Going Joint Venture

Posted on April 6, 2010 by KyleWith

Nothing is set in stone yet and I don’t even know what I’m going to be approached about, but I know that it may be something about making YkOnline.ca a joint venture. YkOnline.ca is my local or hyperlocal blog that I started almost a year ago. It is my pride and joy and I truly see the potential within it and the need for it in the community.

That being said, I want nothing more than for it to succeed. That is why I am torn about the possible opportunity of making YkOnline a joint venture. Losing something that you built from the ground up is hard, especially something you’re passionate about. That is not to say I would loss the site completely, but going into a joint venture I would loss a certain percentage of control. I’m personally worried that once another person comes along I would fold to any idea they offer. In some areas I’m not very good at standing up for myself, which is a self-confidence issue.

Part of my reasoning for being a little paranoid about a JV is because I don’t understand what it is. I’m obviously looking for help with the site; it is hard for me to keep it up-to-date with current information on a daily base. What I was hoping for in a partnership was someone who shares the passion of the community rather than someone with a journalism background. That’s not to say that wouldn’t be great, but as someone with out any journalism background I would feel intimidated and feel as though I didn’t have the smarts or any good ideas for that matter to contribute.

Then we run into the question of money. I have put countless hours into YkOnline.ca over the last year where I have made no money, then add in the cost of running the site. There is no way I could give up 49% of the site with out getting a good deal in someway or another.  The site currently makes no money but come the end of April I will start to push getting advertisers and try to generate revenue through ads. If YkOnline.ca were to split between more than me, how would we split the revenue? Considering I would probably sell the ads, invoice, and do all the dirty work, what does that entitle me to. Many of these questions will be answered upon meeting the possible partner, but I’m just putting them out there so I have an idea.

Now you know the situation, so my question is how would you go about this if it were about your blog, or hyperlocal site? What you even consider it? What would you want out of it? What is your general opinion of Joint Venturing a site like YkOnlineca?

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Thoughts on the iPad

Posted on April 4, 2010 by KyleWith

I thought I would spend sometime today and write out my thoughts on the iPad, a new Apple device I happened to purchase the day of its launch.

Overall I keep telling people that it is just as good or better than expected. As a heavy iPhone user, this is something I was longing for as I could see the potential in the device but found its size hard to use. At the same time I have heard many complain that it is to big, men break out those man purses, and to hard to carry around. I personally don’t think so, but I’m someone who often has a backpack or messenger bag with my MacBook Pro in it. I can definitely see this device allowing me to leave that MacBook at home. Carrying the device is much like carrying a 8.5×11 notebook around or even a hardcover book for that matter, as iPad is also being marketed as an e-reader.

Lets look at the usability of the iPad. With it being a steroid injected iPod touch, it works much the same way. Slide to unlock, slide sideways to change home pages, etc. I quite like that fact here’s why. Before Apple had even announced the iPad I didn’t think consumers would be able to handle yet another Apple operating system, so for the iPad to run on a built up version of the iPod OS makes it easy for users to adapt to how it works. With the screen being larger than the iPod/iPhone, it gives developers more to work with and allows them to display more features at one time. Take for example the BlogPress app, not only does a user have a section for creating a new post, they can also see all their previous posts. So far Tweetdeck is off to a head start with an excellent looking Twitter Client. The iPad is very easy to switch from portrait mode to landscape and makes using the device all that much better, especially for those wide screen movies.

The apps and the community within them is something that will make the iPad succeed. As of right now there are not many and some are still buggy. Keep in mind that developers have only been able to use computer simulated interfaces to create their apps. The one app that got me a little frustrated was the NetNewsWire app, which I paid $9.99 for and it wont even let me launch it anymore. It just crashes when I tap its icon, I’m hoping a update will fix this problem soon. I still use the NetNewsWire desktop client on my Mac and prefer to use it even though it is connected to Google Reader. One of the major reasons for buying an iPad is for a feed reader. Much of the time when I try to read blogs and feeds I get distracted by other thing that are happening on the computer at the same time. With the lack of multitasking on the iPad I hope to be able to sit down and actually read some intriguing blogs. All that being said, as more developers get the iPad there will be many, many apps available. As the more apps come out we will then see the true potential for this device and trust me there is lot of potential for this deceive, games, medical, homes, travel, consumption and so on.

