On Wednesday, May 9, the founders of Phācia Inc. (CEO Karen Shank and myself) will decide whether we want to accept funding to continue developing our business in the state.

It’s your move, voters.

Phācia was founded in Raleigh, NC, by pharmaceutical and software industry veterans a little more than a year ago, and its founders have worked diligently with their own funds to earn the company’s reputation as a quality app developer and mobile technology company. Today, we’re a few weeks away from a major product launch, and we’re poised to expand our operations rapidly in the coming months — bringing new talent, new funding and new technologies to the area. To do so, we are facing some tough choices about what we’re willing to sacrifice, accept and expect in the near future.

Unfortunately, since our original plans were made last year, we’ve begun to have second thoughts about whether it’s feasible to run a competitive, worldwide business from North Carolina these days: In short, we’re worried that our state may soon tell the rest of the world that it’s not interested in doing business with it.

On May 8, North Carolina’s voters will decide whether to pass a constitutional amendment – not a mere law or resolution, mind you, but a Constitution-altering amendment of the same magnitude as the law prohibiting people from owning other people within the state — that bans any legal union of same-sex couples who wish only to live, work and be happy as any other couple might expect in the state.

Business leaders in North Carolina have been unusually quiet about this law, and this confuses the heck out of us at Phacia. We happen to be a two-person team of die-hard heterosexuals, so one might think we’d have no dog in this fight. But in fact, just about anyone who does business with anyone outside the state — or who hopes to hire anyone from anywhere — has quite a lot to lose if this amendment passes.

“We’re competing with Silicon Valley, New York City, even China, when it comes to hiring top talent and attracting investors,” CEO Karen Shank said this week. “We can’t afford to look like a backwater crossing with intolerant views and no respect for large groups that use our products.”

As Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers said last week, “You’re sending a message to the world about what kind of community this is; that we’re not inclusive.”

Meanwhile, we have an established company and a new product that we feel have the potential to bring both jobs and revenue to our state… but frankly, in a field currently dominated by the recruiting powerhouses in Silicon Valley and New York City, we certainly don’t relish the thought of our state’s telling the world that we are intolerant, bigoted and unable to accept others for who they are. It’s already a herculean task luring qualified technical and creative talent to accomplish our goals here; we don’t need yet another reason for them to say no (And believe us, there are many reasons Amendment One would encourage them to say no).

Thus, Phacia has halted its capital-raising, recruiting and expansion activities for now, deciding instead to wait and see what kind of state we live in on May 9 before making any more commitments. We still love NC, but there are certainly other states hospitable to a business that couldn’t care less who its customers choose to marry.

By the way, if passed, this would not mark the first time North Carolina has amended its constitution to place arbitrary restrictions on which couples are allowed to marry: In 1875, the state banned “all marriages between a white person and a negro.” We don’t need another shameful law – neither imagined nor endorsed by the original framers of the constitution – marring North Carolina’s history books. (Thankfully, this last one was abandoned by clearer heads in 1971, when a new constitution was ratified.)

Links:

• The proposed amendment
• Facebook page
• Protect NC Families

Polls show that as many as 90% of North Carolinians still do not understand the harms of Amendment One even though early voting begins on Thursday. These same polls also show that the more people understand the potential impact of the amendment, the less likely they are to vote for it.

– from “The Facts About Amendment One“

When the first iPad was released in 2010, iPhone developers everywhere scrambled to adapt their existing iPhone/iPod titles to the large screen (assuming they thought it worth their trouble). It didn’t take long for most to realize that supporting both existing handhelds and the new large-screen format was going to become a fact of life for future development projects.

And then came the iPhone 4… with its sexy retina display and significant speed increase. Suddenly, there was yet another “new way” to do things: Not only did developers need to include graphics for iPhones and iPads within their universal apps, but they actually had to include two different sets of graphics to support both older and newer handheld models. Still no big deal, really, and if nothing else, it spawned a cottage industry of niche apps designed to do nothing but resize images appropriately.

