Kyle Shank

Oh I killed another one of my ideas today: Taped.

It will not continue to live.

I used it for a year for myself and it was just okay.

I developed the iPhone app and web app. I enjoyed using it. It just wasn't that great.

Taped started off at being a queue for listening later to arbitrary audio and eventually became yet another podcast client.

The iPhone app cassette animation was pretty cool. It really did look like a real tape playing in the iPhone. The reels spun with the appropriate physics and brought you back a few decades.

I'm not going to release the code for this one because its kind of a mess.

Killing off old ideas to make room for new ones!

 4/19/2012; 11:46:19 PM.

Facebook complained that the Donate Your Account application didn't link to a privacy policy so I decided to finally create one.

I have long avoided writing privacy policies to avoid commiting to unvetted legal language.

It is amazing how scare the resources are for service operators to create a valid privacy policy. There is no Creative Commons for this kind of thing.

I decided to base mine off of something that was being widely applied: Wordpress (Automattic's) privacy policy.

Their policy was available under Creative Commons for derivate works. DonateYourAccount.com's policy is as well.

The policy is fairly simple and straightforward. The section that I wrote entirely on my own was Third Party Accounts.

I figure its better at this point to have something to explain and show to the user than nothing at all. At least I based most of mine on something in practice.

The irony: Donate Your Account is an open source web application. The code for the deployed website is literally available. If you want to see how your data is truly being handled LOOK THERE :)

 4/19/2012; 11:29:01 PM.

REACT, a web application located at reactapp.com, will be closed on June 1st, 2012.

REACT was an attempt Matt and I made at a requirements management application in 2011. Our goal was to simplify the language of requirements, encourage explicit client/developer sign-offs and turn the requirements into an ongoing process.

Software requirements and documentation still remains a huge problem. Go into most organizations and ask the clients and developers what the software does. You'd think clients and developers were talking about two different pieces of software.

Unfortunately REACT as a service really wasn't that solution. There are some good ideas in there. My favorite being the explicit sign-offs required by developers and clients alike.

Even though the service is shutting down the source code will live on forever at: http://github.com/reactualize/react.

One of my big goals with Open Source Web Applications was to preserve my work.

Software is a such a disposable and immediate thing. I just want it all to hang up on the wall. I made that fucking thing and look its still there.

 4/19/2012; 10:27:25 PM.

I find it is much easier to build an idea than it is to actually deploy one. Deployment involves marketing, explanation and customer service; things I'd rather not do. This makes me a shitty entrepreneur.

I have a hard time commiting to ideas. The notion of being tied to a single project/company for more than 3 years (even if successful) is depressing.

I think I am just obsessed with creation. That is what gets me going; creating the thing. Everything else: ugh.

Another requirement is that the thing has to be my thing. Ideally something that I can create an execute on from start to finish.

This is stupid for many reasons.

I alone cannot deploy many of my ideas. The thought of having to assemble an organization is to make an idea happen is something I dread. I acknowledge reality but just resist it.

I think most people get their kicks from the organization part. They want the power or to control others. They want their logo on the side of a building. I just want to be original.

I have to get better at deploying my ideas.

 4/16/2012; 11:48:56 PM.

I supported another incredibly popular Kickstarter project: Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android.

It's a watch with a display that connects to your iPhone.

I like watches.

I currently wear a calculator watch: the one and only classic Casio databank. Its worth wearing just for the nostalgic reactions and nerd power it emits.

I've always wanted an intelligent watch. By that I mean I have always wanted to be Dick Tracy and talk into my watch like a phone.

Pebble won't make me Dick Tracy but it might reduce the number of times I have to pull my phone out of my pocket. Now that is a first world problem!

 4/15/2012; 3:24:03 PM.