Notes from Figure 53Noteshttp://figure53.com/notes2016-11-16T10:53:00ZFigure 53Announcing QLab 4http://figure53.com/notes/2016-11-16-announcing-qlab-4/2016-11-16T10:53:00Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<p>
Hi, everyone.
</p>
<p>
We've been working hard on a brand new version of QLab, and we're happy to share it with you today.
</p>
<p>
We're so pleased to share it, in fact, that we made a little video to introduce you:
</p>
<div class="video" js-fitvid>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/188852493" width="1000" height="562" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <!-- originally 640 x 360 -->
</div>
<br/>
<p>
<a href="/notes/2016-11-16-announcing-qlab-4/announcing-qlab-4.png"><img class="centered" src="announcing-qlab-4.png" alt="QLab 4 screenshot" /></a>
</p>
<h2>What's New</h2>
<p>
Here are some of my favorite new features in version 4:
</p>
<h3>Full lighting control</h3>
<p>
Without a doubt, the biggest new feature in QLab 4 is the new <strong>Light cue</strong>. QLab can now control your lights directly, using the Art-Net protocol.
</p>
<p>
Whether you're a seasoned lighting professional or completely new to lights, we've worked hard to make designing your lights simple, powerful, and fun. We've tried to build on important concepts in the field, in addition to breaking some new ground. Version 4.0 is focused especially on providing a great set of tools for controlling conventional lights, but also supports more complex lights with multiple parameters (includes support for percentage-based parameters, as well as both 8-bit and 16-bit direct DMX parameters.)
</p>
<p>
You can read all about the new Light cue in our extensive <a href="/docs/qlab/v4/lighting/">lighting user guides</a>.
</p>
<p>
We're also excited to share some examples of QLab lighting in this space in the days to come, so stay tuned.
</p>
<h3>Integrated Cue Carts</h3>
<p>
QLab 4 integrates and expands the features formerly found in our application QCart. With version 4 we are retiring QCart, because QLab now does everything it did, and about a kajillion times more.
</p>
<p>
(If you are a QCart customer, don't worry, 100% of the purchase price of your QCart license can be applied to a QLab 4 upgrade, if you so desire.)
</p>
<p>
Cue carts can hold every kind of cue except Group cues, so they're an ideal way to build a super-friendly interface to your design.
</p>
<p>
For example, here's an example cart that provides quick and easy visual activation of cues based on which actor is playing a role on any given day. It's a great method for handling voiceovers, video cues, or any other sort of cue that needs to change to suit the actor who's on that night. You can even adjust the colors of the buttons based on which actor has been "activated", so it's totally clear that everything is ready for the show.
</p>
<p>
<img class="centered" src="understudy-cart.png" alt="QLab 4 cue cart screenshot" />
</p>
<h3>Massive workflow improvements</h3>
<p>
To me, the thing that makes QLab <em>QLab</em> has always been workflow. Keeping you flowing smoothly during a design is critical, and we've spent hundreds of hours on improving and expanding how you work in QLab 4.
</p>
<p>
Your new design toolbox includes:
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Fancy Paste</strong> — pasting cue attributes directly onto one or more other cues can save hours of tedious work.</li>
<li><strong>Record Cue Sequence</strong> — run a cue sequence once by hand, so QLab can re-play it again exactly as you did.</li>
<li><strong>Cue Templates</strong> — customize exactly how every cue is created.</li>
<li><strong>Highlight Related Cues</strong> — with this mode enabled, you can instantly see every cue that shares the same target.</li>
<li><strong>New Status Window</strong> — A place to discover everything from exactly what OSC messages you're getting to what Art-Net nodes were found on the network.</li>
<li>And, of course, a lot more.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Turbo-charged QLab Remote</h3>
<p>
We're thrilled to release a completely rebuilt, dramatically more powerful <a href="/qlab/remote/">QLab Remote for iOS</a>.
</p>
<p>
QLab Remote now includes:
</p>
<ul>
<li>An <strong>all-new design</strong> that looks great on all devices and supports iPad Split View mode.</li>
<li><strong>Live progress timers</strong> for your running cues.</li>
<li><strong>Customizable UI layout</strong> - show, hide, or resize the GO and transport buttons.</li>
<li>A new <strong>"Read-Only Mode"</strong> to watch a workspace without worrying about accidentally triggering or editing a cue.</li>
<li>Edit audio level inputs and crosspoints, not just output levels.</li>
<li><strong>Attach a keyboard</strong> and navigate with shortcuts familiar to QLab power users.</li>
<li><strong>Browse and select new cue targets</strong>, from all the media files in the same directory as your QLab workspace.</li>
<li>And maybe my favorite new feature: the <strong>mobile surface editor</strong>, for fine-tuning your video surface control points to get it lined up juuuust right.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Go Make Something Beautiful</h2>
<p>
We're so glad to finally be able to share this with you, to see (and hear) what you make with it.
</p>
<p>
And as always, the whole team is here at <a href="mailto:support@figure53.com ">support@figure53.com</a> to answer questions or just hear your thoughts.
</p>
<p>
Thanks, everyone.
</p>
<hr/>
<h2>The Laundry List</h2>
<p>
For you folks who just can't get enough bullet points, here's the full list of what's new:
</p>
<h3>General</h3>
<p>
<ul>
<li>Record sequence tool.</li>
<li>Highlight related cues mode.</li>
<li>“Paste cue properties” aka “fancy paste”.</li>
<li>Cue templates.</li>
<li>Support for many new remote editing features when using the new version of <a href="/qlab/remote/">QLab Remote</a>.</li>
<li>Status window, which includes: warnings, logging tool, Art-Net node list, general info.</li>
<li>Hotkey for editing cue notes.</li>
<li>Trigger option: fade and stop peers/list/all cues with customizable fade time.</li>
<li>Trigger option: duck/boost volume of other cues in list/cart to given volume level over given time.</li>
<li>Trigger option: second trigger actions, performed when a running cue is triggered a second time.</li>
<li>Trigger option: "perform second trigger on release" for Hotkey, MIDI Note, or cart button triggers.</li>
<li>Batch edit in the inspector for the following tabs: Basics, Triggers, Light Cue Levels.</li>
<li>Support for negative post-wait times, to indicate triggering the next cue "this many seconds before the current one ends”.</li>
<li>Network cue (formerly the OSC cue) can inject the outgoing message with the current value of (almost) anything in QLab that you can query via OSC.</li>
<li>Network cue OSC messages can be given a duration, over which they re-send their message.</li>
<li>Network cue OSC messages can now be faded over a series of values — both 1D and 2D fades.</li>
<li>Network cues can now be directed to a specific network interface.</li>
<li>Customizable OSC reply formats when using the OSC API.</li>
<li>Group cues in “random” mode now operate in a round-robin manner, where all cues will be triggered before a new round of random cues begins.</li>
<li>Group cues that "start all children" now inherit the duration of their longest child.</li>
<li>Parametric fade curve. (By default, produces equal power audio fade when fading through linear audio domain.)</li>
<li>Control of which domain is used for audio level fades: slider, decibel, or linear.</li>
<li>Option to trigger cue on workspace close, in addition to workspace open</li>
<li>Application preference for what to do on launch:</li>
<ul style="margin-left: 2em;"> <!-- TODO: do this properly -->
<li>restore most recent workspaces</li>
<li>create a new blank workspace</li>
<li>create a new workspace from default template</li>
<li>show the workspace template picker</li>
<li>do nothing</li>
</ul>
<li>Enhancements to global overrides:</li>
<ul style="margin-left: 2em;"> <!-- TODO: do this properly -->
<li>global input/output overrides can now be set by type of message</li>
<li>new OSC/AppleScript hooks for each override</li>
<li>any cue affected by an override will show a red override status image</li>
<li>a warning now appears in the workspace footer for input or Art-Net overrides</li>
</ul>
<li>Export broken cues and warnings list as text (via copy to clipboard).</li>
<li>Visible red flash around go button if double-go protection is invoked.</li>
<li>Hold down shift key to insert new cues before instead of after selection.</li>
<li>Temporary duration ("tempDuration") for all cues where editing duration is allowed - accessible via AppleScript and OSC.</li>
<li>A "currentDuration" read-only property (AppleScript and OSC) that returns the current duration of the cue, accounting for any tempDuration that has been set.</li>
<li>Many new OSC API hooks, and a new special address to talk to "active" (running or paused) cues</li>
</ul>
</p>
<h3>Audio</h3>
<p>
<ul>
<li>Support for up to 64 audio output channels (up from 48).</li>
<li>The integrated fade envelope can now be locked to the start/end time of the cue instead of the file.</li>
<li>Mic cues can now use specific channels of the input device.</li>
<li>Minimum slice time has been reduced to 0.05 seconds (down from 0.1).</li>
<li>Audio cues watch their target files for changes and update automatically.</li>
<li>Duck/boost volume of other cues in list/cart to given volume level over given time.</li>
</ul>
</p>
<h3>Video</h3>
<p>
<ul>
<li>Editable durations for still image Video cues and Text cues.</li>
<li>Copy/paste surface geometry in video settings.</li>
<li>Video facets are now anchored to their center points when they change size.</li>
<li>Improved color accuracy of video cues and effects.</li>
</ul>
</p>
Ten Yearshttp://figure53.com/notes/2016-05-26-ten-years/2016-05-26T10:05:05Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<p>
Good morning!
