Video blogging, updates, moving, and more...

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Posted Jul 16 '08

Hey everybody,

I haven't been posting quite as frequently as I had been because I'm moving, but that will all soon change after I'm in my new place. I'm really excited about moving... actually, I'm amped!

There's just a couple of things I wanted to share:

  1. I have a bunch more iPhone Web Apps in store that will be coming out in the next few weeks. The new App Store on iTunes is awesome, but I'm going to stick with making the web apps, because the development time is much shorter, and I'm able to make smaller things that might not merit a full native application.
  2. My friends over at After Life Comics have been making some great strips lately. If you haven't been checking them out, make sure you do!
  3. There are a lot of projects I'm working on, but the one I'm most excited about is a video blog I'm starting. It's probably a little early to be talking about this, as it's several months down the road, but I just wanted to throw this out there. I believe personal branding is becoming very important in the brave new world of social media, and video is a fantastic way to emphasize your unique flair.

Question for YOU:
What do you think makes a good video blog? Is it personality? Is it the subject matter? Or is it something else?

Back to the blog...

Comments

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Seth said... 
I notice you have a ton of iPhone apps published on Apple.com.  Would you mind letting me know how long after you submitted it through the apple site did they get posted?  We posted one a few weeks ago and still no luck.

Any insight would be a  huge help.

Hope the move went well!
Nick Pettit said... 
Hey Seth,

I always post my web apps a few minutes after midnight, and they appear in the Apple's directory at midnight the following day.

Perhaps you could give the address of the app? I'd love to help in any way I can. :)
Shari said... 
I was just wondering why when you go to the URL to download the countdown Obama application an ad for McCain appears?
Nick said... 
I don't choose the ads that appear. They're placed there automatically by Google. Just for the record, I do support Obama. Thanks for the heads up! :)
Seth said... 
My app is located at http://iphone.networkingmonkey.com and I posted it like two weeks ago.  Any reason why it wouldn't be on apple's site?  Email me a sethk@hurrikane.com
Shari said... 
Thanks for the quick response. I didn't mean to question who you support. It was just such an odd thing to see a small Obama logo with a huge ad for McCain. I just couldn't figure it out.
Nick Pettit said... 
Seth,

I checked out your app. It certainly looks good, but its utility isn't immediately obvious to me. I tried my zip code, and a few other big zip codes, and I couldn't find anything useful.

I think Apple is looking for web apps that serve a large audience. Is your app for searching networking events in a specific geographic area or something?

My other suggestion is just aesthetic, but I think you should make the app scroll down (after loading) so that the address bar isn't visible. The JavaScript to do this is readily available online different places.

By the way, thanks for friending me up on LinkedIn, Seth!

Don't be afraid to friend me folks, I don't bite. :)
Seth said... 
Nick thanks for looking at it... Right now just like some of the other apps out there is one is very geocentric.  Right now this is for networking events located in and around the Chicago Area.  What would you suggest in making that more clear?  I have "Search all of Chicago's business networking events" right on the main screen.

Anyway thanks for looking and I will look for that javascript.
Nick Pettit said... 
Run these suggestions through your own filter, but here are my thoughts.

First, shorten it to something more like "Search Chicago networking events:"

Second, limit the zip code entry somehow. It wasn't clear to me that I could only search zip codes in Chicago. How many zip codes in Chicago are there? Maybe a select box instead of a text input would work a little better.

I don't know the situation, but are there really so many business networking events in Chicago that there needs to be a text based search for it? Maybe so, but I think it might be better to have the user narrow down the geography somehow, and then just give them a list of the events.

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