Adam-Jackson

Tonight, one of my close friends was let go from what many would call, “a teenager’s dream job.” He was an intern for the popular and widely respected technology blog, TechCrunch. My friend’s name was Daniel Brusilovsky. A lot of people in business use “friend” lightly in conversation but it usually involves a scale of good, great and close being added before the word friend as a way to one-up the other guy that you know said “friend” better than they do. It’s a pet peeve so of mine but for the sake of this post, Daniel was a very close friend of mine for many years.

Daniel was a friend. In fact, I wrote about him only 48 hours ago. Here’s what I said:

3. Daniel Brusilovsky – Daniel was barely 14 when he and I started chatting over email in 2007 or maybe it was 2008. I honestly can’t remember. He interviewed me for The Apple Universe Podcast and did a great job quizzing me about Apple and Macworld. We chatted on and offline for a while about tech and otherwise. When I moved to San Francisco, Daniel was always there to introduce me to his business contacts and I can rely on him to put me in touch with some of he harder to reach people via email or phone introductions. Daniel is more than a lubricant for my self-promotion. He’s also a guy who’s listened to my gripes and criticisms and even taken the initiative to take me out to lunch after we hadn’t caught up in a while. Daniel has helped me feel less alone as he went through and is going through many of the things that I am. It’s a big industry and making waves isn’t easy. Daniel gets that and is always there to lend a helping hand. I had dinner at his house with his Mom and Dad. Both of Daniel’s parents are wonderful people. They’re kind, respectful and honest and Daniel is lucky to have a tremendous support system in his parents. Daniel has been a true friend.

Tonight, Michael Arrington, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of TechCrunch posted this announcement: (the gist)

On Monday evening I received a phone call from someone I trust who told me that one of our interns had asked for compensation in exchange for a blog post. Specifically, this intern had allegedly asked for a Macbook Air in exchange for a post about a startup.

After an investigation we determined that the allegation was true. In fact, on at least one other occasion this intern was almost certainly given a computer in exchange for a post.

The intern in question has admitted to some of the allegations, and has denied others. We suspended this person while we were sorting through exactly what happened. When it became clear yesterday that there was no question that this person had requested, and in one case taken, compensation for a post, the intern was terminated.

It didn’t take long for the web to figure out who it was. I knew immediately. Speculation began and soon, the blog post will surpass 300 comments (possibly 500 by morning) and 500 mentions on Twitter. Everyone has an opinion. Most of the comments are applauding TechCrunch’s integrity of posting this. Other comments are targeting Daniel and placing him in a few categories of what kind of person he is to push their own agenda (teen, kid, victim of the public school system, web 2.0 celebrity).

The only thing blatantly apparent through all of this is that everyone loves a good scandal or maybe it’s controversy but whatever, people are soaking this up. For the sake of wrapping up the story before I move on to my own opinion, Daniel posted a statement to his blog:

In some way or another, a line was crossed that should have never been. At this time, I do not want to go into details, but I will publicly say that I am truly sorry to my family, friends, TechCrunch, and especially the tech community. Since 2006 when I first got into the internet, I have felt comfortable, and working at TechCrunch has made this experience even better. TechCrunch is not to blame for any of this — TechCrunch has given me the opportunity of a life time. I can never say thank you enough for TechCrunch for the amazing last nine months I’ve had.

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Now that everyone is caught up on what happened and I’ve been extremely clear about my past relationship with Daniel, this incident has brought up a subject that I touched on before but never revisited and my past 3 months have made this statement even more important.

Live by your means, act your age, take care of your body, expand your mind and learn to respect and love those who are far better off and far worse off than you are.

At the end of June I wrote, “A Letter for The Kids” In that post, this excerpt applies to my point:

The path of life is interesting as well. Everyone is on a different path but, as my Father taught as a young age, every movement is a ripple in the water that affects everyone. As a human, it’s natural to be self-absorbed and self-serving and don’t worry, we all do it but I’ve tried to be mindful of others while still being successful and what I’ve learned about success is that it’s the most challenging aspect I’ve experienced in life. Moving across country was easy, finding the most amazing woman was easy and making enough money to get by is always easy but sucess is more than work, it’s the responsbility that comes with it.

When you become successful, you give up a piece of yourself. Everyone loves hearing a success story and as I succeed in more projects, I’ve had to bring on a new responsiblity of recognition which means more people following your every word. I’m not a celebrity and I’m glad because every opinion, thought post and move is criticized by a few dozen people. It grows every week. Also, making money can be easy but when you make money, the more tempted you are to take bigger risks for higher returns and I’m very guilty of making money and losing it on a bigger and better project. I need to step more carefully on this.

As you grow older, breathe more, learn more and explore more. Never stop exploring. I was speaking to a friend that works for himself, he’s 25 years old and travels a lot. He’s not wildly succesful but he makes enough money to spend half of his year traveling. It’s interesting to hear of his travels but also of his advice. He’s told me countless times that travel and exploring doesn’t shape you any way because of where you go. Going anywhere but where your home is can affect you enough to realize home, family, friends and stability is what makes life so amazing. A month in Ireland can be a fun experience but returning home is more rewarding than the trip itself. Remember that as you grow older and want to move out of the house, do something spontaneous and have zero responsibilities. It sounds interesting and fun but it can be tiring and actually age you before your time. Wisdom is one thing but age is another.

And this line:

The only way you can rise above the hardships and pain is to remember where you came from and always be sure of where you’re going but never, ever stand still because when you do, that’s the moment life stops and just as a still pond grows algae, our spirits will grow sour every moment that you sit still.

It’s easy for me to force Daniel and other kids in his situation to read and apply what I’ve written but the reality is that this was written by me AFTER experiencing and making mistakes. It’s easy for us old fogies to preach, teach and lecture those young kids but it’s experiences that shape our lives and this experience will shape Daniel’s for many years to come.

I don’t wish failure or embarrassment on anyone but, without a few missteps, we won’t be able to truly realize how lucky we are to be alive, employed, loved or respected.

Daniel was put into a position of power time and time again at a very young age and I still believe he deserved every bit of success because he went out and took it and he worked his ass off to get where he is. He didn’t work his ass off to one day get a free computer. What drove Daniel is the same thing that drives all of us no matter what industry, school, project or goal we have. Daniel was driven and the sky was the limit.

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The first thing I’d like to say is regarding the comments and commentary. Your love of scandal and joining in the mob got the best of you. If you can safely say you’ve never done anything immoral or illegal in your life, then feel free to criticize the hell out of this. Using the excuse, “well he’s on TechCrunch and should be held to a higher standard than I am” is no excuse.

Let He Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone

Simply keep your mouth shut unless you’re willing to admit something that you did wrong as well. We have all done stupid and irresponsible things both as adults and children. It’s safe to say that this was the first of many “stupid mistakes” in Daniel’s life not because he is a bad person but because he’s a person and each of us makes mistakes.

Someone earlier told me they had lost all respect for Daniel after hearing this news. Trust me, there are many more people that you’ll respect at some point in your life that have done or will do far worse things than what Daniel did. I can guarantee someone you look up to will do something horrendous and you may never find out.

Before you can criticize someone else, look inward and make sure your conscious is clean.

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I’m going to go out on a limb here and most likely piss off my friends, Daniel and his parents by saying this incident is far from the absolute worse thing that could have happened to Daniel. This is petty. On the list of “bad things” a person can do, this is nothing. He’s an intern under the age of 18 that took a bribe to write a blog post for a company that he most likely already favored just based on the founders, the product or some other reason.

However, despite the fact that this was a petty incident, I’m happy this happened as I’m sure many more people are. I’m not happy because I want Daniel to fail. I’m happy because I want Daniel to succeed and I breathe a sigh of relief that it was only a “bribed blog post” and not something far worse. However, the incident is big enough to alter how Daniel lives his life from now on but not so bad that we won’t see him for 10 years as he’s stuck in a jail cell.

I saw where Daniel’s life was taking him. I saw his future and it wasn’t bright. Sure, he’d be running a company in 10 years, entertaining buy-out offers from Google and driving our his Tesla roadster with an up & coming LA Actress under his arms walking down red carpets but would he be living his life to the fullest potential? Would Daniel be living? I doubt it.

To some people, success is living but I know from being in this bubble for only 2 years that there’s a bigger world out there and one that Daniel has never experienced. Daniel was born in Silicon Valley. He grew up with a dad who worked for a tech company. He lives a bike ride away from some of the most successful tech companies in the world and he worked, interned and visited companies that are shaping the world and inventing cool products. It’s safe to say that he needed to live his life outside of this bubble even for a few short years before he truly began to value what he had.