</p>
<p>
Ten years ago today I walked down the street from my Baltimore apartment to Maryland's
Department of Assessments and Taxation, and filed the papers to form Figure 53, LLC.
</p>
<p>
Named after an illustration from an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Sabbatini">Italian architect of the 1600s</a>,
Figure 53 was born to build the digital gears, ropes, and levers of modern stage magic.
</p>
<p>
<img class="centered" src="fig53-to-logo.png" alt="genesis of the name" />
</p>
<p>
I didn't quit my day job right away; it was still a pursuit of nights and weekends.
I had a pair of twenty-dollar Target headphones, a narrow Target desk,
and just enough space to tuck a computer into the back nook of our little rowhouse apartment.
</p>
<p>
<img class="centered" src="2008-02-10.jpg" alt="first office nook" />
</p>
<p>
Somehow, one thing led to another, Figure 53 turned into <a href="/company/team/">a bunch of great folks</a>,
and here we are ten years later. Some in Baltimore, some in New York, some in California.
</p>
<h2>
Thank You
</h2>
<p>
To everyone reading this: Thank you.
</p>
<p>
Thank you for all the emails, the suggestions, the encouragement. Thank you for helping each other solve interesting design problems.
Thank you for suggesting QLab for other people to try. Thank you for investing in QLab so that we can work on it.
</p>
<h2>
The Next Ten
</h2>
<p>
What's up next for Figure 53?
</p>
<p>
<i>(rubs hands together with delight)</i>
</p>
<p>
Oh y'all, we're working on some <i>fun stuff</i>.
</p>
<p>
Like this, our new 7,000 square foot playhouse in central Baltimore:
</p>
<p>
<img class="centered" src="playhouse.jpg" alt="the new playhouse" />
</p>
<p>
We bought it last year, and we're working to renovate it into a new office, black box theater,
product laboratory, classroom, and active venue. (The architects tell us we can start construction within about a year.)
</p>
<p>
In the years to come we expect to use this space to test and develop new features and new programs.
We envision QLab master classes; maybe even yearly events or festivals.
</p>
<p>
And then there's QLab itself, which we've been working on real hard too.
I'm <i>so excited</i> to tell you more about <i>that</i>, but it's not quite time yet.
</p>
<p>
But if you want to hear the news first, you can:
</p>
<h2>
<a href="https://figure53.com/qlab/standby/">Standby QLab 4</a>
</h2>
<p>
Thanks, everyone.
</p>
Announcing Go Button 3http://figure53.com/notes/2016-02-16-announcing-go-button-3/2016-02-16T09:01:23Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Brent Lord<p>
Today we are introducing <a href="/gobutton">Go Button 3</a>, the exciting next generation of our mobile sound cue playback app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
</p>
<p>
<a href="/gobutton">
<div style="display:block; margin: 0 auto; width: 50%">
<img class="centered" src="icon-200.png" alt="Go Button" />
</div>
</a>
</p>
<p>
Go Button is used every day by performers all around the world to play sound cues for their live shows. More than just a music player, it lets theatres, sound designers, choreographers, and performers like magicians & puppeteers run their sound the right way – giving them an incredibly easy way to control their sound cues for consistent and foolproof playback at every show.
</p>
<p>
And today it gets even better. Here are some highlights of what's new:
</p>
<h2>Try Before You Buy</h2>
<p>
Go Button 3 is now <u><strong>free</strong></u> to try for 1 Show. We want everyone to have the chance to explore Go Button, play around with the Example Show, and try out building a Show of their own. When you are ready, you can purchase a Pro license with a one-time In-App Purchase to immediately unlock the ability to create, import, and export an unlimited number of Shows. And you can restore this single purchase across all of your iOS devices that share the same Apple ID.
</p>
<p>
(Prior owners of Go Button 1 or 2 will receive a free upgrade to the Pro license.)
</p>
<p>
Why the change? We understand that it is much easier to evaluate software – and whether it is right for you – if you can actually <em>use</em> the software first! Up until now, this was only possible by trying out someone else's copy of Go Button. We decided to open things up and let everybody try out all of Go Button's functionality with zero commitment.
</p>
<p>
This is not a time-limited demo or a crippled "lite" version. You can save your work, perform your Show, and do anything else that you can do in the fully-licensed version with that Show. And whether you buy a Pro license or use the free version forever, you'll still be backed by the incredible Figure 53 Support team.
</p>
<h2>New For Performers</h2>
<p>
We love getting feedback from our users, and Go Button 3 delivers many new features requested specifically by performers, including:
<ul>
<li>Shows now have settings that help prevent accidental GOs, including the ability to set a minimum time that is required to pass between each GO and an option to disable double-taps on the cue list.</li>
<li>"Oops" – a new remote control action lets you gracefully recover from an accidental GO by stopping the most recently-played Cue and resetting your Show back to that Cue.</li>
<li>On iPad, a new Full Screen Mode makes it easy to see your device when it's located far away from across the stage.</li>
<li>The "Continuous Show" option lets you run an entire Show in a non-stop loop.</li>
<li>Cues now can have a "Pre Wait", so you can delay the start of a Cue and perfectly time your walk-on music.</li>
</ul>
</p>
<h2>New For Everyone</h2>
<p>
<ul>
<li>Cue & Hit volume now goes up to +12 dB, so now you can increase the volume of that one track that is quieter than all the others.</li>
<li>Cues & Hits now have variable playback rate, with the option to preserve or alter the pitch with the rate change.</li>
<li>All Go Actions that perform fades on a Cue now can have custom fade durations.</li>
<li>The Show Player gains an on-screen Master Fader letting you smoothly adjust your Show's master volume independent of your device volume.</li>
<li>Hits are now available on iPhone and support looping, pre wait, and multiple selection.</li>
<li>Export Shows with their audio files in the new .gobundle document format. (iTunes Music library tracks cannot be exported and must be synced separately.)</li>
<li>Import audio files and Shows from AirDrop, Mail, Messages, and cloud services installed on your device. Share your .gobutton or .gobundle files to other devices via the same methods. </li>
<li>Optionally send "Now Playing" information to display on compatible remote controls, watches, and apps during playback.</li>
<li>The new full-fledged <a href="/docs/gobutton/v3/working-with-your-show/working-with-osc/" title="F53 | Working With OSC">OSC Control API</a> lets you control Go Button over a local network using QLab or other OSC sources.</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
In addition to all of the visible new features, Go Button 3 also contains improvements that are unseen but equally important for our ability to keep pace with advancements in iOS. The show player view has been rebuilt from scratch using modern iOS techniques that better adapt to any new future device sizes as well as enable Split-Screen Mode on newer iPads. Also, the cue scheduling layer is all-new and adapted from time-tested code in other Figure 53 products.
