Imulus Insights

Twitter….Tweeting it’s way to the Top

George — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:13:50 +0000

Right on the heels of my Quantcast posting; I’ve decided to give Quantcast some respect for helping me figure out which of the microblogging services are on the rise. My gut told me Twitter and it looks like my gut was correct.

Initially I thought this chart was showing me the rise in interest in Twitter and the adoption of it by so many new users. However, ff we make this chart relative it even suggests that Pownce and Jaiku are loosing steam / users.

Is there anything wrong with Pownce and Jaiku? Jaiku yes, Pownce not at all. Jaiku was solid before Google acquired them but it has taken forever for Google to re-open Jaiku for the general public. Pownce on the other hand is a solid service and sometimes seems easier to use and more reliable then Twitter. Kevin Rose and gang are no strangers to high-use sites and I believe Pownce will compete better with Twitter over time.

How Accurate Are Quantcast Estimates?

George — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:30:15 +0000

Based on the few examples I’ve looked at, not very!

Site A: Enterprise Class / Fortune 1000 Web Site
This comparison shows Quantcast ESTIMATES in green, versus the ACTUALS in WebTrends. Both measures track “VISITS”. This is important because the default for Quantcast is “PEOPLE”. I still haven’t figured out the difference between the two. The variation between the two sets of data is significant and the traffic pattern seems inverted.

Site B: Regional Business Information Site
This comparison is between Quantcast ACTUALS in green and Google Analytics ACTUALS in orange. Again, we are tracking Google Unique Visitors against Quantcast Visits. Another important note is that when actual data is pulled in Quantcast you’ll see separate tracking for US vs Global. Since Google doesn’t distinguish, we’ll focus on the global on both.

Site C: National Ecommerce Site
In this example Quantcast faired to be a bit more accurate. I compared Quantcast People (ESTIMATED) with Google Absolute Unique Visitors and the results were a bit more accurate.

Trend Overview
These graphs below were interesting to me because of the traffic discrepancy despite both sites utilizing tracking codes. Both of these graphs are pulled from Site B. Google’s Max is 206 VISITORS per day, whereas Quantcast is showing about 330 VISITORS.

Google Analytics

Quantcast Visits

Summary
I think Quantcast is an excellent tool; however you should proceed with caution when using the analytics obtained from both it’s estimates and actuals. It is important to note that both measures are benchmarking Quantcast against WebTrends and Google Analytics; however both of these tools have been used for many years and are fairly trusted. I’m not sure I’m ready to fully trust in Quantcast. But I’m very open to differing opinions on this.

7 Wrong Impressions About Denver

George — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:47:25 +0000

With the DNC coming to town I thought it would be useful to dispel some of the impressions I’ve heard about Denver from clients, friends and family around the country. I only came up with 7… 10 would be a bit too forced.

Denver is in the Mountains

Thank you National Weather Service and local weathermen for this misconception. We are about 30 miles from the actual mountains where the weather / climate is totally different from the Front Range, in large part due to the huge elevation difference.
Source

It snows in Denver all the time

Wrong. I really believe Coors and Monday Night Football are to blame on this one. On average Denver gets about 60 inches of snow per year. For comparison, Cleveland, Ohio gets about 56 inches. However, because of our dry climate and high-elevation snow doesn’t stick around for more then a few days… tops. I’ve even shoveled snow in shorts because the sun is so intense.

Frequently the mountains are blasted with 2-3 feet of fresh powder and the weather service wrongly associates this snowfall to Denver; when in fact Denver has received an inch or two of snow.
Source

It’s cold in Denver

Nope. It’s usually about 7 degrees warmer in Denver then in New York, Boston, Chicago or St. Louis during the winter months. Also the low humidity makes the air temperature even more comfortable.
Source

Denver is a “cow-town”

OK, sure we have a few cowboys in the area and the annual Western Stock Show but that is about as far as it goes. The corridor which consists of Denver and Boulder is a fairly well established metro area which feels like any other metro region, minus the trees. It is stories like this one from NPR which make me crazy because this really isn’t the “real” Colorado.