I hope Daniel takes this opportunity to step away from the tech world for a while and here are a few things that I hope for him. The reason why I’m listing these things is because these are things I NEVER DID as a kid (aside from the girlfriend thing). The things I’m about to list are things I never tried or did but things i wish I had done now that I’m nearly 24.

• Find a best friend or two (one that isn’t in tech at all)
• Find a girlfriend / boyfriend and fall in love or at least learn the ins and outs of a relationship
• Read books about things you don’t care for or know nothing about. Expand and challenge your mind.
• Put down the laptop / iPhone and take a month to 6 months without technology
• Go on a vision quest or simply go camping for 15 days all alone out in the woods. Find your proverbial spirit animal.
• Try alcohol (once)
• Try cigarettes (once)
• Join a club (academic or not)
• Join a gym and focus on being in the best shape you can while your metabolism is high and your testosterone is peaked
• Go on a road trip with 2 best friends with no destination and a tank full of gas
• Go on a vacation for no reason to somewhere you wouldn’t normally go.
• Go to college and enjoy every fucking minute of it
• Admit something to someone you love that you’ve never told anyone before
• Set a physical goal and do it! (faster mile, heavy benchpress, most pushups)
• Sell every piece of technology that isn’t absolutely essential and use the money for a trip to somewhere exotic
• Backpack through Europe
• Work on a farm and learn to love it
• Build something (physical not software)
• Hold a job outside of tech and learn to love it
• Work in manual labor or fast-food. Trust me, you’ll learn to appreciate how hard these jobs really are

Ya know, this list was a hell of a lot longer than I wanted it to be but honestly this was a list of things that I wanted to do before I turned 25. I’ve had alcohol and I’ve fallen in love with a girlfriend and I did work at Arby’s for a few months when I was 16. Other than that, I have yet to do any of these things and that’s pretty sad.

I realize that Daniel is 6.5 years younger than I am. He could do all of this in the next year and then have 5.5 more years to get back into technology and have fun. He can do all of this before he turns 20 and still be further ahead than most kids his age both professionally and in life.

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What happened to my friend sucked but this will be a great thing for him and open up even more opportunities. I hope more kids that follow him and read my blog take my advice and take a break from trying to change the world until they’re at least 18 years old. I have a shit-load of 14-16 year olds that email me with dreams of moving to San Francisco and starting a company. It’s depressing because I have saved emails from where I wrote letters with the exact same words to people in their 20s when I was only 16 and no one told me to chill out and be a kid and there are a ton of things now that I regret and wish I had done instead of working so much.

I’m proud of Daniel and what he’s accomplished. He’s proven that he has the skills, work ethic and commitment to truly achieve great things even with so many factors are against him. Daniel, we all know you have it in you. Now it’s time to take a break, have some fun and grow your mind and you’ll come back to the tech world smarter, stronger and more mature. You’ll apply what you learned on hiatus with the already exceptional skills and characteristics and you’ll be successful, that’s a guarantee.

Other teens should do the same. You are all smart and exceptional people but you need to take your time and act your age. so I leave you with the statement I posted at the start of this blog post:

Live by your means, act your age, take care of your body, expand your mind and learn to respect and love those who are far better off and far worse off than you are.

I’ve been holed up for a few months now. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration. I’ve been distant. Yeah, that’s better. I’ve been distant and kind of living, learning, loving and realizing so many things about myself. Every night, as the sun goes down, I sit in my apartment and open all of the windows. I look out to the west as the sun sets and I sip green tea and clear my head. It’s my favorite part of the day. After that, I go to the gym or grab my camera and go out shooting.

Today, I sat there for a couple of hours and counted the people who I’ve shared mutual respect and love for in the past couple of years living in San Francisco. I can count them all on two hands but each of these people has influenced my stay here in SF and I’m thankful that these individuals have been in my life.

1. Dom Sagolla – I think Dom sits atop the list (behind one other person I’ll save for last). Dom and I met while waiting in line for the iPhone 3G, merely 35 days after I moved to San Francisco. Dom, founder of iPhoneDevCamp, formerly of Adobe and author of “140 Characters” has been a terrific friend. He and I spent more time together than any other person I’ve met in SF. We spent overnighters and weekends working on micro-projects together. We coached each other. He introduced me to “life” outside of tech and enjoying the finer parts of the bay area and what it was like to follow your dreams and yet still have the courage, patience and maturity to raise a family and be a great dad. I introduced Dom to my friends, helped him the best I could on more than one occasion and introduced him to BT which helped him finish 140 Characters before the deadline. Dom wears many hats but has proven to me that you can do that and maintain your sanity. I’m still not sure how he accomplishes so much while not becoming “absorbed” in the task. It’s certainly something I hope to achieve as I grow older. Dom and I emailed back and forth tonight for the first time in a couple of months. It felt like old times. Dom certainly was my glue over the past 18 months. Well, maybe he was my duct tape. Either way, he was a true friend.

2. Nick Starr – Nick and I go way back. I met him in 2006 or maybe 2007 through a friend. I had heard of him through Internet circles and we had lunch one day and just connected virtually. He lived in Tampa and I lived in Jacksonville. It was nice knowing another tech fanatic who was only a few hours away. I followed his journey and his dreams of moving to San Francisco virtually via his blog and Twitter stream in 2007. Then, in 2008 I took the same journey and my first day in San Francisco was spent with Nick having brunch at Lime here in SF and then heading to Target to buy bath towels for the new apartment. He was my first friend in the big city. Honestly, I never felt that close to him though. He and I are both cautious on who we let in despite the fact that he and I share so much online. Lately, he and I have gone out more and done more things outside of Twitter and I’m realizing he’s a great guy and it’s a real connection. I’m glad to have him as a friend. We chat daily (mostly about technology) and see each other every few weeks. Just this week, I was leaving Safeway in Castro and Nick passes by walking into Safeway. We said hello and caught up. It’s nice and comforting to have that security in someone who knows where you came from and has been through what you’re going through in the big city. Nick is a true friend.

3. Daniel Brusilovsky – Daniel was barely 14 when he and I started chatting over email in 2007 or maybe it was 2008. I honestly can’t remember. He interviewed me for The Apple Universe Podcast and did a great job quizzing me about Apple and Macworld. We chatted on and offline for a while about tech and otherwise. When I moved to San Francisco, Daniel was always there to introduce me to his business contacts and I can rely on him to put me in touch with some of he harder to reach people via email or phone introductions. Daniel is more than a lubricant for my self-promotion. He’s also a guy who’s listened to my gripes and criticisms and even taken the initiative to take me out to lunch after we hadn’t caught up in a while. Daniel has helped me feel less alone as he went through and is going through many of the things that I am. It’s a big industry and making waves isn’t easy. Daniel gets that and is always there to lend a helping hand. I had dinner at his house with his Mom and Dad. Both of Daniel’s parents are wonderful people. They’re kind, respectful and honest and Daniel is lucky to have a tremendous support system in his parents. Daniel has been a true friend.

4. Abbi Vakil – You may not know much about Abbi. He may just be someone you’ve seen mention a few times on Twitter or in blog posts. Professionally, he’s a business man, investor and his “gut feeling / intuition” is what makes him such a valuable business man. I’ve given Abbi a sentence into what I’m thinking about doing and he immediately knows how to shape the idea into a successful product. His process is intimidating in the fact that I wish I had his skills of doing business. Abbi has sat down with me no less than a dozen times and listened attentively as I go on about ideas and thoughts and then he has offered quick, valuable feedback that shaped my next steps. I don’t always follow his advice but he’s been right about everything so far. Besides the advice, Abbi has been there as a friend. He has helped or at least offered to help on so many fronts that I simply can’t measure. Abbi taught me that friendship isn’t ROI (return on investment). He truly cares about people as I’ve seen him work the floor at Macworld Expo and parties and he’s not a “business man” by definition. He’s a human being who wants everyone around him to prosper and be successful. I’m extremely lucky to have a friend like Abbi to help me and support me. I hope that, one day, I can repay him for the hours and hours of time he’s given to me for free and how much he’s shaped my time in the bay area.