</p>
<p>
If you are an experienced Go Button user, we hope you enjoy discovering everything new that version 3 has to offer. If you are new to Go Button, we can't wait for you to try it out!
</p>
<p class="buy_option center">
<a href="https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-button/id454017315?mt=8&at=1l3vpU5&ct=f53_notes_annc_gb3" class="app-store" style="margin:0 auto;" title="Download Go Button on the App Store"></a>
</p>
<p>
Please let us know what you think, and don't hesitate to ask a question in the <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gobutton">Go Button user group</a> or send us an email at <a href="mailto:support@figure53.com">support@figure53.com</a>. We are always happy to help!
</p>Why is it named QLab?http://figure53.com/notes/2016-01-22-why-is-it-named-qlab/2016-01-22T21:17:37Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<p>
Tim writes:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hey totally unrelated to any work you might be doing.<p>
<p>We got talking round the ol' sound booth today and the question of why "Q" lab and not CueLab?</p>
<p>I assumed it was marketing, others assume it's to be and I'm quoting here "cutesie".</p>
<p>So normally I wouldn't bother people with something so trivial but there is beer on the line (I would like to win said beer) so if you've got two mins I'd love to hear back from you.</p>
<p>
Cheers, <br/>
Tim
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Hey there Tim!
</p>
<p>
I believe this might, incredibly, be the first time anyone has asked this question.
</p>
<p>
One reason is that QLab has the benefit of encouraging more frequent and more unusual misspellings, which we collect as a hobby. For now we keep most of the misspellings in a file cabinet down in the basement, but I have high hopes for one day creating a permanent installation to display all the best ones, with gilt frames and gentle spotlight effects—you know, a real high-end job. Maybe some little placards and printed curatorial notes next to each frame. If we're really on our game, a little audio tour of how each might be pronounced.
</p>
<p>
That's all for the future of course! These days the intern can only just barely keep up with filing the different spellings in between visiting the user forums and quietly adjusting all the lower-case "Qlab"s to the proper uppercase "QLab" and striking the extra "s" many people add to the end. That sort of thing. Honestly I think I may need to talk to the intern about it because I found a whole little pile of 's's next to the coffee grinder thiss morning and I'm wondering if a few fell in; the coffee had such a tinny, metallic taste and I'm conserned. They're fully recyclable and there's really no need to go sprinkling 's's into the coffee beans or anywhere else for that matter. If the intern hasn't been recycling them properly there'ss really no telling exactly where they'd end up, and worsst case scenario some might get through our quality controlss and corrupt ssome of the outgoing QLab downsloads.
</p>
<p>
At any rate, I do hope that helps! Let me know who gets the beer.
</p>
<p>
Chriss
</p>
<p>
P.S.: Oh, also, the main answer, of course, is that QLab is a better name than CueLab.
</p>Farewell from Tixatohttp://figure53.com/notes/2015-11-20-farewell-from-tixato/2015-11-20T11:53:00Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<h2>The Facts</h2>
<p>
After six years working to build a better box office, Tixato will be closing in August 2016. It’s a tremendously hard decision, and we regret the inconveniences it will cause. We know that for many of you changing to a new ticketing service will take significant time and work. We wish we could provide you the service you deserve at a price that supports our work on it, but we have been unable to do so.
</p>
<p>
We will continue to support Tixato and fix critical bugs until August 2016, but no new organizations will be able to sign up.
</p>
<p>
You will be able to export all your data from Tixato. We have also eliminated the Tixato fees for all organizations that have sold tickets within the last year; if you are using Tixato today you will be able to sell tickets for only the credit card fee until Tixato closes.
</p>
<h2>The Story</h2>
<p>
Somewhere along the way, Tixato got stuck. I can still remember our excitement, sitting in a Portland hotel room and imagining how the patron experience could be so much better. At the time, I thought tickets were both the literal and metaphorical “way in” to improving what happens when people go see a show. Everyone needs a ticket, and the ticket seemed the right foundation on which to build. We were already making tools for designing the experience “inside the room”, and we thought we could improve the experience “outside the room” too.
</p>
<p>
As I remember it, the ticketing part was going to be pretty simple, and then we’d get to the cool stuff. We imagined building out tools to let you send text messages to patrons, or to let you offer digital programs sent to a patron’s phone instead of handing them paper. We imagined providing a box office phone number that would let you see a patron’s history at your venue before you picked up the phone. We imagined breaking the box office out of the glass booth and putting it wherever you happened to be holding your pocket computer. We imagined that getting a ticket to come see a show could be a beautiful and painless experience, designed as carefully as the show itself.
</p>
<p>
But as we built, it seemed we could never get to the cool stuff. The ticketing part — the coupons, the season passes, the seating charts, the coupons and season passes <i>applied</i> to the seating charts, the reporting, the printed tickets, the accounting — all the fundamentally <i>transactional</i> things absorbed as many hours as we could throw at them with our tiny team. We learned how intricate and different the ticketing requirements can be across different organizations. It often seemed like no two organizations sell tickets the same way; we hit different requirements with every new customer: their specific promotional deals, or the requirements of their physical venues, or the paper stock they wanted to use for a ticket printer that had a perforation on the opposite side of everyone else’s paper stock. In retrospect, I wish we’d resisted the urge to lengthen our list of ticketing functions. Instead, we kept slogging through these permutations, but instead of clearing the way, we ended up backing ourselves into a corner: attempting to build substantially the same product that many larger and richer companies were already building.
</p>
<p>
We knew for a long time that Tixato was costing a lot more money than it was making. We’ve spent somewhere on the order of $1.5 million on Tixato; its revenue currently pays for its hosting costs and about one half-time person. This imbalance generated much internal debate about the future of the product. For my part, I did not view our costs as <i>ipso facto</i> cause to close it down. I believe in making money, and I believe in doing it the old-fashioned way: selling a product or service for more money than it costs. We are, after all, a bootstrapped company. But <i>as</i> a bootstrapped company, we’re using only our <i>own</i> money. We are not obligated to build a product on anyone else’s timetable, nor are we obligated to meet any outside criteria on what financial results constitute success. From a purely financial perspective, my only <i>obligation</i> is to keep us running, with salaries paid and (rapidly increasing) health insurance costs accounted for. So for a long time, although I was definitely concerned, I was not yet convinced that losing money on the product was reason to shut it down.
