Rick's World

A couple of days ago, Apple finally revealed the tablet computer that they've been rumored to be making for a long time. It's the iPad.

My first thought upon seeing it was, "That's weird. It's square!" iPhones and iPod Touches have a much more widescreen aspect ratio to them, so this struck me as a bit odd. I was also very dissapointed to see that it could still only display four application icons per row. Then when they demo'd running existing iPhone apps on it, it looked very poorly done and very un-Apple-like. I was also dissapointed that the low end model only has 16GB. I was expecting something more along the lines of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. It also 'only' has a 1GHz processor. As you can see, my first impression was a bit negative.

But I'm still going to get one. Why? Because what we saw on Wednesday, was only the beginning. What we saw, I'm convinced, is an incomplete version of the iPad software. It won't be released for 60 days (around the end of March). In those 60 days, no doubt they'll iron out all these problems. I've been a member of their iPhone developer program since the day it opened 18 months ago, so I've seen Apple go through the evolution of the iPhone OS before. When a major new version of the OS comes out, things are a bit bumpy for a while, but Apple always straightens these things out. The iPad version of the iPhone OS will be no different. I expect that 60 days from now, Apple will release a greatly updated version of the iPhone OS - 4.0 - and this will be the OS that the final shipping iPad runs, as well as the OS on which the next iPhone will be based. I think we also now know what the next iPhone will look like. It will look just like a smaller iPad, though likely with a more widescreen display.

A lot of people are complaining that the iPad is missing a lot of features such as multitasking, a camera, etc. I don't think these things matter too much, though. The iPad is designed to be the computer for the computer-phobic. It's very simple. You run one application at a time. A lot of people just can't wrap their brain around the idea of running more than one application at a time. Because of this, multitasking really doesn't matter. Also, the lack of a camera, I don't feel is a big issue. Are you really going to carry this big tablet everywhere and take photos of things? No. Will you carry a small cellphone (the iPhone) around with you at all times and take pictures of things - yes. That's why the iPhone has a camera and the iPad doesn't. A camera isn't of much use on a device such as this.

What the iPad is good for, is a lot of basic computing tasks around the house. For the last couple of years, since I bought my first Macbook (and now Macbook Pro), I've found myself using my desktop computer less and less. It still has its uses, but for most things, a laptop can do the trick. I find myself going more and more to the Macbook to do quick things like look up something on the web or check email. The problem with the Macbook is that it's battery isn't designed to be 'on' for weeks at a time. I have to frequently be turning it on, waiting for it to boot up, doing some quick thing, and then turning it off. But then, if I want do do something ELSE, I have to turn it back on and repeat that whole time consuming process. An iPad on the other hand, is always on. You pick it up, hit a button and boom, you have the web, you have your email, etc. It's great for quick little computing tasks around the house.

Ever since I got my iPhone, I almost never check my mail on the Macbook or MacPro. It's so much easier to just grab it off my belt, fire off a quick email, and put it back on the belt. The iPhone is great for email. The problem is, it's not so great for web browsing. Yes, it has a great web browser built in, but the screen is just too small to be of much use. I can see the iPad filling this niche nicely. It's big enough to easily read a web page, it comes on instantly and it doesn't have to be constantly put through a slow bootup, and shutdown process. I also don't particularly care that the iPhone and iPad don't support Flash or Silverlight in their browsers. In fact, I'm glad they don't. I've always felt that Flash and Silverlight are 'cheating' when it comes to making web sites. You can't make a website that works in HTML, so you just don't bother even trying. Essentially Flash is a way of running something that is NOT a website in a web browser. You are avoiding the problem by not even trying to fix it. Instead of doing this, you should put your effort into using websites as they were meant to be used, or campaigning to expand the capabilities of web browsers in a standard way.

Another problem I've had with the iPhone is reading books. There are a number of good ebook reading apps on the iPhone but the screen is just too small for me to spend much time reading on it. The iPad on the other hand is the perfect size for this. It's my Kindle killer. I've been interested in the Kindle for a while, but I didn't like Kindle's monochrome screen and the slow refresh of it's screen. It's good enough for simple, text based books, but once you start adding photos, graphics, line drawings etc to a book, it just doesn't do any of these things adequately. The lack of color is a big drawback here. The iPad has a big color screen and a MUCH faster (to put it mildly) refreshing screen. Problem solved. The iPad is going to launch the switch of books to digital media, just as the iPod did for music.