The South has more sun.

Sorry, that is wrong also. Colorado gets about 300 days of sun per year, Denver specifically gets around 115 day of pure sun. While that is much better then a rainy day the biggest drawback is you’ll need sunglasses and sunscreen out here. Source

Denver lacks cultural attractions

Not so much. The DCPA is the second largest performing arts complex in the World next to New York City’s Lincoln Center and the Denver Art Museum is a work of architectural art in itself.
Source

The Highways are overcrowded

We aren’t even in the top 10 most congested cities. Having lived in Philly most of my life i can say I-95 and the PA Turnpike are far worse then I-25 into Denver. It just like any other metro area and we have decent public transportation now that the T-Rex project has been completed.
Source

Images imported from iTunes are grainy on the iPhone

Bruce — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:21:33 +0000

I started noticing this right after I got my iPhone 3g about a month ago. Here’s the deal. Apple is downsampling images that are imported through iTunes onto your iPhone. I.E. they go from looking great on screen to looking grainy and slightly textured.

If you want to see for yourself save out a photo from your favorite photo manager and import it via iTunes onto the iPhone. It should now be located in your photos directory within the iPhone Photos App. Take a look at it closely in comparison with the original, you will see the result on the right (rollover for comparison shots).

Here’s my question, why is iTunes doing this to our photos? It seems like the iPhone has a good enough processor that it shouldn’t have trouble showing photo details. After all, this is the platform that plays video and 3d games. And even worse, it doesn’t seem to have this issue if you look at photos via Safari. In fact, I found that my image uploaded online and then saved via Safari to the camera roll looked a lot better than the imported version from iTunes!

What’s the deal Apple? I don’t want my photos and wallpapers to look like they came from 1996.

Tracking File Downloads with Google Analytics

George — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:43:28 +0000

Yes, you can track file downloads with Google Analytics. Although it doesn’t automatically give you that capability by just dropping in the Google Analytics Code, here is a simple method to add that tracking ability. For each file that you want Google Analytics to track, you need to create a “virtual page” using the pageTracker function in each file HREF in your site.

Example:
If you site has a PDF called financial-report.pdf and the link is
Financial ReportThat code will need to be rewritten to read.
Financial Report

This works great for a limited number of files, but for sites which have multiple file downloads. You may want to try Brian Clifton’s JS Script.

XML Sitemaps Done Right

George — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:42:11 +0000

XML sitemaps are a default for Web development at this point, yet I’m amazed about how many sitemaps are done improperly because developers use sitemap generators which either return partial or inaccurate coding. For the longest time we used http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ and repeatedly ran into formatting issues with Google Webmaster Tools.

After trying a slew of various editors I think we’ve found a winner. XMLEcho isn’t the quickest option in the World but it certainly produces clean and accurate sitemaps. Creating an account is simple and quick, plus the service gives you the option to create sitemaps of unlimited size… best of all, it’s free!

Nice job XMLEcho!

37signals is arrogant, and for good reason. But are they right?

Bruce — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:11:53 +0000

Tonight Jason Fried from 37signals spoke at the Oriental Theater in east Denver. He discussed everything from client deliverables to the 37signals four-day workweek. In essence, Jason’s talk boiled down to three key points:

Don’t work on hard problems. Break them down and keep things simple.
Avoid distractions (open office environments, meetings, e-mail, etc.) get a site or product out of your head and into production ASAP.
Deliverables are bullshit, clients don’t care, the end product is what matters.

First off, I want to say I have great respect for 37signals and their impact on the industry. Having the chance to talk with Jason about issues such as: stopping IE6 support, disregarding Photoshop in the design process, and scaling with growth, was an absolute treat. Clearly the team at 37signals is one of the most innovative and talented in the industry.

However, I think 37signals dominance in the web products field has distorted their ability to critique the client-based approach. And while I don’t have knowledge to speculate specifically on day to day client interaction, I do have a few things to offer from a developer perspective.