</p>
<p>
<a href="monthly-transaction-volume.png"><img class="centered" src="monthly-transaction-volume.png" alt="Tixato monthly credit card transaction volume"/></a>
</p>
<p>
It’s one thing to be on a long path to the right destination. But it’s another thing to have wandered off in the wrong direction. Once we realized we’d done the latter, the choice became no less difficult but a thousand times more clear. Could we build the product our customers deserved? Could we finish developing, maintaining, and fixing the thicket of unexpected transactional complexity, while simultaneously tackling the features that would set us apart from other products, and giving our customers (and ourselves) something to be excited about? Could we meet our own standards for customer support and responsiveness? Could we do those things with the resources our company has available? The answer was no. We could not do all of those things together. And while we might string the product along, sacrificing support, or slowing maintenance, or some other cost-saving measure, we are not that kind of company. We want to give you our best work, and back it up with our full commitment.
</p>
<p>
Thus, as painful as it is for me to tell you this news, I do so believing that it is ultimately the best choice not just for us but for our <i>customers</i>.
</p>
<p>
We’ve learned some tough and expensive lessons in this process. I’m looking forward to building on those lessons, and focusing our energies where we’ll contribute more uniquely. And although we aren’t the right company to continue working on this specific set of problems, we’ve still helped a lot of organizations along the way. (Tixato has processed over 4 million dollars worth of credit card sales to date, in addition to cash sales.) I’m glad we were able to do what we did, to recognize what we can’t do, to take care of our current customers through the end of their seasons, and then continue on a path to give you our best work for, I hope, many years to come.
</p>
<p>
You can always write me directly at chris [at] figure53 [dot] com, if you have questions or thoughts. Thanks.
</p>
<p>
<img src="signature.png" alt="Chris Ashworth" width="240" height="95"/>
</p>Our Second Handbookhttp://figure53.com/notes/2015-06-10-our-second-handbook/2015-06-10T13:21:08Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<p>
About a year ago, if you'd asked me about the Figure 53 company handbook, I would have proudly pointed you to a spare little page that contained the following text:
</p>
<div class="quote">
<p>These are important business policies for Figure 53 internal use.</p>
<h3>Company Lunches</h3>
<p>
Every Monday and Friday, unless one of those is a national holiday. In
that case, lunch will be moved to the nearest non-holiday weekday.
</p>
</div>
<p>
That, in its entirety, was our company handbook.
</p>
<p>
I was rather proud of it, to be honest. My teammate Adam had written it on a day when, after a Monday holiday, he found himself unsure if he could order himself the customary company lunch to start the week. I remember him beginning to ask the question, and then stopping mid-sentence and turning to his computer. We watched him log in to our server, create a new page on the site, type out an answer to his own question, and then turn to announce that lunch would indeed be on the company that day.
</p>
<p>
I loved that little handbook! It represented two things I wanted our company to embody: a place with no dumb rules, and where each person had the agency to define who we are and how we do things. It seemed just right, and it sat on our server for years as our Official Company Handbook. What else did we need, really?
</p>
<p>
But then, about a year ago, we started reading about some bad things happening in the tech industry. To be sure, it wasn't that these things only <i>began</i> happening a year ago, but a series of high-profile stories brought the topic more directly to my attention than it had ever been before.
</p>
<p>
I didn't keep links to all the stories at the time, but it seemed like every week brought a new one: harassment and mistreatment of women, people of color, and other born-less-privileged folks at well-respected tech companies and tech events where "meritocracy" was the only "rule". A common thread to these stories was an apparent confidence from the leadership of each organization that these were great places to work, which hadn't felt a need to spend time and money on the drudgery of handbooks, guidelines, rules, or human resource departments.
</p>
<p>
The result, we learned, was a sort of high school level emergent culture, which produced not a safe and empowering space for adults to be creative, but rather an opportunity for unhealthy social power dynamics to develop unchecked.
</p>
<p>
We began to feel less and less comfortable about our own company policies, or rather, lack thereof. It felt tempting to delay it as something we'd need only when we got bigger, like the companies in the news stories. We are pretty tiny, and we were even tinier then. But the more we thought about it, the more we realized the time was now, not later.
</p>
<p>
So we spent a year, off and on, working on our second official handbook. The whole company shaped it, but my teammates <a href="http://figure53.com/company/#cricket">Cricket</a> and <a href="http://figure53.com/company/#lola">Lola</a> deserve the lion's share of the credit for writing and ushering it into existence.
</p>
<p>
It's a document for us, but we decided to also make it publicly available. We see this as a way to keep us honest, and as a reference point for any other small companies who might be working through some of the same questions we had a year ago. I hope this might encourage other companies to spend some time to consider these issues and do something about them.
</p>
<p>
You can find it here, if you're curious:
</p>
<p>
<a style="font-size: 1.25em;" href="http://figure53.com/handbook/">http://figure53.com/handbook/</a>
</p>
<p>
We don't think it's perfect, but it's a start. And yes, the Company Lunch policy remains, unmodified from the original.
</p>
The Collaborator Partyhttp://figure53.com/notes/2015-06-03-the-collaborator-party/2015-06-03T16:27:40Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<p>
Last year, the Tony Awards in New York decided to eliminate their sound design category.
</p>
<p>
At the time, I joined the chorus in <a href="http://figure53.com/notes/2014-06-15-tony-can-you-hear-me/">expressing my dismay</a>.
</p>
<p>
This year, many leaders in the design community have stepped up to work on constructive responses to the Tony decision. One of these responses is <a href="http://www.collaboratorparty.com/">The Collaborator Party</a>, and we are pleased to help sponsor it.
</p>
<p>
The party is this Sunday. I'll be there, along with many of my Figure 53 teammates. Will you?
</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">
→ <a href="https://collaboratorparty.tixato.com/buy/the-collaborator-party--3/06-07-2015-0700pm--4">Get Tickets For The Collaborator Party</a> ←
</p>
<br/>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kFdNy_DRSyE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br/>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wP_oXGo_DZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br/>
The We Love Live Theatre Contesthttp://figure53.com/notes/2015-04-08-we-love-live-theatre/2015-04-08T13:35:48Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Lola Pierson<h2 id="figure-53-is-having-a-contest">Figure 53 is having a contest!</h2>
<p>We make tools for artists, and we’re passionate about live performance. We also care about education and artists in training. We want to support artists and we want to see what amazing things you can make with our tools. If you are a high school or college student, teacher, or staff member we’d like to sponsor your show!</p>
<h3 id="what-do-you-get-if-you-win">What do you get if you win?</h3>
<p>We will select two winners — one high school production and one college production. If you win, you'll get:</p>
<ul>
<li>Free <a href="http://tixato.com">Tixato</a> fees for your event (excluding credit card processing fees)</li>
<li>A free <a href="http://figure53.com/qlab/">QLab 3</a> Pro Bundle License</li>
<li>A free <a href="http://figure53.com/gobutton/">Go Button</a> License</li>
<li>A cash prize to be used towards production expenses. That can mean supplies for sets, costumes, lighting, sound, or video equipment. It can mean paying the artists involved or renting a space. For high school productions the cash prize is $2,000, for college productions the cash prize is $3,000.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="what-are-your-responsibilities-if-you-win">What are your responsibilities if you win?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Put on your show in 2015. The show must involve live performance. If you have a question about whether your idea qualifies, please email us.</li>
<li>You’ll need to record the performance (either with video or photos) and write a short description of the show and your experience of putting it on.</li>
<li>You must use <a href="http://tixato.com">Tixato</a> to ticket the show.</li>
<li>You must comply with the Official Rules, displayed below.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="how-can-i-enter-this-exciting-contest">How can I enter this exciting contest?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Send us your best pitch by 11:59 PM on June 1, 2015. Mailed entries must be postmarked by June 1, 2015. The pitch can be an essay, a video, photos from your previous shows, a song, a script, some combination of these things, or some great idea that we haven’t thought about yet. All pitches must include a preliminary budget for how the budgeted funds will be distributed. Pitches will be judged on strength and unity of artistic concept, access to administrative and logistic capabilities and support to realize a full scale production, and innovativeness. We will select two winners, one high school level and one college level.</li>
<li>Pitches should be submitted to Lola Pierson at Figure 53. You can submit digitally by emailing materials to <a href="mailto:lola@figure53.com">lola@figure53.com</a> or via physical mail by sending them to</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Lola Pierson<br />
Figure 53<br />
2443 Maryland Ave<br />
Baltimore, MD 21218<br /></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>You must be affiliated with a US high school or college in an official capacity. You can be a full- or part-time student, faculty member, or employee. You cannot be a professional producer or show manager, and you cannot be affiliated with Figure 53, or any reseller or affiliate of Figure 53.</li>
<li>The work being supported must be student-centric (written by, directed by, or starring students)</li>
<li>All determinations of eligibility both of the submitter and of the subject matter are in the sole discretion of Figure 53 and must be in compliance with the Official Rules.</li>
<li>Please include a way to contact you with your pitch.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="any-questions-about-eligibility-guidelines-prizes-or-other-aspects-of-the-contest-can-be-directed-to-lola-piersonmailtololafigure53com">Any questions about eligibility, guidelines, prizes, or other aspects of the contest can be directed to <a href="mailto:lola@figure53.com">Lola Pierson</a>.</h3>
<p><br />
<br />
<br /></p>
<hr />
<font size="2">
<strong>OFFICIAL RULES OUR LAWYERS WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT</strong>
<br />
1. Acceptance of rules: Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules. <br />
2. Name of Contest: The Figure 53 Software Package Contest. <br />
3. Promotion Period: All entries must be: (a) created during 2015; and (b) submitted in the form and using the method permitted by Figure 53, on or before February 1, 2016 (the “Promotion Period”).
