Joost Schreve's blog

Context awareness

2012-01-09T16:42:00.001-08:00

The age of mobile computing & ubiquitous sensors creates big opportunities to bring context awareness into products & technology. I think of context as the combination of personal preferences / habits on one hand, and things like location, time, weather, today's calendar (meetings, travel etc), for example:

I'd like to switch on our heating system 30 minutes before getting up
I usually drink coffee around 7am and 10am
I try to workout about 3 times per week
When I'm away from home I call my wife first thing in the morning. When in a different timezone I try to call her at a time convenient to her :)
When I approach a meeting venue in San Francisco I'm probably going to want to find parking
I call my family in the Netherlands on their birthdays
I try to clear my calendar on the day after a big snow storm in Tahoe;)

(some of these are more serious than others... you be the judge).

Most of these could be achieved by smart management of home screen shortcuts.

The key to translating these sets of ideas into useful products that are fun to use in daily life is to strike the right balance between being proactive and being "modest". In other words, don't overdo it... maybe I don't want to be reminded about my caffeine addiction today ;)

Europe's real problem

2011-11-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

Europe clearly has some really urgent issues right now.

However, in my opinion an even bigger problem is that Europe is rapidly losing its competitive edge in the world.

The following slide from Mary Meeker's Internet Trends 2011 presentation illustrates Europe's eroding position in global innovation. Europe's smart phone operating system market share, arguably one of the most significant technologies today, dropped from almost 70% in 2005, to below 20% today.

If Europe is able to clean up its current mess an even bigger and more important task awaits: to regain its competitiveness.

Help us change the travel industry - We're hiring!

2011-10-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

We're in extraordinarily exciting times in the technology industry. The simultaneous rise of mobile and social creates fantastic opportunities for innovative new products.

The travel industry is especially ready for the next wave of innovation at this moment in time, since social and mobile are such a perfect match for travel, and the field is still wide open.

Our team here in Palo Alto is very fortunate to have the opportunity to play a key role in creating the next generation mobile travel products. We were acquired by TripAdvisor earlier this year, and since then we've worked on some great new projects. Just last week we launched City Guides for Android. The press has been very positive, and users are raving (as evidenced by fantastic reviews in the Android market!)

We have big plans for the future, and we are growing our team with great engineers and product managers.

For the right candidates I believe we offer the best opportunities available anywhere in the world. Some of the key reasons you'll love working in our team:

We have a highly talented team, and we're all extremely passionate about our work and the impact it has. Team members come from all over the world, including from China, Korea, India, France, The Netherlands, and even three San Francisco Bay Area natives.
We are focused on a market that is both huge, and fun. Who doesn't love travel? We all do, and we are lucky enough to work on things we love. Since we are part of TripAdvisor we have the means to do what it takes to create successful mobile travel products, but we are still a small, highly flexible team.
Our office is located right at the center of the world's technology hotspot: University Ave in Palo Alto. This means easy accessibility by Cal Train from San Francisco, and great coffee and lunch spots all around us.

If this sounds interesting, feel free to reach out to me using Twitter or LinkedIn.

Steve Jobs, enabler of entrepreneurs' dreams

2011-10-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

The news of Steve Jobs' death is still shaking the world. It certainly shook me, and like many others it impacted me more than I expected. On Wednesday night, a couple of hours after the news broke, I went over to his house with my family and left a flower and note along hundreds of others, a simple gesture to pay respect. Now, several days later, having read dozens of obituaries and having talked about almost nothing else, I feel the urge to write down some thoughts.

Having moved to Silicon Valley from the Netherlands 7 years ago to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams it is now clear to me that Steve Jobs has had an outsized impact on how my adventure has fared so far.

Initially I was just an admirer of Jobs, who was clearly one of the driving forces in Silicon Valley. I ran into him 3 or 4 times here in Palo Alto, and was always starstruck when it happened. Here's a tweet I posted 2 years ago:

Spotted Steve Jobs getting in his car while I was biking to work. I was in awe like a 12 yr old fanboy... wow, this guy defines tech

Not only was he an inspiration, but his impact on my business became very concrete. The vision for my company EveryTrail depended heavily on smart phones becoming more powerful, easier to use and more open to developers. This turned out to be one of the major barriers to success. Many times over investors and other industry "experts" told me that my plan wouldn't work as key players in the mobile space were too powerful, and would never allow the mobile ecosystem to open up and enable a flourishing mobile start-up economy.

