K.B.SKOBAC BLOG

10.05.2010

Outdoor Adventures in West Virginia

This weekend a bunch of us ditched New York City for a weekend of outdoor adventures in West Virginia. First we conquered white water rafting down 16 miles of the Upper Gauley River, a stretch of class 5 rapids often considered the best river rafting on the east coast. It was the first time any of us had ever done such an aggressive rafting trip, and for the most part we killed it. We made it through most of the tough stretches of rapids mostly unscathed, though I flipped out 3 times. Afterward we made our way to New River Gorge where my brother took us rock climbing. It was the first time I'd climbed out of a gym, which was really cool. It was a really awesome, unique weekend that my brother summed up best in 140 characters:

@askobac: the new & gauley river: class 5 rapids, pies & pints, junkyard wall, gumbos, friends, brother, flipped raft, first fall on gear = great trip

9.30.2010

Appreciating Coffee Coast to Coast

As of late it feels like NYC has been going through a coffee revolution. More and more specialized independent coffee cafes are opening, and less time is being spent in Starbucks. I try and go out of my way whenever I can to try a new coffee spot, and they always seem to be better than the last. So far my favorites in the east village are:

But as the NY Times points out a lot of the NYC coffee renaissance is happening in Brooklyn, especially Williamsberg, so I need to start jumping on the train.

This week I traveled to SF for work and found an amazing spot called Sightglass. It was opened by two brothers and right now it's a big empty garage with only two things: a giant on-premise bean roasting machine, and a small bar where they sell the freshest coffee you could possibly get anywhere. The place is dead simple, focusing on pouring the perfect smooth flavorful cups of coffee and nothing else.

As awesome as Sightglass is, though, I wonder if it would be successful in New York. It takes a while to make every cup fresh grinded and drip-brewed, and it costs $2.50 for a 10 oz. cup. Is there enough love of Coffee on the east coast for someone to bring such an enthusiast place to the east coast?

8.15.2010

Checking in to content consumption with Blippy and GetGlue

Two social networks I've been enjoying lately are Blippy and GetGlue. Both networks build community around content consumption and recommendations, but in very different ways. Through Blippy and GetGlue I share the apps I download, books I read, movies I see, shows I watch, and more. All of that sharing connects me to others who share my interest for the same content and leads me to recommendations of other content I might enjoy.

Blippy plugs into purchase points, enabling you to share everything from your credit card transactions to Netflix orders. In effect it's very similar to the original idea behind Facebook Beacon, but completely opt in. Even as open as I am I am uncomfortable with opting in to sharing my credit card transactions, but I do happily share my iTunes purchases and Netflix orders. That means as soon as I download a new iPhone app, purchase a song on iTunes, or order a movie- a record is shared with my Blippy network. I can later log on and review any of the items. Something unique about Blippy though is people who view my profile can easily request that I review specific things, which means I don't have to waste time reviewing stuff that no one cares about. In particular, I am having a great time sharing and learning about iPhone apps with on Blippy.

GetGlue has actually been around for a while as a browser toolbar that lets you easily share and comment on content you are viewing while you're online. This could be anything from a wikipedia article you find interesting to an IMDB article about a movie or TV show. This month they launched an iPhone app that enables more traditional check-ins similar to Foursquare, but rather than focusing on places they focus on the content consumption similar to the browser plug-in: movies, shows, music, and books. Also in the tradition of Foursquare there is a gaming aspect, with badges and rewards. Both the browser actions and mobile check-ins lead to discussion and recommendations. So far with GetGlue the best conversation I've had has been around sharing when I'm reading The Facebook Effect.

I always recommend trying new social tools to see if they fit for you, and these two are definitely getting my attention lately. If you do give them a try make sure to connect to me:

Blippy
GetGlue

5.14.2010

Crowd Funding New Ideas

4 students at NYU made headlines this week by announcing their intent to create a decentralized social network that would provide all of the user control and privacy that is now significantly lacking in Facebook. The project, which they named Diaspora, is lofty in ambition and is generating a lot of attention in the tech circles.

