I don’t understand — how can a cobbler even have children? And why would any dessert need shoes?

A few months back, I listed the places where I regularly publish online. I’ve added a few places since then, so I thought I should update the list. Here’s the list, in its entirety and formatted to fit your screen:

• What I’m doing and attempts to be funny go on Twitter.
• Links that I’m saving for my own reference get saved at del.icio.us.
• Links that I don’t necessarily need to save, but that I want to others to read — and thoughts that are longer than 140 characters — are shared via Google Reader.
• Movable Type tutorials go on Devlounge.
• MT news is posted every Monday on Blog Herald.
• Mac and iPhone software news and reviews on MacApper
• Blogging tips on… wait for it… Blogging Tips

The irony is, the more of these sites I write for, the more traffic gets directed here, where I don’t have time to write because I’m writing for these other sites (That is irony, right?). Hence my recent thinking about cobblers and shoes. My hope is that all this blogging I’m doing elsewhere — where I get paid and have real deadlines — will make me a better, more productive writer. And that, in turn, will lead to more posting here… which will lead to more blogging jobs… which will lead to my finally getting one of those drinking problems all the good writers have. Here’s hoping.

This past weekend, we went geocaching for the first time in a few years. We assumed, with each of us having an iPhone 3G, that we had everything we needed to find some caches.

Yeah… No.

We tried two different methods. First, we browsed to a cache page in Safari and clicked the Google Maps link to see the location in the Maps app. This all worked as it should — eventually. We were on a very slow Edge connection, so it took minutes to load the page, and more minutes whenever the map needed more tiles. The iPhone would find the location just fine. The problem was, the map app doesn’t have a high enough resolution to lead you to a specific set of coordinates.

We next tried MotionX GPS Lite. Downloading a 7MB app over Edge is a special experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone. MotionX works pretty well — put in your coordinates and the on-screen compass leads you to the location. This would work for geocaching, but the app depends on the iPhone being in motion for it to calculate a heading. In motion at a speed of at least 3 MPH, in fact. So to use this app I had to run back and forth in the woods, trying not to step on a cactus or slam into a tree. Ultimately, I gave up, as each heading update just made me more lost.

This was all very dissappointing. One of the reasons I bought an iPhone 3G was for geocaching and other GPS-related activities. But since it failed to achieve in the modest task that was its charge, I’m left wondering if I need to buy a separate GPS device.

Some people claim the iPhone GPS chip isn’t accurate enough for geocaching or turn-by-turn directions. I don’t buy that. The first commercial GPS devices were accurate to within 3-5 meters, same as most new devices. No reason the iPhone would be any different. A GPS receiver picks up signals from a minimum number of satellites then tringulates its location. The device itself has very little influence over the accuracy that comes from that process. It may be that the iPhone uses a small receiver that has more trouble detecting satellites. But the GPS-A chip is supposed to help compensate for that.

My gut tells me the real problem here is Core Location, the API apps use to access the GPS data. I know it provides speed, heading, and coordinates, but what an application really needs for geocaching is a continuous stream of updated coordinates. I’d be willing to bet Core Location can not provide those updates fast enough. If someone more familiar with the API could shed some light on that, I’d love to hear about it.

So am I giving up on my iPhone as a GPS device? Not necessarily. It’s possible that a future update to the OS will improve the situation. In fact, that may be what GPS software companies like TomTom are waiting for before they release their apps — a better API. Or perhaps there’s a better GPS app in the iTunes store that I haven’t tried yet. If anybody’s had success with a particular app, let me know in the comments.

In the mean time, though, I probably won’t be doing much geocaching.

…It’s a boy.

(What, you didn’t know we were expecting? You really should try Twitter)

Two points about ultrasounds: First, the work involved in performing an ultrasound makes Photoshop look like MS Paint. Second, many people have asked if we’re going to have a 4D ultrasound. Unless we change our minds, the answer is no. Maybe it’s just me—and it could be, since most people that have seen them, love them—but the photos and videos look to me like they’re from deep in the heart of the Uncanny Valley. Again, just a personal thing.

It’s become clear to me why women get pregnant and not men. Angela is handling the discomfort and inconvenience far better than I would. She’s amazing, she is. Of course, I’ve always said if I could be pregnant with our child, I totally would. Just the same as I will promise, here & now, to fight any dragon that attacks the U.S. That’s just the kind of man I am.

So, anyway, parenthood. I don’t have anything profound to say about it yet. So far, it’s a constant theme park Viking boat ride between overwhelming fear and immeasurable joy. I go into it totally unprepared and completely committed. I can’t even imagine what it will be like. I try, but what I imagine ends up being things I’ve seen in sitcoms. I only know one thing for sure: I’m grateful to have such a wonderful partner.

And, despite all the uncertainty, I’m sure looking forward to meeting that little guy.

Man, Dan Farber is an entrepreneurial genius. While the folks over at Twitter have been racking their brains trying to come up with a way to make money, ol’ Dan has it figured out: charge for the service. Why not advertising? Well, because:

[Twitter users] won’t appreciate ads slipped into their Twitter stream.

This despite the fact that one of the most popular Twitter clients, Twitterrific, has an ad-supported version, and most users choose it. Or the fact that their already running ads on Twitter Japan, and I haven’t heard about a mass exodus by the Japanese people. But Twitter wouldn’t have to go down that path if we users weren’t so cheap:

Here’s a solution. How about paying for what you like to use. Much of what gets sent via Twitter is a form of self-advertising. If you like Twitter so much, how about paying $5 a month for the privilege.

At this point, I probably would be willing to pay for Twitter. It’s the one Web 2.0 service I find both entertaining and useful. The problem is, what happens when I pay for the service, but none of my friends do? Then it’s far less useful to me. In fact, this is the problem for all social sites: If they limit it to only paying customers, it becomes far less social, and far less interesting.

But, as Dan has pointed out, the problem is really us cheap users. In fact, we’re a plague on other medias as well:

…why aren’t people willing to pay for what they use? Public radio has the same problem, hence the tedious pledge drives.

There are so many problems with that last sentence, I don’t know where to begin. Pledge drives are how people pay for public radio. The fact that public radio exists and continues to do pledge drives means it is a working business model. How else does Dan think people should pay for a service that is broadcast free over the air? Perhaps he thinks NPR should have been set up as a subscriber-only satellite radio service from the beginning… in 1970… before there was satellite radio…

And of course we know users wouldn’t put up with ads on a radio station. That’s just crazy talk.

You have to admit, Twitter is in a pretty nice position — people so love their service, they keep suggesting ways the company can make money and stay in business. But the Twitter folks have said in the past (And if anybody remembers where, please post it in the comments. I can’t seem to find it now.) that they have plans for generating revenue, but they want to stabilize their platform before they ask users or advertisers for money. In fact, that’s exactly what they’ve done with Twitter Japan: It’s a smaller user base than the rest of Twitter, so they obviously consider it stable enough to run some advertising.

But thanks for the suggestion, Dan. Now I have an idea for CBS: Ask for your money back.