But what about the iPad vs. netbooks? I've had this very argument with a coworker of mine who owns a netbook. He scoffs at the idea of me paying a lot more for an iPad than he did for his netbook, which in most cases, has far superior technical specs. Yes, you can pay less money for a netbook and get a very powerful little machine, but I just can't see myself using one. They are thick, clunky, have tiny little keyboards, tiny little screens, and tiny little track pads. The iPad is far simpler. There is no clunky keyboard to get in the way - it appears when you need it and goes away the rest of the time. The lack of a physical keyboard also makes it much thinner and lighter. Netbooks also just run standard desktop Windows, shrunk down to fit on a small screen. This is not practical. While the UI conventions of Windows might be fine on a large desktop screen, they just get in the way on a small screen. Apple is smart enough to realize this and design their software appropriately so that there is nothing cluttering up the screen getting in your way. A lot of netbooks also still only run Windows XP - an operating system written 9 years ago, before anyone had even conceived of a netbook. It is old, inefficient, susceptible to virii and generally does not make good use of the hardware it runs on.

In the short term, I'm buying an iPad to be my 'color Kindle'. I'll use it to read books, browse the web, read emails and other simple tasks like that. However, I know that this is just the beginning. When the iPhone first came out, I instantly knew that it was going to be huge. The potential was there for SO many interesting ideas - many of which I couldn't even imagine at the time. The iPad is the same way. It's everything the iPhone can do but with the HUGE benefit of a much larger screen. This larger screen eliminates the last big thing holding back the iPhone. There is so much potential in what the iPad can do, I don't even know what will happen.

But I plan to go along for the ride.

I just got off the phone with Chase.  I just closed my last credit card.  And when I say my 'last' credit card, I mean it.  I will never have a credit card ever again.

This move has been a long time coming.  Over the years, since I first went out on my own in 1993 or so, I've had credit cards.  I was never one of these people who went around with 15 credit cards, all maxed out.  I think at my worst, I had maybe 5-6 credit cards (including store credit cards).  I've had my share of high credit card bills.  At one point I was up to $7,000 on one card.  That scared the hell out of me.  It took me over a year to pay all that off.  This was a long time ago, though, during my 'ignorant youth', right out of college.  For the last 10 years or so, I've tried to maintain a VERY low balance - at most a couple hundred bucks every year.  But even that relatively small credit card balance every month really bothered me.  I hated the 'surprise' every month when that bill comes in and suddenly I have to write a check for $500-700.   That kind of money adds up fast.  18 months ago I decided to cancel all my credit cards but one and never use a credit card again.  I did so, leaving this one card as a 'safety net'.  However, in the last 18 months, I didn't need that safety net so today I closed that last card.  I am now operating 'without a net' and loving it.

Over the years, I've gradually moved more and more towards a cash-only life and away from credit cards.  Those high bills and that scary $7K bill were not the way I wanted to live my life.  I've gradually moved from a life of car payments, to a life of no car payments.  My last two cars I bought new, and paid off early.  My previous car I bought on a 4 year, 0% interest loan, but paid it off in 3 years.  I then drove it for 3 1/2 more years beyond that before it just wore out on me.  My current car I bought on a 4 year, 2.9% interest loan.  I paid off that 4 year loan in 2 years.  I've been driving my current car, payment-free for 2 1/2 years now and I think I can get quite a few more years out of it.  My next car will be bought cash, with no car payments.

My financial life has improved immensely since I started on this quest.  Three years ago, I had a situation where I needed to get my hands on $15,000 cash in order to execute some stock options at my job that would pay me several times that back.  I only had about $2,000 in my bank account.  I'm ashamed to say that I had to borrow that money.  Today, three years later, I now have over $40,000 in liquid cash that I could get my hands on if need be with no penalties.  This is all due to the fact that I do not owe money to anyone, for anything, (except my mortgage).  It's an amazing turnaround in such a short time.  This is due to the fact that I do NOT use credit cards and I do not have a car payment.  Think about that.  I am not making $500/month car payments anymore.  I am also not making $500/month credit card bill payments anymore.  That's an extra $1,000/month that I have available.  With that extra money I have built up a sizable cash reserve.  I can easily survive a 6 month layoff from work, should the need arise.  I can easily pay for just about any repair that may arise on my house.  I can literally go out and buy a car for cash right now.