Continue reading →

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Yellowknife to Hawaii

Posted on April 2, 2010 by KyleWith

Here are 2 short videos I did while we traveled from Yellowknife to Hawaii

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And I’m Off

Posted on April 1, 2010 by KyleWith
You think I would have written this sooner but I didn’t. I am currently on a plan to Vancouver, from Yellowknife, on route to Hawaii. I will be gone for 2.5 weeks, trying to relax.
I get in to Honolulu around 7pm local time and from where we head to Waikiki Beach for the weekend. Our hotel is right on the beach. More importantly It is on about 30 seconds from the Apple Store, Hello iPad.
On Monday we will then be traveling up the North Shore, where we’ll be for the rest of the time.
I have been looking forward to this day for a while, not because I get to get out of Yellowknife, but more that I love airports and flying. To me there is just something about it, I think it is the sense of adventure, that and maybe you’ll all sorts of other people moving, travelling, where ever they are going. I love long lay overs, it gives me time to explorer the airport and see what everyone does.
Like I said we are heading to Vancouver, I’ll probably be publishing this in the airport there. Curse the no WiFi on this flight. I haven’t been to Vancouver in 10 years. The closest I made it over the last decade was last summer made it to Chiliwack. I don’t even remember the airport now, I only really remember a big poster of the Vancouver Grizzlies, which no longer exist.
Hopefully over the next 2 weeks you’ll see some picture and video up here of the trip. If I do get an iPad, nothing is decided, that I will most deffinetly do an unboxing video. I am that Geekly.
Anyways the pilots is telling everyone that we will be landing very shortly. If I get bored on my next flight, I will be sure to write some more.

You think I would have writen this sooner but I didn’t. I am currently on a plan to Vancouver, from Yellowknife, on route to Hawaii. I will be gone for 2.5 weeks, trying to relax.I get in to Honolulu around 7pm local time and from where we head to Waikiki Beach for the weekend. Our hotel is right on the beach. More importantly It is on about 30 seconds from the Apple Store, Hello iPad. On Monday we will then be traveling up the North Shore, where we’ll be for the rest of the time.I have been looking forward to this day for a while, not because I get to get out of Yellowknife, but more that I love airports and flying. To me there is just something about it, I think it is the sense of adventure, that and maybe see’ll all sorts of other people moving, travelling, where ever they are going. I love long lay overs, it gives me time to explorer the airport and see what everyone does.Like I said we are heading to Vancouver, I’ll probably be publishing this in the airport there. Curse the no WiFi on this flight. I haven’t been to Vancouver in 10 years. The closest I made it over the last decade was last summer made it to Chilliwack. I don’t even remember the airport now, I only really remember a big poster of the Vancouver Grizzlies, which no longer exist. Hopefully over the next 2 weeks you’ll see some picture and video up here of the trip. If I do get an iPad, nothing is decided, that I will most deffinetly do an unboxing video. I am that Geekly. Anyways the pilots is telling everyone that we will be landing very shortly. If I get bord on my next flight, I will be sure to write some more.

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Hobbies Far Away

Posted on March 12, 2010 by KyleWith

There are many things that I currently like. Or hobbies I guess you could say. Writing, Yellowknife, Building WordPress Websites, Camping, Snowmobiling, Photography and Media, are just a few. Which there in lies the problem. It seems, to me anyway, that I’m always complaining there is not enough time in the day to do some of these things. Most of these things, writing (Blogging), wordpress stuff, and photography, are things I want to improve on as they may or may not potentially be careers. I have some skills, but they are limited. So lets break it down.

Writing: I would love to be able to write a good authentic article. I believe I would probably do well writing on something from the north or Yellowknife, because that is where my passion lies. I don’t know why I find writing so enjoyable, maybe it is the false hope that someone is actually reading it. It calms me and allows me to get out what I want to say. Actually it is more of a love-hate relationship. I do enjoy it, but struggle with it immensely. I rarely seem to be able to get a continued flow in my writing. I constantly go back and reread what I have written or forget where I wanted to go with that thought. It is a pain in the ass when you’re trying to get something done. I use to think I was an excellent typist, alas I am far from it. So when my thoughts get ahead of my fingers it all goes downhill. I have contemplated getting MacSpeech (Dragon Dictate), but the cost has always stopped me. The final issue I have with my own writing is, my lack of grammar and spelling skills. Trust me it drives me nuts!