5. Justin Leung – I met Justin via Dom in late November. Justin and I are the “odd couple” when I think about our relationship as we enter into February. Justin will text me some days around 7:30PM, “what’s up?” I’ll respond, “oh nothing just eating dinner.” He’ll say, “cool well i’ll come over in an hour we’ll play some video games.” Our friendship has never been about business. It has but that’s secondary. Where everyone I listed above was business first, Justin and I met at a time where I wanted a friend, not a business contact and he and I “hang out” every other day. We’ll grab coffee around noon or he’ll come over and we’ll play some video games or we’ll sit side by side at the Marriot hotel sipping coffee at midnight working on projects and pausing to chat about something funny that we just found. Justin and I are climbing a mountain together. We’re getting healthy together. We’re living life and simply conjoining every so often so relate on a few things. He’s younger than me by 5 years but it’s been great. We’ve become great friends and Justin is someone I can rely on for most anything. Again, I hope I can repay him one day for the kindness he’s shown to me on all counts.

6.Scott Beale – Scott and I had more differences than similarities. Scott and I met at Macworld 2007 and we connected at my DailyTechTalk party at Swig. We’ve been exchanging mild banter back and forth since then via Flickr, Twitter and Email. Scott and I have mutual similarities like photography, art, music and a love for technology. I’ve recommended his amazing LaughingSquid hosting company and accompanying blog to friends and family time after time. I also have to remember, Scott’s friends are more than tech and they range across geographical lines, genres, cultures and age groups where most of my friends are limited to the bay area and the “web 2.0″ genre. Scott knows this but it doesn’t stop he and I from chatting it up at events or parties. In my first two months in San Francisco, I would go to the tech parties and simply “find Scott”. We’d chat for 15 to 30 minutes and I’d learn so much about the SF culture but also about the tech and art culture beyond San Francisco. It was enlightening and eye opening. The alternative benefit / effect to hanging with Scott was his friends would come up to say hi and he’d always introduce me. These introductions helped me meet more people and become more comfortable in San Francisco. I owe Scott so much for introducing me to the culture, the people and making me feel at home. Scott and his wife Lori will be moving to New York City soon but I’ll always remember the value and friendship Scott has shown to me in the past 3 years. He’s someone I hope to never lose touch with.

7. Laura Wiggins – Realistically, Laura has been my #1 for nearly 4 years. She and I met shortly after valentines day in 2006. I’m still captivated by our story of how we met and how these two kids fell in love and took on the world. It’s a wonderful adventure we took on.

Before I continue, I’d like to lay one thing out. You, the reader, were 23 once. You made mistakes. I’m making mistakes every day. I know this because I look back at the mistakes I made at 13, 18 and 21 and think to myself, “what an idiot I was!” Well, you are looking at me and thinking the same thing. That’s okay. Listen, I kept the details of mine and Laura’s break up very private. Assumptions were off the wall and ultimately I was blamed for a lot of things that aren’t true. I’ve made some mistakes in life but breaking up with Laura wasn’t a mistake. The past 6 months have enabled so much growth for me and I’m sure for Laura as well. I have no regrets about the decisions she and I made. Please allow me to move on. It was 6 months ago.

Anyway, Laura is my best friend (was and is). I’ve never relied on anyone in my adult life more than her. She even taught me how to love, how to hug and how to appreciate the little things. She took a workaholic with big ambitions and a small brain and said, “slow the fuck down and hold my hand.” For that, I’m forever grateful to her. Beyond our relationship and into the post-relationship period, our friendship has actually strengthened. I never imagined that I would leave a person the way we ended things and still exclaim that I’ve never had a more amazing friend.

Laura and I have now shared two chapters in our life together where many couples only share one. In the first chapter, we fell in love and were an amazing couple. I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing relationship with a person to share my 20s with. Looking back, it was incredible. She taught me how to love and showed me how much someone can love you back. In the second chapter, we have become best friends. I never had a best friend growing up as our family moved too much. The past few months, I have learned what a best friend is and I’m thankful to have had an amazing partner and now, an amazing friend. My preparation to move to San Francisco, the move and staying here would have never been possible without her support and I’m so thankful.

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On that last note, the same can be said for everyone I listed. My friends helped me truly fall in love with San Francisco and the value of such a vibrant and diverse city. You all made this journey possible and I hope to make it up to you for all of the support you’ve given me.

Of course, there were so many more people that helped me but these select few were most influential. The rest of you know who you are and I thank you.

Side-Note: There were a few women I wanted to mention in this blog post. Women that I began dating but soon realized I’m not really into dating anymore or I’m just not ready to date yet. I broke up with Laura in August but I just don’t feel like dating, going on dates or anything related to things you could do with a woman (wink wink). So, there are a few women in my life that have been wonderful friends. They’ve been supportive, caring and taught me so many great things about myself. However, like most relationships with the opposite sex, it takes time to figure out if you are BFFs or something more. I wanted to be careful and not list anyone here instead of someone else or list someone here who thinks we’re “more” or “less” than I portray. Like saying, “Susie has been a great friend” and Susie reads this thinking, “I thought we were more?” It’s just not a good idea. Sorry ladies.

Thank you all for reading. I know this is a long post. I just had to give thanks. I was lying in bed at 3AM and felt inspired to write this. It’s 4:30AM and I’m finally going to bed. Goodnight.

It’s very rare that I talk about audio and music. I’m not an expert or an audiophile. I don’t have formal training but I’m a HUGE fan of music overall. I have nearly 20,000 songs in iTunes and each one of them is in perfect quality or at least up to my standards. I can tell you what kind of file and what the kbps is just by listening to it. By the way, “kbps” stands for “kilobits per second” (not kilobytes).

Pre-Blog Post Note: I’m not a professional and most of this is “assumptions” based on my 10+ year love of music. I don’t speak for anyone, including BT. This is just my opinion -Adam

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A History Lesson

When iTunes was introduced to the world on April 28th, 2003, the highest kbps for purchased music was only 128 and this was acceptable to most but audiophiles complained that 256kbps music was needed as 160kbps generally translates to “CD-Quality” and ripping at 128 would result in loss of that quality. Then again, Apple touted that 128kbps AAC (the codec used by the iTunes Music Store instead of the more popular MP3) was more efficient at compression and thus CD-Quality MP3s were 160kbps but in AAC, 128 was acceptable. Confused? It’s not important, just a little bit of history.

Anyway, on May 30th, 2007, Apple introduced iTunes Plus. This was a response to two things. One, the consumers that wouldn’t use iTunes due to DRM restrictions set by Apple’s store and that 128kbps was too low quality. iTunes plus tracks generally cost $1.29 (30 cents over the standard price) and came without DRM and were double the quality of Apple’s 99 cent tracks. The users were happy! In 2009, Apple announced that he entire store would become iTunes Plus enabled by the middle of the year and all tracks would be 256 and without DRM and variable pricing would be put in place. Basically, this was a response to labels demanding some tracks be sold for $1.29 and Apple didn’t want to budge.

Today, when you browse the iTunes Music Store, every track is encoded at 256kbps (above CD-quality) and DRM-free and tracks range from 79 cents to $1.29. Consumers are happy, labels are happy. Oh, one other technical side note; If you rip a CD at 256 KBPS, you won’t always get that much quality out of it. You’re ripping more than you need to. I’m going to share with you why iTunes isn’t the place to buy music that you truly appreciate or music that you want longevity out of.

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Why iTunes Isn’t The Best Place to Purchase Music

Today, Brian Transeau’s (aka BT’s) latest album, “These Hopeful Machines” has landed on Amazon, iTunes and your local record store. Brian’s music is fantastic, wonderful, celebrated and timeless. I listen to tracks he created over 12 years ago and the songs might as well be a couple of weeks old. Every track he has created is delivered in a way that you can experience each album back to back without the feeling of boredom and, honestly, his music inspires me. My ex-girlfriend, Laura claims that I have a “man crush” on Brian for his art of music and I admit it. The crush is real. His music has helped me write over 50% of my blog posts for the past 10 years. He’s helped me get through good times and bad and helped me through a 16 hour car ride across state lines. His music has lifted my appreciation and awareness to new levels and it has brought me down to the level of realization that we’re so tiny in this huge universe. Brian makes electronic-audible art.

His music never should be consumed at 128kbps AAC, MP3 or WMV. Even at 256kbps, I think you’re doing yourself a disservice. Go ahead and enjoy your Smash Mouth album at 256k but music from artists like BT, U2, The Beatles and Moby (and many more) should be played in a different way outside of the iTunes Store restrictive quality model.

For a while, audiophiles have begged Apple to provide variable pricing for different qualities. 96kbps can be purchased for 49 cents and AIFF / Apple Lossless should cost $1.50-$1.99. Audiophiles will pay $19.99 for an album in Apple Lossless because they know the advantages to paying more for that file format. However, Apple keeps things simple and only provides 256K music.

