512 Pixels

Last Friday, our son Josiah was granted his wish: to go to Florida and see where Mickey Mouse lives.

Before being hurled in to the world of pediatric cancer, I thought Make-A-Wish just sent kids who were dying on trips, but in reality, they serve any family whose child has a life-threatening medical condition. While Josiah is stable, he’s not out of the woods.

The group has met the wishes of more than 250,000 children around the world. It’s crazy to be a part of that number now.

We interviewed with Make-A-Wish last year. The Mid-South chapter left our house and started raising money and support for our trip. At the party on Friday, we met some of the individuals and companies who made this possible. It was humbling beyond belief.

Just two days later — one week ago — we boarded a plane and headed to Orlando, the entire trip planned and funded through Make-A-Wish.

Upon landing and picking up our rental car, we headed to Give Kids the World. GKTW is a 70-acre resort with over 140 villas. There’s a theatre, a carousel and play areas specifically designed for children with special needs. There’s a pool, ice cream parlor and giant model train set. Disney characters visit almost every day, and there’s a party every night.

During the week, we visited Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Legoland and of course Magic Kingdom.

All free of charge. And at all four parks, we enjoyed special treatment. We didn’t wait for photos with characters or rides. We didn’t pay for said photos, or the strollers we rented. We had front-row seats to shows. Patrick Rhone was right about Disney: it really is magical.

On Thursday, we drove down to Cocoa Beach to let the kids see the ocean. Even though Allison Mae is a bit of a neat-freak, she didn’t mind getting covered in sand, or covering her brother with it:

One day at breakfast, a GKTW volunteer sat down across from me. “Everyone knows how special your kids are,” he said. “But you’re special, too. It takes a lot to raise children, especially if one is sick.”

His words are still resonating with me, and they will for some time to come. He summed up this trip better than I ever could.

It was great to be at a resort where every family knows the fear Merri and I live with. It was great to see our kids run and play on the beach, and to be spoiled at Disney. But it’s good to be home, too.

On a recent episode of my podcast CMD+SPACE, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jonathan Coulton. On this episode we spoke about some of his recent projects and a little about his history in creating music—pioneering some of the methods of crowd support that we have today.

During this episode we were attempting to try and describe the nature of his audience. On the whole they tend to be quite geeky or nerdy, but Jonathan wanted to avoid these terms. The best description we were able to come up with instead was, ‘enthusiasts’.

I have been thinking a lot about this notion over the last few days. As geeks and nerds we are very enthusiastic about lots of things. We get addicted to things quite easily and become consumed by them. Whether it be comic books, cartoons or entire companies.

We become so enthusiastic that we want to learn all we can about these things. We want to consume as much as is possible, read the logic and theory behind it and tell our friends and families just how much we love these things—urging them to get involved too.

We try to find communities that centre around these interests. And this is why geeks love the Internet. No matter what you love, it’s not difficult to find many people that are equally – if not more – enthusiastic as you are.

I have built friendships on the Internet due to my enthusiasm for technology. I have met people that will be friends for life—many whom I’ve never met (although this will change soon).

Matt spoke about community on the site yesterday. And he’s exactly right, we build communities and relationships because of enthusiasm for our shared interests and later for each other.

In regards to Jonathan Coulton, the enthusiasm his fans have for his work have made him a success. He tours the globe performing his music and has continued to propser—simply because his fans love his work and him. They want to see him succeed so he can create more and simply because they want him to succeed.

Whenever you see a blogger or podcaster make their creative endeavour a full time thing, it’s because of the enthusiasm their fans have and the loyalty they show. Yes, advertising brings an income – as well as direct donations – but the advertising dollars only mean something if there is a loyal audience to sell the products too. They buy because they trust. They trust because of their enthusiasm.

Following someone’s work so intently makes you feel like you know them. And in a sense you do. You have listened to or read someone’s stories and they have become a part of your life. This is what creates such a loyalty and makes a fan continue to show their support.

I love being consumed by my hobbies and interests. I like finding videos on YouTube of live performances of my favourite artists or buying someone’s new ebook—even if I never read it. I guess that’s what makes me an enthusiast and it’s something I would never change.

This is a guest post by Myke Hurley, as Stephen and his family are on a much-needed break.

On the day I started OneThirtySeven, Stephen Hackett wrote one of the most touching articles in memory. Reflecting upon his parenthood, his son, and the struggles he and his wife have both faced, he wrote a letter addressed to his children and published it, importantly, on his technology-centric weblog.

For some, I suspect the notion of posting such an intimate, personal, and revealing piece of prose on such a public and well-read forum would be daunting. Perhaps even ill-fitting. Stephen shared the deepest of his fears — as he has done innumerable times both before and after this specific day — and he offered himself up for your collective thoughts.

Stephen found accountability in displaying himself to, what some might call, his audience. He derived the drive and personal responsibility — values he has founded his adulthood upon — from what might be perceived as an anonymous conglomerate of page views.

