Blog Days

Vegas, Baby!

2011-04-11T13:46:00.008-05:00

I'm off to MIX. Though I've presented at a few smaller, regional conferences in the past, this is my first time ever attending a big developer conference. It'll be exciting to attend MIX but there's a much more important reason for the trip. Tendr.me is gathering there (we're bi-costal) to celebrate and hold our first hackathon. Why the celebration? The heavens smiled down upon us last week and final approval went through with our ACH provider. For those not in the know, ACH is what makes Tendr.me possible: it's the means by which Tendr.me can debit and credit bank accounts. Without it, Tendr.me would have been DOA.

In the tradition of successful hackathons before us we'll be hacking all week and subsisting on a strict diet of high octane, highly bad-for-you sundries. Actually, I'm lying. I hate junk food. Not to mention my stomach is extremely sensitive and that stuff causes me much gastro discomfort. However, I will make sure my web developer adheres to the hackathon diet. My stomach will live vicariously through his. Also on the agenda is playing a continual loop of movies in the background. This is our list so far:

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
The Breakfast Club
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Great Gatsby
Hackers
The Hangover
Office Space (thanks Bill)
Pirates of Silicon Valley
Sneakers
The Social Network

Any essential flicks we're missing?

Please get in touch with @xanadont if you'd like to meet up. See you there.

Blog Commitment

2011-04-04T10:55:00.003-05:00

I've been quiet here for a while, folks. This is me making a new commitment to my blog. You'll find regular posts about zigGIS, Tendr.me, and Current. A quick word about Current - you haven't heard about this one yet but it's a startup I'm involved in that hopes to apply a software engineering discipline to revolutionize (excuse the hyperbole) the mom & pop / boutique construction industry. We're hoping to bring an elegant and user-centric experience to the inudstry's process of estimating and managing projects.

I've been doing 100% of the engineering work for the past 8 months. The CEO is a good friend of mine who is doing an excellent job of dreaming big and exposing our ideas to the industry. A quick & dirty demo may be seen here. Note that you won't be able to see the realtime estimate report unless you right-click > Install onto this computer (do the reverse to painlessly uninstall). In the future I'll get into the technology and write up a tutorial or two on the various things I've been learning while developing with Silverlight.

Quick updates about my other endeavors:
1. zigGIS is NOT dead, I promise. I'm currently in talks with a company (to remain unnamed until things are finalized) about a partnership that should greatly increase zigGIS's reach and resources.
2. Tendr.me is in the final stages of securing our payment provider. Fingers crossed!!!

Thanks for your time. I'll be back soon.

Startup

2010-10-13T11:15:00.001-05:00

First, I apologize to all my GIS readers. This post will be almost entirely void of GIS.

I've been working on something for about 8 months now and it's time to finally start sharing it with the world. I only have a teaser page up now. Click the start button and you'll be urged to signup with the announcements list. Please do! Not only will you get updates but you'll be the first to be invited into the beta. The beta is expected to begin in November.

And now: Tendr.me

On to 3.0

2010-06-23T14:51:00.006-05:00

I know you want to see the roadmap NOW. Here, fool:

[Draft]*

Version 3.0 - Website - Date TBD

Blog
Forums
Videos
Feature suggestion with voting
Feature tracking - percent funded, percent completed
Bug tracking
Code repository

Version 3.0 - Core, complete ground-up rewrite - Date TBD

Provider model (pluggable data connectors)
Streaming
Memory caching and / or disk caching**
Internationalization (enables translations)
PostGIS provider
API / automation (standard ArcObjects integration)**

Version 3.x Providers - Date TBD

SQL Server
SpatiaLite
Oracle (depends on community desire)

Version 3.x Translations - Date TBD

Italian
German
French
Spanish
More based on community desire

*roadmap is organic and may (probably) change

**requires more research

So that's the draft roadmap. Now for some thoughts.

First and foremost I want to be very candid about the state of affairs at Obtuse Software. Further zigGIS development will require funding. There is one full time developer, me, and two part time developers, Paolo and Bill, involved. And we're hungry. Actually, we really want beer. Now I love, Love, LOVE working on zigGIS and I want, as do Paolo and Bill, to continue. But that just won't happen without the financial backing.

To reiterate, zigGIS version 3.0 will be completely free to download and use, Open Source software. But that won't occur until the project is fully backed by individual and company support. The tools and information for supporting version 3.0 will slowly become available as things progress. You can find slightly more information here.