<br /> 4. Prize Description <br />
* Free Tixato fees for your event (excluding credit card processing fees) <br />
* A free QLab 3 Pro Bundle License <br />
* A free Go Button License <br />
* A cash prize to be used towards production expenses. That can mean supplies for sets, costumes, lighting, sound, or video equipment. It can mean paying the artists involved or renting a space. For high school productions the cash prize is $2,000, for college productions the cash prize is $3,000. Approximate retail value of each prize set: $3000 for high school, $4000 for college, all of which amount is taxable. <br />
5. Sponsor: Figure 53, LLC, 2443 Maryland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21218. <br />
6. Who may participate: The Contest is open to legal residents of the United States only either aged 18 years or older at time of entry, or if under the age of 18, the entry must be accompanied with a parental/guardian release and consent which will be provided by Figure 53 (each such person so submitting an entry is an “Entrant”). Residents of states where this contest would be or are taxed, regulated, prohibited or restricted are not eligible to participate and this Contest is void in those states. Employees of the Sponsor, its affiliates and subsidiaries, their agents and members of the immediate family or household of each of the above are not eligible to participate. All determinations of eligibility are in the sole discretion of Sponsor. <br />
7. How to Enter; Submissions; determinations. <br />
i) Each Entrant will submit an essay, a video, photos from your previous shows, a song, a script, some combination of these things that pitches us on your show/story (a “Submission”). All Submissions must include a preliminary budget for how the budgeted funds will be distributed. Submissions will be judged by Sponsor’s staff on strength and unity of artistic concept, access to administrative and logistic capabilities and support to realize a full scale production, and innovativeness. <br />
ii) All submissions are the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. <br />
iii) All Entrants represent and warrant to Sponsor that all Submissions are their original work, comply with all applicable laws, and do not violate or infringe any intellectual property rights, contract rights, or personal rights of any person, including but not limited to any rights of privacy or publicity. All Entrants grant to Sponsor and its affiliates a world wide, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable license and right to publicly display, publicly use, make derivative works from, distribute, make and have made, sell, and otherwise use the Submissions. <br />
iv) All Entrants must accurately identify themselves and provide accurate contact information. Entrants may not submit anonymously, pseudonymously, or with an alias or other obfuscated identity. <br />
v) Submissions should be submitted to Lola Pierson at Figure 53. You can submit digitally by emailing materials to lola@figure53.com or via physical mail by sending them to: <br />
Lola Pierson <br />
Figure 53 <br />
2443 Maryland Ave <br />
Baltimore, MD 21218 <br />
<font size="2">
vi) All Entrants must be affiliated with a US high school or US college in an official capacity. Entrants can be a full or part time student, faculty member, or employee. Entrants cannot be a professional producer or show manager, and you cannot be affiliated with Figure53, or any reseller or affiliate of Figure 53. <br />
vii) The work being supported must be student centric (written by, directed by, and/or starring students). <br />
viii) Limit one entry only per person or group. Entrants may not submit multiple entries through different groups, aliases, entities etc. Sponsor is not responsible for errors in delivery, mechanical or electrical issues, or other delivery issues. <br />
ix) Odds of Winning. By submitting for the contest you are not guaranteed to win. Winners will be selected based on the merit of their pitch idea submission. The odds of winning a prize in a particular category (i.e. high school or college) are equal to 1 divided by the number of qualified entries received by Sponsor in such category, and thus depend on the number of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period. All prizes will be awarded, regardless of the number of entries. Prizes are non-transferable and may not be returned or exchanged for cash, except that Sponsor reserves the right to award, at Sponsor’s sole discretion, a cash prize equivalent to the value of the prizes listed in Rule 4 or to substitute a prize of equal or greater value. <br />
x) General Conditions. Winners will be notified by email or phone and must respond to the notification within seven (7) calendar days, or the prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner may be selected. If an entrant changes his/her e-mail address or other contact information after he/she enters the contest, it is his/her sole responsibility to notify Sponsor by e-mail or postal mailing to the Sponsor’s address listed below, to be received not later than the end of the Promotion Period. In the event of a dispute regarding the identity of the person submitting an electronic entry, the entry will be deemed to be submitted by the "Authorized Holder" in whose name the email account is registered, provided that person meets all eligibility criteria set forth in these Official Rules. "Authorized Holder" shall mean the natural person who is identified as such by the owner of the internet domain in the email address. Some public email providers (e.g. gmail, Hotmail, AOL etc) will not provide owner/holder information to third parties like Sponsor. If Sponsor is unable to determine who is the Authorized Holder of an email address in its sole discretion it may reject that submission and award the prize the a newly selected participant. All determinations of eligibility are in the sole discretion of Sponsor. <br />
xi) All taxes, fees, and surcharges on prize are the sole responsibility of the prize winners. Winners are solely responsible for any other costs, incidentals, and expenses not specifically mentioned as being included in the prize. <br />
xii) By participating and accepting a prize, except where prohibited by law, each winner hereby grants to Sponsor (and shall confirm that grant in writing or forfeit the prize) and those acting pursuant to the authority of Sponsor, the right to print, publish, broadcast, and use worldwide in any medium now known or hereafter developed, including but not limited to the World Wide Web, at any time(s), that winner’s name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, and biographical information as news or information and for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation to or review by the winner. By participating, each eligible winner agrees to provide proof of identity, address and birth date and/or execute an affidavit of eligibility, liability release or a publicity release, except where prohibited by law. This Contest is not open to competition associations, automated competition entry services and all non human submissions may be rejected by Sponsor. Any use of such automated devices will cause disqualification. Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual (and his or her Contest entry) who tampers with the entry or voting process. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or suspend this Contest should fraud, virus, bug or other causes beyond the control of Sponsor corrupt the administration, security or proper play of the Contest. Sponsor is not responsible for computer system, phone line, hardware, software or program malfunctions or other errors, failures or delays in computer transmissions or network connections. Proof of entering information on Sponsor’s website is not considered proof of delivery or receipt by Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right to exclude certain individuals from participating for reasons such as violation of the conditions of participation, duplicate participation, attempted manipulation of the Contest, and reserves the right to take legal action. <br />
xiii) The Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with any third party, even if announced or otherwise available on such third party’s platform (e.g. Facebook, Twitter etc). <br />
8. Limitations of Liability. All entrants agree to release Sponsor and its affiliates and their agents, employees, officers, owners, affiliates and contractors (the “Releasees”) from all liability for: (1) misdirected, inaccurate, incomplete, lost, late, delayed, undelivered, damaged or illegible entries; (2) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Contest promotion (other than by Sponsor); and (3) any event outside of the reasonable control of Sponsor. Winners and Entrants also agree to release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless Releasees from and against any claims, damages or liability due to any injuries, damages or losses to any person (including death) or property of any kind resulting in whole or in any part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize offered, or participation in this Contest promotion. Sponsor’s maximum liability hereunder for any claim is $100. Some states may limit Sponsor’s right to exclude damages. <br />
9. Consent to arbitration. Each Entrant participating in the Contest hereby agrees and covenants to arbitrate any and all disputes between the parties before the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), before a single arbitrator to be selected by the AAA, with such arbitration to take place in Baltimore, Maryland. <br />
10. For a copy of these Official Rules or to request the name of the prize winner(s) in writing, send your request to Figure 53, 2443 Maryland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21218.
