Tribal Pizza

Misery Loves Company

Starting a company is hard.  Really hard.  One might even say "wicked hard", if one were from Boston.  That's the beauty of Against the Odds, an autobiography of James Dyson.  See, no matter how hard things are, they're probably easier than they were for James.  I knew that he had toiled for a long time to perfect the Dyson vacuum cleaner, but I didn't know how long.  He spent years building prototypes in a barn while in debt that other might find crushing.  He knew that he had something that worked, but all of the math he found to support his empirical evidence was "rubbish".  Instead of trying to prove that he had something valuable by working out formulas, he proved it by building it -- over, and over, and over again.  But it gets better.  Even once he had a working prototype, he had a bear of a time getting funding.  I'll admit, the first couple of chapters were a little slow (in my opinion), but the book on whole was fascinating. 

If you're working on a tough problem that seems to be getting tougher by the day, pick up Against the Odds.  After all, misery loves company.

Deadheads Had Garcia, Breadheads Have Reinhart

Peter Reinhart writes books that make you want to bake.  His latest is all about whole grain breads and it goes even further into his delayed fermentation technique, which he introduced in The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. One of the "secrets" of Tribal Pizza is to make each ingredient the best it can be individually and then combining it with others to make something even better.  We're not satisfied with run of the mill pepperoni.  Our broccoli gets blanched and shocked to bring out it's color, flavor, and texture.  Our crust will need to be great bread on its own before we put anything on top of it.

Crust is particularly important to pizza.  In Peter's book American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza he talks about having pizza with Jeffrey Steingarten, who weights crust 5x more than any other aspect when judging a pizza.  That seems pretty reasonable to me, so for the past year I've been reading Peter Reinhart's books and baking bread.  I even built a Texas sourdough starter last October and have been feeding her ever since.  I named her Agnes -- she's a sour mother.

If you're at all interested in bread baking, or simply like to cook and want stunning bread to compliment your other dishes, you need Peter's books.

Be Judged! Judge!

For those of you that haven't noticed, we have added a digg like capability to judge Pizza Designs based on their name and description. Jay and I have done an initial judging of our favs! Don't be scared! Get in there and judge 'em. For those of you of haven't give names and descriptions to your Pies get in there and do it. See what others think.

Drop on by the gallery and get your judging on!

Who would thunk it?

Someone talked about us, so we added a press page. Stop on by to see information about Tribal Pizza that others have written. If you find a published article about Tribal Pizza that we didn't know about stop on by the press page and let us know.

Hey Little Buddy, Don't Be Jealous...

OK, a week before getting my new iPhone we received the Helios-LX from Thin Labs, Inc. The Helios is sweet to say the least! It's a touchscreen thin client that has no fan or hard drive. Instead the system comes with a 256 MB Flash Card. Let's just say this baby is bad ass -- and before the iPhone showed up the coolest piece of technology in the office. The entire computer is stored in the back of the monitor -- and its still pretty light. The production version we use will not have a keyboard or mouse. Touchscreen all the way! This will be our production thin client; Pizza Order's will be queued up for display here and once an order is acknowledged and accepted instructions on how to place and layer the ingredients will be displayed for the line worker. This little baby also has VESA mounts on the back so right into the wall on a swivel it goes.

This bad boy was only $849! Read: cheap, disposable computer that rarely fails and is easy to replace and maintain!

So far, I am very impressed with the client. It comes with an embedded Linux OS and has several pre-built in types of connections such as X11, SSH, VNC, RDP, etc. You can run the client in desktop, kiosk or super kiosk mode. In desktop mode, the connections you create show up as icons, in kiosk mode they don't; however, you can get back to the desktop, and finally in super kiosk mode you pick one application to run and the user cannot change away from it. For the line production systems, we will use super kiosk mode. It took me no time to get X11 client tunneling over SSH to a Linux Server. Very cool!

However, I have ran into four annoyances so far with the Helios-LX.

1. The manual did not ship on the machine. Had to contact the sales representative for it. Also, he is shipping it to me. No electronic copies?
2. The BIOS has a password on it, again had to contact sales representative for it.
3. The SSH connection always prompts for password, I cannot embed a password in the connection. However, almost all of the other connections let me do this.
4. The Wake On LAN does not seem to be working. This *may* be my fault -- but I don't think so, more research is required.

All of these are minor issues for the prototype. Issues #1 and #2 were easily resolved. Issue #3 is really just a minor annoyance because I intend to PXE boot these systems with our own images anyways. Issue #4 could be a real problem, but, this is just a prototype so if it is a limited issue then it can be resolved.

