I’m proud to announce that the first iPhone app I’ve worked on, TextTumble, is now available for sale in the App Store! TextTumble is a unique word game that challenges you to spell words using falling letter and picture tiles. Check out the web site for a video and a link to buy the game.

For quite some time, a business partner and I have been working on the first product for our new venture together. My Magellan Media business partner and developer Chris wrote a great post on his personal blog about all the gory details of the development process, so I’ll leave that to him (definitely read that, it’s a great article). I do need to offer my own perspective.

In late summer of 2008, shortly after the App Store first opened for business, several ideas for possible apps began germinating. A lot of my thoughts coalesced around a word game, because they’re both entertaining and ever-popular (at the time, the developer of a crossword app was making several thousand dollars a day), and because it wouldn’t require 3D graphics, a degree of difficulty that was higher than I wanted to get into for an initial effort. I wanted a game that was somewhat unique, and I started thinking of combining several classic gameplay mechanisms into something different. Combining ideas from Boggle, Tetris, and Scrabble, TextTumble was born. The basic idea is simple: spell words with falling letter tiles.

But I needed someone to develop it, because while I dabble in code and can handle building a web site, I’m really not an expert. I started bouncing ideas off Chris Zelenak, and he immediately saw the potential in my nascent concepts and began adding the perspective of a much more experienced gamer. One of the coolest parts of the game was all Chris — the pictowords. These are tiles that have pictures on them which represent various synonyms — a picture of a cat could represent cat (obviously), tom, tiger, or puss, for example. Combining that single tile with one or more letter tiles and you can spell much longer words — and score much higher point value.

Neither of us having much experience developing games, and no experience developing for the iPhone at all, our initial timeline of a few months was quickly shot. As I said, Chris goes into much more detail on his blog. But the long and short of it is…I was not prepared for how much iteration it takes and how much time processes can take when you’re trying to make something good enough to sell. I didn’t fully think through every single point of interaction with the game before we got into development, and as a consequence we had to rebuild some things. On top of the technical and user interface challenges, I was trying to deal with all the legal and financial issues you face when you establish a new business entity, and trying to organize all those ancillary things that you need for a business to function and define some processes for us to follow.

As I learned, all that will evolve no matter what practices, tools, or tactics you try to establish, because very rarely in business is the first answer the right one. The key lies in being able to look forward and predict other possible answers and evaluate which course to take before expending too much energy on one path, and staying flexible enough that if you need to change something…you can. In our own small effort here, I have learned a great deal. I know Chris has too, and if and when we make another effort I know we’ll be able to make it happen more efficiently than before.

As it stands, we’re very proud of TextTumble 1.0. It’s something we built and it’s actually out there on the App Store! We’re confident in saying that among the 65,000 other apps in the App Store, ours rises above a good many of them in quality and complexity. That said, this is a tough nut to crack…getting noticed among sixty-five thousand applications, even though 98 or 99% of them are crap, is no small feat. We’ve submitted review requests to a number of iPhone-loving sites out there, and we hope to get a bit of traction that way in addition to spreading the word via our blogs and Twitter.

But we know we have quite a battle ahead of us. If you have an iPhone, please consider giving TextTumble a shot — and if you like it, tell your friends! We have lots of ideas and enhancements to add to TextTumble for future versions, so keep an eye out on the Magellan Media blog and let us know what you think!

I’ve discovered numerous opportunities and solved many problems by interacting with people on Twitter whom I may never have met otherwise. Never has there been a better example of this, however, than what has transpired over the last month or so: the investigation and removal of a negative item on my credit report because I complained about it on Twitter after the usual channels failed me.
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I’ve been meaning to regain control of my email for quite awhile, but for some reason I had just never gotten around it until a few weeks ago. For years, I’ve had at least a half dozen primary email accounts that I need to check daily. I didn’t do any sorting — everything just came into each account’s inbox and stayed there forever. Clearly, this is not ideal.

