The Network Garden - Mark Sigal's Blog

Rabbit and Turtle's Amazing Race HD Now at #23 in Top Grossing Books in App Store

The eBook is terrific. Please check it out (we debuted at #32, and are on the move UP):

Rabbit and Turtle's Amazing Race HD: See, Touch & Learn 
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rabbit-turtles-amazing-race/id391149031?mt=8

Related:

We Are Live! Rabbit and Turtle's Amazing Race HD: See, Touch & Learn 

We Are Live! Rabbit and Turtle's Amazing Race HD: See, Touch & Learn

 

After months of heads-down, inspired work with a great team of folks at my iOS Apps and Games Company, Unicorn Labs, we are at the finish line, having created a Children's eBook for the iPad that I am really proud of:

Rabbit and Turtle's Amazing Race HD: See, Touch & Learn (Listing @ App Store)

No less, Apple approved us on the first pass.

Everyone who has seen the book comments first on the vibrant beauty of the art; then on the sounds, animation and interaction; and then finally, on the rhythmic, values-driven story.

If you own an iPad (and especially if you have kids), please check out the book, which is now live in the App Store. If you like it, please tell a friend (or ten) by forwarding this link. 

I would also greatly appreciate you writing a review/rating for it in the App Store, as such early comments are critical to the success of new iPad offerings.

Btw, if you haven't seen it yet, here is a video preview of the book. 

Thank you so much in advance for your support.

Rabbit and Turtle's Amazing Race (eBook for iPad preview)

"This is the tale of an amazing race. But the story is not about who takes first place. It's about trying hard, all the way to the end. Having pride in one's self and being a friend."

This is the opening paragraph to our (Unicorn Labs) new children’s book for the iPad, ‘Rabbit and Turtle's Amazing Race.’

We're parents first, so we wrote the kind of book that we want our kids, nieces, nephews and neighbors reading; namely, one that engages the mind with sound values.

Throughout the build process, we solicited feedback from parents, teachers and kids alike, and the end product, they've told us, is visually beautiful to look at, poetic (it’s a rhyming book) and highly entertaining.

Our target audience of first graders (+/- 2 yrs) has embraced the iPad in a big way, and in recognition of this, we infused the concept of a "book" with fun animations, quirky touch interactions and great sound. And we were ultra-careful to make sure that none of this feels artificially bolted on.

It’s Pop-up Book meets the iPad, and it’s built by the same folks who created Unicorn Shots (200K+ downloads), which was recently featured by The New York Times.

If you have young kids and an iPad, you will love this book. Please check it out, and tell a friend, too. You (and they) won’t be disappointed.

UPDATE: This has been submitted to the App Store, and we are hoping for approval by the end of this week, early next.)

Chatopic Topical Discussion Group: 2010 Series Announced

Since 2003, San Francisco's topical discussion group, Chatopic (as in "chat" on different topics), has had a simple format.  A small group commits to reading a series of eight books over the course of a year. The group meets every six weeks to discuss the then-current reading, and after the discussion, commiserates over dinner.

It's fun, social, educational, and stretches the boundaries, since the books are hugely varied, often focusing on topics that group members would otherwise never develop a well-formed perspective on (if left to their own devices). 

Plus, the make-up of the group is eclectic, ranging from techies to architects, stagehands to real estate developers and food wholesalers.

To give you some flavor, here's a sample of the readings from past Chatopics:

• Understanding Comics
• When Corporations Rule the World 
• Good to Great 
• The Rape of Europa  
• Animal Liberation 
• The Making of a Chef  

Chatopic 2010 is upon us, with this series including a charged analysis of the politics of Obama; a precis on better planning/outcomes via the lowly checklist; a post-mortem of the financial crisis from the inside; and a dissection of the rapidly changing state of American journalism, among other topics.

We are always on the lookout for new and interesting additions to the group; the more varied your perspective and life experience, the better.  

We meet on Tuesdays @ 6:30PM, with the first Chatopic in the new series taking place on Tuesday, March 23rd.

If this sounds interesting to you, and you can commit the time to both reading and meeting, shoot me an email (click the About link on the upper left side of this blog).

On Doing Better

‘Betterment is a perpetual labor.  The world is chaotic, disoriented and vexing.’

Sage words from Atul Gawande, in “Better, A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance.” 

(Disclaimer: Gawande’s previous book, “Complications,” was one of my favorites, so I am pre-disposed to want to hear what he has to say.)

