Christmas came early thanks to this gift from Mrs. C, a tin of my favorite candy, Lemonheads! And I learned some history too, the Ferrara Pan Candy Company was founded in Chicago in 1908. So perhaps my ancestors enjoyed them some Lemonheads as well. I’d like to think so.
Not won, just played. Yet I’m still pleased with this milestone of IPhone distraction. What next to achieve? Fortune? Glory? 500 Unique Beers? Stay tuned…
My new job is several blocks farther from the bus stop than my old one was. But a ride from Capitol Bikeshare past the White House isn’t a bad way to start or end a day. Happy Friday Everybody!
Next Tuesday I will reach a milestone at work. The day will mark my seven year anniversary working at NGP VAN (formerly NGP Software). It’s appropriate that this anniversary should fall on Election Day, as that is the day that is the culmination of the efforts of myself and everyone else at NGP, year after year. We live by the election cycle. Many months of effort build like a crecendo, with an outcome ultimately being decided by the voters on Election Day (and just sometimes by the Supreme Court).
My job at NGP was to build an Online Campaign team, providing website development and strategic services to Democratic candidates, parties, PACs, and other good guys and gals. Seven Election Days later, I look back with great pride at the work we’ve done and the people I’ve had the honor of working with.
But the time has come for a change, and I’m very excited to share that I’ve accepted a position as Director of Internet Strategy at Netcentric Campaigns where I’ll work providing progressive non-profits with strategic support in their online efforts and in building advocacy networks for social change. I’m very excited for such an opportunity that will take advantage of my skills and experience, while providing me the opportunity for professional growth, working in advocacy rather than for campaigns.
Wish me luck, and stay tuned…
I ran into this on my way to the Rosslyn Metro one night last week. Not the typical Civil War history of most of the historical markers we typically see. I was glad to find the spot was memorialized.
Last week Gowalla released the newest version of their location-based application, and they ruined it. These aren’t easy words coming from me. I have been an avid user and evangelist of Gowalla for over a year. I would be more precise with that info, but the new Gowalla no longer lets me view my own check-in history. Accumulating those check-ins was one of the primary points of using Gowalla, I was somewhere around 1,220 unique places that I had checked-into since I first started using Gowalla, but now neither the website or iPhone application display this information to me. So where I have been and when, information I have saved one thumb tap at a time at locations both exciting and mundane (mostly the latter) is now lost to me. Why did I bother?
Check-ins vs. Stories
The new Gowalla has abandoned the concept of the ‘check-in’ and replaced it with the ‘story’. Originally conceived as a digital passport, Gowalla’s distinctive stamps could be collected by globetrotters and homebody’s alike. I loved the opportunity to look for trips and featured stamps to collect wherever my travels took me, when such opportunities occurred. Sharing photos and comments with my friends and family on Gowalla was wonderful. But day to day my check-ins were for myself; my neighborhood, the park on the way to work, the grocery store, my office. I’m not so egotistical that I think anyone but myself gave a crap where I was, but I still checked-in, for myself.
But with the new Gowalla I’m not just ‘checking-in’, I’m telling a ‘story’. Guess what Gowalla, the huge majority of my check-ins don’t amount to a good story, I was only interested in knowing how often I’ve been to that grocery store. And it’s not just my own numbers I’m missing. As I look at different spots on Gowalla, I can no longer tell how often anyone has been there. Is this spot popular, or a one-off joke? Gowalla no longer lets me know.
Badges and Items
One of the motivating reasons to bother checking-in to new locations on Gowalla was to earn badges for doing so. Badges were earned for a wide variety of reasons, sometimes just for where you were such as a state badge, or for the type of location you were at such as a coffee shop, or for completing a ‘trip’ or pre-defined collection of locations. In the new Gowalla, all but the state badges are apparently gone. I feel like the medals have been stripped off my chest!
Another distinguishing factor about Gowalla was items, virtual collectible knick-knacks to be gathered, dropped, hunted, swapped and hoarded. Items made Gowalla a virtual treasure hunt, and while I expect many users enjoyed Gowalla without ever understanding or embracing the point of items, many others enjoyed the hunt and the fun of moving items in this quirky virtual world. Well kiss them goodbye. Your hard earned collection of items is gone. Sorry.
Guides
Why did Gowalla seemingly work to take all of the fun out of their app? I believe they are admitting defeat in the battle of the check-in vs. Foursquare, and seeking to re-invent themselves. To me the appeal of Gowalla over Foursquare has always been their superior interface, custom stamps and unique user experience. Gowalla was to Foursquare as Macs are to PC’s, not as widely adopted but WAY cooler. But cool isn’t always enough, numbers count, and Foursquare has the numbers. So Gowalla had to abandon the ‘check-in’ and create a new justification for existing, as a travel guide.
With content provided by major entertainment and travel resources, as well as their own users, Gowalla is well equipped to be a wonderful digital travel guide, suggesting spots for me to ‘check-in’, no wait ‘start a story’ at that I might otherwise have overlooked. But my commuter lot and grocery story aren’t worthy of a travel guide, or a story, and any reason I ever had for checking into them before has been taken away.
I remain hopeful that some of these features that have made Gowalla such a pleasure for me to use will return. I understand that technology companies much strive to innovate, improve, and be profitable. But they should also recognize when they’ve made a mistake and damaged their product or business and attempt to recover. I hope that Gowalla can do so and bring me back, but for right now they have lost me and I’m ‘checking-out’.
Twenty years ago today, on September 15, 1991, the C-17 Globmaster III made it’s first flight. My father, Bill Casey, was the pilot in command on that flight. Today he is at Edwards Air Force with my mom, to watch that very plane known as T-1 return and be retired from service.
Take a few minutes if you have them to watch this video about that flight, the voiceover at the end is my Dad speaking. When I think of all the servicemen and women who have been delivered and returned in C-17s over the last 20-years, I burst with pride at the important role my father had in the development of this aircraft.
Congrats Dad, the First Flight crew, and to everyone at Douglas Aircraft on this special anniversary!
