Side Notes

Built with ❤️ by Joe Rodgers

WiFi as a service + email marketing as a service

I can't tell you how many Brick and mortars I go to that don't offer wifi but it's a lot. In my opinion, they're missing a huge opportunity to learn about customer behavior and market to these customers.

I was meeting with a peer today over coffee and we were discussing ways to break into this space as a service and the best we could come up with goes like this. 

WiFi as a Service + Email Marketing

So the wifi piece is simple, we own the hw and the contract with the ISP for wifi and serve up the service to customers. We track behavior for customers on the network, segment and market to these users. 

Email marketing will tie into the wifi piece as its always adding to the subscriber list, but you need to be capturing email addresses and time of checkout so you can track behavior segment and market to users. 

The joint service would provide customers with a dashboard that tracks users, behaviors, value per customers, campaigns etc. 

I'm not sure how to charge for this but demonstrating value would be very easy. 

Once you get recurring rev flow, you would Upsell cross sell services like ad services, content strat and creation, app/web dev, etc. 

Just an idea...

After some time off


I'm back in the driver's seat. I took a couple days off from work for my kiddo's birthday and it was very relaxing. I didn't read a single tech article the whole time. I skipped writing Explainer and I felt extremely guilty about it. 

Okay, I lied. I read tech articles. I discovered a new email marketing platform that makes it very easy to share content in the form of a newsletter. I played with it over the break and think I've got a decent workflow. I've setup integration and automation with a couple core services which will make content creation and cross posting a breeze. 

This is really all about time. It takes so long to read the news, make a newsletter in mailchimp, and then serve it. This new platform ahold make a couple steps much easier. I hope it's so much easier that a daily post could be a reality. 

The platform is called Revue and I think it's got some potential. I wish my boy Garry would scoop it up and build it into Posthaven. 

Why am I so pissed about the X

I'm having dinner with wife and friends last night and I mention that people are queueing up for the iPhone X. Everyone at the table wants one, but no one was aware of the new UI changes, wireless charging,  or the NOTCH. 

I went full bitch mode about the fucking notch on the iPhone X. I was saying things like "I bet Steve is rolling over in his grave" and "their engineers are lazy as eff" and my friends really could've cared less. They saw more screen real estate and a new flashy version of the slab they know and love. 

At one point I was getting the ole "I hated iPhone too before I got one..." but here's the thing. I had one. iPhone 1 thru 3G S I was there. And you know what, it was awesome. It was the best thing out there. To move from a moto razr to iPhone was mind-blowing. But then my mom got one, then an iPad, then a MacBook Air, then apple TV. You see what happened there. My little piece of awesome tech was gone, forever. Now it's beautiful, overpriced, and built for grandma's. 

And I'm pissed about this fucking notch!

I'm literally becoming a grumpy old man. 

Download This: CastBox

I've been using Podcast Addict for my podcatcher the past couple years and it works. My problem is that there's no Web client and everything lives on the local device. No settings or subscribed content is synced to the cloud either. 

It's pretty painful when you get a new phone. 

Now there's an easy button. 




This bad boy has a Web client and great android app. I've added my pods and the apps recommending new content too.

I think they need to update the subscriptions view on the web client but that's my only beef. All in all... I'm Lovin It.

More like Civil Rights 2049

I saw Blade Runner 2049 last week and it exceeded all my expectations. I found myself asking tough questions throughout the entire flick like "is this guy a human or Robot?" and "why is this lady so mean to our beloved Ryan Gosling?". 

I had no idea what this was going to be about going in so I put the plot together as quickly as possible. When I finally wrapped my head around growing adult sized humanoids that obey their human masters, I felt a sense of accomplishment. 

There's a massive struggle in the flick to keep these humanoids down. Pretty much like STFU you have no soul. This part made me sad. I mean, I lose my shit when I can't find my cell phone so I can't imagine telling an obedient humanoid to fuck off. 

STFU Humanoid will be a the next great Civil Rights movement. 

