A day in the life... (part 1)

You may think you know, but you have no idea, this is the diary of the PerBlue Crew.

So what is it like to work for a startup in Wisconsin? It's a fast and furious ride on the high wire, much like Philippe Petit. Alright, seriously, the typical Wisconsin startup life (if there is one) may not be the most glamourous lifestyle but we like to think that it can be pretty exciting.

The typical day starts by coming to headquarters. HQ, as we lovingly refer to it. It is actually an apartment (three of us live here), and a typical college apartment to boot. We do have more monitors than a typical apartment, though (19). It is also littered with swag from different internships that we have taken part in: from the Google beach ball, to the Microsoft cooler, to the Amazon programming ninja (all essential parts to our success).

Everyone sets their own schedule and we come in and work as much as we can. We like the work, which helps a lot when you are working for a startup.

But it's not all work all the time, we have fun too. Our sense of humor can be a bit particular at times (usually it's in the "nerd domain," like this video). We also go boating, not that the weather allows that here anymore. We play frisbee with the computer science group every week, but that will probably finish up soon too. We will figure out some fun things to do in the cold temperatures though, don't worry. Otherwise, this could be a long winter...

If all else fails, some news such as Proactive Sleep being shown on CBS can get us pretty excited!

Breathing Phones

The Economist released its Technology Quarterly a bit ago, this edition is a must for anyone that enjoys seeing science fiction turn into tomorrow's reality. Among other discussions in this quarterly, there are two interesting looks at mobile technology.

One article talks about alternate reality and its potential with the growth in the smartphone market. Programs are being created to overlay information about a place that you are physically looking at thanks to cameras, GPS, and internal compasses in smartphones. The GPS can position exactly where you are and the compass can tell what you are looking at through the screen based on its direction and the angle of the phone. Then, the world turns into Real Life-Pop-Up Video Version. This has great application for traveling: forget having to research the wikipedia places before you go see a monument. Now they can show up and no one has to struggle to remember what happened. Or, on a more day-to-day basis, it can be used to overlay the menus of restaurants as you are walking down the streets.

Another article talks about phones that breath. Well, they don't actually breath but they do use air to keep the charge in the battery. The result is something that is down to one tenth the weight of a normal phone battery and reduces the cost of batteries by 30%. Basically, you remember Zach Morris' classic 80's block phone from Saved by the Bell? Well today's phones will start seeming like that and new phones could start looking like Will Ferrell's phone in this video.

What if Michael Jackson, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Superman lived in a house together?

A transcript from their Operator Sue FriendLine text messages:

Want to experience group texting?
Get your own Operator Sue line now.

If T-Mobile were a doctor, would it measure the Pulse with an EKG or a pay-as-you-go plan?

In case you were never a big ER fan, this is an EKG. And the Pulse being refereed to is a new smartphone being put out in Europe through T-Mobile that is a pay-as-you-go smartphone. Not to mention, it uses Google’s highly praised Android OS, making it the first pay-as-you-go data plan using Android.

This is a big step in lowering the barrier to entry for smartphone technology because let’s face it: the stuff is expensive. As Saul Hansell with the New York Times points out, people want cheap service. Truth be told, not even half of the PerBlue team uses smartphones as their personal phone and we work with the damn things (no, Apple does not give out phones to developers but I’m sure no one would be against that idea…).

The details of the contract are still to be nailed down, such as whether people pay according to the amount of data used or by the time users spent online. There could be a tendency for carriers to favor a model based on data usage because it is easiest to measure. It could also discourage over-use of the network, because sometimes users can be data whores.

We would love to encourage a plan measured on time, it’s easier to relate to and that could help people feel more comfortable in testing the waters. The pricing breakdown could be something like this:

• Pay-as-you-go: $0.01/minute
  
• 1000 minutes of data use: $5/month
• 3000 minutes of data use: $10/month
• 8000 minutes of data use: $20/month
• Unlimited data use: $30/month
  

Either way, we are pretty excited about the possibilities with this. MetroPCS has already started a prepaid plan with the Blackberry Curve, which is a great start to hopefully bringing more smartphone data plans that are easier to understand and easier for people to try out.