Team chemistry is important.

First, people working from home all the time can be harmful to the group chemistry. Jason and team do a huge amount of work via telecommuting. Relying on campfire, screen sharing, and video chat interactions for the bulk of their communication. They feel this helps minimize distractions and keep people productive.

I’m not sold this is the way to go. I think it’s hard to truly feel connected and dedicated to your team if you don’t spend real time with them. When’s the last time you became really good friends with someone without spending some serious face-to-face time with them? For me it’s never happened, not once. And as great as chatting online is, it’s not the same as being in the same room and hashing things out. You miss the subtle face gestures, the inside jokes, the bantering, and the all around comradery that happens in the workplace. Part of the reason Imulus does great work is because we have dedication to one another. Even on days when I’m completely out of wack mentally I still find myself focused on helping the team. Why? Because I’m relied on to help create the great stuff we build. And I trust those I work with to do the same. As ridiculous as our office gets sometimes in the end we get shit done and we do it for each other and ourselves.

Deliverables have a purpose, it just needs to be refined sometimes.

Second, I don’t buy that all deliverables are bullshit. Just as some companies like to skip Photoshop (37signals) and go straight to coding, and others (Apple) like to make mockups pixel perfect it’s impossible to say that one solution is better than the other. Yet, we can agree that certain processes work better for certain people as well as certain projects.

Let’s talk about the way we work. Imulus’ basic approach is to offer the client a timeline, design brief, wire frame, and mockup of the final interface. Now, it’s important to realize that we haven’t always done it this way. In fact, for some time before I came to Imulus the wireframe process was basically nixed. What was the result? Instead of 5 hours spent reworking things in the wire frame process, 25 hours was spent reworking things in the development process. Look, we aren’t naïve, we recognize that clients change their mind and get new ideas all the time. However, we’ve found that most of this re-thinking takes place in the wire frame stage. And therefore we save hours of coding changes by altering the approach up front. In essence, if you’re building a car and the frame is faulty, why wait until the upholstery’s getting put on the seats to fix it?

Still, we know it’s a strong possibility that some of our deliverables are blown out of proportion. And as most firms do we will continue to collaborate and narrow down our inefficiencies. However, we have found that some deliverables are an extremely important step, and just because some projects or companies don’t require them doesn’t mean they aren’t important.

In conclusion

Clearly 37signals has clout and track record to support the way they work. And regardless of how that alters the Imulus process we love hearing about it. It’s phenomenal that they have so much passion behind what they do. I hope over time we can refine our own process to the point they have. Until then it’s great hearing a second opinion about things.

What Tom DeLeo Can Teach Us about Entrepreneurship

George — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:00:10 +0000

I’m from Philly so when I say any sandwich from a small deli in Estes Park, Colorado is better then anything I’ve had back East (Pat’s Steak Sandwich excluded) then you know I have to be serious. I’m talking about DeLeo’s Deli, recognized as one of the very best sandwich shops by The Food Network. Earlier this summer I had “The Big Reuboni”

Delicious corned beef topped with kraut, horseradish, banana peppers and Russian dressing, and finished with imported Swiss cheese…”To die for!”

Aside from the unbelievable menu selections; I think what is even more impressive is DeLeo’s customer service and passion for his work. Owner, Tom DeLeo, a transplant from Connecticut, is easily one of the most entertaining and charismatic people I’ve ever met. In this last visit, Tom remembered me from visiting the year before. I was floored that he recognized me, I have a tough enough time remembering my own Uncles’ names. While enjoying my Reuboni I realized it wasn’t just me that he recognized, Tom greeted everyone who entered like they were his best friend.

There are several factors which make DeLeo’s Deli a winning mix and hopefully a longtime staple of Estes Park. I personally believe that like his terrific sandwiches, these ingredients are the key to running a highly successful business.