One of my goals this year was to save up $25,000 in my savings.  I achieved that goal earlier this month - a month early.  The purpose of that money was to provide financial support for myself for at least 6 months, should I lose my job, and to provide a 'home improvement' fund for making any repairs, replacements needed in my house.  My goal for next year (and the next several years) is to pay off my house, early.  Starting on January 1, 2010 I will be making BIG extra principal payments on my mortgage every month.  My goal is to have my house completely paid off by July 14, 2014 (my 45th birthday).  That gives me 55 months to pay off about $130,000.  It is not going to be easy.  It will be a true test of my financial management skills to pull this off, but I know I can do it.

By my 45th birthday, I will owe nothing to anyone.  Once I achieve this goal (and I will) the possibilities are endless.

Link: https://twitter.com/rekle

On July 14, 2008 (my birthday!) I joined Twitter.  I'd been hearing a lot about Twitter for a long time before that so I finally decided to join and see what this whole Twitter thing was all about.  It's been over a year now and I wanted to give my thoughts about the whole experience.

Twitter is yet another one of those 'social media' web sites on the internet.  However, it is quite different from the other sites, such as Facebook in that it is on the surface a very simple site.  All you do on Twitter is post short, 140 character messages.  These 140 character messages have become known as 'tweets'.  You can then follow other people and read their own short messages.  That's it.  There's no games, there's no pictures, there's no nothing.  It's just these little messages.  It would seem that this very simple site would not be of much interest in people and it would die off rapidly.  That couldn't be farther from the truth.  Twitter has become incredibly popular.  There are now many different ways to post messages to and read messages from Twitter.  There is the Twitter website itself, there are lots of different applications for posting/reading messages for different operating systems (Linux, OS X, Windows etc).  There are also a large number of iPhone applications that allow you to access Twitter.

Twitter to me is yet another example of how a very simple idea is started on the Internet and it just takes off and evolves in ways that no one, including the founders even expect.  While Twitter itself has maintained it's simple structure, others have taken this structure and added on to it in clever ways to expand it's usefulness.  A number of URL shortening services, such as bit.ly have been created so that people can post long URLs in the limited 140 character message size.  Sites such as TwitPic have been created to allow the posting of pictures to Twitter.

What do I think the key to Twitter's success is, though?  The iPhone.  Why?  Because of the iPhone's relatively large screen, it's portability, it's camera and it's always on connection to the Internet, it means people can post comments to Twitter from anywhere at any time.  A number of well known news stories have announced first on Twitter.  When that plane crash landed in the Hudsan River in New York a while back, the very first photo published of the plane was taken with an iPhone's camera and posted to Twitter.  Earthquakes have been announced on Twitter.  The death of Michael Jackson was announced on Twitter.  I have an iPhone and as such, I too have instant access to Twitter.  Probably 99.9% of the 'tweets' I've posted on Twitter have come from my iPhone.  I use an iPhone app called Tweetie to access Twitter, though there are a number of other good Twitter clients for the iPhone, such as Twitterific, Twinkle etc.  Each has it's pluses and minuses, so it's up to the user to decide which works best for you.  I like Tweetie because it seems to be the most complete.  It does darn near everything you can do on Twitter in one easy to use application.  There is a new version of Tweetie (Tweetie 2) that will be coming out any day now.  I'll be buying that when it is released.

Why do I like Twitter?  The conversations.  I started my use of Twitter by following a large collection of iPhone developers.  I've been developing for the iPhone for while and I figured by 'eavesdropping' on the conversation of knowledgible developers, I could learn more about it.  I've learned quite a bit since then about iPhones and other things I never even expected.  I've gotten into political debates with people in the UK.  I've discussed iPhone programming.  I've discussed movies.  I've discussed TV shows.  It's all been interesting.  I've found links to lots of interesting articles on the Internet.  It's been an interesting experience.  I noticed today, that in the last year or so I've been on Twitter, I've posted messages there over 1,000 times!  That may seem like a lot, but it only works out to a couple a day.  That means I'm a fairly light Twitter user.  There are heavier users of Twitter who posted many times that number of messages.  These conversations are also interesting in how direct they are.  You are talking directly to the person (usually in 'public').  I've talked with the author's of books I've bought, I've talked with well known actors, I've talked with fellow programmers.  It's an amazing thing.  You name the celebrity, author, politician etc. and they are likely on Twitter.

It takes some time to get used to Twitter.  One thing to remember though, is that in order to get something out of Twitter you have to put something in.  You have to contribute.  You have to post messages.  Read people's messages.  Reply to them.  If someone asks a question and you know the answer, respond!  If you have some information you think might be useful, post a message.  You have to get involved with the conversation.  If you are just sitting there quietly 'listening' and don't say anything, you won't see much use in it.  I have to constantly remind myself to get involved in it.  I do more reading then posting, but when I do post, I often get responses.  The more you post, the more you respond to other's comments, the more response you will get and hence the more value you will derive from it.