The problem

You can imagine what that looks like when you’re trying to find something — an endless list of messages with no organization at all. I would most often use my mail client’s search function to find something, but that wasn’t always reliable and tended to result in a lot of hits I didn’t want. I often found myself sitting down to complete a project and wanting a series of emails that were spread over the past few weeks with various questions, concerns, and feedback from the client/stakeholder for that project. Finding those messages in an unclassified inbox was a nightmare. In addition, if I had near-term action-required emails (bring something to work from home tomorrow, pay a bill within the next couple days, or anything that required a response), they would get lost in the noise of less important emails. If I didn’t (or for some reason couldn’t) act on those emails right when I read them, I was at risk of forgetting about them.

The solution

The core of a solution was some kind of sorting methodology, clearly. But what to do? I needed something flexible, powerful, and mostly automatic — because if I have to manually sort a hundred emails every day, it will never happen. Most importantly: the Inbox is a sacred place. The only time a message should be in the Inbox is if it is unread or if it requires me to take further action.

Put it all in one place
The first thing I decided was that I wanted all my email going to one place so I could more easily parse it — I forwarded it all to my main GMail account, and configured that account to be able to send mail as those other accounts, so I can still send out messages under my various addresses from one place. I also moved from a desktop mail client — Apple Mail — and decided to work solely out of the GMail web interface, because of the way GMail’s labels and archiving work (not to mention that Mail and most other desktop clients I’ve used start falling on their face when you get tens of thousands of messages in them).

Filter it out
Next, I setup a whole bunch of filters — automated rules within GMail that perform various actions based on criteria you specify. They’re very powerful — I have various rules applying labels (GMail’s version of folders) to emails depending on such conditions as who they’re from, what keywords are in the subject or body, which of my various accounts the messages was originally sent to, or any combination thereof. I spent quite awhile setting up my filters and occasionally still add to them, but for the most part I’m happy with my filter setup.

Archive it
However, having all my mail in one place and applying those great labels still doesn’t solve one big problem — all my messages are still just listed in my GMail inbox. Important messages, despite being labeled, are still going to be surrounded by tons of noise. This does not jive with the Sacred Inbox directive.

One huge feature that most GMail users overlook is the “Archive” command. When you archive a message, it no longer appears in your Inbox — it’s still accessible via “All mail” or by viewing any label with which that message is tagged (or just by searching), it simply doesn’t show up in the Inbox anymore.

So what I’ve started doing is archiving messages when I’m done with them — anything that doesn’t require a response or to which I have already responded gets archived. When reading a message from the Inbox, the Archive button is right up there next to the “Back to Inbox” link…and it also takes you back to your inbox after it archives the email. So it takes no additional clicks, no additional work. I read the email, I respond if necessary, and if I’m done with it, I hit Archive and go to the next message.

I’ve also worked the archive command into some of my filters for emails I don’t need to see immediately. For example, notifications from Twitter get tagged “Notifications” and archived automatically. I like to peruse these emails a couple times a week to see who started following me on Twitter, but I don’t need them cluttering up my Inbox.

Results and observations

I’ve been operating this way (sort of my own version of Inbox Zero) for a few weeks now, and the difference has been amazing. I feel less overwhelmed by my email, it’s easier to find relevant messages when I sit down to accomplish a task, and I don’t forget to take action on messages that require it.

I was hesitant at first about switching from a desktop app to a web interface, but since GMail does a good job with keyboard shortcuts it makes the experience quite a bit more palatable. I also use Fluid to setup a dedicated GMail “application” on my Mac which always runs in its own window, separate from my regular web browser, and has a few niceties like an unread count on the dock icon and additional keyboard shortcuts.

If your inbox is an unorganized disaster and it stresses you out sometimes, consider some of these methods to reach Inbox Zero. It’s made all the difference for me.

I was digging through some old files on one of my hard drives the other night and came across what I believe is my very first web site design, from my early college days in 2002. I had cobbled together a few web sites before this in high school, but the mockup you see here is the first time I actually planned the whole design in advance with a graphics program (Macromedia FireWorks, in this case). Please keep in mind, this was done by someone with zero art or graphics training, so excuse the atrocious green! MRNonline.net was sort of a blog (way before there was all this great blogging software available), sort of a community site — I ran it for my friends off of a server in my dorm room for about a year, providing news and discussion forums. I wrote the whole thing from scratch using ColdFusion (the first dynamic web language I taught myself…that was the first and last time I used CF), and the whole experience taught me a lot. I’ve designed dozens of sites in the six years since, but this was what really kicked me off on loving web design. Sadly, it’s the oldest surviving piece of my work that I can find — I’ve been unable to locate a copy of the very first web site I built, which I believe was in 1998 or 1999, but I did that with FrontPage so seeing that code might prompt tears of agony rather than nostalgia.

