Hijinks Inc.

Category: Aaron Nelsen

  • Apple Announces SDK – And it doesn’t suck

    Apple just announced the release of the iPhone SDK, and the good news is it isn’t anywhere near as lame as I thought it was going to be.

    Random pieces of info:

    • Major plus, applications will be available from “App Store” right on your iPhone.
    • Free applications will be allowed at no cost to the developers, otherwise Apple will be pocketing a clean 30% of revenue from application sales.
    • Costs $99 to get access to the SDK. Not cool, but certainly could be worse. SDK available today.
    • Software upgrade (2.0) won’t be release until June it looks like. Lame.
    • Update will be iPod touch compatible, only once again there will be a “nominal fee” charged for the upgrade. Lamer.
    • With Microsoft Exchange support the iPhone is actually shaping up to be a decent enterprise level offering.
    • VC Firm KPCB is setting up an “iFund” to the tune of $100m to support “new ventures”.

    Apps that were demoed:

    • EA demoed a toned down version of Spore for the iPhone, looks pretty sweet.
    • AOL is releasing AIM for the iPhone and I could care less, hopefully Google with follow quickly with GoogleTalk.
    • SalesForce.com demoed an application that had no meaning whatsoever to me, looked cool though.
    • Sega (I guess they still make games :P) showed a preview of Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone, looks like a major acid trip.

  • Passive Income – February 2008

    This month I added a new category, Surveys! Yay! I signed up with Pinecone Research and MySurvey and so far I’ve made $8 off two surveys, which is great considering I’ve only been a member of both sites for 10 days. Anyhow, last month I set the goal for myself to try and average $100 a month, did I make it? Indeed I did, and my February earnings even make up for being $4 short last month.

    • Interest: $35.37
    • Dividends: $11.86
    • Credit Card Rewards: $23.10
    • AdSense: $4.41
    • Text Ads: $25.00
    • Misc website income: $15
    • Surveys: $8.00

    That’s a grand total of $122.74. Not bad at all, and for the record if you’re lazy like me and want to buy a few extra cups of coffee a month I highly recommend you sign up for MySurvey. (more…)

  • Selling a ZIP Drive

    I know, you’re probably thinking “they still make ZIP drives?”, right? Well I checked and they do.

    Anyhow, I’m selling one on eBay right now and someone actually bid on it ($0.99 + $9.99 s&h). Weird. It’s the 100MB model from 2000, still shrink wrapped in all its glory. How is that possible you ask? Umm, good question… well, I found it buried under 8 years of junk mail in my Grandpa’s office last month when I was cleaning.

    I’m totally happy getting $0.99 for it, but if I can make $2.00 that’d be insane! Join me next week when I’ll be auctioning off a vintage copy of of Microsoft Word 5.0 and a Leading Edge word processor.

  • Abilene Christian University + Apple = PR Stunt

    Check it out, Abilene Christian University is offering students a “free” iPhone or iPod touch.

    “Freshmen will use an iPhone or iPod touch to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances – among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed“, said ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts.

    That of course doesn’t mention the hefty AT&T subscription you’ll be stuck with, so I’m assuming you can choose between the iPod or iPhone. At any rate, it’s all good news for Apple which is now 5000 iPhones closer to selling 10 million.

    It’s a cool idea and everything, but seriously, are they that desperate to attract new student? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for bribing people, especially when that person is me, but if I was given an iPod touch that I could use in class I would totally play games the entire time.

    In other news, I just switched schools.

  • iPhone SDK + Firmware 1.1.4

    This is all pure speculation/wishful thinking on my part, so please don’t take it too seriously.

    I personally love the way Installer.app works, I can install/uninstall applications where ever I go, that being said I’m not looking forward to installing apps via iTunes.

    So my question is this, will Apple be able to offer the same on-the-go application management style as Installer.app with the release of the iPhone SDK? I genuinely hope so, however that functionality would likely require firmware 1.1.4 to be released alongside (or soon after) the SDK with a major overhaul to the mobile iTunes application.

    Completely doable, but will Apple choose to follow the logical example set by Installer.app? If they plan on allowing developers to sell applications it makes great sense financially, after all I’ve purchased more than my fair share of stupid games for my cell phone at random times when I was utterly bored and had no form of entertainment readily accessible.

    That being said, what do those of you who actually own an iPod touch or iPhone think?