Aside from Diaspora itself though, what's really cool is the NYU team's use of Kickstarter to raise the money for their project. Kickstarter is a site that helps people execute crowd funding. Users post ideas that would take a certain amount of capital to execute on, and use Kickstarter to raise the money that it would take to get started.

The NYU team specifically set a goal of $10,000, which they believe is enough to fund them working all summer without any pay. People who choose to fund the project are given a certain value of return when the project is complete based on their support. For example, the Diaspora team set contribution levels starting from: $10 gets you a copy of the program on CD and some Diaspora stickers at the end of the summer; $25 gets you that and a T-shirt; thresholds go all the way up to $2000, which gets you a brand new computer delivered with Diaspora installed already on it when the project is complete.

I love the idea of people that want something to be created coming together to fund it. As more and more traditional revenue streams go the way of the dinosaur, crowd funding could be a huge opportunity to provide cash necessary for things that collectives of people want. For example, fans of a band could crowd fund the studio time for a new album. A certain group of professionals might fund a particular research study.

I donated $10 to the Diaspora project; I look forward to following its progress this summer, and will certainly explore the finished project when it launches. I also expect to start contributing to more crowd funded projects in the future.

4.28.2010

Facebook & Google Racing to Establish In-Store Mobile Connections

A few months ago Google sent out QR code stickers for local businesses to put in their windows. If a passer-by snaps a picture of the QR code with their phone they're brought directly to the business's Google Places page where they can read reviews and learn more about the store. It would actually make more sense for stores to put the QR codes in other places, like on their delivery menus or on print ads, since when shoppers are at the store window they can just walk right in and experience the business first hand.

Well rather than be left out of the storefront window Facebook has now answered by shipping their own stickers that advertise a store's Facebook URL and the ability to "like" (formerly "fan") the brand's Facebook page via text message. As it lies now, Facebook's value proposition seems more significant. If a consumer is interested in the brand after browsing the physical destination, it's a great time get them to join the business's social network to kick off a lasting relationship. Google's Places page (at least right now) doesn't offer much to someone who's already been to the store.

It actually makes complete sense for Twitter to get in this game as well. I already see stores advertising on their signs to "follow" their Twitter feed, but that actually isn't so quick in a mobile client. Most people don't know you can just text "follow [twitter handle]" to 40404 to follow a profile immediately, but Twitter could definitely help stores advertise this.

Has anyone seen the Google QR or Facebook stickers in a local store? Which brands do you think make the most sense for in-store promotion? What type of offerings would you like to see as a product of the merging of web presence and physical presence through mobile moving forward?

4.14.2010

East Village Blogging: My East Village Food Spots

Since my move to 11th & Broadway, I've been doing my best to explore the village as often as possible. Recently I've been spending hours just walking the East Village streets hanging out in parks, and eating a lot. I've also started following the East Village blogging scene, after reading Dave Winer's article about the EVB'ers vs NYU. Now Jeremiah's Vanishing New York and EV Grieve are added to my feeds, and I'm feeling the urge to contribute. So with this post I am going to begin what hopefully is an extended series of posts about my experiences in the village.

Since moving down to 11th street I've been trying to identify my go-to East Village spots. It's harder than you think to find the place you want to go to often, that has the right price, the right food, the right atmosphere, the right people. As of late I've been finding myself often drawn to the same 3 spots:

Everyman Espresso - This spot is so basic it's probably overlooked by most people. It's like sitting in a garage: a few metal chairs & tables, white brick walls, set up in the entrance of the Classic Stage Company. It has killer latte's though, wi-fi, the baristas put on good music, and it's barebones atmosphere means it's mostly visited (thankfully) by locals + regulars. I like to come here in the morning before work, or early on the weekends.

Dos Toros Taqueria - Opened by two brothers who came to New York City after living in the Mission District in San Francisco, a place well known for its amazing burritos. Their menu is minimal but you go there for burritos, and they're the best I've had in NYC and I can't help but eat here at least once a week. There also focused on sustainability, sourcing local farms, biodegradable products, their own compost, and more. It's a small spot but I plan on sitting at the street counter often when it's open on nice days.