Also, bringing technology like Android to people through a prepaid plan gives it a major point of differentiation from the behemoth iPhone. We want to promote competition so that these giants can keep pushing each other to create new technology because productivity benefits from competition. Notice how the iPhone hasn’t changed much in it’s last iteration? That certainly won’t be allowed with Google creeping on its tail.

Google Voice to Take Over the World?

In case you have been away from your Google Reader or simply don’t know about GappleGate, there’s been a bit of a story buzzing this summer between two tech titans: Google and Apple. The short and simple is that Google wanted to make an iPhone app for Google Voice (GV) and Apple or AT&T or some combination of the two said no. This has spawned some inquiries by the FCC and Apple has been trying to calm the backlash with detailed responses on its website.

So Apple, ever the anarchist, is looking less like the counter-corporate image it has worked so hard to cultivate and much more like what it really is: a very successful, but controlling company that wants to make money. As MG Siegler of TechCrunch put it: By controlling the ecosystem surrounding their products, Apple ensures a great user experience for the majority of users. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise for anyone, if you have ever seen their ads or stores then you know how meticulous and neat everything is (they just spin it as minimalism but we all know how hard it is to keep things clean). They may try to appear laid back, but they even cleaned up the scruff on the Mac Guy from when he first debuted.

Now can you blame Apple for not wanting Google Voice on its phone? Not really. Plenty of people are touting GV’s capabilities, including Michael Arrington from TechCrunch, who made the switch from iPhone to Google Voice and hasn’t turned back. Arrington and MG even had entertaining dispute showing some of the finer differences between the two.

Does this mean Apple should be scared? Not enough to panic and fumble the PR as bad as it has. But Google Voice is good, it’s a perfect example of what Google does: taking something and making it organized and stupid-simple to use. From an economics standpoint it could lower borders and create freer movement between phones and phone contracts. This is huge because that means more intense competition and if anything that helps one person: the consumer. Phone carriers getting into a battle could mean cheaper contracts or maybe just simpler contracts. It also gives other phones ways to keep Google on their toes, it’s called creative destruction and it is what will hopefully make the difference in rough economic times.

The phone contract aspect is a very simple starting point of it all. More profound, long term (most likely stretching reality) ramifications are in the way Google Voice can facilitate the movement from one place to another, making for a more mobile workforce and that is a good thing. A mobile workforce means people can get to the place where their skills and attributes fit best. Insert saddening, yet optimistic-for-the-future reference to the economy here...

To return to the question first posed, will Google Voice take over the world? Obviously not, the “more mobile workforce” theory is very theoretical and assumes a bit of exaggeration. But Google Voice is a great, simplifying product that can compliment everyone’s phone experience like cereal and milk or Chianti and pizza, depending on your taste.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have an idea: No More Wires.

So 400 years ago, Galileo unveiled his little invention called the telescope. Little did they realize that this, based on the theories of science fiction, this was the first time that seeing into the future became possible. Obviously, Galileo had other things on his mind so he probably was not too concerned with how the future looks, but what if he was? If Galileo had put his imagination and eye sight to the test, what do you think they would have seen?

Imagining today from 400 years ago is a pretty difficult when you consider our abilities to do it twenty years ago, I’m still waiting for my hoverboard. But even without the flying cars and such, some pretty cool stuff is going on. The one that this blog will be concerned with is mobile technology.

The goal will be to follow and aggregate the latest and greatest in mobile technology advancements and then present it here in a concise and interesting way.

The need of this information is hopefully self-evident, but if you like numbers check out these figures on the mobile data market. Besides that, mobile technology is exciting and creates opportunities to help people like small farmers with irrigation.

For the sake of clarity this blog is being run by the people of PerBlue. We are a start-up based in Madison, WI. Members of our team have worked at Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and GE. We have produced Parallel Kingdom and Operator Sue. Being so close to the mobile technology market, particularly with a start-up, has its advantages because the cutting edge is right there. So this will be the looking glass, the view into an ever-changing market from the pragmatic perspective of a group of nerds at the crest of the wave.

Discussion is welcome and criticism is encouraged so read, comment, share, and enjoy.