I stubbornly ignored this advice, because I had the gut feeling that something would happen to open up the mobile playing field. It was 2006, and I had no clear idea of how this would happen, but it just felt unavoidable. Maybe a big mobile player like Nokia, Motorola, Verizon or Microsoft would force change in the industry? Or perhaps a start-up would become a disrupting force?

Now we know that Apple and Steve Jobs created the disruption I needed. Initially laughed at as a "toy" by most leading players, the iPhone and the App Store broke the mobile field open and caused a huge wave of creativity and value creation. This was no accident, but instead the result of 30 years of incredible hard work, risk taking and perseverance by Steve Jobs.

Like anything in life, this was not a silver bullet by any means for my company, but it did create a significant opportunity that positively changed its trajectory and eventually led to the successful sale to TripAdvisor. It turned the dream of one optimist into a viable business plan, and eventually into a valuable company that employs a dozen people (and growing) and generated great returns to its investors.

This is just one story by one guy and his dream. When you consider that thousands of similar stories exist, it is clear that Steve Jobs not only was a source of inspiration, but also a concrete enabler of entrepreneurship.

Thank you Steve for enabling the dreams of entrepreneurs to come true.

Google is the king of links. Bing could become the king of likes.

2010-10-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

Google has dominated web search over the past decade, mainly because it was the first search engine to figure out how to effectively leverage the web's link graph to serve up the most relevant results to any query. Its main competitors Yahoo! and Microsoft have had a surprisingly hard time catching up with Google's SERP relevance even after investing billions into their efforts.

The rise of Facebook creates a very important challenge to Google: while links were the pivotal signal to determine page authority and relevance during the first 15 years of the web, Facebook "likes" are set to emerge as an important additional signal, and perhaps an even more important one. After all, the link graph leverages the wisdom of the (web) crowds. Now that more people are "liking" than "linking", it only makes sense that "likes" will take over as the most important manifestation of the collective wisdom and taste of the world's web users.

And guess what? Google doesn't have access to the like graph, while Microsoft does.

This makes tomorrow's Bing event very interesting. If (big if) Microsoft figures out a good way to leverage the like-graph into a more robust set of search results for typical web queries, it may have found itself a chance to chip away at Google's leadership. If successful it would still be largely dependent on Facebook's continued willingness to give it access to the like-graph, but that will be a future battle.

New York State of Mind

2010-09-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Recently I have traveled to New York City a couple of times for business. These trips are great: I love the energy and vibe in Manhattan, it's great to catch up with NYC-based friends and there is a high concentration of relevant companies in the travel information space that are increasingly interested in partnering with EveryTrail.

But despite these positives, during every visit to Manhattan I feel the urge to temporarily escape the urban jungle of concrete, steel and glass, if only for half an hour. Central Park is always a great quick escape. This morning when I woke up way too early I decided to head for the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a gorgeous morning, after several days of rain. Even though this is not a "green" walk, it makes for a great opportunity to feel the fresh ocean breeze, and offers fantastic views on New York's downtown skyline.

Below is the trip that I created with the latest version of the EveryTrail Android app:

If you want to follow my footsteps you can get the Brooklyn Bridge Walk Guide at EveryTrail.

I'll certainly be back! By the way, I am writing this at 30,000 ft using in flight WiFi on my way back to San Francisco.

Predicted effects of Google Instant on SEO

2010-09-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

The launch of Google Instant has caused some to predict the end of SEO. This seems hugely overblown to me. Google Instant won't kill SEO. Not even close. It may shift some nuances in SEO, but by and large the art of driving organic traffic from search engines will remain unchanged.

What the introduction of Google Instant does do is change the way searchers interact with their searches. People will probably look at more search results during a search session. The streaming results will create a feedback loop that makes people iterate quickly on their search queries. Searchers will also be guided, inspired and influenced by suggested queries.

But what does not change is that people come to Google to search for specific information, and leave Google when they've found what they were looking for. This is of course Google's bread and butter, and business model. 90% of searchers leave Google by clicking on an organic link, and the remaining 10% click on a sponsored link. This is a highly efficient (and profitable) practice. If Google does a good job, searchers end up at the best possible page to answer their question or solve their problem. It is unlikely that significantly fewer or more people will succeed or fail with their search tasks using Google Instant than using classic Google search.