Before I continue, let me stop and say that if you use Apple’s included earphones, then just stop reading and purchase Brian’s new CD on iTunes for a few bucks and listen away. You’re not going to get anything out of this if your earphones cost less than $99 (Apple’s earphones cost $29 and even then, they’re a ripoff).

My earphone of choice is the Shure SE530. I currently own a pair of Bose QuietComfort 2 cans (which totally blow at $299 they’re a ripoff), Etymotic ER-4, Shure SE420 and the Shure SE530 earphones. The Shure SE530s retailed for $599 when I bought them. Those died outside of the 2 year warranty and guess what, I bought a new pair for $449 (their current price). Why? They’re totally worth it.  Earphones, headphones, cans and monitors are all different kind of devices to help you listen to music. Each have their own advantages and pricing does matter. I just saw that Ultimate Ears, a subsidiary of Logitech, released a 6 driver pair of earphones for $1350 and if I had the cash, I’d buy them. I don’t understand by people pay $300 for an iPod and buy thousands of CDs for $12.99 each and then plug in a pair of $29 earbuds. It’s stupid and you’re not enjoying music the way you should.

Long story short, if you’re not in a pair of earphones that cost at least $99, then just stop reading. For young and newbie audiophiles, the SE115 (link) are a great starter pair of earphones. They’re only $115. My first pair of “good” earphones were the SE110 and I never looked back and every year I upgrade because it’s worth it!

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Ok….Back on topic

Brian’s new album comes out today. Do not buy on iTunes (unless you want to). I’m sure he would love you to purchase a digital and analog copy of his music but hear me out. I’m lazy so I went to Wikipedia and searched for AAC, MP3 and Apple Lossless. Below are the descriptions.

MP3:

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players.

The use in MP3 of a lossy compression algorithm is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording and still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio for most listeners. An MP3 file that is created using the setting of 128 kbit/s will result in a file that is about 1/11th^{[note 1]} the size of the CD file created from the original audio source. An MP3 file can also be constructed at higher or lower bit rates, with higher or lower resulting quality.

The compression works by reducing accuracy of certain parts of sound that are deemed beyond the auditory resolution ability of most people. This method is commonly referred to as perceptual coding.^[5] It internally provides a representation of sound within a short-term time/frequency analysis window, by using psychoacoustic models to discard or reduce precision of components less audible to human hearing, and recording the remaining information in an efficient manner.

AAC:

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates.^[1]

AAC has been standardized by ISO and IEC, as part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specifications.^[2][3] The MPEG-2 standard contains several audio coding methods, including the MP3 coding scheme. AAC is able to include 48 full-bandwidth (up to 96 kHz) audio channels in one stream plus 16 low frequency effects (LFE, limited to 120 Hz) channels, up to 16 “coupling” or dialog channels, and up to 16 data streams. The quality for stereo is satisfactory to modest requirements at 96 kbit/s in joint stereo mode; however, hi-fi transparency demands data rates of at least 128kbit/s (VBR). The MPEG-2 audio tests showed that AAC meets the requirements referred to as “transparent” for the ITU at 128 kbit/s for stereo, and 320kbit/s for 5.1 audio.

AAC’s improvements over MP3

Advanced Audio Coding is designed to be the successor of the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, known as MP3 format, which was specified by ISO/IEC in 11172-3 (MPEG-1 Audio) and 13818-3 (MPEG-2 Audio).

Blind tests show that AAC demonstrates greater sound quality and transparency than MP3 for files coded at the same bit rate.^[1]

Improvements include:

• More sample frequencies (from 8 to 96 kHz) than MP3 (16 to 48 kHz)
• Up to 48 channels (MP3 supports up to two channels in MPEG-1 mode and up to 5.1 channels in MPEG-2 mode)
• Arbitrary bit-rates and variable frame length. Standardized constant bit rate with bit reservoir.
• Higher efficiency and simpler filterbank (rather than MP3’s hybrid coding, AAC uses a pure MDCT)
• Higher coding efficiency for stationary signals (AAC uses a blocksize of 1024 or 960 samples, allowing more efficient coding than MP3’s 576 sample blocks)
• Higher coding accuracy for transient signals (AAC uses a blocksize of 128 or 120 samples, allowing more accurate coding than MP3’s 192 sample blocks)
• Can use Kaiser-Bessel derived window function to eliminate spectral leakage at the expense of widening the main lobe
• Much better handling of audio frequencies above 16 kHz
• More flexible joint stereo (different methods can be used in different frequency ranges)

Apple Lossless:

Apple Lossless (also known as Apple Lossless Encoder, ALE, or Apple Lossless Audio Codec, ALAC) is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music.

Apple Lossless data is stored within an MP4 container with the filename extension .m4a. It is not a variant of AAC, but uses linear prediction similar to other lossless codecs such as FLAC and Shorten.^[1] All current iPod players can play Apple Lossless-encoded files. It does not utilize any digital rights management (DRM) scheme, but by the nature of the container, it is thought that DRM could be applied to ALAC much the same way it can with other files in QuickTime containers.

Apple claims that audio files compressed with its lossless codec will use up “about half the storage space” that the uncompressed data would require. Testers using a selection of music have found that compressed files are about 40% to 60% the size of the originals depending on the kind of music, similar to other lossless formats. Furthermore, the speed at which it can be decoded makes it useful for a limited-power device such as the iPod.^[2]

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Summarizing The Content I Pasted Above:

Yeah, I know that was pretty “techie” but here’s the gist. AAC is leaps and bounds above MP3 in so many ways! AAC is a great codec to use in the iTunes Music Store. Small file sizes, increased quality and flexibility. However, Apple Lossless is true lossless audio. Meaning, you don’t lose the quality. Apple Lossless is just like AIFF or WAV but where those two file formats turn a 3 minute song into 30 megabytes, Apple Lossless has the same quality as those file formats but brings it down to only 10 megabytes. Less space = more songs stored on your iPhone / iPod but without losing the quality like you would with with MP3 or AAC.

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Why All of This is Important:

Apple only gives you AAC 256kbps music when you purchase from them. Brian Transeau will spend weeks, months and years on an album perfecting each chord, bit, byte and second. He plays back these songs over and over in the original quality and he plays it back on monitors (both large speakers and in-ear monitors) and then he sends that music to the record company to distribute.

AAC 256kbps is “adequate” for most music. I think it’s offensive to your ears and to Brian’s passion and creativity to buy music from Amazon or iTunes in that lousy file format and lousy compression.

My suggestion. Buy BT’s album at your record store. In iTunes, choose “Apple Lossless” as the default Import method and enjoy Brian’s the music the way its meant to be heard.

I had purchased every BT album on iTunes, then when I bought my $600 earphones, I went to Amazon and bought the physical CDs. I reimported all of them in Apple Lossless and the benefits were incomparable! Every song, note, sound was detailed and real. The music came to life and so I began doing this for all of the music that I truly loved at 128 / 256 kbps. Now, 25% of my music is encoded in Apple Lossless. The file sizes are larger than AAC (10 megabytes compared to 4 megabytes) but it’s very much worth it.

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My Advice:

Buy Brian’s physical album (Amazon Link), purchase the SE115 from Shure and enjoy music the way it was meant to be heard. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by buying Apple’s crappy quality. This isn’t Smash Mouth (no offense), this is Brian Transeau. He’s been working since 2006 on this album and it’ss meant to be heard the best way possible.

Further Reading: Macrumors.com Forums “AAC versus Apple Lossless” LINK

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Finally, here are some videos and Photos I shot of Brian’s last three performances in the bay area (San Francisco Area). He performed at iPhoneDevCamp and RubySkye.

It sucks being an Apple consumer right now. It really does. Apple clearly hates Adobe Flash, publicly and privately acknowledges that Flash was the leading cause of OSX Leopard Application and system crashes and they even modified Safari to not crash when Flash decided to fail which is a sign that they are having to do workarounds because Adobe Flash simply sucks on OSX. It’s clear that Apple has abandoned Flash entirely because many of us thought it was performance and battery issues that kept Flash from appearing on the iPhone OS devices. Now, with the release of iPad, it’s obvious that Apple won’t be adopting the standard on mobile devices.

Prior to the iPad announcement I was angry at Apple for their lack of support for Flash and I wasn’t alone. Hell, YouTube was forced in 2007 to create a mobile site for smartphones that played video in H.264 because many handsets didn’t support flash. Apple even worked with YouTube to deliver a custom application for iPhone prior to its June 2007 launch and, once again, the videos play in h.264, not flash. There are still times when browsing the YouTube app for iPhone that I get errors about a video not being available for my mobile device because there’s no h.264 version available.