Passion! This guy loves creating sandwiches.
Good Story. He’s an ex-insurance executive who was disenchanted with that way of life and was looking for something a bit simpler.
Love of People. He adapts to every visitor and brings a smile to all who visit. It’s as if he can instantly read each customer like a book.
Great Product. The sandwiches alone could sell this place. Tom could be the “sandwich Nazi and people would still frequent his deli.

I love my job, I’m excited about what we do, where we are heading and the team I have to work with. However, sometimes I think it’s really easy to get caught up in the daily grind. People like Tom remind me to keep it real; to wear the passion on my sleeve and throughly interact with every customer from the heart.

Tom, thanks for making a kick-ass sandwich and keeping it real, even if my Philly friends have now disowned me.

A Few Humble Requests for BaseCamp

George — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:00:54 +0000

I’m a big fan of 37Signals and what they stand for so I know my feature request has a 99.9999% chance of never getting implemented but I’ve got to make these requests for BaseCamp.

REQUEST #1
Apply to All
When creating 10 or more Milestones, please give me the ability to apply my dropdown selection to the other 9 Milestones. For instance, if I’m selecting USER A for who is responsible, why do I have to select that multiple times?

REQUEST #2
JavaScript Calendar
Why is it when I add 1 Milestone I’m given a nice visual calendar to select a date but when I’m adding multiple Milestones I’m given a date drop down for both year, month and date. It seems as though this design choice is making me work too much.

REQUEST #3
Hasn’t Logged in Recently
This use to work really well but it changed a few months back. Now I can’t tell the difference from a user who hasn’t logged in verses a user who has never logged in. Perhaps a simple variation call “has never logged in” might help here.

Otherwise this is a great product, I continue to recommend it to my clients and associates but these few changes sure would be real nice additions. At least in my book.

iPhone Contour Flick case review. Minimalist but nice.

Bruce — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:21:40 +0000

When I first got my iPhone 3g a few weeks ago I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get a case. However, over the next week I found that the phone was slightly too slippery and nerve wracking to carry around naked (ohhh la la). So I started doing some basic case research. Checking out reviews at the Apple Store, Macrumors forums, and asking for ideas on Twitter. Eventually I settled on the Contour Flick. A fairly minimalist case with a supposed incredible look and feel.

Here are my first impressions after a few days of use:

First off, the price point on all iPhone cases is ridiculous. They should all be $15 or under. That said, if I have to spend over $25 I mind as well get the best looking and feeling case I can. The Flick comes in at $35, a bit steep but in the ballpark of many other hard iPhone cases. I have the white and contrary to what I read on some reviews the white matches the phone’s white pretty darn well. It’s not a complete color match but it definitely looks better than almost any case I’ve seen. Primarily because it’s super thin. The thickness has a trade off however because it isn’t a largely protective case. It’s probably enough that it might save your phone if you drop it once but I would still aid on the side of caution. One concern is the bottom edge of phone (by the dock connector) because the case offers no covering for the metal rim on that section. However, for me it seems worth the trade off for such a minimal body shell and natural iPhone feel.

If you want a minimalist case this is a good buy for sure. It fits snug, looks great (minus no apple logo showing) and seems durable for basic wear and tear. I.E. a night at the bars, a skid across the picnic table, or the occasional water contact. Over time I assume the white will look cleaner than the black in regard to prints and scratches. Still, dirt might be another story. The case does scratch fairly easily but can only really be noticed from an inch or two away. The rubberish clip hinge on the bottom for docking is secure and feels good. However, if you plan on docking it nightly I could see it wearing out and not fitting as well over the course of a year.

To summarize: I recommend the Contour Flick highly but want to emphasize that this is really a case for people that want some protection in that awful “oh… crap… I just dropped my baby on the concrete floor” type of moment. This case is not for the “I leave my phone wherever I want to whenever I feel like it” type of owner. And definitely not for construction workers, waiters/waitresses, or stunt men. If you have additional questions please feel free to ask them in the comments. Also, if you’ve had particularly good or bad case experiences we’d love to hear about them.