Problems that suck in version 2.0:

1. Performance

Performance has always been a significant issue. We tried easing the burden by incorporating a caching scheme. But the problem with viewing GIS data is complicated. And although our caching scheme does improve performance quite dramatically, it's just not a sustainable solution. Caching loads all data into memory. Most working datasets we've seen are immediately larger than what a typical, well equipped work station can handle. This makes zigGIS's caching mechanism moot.

In addition, zigGIS does not stream data (render features to the screen one-by-one). It instead loads the entire table and only then does it start rendering. If, on the other hand, the data was streamed then the layer would start rendering immediately and you could interrupt the process by zooming into an area of interest. As it is now you have to wait until the entire layer renders before you can zoom. We had a streaming prototype working about two years ago but it caused intermittent and random errors, errors we could never track down. Ultimately our streaming efforts were abandoned.

2. Automation

Anyone who has followed zigGIS since its 1.0 days knows our plight of cracking the mystery of ArcGIS's custom datasource editing model. If you're a late-comer you can read a history about it here. While we were never able to solve the mystery, we did manage to "fake" an acceptable solution and editing capabilities became the flagship feature of version 2.0. The problem with "faking" is the solution is completely custom and not directly integrated into ArcGIS's editing tools. The fallout is that automation scripting (ArcObjects API hooking) was not possible. For those less technically inclined, this meant that although you could use PostGIS data for making maps, doing queries, etc. in ArcMap, you could not use zigGIS to write scripts to manipulate your PostGIS data in a custom manner.

Solution

We think we're in the position to solve all the current issues in version 2.x. We're certain we can lick streaming. Automation is still tricky and requires a little more research but we think we have a promising new approach.

The new website is critical.

Harnessing the community - financially, technically, and socially - is the only way we'll succeed. I like to think of the website and it's backing community a feature of version 3.0. Together we make the product the best it can be for everyone.

To wrap up,

Version 3.0 is coming but it's certainly not knocking on the door. There's still a ton to do even before we break ground on actual development. All our communication channels will be updated as we proceed. Be on the look out for updates on the financial model and the website. Other updates will follow.

The Prodigal Extension

2010-04-23T11:29:00.009-05:00

Get ready for the next chapter in zigGIS's history book. If you've been following along thus far you know that I started zigGIS about five years ago. Somewhere between six months and a year in I became frustrated with the difficulties I was running into as I tried to unlock ArcGIS's secrets. The 1.x version was successful in connecting to PostGIS and pulling data into ArcGIS for viewing. But it remained only a curiosity and the holy grail of editable PostGIS layers stayed tantalizingly out of reach. With the goal seemingly unattainable I got bored with the project.

That's when I decided to open source zigGIS and enlist the help of my fellow, gis-coding, comrades. But my hopes were soon dashed since the open source move failed to rouse the troops as I had hoped. So with my frustration, and the community's lack of interest, the project stagnated and became all but abandoned.

And then a little glimmer of hope. An email came to me from Italy by Paolo Corti. He had apparently been experimenting with zigGIS and wanted to collaborate. Coincidentally around the same time, Bill Dollins in Maryland, was writing a few blog entries in an unofficial series about zigGIS. Finally, some real interest!

We all began collaborating. And although none of our efforts got us any closer to the original goal of editable PostGIS layers, that undefinable spark that a team brings was there. Then, out of no where, an idea hit me - if directly integrating an ArcGIS plug-in datasource wouldn't work then maybe spoofing a native datasource would. Indeed it did. A few months later I had a working prototype. Three years of toil and now the GIS gods were taking notice.

Everything progressed rapidly thereafter. The Three GISketeers formed Obtuse Software LLC, rapidly put together the website, and began selling zigGIS 2.0. The dream crossed over to reality and the rest, as they say, is history.

Or was it ...

We saw considerable backlash from our users when zigGIS went to a pay-for-license model after we transitioned from version 1.0 to 2.0. Additionally, while the source code remained available, we were advised that the zigGIS EULA would not hold up to the OSI definition of open source.

Additionally, while we have seen steady sales since the release of version 2.0, it's simply not enough to support a team of three. So our new goal is to find a way for zigGIS to enjoy full time development. Full time development means better focused attention on zigGIS's evolution and, perhaps most important, better support and involvement of our beloved users and the open source GIS community.

