greghochsprung.com

"I love free software and could not have built my site without it. But free web services are not like..."

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:10:21 -0500

“I love free software and could not have built my site without it. But free web services are not like free software. If your free software project suddenly gets popular, you gain resources: testers, developers and people willing to pitch in. If your free website takes off, you lose resources. Your time is spent firefighting and your money all goes to the nice people at Linode.”

- Don’t Be A Free User (Pinboard Blog)

This is a very interesting take by Maciej Ceglowski of Pinboard. He encourages all of us to financially support any web service we use and love, even if it requires you to “yell at the developers!”. He says that what happened to Gowalla could happen to any free web service. As the service gets popular, costs rise; and as costs rise (and the service gets popular), an acquisition looks very appealing the founders; but the appeal of the acquisition wears off when the acquirer shuts down the service and keeps the engineers to work on something else. Patrick Rhone (of Minimal Mac) took this advice and announced that he will be sending Tumblr $10 per month to help keep the service he loves afloat, even after the VC money is gone.

I think this is a very interesting situation. There are SO many free web services out there, and there is no way they can all survive while being free. I like that some users are trying to take it into their own hands and help keep the web services they love in business. But I also like that some of the popular web services are trying to think differently about “monetizing” their service.

David Karp of Tumblr has said that he wants to find ways for Tumblr to make money that “enhance the experience” for its users. I can’t wait to see what they come up with. I also can’t wait to see what other services, like Twitter, Instagram, and Path eventually settle on as their business model. Twitter seems closest by far, but I think they still have some way to go. This is why venture capital is so great - by raising money from VCs (instead of charging their users), these web services have the opportunity to innovate new (and hopefully interesting) business models as they grow into larger companies.

brycedotvc: If you thought Y Combinator was shaking up the...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:37:42 -0500

brycedotvc:

If you thought Y Combinator was shaking up the entrepreneurial world, wait until every High, Middle and Elementary school have “App Clubs” creating apps used by the faculty and district and generating revenue that funds tech and entrepreneurial focused school programs.

Thomas Suarez is a 6th grader who sees the future. Which is why his TEDxManhattanBeach is required weekend viewing on BRYCE DOT VC.

This kid is incredible! He’s only in 6th grade and already has several apps on the App Store! I can’t wait to see what comes out of these school “App Clubs”.

I'm Glad I Did

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:02:00 -0500

Bryce Roberts wrote a great post yesterday describing a bookmark he was given as a gift once. It was homemade and said “I Wish I Had. I’m Glad I Did.”. He said that it was given to him to always remind him to “strive to look back and find [himself] saying ‘I’m Glad I Did’ far more frequently than ‘I Wish I Had’”.

This reminded me immediately of seven years ago, when I was deciding where to go to college. I applied to quite a few schools, but it came down to two choices. The University of Florida, where I would essentially start as a sophomore, make money every semester from scholarships, and be with most of my high school friends; or the University of Notre Dame, where I wouldn’t know anybody and definitely would not have a free ride. I spent weeks trying to decide. One of my best friends (who was going to UF) told me something I still haven’t forgotten: “Go where you can never regret not having gone” (or something like that). That one sentence essentially decided it for me. I chose Notre Dame so that I could never say “I wish I had”.

And that decision was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. If I didn’t go to Notre Dame, I never would have learned what “engineering” was. And if I never learned what engineering was, I never would have learned about computer science. And if I never learned about computer science, my life and career would be in a completely different place right now.

I think that Bryce’s quote, and my friend’s advice, suggest a great way to live your life. This is especially true when thinking about your career and relationships. I took my friend’s advice when I was picking my college, but I don’t think I am taking that advice in my career so far. Hopefully that will change soon. I don’t want to look back on my career five or ten years from now and think to myself, “I wish I had…”. I hope to live with no regrets. To take chances. When deciding between something crazy and something comfortable, to go crazy! You only live your life here on Earth for a limited time, so make the most of it.

staff: Yesterday we did a historic thing. We generated 87,834...