However, last month (before the iPad came out), YouTube flipped the switch on HTML5 video. Prior to this new video standard, we were stuck with Flash. It was the default technology behind slideshows, games, video and even banner ads. Much of what we enjoyed about today’s web was powered by a system that was closed, non open-source and owned by one company (sound familiar to Apple but let me continue). Apple’s closed systems continue to improve but Flash on the Mac has been broken for years and Adobe won’t push the technology forward. On a PC, flash requires very little system resources which equals battery savings for mobile devices. On the Mac, playing Hulu video on my MacBook cuts the battery life in half, maxes out my CPU and forces the internal fan to come on to combat the heat needed to play a simple standard def video.

Silverlight came to popularity in 2008 and it may be a better way to get video, it’s not native on the Mac and aside from partners such as CBS, Silverlight never really broke through. The reason.. Google & Apple didn’t go with it. Apple didn’t start preinstalling Silverlight on its computers and Google didn’t support it on their video properties. Flash remained king.

For the next two years, the consumer will suffer but I have hope because it’s for the best. See, Google’s switch to HTML5 video on YouTube and Apple’s unwillingness to support Flash on its iPhone OS devices will force web developers to reconsider what system they use to deliver multimedia to users. In a few months, the amount of web devices that don’t have Flash and will never have Flash will surpass 100 million (that’s just Apple devices) and that’s a huge number of 3G & Wi-Fi connected users that will be unable to enjoy content.

In 6 months, it will be clear that there are 100 million potential users who aren’t getting your content and most of the top 5 video sites on the web will be using HTML5 instead of Flash (crossing my fingers that Hulu jumps on board as well).What does this mean?

It means three things.

1. Content creators will be forced to adopt HTML5 for content (video, interactive media)

2. Adobe will have to improve their product or Flash is dead

3. Internet Explorer 6 will finally die.

Right now, YouTube will display HTML5 video only to users of modern browsers (Safari, Firefox & Chrome). IE users are left in the dust but YouTube kindly shows Flash video to those users because it’s a pretty big chunk of people that still visit YouTube with the archaic browser. Soon, more sites will start ditching Flash and going strictly HTML5 and for once, our iPhones and iPads will show us videos and content across the web while Internet Explorer users will see a glaring “missing plugin” icon that we have grown so accustomed to. They will feel our pain.

This process will be slow. It will be painful to us early adopters. Eventually, our notebooks will have longer battery lives, our phones and mobile devices will crash less and have lower CPU utilization and Microsoft + Adobe will have to improve or die. I know Adobe and Microsoft have other revenue streams but I look forward to the day that Google & Apple lead the pack and we, the consumer will benefit.

The only problem, this won’t be a quick transition and for now, you’ll have this to look forward to when you are browsing the web with your iPad or iPhone. (photo credit)

Skip down to the long horizontal line to start reading my “justification” the first part is just puff and BS about my Apple buying habits and not really crucial / important to the overall post. Seriously, skip it.

Apple introduced a new device category. The last two “new” products introduced by the consumer electronics company were the AppleTV in January of 2006 and the iPhone a year later in January 2007. Since then, Apple hasn’t done anything too revolutionary. I guess the MacBook Air in 2008 was an evolutionary step for their notebook line but it wasn’t any reason to divide the pie chart of product categories and the iPod Touch is lumped into the iPhone OS devices. It’s safe to say the iPad is an iPhone OS device and will be calculated in with sales of iPhones and iPods but it is a brand new way to consume media and is just as important as the iPhone was when released in 2007.

I think everyone agrees that the iPad is something that will evolve and improve just as the original iPhone did. On the other hand, it could fall the way of the AppleTV and see incremental software and storage capacity updates over time and eventually be laid out to pasture like Apple’s XServe and XServe RAID. It’s really too early to tell. Apple CAN do wrong and they’re not too big or too popular to fail and a new product category is extremely risky and their stock price shows that. Investors are very cautious on their outlook and conservative estimates place 2010 iPad sales at 1-5 million. By comparison, Apple sold 42 million iPhones in 2009. Basically, analysts feel the iPad might be able to do 10% of the sales iPhone did in 2009 and at the low end, it would be somewhere around 2%. Analysts are usually wrong but I just wanted to put it in perspective just how unconvinced everyone is about the real-world potential of this new device. When Apple released the iPhone 3GS, there were hundreds of articles asking the question, “if you’re an iPhone 3G user, should you upgrade?” It’s the same this time around except there are 10 times the amount of articles and the authors eventually say to users, “if you have a notebook and an iPhone, don’t buy an iPad. Just wait.” I disagree.

It’s interesting that people flooded my inbox and twitter stream with queries asking if I was going to buy the device. I hadn’t even planned on writing a blog post because most of the important stuff had already been covered by the professional journalists. What happened in the past year was my buying patters set me apart as an Apple consumer or simply as a tech consumer.

What happened was I mastered the apple resale equation. I’m okay with admitting that now. Looking at my bank and paypal statements on purchases made to Apple Computer in 2009 totaled $16,500+. There were a few more numbers in there but it was more than most people pay a year in mortgage payments. OMFG! Yes, but I maintained eBay PowerSeller status all year. Why? Because, I sold $18,000+ of goods on eBay. All of those were technology hardware which means I made a profit of $1,500 last year selling the Apple hardware I bought. How? I’ve been selling computers and iPods on eBay since 2003. I’ve sold almost 200 items on eBay on 7 years. That’s not very much but that’s 200 items that get $100-$4,000 which I turn around and use to buy the latest gadget. This obsessive disorder toward the latest computer hardware is a problem I admit that but until it starts costing me money, I have no reason to stop my buying trends. If I could guarantee you a new car every 6 months and you’d make money as well, would you do it? Of course you would. This is all I’m doing so the haters tell me I’m wasting my money and I’m really not.

The situation I’m in now is that people actually think my opinion on Apple hardware matters simply given that I have used every new Apple hardware in the past 5-7 years. Okay, fair enough but I’m not an expert reviewer, just someone who has found a way to beat the system. Without further ado, here is my justification for an Apple iPad.

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The iPad is a transition product sitting awkwardly between iPhone / iPod touch and Apple’s portable / desktop computers. It’s much too beefy to even be called a Kindle Killer (which it is) and much too big to cannibalize non iPhone OS devices (nano, shuffle, classic). The iPad will be most suited (aka, a no brainer) to families, moms, dads, little sisters, grandparents who only need the basics (web, email, media, books) and don’t need to get into the maintenance, software costs, complicated operating systems that regular notebooks / netbooks provide.

Basically, your grandmother doesn’t want the hassle of applying security updates and booting up her netbook just to check Yahoo! Mail. An iPad with wireless internet in her home on a DSL Lite connection is perfect for seeing photos you’ve emailed her and watching ABC News Video content or buying a new book. She’ll use it less than 30 minutes a day and be extremely happy with it and the phone calls to you on Sunday morning when it doesn’t boot will cease because the device is too simple to fail (almost) unlike the Windows XP you bought her that has a tiny ass screen with blue screens of death once a week.

Another scenario is you 12-16 year old sister, daughter, son, niece, nephew doesn’t need their own computer yet because the family computer is adequate and spending $899 for a MacBook is out of the budget but they need a computer to take notes on and play with games. It’s cheap enough that you can justify it and large enough that it can be used as an “internet terminal” better than an iPod Touch. It’s great for teenagers who need something more functional than an iPod.

My mom and dad will be getting iPads from me for Christmas. Dad has long wanted a notebook computer but my recommendations put him at just under a thousand bucks and that’s for a windows PC and all he wants to do is search the web, watch videos and check emails. An iPad would be perfect because both Mom and Dad get angry and tired of dealing with their Windows PCs and I have to pay for LogMeIn access to offer tech support to them when they have issues. An iPad would be perfect for them and my sisters could use them as household devices when my parents weren’t using them.

For these three groups, the iPad is perfect. You, the reader, aren’t in this group. You’re a technological person, you own an iPod / iPhone and you have a notebook (PC or Mac). I know this because 5% of my readers are iPhone OS users, 50% are Macs and 40% are PCs. Less than 5% of the readers are Linux, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. You don’t “need” an iPad. Don’t worry. I’m going to help you justify it because I want the iPad to be around for a while unlike the AppleTV because I bought one and Apple abandoned it. It makes me sad

Why I need one:

I own the following:

• iPhone 3GS (32GB)
• AppleTV (160GB)
• iMac 27″ Core i7
• MacBook Air 2.13Ghz w/ SSD
• iPod Nano (16GB w/ Video)
• Dell Quad-Core PC w/ tons of gaming components, TV-Tuner, 30″ Dell LCD
• XBox 360 w/ Bose 2.1 Speaker System

I have everything and more than most people need. I have a home theatre solution, portable solution, ultra-portable system, music player and work machine and then some. Yet, I’ve justified an iPad… So don’t worry, you’ll have no problem justifying it to your family and spouse after reading this.