<br />
<br />
<br />
</font></font>
The IOU of iOShttp://figure53.com/notes/2015-01-26-the-iou-of-ios/2015-01-26T11:00:00Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<p>
If you follow these sorts of things, you would have read recently that iOS is a goldmine:
</p>
<div style="margin-top:20px; margin-bottom:20px;">
<div class="centered-tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Apps are now bigger than Hollywood, and getting bigger. <a href="http://t.co/Gi0PoktYZe">http://t.co/Gi0PoktYZe</a> <a href="http://t.co/MKoWjHMdT9">pic.twitter.com/MKoWjHMdT9</a></p>— Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis) <a href="https://twitter.com/balajis/status/558451359255519232">January 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
</div>
<br/>
<p>
In <a href="http://www.asymco.com/2015/01/22/bigger-than-hollywood/">a fascinating report</a> from Horace Dediu, we learn that:
</p>
<p>
<blockquote>"...in 2014 iOS app developers earned more than Hollywood did from box office in the US."</blockquote>
</p>
<p>
Pretty impressive. Dediu also notes that:
</p>
<p>
<blockquote>"The app economy sustains more jobs (627,000 iOS jobs in the US vs. 374,000 in Hollywood)"</blockquote>
<p>
<p>
iOS, as a whole, is clobbering Hollywood financially and getting stronger every year.
</p>
<h3>Wow! ...Right?</h3>
<p>
Well, maybe. The first thing I find odd about this analysis is: what is meaningful about comparing these two industries? Is Hollywood the standard unit of measurement in business? By its nature it occupies an outsize presence in our collective mindshare, but commanding a spot in our collective mindshare is a limited proxy for financial value.
</p>
<p>
The second thing I find odd, or perhaps just funny, about this analysis is that it goes so far as to describe the App Economy as healthier because it likely compares favorably to actor income:
</p>
<p>
<blockquote>"I would guess that the median income of app developers is higher than the median income of actors."</blockquote>
</p>
<p>
Speaking as someone who comes from the world of theater, I didn't need to look at Dediu's cringe-inducing footnote to know that <i>"a large majority of actors earn less than $1,000 a year from acting jobs"</i>.
</p>
<p>
If <i>some</i> app developers "earn more than Hollywood stars", and the <i>median</i> developer income is better than abject poverty... that doesn't tell us that the App industry is <i>healthy</i> so much as <i>at least slightly less insane than working as an actor</i>. Which, and I say this <i>as</i> an actor, is true of, well, basically any other job. So, not much to learn there.
</p>
<p>
The third thing I find odd about this analysis is that, having grazed ever-so-slightly against the question of an absurd distribution of revenue, it leaves the topic otherwise untouched.
</p>
<h3>Digging a Little Deeper</h3>
<p>
If you follow these sorts of things, you would also have read recently about troubling numbers from some of the most beloved names in independent Mac and iOS development. For example: The venerable and famous-among-people-who-follow-these-things developer <a href="http://panic.com/">Panic Inc</a> just posted a <a href="http://www.panic.com/blog/the-2014-panic-report/">2014 Report</a> in which they note several challenges of their past year. Among these challenges, Panic notes the revenue breakdown of their products:
</p>
<p>
<blockquote>
Wow! 51% of our unit sales came from iOS apps! That’s great! <br/>
But now look at this revenue chart for the same month... <br/>
Despite selling more than half of our total units, iOS represents just 17% of our total revenue.
</blockquote>
</p>
<p>
Now, if you know Panic, and you read that blog post, you might well have imagined the sound of a record player screetching to an abrupt halt at this point in their description. Panic? The multi-award-winning, Apple-featured, impeccably developed, multi-million dollar Panic?
</p>
<p>
For many of us, Panic is the gold standard for indie Mac and iOS developent. Reading their blog post, to an indie iOS developer in a pessimistic mood, might well be what we imagine it looks like when <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canary_in_a_coal_mine">the canary drops dead in the iOS coal mine</a>. "Not enough oxygen down here, get out."
</p>
<h3>But wait, there's more!</h3>
<p>
You, attentive reader, might also have noticed <a href="http://www.marco.org/2015/01/15/overcast-sales-numbers">this other year-end report</a> by the similarly famous and well-respected Marco Arment. In it, Marco generously shares his raw sales numbers for a new iOS app he describes as having "a perfect launch". He also links out to <a href="http://blog.jaredsinclair.com/post/93118460565/a-candid-look-at-unreads-first-year">three</a> <a href="http://blog.kapeli.com/my-year-in-review-2014">other</a> <a href="http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-valley-in-numbers">posts</a> that share raw numbers for other iOS products.
</p>
<p>
The revenue numbers in these posts range from a modest $42,000 to a fantastic $4,786,496.
</p>
<p>
What's a developer to make of all this? Is iOS healthy, or not? A goldmine, or short on oxygen?
</p>
<h3>Quick, someone who knows math, do something!</h3>
<p>
Now enter Charles Perry, who performed <a href="http://metakite.com/blog/2015/01/the-shape-of-the-app-store/">an analysis of Marco's numbers</a> and a <a href="http://metakite.com/blog/2015/01/the-shape-of-the-app-store-redux/">follow-up analysis</a> with more data.
</p>
<p>
Perry concludes that, based on the numbers developers are sharing publicly, the revenue in the iOS app store is skewed heavily to the apps at the top of the charts. If Perry is right, the iOS ecosystem is actually pretty similar to Hollywood after all: a few actors take home a <i>lot</i> of money, and most everyone else takes home, well, not much.
</p>
<h3>Okay, so... what does this all mean?</h3>
<p>
Great question. I get the feeling that a lot of us who develop software aren't entirely sure. The fact that the experienced and reliably great developers among us are asking this question at all is, I think, in itself somewhat alarming.
</p>
<p>
If it's true, is it someone's "fault"? Can it be changed? What are the consequences if it doesn't?
</p>
<h3>Our Own Data</h3>
<p>
You've somehow made it this far, so let me share (for the first time ever, as it turns out) some of our own raw sales numbers.