Twitter is the main reason I've been so quiet on this blog lately.  Before I joined Twitter, if I had something to say, I would blog it.  Now, I just go on Twitter and post a quick comment about it.  I have to admit though, that I miss posting to this blog.  It's hard to get your point across in 140 characters on Twitter, but at the same time, because the messages are so short there, I can quickly fire off a comment.  With the blog I have to sit here for a long period of time, typing out my thoughts, editing it for grammar, adding links to websites etc.  The blog takes a lot more work.

Twitter has it's own 'language' that it tends to follow.  Messages are called 'tweets'.  Whenever you see someone on the Internet list a one word name following an '@' symbol, this is a reference to a user's Twitter handle.  For example, if you see me mention @rekle, that is a reference to my Twitter user name of 'rekle'.  The '@' symbol is used as a way of identifying a user.  I assume that this '@' symbol style evolved from the similar email address style.  If you see a word following a '#' symbol, such as '#iphone', this is a search tag.  You can click on these tags to find other people who are talking about the same subject.  You can search Twitter for messages in particular subjects.  If you do this and you find an interesting person talking about a subject you like, you can start following them.  Some Twitter clients, like Twinkle allow you to post messages with attached GPS coordinates.  This lets you find people nearby that are interesting to you.  I've always been a bit uncomfortable with posting my GPS coordinates on the Internet.  People don't need to know exactly where I am at this moment.  People don't need to know the exact location of my home or where I work, but if you don't have a problem with that, by all means, do so.

Some people may be bothered by the whole 'living your lives in public' that comes as a result of many social network sites, such as Twitter or Facebook.  I certainly am one of those.  I get around this by only publishing things that I wouldn't mind strangers knowing.  I'll comment in public on books or movies I like.  I'll help people with programming problems whenever I can.  I'll pass on interesting news stories I read on the Internet.  However, I do keep a lot of things private from Twitter and from this blog.  I never mention my family and what they do online.  If my family wants to talk about what they do, that's their business.  I never mention my exact address online.  People don't need to find me at my job.  My family and friends can do that, not strangers.  I never mention my salary, or the salaries of any members of my family.  I never mention what bank I use.  I never mention how much I have in the bank.  Those are all private matters that the world at large don't need to know.  Do I comment on ways to save money?  Sure.  Those are things that are useful to others.  (See my previous blog).  Do I comment on new technologies that I find interesting.  Yes.  Again these are things that I think others may find useful.  This is not any way invading my privacy or my families privacy.  I've talked in the past about friends I have who are homosexual.  I have refrained from ever mentioning their names.  Homosexuality is a very private subject and I certainly won't betray a friend's trust by 'outing' them in public without their permission.  I have friends who are dealing with bankruptcy, marital problems, etc that I don't talk about.  I won't betray their trust or friendship by 'outing' them on these things.  I think I've found a good balance of 'public' and 'private' online.

Let me know what you think.  You can reply to me here or on Twitter.

Over the years, I've developed a series of money habits that have served me well.  I thought I'd write about them in the hopes that someone else would benefit from them.

Don't Use Credit Cards - Ever!

Studies have found that people who use credit cards spend more money than people who pay cash or use a debit card.  I've found that when you use a credit card, it's very easy to lose track of how much you are spending.  Before you know it, you end up getting a massive bill at the end of the month.  This massive bill causes stress as you worry about how to pay it every month.  Do you have enough money to cover the bill this month along with all your other bills? After a while, you end up with a situation where you don't pay off the balance every month and the balance just gets bigger and bigger.  Eventually you reach a point where you can't pay it off.  This leads to more stress, and in some cases, bankruptcy.

But, Rick, I have bills.  I have to use the credit card to cover my expenses.  No you don't.  If you have to use a credit card to cover your bills, you have too many bills.  Put yourself on a budget.  Cut your expenses.  There are always things you can eliminate to reduce your bills.  Cut back on eating out.  Cut back on buying expensive clothes.  Cut back on buying books, CD, etc.  If it isn't a necessity, then it can be eliminated.  Let's face it, most stuff in life is not a necessity.  You don't need that cell phone.  You don't need the pay channels on your cable TV.  You don't need to get a large coffee at Starbucks every morning.  You need food, clothing, shelter and transportation.  The rest is optional.  Do you need to have that nice sports car for your 5 mile commute to work?  Um, no.  A cheap, decent car will do the trick.  There are always options for trimming your expenses.