WordPress: I have a fairly strong knowledge base of wordpress and how it works. I actually consider myself pretty smart when it comes to this CMS. The one thing I wish to improve on is my code skills. It would be lovely to properly know how to customize wordpress themes and understand how things work together.

Photography: This is something I picked up 2 years ago and then bought my first DSLR a year and a half or so ago. I always have the best intentions of learning a knew skill and slowly I have. I think photography and writing go hand in hand; I often meet or hear of photographers who are also freelance writers. Writing about Yellowknife all the time I often need photos to go with it. So learning how to take a beautiful photo of something happening around town is something I am really wanting to do. I try to keep my camera on a manual mode, but often get over whelmed with the little time I have to take the photo and put it onto a preset setting. I can’t seem to get it down, how to properly use the camera while out and about.

There you have it, the negatives of the things I want to do better at. The reason I wanted to point these out is so I could see them in writing. The solution to all of these is rather simple, and I even know it. It is time. All I need is time, or at least that’s what I believe. Five days a week I work five hours a day at a coffee shop and for the rest of the day I am responding to e-mails, writing the next days post, working on the back end of the site or dealing with something to do with the business. I end up getting into this routine around 1:30 and then I go until 8pm with a break for supper, it is none stop. My feed reader is constantly packed with over 900 unread blog post, my tweeting has slowed and so have posts on this blog. One solution to gain more time would be to leave the coffee shop but it is currently my only source of income and I depend on it to pay the bills and my school debt. I’m probably over exaggerating things, but I blame that on the lack of income in my business. If only I could start to get a little income to take some of the pressure off, then maybe I would be able to try and learn more about the things mentioned above.

The solution is in sight but far away. AHHHHHHH! Frustrating.

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Sorry Wrong Number Yellowknife

Posted on March 5, 2010 by KyleWith

Lately I have been getting a lot of calls for people around Yellowknife asking me questions about what is going on around town. I love this, because I love sharing it. I mean it is the whole point of YkOnline, to share what is happening. Anyways along with those calls I have gotten some calls from, for lack of better words, confused people. Three calls really stick out in my mind and I will share them with you. By the way I never answer my phone by saying anything about YkOnline, it is just normally “Hello, Kyle speaking”.

1) I received a call from a lady who wanted to pay a bill. I asked with “Hello” and she said “Hi, I would like to pay my hydro bill”. I was then confused and said “excuse me” which led the woman to say again “I would like to pay my hydro bill”. At that point I knew she had the wrong number and asked her who she thought she was talking to. She replied with “Isn’t this the City if Yellowknife” and I semi chuckled and said “No”. She then hung up without saying anything.

2) A man from southern Alberta call me asking for a Newspaper. That really confused me, I thought why would I have a newspaper. He explained that his friend had won a gold medal and he wanted a newspaper from every capital in Canada.  As I told him I didn’t have any, he questioned why a newspaper company wouldn’t keep any. At that point I was shaking my head, I then explained to him what YkOnline was. He told me I was the first website he landed on when he searched Yellowknife Newspaper. I thought I would help him out so I tried to find the number for the newspaper on their website, but couldn’t so I frantically rummaged around to find a two month old paper with a phone number in it and sent him on his way. I wonder if he actually got that paper?

3) The Final call was just this morning. A lady called me about the Snow castle, I thought okay, whatever, I’ll help her with the information I know but apparently that wasn’t good enough for her. She wanted to know how much snow was used to build the castle, and I had no idea. I said that and tried to explain how it was built, but she wanted to know. She told me that this is the kind of thing someone helping build the castle should know. That confused me and I apologized but explained that I really have nothing to do with the Castle or Festival except that I have been there. She replied well this is stupid, it said to call you for details. Now I was really confused, but I don’t know where she would have gotten the idea to call my number for details about the Snow Castle. In the video I said check YkOnline or the Snowking website for the schedule, but nothing else. I told her the best place to get a hold of someone would be the Snowking website, but she hung up on me mid sentence.

I’m wondering if maybe I’m not clear about YkOnline and who actually operates the site. I’m a life-long resident just like anyone else. I have a passion for Yellowknife and want to share it with everyone. I have a large knowledge of the city but am not really affiliated with any group or organization. I am also not part of the City of Yellowknife. I’m happy to see that the site is gaining ground and more than willing to answer questions about the city and what is going on but am wondering if I should explain who I am a little better. What does everyone else think?

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