In addition to two touch screens, each delivery unit will also have two desktop machines, here I will likely go with the Argus-LX.

With these thin clients, I should be able to construct what I feel will be the ideal delivery unit environment. Which consists of this:

1. Two production touch-screens. Each one will PXE boot, pick up its latest image and then use X Windows to run the production line software. Automatic login information will be stored on a USB thumb drive that plugs into the back of the monitor. Now here comes the magic! If a system fails (likely because of the screen, remember it has NO moving parts) then any person (read no technical skill required) unplugs the unit, puts a new one on and plugs the old USB in the back.
2. Two office computers, one for the manager and one for employees in the break room. The office computer will have connections to allow for inventory management, web browsing, and other on-line activities. The break room computer will only allow web surfing. Again, each machine PXE boots.
3. Between PXE and Wake On LAN no one should ever have to maintain these computers except in the rare case where they need to be replaced. I will automatically turn off the computers at night and automatically turn them on remotely a few hours before the store opens. Aghhh... Computing the way it was meant to be!

I'll be keeping you posted on what I learn along the way and I will continue sharing information about the Helios-LX and Argus-LX.

So, don't be jealous Helios-LX. The iPhone may be cooler than you, but, not by much.

Anyone else have any experience with these thin clients?

Anyone out there got any good experience with PXE or Wake On LAN?

Magical Pizza 2.0 Order Wand

Well, here is my obligatory iPhone post. Put simply, much like with the Nano, I fell in love with the device well in advance of purchasing it. I was familiar with some aspects of the iPhone  – the touch screen, web browsing, large viewing screen, etc. But, I had not spent hours and hours dissecting its features, capabilities, and reading blog after blog post about it. I really don’t have the time or the interest to do that.  I did a little bit of initial research and reading just to ensure it didn’t have a fatal flaw, i.e. I watched digg and reddit since the iPhone launched to make sure it didn’t get the exposure the XBOX 360 did.

For a while, I had delayed getting the iPhone (I kind of like to build the excitement into an irrational explosion of impulse waiting for the exact right trigger) Oh yes! And my good friends at Sprint provided just the event necessary. I won’t get into the torrid details, but, let’s just say after getting off the phone with a less than helpful tech rep in an unnamed Eastern Asian country, I logged onto Apple’s website and ordered one. Thanks much Sprint!

The iPhone arrived early Wednesday right after I got back from the gym so I didn’t have time to play with it before heading to work. Wow! It was so much like Christmas Eve. Waiting! Waiting! Waiting! Just wanting to open that one present under the tree that you knew was exactly what you wanted. Bummer, the activation process that night caused me delay – I needed a credit verification number from AT&T. A trip to the store, confusion on the clerk’s part and another delay in using my iPhone. This was the only blight on the whole experience.

First a confession, I AM not a gadget freak! I have been using computers since I was a little kid and to me they and other electronic rig-am-rol are simply tools for getting the job done. I would be much more satisfied with every electronic gadget if it came with a standard interface – i.e. a nice command shell. Alas, the world is run by idiots! I can barely operate my newly acquired digital camera. I hate reading the manual, I hate learning the layout, I hate learning what all of the special buttons and modes are. I feel the same way about phones. I knew the iPhone would be the right device for me and I was so right!

Except for the wooden ball and eye transplant I swear I am in minority report. The interface is incredible and super easy to use. I love the touch screen. I love flicking away web pages, I love flipping through the weather in different cities. Although I was dubious of the pinching maneuver to zoom; it is one of the most expressive and natural metaphors I have found for zooming ever. This device was made for human beings! (Maybe not as well as the command shell, but close). Next, to my NEWEST favorite feature, when I was showing Jay the web browsing and picture display he said, 

“Show that in landscape”

“I don’t know how”

“Just rotate the iPhone!”

“WOW! WOW! WOW!”

That is so freaking smart – it’s like turning a piece of electronic paper and the image adjusts for the orientation of the paper. Genius! Steve Jobs may be a self-absorbed, megalomaniac of an empty soul; but, I must say he is a genius of design.

Anyway, all of this serves a purpose. After seeing what was done for facebook by optimizing for the iPhone, we are very impressed and will definitely be launching an iPhone optimized version of the website to allow ease of ordering from the iPhone. So, rejoice your magical Pizza 2.0 order wand is coming! Stay tuned… I’ll be sharing what I learn along the way, along with tips, techniques, and sample code to help others.

Know any other good iPhone optimized sites?