What should you do instead?  Use cash or use a debit card.  That way, when you buy something, you own it, free and clear.  There's no big bill coming every month.  You don't get screwed by the credit card companies that charge 30% interest (or more) annually.  Plus, by using a debit card or cash, you are forced to be a lot more careful about how much you spend because the money immediately comes out of your bank account.  This will cause you to spend less and hence save more.

I have no credit cards.  I owe nothing to any credit card companies.  Everything I own, I own (except my house).  I've lived this way for over a year now with no problems.  Try it.  You'll like it.

Give Yourself a Paycut

I've found over the years, that I like to spend money.  The problem is, I spend too much of it.  With a habit like that, it's easy to get out of control and get yourself deeply in debt.  The solution I found to this was to give myself a 'paycut'.  What do I mean by that?  What I did was open a separate bank account in a different bank.  I then set up my direct deposit with my employer to deposit a certain amount of every paycheck into this separate bank account.  The rest of the salary goes into my main bank account.  I then pay all my bills and expenses through the main bank account and 'forget' that the other bank account exists.  That money doesn't get touched.  It's only for emergencies.  The reason I put it in an account at a different bank is so that I won't be tempted to transfer money from that account to my main account.  It forces me to pay more attention to my spending since I don't have easy access to that money.  Over time you will learn to live on less.  As you learn to live on lessm you can also start increasing the amount you put in this other account, so your savings will gradually increase and your expenses will gradually decrease.

Pay Only with Paper Money

Whenever you buy something, use only paper money.  Pocket the change and drop it into a jar at home.  After a year or so you'll have a couple hundred bucks in change.  Take it to the bank and cash the change in and you have some 'free' spending money!

Invest in a Roth IRA

A Roth IRA is a relatively new form of retirement account.  You can put up to $5,000 of after tax dollars into it every year.  While the contributions are not tax-deductable, the earnings are!  If you put $5,000 into a Roth IRA every year from age 30 to age 70, you'd have well over $1 million dollars, tax free!  Plus, the earnings on a Roth IRA are much more than the total of the contributions that you put into it.  This means that while you lose the short term tax advantages, in the long term you save a LOT more money.  This is a fantastic deal!  Do it now!

Put 15% of Your Salary in Retirement

Calculate what 15% of your yearly salary would be (salary * 0.15), subtract $5,000/year for the Roth IRA (see above) and then put the rest into a 401K plan with your employer.  Do this every paycheck from your first job out of college until you retire.  Combine this with your Roth IRA earnings and you will retire wealthy.

Buy a Car and Drive it To Death

Cars are a terrible investment.  They always go down in value.  Instead of buying a car, paying it off and then trading it in for another new car with new payments over and over again for the rest of your life, just buy a car, pay it off and drive it to death.  The car you buy should be a used car about 2 years old.  By buying a used car, you end up with a cheaper car and you lose less in depreciation.  You can easily buy a car, pay it off, and drive it for years after that.  Think about that.  Several years of no car payments.  If your car payment was $500/month and you didn't have any car payments for four years that's $24,000 you just saved.  You could buy a car, save up that $500/year for 4 years and then buy a $24,000 car with cash!  Then you take that car you just bought and drive it to death.  Over the next several years that you drive that, you continue to make those $500 car payments to yourself.  Then, when you are ready to buy a car, sell your old car, and add in that $500/month 'car payment' money you've been saving and buy another car cashe.  You'd never have to have car payments again if you do this!  How cool is that?

Pay Off Your House as Fast as You Can

When you buy a home, only get a 15 year loan that is no more than 25% of your take home pay.  Then turn around and pay as much extra as you can every month.  Pay off the house in less then the 15 (or at worse 30) years of the mortgage.  Then continue to make 'house payments' to yourself once you get it paid off.  You will have so much money in the bank you won't know what to do with it.

Conclusion

Over the years, I've found that these tricks lead to much less stress in your life.  You never have to worry about paying the car payment, the mortgage or the credit cards ever again.  Try them, you'll like them!

Here's a quick tip for if you want to have an iPhone application that targets both an earlier version of the iPhone OS and the new iPhone OS 3.0. Juse use the __IPHONE_3_0 precompiler define to compile specific code for iPhone 3.0. i.e.

#ifdef __IPHONE_3_0
// iPhone 3.0 specific stuff
#else
// iPhone 2.2 specific stuff
#endif