matt monihan

Twitter is Seinfeld (An explanation for old people)

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:36:48 -0500

Recently, I found a great way to explain twitter to older people. It’s Seinfeld.

Seinfeld was so popular because they’d take something ordinary that you thought no one else thought about (like double dipping) and make you aware that, “Oh my god someone else thinks this!”

That feeling that you get inside, when you realize you’re not alone in the world, and you know that people are just are crazy as you, is intoxicating. And if you’re really honest with yourself, you know that’s why you can’t stop checking twitter.

My grandfather, amazingly, has never seen Seinfeld. To him, my explanation is, “Twitter is Jewish people fighting over marble rye.”

betashop: Behind the Scenes: How Fab Raised $40 million with a lot of data and not much pain

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:33:36 -0500

betashop: Behind the Scenes: How Fab Raised $40 million with a lot of data and not much pain:

betashop:

Let’s face it, fundraising can be a real pain in the ass for the entrepreneur.

It takes up a ton of time that can be otherwise spent managing the business.

Sure, it’s a necessary evil, but it’s also typically a big distraction.

It’s also a lot like dating. You have to go on a lot of first dates…

Steve's Legacy via @Visually

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:41:31 -0500

Steve's Legacy via @Visually:

stephpalmeri:

via

Joining the RJMetrics Team

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:08:21 -0500

RJMetrics just picked me up as their Lead User Experience Designer. I’m really thrilled to be a part of a team I’ve heard great things about.

Totally psyched! It’s gonna be fun.

What You See Is What You Get[Your Developer To Fix]

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:32:00 -0500

Let me start this off by saying that nothing in particular triggered this post. That’s how much I hate WYSIWYGs. I was literally eating pizza and enjoying Ancient Aliens when my disdain for text editors shot out of my brain like a microwave-beam-emitting pyramid.

Where do I begin?

By this point in your life you’ve probably had some experience with a What You See Is What You Get editor. Do you remember your first time? Like any new love affair, you’d become so intoxicated with the sheer possibilities that laid before you that any blatant red flag was easily ignored. There were SO. MANY. BUTTONS.

But soon enough, you’re eating TV dinners and watching America’s Got Talent in silence. It’s not you it’s me…actually it is you.

“No, you cannot set the font of one paragraph (and only one paragraph) on your site to Papyrus… I will end you.”

In my experience with content management systems, you’re going to run into two kinds of users. The people who know HTML and ~~run~~ ruin shit, and the people who have no freaking clue what they’re doing. And I don’t mean what they’re doing with text editors, I’m talking about using the internet in general. As it turns out, the only people who can use WYSIWYGs properly are the people who don’t need them.

From the first group, you’ll probable stumble upon the damage they’ve done after an emergency phone call at 2am on a Saturday, pop into HTML mode and…my god:

Mr. Sprinkles is the yardie yardie yar yar hip hoppinest fat cat <b><strong>you’ve</strong></b> evar shaked a stick at. <blink><a gogogadget="website">the google</a><a> <refridgerator><microwave>&43a;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs;&fdg;&342;&dsfs; <script src="some-script-they-found-that-will-destroy-everything-you-have-ever-lived-for.js"> </script> They thought it would make the cat dance. </microwave></refridgerator></a></blink></picture>

They modified the HTML? They seem know what HTML does but have no clue about the syntax… camelCase? How could this be? The anchor tag is finished, but was never started… Good use of of both and tags for extra effectiveness. And of course, a browser-compromising piece of trojan glory I’ve come to expect.

What’s funny is that upon asking the user what happened to achieve such substantially FUBARed markup they’ll feign a blackout like they’ve been shotgunning Four Lokos for days. This never ceases to amaze me.

But, I wanted to see what I’d get!

Sure you did. But riddle me this, have you ever actually saw what you would get? Or were you just ecstatic that you could add inline images without ever having to decipher an tag. Think long and hard before you answer that. I’m almost convinced that the sole point of these editors from Satan is to make it easy to place a picture of a cat next to text about said cat. SAD REALIZATION: The internet was made for cats, and cat-related nonsense.