Rule Number 1: Always be cool

Walmart is as about as cool as Michaels and TJ Max when it comes to retail but the king of the hill is trying desperately to reinvent itself through strategic online acquisitions.

Most notably, Walmart scooped up eCommerce retailer Jet.com that will help them compete with Amazon for quick and easy online purchasing in all categories. In the clothing category they acquired Bonobos who has a killer brand and really expensive chinos.

SO WHAT?
This doesn't make Walmart cool.

How can they be cool?
Take a page out of Google's playbook. I recommend Walmart create a parent company like Google did with Alphabet. Walmart's version of Alphabet can be the cool parent and have some cool kids and yeah, Walmart can be the fat old kid who is their favorite too. I know Walmart is doing a ton of investment in AI/big data/(anything transformative) but I just don't see how the really cool kids in the valley would want to move to Bentonville, AR to be a dev at Walmart. If there was a parent company focused on development based in the valley or Austin, they might have a shot at being.... cool.

On disruption and consolidation

As we sit here and watch a masterclass in disruption by Jeff Bezos and Amazon, I can't help but wonder how terrified business leaders become when rumors swirl around Amazon getting into their business. We've seen it happen so many times now from the bookselling kingpin that it's now expected. In the tech world we use the term "digital transformation" which technically means "get your shit together or you're going to lose your ass".

So what happens when Amazon comes for your business?

Like I said, we've seen it many times.

The short answer is consolidation. That means a couple things.

(For this let's talk about Walmart)
  1.  M&A - walmart is the king or retail with a global footprint of brick and mortar and a vast network of distribution hubs and fleet of transportation. What Walmart has struggled with is online. Their ecommerce is the last place I check for anything. Ever. So what did they do? They went out anb bought some cool kids who are doing it right from day one. Enter Jet.com. Jet has ecommerce down to a science, so teaming their front end with Walmart's back end is logical AF. It's like someone is getting paid to make acquisitions, am I right.
  2. Partnerships - A couple weeks ago, Google announced a partnership with Walmart that will let you shop from your Google Home device for anything offered at Walmart. This is because Amazon has it all already baked into the echo platform. Now Amazon is saying they are getting into logistics. This means FedEx and UPS are shitting down both legs and will be looking to establish strategic partnerships asap. My prediction is that we will see a partnership announcement between Walmart and either FedEx or UPS. So customers will order a roll of toilet paper on their Google Home from Walmart which will be delivered by FedEx. That customer is a lagistics exec who needs toilet paper to wipe his sweating ass. 

TIME TO SPECULATE SOME MORE

Amazon will get into logistics and they will deliver an autonomous delivery platform out of the gate beating the old guard to the punch. Also DRONES!

Drones for profit

I'm sitting here watching Droneweek, hyped up about the FPV racing drones. This is definitely gonna be huge. 

I've thought drones are a huge market opportunity and here are a couple ideas I've been kicking around for a year or so....

  1. Drone Security - this would be an aerial drone surveillance and security company that could patrol or be dispatched upon command. Think if you had a large property and an intruder was detected and a drone could be dispatched to film and shout Commands at the intruder, that would be scary/valuable. 
  2. Event audio video - specifically youth sports. You'd need a drone and operator with 4k camera. Additional cameras on ground and an film editor. I believe you could capture up to $500 per game for film. Think about signing a deal with a team that youd film all their games and roll that cost into team dues... there's plenty of parents who'd pay that extra $50 per game to have their kids games on film.... Unless they ride the bench. 
  3. NEW CONCEPT THANKS DRONEWEEK - Inspection drones - quickly inspect street structures via drone and high powered camera. 

Pro Tips: a list of 50 life tips to live by

I'm not about click bait articles, although I always click the ones that are like "only a true genius knows this fact".

That being said, I've got a list to share and it looks like click bait, BUT IT'S NOT!

50 Pieces Of Life Advice From People Over 50

I've got a OneNote folder that's nothing but the best life tips and I'll probably share that out one day. Until then, hit that link because there's some sage wisdom on that list. 

