My wife is currently in graduate school to become a speech and language pathologist. She was looking for a way to practice phonetics and was looking for an app that allowed her to text and email phonetically. To our surprise there was nothing available in the App Store to do such a thing. After some convincing she commissioned me to build this app. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed making it.

PhonetiText is an iPhone/iPod Touch app that allows you to send messages (iMessage/Text Message), emails, or Tweets using phonetic characters. It features an optimized phonetic keyboard with large buttons for easy typing. The iPhone keyboard can also be used for punctuation and non-phonetic characters.

PhonetiText is available on the App Store (iTunes Link).  You can also check out the PhonetiText page for more information, screenshots, and support.

It’s been a while since we’ve posted to the blog but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy.
Here’s what’s been going on since our last post:

SugJester

SugJester ran into a number of problems right after our post.  While we’re still excited about the prospect of this service we’re not actively working towards an actual release.  It was certainly disappointing to put  so much effort into something that we can’t really show anyone but believe me, we learned enough throughout the project that the time spent was worth it.  Plus we created that sweet sugJester logo that hopefully we can use for something down the road.

Busy, Busy

Outside of SugJester we’ve been pretty busy.  Along with the typical summer schedule busters we’ve also been buying and selling our homes, moving, and getting new pets.  There’s also been plenty of smaller projects such as Timely Drive, an app that records your trips and helps you find the fastest way from one place to another.

Timely Drive has given me two very important things.  First, the piece of mind that I am taking the best way home every night.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in traffic wondering if I should have gone the other way home; not anymore!  Second, and most importantly,  it provided me with an opportunity to practice.  I’ve been able to refine my ability to create apps, learn how to use location services and just become a better programmer.  Projects like Timely Drive will never be released to the general public and they’ll never make any money but they give us the tools and the confidence to execute an idea.

There’s also PhonetiText, but that’s a different post entirely.

We’re Still Here

Basically this was just a post to let everyone know that we’re still alive and still working.  I’d like to make some kind of New Year’s resolution that I’ll update the blog more often but that’s not the type of person I am.  I’ll write something when I think there’s something interesting to be said.  Something interesting, to me at least.  That’s a start.

Thanks for all of the support.  We’ll talk to you soon,
Matt

“Things Like The Things You Like”

Today we are excited to announce our latest project: sugJester.  sugJester is a tool to help people find great new things.  We’ve been working hard putting the finishing touches on the sugJester recommendation engine and are planning on releasing the beta within the next few weeks.

The main idea behind sugJester is to recommend things that are similar to things you already like.  We’re starting with books but planning on expanding to many things like podcasts, movies and media of all kinds – for now.

There are all kinds of recommendation engines out there, so why use sugJester?  We love Amazon, and their suggestions are good but there’s a problem.  On Amazon, suggestions are based on what you’ve purchased or viewed compared with what other people purchase or view.  What if I purchase or look at a bunch of stuff I end up not liking?  With Amazon’s recommendations I’d have to go in and remove items from the list of things I’ve viewed or purchased.

Amazon's Recommendations

At sugJester we know that just because you look at something doesn’t implicitly mean that you like it, so we focus our recommendations entirely based on the things that you’ve told us you like. We think this will be a more accurate basis on which to make sugJestions relevant to what you’re looking for right now.  Say you’re tired of reading business books for a while and are more in the mood for some books about travel.  Just enter your favorite travel books from sugJester’s database of more than 8 million items and  sugJester will find the books that are most like the ones you entered so you’re much more likely to enjoy them.

We’ll keep you posted when sugJester beta goes live.  We hope you check it out and provide feedback on the results or the site itself. Until then, sign up for email updates or follow @sugJester on Twitter.

As of February 11, the Salt Lake City branch of Techapolis has closed its doors for good.

Generating ideas, creating designs and developing working code is just easier for us right now when the team can work together in close proximity. Facing the decision of moving to Boston or returning to Minneapolis and putting more effort into our current project, the correct choice was apparent. Now we can look forward to more regular creative meetings, and hopefully some good progress on this project.

With such a large obstacle now gone, some of our next steps include building a foundational framework that will be functional no matter where our initial ideas or pivots may lead us, and hopefully putting together an office space that will help keep our motivation levels high in our efforts to be successful.

Lately I’ve found myself reading some new blogs with a focus on venture capital. As an aspiring entrepreneur I think that reading the thoughts and insights of those who I someday hope to pursue funds from can only increase my understanding of how the industry works if (when) I ever find myself in such a situation.