It’s kind of fun to look back at where you came from, especially if what you find was done at a time when you had no idea that such work might be your career one day. This type of fun digging and nostalgia also reminds me of how important it is to back stuff up — due to a hard drive crash a number of years ago, I lost everything I ever wrote and created for high school. I don’t need that stuff, obviously, but it would be fun to have.

What kind of work do you have really old examples of?

This is the final part of a three-part series, Navigating the Financiapocoalypse. It’s intended as a get-started guide for people just starting down the path of actively managing their money.

Saving money in and of itself is representative of a longer view of life than someone who blows their whole paycheck every month. But saving for your retirement and other really, really long term goals is different from saving for your next car or vacation. Before we go any further in: I am not a certified financial planner, and I haven’t been doing this all that long — I can only tell you what I have found, and crunch some numbers as examples.

The sooner you start saving for your retirement, the better. Well, that’s obvious, you might say, but just how much better are we talking about? Let’s look at a couple scenarios.
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This is Part 2 of a three-part series, Navigating the Financiapocoalypse. It’s intended as a get-started guide for people just starting down the path of actively managing their money.

Even more important than how you’re spending your money this week or this month is what you’re doing with what’s left over. Americans are saving less than ever before, at a time when health care costs are rising and retirement plans (and the chances that Social Security will exist in 35 years) are dwindling. You do not want to get caught with your pants down later in life — start saving now. Save early, save often. In an economy like this, though, forcing yourself to save can be tough.

Set a goal

As I said in part 1, I don’t track every dollar of my monthly expenses. I do, however, kind of have a reverse budget — I don’t map out my monthly expenses, but I do keep an eye on my savings percentage. I set a goal — say, I want to save at least 30% of my take-home pay every month — and if I’m not meeting that goal, or not able to meet it comfortably, then I know I need to go back and re-examine my “right now” expenditures. Once you have a number to shoot for, you have to set some things in motion to achieve it.
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This is Part 1 of a three-part series, Navigating the Financiapocoalypse. It’s intended as a get-started guide for people just starting down the path of actively managing their money.

Before you can do any saving, you need to get your spending under control. As I said in my intro to this series, however, this isn’t going to be a guide on how to be a total cheapskate. I’m not going to be the one advocating use of a coffee shop for Internet access and the sports bar to watch TV, or putting on six sweatshirts so you don’t have to turn the heat above 50. But there’s plenty of smart decisions you can make to reduce expenses while still maintaining a lifestyle you enjoy.

My thoughts on budgets

Lots of financial types insist that you have to have a strict budget. Maybe this is starting off on the wrong foot in a lecture about controlling spending, but I have a confession to make: I don’t keep a budget. (I have a guideline that I call a “reverse budget,” but we’ll talk about that in part 2). I do keep rough numbers in my head, but I’m not going to agonize over every dollar — it’s too time-consuming and too much micromanaging. I know what our typical monthly expenses are, and I try to keep them low. Beyond that, my energy is better spent on doing more active things to control our money. Besides, many of the people I’ve met who do dollar-by-dollar budgets are usually so obsessed with recording that last receipt in Quicken that they forget to enjoy life.
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Given the number of conversations my friends and I have about finances and money management these days, I think a post of this nature is long overdue. Given my age bracket (mid 20s), part of this is just my demographic being new to managing money — once they get out of college and actually have some money, people tend to develop a new interest in managing it properly — but a big part of it, of course, is our current economic situation. More than ever, you want to make sure a buck goes as far as it can — I think it’s safe to say that’s a concern no matter tax bracket you fall into.