VR AR and the law

My father in law got a Sony VR headset and I tried my luck at a horror VR game. That was the worst mistake I've made in some time. Listen, VR is here. It's only Gen1 and already mind blowing. You are literally there. It reminds me of Mario 64 on Nintendo 64, that surreal feeling of running around a world and experiencing in a way you've never thought possible. As VR matures in the next couple years our brains are going be so confused on what's reality. 

It's only inevitable that AR and VR will continue to blur lines with reality, my only question is that what happens when crimes happen in these false realities when perception is reality. A friend of mine attended MWC a couple weeks ago and he was telling me about studies with AR and how human brains couldn't distinguish dead bodies in AR from dead bodies in reality. I know that's morbid to think about, but what happens when a developer puts a hyper realistic dead body somewhere which causes someone to react in a violent or scared way? What happens when something jumps out at you and you hurt yourself or someone else? 

That legal shit isn't what I'm pumped about, just thinking about at this moment.

Where'd you get that pic

I've gotten asked several times the past couple weeks where I'm sourcing images for Explainer and no one appreciates me saying "The Internet".

Here's how it works in an unordered list
  • Google Image search
  • Burst - Shopify's blog
  • Unsplash - a beautiful photo newsletter
  • Pexels - just a cool photo website
  • Death to stock photos - another cool newsletter but this one us less frequent than unsplash and the curated photos are a tighter fit to a theme
  • Flickr - you forgot this website existed, it's still out there and plenty of people share royalty free pics
  • Giphy - all the gifs
If I was you and I wanted good free photos to use however you want, I'd sign up for the unsplash and D.T.S.P. newsletters. 

That's IF I was you. 

Drawing logos from memory

I think pretty high of myself when it comes to brand recognition but this puts a new spin on it .... Draw a logo from memory. I remember posts in the past of the draw a map of the USA from memory but this is the new hotness. I was looking at some of these drawings and I'm not sure I could do much better than these armchair artists. 

Bye now. 

Day and Night

I almost shit when I saw NIN tweeting an upcoming concert in Houston ... look at this lineup and tell me you're not going. 

Quad cubes, future features

The Gartner Magic quadrant is cool and all but they don't show price. Would be great to incorporate price into a quad or wave. 

Also, link to relevant decks for each tech as well as promos for that technology. 

Share price news chart, a future feature

I want to develop a chart that overlays big news for a company with their stock price. Would also show key competitor moves or geo political news that might effect share price. 

My first bookmarks

It was one of the first emails I sent to myself in 2004. This list was so important that I had it starred in Gmail for 13 years.

Desk Robot

I want a little Robot that lives on my desk.
It should be mobile, because it needs to graze around like a piece of livestock. 
But unlike an animal, this bot will be Cloud connected thanks to cloud integration thanks to Amazon or Google. 
It'll have a little Qi charging mat so I never have to worry about it. 
If I had two of these bots they would play tag and  mozy around like Sims. 
It'll be AI powered too, have a camera built in, and be a little companion. 

My wife's little brother has a bot that's the form factor I like. It stacks blocks and shit like that. 

How to solve the ev charging problem

The big problem with EV cars is the range and infrastructure to charge vehicles in the wild. 

As we near a self driving future, a couple things could happen. 

1. Cars could drive themselves to charge and park themselves
2. We can build charging stations everywhere
3. Maybe wireless charging spots
4. Charging drones that your car summons. 

I was thinking I just solved the world's problems with idea 4 but option 1 is more likely. 

Working out the kinks

My newsletter in now in its 7th week. I've improved the quality of the content drastically and added improvements to the mailchimp sign-up process. 

Here's workflow so far:
Mark articles in feedly
Feedly sends to pocket
Go through pocket and pick best articles
Write newsletter in word with H1 headings 
Paste word content into mailchimp template
Work in photoshop to get good featured image and post images
Send test email
Publish to mailchimp
Copy html from campaign and paste into wordpress
Format blog post
Publish
Paste post on LinkedIn 

Holy shit that's a lot of work for a newsletter. 

I'm jrjr

This is my personal blog. 
I'll write things here. 
True things go here. 
I go by Bucwolfser too.