I Deleted Every App On My Phone
Every app on my phone I have ever had is gone. And I think I am happy about it.
I and everyone around me knows I have too many apps on my phone. Years of testing apps from various startups and services combined with the never leave an app behind again "iCloud Backup" meant that unless I deleted an app manually, it never went away. Then something happened. Apparently somewhere hidden in my iCloud backup was a glitch according the Genius's at Apple. I was told the only way to not have it affect my phone anymore was to erase my phone and start from scratch. So that is what I did.
I have been thinking about doing this for years after reading a few blog posts from others before me. I was attracted to how freeing I heard it could be. Also, I clean my home all the time and it felt about time I did the same for my digital world too.
So currently, I am only re-downloading the apps that matter to me. In the process I will be saying goodbye to several apps. Those of note worthy in both categroies I will mention here. I thought it would be interesting to share which apps are worth keeping in 2016. So without further ado:
Apps I Am Keeping:
Dark Sky - Best weather app there is.
Apple Podcasts - Can't delete but its back on the home screen so Ambition Today is always close!
Audible - I listen to a lot of books.
Slack - Immediate access for those close to me and on my teams who know my email inbox can get a bit backed up.
Todoist - the life saver of to-do list apps.
Google Maps - Obviously. I tried Apple maps recently in NYC and it took me to the wrong place by about 20 blocks. I was late for that meeting...
Google Inbox - My lifeline. My go to-email app. If you know a better one you swear by then let me know in the comments.
Google App - I look up a lot of things. I'm curious, what can I say.
Google Drive - Are you seeing a theme here?
Twitter - The best social network there is currently.
Snapchat - The best up and coming social network. If you need further proof of that, my Mom joined recently. Really loving Snapchat lately.
Instagram - Just because.
Nuzzel - I love Nuzzel! It has become the first news app I click each day.
Yahoo News Digest - When I want to know whats happening in the world outside my immediate industry and networks.
Fitbit - because health.
Bitmoji - because fun with friends.
Giphy - because hilarious with friends.
Esper - Great platform to track my time and work.
Robinhood - Why is anyone still paying Scottrade $7 to buy and another $7 to sell?
Youtube - Loving the content on Youtube recently.
The Herd Report - You have to have your own app. Plus the Sabres have Eichel now.
Ward eSports - Best new eSports app for fans there is.
Timehop - Who doesn't love some personal nostalgia from time to time.
Buffer - Best app for sharing content across multiple channels. Works with Nuzzel to easily share article I like.
Venmo - Use it constantly with friends and family.
Acorns - I didn't want to re-download but it is mobile only so I kind of had to.
Uber- I live in New York City. Enough said on this one.
Apps I Am Saying Goodbye To:
Facebook - I turned off badge and push notifications a few weeks ago. Not even going to put it back on my phone this time. I will check in on my laptop when I feel like it.
Google Chrome - It's just not "that" much better then safari. Don't need it and will give Safari one more chance.
LinkedIn - Very, very little value comes out of this app that isn't more easily found other places.
Reddit - Nuzzel has replaced it.
Periscope - I broadcast from time to time, but I haven't consumed anything of note recently.
Medium - The best medium posts surface inside Nuzzel. And Medium has been sending way to many push notifications recently anyway.
Vine - I recently went viral on vine, but still do not think enough people are using it day to day. I never open it.
Skype - Will probably have to re-download but don't want to.
Whatsapp - I talk to these friends on iMessage or Facebook Messenger now.
Facebook Messenger - Will probably have to re-download but don't want to.
Many, many more - I didn't even re-download any apps from screen 3 or 4 of my phone.
These are the apps I have downloaded while setting my phone back up and the ones that I didn't bring back. I am sure I will have to re-download more apps as I realize I need them and I will do that when the time comes. In the meantime though I feel freed. Most importantly I am excited to see how my phones battery life improves.
Before and After: Home Screen
Before and After: Screen 2
Major Key Alert: Add Krsiskar On Snapchat
If you have been paying attention to the pathway to more success then you know Snapchat is a Major 🔑Key . According to the 5 minute mini documentary video above, DJ Khaled is now getting between 3-4 million views per every single 10-second snap he sends out.
If you have been paying attention to the "pathway to more success" then you know Snapchat is a now a Major 🔑Key in the world of social networks. According to the 5 minute mini documentary video above, DJ Khaled (djkhaled305 on snapchat) is now getting between 3-4 million views per every single 10-second snap he sends out. That is two times as many views as a normal episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians, proving that snapchat is no longer just for sending pictures of food to your friends.
