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Why Nobody Can Copy Apple
Horace Dediu has written another brilliant piece titled...
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The Job Decision Matrix
A Job Decision Matrix will help identify what is actual...
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Path To Green
A Path To Green (PTG) is a clear, crisp, and complete s...
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You are Thinking of Your Career Trajectory Wrong
Most people think about their career trajectory as bein...
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STOP 0xC2 aka BAD_POOL_CALLER Blue Screen and bad memory
My computer bluescreened with a STOP 0xC2, BAD_POOL_CAL...
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The 5Ps: Achieving Focus in Any Endeavor
Always have a plan. Always. A great, simple, framework...
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Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit
Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit Leaders are obligate...
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Merit Badges – A Mental Model for Success
The concept of a Merit Badge comes from the Boy Scouts...
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Tenets
Tenets are a few carefully articulated guiding principl...
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Work Backwards From The Customer
At the 1996 Microsoft Professional Developer Conference...
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Retail Pricing, Markup, and Margins
Tom’s Hardware is generally really solid. But they shou...
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Customer, Business, Technology, Organization (CBTO)
CBTO = Customer + Business + Technology + Organization
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One-Way and Two-Way Doors
Effective decision-making starts with understanding; in...
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Be a Great Reader
When an organization has a culture where the written wo...
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Paying Developers is A Bad Idea
The companies that make the most profit are those who b...
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Category Archives: Kindel
I’m Breaking into Space
I exited my last role recently and have been drafting my next chapter. I have decided to make my new mission Space; specifically getting humanity off Earth. Over the past months, I’ve focused on learning about the space industry’s state and meeting people working on cool stuff. I’m convinced there must be initiatives where someone with my experience and expertise is needed. I now need to figure out how to ensure folks with such need …Continue reading
Interview with Authority Mag: Homes Of The Future
Jason Hartman recently interviewed me for Authority Magazine. Check it out. Homes Of The Future: “The Future Of Smart Homes” With Charlie Kindel of SnapAV Some quotes: One of the things that really motivates and drives me professionally and personally, is the idea of how technology can improve people’s lives in their homes… I realized then that I was doing it all wrong and that everybody around me was doing it wrong and that they …Continue reading
kindel.com is no longer at home
kindel.com has been hosted on my home network since 1996. Today, I finally moved it to a modern web platform. This includes migrating an OG Active Server Pages (pre .NET) & SQL Server app I wrote in 1997 for decoding Porsche option codes By doing this I finally got to turn port 80/443 off on my home network. It’s been bugging me for a long time because it’s a really bad practice as it makes …Continue reading
Kindel’s 3rd Law
Kindel’s 3rd Law – Amazon will enter every existing business, channel, and market. If said business, channel, or market doesn’t already exist, Amazon will try to invent it. Charlie Kindel – 2019 See also: Kindel’s Law – Every payment system eventually becomes an anti-fraud system. Kindel’s 2nd Law – Companies with a subscriptions-based business model eventually behave in ways hostile to that company’s customers.
winprint 2.0
Ever since I started programming on an Apple ][+ in 1981, I’ve had a thing for printing. My earliest apps focused on printing and my first money-making endeavor was “Tapes”, which printed casette tape ‘J-cards’ for all the mix-tapes of great ’80s music we made for the girls. Whenever I learned a new programming language or OS, the first app I’d write was Spit, an app for printing my source code all pretty (it “spits” source …Continue reading
Kindel’s 2nd Law
Kindel’s 2nd Law – Companies with subscription-based business models eventually behave in ways hostile to their customers. Charlie Kindel – July 2019 Once a company gets addicted to annuity-based revenue, all it can do is focus on the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer, the cost to acquire a customer (CAC), and churn (the rate at which customers unsubscribe0. These things are the opposite of customer obsession. Eventually, the motions of the company become dominated …Continue reading
Kindel’s Law
Kindel’s Law – Every payment system eventually becomes an anti-fraud system. -Charlie Kindel, 2013 I’m not sure how this law thing works. But I’m jealous of folks like Moore, Atwood, and Shannon. I think everyone should have a law named after them. In 2013, when I was tasked with build Amazon’s equivalent of ApplePay I had an epiphany. After studying all of the payment systems going back to the invention of currency up to credit …Continue reading
Friday was my last day at Amazon