Would I get to the point already? OK, sure - what this all culminates to is our decision to return zigGIS back to its open source roots. The next release, version 3.0, will be officially released under an OSI-approved open source license. There, I said it.

What does this mean moving forward? First, we absolutely are not abandoning our currently paying customers. Version 2.0 will remain being sold at obtusesoft.com and it will continue being supported on our Google Groups forum. Second, we'll soon be posting our zigGIS 3.0 roadmap and the detailed plan for its financial support. For now we can say that we are formulating a combination of corporate sponsorship, individual donations, and professional support contracts. As standard as that is we think we're cooking up a pretty unique, even fun (? … nah) way to cultivate the community's involvement. But until then, you can start supporting zigGIS 3.0 by continuing to purchase 2.0 licenses; all version 2.0 revenues henceforth will be directly applied to the development of zigGIS 3.0.

We're very excited for zigGIS's future and working more directly with you. Thank you for supporting us and zigGIS!

Edit:

The forum announcement can be read here.

Drink up / Tweet up

2009-04-14T14:36:00.001-05:00

The boys of Obtuse Software are gathering to drink beer. Please join us if you can in NYC on 4/24 @ Lolita Bar @ 6.00pm. Oh yeah, we might talk about GIS and zigGIS too.

zigGIS Candy

2009-01-14T11:07:00.003-05:00

Version 2.0.2 is on its way. The number one requested feature is ID column flexibility. Prior versions of zigGIS required a primary key column named "GID". This will no longer be the case; when PostGIS layers are added you choose the ID column. See the new "Add PostGIS Data" dialog for a better idea:

But wait, there's more! The complete list of new functionality is as follows:

Configurable ID column

Configurable Geometry column

Configurable Geometry type

Native support for views (although views will remain read-only)

Independence from geometry_columns table

It's possible to have mixed geometry types in a single column if DB admins circumvent the built-in PostGIS functions and create spatial tables manually. In these cases the "normal" PostGIS data constraints aren't in place to ensure homogeneous geometry types per geometry column. With configurable geometry types and the geometry_columns table emancipation, zigGIS will now handle PostGIS data originated from any number of workflows.

In a word, zigGIS 2.0.2's major new functionality is "flexibility."

Meetup?

2008-07-16T12:45:00.002-05:00

I'll be in Portland 7/18 through 7/22 to present at PgDay. Hit me up if you're interested in getting together to discuss whatevs / plan my "operation sneak into OSCON" strategy.

In other news, new iPhone 3G in hand. The camera now geo-references photos ... very interesting possibilities with the SDK and all ...

Gremiln Loose In The Computer Hardware

2008-06-30T18:32:00.002-05:00

Bugs have been squashed - zigGIS version 2.0.1 is now available. Existing customers have been upgraded free of charge and can get their download following the same instructions as before.

Hurry on over and get the updated demo or purchase a lincense or two.

Launch zig for Great Justice

2008-05-21T20:14:00.002-05:00

If you're connected like most GIS geeks then you've probably already heard the news. But, if you haven't, Obtuse Software went live today and zigGIS 2.0 is officially on sale.

You can check out our official press release here.

Go buy yourself a license and hurry up and start putting PostGIS in your ArcGIS!

It's Beta Time

2008-04-21T13:16:00.003-05:00

Break out your Hammer pants - zigGIS 2.0 went into Beta moments ago. Big thanks to our testing team! Your efforts will make the release that much better.

With any luck, the elusive release will be in your hands within the next month.

Ate ba Beta

2008-04-08T21:15:00.003-05:00

Hmm ... well, that palindrome doesn't really make sense. But what does make sense is pushing out the 2.0 Beta. If you have been in touch with us before about your interest in testing, please make sure you do so again: beta AT obtusesoft DOT com

If all goes well, the Beta will be sent to our participants April 15th.

Sign up by emailing us at the somewhat bot-safe email address above. This Beta is closed, so only those who we've been in touch with before should send us an email. You know who you are.

Thank you for your help and interest. We look fondly forward to the day we have a full release!

Cache, fast as a speeding bullet

2008-03-28T14:00:00.007-05:00

When it comes to viewing and analyzing data, the main difference between a typical non-spatial, data-driven application and a GIS application is volume. The strategies for dealing with large datasets are well known for non-spatial apps. For example, you might page through data ten rows at a time (results from a Google search). Or you might use summarizing functions - like SUM, MAX, and UNIQUE - against the data before viewing it (pie charts). Or you might load a small sliver of each record, then later, load an entire record only when an interesting one is located (first a list of just airport codes, then the airport's full schedule when an airport is picked).