Both Sides of the Table – Written by former entrepreneur turned angel investor and venture capitalist, Mark Suster, both sides of the table is able to offer unique perspective into the startup industry. Offering advice on how to found a start-up and what it takes to be an entrepreneur from somebody who’s been there and done that makes for some interesting content and definitely earned it’s way into my Google Reader.

A couple of other VC blogs worth a spot in your RSS client:

FeldThoughts – Brad Feld, co-founder of Foundry Group.

AVC musings of a VC in NYC – Fred Wilson, managing partner at Union Square Ventures who’s investments include Boxee, Disqus, Etsy, foursquare and another social network you may have heard of, Twitter.

VentureBlog – David Hornik of August Capital.

Next on the list of things to check out, This Week in Venture Capital hosted by none other than Mark Suster.

I was digging through the web trying to find a nice design template for the iPhone’s Retina display.  Found one.  These guys quite obviously put a lot of work into this so I thought they deserved a shout out.

You can download the template here.

Hat tip to the team at Teehan+Lax.

M.

Everyone falls into ruts; sometimes they feel like they’ll never end. Whether it’s a creative lapse or the inability to want to do anything at all I’ve got some tips to help dig yourself out. I should mention up front that these tips are not yet verified but hopefully, sometime very soon, my own creativity and ambition will pick up thanks to the methods I prescribe below.

1. Hit the Gym

There’s many reasons for this one.  The first of which, to me at least, is to just get off the couch and act on something.  Then there’s the blood flow and mental heath benefits, not to mention the physical benefits of making the gym a regular part of your routine.

2. Write Down Ideas

The key to this one is the idea.  Too often I get caught up in  the execution of an idea – sometimes it’s nice to just brainstorm ideas and not worry about having to execute them.  Just throw some ideas on a whiteboard.  It’s easy to get overburdened by the details in execution so just make a commitment to yourself that you’ll leave it with ideas for now.  Come back to them later and worry about execution.

3. Build Something

This may seem to contradict point number two but I’m not talking about tackling a full blown project; just build something quick and fun that will give you a sense of accomplishment.  This could be anything.  Go out and take some pictures, go to Home Depot and do a home project, build a ridiculous iPhone app, etc.  Just do something to give you a sense of accomplishment and build some momentum to take on one of those ideas.

4. Watch, Read, or Talk About Something that Inspires You

When I’m in a rut the feeling is mostly just a lack of inspiration.  So I like to do something that inspires me.  This morning I watched various podcasts and read blogs from some of my favorite inspirational sources.  The purpose was to get inspired to do one of the things above but since I was doing my taxes at the same time the inspiration of the podcasts and the bordem/confusion of the taxes balanced each other out.

5. Make a Delicious Meal

This is kind of the same as number three but I’m hungry and I think making a good meal can help out on a number of fronts.  A lot of times I get run down and lack any ambition simply because I’m hungry.  Obviously you can fix that by eating something but in this particular case do yourself a favor and eat something with quality ingredients that will keep you healthy as well.  Eating good food will make you feel better but making good food could help you out of a creative rut.  I think it’s gonna be seared scallops tonight and maybe a roast for the Crock-pot in the morning.

- – - – -

Basically the list is summed up as: Just go out and do something.  You could sit around all day and watch the Jersey Shore marathon or you could make a little time to get the creative juices flowing.  I’m going to pursue the latter and hope that something big comes out of.  Won’t you join me?

M.

UPDATE: The scallops were amazing – I’m looking forward to a productive week!

Google shook up the search marketplace a couple of weeks ago when it announced Google Instant. It’s super fast, mostly accurate, and all around awesome. It has the potential to change search as we know it. Instant hasn’t affected the way I search just yet but here’s a couple of things that excite me about Google Instant.

Even Search Can Change
Search, to me at least, seemed like a stagnent market. Sure, Microsoft introduced Bing a while ago and that was alright for a while but Google has dominated search for a long time and nobody except Microsoft and Yahoo were in search of a replacement.

Mobile Search
Everything on a mobile device needs to be faster. Google Instant gives you a bit more speed so you can move on and get to the results. When it’s rolled out to mobile devices it will mean more time looking at whatever your searching for and less time typing your search query.

Better Queries equal Better Results
Even the most proficient Googler can sometimes struggle with how to google something. Whatever you’re looking for has to be out there but how do you find it sometimes? Google Instant will give power users insight into how to better structure their search queries to meet Google’s expectations. It won’t help everyone but I’m hoping that it will help me.