And now comes the iPad 3, with its promise of retina display, too – and with it, yet another high-resolution image to add to the standard app bundle. Sigh…

Time to crank up Photoshop/GIMP/whatever and start resizing those tiny little graphics again.

Sure hope you had them saved in at least 2048×2048 resolution. :p

It had me before I even knew what was going on!

Yes, I know that out of the 11 million plus visitors/users, 97% of them are women… I guess I didn’t have much of a chance. Was it the never-ending colorful pictures (I love pictures), the short comments you can make to someone’s “pin”, the “like” it and move on possibilities or the “repin” to your own customized boards? For me, it’s all of the above and a little more. A friend described it as getting a great printed magazine and seeing a recipe, decorating/craft idea, or a great fashion piece and tearing out the page for later reference, but this time instead of lots of ripped pages or magazines cluttering all surfaces of the house, you can “figuratively” rip out the pictures and “pin” them to your own boards for later review or inspiration. Why didn’t I think of that?!!

So with that being said, Pinterest is getting so much publicity (which isn’t a bad thing) and has brought the attention of some companies that don’t want their content “pinned”.  Pinterest has recently released code for companies to embed into their websites to block “pinning” of their content to someone’s personal boards.  Along with limiting pin captions to 500 characters in an effort to deal with copyright infringement laws…ah, the price of growth and fame!  

An excerpt from a post by Joann Pane published on Mashable states: “Josh Davis of LLsocial.com points out that 99% of the pins on Pinterest are against the company’s own Terms of Service. Pinterest states that when users pin items, this indicates they are either the exclusive owners of the material or someone has granted them access to re-publish content. One of the points of ‘Pinterest Etiquette’ also stands to remind users to credit sources.”  The full post can be seen on:  http://mashable.com/2012/02/20/websites-block-pinterest/)

So Pinners, please be responsible and learn the etiquette of “pinning” and don’t forget to credit your sources.  I would love to see Pinterest stick around for a long time!  I have so much more to pin to my boards!  :-)  Happy Pinning!!!

I’m definitely not the first to notice this, but occasionally it hits me just how different my daily routine is now compared to just two short years ago. It’s safe to say that a real convergence has happened in the last two years — and it was so much more than anyone might have predicted.

It happened so quickly, but it definitely happened: Unlike the computer, which slowly and clumsily tried to work its way into my daily non-tech routines over the years, my iPhone (and even more so, the iPad) swept in with ease: My morning newspaper in the kitchen now doubles as my TV remote in the living room, but right now it’s making itself useful as a word processor so I can write this blog post. Even more incredibly, my wife will use the same device to film our son’s playdates later, and I have a relative in California who uses the same model to produce major-label music recordings and videos (Not amateur music, mind you, but pieces you hear daily on television, radio and elsewhere). Even my parents pick it up to talk to their grandchildren (or to use as a quick fix for my mom’s slot-machine addiction), and I have friends who use it daily to check their heart rates while exercising.

I still have a separate TV, stereo and computer, of course, but that’s not where the revolution happened after all. Whether it’s an iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone (or to a lesser extent, an Android device), there is now one single device that singlehandedly makes hundreds of other gadgets — including $1 flashlights and $5,000 assistive technology devices — utterly obsolete. I don’t even seek out new gadgets anymore; I seek out new apps.

If I really wanted to, I suppose I could get rid of the computer, television and receiver and replace them with my iPad (and a good set of speakers), but strangely enough, this still seems to be the least practical application of the device at the moment. I’m sure it will happen eventually, though… Perhaps when the iPad adds a built-in projector?

I’d write more, but I need to use this synthesizer/telephone/DVR/flashlight/checkbook/radio/medical device to scan a few documents and watch the season finale of Downton Abbey now.

The app, an emergency and information app for diabetes sufferers, is the second in a series of lifestyle-enhancing apps from Phacia to help patients take control of their own care.