Of course, the very nature of non-spatial data apps solves most of these problems for us. It simply makes no sense returning the entire result set of, say, a Google search. Until all humans come standard with cybernetic coprocessors, we simply can't consume much more tabular data then about ten rows at a time.

Currently, spatial data processing has no real equivalent to these techniques. For instance, every time a zoom-all is performed, the entire dataset is processed and drawn to the display.

Now humor me for a moment and pretend you are Superman. You’ve just been called to duty - a Floridian octogenarian’s feline is stuck in a ficus. You, being superman, must high-cape it from Metropolis to Ft. Lauderdale, pronto. Fortunately, today’s visibility is 10 miles, and will make navigation a snap. You step out into the sun after a quick phone booth visit and note that you need to update your change room to something more modern and ubiquitous; Starbucks perhaps. Or maybe iPhone 2.0 will somehow become a portable phone booth. Yeah, that’d be nice … suggest it to Steve at the next Apple board meeting … anyway, where were we? Oh yes, cats in peril and GIS metaphors. Imagine your view of the terrain as you take to flight. At first the detail is cars, people, PEOPL… *snap* *snap* Are you listening?! Eyes off Lois! Pay attention here, boy wonder! As you rise, detail reduces to buildings and city blocks. Eventually the view becomes nothing more than a patchwork of green and brown areas of farm surrounding the grey blob that is Metropolis. The scenario then plays in reverse as you descend into your destination. Detail quickly increases while you “zoom into” Ft. Lauderdale. And, yeah yeah, you save the day and all that happy stuff. But that’s neither here nor there.

The point is, the “real world” (comic book or otherwise) naturally works in our favor to reduce the complexity and amount of data humans must visually process. And it doesn’t matter whether this “lossy compression” is attributed to the eye’s limitations, or the brain’s limitations, or both. What matters is that it’s an appropriate model to use for applying to GIS. We need an algorithm that produces a continuous set of outputs that visually summarizes the spatial data for our human consumption. An “antialiasing” of map data, if you will. It’s true; we have seen some primitive attempts at this involving scale-dependent filtering where more and more detail is added at discrete increments. For instance, a typical road map shows no roads at the national level, shows highways at the state level, secondary roads at county level, and all roads at the neighborhood level. But this approach suffers in two major ways:

First, tweaking a map so it’s “just right” is not only tedious, mind numbing work, but the time investment can be considerable. And setting up the min & max scale factors for each layer isn’t the half of it. Those who take pride in making beautiful, user friendly maps know that gobs of time is spent breaking up a single, detailed layer into a set of layers. This approach requires one, very detailed layer, one, very general layer, and one for each increment in between. Do this for each layer that requires it and you’ll see what I’m getting at. In fact, it gets worse. Append to this process the ever looming task of data updates. The whole scenario quickly spirals into one big GIS headache.

Second, setting arbitrary levels of detail is just that, arbitrary, and leads to a “jagged” user experience. What this means is that features of the map appear and disappear randomly. One moment highway shield symbols are visible, you zoom out a little, and the next moment they vanish. This unpredictability disorients users forcing them to work harder to find the information they want. Imagine, instead, zooming in and out fluidly and jaggy free. The experience would have greater utility and be more enjoyable overall, maybe even fun.

The good news is research in this area is beginning to produce some tangible technology. PostGIS includes the SIMPLIFY function. But it needs some work before it can be applied to the scenario discussed here. SIMPLIFY produces undesired artifacts at various locations where polygons touch. Polygon seems should remain touching instead of the holes that occur when applying the Douglas-Peucker algorithm as the SIMPLIFY function does (see this). There’s also Seadragon which was recently announced would be included in Silverlight 2.0. Do yourself a favor, if you haven’t looked at the TED video, do so, you won’t be disappointed. Of course Seadragon is a raster technology but I dream of a GIS future that has Seadragon-like vector capabilities.