When I leave the house, my Incase or Brenthaven backpack has the following contents:

• MacBook Air
• Protective sleeve
• AC Adapter
• AT&T 3G Card
• SD USB Reader
• Canon G11
• Extra Battery for Canon
• Flip Mino HD
• USB Cable for iPhone
• Mini Tripod
• Shure SE530 Earphones
• Knife

In summary, I have about 18 pounds of technology worth about $3800 in my bag at all times. That’s just a heads up to you crazy fuckers who follow me around looking to score some free tech goodies that are all brand new and in warranty.

Anyway, 5-7 pounds of my gear is the MacBook, adapters, cables, chargers and accessories that go with it. What do I actually use the air for? If I’m going to work, that’s a 17 minute walk and I don’t need it so mostly the air is for conferences, meetings and if I get the itch to stop at a coffee shop on the way home and write (like I am now). The MacBook is also with me on the weekends when I’m out with friends or taking photos. Occasionally an email will come in that would take too long to answer on my iPhone so I whip out the MBA w/ 3G card and get some work done no matter where I am in the city. This is also my setup when I go out to dinner, I have a smaller more thin bag and always have my laptop and 3G card on me because work could happen at any time and I don’t want to rely on my iPhone for big tasks that would take 10x as long on that tiny screen.

The times I actually needed my MacBook Air are at least once a day while I’m out all day but mostly it’s Email, word processing, spreadsheet work, wordpress work (safari / firefox) and other web based support tools for clients and maybe some work in Tweetie. That’s it. The iPad can do all of that.Days when I’m at my office, the MBA comes with me to meetings, lunch dates and conference room sit downs with my boss. I’m usually only taking notes and saving them to MobileMe for access on my iMac when I get back to my desk.

Come to think of it, the MacBook Air is a full featured notebook but it lacks the capabilities (multi-media capabilities) that my MacBook Pro used to have. The reason why is my Dell PC at home and iMac at work (both owned by me) are fast enough and accessible enough that if something is CPU intensive (audio, video, gaming), I just walk 10 minutes to the office or wait until I’m home to do it. All and the weight I saved by downgrading to a MacBook Air has been phenomenal but the MBA is still overkill for what I do when out and about.

My MacBook Air is really used for just those basic tasks. I’m looking at my MBA dock right now.

• Tweetie
• Mail
• Firefox
• NetNewsWire
• iCal
• Things (to-do mangement)

Tweetie, NetNewsWire and Things are all available for the iPhone and sync back to my iMac. Mail & Firefox & iCal are already on the iPad. This is all I use on the MacBook Air and it only gets 2.5 hours of battery life when I turn the brightness up. To top it all off, I pay $65 a month for an AT&T 3G Card that’s bulky, cumbersome, requires a USB extension cable (because the card won’t fit in the MBA USB slot). Then I have the MBA power adapter and SD card reader adapter (cause I like to upload photos on the go when I’m riding the bus back to my house after a long day of photo walking.

Finally, I’ve been holding off buying a Kindle since it was introduced. I kept waiting for Apple to compete. I buy books on the kindle app via iPhone but it’s too small to read. So I’ll be using the iPad for reading books as well so that will factor in a savings of around $259

Let’s run the numbers:

• iPad 32GB Model w/ 3G – $729 + $30 a month for unlimited AT&T 3G = $1089 for 12 months of use
• Minus the cost savings of $259 since I won’t be buying a Kindle this year (side-note)
  
• MacBook Air 2.13Ghz Model -$1899 + $65 a month for AT&T 3g + $125 for AT&T Card (retail) = $2804 for 12 months of use.

After owning a MacBook Air for 6 months, it’s clear that I’m spending nearly 3 times as much and carrying 4 times as much weight in my bag for a device that does the same tasks as an iPad. Let’s not mention the AC adapter, cables, adapters and 3G DataCard I have to carry around with me EVERYWHERE if I want to work effectively when work is required.

By using the iPad,

• I go from 5-7 pounds of gear to 1.5 pounds of gear
• If I’m robbed, it’s a $729 loss and not a $2,000 loss
• My battery life goes from 2.5 hours to 10 hours (Apple’s iPad claim)
• The experience is seamless with less maintenance, repair costs and other “expenses” inherited by owning a notebook computer

In Summary:

An iPad doesn’t fit my lifestyle completely but compared to the MacBook Air, it will compliment my iMac and Dell PC at home perfectly fitting right between the iPhone and iMac as a replacement to my laptop. I used to be under the impression that faster, bigger, better is the way to go. Now, I realize that lighter and more portable wins even if you lose a bit of the functionality.

However, I don’t think I’ll be selling my MacBook Air. I like it a lot. it’s a great computer and I’m not always in the office. Some days, I’ll spend all day at a cafe working on some heavy duty stuff or simply not leave my bed until noon working on my laptop and a “lap tablet computer” is simply not ergonomic enough to work on for 10+ hours without being in extreme pain and discomfort or having the feeling of wanting “more”.

I think it’ll play out like it did when I purchased the MacBook Air. I wasn’t sure how powerful the MBA would be and how well it would fit in my life. so I bought one but kept my 17″ MacBook Pro. It took a month for me to realize that the MacBook Air is the only notebook I needed. I sold the 17″ and got the iMac 27″ instead. Now the MBA is my only portable computer (aside from the iPhone).

My plan is to buy the iPad, try it for a month and if I notice that I’m rarely using the MacBook Air (like less than 30 minutes a day), i’ll scrap it and be iPad only but I need to make sure it really truly fits into my life as a justifiable productivity tool. If I still find myself grabbing the MacBook Air instead of the iPad, I’ll sell the iPad.

I think the device can do what I need, 10x faster than the iPhone but probably 2x slower than my MacBook Air but the portability and convenience of the iPad and investment if lost or stolen is much more valuable despite the slight drop in productivity.

For your non-techie family and friends, it’s perfect. They should get one ASAP. For us techies, it’s not so easy to justify. I hope you enjoyed this 2400 word justification

I’m still not convinced this actually happened but I don’t like being pinched so I should just pretend that San Francisco gave me an award and move on.

Last month, I was out in the Tenderloin taking photos (which you can see in this post) and as I snapped this photo, Michael Nulty of A Better District 6 (ABD6) stopped and said hello. He was making his daily walk of the district talking to citizens and businesses and he stopped to ask if I was going to the yearly award ceremony. I said that I saw the event on Facebook and marked as maybe because I might have other plans. He said, “well you should come because you’re getting an award.”

I went home and checked the event page and realized that I was getting a “safety award” for my work on AdamsBlock / OurBlock. The safety award is given out to a few residents each year and I’m going to assume it’s less than a dozen but could be more. The ABD6 meeting had 5 people earning the award for that district. I was one of them.

The safety award is detailed as the following:

“For your exceptional commitment to safety. Promoting solutions for the common good and bringing the neighborhood together to work as a community.”

I guess that sums up what AdamsBlock did if it was successful. I did stop create something that stopped a few crimes and saved a few lives but it wasn’t a unique enough concept to truly have a big impact. If it does turn into something big, it’s nice to know that SF did officially recognize it but it was more than me. I didn’t personally report crimes. Sure I gave my “witness testimony” when the cops showed up but it was the community who watched the cameras and reported the crimes.

Either way, it was exciting to be given an award at such a young age. I’m honored to represent those of you who reported crimes, supported me and those in office who voted for me to receive this award.

Receiving the award

The Envelope...

The award...

Last week, my sister visited San Francisco. It was her first time flying, leaving the US South, in a big city, riding in a taxi or bus, seeing the pacific ocean, going to a building over 4 stories and playing Guitar Hero. It was a week of firsts for her and there were too many firsts to list!

It wasn’t a full week though. She was here Thursday afternoon through Monday morning but My Nike+ shoes say that we walked a total of 15 miles and my CityCarShare account says we drove over 75 miles and we never once left San Francisco or North Bay. Yeah, it was a huge week of adventure and the both of us snapped over 1,000 photos so narrowing it down to less than 200 was a bit of a challenge. The entire photoset is here but I wanted to caption a few of my favorites. I’ll let the photos tell the story. An interactive full-screen slide show is at the bottom of the post.

Just landed! (Taken at SFO)

Taken on California street (Nob Hill)

Me. Mark Hopkins Hotel (Nob Hill)

Cheyenne. Nob Hill

San Francisco. A View from Nob Hill.

