Shuttle Launch

This is one of my favorite photos of the space shuttle launching.

You'd think that the shuttle goes straight up, but that wouldn't put it into orbit. Getting into orbit it like firing a cannon ball that "misses" the Earth and just keeps missing. For every 10 feet the Earth's surface curves down, the shuttle drops 10 feet. So, astronauts on the shuttle aren't floating because there's no gravity, but rather because they're in a constant free fall called microgravity.

The High Cost of Being Poor

This is funny.

11 Mar 08: "Should I be worried about Bear Stearns?"

Oath to the Constitution? No kidding.

I still think Sara Taylor is confused.

Godzilla attacks

http://adjix.com/5e6v

iPhone Revenue Sharing: Is 30% a good deal?

In one word, "Yes!".

A 30% revenue sharing deal is great. Yesterday, Steve Ballmer implied that it was too much at Mix 2008 in Las Vegas.

Today, if you develop a mobile application which you want delivered over-the-air (OTA) to a mobile handset your only choice is premium SMS (PSMS). For example, if you buy a game or a ring tone the charge will show up on your cell phone bill.

Here's the part no one knows unless you've dealt with wireless carriers and PSMS: the wireless carrier and the SMS aggrogator, which is the middleman between you and the wireless carrier, will keep 50%-60% of the revenue collected.

Yes, that's right - the developer collects less than half of the revenue. Not to mention the fact that the company selling their apps and media must pay for the short code (five or six digit phone number) which typically runs about $15K-$30K/year ($500 or $1000/month to lease the short code, which is akin to buying a domain name, then another $1000/month to host the short code with an SMS aggregator plus the developer has to pay for each text message they send, too.).

The current OTA solutions are not cheap which makes Apple's 30% solution extremely appealing to mobile handset developers.

AT&T iPhone Activation Down for 12+ Hours

Get a new iPhone today, come back tomorrow to activate it. That's a tad disappointing.

On a side note, Phil Schiller was in the Apple Store, today, while we were picking up the phone. Most of the employees definitely did not recognize him.

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Shadowbrook

There's a great restaurant, across the street from our place in Capitola, called Shadowbrook, which has been around for more than 60 years. It's located on the base of a river bank about 90 feet below street level. You can walk down the stairs or take the "hillavator".

It's great for casual drinks and food at the bar or a fancy dinner in one of its many dining rooms. I highly recommend the crepes for dessert.

Improv Everywhere

I love Improv Everywhere.

SMS Pal

We're getting ready to launch a new Web site this weekend and it looks like two blogs have already picked up the same article here and here,