So where does zigGIS fit into this whole grand scheme? Now that all the planned 2.0 features are implemented, we’ve been focusing on tuning overall performance. This got me thinking about the various optimization techniques we could use. We did tinker with SIMPLIFY but this would not only work due to reasons explained above, but the ArcObjects framework doesn’t support this technique. It’s impossible to differentiate whether ArcObjects is requesting geometry for a zoom operation (where SIMPLIFY is useful) or some other operation such as editing (where SIMPLIFY is inappropriate and even erroneous). Ultimately we decided to implement a caching scheme. I think the results are impressive but you decide for yourself.

view screencast

Without caching, a recordset of 22,600 records takes ~19s to process a full zoom. With caching, the same recordset takes ~4s. Happy cats in less time!

zigGIS Update

2008-03-06T00:03:00.007-05:00

Follow the link to view a screencast demoing multi-user edit sessions.

view screencast

Have patience, the videos seem like they don't work but they do; they're just large.

zigGIS 2.0 Official Announcement

2008-01-07T13:22:00.000-05:00

Obtuse Software is proud to announce the upcoming release of zigGIS 2.0. For over two years zigGIS has enabled ArcView to view and analyze PostGIS layers. New to version 2.0 is the ability to edit PostGIS data as well as support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Originally developed against ArcGIS 8.3, zigGIS 1.0 was a means to directly connect to and view PostGIS data. Over the past few years many hundreds of hours have been invested into improving and advancing the capability of zigGIS. Such improvements include ArcGIS 9.2 updates, proper handling of renderers, and support for on-the-fly reconciliation of spatial references. Lastly, to be introduced with zigGIS 2.0, is editing of PostGIS data from within ArcMap. In short, zigGIS exposes PostGIS to the full capability of ArcMap.

ArcMap provides arguably the most complete set of cartography and data editing tools available on the desktop today. Its advanced capabilities have been recognized by its commercial and open source competition. PostGIS and PostgreSQL are a common database underpinning of many open source server stacks. Marrying the two allows small to medium sized shops to affordably migrate from file-system-based data management to centralized, standards-based RDBMS data management without sacrificing cartographic and analytical capability. In addition, shops that are already serving data via an open source stack can now take advantage of ArcMap for direct data editing and map production. Furthermore, zigGIS works identically at all licensing tiers of ArcGIS Desktop.

PostGIS editing from within ArcMap has been a long-standing goal of zigGIS. To date, we have been unable to achieve seamless integration with ArcMap's native editing tools. So we compromised. We now utilize a proxy scratch workspace during the user's editing session. It works particularly well and should eventually be a seamless experience. This strategy not only provides zigGIS edit capabilities, but includes other benefits as well:

1. Scratch workspaces are already well integrated with ArcView (it's native technology after all). This fact has enabled us to more affordably and efficiently push out version 2.0.
2. An intermediate editing-cache is necessary regardless. Scratch workspaces do just this, relieving us from inventing our own edit-cache system.
3. As-is, the zigGIS source code is complicated enough. One might assume complexity would at least double if zigGIS directly handled editing. However, gut feelings tell us the increase in complexity is more likely parabolic than linear. The less complex the better. And, as anyone familiar with software engineering knows, less complexity directly translates to fewer bugs.

(view a screencast)

In addition to PostGIS viewing and editing capabilities, zigGIS 2.0 will bring full support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Following SQL Server through its beta period will require periodic zigGIS updates, but expect the same experience as PostGIS. Intially, support will focus on the geometry data type. We will defer handling the geography data type until Microsoft implements its recently announced change to X/Y ordering for WKB and WKT for geography.

Obtuse Software releases zigGIS 2.0 sometime 2008 Q1. There is still much to be done so expect it later than sooner. Corporate licenses sell for $279 per seat. Personal and educational licenses are free. The source code will remain open.

Obtuse Software is a newly formed, privately held, international company. We make fun & friendly GIS software.

Christmas zig

2007-12-18T21:07:00.001-05:00

I have some exciting news for you zigGIS users - editing functionality has finally received some love! Click on to view a screencast of the newest zigGIS capabilities. But, before I go any further, allow me to alert you of some licensing changes:

Bill Dollins, Paolo Corti, and I have all worked extremely hard molding zigGIS into what it is today. We want to continue to develop and support our product. Therefore we have decided that our next release will require purchased licenses for our corporate users. OK, OK, before you go trashing us, please take a minute to read on and understand our position.

First and foremost, the zigGIS codebase will remain open. Secondly, personal and educational use of zigGIS will remain free. We hope many more become interested in zigGIS not only for its use, but also utilizing it as an example of deep ArcMap customization and use of the ArcObject API. We have gone through hundreds (maybe thousands) of trial-and-error hours wrestling with ArcObjects. By keeping the codebase open, others can learn from our mistakes and avoid the pitfalls to which we have oft found ourselves prey.