Cheyenne. Fisherman's Wharf

Riding San Francisco's Historial Streetcar

Cheyenne. Under the Bay Bridge.

Cheyenne and I. Exploring Westfield Mall.

Cheyenne. Seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time!

Cheyenne. Exploring Golden Gate Park.

Cheyenne goes Bouldering. This was a 5 foot jump.

Exploring Golden Gate Park

We found a starfish! - Marin Headlands, CA

Exploring the Marin Headlands and The Battery. San Francisco in the background.

Loving The Ugly Doll.

Golden Gate Bridge. It was pouring rain. I had no tripod. This photo sucks but it's the best I could do.

Cheyene and Laura. Cheyenne is showing off her graphic design skills.

Slideshow of all 175 photos.

The past few weeks have been pretty odd for me. I’ve come to a few realizations, lost a few friends, lost a lot of money and then got all of that stuff back (friends included). I started working out and running more, I took a few thousand photos and finally went to the doctor to take care of some things that have been bothering me for 3+ years. Yeah, totally serious stuff that I just dealt with. I gave my mom the list of things wrong with me and she was dumbfounded that I had not told her earlier, nor had I visited a physician to talk about these issues.

Frankly, the first two weeks of being away from Twitter were very challenging. I had done 24-72 hour Twitter breaks quite a bit this year. It was usually after a conference or social event when I got back realizing that everyone was using Twitter constantly and it was getting in the way of real relationships. My plan was to be away from Twitter from the middle of December through New Years. New Years came and I was okay with not being back but decided to kind of poke around on Twitter to find a new way to share things. Soon, I realized that the haters and negative attention came right back into my life. I took another week off. Then, I came back sharing only links and interesting stuff (nothing personal) and I had a FourSquare fall out with some friends that really gave me another negative feeling about social media.

The story, from my side is my sister was in town (she’s only 13). I took her to TechKaraokeSF which is a monthly meeting of some social media people and it’s a fun way to unwind. I went there and it was busy, loud, alcohol was flowing and it was 10:30PM (1:30AM in Florida where she’s from) and my sister was already very tired after a day of walking all over the city. As we got off the bus, I checked in via FourSquare but quickly left after assessing the time and atmosphere. I left just as I walked in the door but the next 3 hours were full of embarrassing and hateful messages from people I thought were my friends. The hate was so severe and uncalled for from people who were friends and professional adults was so bad that I deleted my FourSquare account. FourSquare.com/adamjackson is no more. My badges, mayorships, check-ins and data is all gone. It took me 2 days to get over the impulse of “checking in” and now I’m much happier that when I go to a restaurant, I don’t grab my phone and interrupt finding a table or looking at the menu so I can check in. Don’t worry “friends”. You have only helped me realize how stupid FourSquare was. I don’t hold anything against you and I’m much happier now.

My social media silence experiment began just before Christmas and now it’s been 5 weeks and I’ve only sent about 60 tweets and 10 Facebook updates. Before my silence, I was sending that many updates a day so this has been an excellent experiment for me.

The affects of my silence? Well, I made about 40% less money than usual this month. Not being on Twitter affected my work with clients but also the “leads” I get via Twitter and going to these social media events / parties in the bay area. Am I happier? Not yet. I still have a few personal things to work on before I decide if social networking both as a lifestyle and career are right for me. I’m enjoying this time off from that at this time.

I just realized that the ecosystem is tiny and what matters or mattered to me then isn’t really anything that matters in the big scheme of things My FourSquare check-ins shouldn’t equal a tweet from a friend saying that I’m a liar and a “fucking loser”. Sharing what kind of sandwich I’m eating shouldn’t yield 5 replies; half of them asking what kind and the other half calling me a fat fuck. Talking about going to the doctor’s office shouldn’t lend an anonymous email 30 minutes later with a photoshopped photo of me that says, “loser HIV+ freak” Seriously, these have to stop and I’m not making enough money doing this to justify so much hate.

If I was iJustine with my YouTube monetization deal or Jason Calacanis earning dividends from angel investment opportunities or MG Siegler earning 6 figures by constantly writing about Twitter & FourSquare then I’d deal with the bullshit. the point is, I’m not and I’m too young to be so unhappy with what I’ve become not because I’ve actually become anything these people are saying about me but because their misunderstanding would tear me apart if I let it and life is too short to deal with this even if money or success made me say to myself I was okay with it even if I wasn’t.

The 5 week break from social media actually has no end in sight. I don’t see it as a break anymore and plan on keeping this up for a while or until I can figure out exactly what I want from social media and develop a plan like I do for my clients to actually execute and reach a goal. Sharing just to share is out of my mindset lately. Yes this affects my Twitter book, my side business (tweetformybiz) and speaking gigs but I don’t care. Health and happiness are more important right now.

What’s most important in all of this is to those of you who have messaged me asking what I’m up to and what I’m doing and some of you who are really creepy about it like, “so um.. what are you up to because it’s boring without your tweets” well you guys are just weird! Honestly, my phone number and email are public. Send me a message or call me. I’ll grab coffee with you and tell you whatever you want to chat about. That’s how a friendship is made. How many of you know anything about me? It’s very little that you actually know about me. I think person to person conversation is much more valuable. Read each one of my tweets and you’ll still know nothing about me. I’m committed to social media for business. For personal usage, I’m not sure it’s all its cut out to be. I’ve gotten so much by sharing so much but at some point, you can’t really share any more and the term “micro-celebrity” is what you become. It’s basically that your life is under a microscope and you have more haters than you do supporters and you’re not making enough money to justify it. This is what I was becoming and I just don’t want to be there.

I’ve been sharing things online since 1999. On the 10 year anniversary, I’m looking back and regretting it. I don’t want to live with regrets so in 10 years, I’d like to hope that this change helps me live a better life and I think it will. In the very least, this break gives me some additional perspective into how the world outside of Twitter actually works. I’m no longer addicted to it so now it’s time to explore and live a bit more.

I thank you for your support and I always welcome direct, private feedback and questions from those of you who are my friends. Thanks!

AT&T has responded. See bold text below.

Oh AT&T you love to give us a reason to hate you. You’ve done some pretty good stuff for us and I’m still not convinced it’s the AT&T network that makes the iPhone so crappy but whatever, I’m over that and won’t complain about it on this blog.

The Red Cross setup a terrific system that allows anyone in the US and possibly the entire world to send a text message to 90999 with the text “HAITI” which will add $10 to your next month’s phone bill. This money will go to the Red Cross to support those who have lost their homes, loved ones and much more in the earthquake that occurred there. I think this mobile payments platform that works very well for so many organizations is a great way to get people do donate effortlessly. Yes, it will be a success.

I was excited when I saw AT&T put a press release online that shows their support for the cause. By “support” and “PR”, I assumed AT&T took the stance of waving the text messaging fees instead of actually donating money to the cause. So what if AT&T loves 1/8th of a penny of profits on the 100,000 people who decide to donate this money to a worthy cause. AT&T isn’t really put out as we already know that SMS rates are completely blown out of the water.

From gthing.net:

Cost to transfer 2560 songs:

From my ISP: $1
Via SMS messaging: $15,339,212.80

Whatever, so we know that AT&T’s rates are bullshit but let’s thank AT&T for waving the “fees” as their support for this noble cause to benefit those in need. Except, they don’t wave the fees. Here’s the press release from AT&T’s Press Room:

In response to the horrific earthquake in Haiti, wireless customers of AT&T* (NYSE:T) can send $10 donations to the Red Cross International Relief Fund by sending a text message from their mobile device. Standard text messaging rates may apply.

A customer simply types the word HAITI and sends it to 90999. A confirmation message will arrive within a few minutes, to which the customer replies “yes” to finalize the donation.

100 percent of all money donated will be passed on to the Red Cross.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

Yes, they said, “Standard text messaging rates may apply.” Those are the same lines uttered at the bottom of those 2AM “sex line” advertisements you see on comedy central. “Text Single to 41145. Standard text messaging rates may apply.”

So AT&T puts up a press release to show their support for this amazing effort to save lives in Haiti NOT because they actually give a shit about anyone affected by this but because the process will earn them 80 cents from anyone that doesn’t have a text messaging plan. If you pay $9.99 – $19.99 a month for their messaging plan then you should be okay because you already paid but if you don’t and just pay for text messages as you go, that’s 20 cents per text.

I found this screengrab from a loyal AT&T user who did the donation.

