Chris J. Karr, December 29th, 2007
One of the major reasons for creating Audacious Software was to create a single financial entity for supporting development of projects such as Audacious Books and Shion.
In the case of Books, the next great development frontier is taking book collections and catalogs off of the computer and putting them in the pockets of their users using devices such as iPods, iPhones, Sony Readers, and Amazon Kindles. My goal is no less than doing for printed material what iTunes did for audio.
In the case of Shion, my next goals are to create compatibility with a wide variety of home automation technology, including X10. In addition to switching my lights, I’d like to develop Shion into a full-fledged environmental management platform with support for devices such as thermostats and security systems.
The major impediment to achieving these goals is simply the cost of the devices mentioned above. Writing the code that sends commands to a local thermostat or electronic files to a portable reader is free. I have all the tools I need to do that. However, the devices (thermostats, readers) are not. Similarly, I am currently paying for the hosting for this website. As I create hybrid web applications (such as Shion’s iPhone interface), I would like to share these creations with others and be able to scale the server fees as demand increases. Supporting Audacious Software helps me continue to cover the unavoidable fixed costs inherent in such an endeavor.
To help you help me, I put the finishing touches on the Audacious Software store earlier this morning. You can help out in two ways:
1. By purchasing the items listed with each project, I receive a commission from Amazon when you complete the purchase. I’ve compiled a list of items that work well with each piece of software and I hope that you’ll continue to support my work by purchasing items through this page. If you have other purchases that you’d like to make on Amazon, please use the More from Amazon… link.
2. If you’d like to make a simple donation, I’ve set up a donation page. You can donate securely online using either Amazon or PayPal. If you’d like your donation earmarked for a particular purpose (such as adding support for the portable reader you received as a gift), please do so and I will reserve the donated funds for your designated purpose.
As always, I depend upon and appreciate your support,
Chris