As for our corporate users - you will need to purchase licenses per seat. Licenses will fall somewhere below $300 each. We hope this keeps zigGIS affordable to those organizations that require heavy-duty GIS capabilities. (don't forget that the use of PostGIS + zigGIS saves you from all ArcSDE licensing costs) Bill, Paolo, and I are forming a software company around this product. And - though certainly we want to make a profit - this will ultimately best serve our users' interest. Having a financial backing will ensure zigGIS's continued support and development.

(clicky for full size version)

Thank you for your interest, patience, and support. Stay tuned for more news and have a safe and happy holiday!

I'm Abe Gillespie, GIS - and anything else - programmer for hire (abe at digital - pulp dot com). I'm a technophile, love life, animals, people, and God. I'm involved with some Open Source projects such as Mono (more of an outside observer) and zigGIS. Check back here for posts on life, consulting, GIS programming, and whatever else might strike my fancy. Check out my company at www.digital-pulp.com. Thanks for reading!

Certified Mail

2007-10-07T18:28:00.000-05:00

I recently had the need to send myself an encrypted email ... to myself. Sure, the task smacks of Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery gratuitousness, but I had a valid business need, I assure you. *raises outward-turned pinky to corner of mouth*

I use hosted Gmail as my business email provider and sometimes lean on it as a quick backup service. Occasionally I email myself business / trade sensitive data - such things I would not be comfortable with stored in plain text on a server I do not own. For this reason I setup Firefox to send / receive encrypted personal emails. Follow these steps to get your very own encrypted Gmail on:

1. Create / Install email cert.
You can use services like Thawte to create your email cert, but I found Comodo the easiest. Go through the online registration, open the email they send, and click on the supplied link. Viola! You personal email cert created and installed.

2. Install Gmail S/MIME extension.

That's it! From now on you'll see a lock icon next to the "Check spelling" link when you're composing a new email. Click it to send super secret Enigma-ciphered emails to anyone whose email cert you've installed.

Some words of caution:

1. Make sure you backup your email cert. Store it somewhere else locally and store remotely on a thumb drive, external drive, or a secure online account like .Mac., etc.

2. Transmit keys via - what I like to call - "Flesh & Blood" ... which is a take on the "Brick & Mortor" internet cliché. Whoever you want to send / receive secure email with you need their and they need your email cert. Avoid the temptation of emailing certs. It's best to swap certs personally (and much more fun!). Of course, you can setup a password-protected download for your cert if your spy escapades deny you all human contact.

3. Hold onto your cert! If you lose it you'll never be able to read your encrypted email again.

About me:

I'm Abe Gillespie, GIS - and anything else - programmer for hire (abe at digital - pulp dot com). I'm a technophile, love life, animals, people, and God. I'm involved with some Open Source projects such as Mono (more of an outside observer) and zigGIS. Check back here for posts on life, consulting, GIS programming, and whatever else might strike my fancy. Check out my company at www.digital-pulp.com. Thanks for reading!

The Accidental iPhonist

2007-08-07T21:51:00.000-05:00

The Accidental Tourist is a film I was exposed to in 11th grade English. The premise being a travel book author sleep walking through life as his marriage falls apart. Macon eventually meets a unique woman who brings color and flavor back into his life.

Forgive me, the following metaphor is pathetic, but I couldn't help shoehorning the blog title into something literary.

Much like the woman to Macon, the iPhone has brought me new found enjoyment.

But, before I go further, let me construct the context. I bought two iPhones to resell on Ebay. After missing the Wii opportunity, I hustled at the same perceived opportunity during the iPhone launch. I figured, at the very least, I'd break even. All while learning the ins and outs of Ebay salesmanship.

I learned, learned to hate Ebay. There's no Ebay get-rich-quick scheme just as there's none in any other medium. Don't get me wrong, there certainly are ways to make money (even good money) selling on Ebay. But you have to work hard. Very hard.

Without getting too deeply entwined describing the aggravating Ebay selling process, I will say that, mainly, there are two ugly monsters lurking in Ebay's closet: Frauds and Fees. The first makes it difficult to actually sell anything. The second makes it difficult to actually make anything. Frauds and fees alike are rampant on Ebay; pirates of both the digital auction house and the digital bank account. The two combined make for one, nearly insurmountable Megabeast of anti-entrepreneurism.