</p>
<p>
We sell two iOS products:
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://figure53.com/qlab/remote/">QLab Remote</a> is a remote control for our flagship OS X show control product <a href="http://figure53.com/qlab/">QLab</a>. It does nothing on its own, and is only useful in conjunction with QLab running on OS X. QLab Remote sells for 19 bucks.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://figure53.com/gobutton/">Go Button</a> is a self-contained product which puts an entire audio playback system in your pocket. Go Button was initially created by developer Brent Lord, and at first sold for $19. When Brent joined us at Figure 53 and brought a new version of Go Button with him, the price was raised to $39.
</p>
<p>
Here's the full sales data for both products:
</p>
<p>
<img src="combined-income.png" />
</p>
<p>
At $138 per day, these two products are averaging a total revenue (after Apple's 30%, but before taxes and other costs) of about $50,000 per year.
</p>
<p>
Now, 50K per year, after you account for taxes, health insurance, and all the other stuff, is somewhere in the ballpark of a single half-time employee working on these two products for a salary that can't be described as ultra-competitive.
</p>
<p>
The problem, of course, is that these two products were not built (and are not maintained and supported) by a single half-time employee. And while we probably can't ever compete, and frankly don't want to compete, purely on the basis of ultra-competitive salaries, neither do I want to ask any of my teammates to make deep financial sacrifices for the pleasure of working here.
</p>
<p>
Our OS X products, in contrast, make up the difference in our costs to run this 12-person company. There are many reasons for this. The maturity of our flagship product QLab, the much higher price of that product, the fact that we sell it outside of Apple's app store and don't have to give them 30%, etc.
</p>
<p>
Does this mean I'm pessimistic about iOS? Well, no. I'm not. I wouldn't have asked Brent to join us with Go Button if I was. I care about iOS for many reasons, both today and looking to the future.
</p>
<p>
But it puts us in the same boat as the Panics of the world: what <i>is</i> our relationship to the financial reality of iOS, and what does it need to be to make sure we can keep working on that platform?
</p>
<h3>The IOU of iOS</h3>
<p>
The sense I sometimes get with iOS is of work done in exchange for a vague IOU. A belief in the obvious technical and design merits of the platform, an acknowledgement of the unprecedented rates of adoption for these devices, and perhaps an excitement watching the stars strike gold. A culture thick with the pervasive mantra "mobile first", which might make all the sense in the world to one kind of business endeavor, but may make no sense at all for other kinds of toolmakers.
</p>
<p>
Apple is not, I would say, directly (or consciously) responsible for promising something that iOS can't deliver. But neither are they entirely neutral. <i>They</i> design the mechanics of the App Store. <i>They</i> design and construct how apps are discovered. <i>They</i> chose not to support offering upgrade pricing for previous sales. <i>They</i> built an app review system in which developers can not respond to customers. <i>They</i> created a deployment pipeline which prevents developers from fixing bugs quickly. <i>They</i> choose how software is licensed on all devices. They even choose what discounts you will give to educational customers, which are defined by them. And of course they take a 30% cut of what you sell.<sup><a href="#1">1</a></sup>
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://zoekeating.tumblr.com/post/108898194009/what-should-i-do-about-youtube">The nature of making choices for <i>everyone</i> is that you'll be making bad choices for <i>someone</i></a>. Apple isn't being dumb or malicious. To the degree that they've shaped the financial landscape of iOS entrepreneurship, it's all been done with good intentions from smart people who've successfully created a beautiful, complex, and powerful technology ecosystem.
</p>
<p>
But as we pull into year 6 of the iOS app store, <i>maybe</i> we're seeing some longer-term, difficult-to-predict consequences of the design choices they made when dictating how developers build and sell software. <i>Or</i> maybe the developers and our customers raced together into a mutual pit of low prices, from which we now must extricate ourselves. <i>Or</i> maybe it will never feel right to pay a lot of money for software that runs on your phone, and developers have to bide our time until some future crossover device that runs iOS and offers its unique interactive possibilities but runs on hardware that feels more substantial than the thing you throw in your purse when you go to the grocery store.
</p>
<h3>So, again, what does it mean?</h3>
<p>
Well, I guess we'll see. We'll see if the ecosystem on iOS begins to shift. Maybe some apps stop getting built, because developers finally learn the lesson that they won't pay off. Or maybe we all begin to raise our prices to make it sustainable to keep building software for these devices.
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<p>
For us, I still love iOS. I want to make things on iOS. But I think we'll need to push against what seems to be a culture of expecting extremely low prices.
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<p>
Back in the day, when an early, audio-only version of QLab sold for $49, I'd often hear that the price was too low. Folks explained that they wouldn't run a professional show on something so inexpensive. Now, in the early days of Go Button, which is functionally very similar to that early version of QLab, we hear that asking for $39 is bold to the point of presumptuous. We're warned that we'd better keep adding free feature updates if someone is to pay a price that high.
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How does that happen? How is $39 presumptuously expensive on one computer, while $49 is laughably cheap on another?
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<p>
I don't know. I don't know what psychology is at play here. I don't know how much is guided by Apple's design choices, how much is inherent to the physical devices themselves, and how much is the developer community lying in the pricing bed it made for itself.
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<p>
But I do suspect that we will see these prices changing. We'll have to. From Panic, and from us, and from others. We will, I suspect, continue to make powerful tools that bring great value to the people who use them. Those powerful tools will happen to run on the modern form of the computer, which happens to fit in a pocket. And those powerful tools will increasingly cost higher, professional prices. Because if they don't, they won't exist at all.
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<p>
In theater, at least some actors continue to make art because art is often its own reward. iOS, however, can't rely on a similar incentive to keep the tools coming. If developing for iOS is nearly as unhealthy as acting in movies and plays, something will change. I'm just not sure what.
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<p>
<a name="1">1</a> — The 30% cut Apple takes really is huge. It also, I think, encourages us to build apps that are free. And if the apps are free, they're in service to something else that <i>isn't</i> free. Some software-as-a-service, or a product sold through another channel which can be made more attractive with a mobile extension. This gentle pressure to push the actual value outside of iOS strikes me as problematic, long-term. Surely it is counteracted by pressures in the opposite direction, so maybe it doesn't mean much at the end of the day. But I wonder.
</p>
Anyone Who Wantshttp://figure53.com/notes/2014-12-31-anyone-who-wants/2014-12-31T10:57:12Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<p>
This month, Paul Graham wrote <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/95.html">an essay on reforming U.S. immigration</a>. In a nutshell, he argues we must let more smart people into the country because our supply of smart people who can build software is tightly (almost absurdly) constrained. He notes that simply going by raw numbers, there will always be more smart brains born outside our country than inside it.
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<p>
Graham is a thoughtful guy, and his essays often spur much discussion and critique. One critique of this essay regards the assertion, common in our industry, that there are a limited number of elite programmers worth dramatically more than "normal" programmers. Not everyone agrees that the so-called "10x" or "100x" programmers exist. I've never seen the "x" defined, for example, which makes it a rather hand-wavy kind of discussion. Placing a numerical multiplier on this undefined measurement may be more <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truthiness">truthy</a> than truthful.
</p>
<p>
The other critique of Graham's essay regards how it seems to gloss over the untapped talent already in the country. For those Americans fighting systemic barriers, it can feel like a slap in the face to call for more immigration without mentioning how much we'd benefit from dismantling the walls that block out the smart people who already live here.
