Back in December last year Eric over at Trek.Report interviewed me about Trekkie Tracker. Now here is the full unedited interview complete with all my answers about my life and the universe!
1. Personal background… where are you from? As you are from Australia, how did you end up in Brazil? How old are you? What did you do at school?
My name is Simon Jacobs and I come from Australia having been born in Burnie, Tasmania in 1962, being the youngest of three Siblings, with two older sisters Alice and Shulamith. I have three children, Kristy, Scott and Dylan who have all contributed in some way to the success of my unusually crazy and off beat projects. The last being an RPG game for the Palm Pilot called Dragon Bane – Princess Demelza back in the 90s!
In 2014 at the age of 52 I fell in love with a beautiful Brazilian princess call Marilena. We Married in 2016 and I moved to Brazil where I have been living to this day. Marilena is so kind and generous and loving that she has actually agreed to go on the 2022 Star Trek cruise with me, even in costume as councilor Dianna Troy. Now isn’t that true love? (I wish I was a bit shorter – then I could go as Quark!)
My life history is very off beat and informal. I never went to university and barely passed through school. I was disinterested and very unmotivated when my father died when I was only 16 in 1977. One day I had to see the school councilor because of my poor grades and he asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I sat in his office, bored, staring at his television. Then I just answered him. I said “television”. The rest is history. He got me a job working for the local television station and then I moved to Sydney and started working for Deluxe Hollywood where I spent 35 years working in a motion picture film, post-production laboratory.
Then came the digital age of cinema and I lost my job as a senior film executive and at around the age of 46 I became a croupier at the Star City Casino in Sydney, Australia. And a good one at that. I ended my 6-year career in the casino as a high roller croupier dealing Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and Pai Gow. I was just going through my second divorce when I met Marilena, fell in love and moved to Brazil and became an English Teacher. Which is what I do now – teaching English online to students all over the world.
2. Professional background? Are you a programmer hobbyist, or have you done work like this in the past for clients/jobs?
In the 1990’s computers started to take off. It was my early years in the film industry and I wanted to make things more efficient so I started designing organizational schedules in Microsoft Excel. Very soon after this I was asked to develop a companywide System which I named Lablink, later to be known as Labnet when they starting using my Excel originated program throughout the world, including Hollywood! So, I was given a programmer / analyst and the simple spreadsheet was converted to a program and networked. Funnily enough it is still in use today, albeit on a modern platform!
Microsoft Excel was my storyboard and development tool, and I became very adept at customizing and using it, and soon taught myself “basic” visual basic and macro development. Little did I know I would use these skills 30 years later for the development of Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker!
3. Tell us about your history with Star Trek… when was your “First Contact”?
Remember I was saying how my second career was as a croupier at the Sydney Casino? Well, this job involved shiftwork, which was lucky by the way, because firstly it meant I didn’t have to see much of my second wife and secondly it would mean that I would meet the love of my life – Marilena, one afternoon on the way to an evening shift at the casino.
So, what did I do when I came home from night shift in the Casino or couldn’t sleep at 2am on my days off? Turn on the television of cause and then I found TNG. And the rest once again, is history. I fell in love with Picard and Data (and possibly Dianna Troy – but don’t tell Marilena!) and all the morals and ideals of Star Trek just sat so comfortably with me that I never wanted to miss an episode. Thank goodness for the hard disk recorder back then! Eventually I bought the TNG box set and I have been a fan ever since. I think I also watched TOS when I was a child but it must have been an early re-run because I was only 4 years old when it first aired.
4. How did you come up with an idea for an app?
Logical! There is so much Star Trek and I became increasingly frustrated keeping track of what I had watched and trying to research what to watch next. So, I googled for a tracker back in 2019. Admittedly I found a very simple Excel sheet that then gave me the idea to start building what you can download today at www.startrekpro.com.
5. Was it difficult to get started (programming)? How long did it take you to build?
It took me around 3 years to build involving a lot of coding and a lot of actual research. I should also credit the guys at https://www.gdgsoft.com/ whom without their application XLSPadlock and their tireless patient to answer all my questions regarding coding and executable compilation – this application would never have been possible.
6. Tell us how it works…
So, Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker is a complete database library AND YOUR PERSONAL VIEWING RECORD of every Star Trek episode ever produced since 1966 to anything even going into production up until 2021 so far. It has been created in Microsoft Excel and compiled into an executable file which you can download now from www.startrekpro.com. Currently Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker only runs on Windows and you must have a version of Microsoft Excel installed, newer than Version 9 from 2000, for the warp engines to work.
The Excel database library contains separate rooms or sheets for every series and movie as well as every behind the scenes show like After Trek and The Ready Room. It also includes all of the official documentaries and value-added materials, usually released for Blue Ray or other disc sets as well as a special database called MY TREKS which is where you can record any new programs you discover relating to Star Trek.
Programs you add in MY TREKS are shared across the world with all Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker subscribers and fans so everyone ends up with the most comprehensive database of Star Trek programs ever compiled in the one place.
MY TREKS compilations are regularly released to lifetime subscribers along with any other application updates, that can include not only bug fixes and your suggestions, but also the addition of any new series as their release dates are announced. For example, the current version of Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker already includes Picard Series 2 and Lower Decks Series 2 – both recently announced for broadcast in 2021.
In Version 2.0 which you can download now, I have added the independent series – “Star Trek Continues” which is based on TOS, but completely new. And of cause both currently available Short Treks series are also already included. This new version of Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker also includes all the Star trek Theme music from TOS to Picard that will play in the background automatically while you are on the bridge!
To record your personal viewing data in Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker, it is just simply a matter of choosing the series you would like to watch from THE BRIDGE and then confirming the date on which you watched the episode. You can also indicate how often you watched this episode and whether or not it was one of your favorites’. You can also make your own personal notes against each episode for reference later. You can even press on the hyperlink of the title and be taken directly to a Phandom web page or even a direct YouTube link.
Once you have indicated that you have watched an episode or movie, all the statistical analysis regarding your own personal viewing habits is updated throughout the entire starship flight system, via the Jefferies Tubes of cause! Details and graphical analysis are available from various bridge consoles and a very unique summary screen showing all the main details of your current shows – including your progress and even if you haven’t finished watching an episode yet; all this information is displayed on the main BRIDGE CONSOLE.
All of you precious data in your rapidly growing, personal record of EVERYTHING STAR TREK is backed up in 2 places every time you save or close Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker. Once to your default saved file and a second time to a separate Microsoft Excel – data only spreadsheet stored in an export directory automatically created when you first install Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker.
This means it is virtually impossible to lose your data as you can restore the entire database from any of your last saves from the day you started using Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker. It also means that when we release regular updates of either the application or the MY TREKS database you can then simply import your personal data back into Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker from a fully automated procedure available from the SUBSCRIBE UPDATE CONSOLE. Accessible of cause, directly from the bridge.
So, what are you waiting for? Download Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker 2.0 now from here: www.startrekpro.com. All I ask is that if you continue using Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker for more than 7 days continuously, and because you love it – and you cannot live without it, that you subscribe and become a lifetime registered user – for a one off $5 fee.
You will also need to watch the three videos that take you through everything you need to know about how to use Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker. These videos are on YouTube but are also available to watch directly on Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker’s Website here at www.startrekpro.com where you can also download your copy of Star Trek – Trekkie Tracker 2.0 right now.
You can also join me on social media, either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.