It looks like they spent 80 cents right into AT&T’s pockets. That’s 80 cents that could have gone to victims in Haiti. If my math is correct, that’s 8% of the donation tacked right on top of the money the user donated that AT&T takes. It’s bullshit.

Now, I’m not saying AT&T is the only evil corporation in the world, nor am I saying that they’re the only evil telecommunications company. My point is, their support for this program, if successful, will yield them a huge additional profit this week over what they would have made otherwise. So, of course they want to promote the hell out of it. The company looks good and makes money.

AT&T, would it have killed you to waive these fees to this number if only for 48 hours? The SMS infrastructure was paid for 15  years ago, it’s a cash cow now and yet you still are making serious dough through this program. I’m surprised that you didn’t give money, support or even waive fees for this program and yet find a reason to put it out as a press release.

Utter Bullshit.

UPDATED: John Britton of AT&T Corporate Communications contacted me via telephone to clear things up. He provided this statement.

I wanted to let you know that
your information on AT&T’s texting support to help the relief effort in
Haiti is incorrect.  All AT&T text donations to support the relief
effort in Haiti are free.   The vast majority of our customers are on
texting plans, but for those who use pay per use, we want to make it as
easy as possible to make donations to this worthy cause.  The entire
amount of the money donated goes to the relief effort.

Well, I guess that clears things up. Just so you guys know, AT&T’s press release from yesterday still says “. Standard text messaging rates may apply.” so it’s clear or maybe unclear that their original intentions or possibly oversight was to charge the normal rates and then they now realize that the users don’t like that very much. Good on AT&T for changing but I still think it should have been that way from the beginning.

I’ve been including more photos lately but I really hate stock photos and couldn’t find any personal photos that I wanted to share so this one will be photo-less.

————-

At the time of this writing, I’m nearing my 5 month mark of being single and my 3 month mark of being “just friends” with Laura. I’ve written 1, 2, 3, 4 articles about dating. There are a few more but I don’t really feel like using Wordpress Search to find them. As many of you know, I never really “dated” until now. I’ve had two long term relationships and was lucky enough to find “the one” twice and yeah, I admit that I let both of them go prematurely but a relationship takes efforts on both sides and I can see things clearly now that I’ve had a few single months to myself to think about the past and do things better in my next relationship.

Having been on quite a few dates in the past 4 months, I’ve had a few good and bad experiences. The cliche situations that happen in those incredibly awesome romantic comedies that I love so much rarely happen mostly because I don’t have an English accent and need to be emotionally “fixed” by an incredibly beautiful and homely blond who is deep down lonely and wants a Cinderella wedding.

There’s one consistent set of sayings that I’m hearing again and again but I want to start with a bit of observations that I’ve witnessed. Since I’m a guy, I’ll be writing this as a man talking and not trying to be an equal opportunity blogger and provide both sides. I’ll be using “he” and “him” instead of saying “he/she” or “them”. It’s just easier that way. Guys are pretty complex. Most girls don’t realize this until it’s too late and usually by the time a girl is 22-25 years old, she’s been through enough heartbreak to realize that men aren’t easy to understand and she may have already given up on finding love or understanding men. Men think they have nothing wrong with them. I’m not sure what part of our brain or testicles tells us that we’re the right guy for every girl but we think this and thus often pursue serious relationships with any girl we can regardless or reasoning.

Ladies, how many guys have you dated had something about them that you didn’t like and wished would change. Or how many guys just didn’t make efforts to improve themselves once you both got comfortable, much less listen to your feedback about how they can improve despite your reasoning being that you love them and simply want them to be a better person for them and not that you want them to change for you? Yeah, us guys just don’t listen because we don’t see any way that we can improve.

I was walking to work today and realizing that every guy I passed isn’t the perfect guy. Yet, if you asked each of them to answer honestly if they think they’re a good provider, mate, potential husband and father, they’d respond back with “of course” simply based on the fact that they have some  honest and patient traits and the fact that they have a steady job. All men and women on both sides don’t see their own faults and this includes me.

Humans do a great job at observing others and sending criticism, hatred, feedback or coaching. I can go to my friend Matt and tell him he can be a bit short tempered and controlling of girls he dates and this is why he only attracts girls who had abusive childhoods. Which, in turn results in why he has so many arguments and disagreements with girls he’s dating about topics like, “should we switch to low-fat peanut butter?” while they’re at the grocery store. Telling him this won’t result in him changing but I do it anyway without thinking for a second that I might be the same way.

Despite all of these complications and men who think they are good mates, I’ve been hearing two phrases lately and each of them happened on the 2nd or 3rd date with nearly half a dozen women.

“You’re not like other guys. You’re different and I like that.”

OR

“You’re like every other guy and it was a mistake to date you. I sure can pick ‘em.”

When I first heard the 2nd line, I thought there’s something wrong with me. I’m the worst boyfriend in the world! I need therapy, I need self-help books and I need to improve myself. We all know self-improvements for others only forces you to improve just enough to impress them so logically I decided not to run out to a book store and buy tons of books on self-help. Instead, I remembered what my first two girlfriends and many more girls have said to me in the past few years, which is the first line. That first line that I’m not like other guys.

Side-Note: Ladies, if you feel that way about a guy, tell him because it will make his day. It’s really a great compliment to tell a guy if you really mean it.

So how am I not like other guys and like every other guy depending on each person I go out with? That’s the point. I haven’t changed but I’m going out with different people!

You’re not the perfect man or woman for everyone in the world

This is the ultimate lesson. Our lives dictate our decisions, inspirations and future. Every moment is used to decide what’s best for the next moment and, if you’re lucky, these experiences will lead you to smarter decisions as you get older. I’ve learned a thing or two in these last few months of dating. When someone tells you that you’re not different from other guys they’ve dated, here’s what you don’t do:

• Don’t take it personally and get offended
• Don’t run out and get a therapist or buy self-help books or try to lose 50 pounds
• Don’t try to change to be the guy that person expects
• Don’t give up and crawl back to your comfort zone.

If you do this, you’ve missed the point. You are unique and “not like other guys” to someone out there. Someone out there thinks that way of you and that’s the person who could potentially be your life partner and soul-mate. If you spend your life trying to impress people that don’t like you for who you are then you’re wasting your time. So as I walk down the street, my prejudice and ignorance will label guys. I see hot guys, fat guys, skinny guys, ugly guys, blue-collar guys, douchey bluetooth headset guys, guys with a great smile and guys who look really boring. As a woman, there’s a guy in a crowd of 50 who might be your soul-mate but just because he wasn’t the right guy for you, doesn’t mean he’s unmarriable. It just means he’s not the right guy for you.

Before you utter the words, “you’re like every other guy”, carefully weigh in on a few things.

• Are you comparing him to your past relationships?
• Are you comparing him to someone you hate?
• Does he remind you of someone you don’t like?
• is he the right person for you long term?

By answering these questions, a more appropriate statement would be

• There are some things that you do that I’m not a fan of but let’s talk about them.
• I love your personality but wish you worked out more. Can we go to the gym together?
• At this time, sex just isn’t as enjoyable as I wish it could be. It might be me. Can we explore some new things?

OR

• I don’t think you and I have have the right traits to make this last long term. Let’s go over those but I’m not sure about the future of us as a couple.

Now you’re working to a better relationship or giving up but you’re not simply leaving him hanging with a comment about him being like every other guy in the world. Humans pride themselves on each being unique or at least thinking that we’re all unique. Before you put a guy in a category of the rest of the “bad apples” think and see if you’re the one who shouldn’t be with him instead of the other way around. This argument goes both ways as guys make this mistake probably more often than women, thinking by looks at attraction alone and marrying someone who they’re not compatible with. If you’re controlling in your personality and you keep dating guys who are free spirits, saying he’s “like every other guy” isn’t correct. You’re at fault for not finding a guy that syncs up with your personality.

I’m a firm believer that there is someone for everyone there. Looks, money and success simply increase the odds of finding someone who will marry you but it may not be the right person. I take dating and relationships very seriously. I only date someone if I see a future with them of at least 3+ years and possibly marriage so everything we do together and how we interact is a test for the future. I always delay intimacy so I can measure how well we get along when sex isn’t in the mix and I always look at every new relationship as a fresh start because any filter I put up between us will eventually lead to disappointment. No one compares to your ex both good and bad so leave that out and start fresh.

When I was at Apple, we recruited a few guys from Best Buy and 2 of them were grateful and happy to be at Apple but another was constantly comparing our practices, training, support, activities and policies to Best Buy. it sucked the fun out of the job for him and everyone around him. The same goes with any relationship both business and personal. New experiences are meant to be cherished, not compared to the past.