</p>
<p>
When it comes to a question of priorities, I like the way Ellen Chisa put it:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Finally read this: <a href="http://t.co/Ktt2rAdIJ1">http://t.co/Ktt2rAdIJ1</a>. We should let more technical talent immigrate. We should also train more people. Not either/or.</p>— Ellen Chisa (@ellenchisa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ellenchisa/status/549583302047571968">December 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<p>
None of this, however, is what led me to write this post.
</p>
<h2>In Which I Get to my Actual Point</h2>
<p>
Paul Graham founded the famous <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/">Y Combinator</a>, which funds and guides early stage startups. He recently handed the reigns of Y Combinator over to Sam Altman, who seems from my casual and occassional observation on Twitter to be a very nice, very smart, caring sort of fellow who wants to build things well and thoughtfully. Demographically, Sam's a lot like me: a young, highly educated, white guy running a technology company.
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<p>
As the discussion of immigration bubbled around Twitter this month, Altman offered up the following observation:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>also, when people say "we need to train more coders domestically": while that's true, anyone who wants can teach themselves to code online</p>— Sam Altman (@sama) <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/549745218371592192">December 30, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<p>
This is the one. This one makes me scrunch up my face and take a deep breath and not know quite where to start.
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<p>
I don't say that with malice toward Sam. I don't say it as a prelude to an attack on him. I say it because I think I recognize the blind spot, because I've had a similar one myself, and because I don't doubt I remain blind to parts of myself that would make me cringe if I could see them. I say it because to the degree I can see the disconnect between that statement — from a smart, caring, and well-intentioned guy similar to me — and the people it leaves out, I see the subtlety and awkwardness of the work we have before us.
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<p>
Many folks responded to Altman, with observations such as this one from Iheanyi Ekechukwu, which led to an elaboration on Altman's part:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/kwuchu">@kwuchu</a> what about free access at libraries? I taught someone to code there once, it worked pretty well.</p>— Sam Altman (@sama) <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/550110783195987969">December 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/kwuchu">@kwuchu</a> the kid I taught walked a few miles to meet me there. not saying it's not incredibly hard and unjust, just saying it's often doable.</p>— Sam Altman (@sama) <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/550111630286020609">December 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<h2>On the Definition of "Doable"</h2>
<p>
I'm a dad of two young girls, ages 3 and 1. I rarely get through a day in which I don't wonder, with great sincerity, how single parents get through their lives. It's a question I had prior to being a dad, but it was vague and formless. A sort of intellectual recognition of a hazy, distant thing, without the specifics that might give it color, taste, sound, or feeling.
</p>
<p>
My perception of how "doable" it is to raise kids as a single parent is, of course, very different now than it was before being a dad.
</p>
<p>
My experience living the privileged life of a middle class white man has limited the number of direct experiences like this I can draw on to understand what it means to live under other circumstances. It doesn't make me bad, but it does limit my understanding.
</p>
<p>
Living in Baltimore has, to a degree, provided a few more perspectives. When someone says "anyone who wants can teach themselves to code", I can step out my door and gut-check what that means for my neighbors. For example, I had about <a href="http://www.hchmd.org/homelessnessfaq.shtml">30,000 homeless neighbors</a> this year. Can they teach themselves to code? What about the <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-economic-characteristics-2011-20120918-story.html">1 in 4 neighbors living in poverty</a> ($11,500 for a single person and $23,000 for a family of four)? Baltimore's cost of living is no San Francisco, but you don't want to live off an income like that. What about the people just a smidge above the official poverty line? A few years ago the national average was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/us/census-measures-those-not-quite-in-poverty-but-struggling.html?smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto&_r=0">1 in 3 people living just 50 percent above that poverty line</a>. It's unlikely my neighbors here in Baltimore brought that average down.
</p>
<p>
Can people spending their energy to scrape together a living spare enough energy to learn to code?
</p>
<p>
What about access to the Internet, as Iheanyi observed? In Baltimore, somewhere between <a href="http://technical.ly/baltimore/2013/11/14/baltimore-digital-divide/">20 and 40 percent</a> of our 600,000+ residents don't have access to the Internet in their homes. I love me the central branch of the Baltimore Public Library, but even they can't provide regular Internet access to hundreds of thousands of people.
</p>
<p>
And these are all the easiest examples. This is the low hanging fruit of the counter-example gut-check. The simplest ways to see that "it's incredibly hard" doesn't sufficiently describe the extraordinary barriers that hundreds of thousands of people in just one U.S. city face if they get the fancy to teach themselves to code online. The more subtle systemic barriers of education, or family stability, or living in food deserts, or any of a great many other factors make it even less feasible. Under these conditions, the challenge transcends "hard" and passes over into "functionally impossible".
</p>
<h2>I don't have answers</h2>
<p>
I don't speak from a position of moral superiority here. The company I run was, until recently, all white men. Even now, at the time of writing, it's still <a href="http://figure53.com/company/">all white</a>. Contrast this with folks like my friend Jess Gartner, CEO of a Baltimore startup that is <a href="http://allovue.com/">the same size as us but much more diverse</a>. I need to do better just like many of the people like me need to do better.
</p>
<p>
As such, I don't write this to proclaim Altman a Bad Guy. I write this because I think it's important for folks like myself to help aid the slow-moving realization of the limits of our perspective.
</p>
<p>
When Altman writes:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>when i was starting my startup i lived on instant ramen and coffee ice cream. today had coffee ice cream for first time in 8 yrs, wretched.</p>— Sam Altman (@sama) <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/549757566964621314">December 30, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<p>
I recognize myself. In 2002-2003, I was an apprentice at <a href="http://actorstheatre.org/">Actor's Theatre of Louisville</a>. For ten months, I worked without pay. I lived off food stamps. I regularly had less than ten dollars in my bank account. We worked startup-like hours: all day, 6 days a week. Our only guaranteed days off were Christmas Eve and Christmas day. As it turned out, I had to work those too.
</p>
<p>
Was it hard? Yes. Very hard. Am I proud of that effort? Yes.
</p>
<p>
Was I fundamentally at risk? No. Living off food stamps with no job for ten months was extremely hard. But it was <i>still privileged</i>, in a way that all of my creative life has been. The safety net of my family spread out under me, and while I was exhausted, I was never scared.
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<p>
Similarly, I am privileged in my ability to write publicly on this topic, without fear of alienating myself from the technology power structure. The company I founded was bootstrapped, and we don't want or need an assist from Y Combinator or the venture capitalists of Silicon Valley. I know several people in town who could not do the same without evaluating the risk that it might count as a mark against them in, say, a future application to YC.
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<p>
Even my pride in bootstrapping this company is built on privilege. It wasn't <i>really</i> bootstrapped. Very very few of us are forced to build up the entire foundation of our lives. I mean, I've got <i>nothing</i> on my <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/6/ex-con-businessmaninbaltimore.html">fellow Baltimore entrepreneur Chris Wilson</a>.
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<p>
The positive thing about all this is that once we recognize it we can work to dismantle the barriers. But we have to recognize it first. To get to "anyone who wants", we have to start by understanding how many <i>are</i> in want, and what kinds of things they want, which is a list that includes a great many things before we can talk usefully about wanting and fulfilling the knowledge of code.
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<p>
For those trying to get past the barriers in our own back yard, who are ready (or nearly-ready) with the skills to contribute today (or soon), it's important to recognize them and then include them in our barrier-busting efforts.
</p>Better Ticketing Means Better Rock Operashttp://figure53.com/notes/2014-11-10-better-ticketing-means-better-rock-operas/2014-11-10T13:58:16Z2017-04-26T16:57:07-04:00Chris Ashworth<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/105349030" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br/><br/><p>An important message from our friends at the <a href="http://baltimorerockopera.org/">Baltimore Rock Opera Society</a>.</p>