Know any good sites with iPhone development information (really looking for blogs or posts from developers who have built 3rd Party websites that are optimized for it)?

Having any stories about personal enlightenment ala the iPhone you would like to share?

Have any thoughts on ways we good make a good iPhone optimized ordering site?

The Deliverator

In my post about The Carputer I didn't mention what vehicle would house our techno-baby . . . mainly because we hadn't decided.  2 days after that post I sold my 2002 Jaguar X-Type (which was never in the running for a delivery vehicle since "reliability" was a requirement) and purchased a 2007 Nissan Versa.

Here are the requirements we used when choosing a vehicle:

1. Must have anti-lock brakes, airbags, and a 5 star safety rating.
2. Must be under $16K with our required features.
3. Must get good city mileage - 25mpg minimum, but the more the merrier.
4. Should be comfortable for all driver sizes. 
5. Should have a reputation for reliability (did I mention that Jaguar wasn't on the list?)
6. Should be cool looking . . . at a minimum not be embarrassing for employees to drive.

Armed with these requirements, I spent about 6 months looking on the Edmunds site every week or so.  The short list came down to:

1. Scion xA
2. Honda Fit
3. Chevy Aveo
4. Ford Focus
5. Toyota Yaris

I was pretty sure that the Scion xA was the vehicle for us.  You might notice that the Versa isn't even on the list.  So what happened?

Scion has discontinued the xA and replaced it with the xD.  This is part of their business model -- they want to keep their lineup fresh.  This is a great idea for their target market, but it sucks if you're trying to build a commercial fleet.  So, bye-bye Scion.

The others had problems from "I, personally, wouldn't want to drive one" to "just too small".  As luck would have it, we took my wife's Nissan Quest to the dealership and a salesperson came out and asked if I wanted to sell my Jaguar.  I managed to not break into tears of joy, fall to my knees, and plead "take it!  Oh, please, just take it!"  I gave him the list of requirements and the next day we were swapping keys and signing papers.

A quick note about hybrids, because I'm always asked if I considered them.  I would have loved to start with an all hybrid fleet, but they are simply too expensive.  My hope is that the technology will advance and get cheaper while diesel continues to move along as well.  Maybe in 5 or 6 years when we have hundreds of vehicles and are ready to upgrade the fleet we'll have even more choices on the market.

The picture of the dash above shows the "before" state with the stock radio still installed.  I've popped it out a few times to test the fit of the Carputer screen and should be installing everything within the next week.  So far the Carputer runs a bunch of diagnostic programs (GPS, OBD-II, Wi-Fi) and plays MP3s.  While that's not exactly the "advanced in-vehicle delivery platform" that we've designed, it's enough for me to install it in my car so we can start playing with it.

Web Site 1.3

OK, just rolled out Web Site 1.3. This is probably the last major push of features (except for bug-fixes and improvements) until later in the fall. Really, the web site has all of the capability it needs now. My focus is going to start shifting to work on the back end production systems. I will be coming back to the web site in the fall to handle order delivery, battles, transfer of designs, etc. -- once we are closer to shipping Pies!

Anyways heres whats on spot for 1.3:

Bug Fixes:
1. More broken links!

Features
1. Blog spiffied up! You've probably already seen this.
2. Cheese and Sauce recommendations can be added to Pizza Designs.
3. The ranking system is in place, now you can judge the "coolness" of a Pizza Design's name and description.
4. Pizza Design Gallery layout overhaul -- wow what can I say I was practically embarrassed by the previous Pizza Design Gallery layout. It was 100% hard to use, the new one is much better -- could use some minor improvements though -- I really went with more of a summary style layout (think digg) and I am much happier with it. We are calling the rank of your Pizza Design's name and description its Coolness Factor.
5. Ability to sort items in the Pizza Design Gallery by Coolness or Freshness. Freshness is when was the name and description last updated -- thus allowing you to see recently changed items and judge them if you like.
6. Added the ability for you to submit bugs and feature requests directly into our bug tracking system, case management system. We use FogBugz for defect tracking and we are very happy for it. For those of you not familiar check it out. Emails sent to security@tribalpizza.com, support@tribalpizza.com and questions@tribalpizza.com will be submitted to the appropriate issue queue so we can better serve your needs and requests.

Like I said, next week will really be the last push of capabilities for a while. Mainly we are looking at:

1. Some minor bug fixes and format changes.
2. Charity Pizzas
3. New / Updated Icons for Pizza Designs
4. Any really GOOD ideas you have. Hint! Hint!

Find a bug? Got a groovy idea for a feature? Let us know. Send email to support@tribalpizza.com and let us here about it!