Since the number of visitors to Google and the number of indexed pages on the web remain essentially unchanged post-Google Instant launch, the average number of visitors to individual web pages through organic search will remain unchanged too. This is a classic example of a zero sum game. Some sites may loose some traffic, some may win some, but on average sites will get the same level of organic search traffic.

If a site ranked well in the classic Google world, it will rank well in the Instant Google world and its inbound organic traffic should remain largely unchanged.

I do however predict some relatively minor shifts (which will benefit some sites at the expense of others):

* The "Fat Tail" will gain some traffic at the expense of both the long tail and the head. The logic goes as follows: When people type a generic search query (for example "San Francisco") they will see suggestions to refine their query (for example "San Francisco hotels"). If Google's suggestions are any good, the suggestions will often prompt people to opt for the more specific query. Likewise when people set out to do a very specific query (for example: "San Francisco hotels that are family friendly") they may be tempted to pause at a suggested query (for example: "San Francisco hotels").

* The difference in clicks between top ranked results (positions 1 - 3) and lower ranked results (4 and lower) will widen. This prediction is based on my own (relatively new) experience trying out various queries today. The interactivity of the page make me less likely to scroll down since there is already so much going near the top of the page.

* Highly ranked generic pages could slightly increase their traffic gap with lower ranked, more specialized pages. This prediction is due to the fact that highly ranked sites with pages relevant to a search intent will start showing up while the search intent is not yet fully clear to Google. For example, when a user intents to search for "Yosemite hiking trails" a highly ranked site for this topic may show up when Google figures out that "Yosemite" is being typed (along with other relevant pages for Yosemite). Once the user sees a page about trails, she may click on it, never seeing the more specialized site that would come up when the query is more complete.

Obviously the above predictions are based on initial thoughts and observations. The real effects of Google Instant will slowly emerge over time.

Another great family hike

2010-09-08T14:56:00.001-07:00

Arastradero Preserve remains one of my favorite parks in the Bay Area.

Last weekend we went for a short hike. Map and pictures below. Click the last picture (bottom left corner of the trail) to see why we turned around.

Arastradero family hike at EveryTrail

EveryTrail - Find the best hikes in California and beyond

EveryTrail Guides

2010-04-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

The EveryTrail team & community has been hard at work getting ready for the Summer. I am most excited about EveryTrail Guides, that will be available for purchase on iPhone and Android. Tons of great guides have been created, and many more are still to come. Here is a sample:

Skyline to the Sea Trail | Hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim | Half Dome | The Boston Freedom Trail | Upper Yosemite Falls Hike | Lands End, San Francisco | Angel Island State Park | Cataract Trail Loop in Marin County | Coyote Creek Loop at Henry Coe State Park | Half Moon Bay Coastal Trail | Bay Area Wildflower Hikes | Bay Area Scenic Drives | Sunol Wilderness | Stanford Dish Hike | Grand Canyon: Kaibab to Bright Angel Trail | The Grand Canyon Rim Trail

2010-01-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Road Trip Arizona December 2009

Map your trip with EveryTrail

New EveryTrail iPhone app - coming soon to the app store

2009-12-03T09:13:00.001-08:00

The Freedom Trail

Map your trip with EveryTrail

iPhone app v3 coming soon

2009-11-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

working on the iphone app

Map your trip with EveryTrail

2009-11-06T15:49:00.001-08:00

Half Dome Hike Yosemite Park

Map your trip with EveryTrail

Too busy

2009-06-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

I am too busy to blog, working on geotagging and gps tracking applications for corporations.

I occasionally post on Twitter @joosts.

Elections 2008

2008-11-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

As a foreigner I can't vote unfortunately, but I am optimistic that the US will make the right choice today.

[update: YES!]

Below an account of the trip to the voting booth by my colleague and friend Dan:

USElection2008 in Palo Alto & more at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Community

Visiting Japan

2008-07-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

I had the good fortune to visit Tokyo and Kyoto with my family last week, on a combined business trip and vacation.