Someone said there would be cake…

We, as developers, set the expectations ridiculously high. I’ll take the fall on this one. Sorry everybody, my bad. I started telling clients that using this, they would get this, and not this.

Solution: One WYSIWYG to rule them all (There was a point to this post)

WYMeditor In my opinion, this one is the only wysiwyg that makes me not want to abandon them entirely. Namely, for the ability to set predefined classes so your users can pick the different styles from a list, but have no control over futzing them or inventing new ones. And yea, it’s got the bare minimum toolbar that resembles Word 97. Because we got that on lock.

Who is this for? No, seriously, what user is using all the TinyMCE features? Or even half of them.

Real Solution: In 2nd grade, teach everyone Markdown instead of Cursive. #WeDontNeedNoPalmerMethod

OMFG markdown is so easy it hurts. In my opinion, people should be taught markdown in 2nd grade and HTML in 2nd and a half grade. That way, they’ve got a good 20 years of experience before they start causing mayhem in the real world.

This post was written in markdown, and it was delightful. Now back to alien Egypt.

The Next Chapter

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:40:46 -0400

After two years working with the Jarvus crew at Devnuts, I’ve made the extremely tough decision to part ways and move on to something new. There’s been some tough challenges and some great successes. It’s been a wild ride. More than anything, I’m proud to have shared each day with some most excellent people.

We got to work with brands, big and small, and had a blast sponsoring some awesome events.

Why?

Ultimately, my reason for leaving relates to differences in management style between myself and my partners, and a general disagreement on a short term strategy for achieving our shared long-term vision. It happens in business, and it’s ok. I wish them the best of luck.

To all of my friends, colleagues, clients, and customers, it was a pleasure working with you all, and I look forward to working with you in some capacity in the future.

Onward

Moving forward, I’ll be working part-time on CreditScout, our film tax incentive software, and will be looking for the next challenge.

So it goes.

BarCamp Philly 4, A New Age of Apprenticeship, and the Start of #PhillyBurbWorking

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:44:00 -0400

Barcamp Philly was Saturday and was aaaawesome. It was my first time, and I gotta say, I was really impressed with the people, the talks, and the amount of genuine participation from all of the attendees.

A New Age of Apprenticeship

I had the pleasure of helping out Brian Kirk from TechnicallyPhilly with a talk called “Re-imagining the public computer center.”

We got a lively discussion going about the purpose and use of government and privately sponsored computer centers, but quickly moved on to teaching styles and the shifting role of education. @jcyvii demonstrated how he uses Khan Academy to handle the wide range of math skill levels in his 7th grade class.

I think one of the main takeaways was that the availability of computers and technology to students is half the battle, and to make a difference, community leaders need to draw short term paths to long term goals for students to use the resources effectively. Furthermore, it’s up to us to define the role of education for future generations. I believe an apprenticeship renaissance is upon us. I’ll elaborate more in a future post.

#PhillyBurbWorking

Around 12:30pm I stumbled into a session titled “Rockin the Suburbs” hosted by Todd Hiestand. We started talking and quickly realized that we all shared a common need for a shared working experience in the suburbs. (I live in the city now, but I grew up in Lafayette Hill and have been shocked at the amount of resources that are idle in my hometown and surrounding areas.)

Since most people in the room are spread out around the greater Philly area, we acknowledged that opening a space isn’t the best short term approach, but rather, pick venues that can serve as greatest common denominators across the region. We ended up choosing the Plymouth Meeting area as a starting point.

Of course, the venue itself is not the only core component of a coworking experience, but instead, the community. I’m excited to be a part of it, and to see where we can take it.

We put together a few resources to pull us all together and keep everyone informed:

@phillyburbwrkng

#burbworking #phillyburbworking

PhillyBurbWorking Google Group

PhillyBurbWorking Calendar

Philly Burbs Member Map

If you’re interested, get involved!

All in all, I had a great time, met a bunch of great people, and am I excited to do it again next year. Hopefully some photos to come(sober and not so sober). Technically Philly just posted a great wrap-up here as well.