I’ve absorbed a lot of information from people who have been doing this a lot longer than I have, but of course I do have some of my own experiences to share. I’m not an expert, obviously, but if I can help anyone even a little then I’ll be happy. People not handling their money properly — either because of apathy, ignorance, or by the hand of misleading and disingenuous bankers — is largely what led to what many bloggers are calling the “financiapocalypse.” (That’s going to be the last time I use that word, it’s too hard to type!)
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In so many ways, we have witnessed a historic election. While the final numbers are still coming in, it is clear that, as Senator McCain said, “the American people have spoken, and spoken clearly.” He didn’t squeak by, or have the deciding electoral votes handed to him by a court. Barack Obama won the election decisively — current electoral numbers are 338 vs. 156. It is encouraging that in his wonderful speech, he made a point of emphasizing that it is his ultimate desire to be the president of every single American, and that he wants to reach out to those whose support he has yet to earn. I think he’s actually got the moves, character, and intelligence to back up his promises of bringing people together. President Obama will be as much of a uniter as Bush was a divider.

I have to hand it to John McCain…that was an extremely gracious and classy concession speech. His supporters didn’t exactly match his grace, but Senator McCain himself showed why he’s been so successful in the past — he really is an honorable man, someone who has sacrificed more for his country than many of us can imagine, and someone who ultimately can put what’s best for the country ahead of his own ambition. He’s just not the man for the job, but he threw his support behind our new president with wholehearted sincerity and patriotism. That’s what America needs, and I hope McCain is properly recognized for what will likely be his last great public act of selflessness for our country.

I hope people realize that despite the nasty mud slinging from the GOP at times, which I do not blame McCain for personally, we just witnessed an election between two good men, politics notwithstanding. I have no idea when that last happened. Now, America has chosen a leader who I believe will represent a dramatic shift in how our government works and in how Americans interact with their government. These aren’t typical times, and this is not a typical politician. He doesn’t want to exclude people, no matter what their political stance — a stark contrast to the Bush doctrine which sees anyone who doesn’t agree with them as an enemy to be squashed.

Let’s hope, for all our sakes, that President Obama brings all of this to the table and more. I hope that even the typically pessimistic can find some room for optimism with Obama’s “we/us/our” inclusiveness, because we really do need a president for everyone.

As I write this in the first minutes of Tuesday, November 4, 2008, I realize that I am — for the first time in my memory — really looking forward to this election day. There’s a buzz, an energy, an enthusiasm surrounding this presidential contest that I have never witnessed, and in the midst of all of our country’s troubles it is uplifting to see so many regular people recognize the importance of their duty to vote. I have mostly phased out politics on this blog, but I would be remiss to let this date pass unobserved, even on my own tiny little corner of the Internet.

What’s different about this election? Well, aside from the country being in dire financial straits, I think the candidates themselves represent a fairly distinct change from what we’ve seen over the last couple decades. Since I’ve been following politics, this is the first time we’ve had two candidates that I can truly — if I reach deep down — respect, at least on some level.

I strongly disagree with most of the policies and the dirty campaign McCain has run, but I’ve been watching the guy long enough — 10 years or so, I think — that I know he’s not a bad man. I think he got sucked in by the Bush-era Republican political handlers, who are for the most part parasitical non-humans, but at his core he’s at least intelligent and for the most part honorable, or at least as honorable as you can expect many politicians to be. Those are two qualities that, at the presidential level, you’d have to go back to at least Reagan, if not further. Unfortunately, since he started running for president those two qualities have been diminished by the structure and tenor of his whole campaign. Picking a wacko like Sarah Palin doesn’t help. It’s also refreshing to see the Republican party pick a candidate who doesn’t completely pander (read: lie) to the far right about religion just to get their votes.

My respect for McCain doesn’t make me any less passionate about my support for Obama, however. Here’s the guy who’s mostly responsible for energizing this election. Extremely intelligent, fresh, straightforward, and not afraid to confront the numbers (I like specifics), something that McCain’s handlers rarely allow into speeches for some reason (his and Palin’s speeches are mostly interminable soundbites). More than any politician I’ve ever heard, I think he actually believes the stuff he says, and more importantly understands it. And whatever disagreements I have with some of his ideas, there’s no denying the fact that this guy is probably this generation’s Kennedy in terms of revitalizing a dormant political demographic. We need this political shot in the arm to give people who have been depressed about the idiocy of the past eight years a chance to regain interest and maybe — just maybe — some degree of faith in our government. Hey, it’s not completely impossible.
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