Not Cool, Man. Not Cool.

Since Webb and I sit less than 2 meters apart for many hours a day, we hadn't hung out outside of work for way too long.  To rectify the situation, we got together this past weekend to cook, drink, and hang.

We were doing all three at once when the subject of our new embroidered shirts and hats came up.  The pieces are, from what I've seen in the past, technically perfect.  We don't have the easiest logo in the world to draw, let alone stitch into fabric and yet the logo looks really sharp on the hats and polos that we got.

Webb hates them.

He tried to explain why for a drink or two and then he nailed it: "Dude, Tribal isn't trying to be cool.  Tribal is cool.  Those hats are NOT cool.  Those hats are trying to be cool."

He was dead on.

Later in the night we were talking about a one of our friends who has done 90% of our testing for us.  I didn't realize it until I was driving in this morning, but we paid him one of the highest compliments we could: we described him as "genuine".  As a matter of fact, we're pretty sure that he's the most genuine person we know.

Once that thought lodged in my head, I quickly saw that the people and businesses that I like are the ones who are genuine.  I can't stand the big chain pizza companies because they pretend to be customer-focused, but aren't.  I love the hole-in-the-wall Mediterranean place that we go every Thursday for sharwirma because it's everything it promises to be: a hole-in-the-wall with good food for almost no money.  I resented my Jaguar because it was pretending to be a luxury car, even though it's far from luxurious to be in the shop all the time.  I love my new Nissan Versa (the car we've chosen for our delivery vehicles) because it does exactly what it's supposed to do and was cheap enough to put on a credit card (in case any potential investors are reading this: that's not what I did).

Take a look around today.  Are the people around you pretending to be something they aren't?  Are the places you go putting up a thin veil or are they living their values?  As for me, I'm going to go search for some new hats.

The Dancing Bear Problem

Last week my wife and I went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch.  I had never been to one, even though most of the malls where I shop have one.  I used to work with one of their senior operations people and remember hearing how expensive they are to build, so I wanted to see what all that cash got them.  While I commend them on their commitment to the theme (EVERYTHING is jungle themed), I think they suffer from a Dancing Bear problem.  The term comes from the book The Inmates Are Running The Asylum and refers to things that do something, but not particularly well.  Sure, the bear is dancing, but he's not dancing well.  The fact that it's a bear that's doing the dancing is the only thing that makes it even remotely interesting.  Which brings me to the food at Rainforest.

Our hyper-caffeinated teenage waiter (pictured left) tried to push margaritas and rum punch on us at 11:45am with little success.  I ordered a burger, which is $11 with chips or $12 with fries.  I was anxious to see how much of the cost was for the animatronic jungle that we were sitting in and how much actually went into making a good burger.  It should be noted here, once again, that I was CTO at DuClaw Brewing Company for 3 1/2 years.  They make my favorite burger in the world: The Arizona Burger.  I've been to Burger Bar, the Hubert Keller joint in Las Vegas and I still think The Arizona Burger is the best I've ever had.

Back to Rainforest:  The burger was thoroughly mediocre.  They kitchen cooked it properly and, as far as I could tell, plated it properly which means that they executed it correctly.  This also means that this burger has no chance of ever being very good.  It is simply "a burger".  No, it's simply "an $11 burger served in an animatronic jungle".  The burger did not dance well.

Anyone who has been to Rainforest may say, "Yeah, but kids love the place."  No doubt about it, sitting in a simulated jungle is a real kick for kids and I understand that that's really what you're paying for.  The problem I have is that I know that it doesn't cost more to serve a great burger than it does to serve a mediocre one.  We're not talking Kobe beef and shaved truffles here, we're talking about the most flavorful and interesting dish you can create within budget.  That doesn't have to cost more or take more effort to prepare, it only requires that someone commit to serving a good burger during the recipe development phase.

Which brings me to the reason that all of this is particularly important to me right now:  I've been thinking about the Tribal Pizza recipes a lot lately.  Even though our production kitchen isn't ready yet, there's still plenty I can do in my home kitchen.  The most important thing that I can do now, however, is commit to serving a really good pizza.  We're a very technology-driven company that has, in my humble opinion, some really killer marketing ideas.  None of that matters, however, if people are disappointed with the product that we deliver.  It's not like they'll take bite after bite of a mediocre pie and say to each other, "It's not great, but man was that website cool!  Let's do this again soon!"  No, with any luck they'll talk about the pizza and the rest will kind of disappear -- only to be noticed when they order somewhere else and have a less enjoyable experience.