Links:

BarCampPhilly.org

#bcphilly

@barcamphilly

When I was 5, I dreamt of owning a warehouse

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:00:05 -0400

You’d think at that age I would have aspired to be something more sensational: astronaut, president, movie star… Nope, I wanted to drive a forklift. I wanted to load semis with pallets of board games. But, it wasn’t just forklifts that got me going, it was the bigger picture. It was commerce. It was business. It was the movement of products and money, in and out, day after day.

Now, it wasn’t the money or the greed or the power that excited me, it was the growth. I was so obsessed with watching things grow. Still am. Things like the Topsy Turvy excite me.

Why don’t you work in a warehouse now?

To be honest, a lot has changed since I was 5. My parents got our first computer in 1992, and my fixation with computers since then has had the most significant influence on the course of my life.

Over the years, I was obsessed with video games that involved economics. Here’s a few:

Sim City 2000

Castles II

A-Train

Theme Park

Harvest Moon

Cross Country USA (I liked this one so much that I made a one-player board game using a map, a toy truck, and some dice so I could play it offline)

These games taught me about the impact of economic decisions and the joy in the seemingly mundane. And that you have to make friends with gnomes, it’s the only way to get the golden axe.

I got into web development around 12. I picked up web dev not necessarily because I was particularly passionate about computers, but because it was a business opportunity with $0 cost of entry. That’s to say that if a warehouse was on the market with $0 down and $0/month, I would have been on that hard.

Stop glorifying idleness

Mike Rowe has it right. We’ve declared war on work. More specifically, we’ve declared war on unsexy jobs.

There’s a massive opportunity for software companies to create a new era of business applications. Not just another social media monitoring app. When I see apps like Chain.io, I smile. We need more of this.

Let’s make useful things again

There’s been some talk about stepping back from our obsession with creating consumer one-hit wonders, in lieu of making products that create long-lasting value. We don’t care that Facebook leaked an iPad version of their mobile app.

We need to get back to making software that improves life by optimizing supply chains, saving doctors from having to manually enter data from one system to another, or making it easier to manage a school. The current software offerings in each of the previous industries are embarrassingly bad. Like, “is only supported by Internet Explorer 6 and below” bad.

When you really think about it, it’s somewhat ridiculous that our best engineers work at places like Facebook and Goldman Sachs. I’m pretty damn capitalist, but we’ve got real-world problems to solve. I guess this post isn’t really just about software, but more about creating a rallying cry to go back to working on things that actually improve life rather than chase money just for money’s sake.

I’m not saying social networking and innovative financial services aren’t great things, but I’d put some other issues before them. Like technology that lowers distribution costs. Watch Modern Marvels - Containers, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s like we stopped caring about actually changing the world, and instead focussed on making things that let us talk about changing the world. Let’s start caring about real problems again.

If you’re not sure what I mean: these things are awesome

Takeaways

Kids need more games that focus on business and economics. They gave me a tremendous grasp of real-world problem solving at a really young age.

If what you’re working on involves a check-in, a daily deal, or an angry bird… is there something better you could be doing?

P.S. I just realized that I’m writing this at Devnuts, which actually is a warehouse, so, I guess, WIN.

Build your first mobile touch website with Sencha Touch

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:32:30 -0400
Build your first mobile touch website with Sencha Touch:
We’ve got Chris teaching a Sencha class on October 13th!

Introducing CreditScout!

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:00:29 -0400

creditscout:

Hey there everybody! This is Matt from CreditScout. We’re launching after some months of hard work and meticulous testing of each state’s credit calculation. If this is the first you’re hearing from us, CreditScout is the film industry’s first production incentive estimation software.

If you’re a movie producer and use MovieMagic by Entertainment Partners, you’ll be able to import your budget to CreditScout, tag what accounts you’ll be spending locally, and get a calculation back for each US state and Canadian province that offers incentives. In addition, you’ll be able to read up on the nuances of each state, and get tips on how to make the most of your credit.

Tagging:

Calculations:

We’ve got a bunch of great features ahead, and will be detailing our roadmap on this blog.