Beyond Google.com
I use iGoogle as a dashboard to the sites I use most. As of now Google Instant is not on for iGoogle. As cool as I think Instant is, I’m not going to click the “Classic Home” link every time I do a search. Along those same lines, I don’t even go to google.com for most of my searches. I just type my search in Chrome, Firefox, or whatever browser I’m using. I think Instant will be really cool, and useful, when browsers take advantage of it with their built in search. I’m not sure exactly how they would do this but I’m sure someone is working on it somewhere.

I love where Google went with Instant. I also loved that they surprised us with it. To me, the things that make it exciting are still yet to come. Hopefully Google has some of the same ideas. Something tells me whatever they do will only improve the way we find information online.

M.

New TV shows (finally) started last week. Even though South Park isn’t back until next week they’ve been working to stay current as always. Until October 6th all we know is that the writers have been watching enough TV in the off season to see the recent iPad commercials.

Enjoy.

Edit 11-22-11: Video removed.

When the new Apple TV was announced last week at Apple’s special event I was really excited.  In the weeks preceding the event I really hoped that the hype I was hearing was true.  On August 21st Kevin Rose blogged that the Apple TV would “Change Everything”.  I too was anticipating, and expecting, some type of living room revolution.  What we got was the super affordable, smaller, Apple TV.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great device for certain things, it just didn’t meet my super-high expectations.  Let’s focus on what the Apple TV does have:

Netflix

There’s no debating that this is a great feature. The problem for me is that I already have two devices that connect to my living room TV streaming Netflix (Xbox 360 and Wii). Putting personal issues aside Netflix is an absolute necessity for any device in this space. Millions of people have Netflix subscriptions and creating a device that connects to your TV without it would be product suicide. I just wish they would have built Apple TV on iOS so I could download the Netflix app, as well as others, but we’ll get into that later.

Movie/TV Show Rentals

If I get an Apple TV this will be a cool feature. If I really need to watch a movie right this instant I’d rather get it through my TV than take a chance driving to the nearest redbox kiosk only to find out that it’s either not there or sold out. You can also get movies through your cable company but this provides a nice alternative, and day after air TV show rentals for ABC and FOX will be nice. I think the TV shows are a good price ($0.99) but I was a bit surprised at the price of the movie rentals. Maybe Netflix has spoiled me but $4.00+ seems too high. I was expecting more like $1.50 or $2.00. Like any product, demand determines price; I’d still rather rent a movie on Apple TV than drive to a Blockbuster (if they still exist).

Streaming Library, iPad/iPhone Remote, AirPlay

This is a major win for Apple. Forget the fact that other devices can already do this because the Apple TV will do it better and easier than anything else. Streaming my music, pictures, and videos to my TV from my computer, iPad, or iPhone is just plain cool. I just wish they took it to the next level (more on this later too).

Holy $*!+ that thing is small

It’s small and it’s sexy; it’s an Apple product. We’ve come to expect nothing less.

$99

No matter where it falls short this is the number one selling point for this device. I paid $140 for my mouse and keyboard, why wouldn’t I spend $99 on a device that will bring endless entertainment to my TV?

720p HD TV

To keep the price so attractive Apple had to downgrade from 1080p to 720p. I don’t see this as such a big deal. If it were 1080p and $200 I wouldn’t even consider it. Sure it’d be nice if it had 1080p but 720p is good enough for now. Check out this link for a handy seating distance vs. resolution calculation.

So that sound’s pretty cool, right? It is, there’s no doubt, but there is one thing missing that I really wanted:

iOS

The thought of having an iOS powered TV was an awesome idea. I think Apple will get there eventually but I guess we’re out of luck for now. One of the main problems is that iOS is a touch based system. That doesn’t mean that it’s not possible though. I was hoping for a platform where Netflix, Hulu, and HBO could all have applications. I would pay for HBO if it were all on-demand and the prices were more reasonable (which could be obtainable by cutting out the cable companies).

Another great part about an iOS platform is games. Two ideas to ponder for the next Apple TV:
Games on your TV controlled from your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. Move over Nintendo Wii, the posibilites of this are endless.
Apple TV with Game Center. In my opinion Game Center hasn’t gotten nearly enough hype. Imagine, from a developer standpoint, how cool it would be to create your own Xbox Live type games with the same amount of effort that goes into an iPad application. This would open even more doors to iOS developers.

At the end of the day I’m probably going to end up owning one. I’ll watch the rentals, stream my library, and use the iPad as a overpriced remote. I’ll be happy with my purchase mostly because of its low price. I’m hoping that GoogleTV will hit some of the points that Apple missed. If nothing else there’s sure to be some much needed competition and variety to our TV sets. Last time I checked competition is never a bad thing for consumers like us.