Circaviso » Life

I wish I could Fandango everything from my iPhone

Michael Mayes — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:31:50 +0000

Last weekend, Caroline and I decided somewhat last minute to go see Oliver Stone's 'South of the Border' at the Angelika in Soho. Usually we use Fandango to buy tickets online in advance, but this time, we didn't, thinking that the city seemed quiet for July 4th weekend and no one would be around.

It was a sweltering hot day and as we approached the theater, I saw the line of people extending down the steps onto the street, everyone waiting to get tickets and get into the air-conditioned lobby.

So, I did what any internet geek would do. I pulled out the iPhone, opened up the Fandango app, and bought my tickets while walking up to the theatre. There's even an option to show your tickets to the attendant on the iPhone screen – so I didn't even have to use the automated pick-up machine (of which there was only one operating, with another line extending out the door). The whole process took about 20 seconds because the app knew my location, suggested the Angelika, and showed the most recent show times for movies. A few clicks, and the receipt was emailed to me.

More businesses need to pick up on the efficiency and simplicity of this experience. For example, if I could walk around Whole Foods and use my iPhone to scan items into a virtual cart and schedule it for delivery at my convenience, I would do that — why make me cart it and wait in line? (That said, I could also just use FreshDirect and stay at home). It makes me think that Best Products was in some ways ahead of its time – if only we had smartphones while we browsed the catalog or walked around the store creating our list to give the cashier.

More likely, we'll see apps and processes like this extend to places like zoos, amusement parks, sporting events and concerts. It'll get really interesting when it makes it as far as buying or renting a car (Zipcar has a huge advantage here), renting hotels or taking flights, or making other large purchases.

The commonality in all of this: taking non-critical steps off the critical path. It improves the experience, accelerates the process, and increases efficiency.

Idea: work-at-home wednesdays

Michael Mayes — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:33:43 +0000

Yesterday and today were meeting days – 14 hours of meetings from Thursday morning at 9am to today at 4pm. Makes it hard to get things done.

Caroline (@mentalkitchen) said "You should ask for Work At Home Wednedays. You go to the office Monday and Tuesday and then you get the next day to do some work at home based on what came up those first two days. Then you head back in for the last two weekdays ready to make progress and take care of business."

Love the idea – has elements of Four Hour Workweek all over it. Just not sure how to make it happen in my office. But at a minimum, I am going to try to keep my Wednesdays meeting free.

BTW – for more of Caroline's ideas check out her blog over at Mentalkitchen.

Timothy Leary At The Internet Archive

Michael Mayes — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:51:48 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

Perhaps you are always wishing you could listen to a little Timothy Leary over morning coffee, like me? Well, now, thanks to the Internet Archives, you can.

Videos, lectures, and other content is available to stream, embed, or download

The 30 min documentary, the Psychedlic Experience, is one of my favorites.

Original site at http://www.timothylearyarchives.org/

I wonder who out there today is writing and thinking things similar to Leary – who is the psychological innovator of the 00's? Leave a comment with any reading suggestions!

The Timothy Leary Archives Now Being Hosted At The Internet Archive (laughingsquid.com)
Leary on Drugs, The Writings and Lectures of Timothy Leary (laughingsquid.com)
Timothy Leary videos at Archive.org (boingboing.net)

My own personal radio station

Michael Mayes — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:23:50 +0000

I am testing out a version of Streampad for WordPress, so you'll now see the bar at the bottom of the site. This will let me take any of my mp3 files, upload them to my site, and stream them to anyone (including myself) from anywhere. It's like my own personal radio station.

This concept is really intriguing to me right now, with the invention of blip.fm, song.ly, pandora, last.fm, and all these other online streaming/uploading sites. For me, for now, I like the idea of streaming my own tunes.

My vision is that I can have my whole library available to me, from anywhere, any time – and I don't have to sync my iPod or take up gigs (I have over 200 gigs of music right now) on my HD (I really want a macbook air…)

It's almost here – it is here if you are tech-savvy and can create your own music server and hook it to the web. But, this widget from Dan Kantor is helping me get one step closer and it only took one click to add it to my blog.