This book of stories takes place where the practice of medicine occurs – in hospitals; and out in the field treating those wounded in war and fighting against 'preventable' diseases in under-developed countries.

What it prescribes is very tangible and practical, since we all can appreciate how serious it is to be sick enough to have to be hospitalized. Intellectually, we can also appreciate the rigors that must come with carrying the mantle of treating sick people.

But such truths aren’t limited to the field of medicine.  What Gawande is providing is a framework for continual improvement in any endeavor that involves risk and responsibility.

He cites three core requirements for success in these realms – diligence, doing right and applying ingenuity, each of which is deceptive in the way the way it combines the ‘DUH’ with the ‘DEPTH.’

Diligence is the simple assertion that it is necessary to give sufficient attention to detail to avoid error and prevail against obstacles.  As Atul underscores, ‘diligence is both central to performance and fiendishly hard.’

The second challenge is to do right. This just recognizes the reality of the human element and how it manifests on a bunch of levels.

The third requirement for success is ingenuity—thinking anew. 
I think that Gawande’s articulation of ingenuity is plenty rich so let me just quote it verbatim:

‘Ingenuity is not a matter of superior intelligence but of character.  It demands more than anything a willingness to recognize failure, to not paper over the cracks, and to change.  It arises from deliberate, even obsessive reflection on failure and a constant searching for new solutions.’

In Tibetan Buddhism, they talk of things being 'workable,' which is very pragmatic, but at the same time they recognize the role that Crazy Wisdom plays in actually forging the path.

To a better place.

The "user generated" trend

I think that a key moral of the story behind the emergence of online communities like Flickr and MySpace, and the larger stampede that is the blogosphere of posts, feeds and tags is that people really like to create, categorize and filter content items that are a reflection of their unique perspective.  Similarly, they like to connect with like minds.

On some level the above assertion is intuitive to the point of being obvious, but on another level, it really starts to explain the magic of eBay, Craigslist and Google; namely, enabling consumers to cheaply, quickly, easily and flexibly tailor a message, an offering, a target market or even something as fundamental as a query. 

Let's face it, after you have posted a job or classified listing on Craigslist, choosing your own wording, layout and presentation, done it cheaply or even for free, and not been taxed by the word or penalized for re-working the message if ineffective, the thought of going back to the old model of newspapers is pretty unappealing. 

Similarly, cultivating a blog or commenting on another's post is joyful, liberating and instantaneously more rewarding than hoping against hope of securing a spot on the limited shelf space of print media. 

I will go further and argue that the proliferation of "user generated" content and commentary is not merely a fad or flavor of the week, but a mega trend that will play out over the next several years, in the process touching wholesale categories of both online and (traditionally) offline products and services.

Moreover, the low friction, low cost dynamics of replicating and distributing digital goods and services is starting to be augmented by new physical production models that enable, for example, authors of limited print run books to self-publish, (an area where Amazon is well positioned), and an ecosystem where artists can license their designs, no matter how good, bad or nichey, for use on apparel, stamps and print goods, and consumers can essentially create their own branded products in a few clicks, an area that Zazzle is taking a leadership position.

While a concept like The Long Tail has gone a long way towards articulating the structure and magnitude of this trend, and a complimentary Wired article called Remix Planet captures the texture and range of products that this trend will touch, I think that two books (both by the same author) should be trusty bookends for entrepreneurs looking to exploit this opportunity.

The first is called Future Perfect, and beyond being a good 15 years ahead of its time, introduces the concept of mass customization that is the foundation of the trend that I see playing out.  The second is called Blur, and it introduces a three step model for maximizing returns in an environment where each individual offer can be broadcast at a very low cost: Seed, Select and Amplify. 

The premise behind the approach, which direct marketers and (unfortunately) spammers get big time is that when confronted with frictionless economic models, the goal should be to first plant lots of low cost "seeds," or offers.  Then, select the seeds that sprout, or show promise based on qualified user response levels.  And finally, amplify, or market the hell out of the seeds that have proven to garner the best response rates in the market. 

The book gives a great example of a credit card company that uses the approach to launch new credit card offerings by doing an initial direct mail run which tests out literally hundreds of different credit card "offers" segmented across its target customer base.  The results help them narrow their focus to the core, but multiple, product offerings that pass pre-defined response thresholds, and the company has organized their business as a credit platform optimized to be able to deliver and support a multitude of highly customized credit card offerings.

Both are compelling, timely and enjoyable reads.  Check them out.