In the meantime, here’s some links for more info:

CreditScoutApp.com

help.creditscoutapp.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/CreditScout/227515540624499

http://twitter.com/creditscoutapp

betashop: 13 Things You Must Do Every Week As A Startup CEO

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:21:15 -0400
betashop: 13 Things You Must Do Every Week As A Startup CEO:
betashop:

Being the CEO of a startup is a hard and complex job. Here’s my quick list of the 13 things every startup CEO should make sure to do each week:

Remember your One Thing. Your startup can only do one thing well at a time. Know Your One Thing. Write it on the wall. Repeat it every day. Put it…

Philadelphia Syndrome: In Search of a Cure

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:40:16 -0400

We live in a city that is loved, hated, and feared. Unfortunately, we also live in a city that’s suffering from a bit of a brain drain.

This post is a reaction to TechnicallyPhilly.com’s Exit Interview series. If you’re not familiar, Exit Interview is:

a weekly interview series with someone who has left Philadelphia, perhaps for another country or region or even just out of city limits and often taking talent, business and jobs with them.

The posts detail the various reasons some professionals have decided to leave Philly for greener pastures.

Why is this happening?

We’re a bunch of haters

Philly carries with it a self-loathing the likes of which I’ve never seen. It’s like that kid in high school who couldn’t take a compliment and would actually start a fight because “you’re too friendly.” Philly doesn’t want to be your friend. It wants your lunch money.

And for the people that live here, many of us have been stricken with “Philadelphia Syndrome,” an ailment so poisonous it kills good ideas while they’re still in your brain. Symptoms include: highlighting the Rocky statue as a reason to visit, asking questions like, “Why do you work so hard?” and the ability to hate on nearly everything for any or no reason at all. Yet, amazingly, Philly basks in its self-hatred… There must be something in the water.

Despite all of this, like everyone else who’s from here, I love Philadelphia. I love the parks, the art, the food, the Ben Franklin, the retardedly passionate sports fans and, of course, that guy who rides around town with a PA system. God I love that guy.

It’s the biggest small town I’ve ever been to. And hey, I really can’t complain if everyone’s a little nicer when the Phillies win.

But still, if we’re going to do anything the rest of the country cares about, we’ve got to cure this disease. People are leaving. People are fleeing. Here’s where I started, why I left, and why I came back.

Learn Here. Lead Anywhere

It begins with Drexel University. I chose to go to Drexel because I wanted to work. I love working, and if college was the thing to do, I was going to go to one that let me make money while I was there. (If you don’t know about the Co-op program, ask someone.) Naturally, I majored in Business.

When I arrived, I felt like I was back in 8th grade. Suddenly, it wasn’t cool to learn again. I can’t tell you how many times I raised my hand to have a teacher’s point expanded upon only to get glares from the rest of the class with faces that read, “Why do you care?” Why do I care!? Because I’m paying out the ass for this shit! And hey, maybe I’m trying to use this information to start an empire.

To me, no one was making it for themselves. People talked about entrepreneurship, but it just didn’t feel like anything was happening. I knew this wasn’t true because I’d heard about people from Drexel with big ideas, but they’d usually be biotech startups that, unfortunately, weren’t close to my area of expertise. For the first three years, I swore I’m going to drop out.

I decided to move to NYC.

“You’re So New York”

For a long time, me and my friend, Dan, had been joking about the attitude in Philly. For a couple of 18 year olds who weren’t waiting for things to happen, our home was holding us back. He wanted to make movies with explosions, I wanted to build a business. We had to leave. Dan went to film school at NYU and was having a blast while I bided my time back in University City. Finally, through Drexel’s Co-op system, I had 6 months to try on New York.

We both went to New York for the same reason; the same reason everyone goes there: to “make it.” It didn’t matter what “making it” meant, but just being there was enough to get started. And to be honest, I felt none of that at home. People were on fire in NY. Everyone I spoke to seemed like they were on mission. It rocked.

People didn’t really care where you were from. They cared what you were doing. When I told people I was from Philadelphia, I received vague pity for being from an unremarkable city, if anything at all. Most were just indifferent.