In addition to being a handy “In Case of Emergency” (ICE) app, Diabetes Alert also includes many other features to earn its place on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Among them:

• Create wallpapers to alert others of your condition
• Read more about living with diabetes: Updated information from trusted resources includes news, recipes and information for families and individuals living with diabetes.
• Locate nearby pharmacies, hospitals and emergency rooms at the touch of a button

We think diabetics will get a lot of use out of Diabetes Alert, and we look forward to hearing how you use it in the new year!

Additional information:

• Apple iOS App Store page
• YouTube support channel for Phacai apps

• Step 1:  Brand team would select Phācia for this project. (Simple)
• Step 2:  Phacia and brand team would sign any non-disclosure/any contract(s) needed to start discussions.  (Yes, lawyers are always involved)
• Step 3:  Once any and all contracts are signed and a minimal, agreed-upon discovery fee is paid, Phacia and the brand team would start the design stage/discussions for your branded app.  (Let the fun begin!)
• Step 4:  Phacia would treat this project as any other project. We would spec and price out all design and development elements that we as a team have decided on.  (Snapshot into how mobile apps are priced and valued)
• Step 5:  Once the team has made most or all the decisions on the design, look and feel of their app, Phacia will start development.  (This part is the “heart” of the app!)
• Step 6:  We’ll continue all communications and updates on where the app is in development.  (Sigh, just a little longer)
• Step 7:  App is in final stages and is going through testing mode.  (Need to make sure it’s “All systems go”)
• Step 8:  App is ready to go to Apple for final approval.  (Ultimately, Apple has the final decision)

So I said, “Minimal cost” to the budget, right?  This is what Phacia would require:  We would require any expenses for travel and other out-of-pocket costs to be covered.  The project timeline would be estimated at the beginning of discussions and will be assessed during that time.

Okay, so here is the “hook:”

During the whole process of design and development, we’ll continue to keep you and your team abreast of the “cost” to develop your app.  When the app is ready to go to Apple for approval, Phacia will then give you the opportunity to continue with the “launch” or drop the whole project and walk away (and not go to Apple for final approval).  If you decide to go with the launch “best decision ever”, then at that time, the brand would be responsible to pay for the app – and oh, did I mention that all prior expenses would be deducted from the final cost of the app?  If you go with the “not so good decision” of dropping the project, then your team’s only cost will be the travel, minimal discovery fee and out-of-pocket expenses.

Phacia understands that making a decision to partner with such a new company is probably a hard pill to swallow, but we believe we are the best at what we do, and because of that, we are willing to absorb most of the risk for you.  Give us a shot; it really is a win, win for everyone!

Phacia is opening this opportunity to many brands.  We will be accepting ONLY the first THREE brands for this one time offer, so don’t wait too long: You could miss out on this Awesome Opportunity!  If you are up for the challenge, please contact us at:  http://www.phacia.com/contactus/

Thank you and good luck!

And most importantly, it’s free today only! On Nov. 4, the price rises to a dramatic 99 cents!

The app, an emergency and information app for anaphylactic allergy sufferers, is the first in a series of lifestyle-enhancing apps from Phacia to help patients take control of their own care.

Why start with an app for anaphylaxis? Simple: Our CEO is among the 6.2 million Americans subject to anaphylactic reactions, and we wanted to make sure our first app was something we’d use ourselves.

In addition to being a handy “In Case of Emergency” (ICE) app, Allergy Alert also includes a host of other features to earn its place on your iDevice. Among them:

• Create wallpapers to alert others of your allergies
• Read more about living with your allergies: Updated information from trusted resources includes news, recipes and editorials
• Locate nearby pharmacies, hospitals and emergency rooms at the touch of a button

We think allergy sufferers will get a lot of use out of Allergy Alert, and we look forward to hearing how you use it in your everyday lives.

Additional information:

• Official press release
• Apple iOS App Store page
• YouTube support channel

It’s our hope to offer a more transparent view into our thoughts, processes and milestones (Why should only clients get to see all the fun?), as well as give you an idea of what we’re working on at any given time.

Stay tuned, and thanks for checking in!