To make a long story short, I ended up selling one for negligible profit and keeping the other. I tried FOUR times to sell the second and eventually kept it. I convinced myself of iPhonership thanks to the battles waged at the "Theater of Ebay." Two other reasons that made the rationalization easy: I desperately needed a new phone and I was already an existing Cingular / AT&T customer.

So I own an iPhone. And perhaps - for all you astute Freudian scholars out there - yes, I might have even secretly wished this iPhate would befall me.

Onto the iPhone.

I usually avoid Gen I tech. I knew I'd eventually become an iPhowner but certainly not upon the first release. And certainly not at a $600 price point. But an Accidental iPhonist I am. And it's a pleasure. I'm thrilled. Or, as the recent Tony Blair divorcees might say, the iPhone is "brilliant." It really is.

Now I could go on describing how it's pregnant with cutting-edge tech and gadgetry. But I'll spare you since it has been hailed all over the blogosphere ad nauseam. What I will say is that it has brought the color and flavor back (was it ever there?) into my mobile life. The iPhone really is a joy to use. My "aha!" moment happened during a recent cardio session at the gym. The iPhone synch's itself with iTunes, bringing over music, podcasts, and videos. And as I peddled away while exploring the contents of my mobile media, there I found - to my surprise - a fresh new episode of Diggnation. It quietly lied there waiting to give meaning to an aimless stationary bike adventure. That was the easiest 25 minutes of cardio I've ever endured.

But I think iPhone's glory is stated even clearer by my girlfriend's experience. Colleen is practically one recycle bin load away from being a self professed luddite. In fact, she doesn't even own a computer. Huh? But she LOVES the iPhone; requesting it two or three times a day. Where to eat? Give me your iPhone! Where to see Ratatouille? Hand over your iPhone! With what to write a quick love note? The iPhone!

And that makes me smile.

About me:

I'm Abe Gillespie, GIS - and anything else - programmer for hire (abe at digital - pulp dot com). I'm a technophile, love life, animals, people, and God. I'm involved with some Open Source projects such as Mono (more of an outside observer) and zigGIS. I'm a relatively new immigrant to the capitol of Virginia and love it. Check back here for posts on life, consulting, GIS programming, and whatever else might strike my fancy. Check out my company at www.digital-pulp.com. Thanks for reading!

My Turn

2007-05-17T12:03:00.000-05:00

I've returned to the independent scene. It's a reunion with my love of life, technology, and people. With the excitement of a Frenchman cracking his crème brûlée in a sun-filled Parisian café, I anticipate the sweet tastes of my adventures to come.

For me, leaving a cushy, salaried job at CapTech [1] and pursuing my own interests is less about fame and fortune than it is this: a chance to experience life with all the risks and (hopefully) all the rewards that make life worth living. I'm not satisfied being a Honda Accord.

Honda Accords are a safe bet. Relatively stylish, comfortable, and reasonably priced. Accords are consistently one of the best selling cars in the United States. I'm sure if an Accord owner survey was conducted, the overall satisfaction would rank high in categories ranging from economy to maintainability to ergonomics. You just can't go wrong with an Accord!

But you can't REALLY go right either; there are no mysteries, no surprises. If you boiled the vehicle down to a single adjective you might find it described as "good" or "reliable." Instead, what I need is excitement, creativity, adventure, a chance to dream. I'm an old, dusty, paint peeling '98 Dodge Neon; all its glorious quirks included. But being a Neon lends to pursuits and dreams of greater things. Things which are impossible to see when blinded by mundane comfort. Being a Neon makes you constantly strive to transform into a slick, elegant, and shiny new Porsche 911.

Perhaps I'll never become a Porsche. Perhaps my wheels will fall off and my engine will burn up. But at least it won't take me six years to figure out I'm an Accord.

About me:

I'm Abe Gillespie, GIS - and anything else - programmer for hire (abe at digital - pulp dot com). I'm a technophile, love life, animals, people, and God. I'm involved with some Open Source projects such as Mono (more of an outside observer) and zigGIS. I'm a relatively new immigrant to the capitol of Virginia and love it. Check back here for posts on life, consulting, GIS programming, and whatever else might strike my fancy. Check out my company at www.digital-pulp.com. Thanks for reading!

[1] CapTech is a pretty amazing company winning consecutive awards for its success in and contributions to Richmond and the surrounding community. I would recommend the company to anyone looking for technology centric work in Virginia. They pay well and employ very talented people. I left simply because I was ready to be on my own again (read above).