Upon returning to Philly for the holidays, I was surprised to be greeted with an annoying smugness from both friends and family alike. It seemed that people assumed that since I lived in NY, I must think I’m better than everyone else, and to pre-empt my hubris, they’d downplay just about everything I was trying to accomplish. Kind of like a reverse pretentiousness. This was particularly true for just about every woman I approached in bars back home. Apparently, Philly girls can smell your ego.

Why am I still here?

So, I moved back after two sets of 6 months in NYC to finish my degree at Drexel. I didn’t have the balls to drop out since I was already about $80,000 in the hole. However, I did meet some guys who did have the balls to drop out of Drexel.

I met John and Chris at Honey’s Sit and Eat in November of 2009. They wanted to change what people thought was possible with web technology. They wanted to shake things up. They wanted to build spaceships. I was down with that.

They brought me in to Devnuts, and together, we’re pushing that same vision a little bit further every day. If I had not have met these two, I can tell you I would be back in New York in a heartbeat.

The fight for the cure

Honestly, in my opinion, the only way to fight Philadelphia Syndrome is to put our heads down and create something great. Forget New York. Forget LA. Whether its an innovative school, a new way to work, or what we’re doing with Devnuts, don’t stop until people start noticing. Stop whining. For God’s sake stop whining. Stop talking about what you’re doing and just do it. Once that happens, Philadelphia will start to be known as a place where things are happening and not a place where things might happen.

The reality is, cities are like women. You’re attracted to the ones that don’t need you. New York doesn’t need you, it’s the center of the universe. LA is where movie stars live, you’re not worthy. Philadelphia begs for you to like them. Remember we’ve got such great art! Almost all cities have great art. That’s not a reason to live here.

Genesee, coming back in a big way. #nerdbeer (Taken with...

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:03:00 -0500

Genesee, coming back in a big way. #nerdbeer (Taken with Instagram at Devnuts)

Late night habanero heat. (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:20:46 -0500

Late night habanero heat. (Taken with instagram)

Bear Mountain Gear Inventory - January 15th

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:22:40 -0500

Location: Bear Mountain State Park

Trail Map

We’re heading back to Bear Mountain. One year ago, almost to the day, we trekked up Bear Mountain in the snow and ice. In our last adventure, we almost didn’t find the lean-to at the peak, and would’ve had to have set up camp in 10° weather with almost no shelter from the wind. Luckily, we stumbled upon the camp site at the last second, just as daylight started to fade. This year, at least we know where we’re going.

Here’s a rough inventory of the gear I’m bringing.

Gear

G.I. Type Enhanced Camouflage Nylon Alice Pack

Gerber Big Rock Serrated Knife

Vasque BREEZE GTX Boots

Coghlan’s Camp Axe

Nalgene

Food

1 8oz bag of Trail Mix

2 Cans of Tuna

12oz Beef Jerky

6oz Smoked Salmon

4 Clementines

1 12oz can of Chile

Marmott Glade Glove

Microlight Tent, Two-Person

L.L. Bean Adventure Sleeping Bag, Mummy 20°

Thermal Underwear

Therm-a-Rest Ridge Rest Regular Sleeping Pad

Johnny Walker Black

Miscellaneous

Gap Ski Jacket

Generic Snow Pants

Spork

Basic Mess Kit

First Aid Kit

Grill Lighter

Magnesium Fire Starter

50ft Paracord

Bring it on 2012 (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 12:23:52 -0500

Bring it on 2012 (Taken with instagram)

Yea, we got my own hot sauce. Tearsofhiroshima.com (Taken with...

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:41:37 -0500

Yea, we got my own hot sauce. Tearsofhiroshima.com (Taken with instagram)

@giannilee making things happen in Philly (Taken with Instagram...

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:25:37 -0500

@giannilee making things happen in Philly (Taken with Instagram at Arts Garage)

Via LikeCool.com

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:27:58 -0500

Via LikeCool.com

Greetings from 1984 (Taken with Instagram at Walmart)

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:56:13 -0500

Greetings from 1984 (Taken with Instagram at Walmart)