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:17:22 -0500

staff:

Yesterday we did a historic thing. We generated 87,834 phone calls to U.S. Representatives in a concerted effort to protect the Internet. Extraordinary. There’s no doubt that we’ve been heard.

So just to keep you updated: The well-intentioned, but immensely flawed “Stop Online Piracy Act” is still in the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing was yesterday and now members will debate and bring amendments to the bill. The Committee will reconvene in a few weeks — the date has yet to be scheduled. Nothing has been brought to a final vote. Everything is still very much in play. We’ll keep you posted on what’s going on and what you can do to help. But for now, we want to thank you.

One encouraging thing we heard yesterday:

I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor. I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.

— Representative Darrell Issa

We also want to express our tremendous gratitude to our friends at Mobile Commons who, on 30 minutes notice, hooked us up with their amazing platform (and provided their expertise) to automatically connect callers with their Representatives.

So awesome/encouraging.

"Excuse me, sir, would you mind taking our photo?"

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:33:41 -0400

"Excuse me, sir, would you mind taking our photo?":

Steve paused for a moment as an iPhone was extended to him, realizing that they didn’t seem to know who he was. With a hint of enthusiasm, he said “Sure!” as he took the iPhone into his hands.

Steve took a great deal of care composing the photo, backing up a few steps several times, tapping the iPhone screen to lock focus, then said “Smile!” as he snapped the photo, grinning a little bit himself to encourage the family to follow suit.

parislemon: “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” — the first of Apple’s...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:08:47 -0400

parislemon:

“Here’s to the Crazy Ones” — the first of Apple’s “Think Different” commercials. But this one is a bit different. It’s narrated by Steve Jobs himself.

Pretty much the greatest thing ever.

So cool. Steve Jobs will definitely be missed by all.

Game 3. (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:27:16 -0400

Game 3. (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

Watching the Red Sox lose after a Rays win! (Taken with...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:40:29 -0400

Watching the Red Sox lose after a Rays win! (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

Photo

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:24:39 -0400

Drank is in the App Store

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:10:34 -0400

Drank is in the App Store:

drankapp:

Good news!

Drank has been approved by Apple and is now available in the App Store! Go check it out in iTunes! Today has been a long while in the making, and I am really happy that it has finally come. I started Drank a while back as a way to learn about iOS development and have really…

Only in Florida. One side of the road: storm. The other: sun....

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:59:32 -0400

Only in Florida. One side of the road: storm. The other: sun. (Taken with instagram)

Even better walkoff!! #gorays (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:38:03 -0400

Even better walkoff!! #gorays (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

Walkoff #GoRays (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:55:55 -0400

Walkoff #GoRays (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

This American Life: When Patents Attack

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:56:00 -0400

This American Life: When Patents Attack:

I don’t know of ANY programmers/geeks/bloggers/VCs (really anybody close to the entrepreneurship community) who likes the patent system as it stands. This is a great overview of “non-practicing entities” (patent trolls) and how the current patent system does not foster innovation, but instead stifles it. As a personal example, I am pretty scared of what could happen when I release my iPhone app if trolls like Lodsys get their way and win cases against small development shops like The Iconfactory.

Evan Longoria at bat during the Rays vs Yankees game on...

Thu, 19 May 2011 18:17:08 -0400

Evan Longoria at bat during the Rays vs Yankees game on Tuesday…from the outfield! I just got a new Nikon 70-300mm lens with vibration reduction (which is AMAZING) and am loving it so far.

Build and Analyze #25: Feed the Patent Troll

Tue, 17 May 2011 11:01:33 -0400

Build and Analyze #25: Feed the Patent Troll:

I’m famous!!! (Marco answered my question around 36:00.) Even if you don’t want to hear Marco Arment answer my coffee question, you should definitely be listening to Build and Analyze. Marco and Dan Benjamin talk about a lot of great topics including iOS and web development, Apple, and, of course, coffee.