Nori Sushi - Another small spot, stuck unnoticeably around the corner from St. Marx on the way to the much more popular Paul's and Pom Frit. It's cheap and good sushi, which is always a challenge to find. The owners are always there and really friendly. You can get 8 or more pieces of sushi for $1 a piece any night of the week, or check out their interesting specials. I am drawn to the sushi counter when I have a free night and time to myself for for dinner.

Do you live in the East Village? What are your favorite spots I should try? What are the places you're making home?

3.18.2010

Sorry, More on Foursquare: The Business & Life Tracking Opportunities

As if I wasn't a big enough evangelist already, Foursquare's announcement of a location dashboard for businesses is further proof to me of how disruptive the location check-in game will be.

The early iteration of the location dashboard that Foursquare revealed at SXSWi lets businesses view the data around the check-in activity at their own location. Right now this is limited mostly to who & how many people are checking in at what times of each day, but you can already see the seeds being planted for a much deeper platform. Foursquare mentioned they are looking at including weather data so stores can see how their foot traffic is impacted. What if Foursquare opens up the platform so any data layers of a propper format could be brought in, similar to how Google Calendar operates? Businesses might be interested in traffic patterns or holiday calendars. They might want to import purchase volume or coupon history. They will also benefit from tracking their various location based ad offerings.

And what about companies being able to use check-in's for their loyalty cards or personal visitation records through the Foursquare dashboard or API? It sounds like Tasti-Dlite is working on this, and I'd love to see Starbucks count my check-in towards a free coffee. It also makes sense for my gym not to have to swipe me in once I check in.

The location dashboard is great for businesses, but it's also exciting to consider the different opportunities that this hints at for the Foursquare users. Right now every time I look at my check-in history on Foursquare.com I think of Mint's metrics. We have access to limited data so far, but we could be able to dive into our entire historical trends in order to see how our choices of how we spend our time have evolved over the year. And just the way I use Mint to figure out my years expenditures for insurance, I want to use Foursquare to see my years gym visits for my health insurance.

In fact what I'd really love is somehow be able to mary the data between Mint and Foursquare. Usually one reflects the other, but if I ceck in at a restaurant and don't use a credit card then It would be very cool if foursquare could somehow tell Mint to leave a placeholder for a cash transaction. Though Mint and Foursquare seem far apart in some ways, the fact that they both help me to track and analyze my life patterns makes me think the data should be merged and leveraged together.

I could go on but the point is clear. On the surface Foursquare is a social network and a game, but the data layer below it is a powerful utility for us players and the business owners we are interfacing with. Foursquare's API is already getting used, but as it becomes more robust and people start truly start innovating on top of it's platform, I look forward to seeing the possibilities.

3.03.2010

Roger Ebert Finds His Voice Again

I guess I was living under a rock but I completely didn't know the courageous story of Roger Ebert. For everyone under there with me, here's the quick summary. After years of terrible health issues that left him stripped of much of his face and throat, he completely lost his ability to speak in 2006. His body is terribly weak, he's a sliver of the size he used to be, but nothing has slowed him down. He does the movie reviews he's famous for, but he's also returned to writing in a way that he'd left behind. He writes a prolific blog that has thousands of engaged readers. And until yesterday he was forced to handle speaking needs through post-it notes or computer generated read-outs in a blocky voice.
But yesterday a company called Cereproc gave him his voice back. They were able to take the audio tracks that Roger Ebert had recorded for movie studio DVD extras and stitch together a full framework of his voice. Now when he types into a computer, the output will be his own voice speaking to his wife or children. It may be a small change, but it makes a huge difference in enabling Ebert and his loved ones to feel like they're speaking to the real him. Yesterday he demo'd the difference between his computer voice "alex" and his revived personal voice, and its heartwarming to watch.
Ebert's history was told in this month's issue of Esquire, which I coincidentally read the morning before the story broke. It's magnificent. Read the article, read about the breakthrough that Cereproc enabled, and watch the video.