Fog Creek Software has released a video on Google video that shows why good user interfaces are so important.  There CoPilot product would not even have survived a month if it didn't have a good user interface.  The video is pretty funny anyway because its always funny when you can rip on Best Buy.

Along with my consulting endevors, I'm also working on a software product that will solve some pains for people.  To give everyone a hint at what I'm doing, it solves a pain in this post from 37 Signals:

http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/a_sketch_to_screen_case_study.php

The Four Things Meme has been going around the blog world for the past couple of weeks.  I figured I'd jump on the band wagon.

Four jobs I've had:

• Paper boy


• Bus boy


• UPS truck packer


• Screen printer

Four movies I can watch over and over:

• Braveheart


• Anchorman


• Office Space


• Snatch

Four TV Shows I love to watch:

• Lost


• Sopranos


• American Chopper


• Seinfeld

Four places I've been on vacation:

• Cancun


• Bahamas


• LA


• Orlando

Four favorite dishes:

• Grilled Cheese


• Anything italian


• Thai food


• Steak

Four websites I visit daily:

• Engadget


• MSDN


• Slashdot


• JK On The Run

Four places I'd rather be:

• Anyplace warm


• Japan


• Italy


• Austrailia

Four bloggers I'm tagging:

• James Kendrick


• Fanzoo


• Kevin Tofel


• Vince Anido

Kevin Tofel (of MobileTechRoundup) is allowing you to pick his next phone.  Either a Treo 700 or an XV6700.  I voted and obviously picked the XV6700 since that is the phone that I own and I love.  I have been through many phones (and carriers) and this is simply the best phone that I owned.  I think the Treo 700w is a good phone but it is really not worth the extra $100.  I think the 6700 has a better form factor, a larger screen, and more memory.

Engadget is reporting that Apple has had another tablet patent show up.  You can see some design here.  It looks pretty cool and it shows some iPod controls built into the screen.  Pretty interesting.  A dual core, dual boot tablet would be very cool, especially if it were designed by Apple.

Well, I have been working towards this day for a while now and it has finally come.  I am not talking about Ground Hogs Day but the official start of my business.  I have been working on getting a large client for some consulting work to start me off.  I was able to land one thanks to a referral from a fellow developer.  I did not accept this contract because my current employer wanted to keep me on by offering me a consulting position and they did so by giving me a better contract.  So nothing will change much from my environment for the next six months at least except that I am now officially working for myself.  The plan is to sign the contracts next week some time.  I am running around now trying to get a good business lawyer so they will be able to review the contracts with me as well as look over mine.  I am off to a great start as well because I already have some potential clients in the pipeline.  Now it's time for a drink!