Catwalks (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

Fri, 13 May 2011 18:33:44 -0400

Catwalks (Taken with Instagram at Tropicana Field)

Starting iPhone Development

Thu, 12 May 2011 17:24:44 -0400

I hope it has become apparent through my writing that I really want to become a part of the startup ecosystem as soon as I can. Even though this is a great time to be looking for a job with a startup, there are two big hurdles for me to achieve this goal. First, I am not confident enough in my programming abilities to feel like I would make a meaningful contribution in a small startup. And second, it is hard to meet other like-minded geeks where I currently live (Tampa, FL). I don’t see us moving anytime soon (without a job waiting for me at the other end of the journey!), but I am trying hard to improve my coding skills in the meantime to overcome my first hurdle.

I am a huge fan of Apple products and own an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro (and want a new iMac and MacBook Air!). I absolutely love my iPhone and see it as a very promising platform for the foreseeable future. Apple has a large, growing, happy userbase (that is willing to pay for apps if I decide to go it alone and sell my own apps). So, since I love my iPhone and am confident in the future of the iOS platform, I am going to focus my coding on just that. I spent some time during college in a mobile app development class where I learned some iPhone development, but mostly learned Android development. So I am basically starting from scratch.

I recently purchased two books: Craig Hockenberry’s iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual and Joe Conway & Aaron Hillegass’ iPhone Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide. I have tried going through both of them, but it is really hard for me to stay focused reading so much about development before actually getting to get my hands on the code. I’ve also tried the Stanford iPhone programming courses available via iTunesU, but run into the same problem - I tend to lose interest. Does anyone have any suggestions for other, more hands-on ways to learn iOS development that are still comprehensive? (I fear that going through simple tutorials I find online would not be comprehensive enough.) Anyways, hopefully this will (finally) mark the beginning of a successful month or two of learning iOS development for me.

Raymond! (the Tampa Bay Rays mascot) I took this picture during...

Tue, 03 May 2011 21:08:27 -0400

Raymond! (the Tampa Bay Rays mascot)

I took this picture during MLB opening weekend back in the beginning of April. Raymond is by far my favorite sports mascot. He is a Canus Manta Whatthefluffalus (or a sea dog) and he is very obnoxious and entertaining. He enjoys harassing opposing players and mocking the security guards who guard the field between innings.

(This picture was taken with my Nikon D7000 with the 50mm prime lens at f/2.5 and a shutter speed of 1/320 second.)

Minimal Interfaces (My New Theme)

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:41:07 -0400

As I was working on my (very) simple blogging engine (more on that soon), I started thinking a lot about the template I would use. I really liked my most recent Tumblr theme, with all of the great widgets in the sidebar, but noticed that a lot of my favorite blogs don’t have any widgets. They have a sidebar with several links (archive, colophon, contact, projects, RSS, etc.) and an image at the top. That’s it.

It seems like minimal themes have become very popular for blogs. I’ve even watched several blogs switch from a more cluttered, widget-ful layout to a simple and elegant layout. I really like the look and feel these sites provide with their very minimal interfaces. A good header and a good font puts all the focus on the writing and creates an enjoyable reading experience. This is the exact experience I want my site to provide. And so, I’ve decided to revamp my theme here on Tumblr. With this post, my new theme is going live!

I tried to make my new theme as simple as possible. I took my old theme and completely removed the sidebar. I added a few links to the top of the page and added a search box to the bottom of the page. I also made my content div wider than it used to be and centered it on the page. I am keeping Helvetica as the font for now, but have been browsing TypeKit and Google Fonts for a different one. I even got rid of the footers that were after every post on the homepage. Those only show up if you visit the permalink now.

And with my new theme comes a goal: I plan to post at least one long-ish post per week going forward. If I don’t meet that goal and you happen to notice, drop me a line telling me to write something!

(I said I’d have more to say about my blogging engine, so here it comes… I am going to put that project on hold briefly. I have a (basically) functioning version that works on my local machine, but I don’t feel like I have a good enough reason to pay for hosting when Tumblr is working just fine for me. In the future, I’ll probably need a hosted server and can use my own blogging engine then, but for now I’m sticking with Tumblr.)