts that it needs to be permanently installed on your device? Why are they giving away free Big Macs just to get people to install this thing?

Jeff Atwood makes a great point here. I don’t see the value in installing their apps. Visiting the website works fine. Just seems that everyone has been on and is continuing the “we have to have an app” trend.  

via Coding Horror: App-pocalypse Now.

I Thought Facebook’s WhatsApp Deal Was Crazy. Then I Did Some Math. – WSJ.com

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This article, I saw this morning, puts together a good argument why the cost Facebook paid for WhatsApp was justified.

There’s no disputing that Facebook paid a huge premium for an untested company in a hotly competitive communications sector. But it takes less than I thought to turn WhatsApp into a decent, if justifiable, business. And that doesn’t even count other benefits of scale, strategic defense and Google -rattling that are harder to quantify.

Turns out when you compare it to the wireless carriers such as Verizon’s purchase of their 45% stake in its Verizon Wireless joint venture the reasoning is clear.

At first, the numbers look as stark as you’d expect. We know that Facebook paid $42 for each of WhatsApp’s 450 million users. Verizon, by comparison, valued each of its roughly 97 million monthly contract connections at about $2,984.

Verizon collected about $669 for each of these post-paid connections last year, and made another $168 per subscriber from other sources.

What did WhatsApp collect for its service, which allows for unlimited and quick text messaging? What a pesky question. Basically zero. For math’s sake, let’s take the figure to 50 cents per user in 2014.

The analysis goes on from there. You can read the rest in the article. Looking to the future and WhatsApp’s recent announcement at Mobile World Congress about adding voice calls looks like it might have been worth it for Facebook to buy them now.

One last not about this. This could of been a defensive move by Facebook. Why let Google buy them.

via I Thought Facebook’s WhatsApp Deal Was Crazy. Then I Did Some Math. – WSJ.com.

The Application of Implant Technology for Cybernetic Systems [Arch Neurol. 2003]

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To assess the usefulness, compatibility, and long-term operability of a microelectrode array into the median nerve of the left arm of a healthy volunteer, including perception of feedback stimulation and operation of an instrumented prosthetic hand.

via The application of implant technology for cybern… [Arch Neurol. 2003] – PubMed – NCBI.

via http://www.ttivanguard.com/atlreconn/ImplantTechnology.pdf

And there soon will be the six million dollar man/woman. Or will it be 6 billion dollar man/woman with inflation.

 

Comcast vs. the Cord Cutters – NYTimes.com

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“Comcast and the new, giant Comcast are going to do as much as they can to stop you from unbundling,” said Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, a consumer advocacy group. “In order for you to get content you like, you’re going to be pushed to pay the cable bill, too.”

via Comcast vs. the Cord Cutters – NYTimes.com.

I got rid of cable TV during the summer. I feel free!!!! However I use Time Warner Cable Internet (Premature freedom) with boost. Sometimes they have forgotten the boost. The speed is ok, less than what they say it should be, and the support is lacking.

I called up last week because the internet was out. I did the entire reboot and restart thing. They wanted to send someone out. The next day it was working ok. They forgot to tell themselves to cancel the appointment. This was not the first time this has happened. Can’t they tell when the internet is back up? Yes they can. Ugh.

Made in The USA Back in Style for Small Businesses

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“Instead of hiring people, we’re using robots,” Ellram says. Chinese companies are also using robots, but U.S. manufacturers are ahead of them, she says.

via Made in The USA Back in Style for Small Businesses.

Everyone wants manufacturing back because they think it will bring back jobs. Fills me with American pride to see people trying to bring it back. However it is to be seen if the return is an automated one at best. Where are the jobs for humans? The jobs will be for the robots.

Major patent expiration could spark a second 3D printing revolution | ExtremeTech

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Major patent expiration could spark a second 3D printing revolution | ExtremeTech.

SLS machines user a high-powered laser to fuse small particles of material, released almost as an aerosol, to the growing object. With this technology it is possible to print plastic, metal, ceramic, or glass — virtually anything that can be released as a powder and heat-fused to a growing print. If this technology comes down in price even a fraction as far as FDM has, the at-home 3D printing revolution could finally begin in earnest.

I am wondering who will be the first to list a SLS 3D printer on Kickstarter. The hack/maker versions I bet are on their way.

Below is a video of the SLS printing process and the finishing process. The finishing process produces some waste and you need to wear protective gear.

Trying to See Apple From a Different Angle – NYTimes.com

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Trying to See Apple From a Different Angle – NYTimes.com.

What is Apple to Wall Street? A growth company or value company. Is it a long term stock or is it a short term bet. Should Apple innovate nonstop. Apple is none of these. It is something different, but people want to place it into an existing category. Innovation does not happen when you call upon it and innovative break throughs do not happen everyday. If it did how innovative would it be. We would be dizzy with too much change. Things happen when the market is ready for it.  It can not happen everyday.

Disclosure: I own a Macbook Air, an iPhone and an iPad mini

Nancy Pelosi: ‘I’m in awe’ of the maker movement | VentureBeat | Gadgets | by Christina Farr

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Nancy Pelosi: ‘I’m in awe’ of the maker movement | VentureBeat | Gadgets | by Christina Farr.

I love it when politicians find out something new for the first time.

Welcome to the Era of the Hardware Startup | LinkedIn

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Welcome to the Era of the Hardware Startup | LinkedIn.

What I love about hardware startups is their willingness to take on and transform dauntingly complicated industries. Until recently, manufacturing had been almost exclusively the domain of big companies that can afford to build at scale. Now, these makers are turning the tables and showing the value of being both adaptable and close to your customers.

I agree. From talking with many hardware startups the momentum is definitely there. I often talk about this as we are now where we were in the 80’s 90’s when software development and computing was transforming from being obtainable only by big companies with deep pockets to everyone who has a PC can now code to create a program that is of value.

Hardware is very different than software. You can not develop a hardware product in a few days to a week. It takes time, patience, and more capital. It requires more relationships that last for a longer period of time.

There are still many hurdles to over come such as:

  1. How do we make the product development process streamlined or lean?
  2. How do we integrate in design for manufacturability into the process from the beginning?
  3. Where is the book of the shelf that people can go to with out a degree in supply chain management to learn how to talk to the factory?
  4. And funding…Will funding for hardware startups get easier over time?

There are a lot more questions to be asked and answered in this journey. I can’t cover them all here. In the future, I will write more about the process of hardware development.  I am going to tell stories from the trenches. What happened, what didn’t, how we solved the issues and how to approach these things in the future so it does not happen to you.

We have been seeing some great things from our clients. For most of them this is their first business. It is great to see them fill out their first Purchase Order ever. It is a great moment for them and for us.

Technology and jobs: Coming to an office near you | The Economist

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Technology and jobs: Coming to an office near you | The Economist.

INNOVATION, the elixir of progress, has always cost people their jobs. In the Industrial Revolution artisan weavers were swept aside by the mechanical loom. Over the past 30 years the digital revolution has displaced many of the mid-skill jobs that underpinned 20th-century middle-class life. Typists, ticket agents, bank tellers and many production-line jobs have been dispensed with, just as the weavers were.

The Economist agrees with my last post