With that I have decided to open up my Snapchat to the public. You can now get more of New York City and Startups by adding "krsiskar" on Snapchat. I'll make it even simpler for you. You can click the button below on your mobile device to add me on Snapchat with one click. And below that is also my Snapcode which you can screenshot and add me by as well. Lastly, if you know any other interesting snapchat accounts that are must adds, go on Snapchat and send me a snap telling me who else I should be checking out!
Follow Kevin Siskar on Snapchat
Some Thoughts On Tidal And Kanye
I love Spotify. I became a user in England about a year before anyone in the United States even had access to the service. I have been a paid user ever since. Last year two new popular services came about. Apple Music and Tidal.
I love Spotify. I became a user in England about a year before anyone in the United States even had access to the service. I have been a paid user ever since.
Last year two new popular services came about. Apple Music and Tidal. In regards to the first, after seeing how Apple butchered my existing Music library on my iPhone with iOS 9 I have yet to try Apple Music. As for the second service, Tidal came along in the uniquest of ways.
Mimicking the founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence, Tidal lined up several Artists on a stage and had each of them sign the companies constitution. It was meant to be symbolically powerful but it didn't seem like the music industry revolution as it was intended. It was missing something.
The Tidal Declaration came across as "tech ignorant". If that isn't a term yet, I'm coining it now. While already successful artists can build a walled garden around exclusivity of future releases, there is much more to building a successful product then simply access to exclusivity.
A year later that core thesis is being put the test. Exclusive album releases by Rihanna most recently and this week by Kanye West with his new album "The Life Of Pablo".
And since declaring this his album a Tidal exclusive it has been pirated over half a million times. For a man who is supposedly $53 million dollars in "debt", I am curious as the amount of money that a Tidal exclusive release leaves on the table from other potential platforms and CD releases. So a year later after Tidal's big release here we are. I didn't want to. I really didn't. But after seeing Tidal rise in the app store this week I have downloaded the app. I am currently listening to Kanye West's "The Life Of Pablo" in HiFi. Here are my thoughts in no particular order.
When I left iTunes for Spotify it was because I could listen to any song I could think of on the spot. Instant streaming was a exponential increase in value over paying per song in iTunes and from what people have told me it was easier than downloading an album. I signed up for premium Spotify shortly thereafter to remove all commercials. I used both for a bit, as I had spent years building my iTunes library, but eventually I fully switched to Spotify. Years later I now have that same vested interested in my Spotify library of saved songs and playlists as I once had with iTunes.
Tidal's high quality HiFi music quality is not enough for me to make the switch though. Album exclusivity is not enough for me switch either. The album has been dying for awhile now and society is moving toward a constant release of singles every few months. Playlists are replacing the album. The value increase over my existing preference is simply not yet high enough. Lastly, "The Life Of Pablo" is an interesting album to say the least. I think I prefer Dr. West though over the new Ultra Light Beam of Yeezus. To end my mostly skeptical thoughts of Tidal on a positive note though, is that If there is one person who can make sense of Tidal perhaps it's the one currently Watching The Throne.
What Does Periscope’s Live Mobile Streaming Mean To Media
This week I ran into a dilemma at the intersection of media and technology. In the last flew weeks we have got some amazing new technology in the live mobile streaming space.
This week I ran into a dilemma at the intersection of media and technology. In the last flew weeks we have got some amazing new technology in the live mobile streaming space. Meerkatand Twitter owned Periscope. The mobile app live streaming these apps enable feels really new and exciting. It reminds of when we first heard about Twitter. Not surprisingly though, just like when social media was new and we had to have a national conversation about its impacts on society, it is time to do so once again with this new technology.
If you know me then you know I love early adopting and testing new technologies. I am still optimistically waiting for the Google Glass comeback in a few years time. I also run a website or two. One of them beingTheHerdReport.com. The team and I played with both Meerkat and Periscope on our personal accounts recently. Afterword our next thought was how incredibly cool it would be to use them while covering live events. Obviously this technology would be a perfect fit to use with The Herd Report. The technology gives us, the underdog, the ability to be a lot closer to being on the same level as those incumbents with expensive TV broadcast cameras. Obviously it makes sense for us to use these new apps. Then something happened. We recoiled.
We were afraid. Afraid that the giants whose shoulders we stand on, those teams we love, constantly cover, and promote might get upset we were live streaming. We love working with them so obviously we started to think more in depth about this. After all, we constantly hear stories in the news about piracy. So we wanted to make sure we wouldn’t upset anyone and this lead us to the question: At a live event, specifically in this case sports event, who owns the actual event itself? I started researching.
I tried to initially look into this by researching how fan created media that is not live is treated. Then to see if the fact that something is now happening live change how we should treat it? This is what I found.
“Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”
Keep in mind I am not a lawyer and this is just my basic current understanding of this confusing new space after some little research. The key word in the above definition of copyright is “fixed”. This is important because it creates a big distinction. For example, an event like a broadway musical, concert, ballet, or other theatrical performance has every movement staged by the author and is therefore “fixed”. This means the copyright lies on the events unfolding on the stage itself.
In the case of sports events though, the events are always random play by play and therefore are not fixed. Meaning the copyright does not lie with the actual event itself. In the case of sports events it turns out that it is actually the broadcasts of the event that is copyrightable. The unique combination of choreographed angles, on screen graphics, announcers, etc is what makes the live broadcast a fixed piece of copyrightable art. Again, keep in mind I am not a lawyer so please research this for yourself and let me know in the comments if you find anything different.
So it seems, at least to the best of my current knowledge, that the fans who create their own “broadcasts” at live non-fixed sports events on their own devices with unique iPhone camera angles and use their own voice as commentary, etc, would own that copyrightable content. Now keep in mind this is according to this definition of copyright law stated above. As for what abilities you waive when you purchase a ticket to a sports event or enter a stadium I am not sure and it probably varies venue to venue.
St. Peters Square in 2005 vs 2013.
My intention today is not to give a definitive answer to the questions I raised though. I am not sure there is one as this new technology is so new. More so my intent is to start the conversation about how this new technology will be treated. Why? Because I find all this incredibly new, interesting, and just plain old exciting. I can’t wait to see how live mobile streaming reaches its full potential.
Please let me know on Twitter, Periscope, or in the comments below if you know or hear of anything further. Looking forward to the discussion. Let’s start the conversation.
Twitter Should Buy Meerkat
Something different happened yesterday. While I was on Twitter one of the people I follow, Matt Mazzeo @Mazzeo, sent out a tweet that said:
Something different happened yesterday. While I was on Twitter one of the people I follow, Matt Mazzeo @Mazzeo, sent out a tweet that said:
|LIVE NOW| Lowercase Office Hours - #meerkat http://t.co/ZmXJmDxw0h
— Matt Mazzeo (@Mazzeo) March 1, 2015I clicked on the link on my desktop browser. Nothing happened. I refreshed the browser. Nothing happened still. I looked up what Meerkat was and found out it was an app made by Life On Air, which was previously Yevvo. Giving up on the browser version I downloaded the app on my phone to satisfy my curiosity. There was only 2 people I follow on Twitter already on Meerkat. Then I clicked the link Matt Mazzeo had tweeted again, this time on my phones mobile Twitter app. It opened the link in the Meerkat app.
What I then saw was a casual conversation being had between Matt Mazzeo and his audience for office hours. He was responding to text chat questions from those viewing and really just giving helpful advice to everyone watching on Meerkat. It is important to note that while using Meerkat all the internal chats are actually also live tweets mentioning the broadcaster on Twitter simultaneously. There was only about 40 people in the room during the broadcast. One of them was Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee.
The most interesting thing about this experience was that in real time and at a moments notice I went from sitting at my desk working, to seeing into someone else’s window across the country. There was no FaceTime or Skype dialing. No recording the video now and others will view it at a later time. There was an instant public connection to the world and all of ones Twitter followers. Using Meerkat this first time felt like I was seeing something I shouldn’t normally be seeing. This felt new!
After this stream ended then Ryan Hoover @rrhoover of Product Hunt got about 300 people on his live broadcast while he demonstrated new Product Hunt features. A few more hours went by. During that time notifications kept flashing on my phone as more and more people in my social network kept joining Meerkat.
One of the more interesting notifications I got was in the evening when Adam Lisagor @lonelysandwich went live from his living room saying “What is this thing? I think there might be a possibility I am streaming right now”. I myself did this by accident too when I was first playing with the app. It’s just that frictionless to go live to your Twitter followers.
When I woke up the next morning I got a Meerkat push notification again. This time telling me that@garyvee was live from New York, 1 minute ago. I clicked it and within seconds was inside Gary Vaynerchuk office, behind the scenes before the live recording of his “Ask Gary Vee” show.
I have to say that this experience feels new and exciting. Yesterday’s events and new users show that I’m not the only one that thinks so either. So back to the title of this post. All of this interaction on Meerkat is happening in real time and lives very much already inside of Twitter. It is the live broadcast video version of Twitter. No prerecorded delay. I could see these live events on Twitter cards as I scroll through my Twitter feed. Coming to life the same way video does on Vines as you scroll over them. Could you imagine what CNN or ESPN could do with this broadcast ability while covering live events. It is very early to tell if this app will survive long term and we certainly know this is not the first attempt at an app like this, but if I was twitter this is something I would not want to wait for Facebook or Google to acquire first. If there is anyone who know what happens when apps go viral at SXSW, coming up this month, it is Twitter.
Follow me on Twitter & Meerkat @TheSiskar