Fatbmx: Is bmx all about tricks? Dustin: Should be, we have way too many dudes in this sport. BMX has much more of a meaning to me in the connections, friends, and relationships I have built over the years. It doesn't take a big trick to put your dent in our sport.
Fatbmx: Other than some kooky games, you seem to be the only person with a legit BMX related app on the iTu
nes store? Dustin: Gosh you treat me well ;) I appreciate it. Back in '08, searching "BMX" in the iTunes App Store returned nothing. Sparks fly when I see a window of opportunity, so I started messing with iPhone development... Four months later I released BMX Grub for free. I have quite a game plan.. Grub 2.0 is available now.
Fatbmx: Did you ever own a Newton? Dustin: Newton OS? hahh I wish, but I did made a killer Lil Wayne costume for Halloween!
Fatbmx: What other sort of apps do you write?
Dustin: I've developed Grub apps for a number of sports. BMX will always be my passion, although our audience is only so large. Grub is simply based on news, so the concept can be applied to any sport or industry. Snow Grub, Football Grub, Baller Grub, you name it. Olympic Grub is huge right now http://itsgrub.com/olympics
Fatbmx: Web v2: annoying or legitimate phrase to describe the wave of new online content?
Dustin: BMX bikes have changed dramatically over the years, but it ain't BMX 2.0. That is, if we have reached BMX 2.0... wait, what am I talking about I just mentioned Grub 2.0 lol
Fatbmx: Web videos seem to be the WebV2 medium of choice
right now. What do you think will catch on next? Dustin: We're still stuck on that WebV2 aren't we ;) Mobile & its integration with the web will continue to explode over the next few years.
Fatbmx: Do you ever go on late night coding binges fueled on energy drinks?
Dustin: You know me too well.. Special thanks to that Monster Energy "Join The Army" Tour, don't be surprised when Monster starts sponsoring software developers ;)
Fatbmx: Didn't you do pretty well at a AST free flow event a while back now? Dustin: Lets just say Ryan Guettler felt a very human chill crawl up his spine as he heard Dustin Griess' home town crowd support at the Target Center ;) My brotha Kyle Pucek squeezed me into the Minneapolis stop last minute, and was soon invited to the Chicago & Costa Mesa stops as well... We'll see what happens in 2010.
Fatbmx: As a sport do you think we use technology appropriately? NFL, MLB and NBA all have detailed coverage and stats at the end users disposal. Our sport is very different to those but it would be amusing to extract how many tailwhips went down during the competition year.
Dustin: How many whips, funny I actually calculated that last year for 75 shows we did in 12 days... 1,275 whips. Unnecessary? no comment hahh but really how valuable is that information in our sport? Action sports aren't based on statistics where as mainstream sports rely on it. Here's an idea for someone, put on a statistics based action sport contest, each stunt has a point value, calculate height, distance, multipliers, etc. Yes very similar to a video game, watch it take off ;)
Fatbmx: Do you freelance?
Dustin: I recently resigned from 5+ years as an application developer at Quality Bicycle Products. This was a difficult decision
for me, although everyone has been super supportive. I have a handful of personal projects, trying to travel & ride, it eventually became more difficult to dedicate myself to a full time desk job every week. No mortgage, no kids, now's the time to take some risks & see what I can do on my own. I've done some freelance over the years, and actually at this point it couldn't be more convenient with my schedule. Any work can be found here. I also teach a web class at our local technical college, which has been super flexible with "Hey students, no class next week, your lesson & homework is online." so I have quite a bit of freedom for projects, traveling, etc. I totally could have just answered "Yes" lol.
Fatbmx: What are some obscure websites that you visit which are worth a look? Dustin: In IT we have this little thing (emphasis on the "little") for sausagefest.com and penisland.net great work-appropriate sites!
Fatbmx: Are you working on any new BMX related projects?
Dustin: That's a really good question ;)
By Lloyd Ramsay
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.