On many levels Japan is an impressive country with great contrasts. Luckily we had time for some sightseeing. Below are some of the highlights:

Tokyo:
Walk through Tokyo City Center

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Kyoto:
Ginkaku-Ji temple, Kyoto

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Half Dome Hike

2008-05-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

Finally after almost 4 years in California I had a chance to do the classic Half Dome trail in Yosemite.
Half Dome Hike Yosemite Park at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

Global Village

2008-02-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

Interesting stat this morning from the New York Times about Silicon Valley:

"Forty-eight percent of the households of the region speak a language other than English in the home."

I am not surprised. This is one of the reasons this is such a special place. I wonder what what the distribution over the various languages looks like.

See here.

Trick or Treating

2007-11-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to discover original ways to use EveryTrail

Trick or Treating at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS, Photos & Geotagging!

More cool trips

2007-10-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Things at EveryTrail are picking up. Since the new version was launched traffic has more than doubled and many cool trips were uploaded. There are trips from over 80 countries. It's always a nice surprise to find trips from the Netherlands. This one appears to have been uploaded by an Italian user who took a cool family bike trip in the Netherlands. Be sure to click on the pictures for some typically Dutch vistas. I especially love this picture of the "parking" at Utrecht Central Train station :)

Utrecht - De Haar - Breukelen - Loosdrechtse Plassen at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS, Photos & Geotagging!

2007-09-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

another map

2007-09-14T21:12:00.001-07:00

Ski Verbier Dec 31, 2006 at EveryTrail Map created using EveryTrail: GPS, Travel & Geotagging!

Maui Trip

2007-09-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Maui North Shore Scooter Expedition at EveryTrail Map created using EveryTrail: GPS, Travel & Geotagging!

Bassana del Grappa

2007-09-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places in Northern Italy is the old bridge in Bassano del Grappa. We visited it during our honeymoon in July 2006. Dont forget to try a glass of aquavite when you are there.

Check out the map and photos below:

Ponte degli Alpini, Bassano del Grappa at GlobalMotion

Map created using GlobalMotion, the free location wiki

Perito Moreno Glacier at GlobalMotion

2007-08-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

Perito Moreno glacier is one of the most impressive places I have visited. The map below, with geotagged photos, gives a good idea of what this place looks like. Definitely visit it when you have a chance.

Perito Moreno Glacier at GlobalMotion

Map created using GlobalMotion, the free location wiki, geotagging, geotagged photos

It also shows the power of geotagging. Every photo should be geotagged!

Another one of my favorite places is Arastradero park.

If you are into mountain biking, trail running or hiking, and in the SF Bay Area, definitely visit Arastradero park. It has a nice network of trails.

Arastradero Park at GlobalMotion

Map created using GlobalMotion, the free location wiki

Launching GlobalMotion

2007-08-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today we launched GlobalMotion. The press release was just publised at Yahoo!.

One of the many cool things you can do with GlobalMotion is to put maps of your favorite places with geotagged photos on your own blog.

See for example this map of the Bodnath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Bodnath Stupa, Boudha, Nepal at GlobalMotion

Map created using GlobalMotion, the free location wiki

New Google Geo Blog:

2007-05-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

This new Google Blog will be relevant to follow as it's closely related to what we are doing at EveryTrail:

Google LatLong: A new world unfolding

The first post explains how Google is seeking to help organize and aggregate the geographic web. What it means for EveryTrail users is that when you upload GPS data and create a trip at EveryTrail, anyone doing a Google local search will be able to find your trip. Cool!

So get started at EveryTrail by creating a free account and signing creating your first trip. And check out the EveryTrail blog to stay up-to-date on the latest developments.

New blogs

2007-04-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

Ok... other than the occasional widget I'll show in this blog :), I have moved most of my blogging activities to blog.everytrail.com, and to WhereBase, tracking consumer GPS.

slide show

2007-04-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

New England trail run

2007-03-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

EveryTrail update

2006-12-17T17:33:00.000-08:00

Yikes! It has been a looong time since I last touched this blog. Knowing myself and the things I need to get done the coming months I am not going to make any promises (to myself that is... i don't think any readers are desperately waiting here :)), but who knows if I will write a bit more soon...

Below is a screencast we created as an introduction to EveryTrail. Hope you'll like it and point some friends to it.

Well... back to work :)

Another EveryTrail trip

2006-11-29T18:29:00.000-08:00

From EveryTrail:

another map

2006-09-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

A map

2006-08-09T17:22:00.000-07:00