The goodbye mail to the Alexa Smart Home team explains it all pretty well: Date: Apr 27, 2018 3:03 PM Subject: Smart Home Org Update Team, With mixed emotions I share the news that Charlie Kindel has decided to leave Amazon. Charlie has accomplished many things in his time here, not the least of which is the founding and scaling of Alexa Smart Home. Alexa would not be the leader in Smart Home that it …Continue reading
My Apple ][ Tribute
It’s safe to say that the Apple ][ personal computer had a great an impact on my life as any other factor, short of the fact that I was born. This is my tribute to the Apple ][ on it’s 40th birthday. In 1978 I spent a day at my cousin’s factory in Grand Rapids, MI. I was 11 years old. I had never touched a computer beyond the Atari Pong my family had. After …Continue reading
Iconic: Photos of Every Apple Product
Last year Jonathan Zufi reached out to me asking if he could use a quote from my “Why Nobody Can Copy Apple” blog post in a book on Apple he was working on. I said sure, why not? I’m glad I did. Jonathan has released the book, Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation, and sent me a complimentary copy. Fittingly, I received it on the anniversary of Steve Job’s death. My quote is on …Continue reading
1929 Jennings ‘Dutch Boy’ Quarter Play Slot Machine
In the ’50s my father & grandfather came across about a dozen slot machines that had been unearthed from a building excavation in Chicago. Out of the pile, they were able to restore a couple of them. I remember my grandfather’s at their house in Grand Rapids. It was a nickel based unit and he always had a jar of nickels next to it. We had a $.25 based machine. When I was a kid, …Continue reading
R.I.P. Nancy M. Kindel 1928-2012
February 3, 2012 – Ft. Collins, CO. Nancy Kindel, born May 22, 1928, died peacefully with her children at her side. Nancy and her late husband, Charles E. “Ted” Kindel were Vail, Colorado and Forest Highlands, Arizona pioneers. Incredibly resilient and positive, Nancy had an ongoing love affair with the outdoors and a powerful athleticism. A perfect day for Nancy was one spent outside with her friends and family. She was a particularly competitive golfer …Continue reading
When the Technology We Create Is Meaningful
My mom passed away yesterday. She was 83 and it was her time. We’ve been expecting this to happen for a while and we are grateful she went calmly and peacefully. We’re writing an obituary and I’ll post it here when it’s ready. I have 4 wonderful sisters. All of them, except Susie, were able to make to Ft. Collins to be at my mom’s side when she died. However, the snow storm that hit …Continue reading
365 Days of Photos
On January 1, 2011 I started a project of posting a photo to Flickr, Facebook and Twitter every day. Today I concluded this project with the photo below: I did this #photo365 project mostly as an experiment: to see if I could actually find enough interesting photos in my collection to last an entire year. In the end, I think it worked out great. In some cases I posted freshly taken photos, such as this …Continue reading
Looking for a Software Developer Intern
I am working on a whacky startup idea (unrelated to any of the startups I’m advising or my yet to be announced ‘real’ startup). It’s highly speculative at this point and while I’m willing to put time into it, I’m not willing to spend much money. Someone suggested I try to get a CS student to help as an internship. So yesterday the following was posted on the University of Washington CS department intern-job board. …Continue reading
After 21 Years: Goodbye Microsoft
Today I announced that after 21 years I am leaving Microsoft to build a new company. I’m not yet ready to disclose details about the new venture but I can say I will be staying in the Seattle area to build it. It has to do with sports, advertising, mobile, social-networking, and, of course, the cloud. I’m insanely excited to get started. Subscribe here or follow me on twitter if you want to hear more …Continue reading
June 22, 1991
On this day 20 years ago I married my lovely bride Julie in Golden, CO. It’s been an amazing ride so far and I am excited for what the next 20 years bring. I love you Julie!
Charles E “Ted” Kindel 1925-1990
I was communicating with another branch of the “Kindel Family” as a result of the post I made about the Kindel Furniture Factory fire several weeks ago. As a result I looked through some old files and found a copy of the article that was written about my father’s death in 1990. Since tomorrow (June 7) is the anniversary of his death, I thought it would be a useful tribute to post the text of …Continue reading
The House Kindel Built Burns Down
My great grandfather, Charles J. “CJ” Kindel, founded the Denver Bedding Company in 1900. He sold that company and founded the CJ Kindel Bedding Company in St. Louis in 1904. In 1912 ground breaking began on a new factory focused on wood working in Grand Rapids, MI. My grandfather (Charles M. “CM” Kindel) and great-uncle (Thomas Kindel) ran the company through the ‘60s selling our family’s share in 1964. My father worked for the company …Continue reading
Behind the Code
The Microsoft Channel 9 Behind the Code series is managed by the Technical Community Network group within Microsoft and is intended to capture the stories of Microsoft’s most influential technical employees. Last fall I was honored to be invited to do an interview for Behind the Code and that interview was recently published. I think it turned out pretty well and represents my story nicely. So far it is the highest rated Behind the Code …Continue reading
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