The distinctive error in this line of thinking, however, is that Stephen’s website is not read by an “audience.” His thoughtful witticisms, insights, and reflections are not consumed vapidly or inconsequentially. Stephen’s website — this very one I have the rare honor of writing upon — is a part of a generous, supportive, and touching community. Not an amorphous “audience.”

Returning to that day in November, 2011, I will never forget writing a brief email of support to Stephen. He didn’t know me, but I felt I knew him. I felt some semblance of camaraderie with him. Judging by his interactions on Twitter, and, indeed, the emails Stephen occasionally mentions humbly in passing, it’s clear that I was not alone in this sentiment.

Perhaps we’re brought together by a foundational love of design or genuinely good products — often embodied by Apple — but I believe we remain, regardless of evolving opinions, because of a visceral sense of community. We care about Stephen’s well-being. We care about Federico Viticci’s health. We care about jobs lost during acquisitions. And we care about independent developers and their respective livelihoods.

Earlier this week, we witnessed Myke Hurley writing on 512 Pixels. If we were to lack any contextual awareness, this might strike us as inconsequential. We might presume that it was reflexive for Myke to write in such a manner. In reality, however, it’s well-known that Myke Hurley writes, at best, infrequently. And when he does write — whether you’re aware of it or not — it’s an alien experience for him.

In spite of these feelings, however, Myke discarded any such reticence. When Stephen needed help, Myke came instinctively running. He performed a duty of friendship, care, and responsibility for the sake of Stephen having a restful and meaningful trip.

An act of which is borne out this community. An act of which, I believe, many of you would perform without batting an eyelash.

As Stephen and his family enjoy a well-deserved and heart-warming visit to Disney World — care of the inimitable Make-a-Wish Foundation — 512 Pixels and the 512 Podcast have continued unabated. Although Stephen’s audience would’ve returned just the same if he left his site fallow for a week, the tiny gesture of sustenance and care for his beloved outlets meant that he might enjoy time with his family that much more.

Stephen shares so much of his life and his struggles because we — the community — care. Myke and Shawn leapt to help Stephen — without Stephen asking — because they genuinely care. And we read, link, joke, and support each other online — regardless of readership or Twitter follower counts — because this is a community built organically upon compassion and shared beliefs.

Watching the 512 brand continue this week — as if all were normal — has summarized the wealth of support inherent within this community. If it passed you by, I tend to think that’s the very best that could’ve happened.

Recognizing a natural reflex is one of the most unremarkable things in the moment, but, in retrospect, it can be truly astounding.

I encourage you to reach out to Stephen over the next few days. Better yet, support Stephen — an integral member of this community — in any way that you can.

This is a guest post by Matt Alexander, as Stephen and his family are on a much-needed break.

With Stephen on vacation this week, Myke is joined by Shawn Blanc. They discuss WWDC and how 2013 could pan out for Apple.

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Here are some of my key takeaways from this quarter, from the eyes of a consumer with no real insight:

• 19 million iPads sold in this quarter alone, up from 11.8 million this time last year. I think at this point we are truly in a tablet market, in which desktop computers are sold—not the other way around. The majority is shifting.
• It would potentially seem that profits are down – even though revenue is up – due to the fact that the profit margins on the iPad mini are tighter (and they sold more of these than the full size). Imagine where this would be if Apple had felt forced to shrink their margins even further, to meet the price-point we all felt they should.
• Horace Dediu tweeted that “Revenues per Mac were $1378, highest since 2008.” I find this number insane and very smart. I feel like Apple would be aware that the work they are doing with their iOS products, could be cannibalizing potential Mac sales by making the most of the margins they are effectively combatting that.
• “Our teams are working on new hardware, software, and services that we can’t wait to introduce this Fall and throughout 2014.” Even though it’s obvious that Tim Cook would have said something like this, I cant help but feel better now that he has.
• Apple will also be entering a new product category this year. OMG iCAR!

It wasn’t a hit all-round this quarter, but I don’t believe Apple are doomed. Of course they’re not. I shall look forward to the next quarter — the same as I always do — with my eyes on the most exciting company in tech.

This is a guest post by Myke Hurley, as Stephen and his family are on a much-needed break.

Only Apple earnings days could cause such disgusting link-bait articles. The NME ( New Musical Express) has just posted this story, detailing how Apple may post a loss in profits today.

I mean, seriously? I know that iTunes sells music, but does this really fit the beat of a music magazine’s news website?

Buckle up everyone, it’s going that be that sort of day.

This is a guest post by Myke Hurley, as Stephen and his family are on a much-needed break.

As those who visit the site can see, it now reads “This is Pat Dryburgh.” This is who I am; this is what I love, what I hate, what inspires me, what challenges me, the questions I am asking myself and the answers I’m discovering. I could go and scour the internet again to fill another “Top 10 Best Websites with a Green Background and Sans Serif Type” post, but that’s not me.

This is an older post from the wonderful Mr Dryburgh, it sums up exactly what I was getting at yesterday. He let himself explore more creative avenues once he was able to free himself from constantly checking his numbers.

This is a guest post by Myke Hurley, as Stephen and his family are on a much-needed break.

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I’m not a writer. So please forgive the multitude of grammatical errors that may follow. I am a podcaster, so I speak on the internet. Frame this article in the mind of someone who is writing from a stream of consciousness, rather than a meticulous outline.

When Stephen asked me to help him out this week – whilst he is taking a much-needed break – I started to think about what I could share with his handsome readers. So, I decided that I would talk about the most important thing I have learned over the last three years of being a podcaster:

Audience Quality > Audience Quantity.

This simple statement is quite often overlooked by people trying to be a success on the internet and is quite often thought about in the reverse. But I have had much greater success in my endeavours since I considered things this way.

A lot of this thinking stemmed from my annual listen of Merlin Mann and John Gruber’s 2009 SXSW talk (something you need to hear if you haven’t before). In this talk they discuss a lot about their ‘ideal readers’, who are the people they dream about reading their work and therefore ensure is good enough that they would enjoy it. Along with this, there is a lot of discussion around why they do the things they do and how important it is that they really care about what they do.

As with most online endeavours, podcasting is seen to be all about the numbers and statistics. To be a success I need to get sponsors. Sponsorship allows me to justify the amount of hours I put in to my shows, as it covers my costs and ensures I can continue to do this long into the future. I perceived that large download numbers were the only way I could secure these sponsors and I was transfixed on this for a long time.

At one point, 70Decibels had 12 active shows. At the time, I was checking performance for each one – logging into separate hosting accounts – multiple times per day. I was consumed by the numbers. I obsessed daily, weekly and monthly—desperately trying to find some sort of formula or correlation to achieving success.

Even after we were able to get long-term sponsors on board, I was still meticulously checking these numbers—it became a habit. I wanted to ensure that I was doing the right thing and I felt like I could only find vindication and answers in the graphs.

But then something changed. After listening to that SXSW talk earlier this year I started to consider things differently.

I re-launched one of our shows – CMD+Space – in August and it has been a great success. The numbers for this show are not astronomical but they are consistent and good. But this isn’t what’s important to me anymore. As this show (and our network) continued to grow it became easier for me to book guests with many people being aware of the shows and the network itself.

This is what changed things for me. People that I have been a fan of for years – people I look up to and admire – were now listening to the shows I create. This allowed me to think differently about what I was trying to do. Instead of blindly following trends and download statistics, I started to think deeply about what my goals were and how I could influence matters to those ends. I spent a lot more time researching and considering discussions, a lot less on ‘hot topics’ and more on things that I found exciting or interesting. I tried to engage people in more thoughtful conversation, all the time honing my craft.

And the funny thing about all this, is that download numbers are higher now than they’ve ever been. But now I only check them all once a month.

What I have tried to build and continue to develop is a core audience of people that really care. I want our listeners to really enjoy what we do, to miss a show if it’s late and to be fully engaged. I love to receive feedback and I get more now that I ever have. I honestly believe that this is because of my renewed focus.

I have spoken with a handful of people that operate in the podcasting world about this and they all seem to agree with me — even though they all came to this conclusion long before me — it is important to create work you are proud of and if you are consistent and you keep working hard at it, you’ll get the outcome it deserves.

And guess what? For sponsorship, an engaged and targeted audience is much more effective than a large one. Who knew?!

Audience Quality > Audience Quantity

I feel like this notion can be applied to so many mediums; I don’t believe that this will just work with podcasting. I’m sure that if you write on lovely sites like this one and you follow this simple idea, you’d achieve similar results. Of course there is a limited amount of space on the internet for success, but those that get there will be the ones that produce good quality work, on a regular basis.

Quality over quantity. I hope this piece has lived up to that.

This is a guest post by Myke Hurley, as Stephen and his family are on a much-needed break.

The guys over at App.net were cool enough to give me a pile of App.net invites. If you haven’t played with the service yet, go check it out.

This episode of Generational is required listening.

Hearing about how Federico Viticci battled cancer whilst managing to run and build Macstories is incredibly inspiring.

There’s a lot to take out of this episode. It really made me contemplate how I operate what I do online; hearing how he refocused himself is very interesting indeed.

Federico also details how he is now working primarily with iOS and how being stuck in a hospital bed helped him discover the power of the platform and make that change.

Gabe is doing great work with Generational. If you’re not currently listening, this is a great place to start.

This is a guest post by Myke Hurley, as Stephen and his family are on a much-needed break.

As I wrote about in March, my family and I are headed to Florida for a week at Disney and Give Kids the World, thanks to Make a Wish.

While I’m gone, Shawn Blanc and Myke Hurley will be filling in for me on the site.

I owe a big thanks to those two guys for keeping the lights on, and to all of you wonderful readers for supporting me over the years, but for now, I’m turning my phone off and am going to spend a week in the sun with my wife and kids.