Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Who says Contextual is better


Found this today while surfing... read the sentence highlighted in red. I will take my Google targeted adwords anyday over this.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Twitter should have thought of this ???


As you may or may not know.. I am a "Twitter" Fan.. I love the bridge that it builds to maintain relationships over most forms of communications in easy and unobtrusive manner. Twitter should also be praised for their openness towards outside developers that has made a significant impact on the service itself.. So why no "White Label"????

I have reviewed quite a few of Evan Williams interviews and he hasn't really let on about a possible business model for Twitter..In one article in Business 2.0 he talks about Corporate accounts but I have yet to see any implementation on that end...I think that they should offer "White Label" services.. I for one would def. pay for a branded version of Twitter's features for our startup..

Companies like Reddit and Ning seem to thrive on these kinds of b2b services...


It seems with such an influx of new services out there that these companies would look to form partnerships that would help both parties grow...

Anyways my .02
clipped from blogs.zdnet.com

icn_balloon_154x48

+2


4 votes


Worthwhile?




Facebook statusFacebook has added a number of enhancements to its 'status' functionality which include features which are strikingly similar to the micro-blogging service, Twitter.

According to the official blog, Facebook now:


  • displays a user's friends' three most recent updates on the home page

  • has a dedicated page to display all your friends' updates at once

  • has an RSS feed aggregating all of a user's friends' updates

  • offers the ability to subscribe to a friend's updates via SMS

  • offers the ability for a user to update their status by sending an SMS to Facebook starting with the "@" character

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Monday, April 16, 2007

Could Web 2.0 have helped?



Today I worked from home ... and couldn't help but helplessly watch the tragic events today at Virginia Tech ... As I was watching the reporting there were so many different versions of what was going.. whether it was the mass email that went out to the student body around 9am .. but as one student said that most students don't check their email that early..to all of the word of mouth news that was being reported.. I wonder if a tool like Twitter was being used for the school as kind of like an "Amber" alert .. where the students would subscribe to the school and the school would push pertinent info to students via email / sms / cell / web etc... Twitter was hailed as great tool at SXSW .. which is a large event w/ allot of people using it in the most effective way.. using this for a school or organzation seems like a easy way to contact mass amounts of people quickly.

It breaks my heart to know those kids where in their classrooms completely vulnerable to todays actions w/ little or no advanced warning.

Instead of placing blame on anybody.. I think that the conversation should be on how can we "minimize" events like this in the future..

My thoughts and Prayers go out to all that were affected today..


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Googler's are funny...





Who needs Redbull for late night surfing expeditions.. When you can have Google's own formula... I think that Google continues to market themselves in very smart and non-threating manner..I think that this kind of fun stuff is paramount to Google's amazing growth.
clipped from www.google.com

Quench
your thirst for knowledge.


At Google our mission is to organize the world's information and make it
useful and accessible to our users. But any piece of information's usefulness
derives, to a depressing degree, from the cognitive ability of the user who's
using it. That's why we're pleased to announce Google Gulp (BETA)™ with
Auto-Drink™ (LIMITED RELEASE), a line of "smart drinks" designed
to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less
thirsty.

Think fruity. Think refreshing.
Think a DNA scanner embedded in the lip of your bottle reading all 3 gigabytes
of your base pair genetic data in a fraction of a second, fine-tuning your individual
hormonal cocktail in real time using our patented Auto-Drink™ technology, and
slamming a truckload of electrolytic neurotransmitter smart-drug stimulants past
the blood-brain barrier to achieve maximum optimization of your soon-to-be-grateful
cerebral cortex. Plus, it's low in carbs! And with flavors ranging from Beta Carroty to
Glutamate Grape, you'll never run out of ways to quench your thirst for knowledge.


Beta Carroty Glutamate Grape




How to get Gulped?
You can pick up your own supply of this "limited release" product simply by
turning in a used Gulp Cap at your local grocery store. How to get a Gulp Cap?
Well, if you know someone who's already been "gulped," they can give you one.
And if you don't know anyone who can give you one, don't worry – that just means
you aren't cool. But very, very (very!) soon, you will be.



Google Gulp and Your Privacy
From time to time, in order to improve Google Gulp's usefulness for our users, Google Gulp will send packets
of data related to your usage of this product from a wireless transmitter embedded in the base of your Google
Gulp bottle to the GulpPlex™, a heavily guarded, massively parallel server farm whose location is known only
to Eric Schmidt, who carries its GPS coordinates on a 64-bit-encrypted smart card locked in a stainless-steel
briefcase handcuffed to his right wrist. No personally identifiable information of any kind related to your
consumption of Google Gulp or any other current or future Google Foods product will ever be given, sold,
bartered, auctioned off, tossed into a late-night poker pot, or otherwise transferred in any way to any
untrustworthy third party, ever, we swear. See our Privacy Policy.



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Friday, April 13, 2007

USPS not getting it ... UGGH

A couple months ago.. I filled out an online survey for USPS.com .. and really gave some detailed feedback on some serverly lacking functionality on their site...

Anyways today I tried "Calculate Business Postage " via their homepage today and got this message apparently Firefox doesn't exsist in their eyes...

clipped from dbcalc.usps.gov
Your operating system is: unknown. Your browser is: Default 0.0

If you have reached this page it indicates that your Internet browser or computer operating systems will not support the Business Rate Calculator. Please check the table below to see which browsers and operating systems are supported.

The Business Rate Calculator will compute rates for volume mailings of all classes of domestic mail including Express Mail, First-Class Mail, Priority Mail, Periodicals, Standard Mail, Parcel Post, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, and Library Mail. It also includes destination entry discounts and fees for special services.

This calculator uses the latest Internet technology to provide fast convenient access to all domestic rates and worksharing discounts. This calculator requires the following operating systems and Internet browsers:

Your operating system is: unknown. Your browser is: Default 0.0

Operating Systems Supported:Browsers Supported:
Microsoft Windows 95 & 98Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 and newer
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0Netscape Navigator 4.04 and newer

If your browser does not support the Business Rate Calculator, you can upgrade your browser. Additional options include:

If you feel you have reached this page in error, please click on one of the links below to go to the Business Calculator. Be sure you are running Windows and are using IE 4+ or Netscape 4.04+.
Internet Explorer Version Netscape Navigator Version

Click here to access the single-piece Domestic Rate Calculator.

Click here to order the Postal Explorer CD-ROM that contains the Business Rate Calculator. The CD-ROM calculator does not require the Internet browser.


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Too Many Feeds!!!!

Somehow over the last 4 months of I have subscribed to over 500 feeds via Google Reader ..Yikes .. So yesterday I decided to go on a RSS diet. I had a steady dose of Tech blogs and Marketing and Christian based subscriptions but now I have have chopped it down to the following..

1. (Tech News) Techmeme , Master of 500 Hats
2. (VC/Entreprenurial) Light Speed Ventures , OnStartups
3. (Marketing) Seth Godin , Church of the Customer , Duct Tape Marketing
4. (PR) KDPaine
5. (Christian) J-Walking


I think that my days will be more productive and that I will still get the info that I am looking for through these sources.. but I am sure I will be going through some sort of withdrawal symptoms for the next couple of days.... :)

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Election 2.0 in NH???

I saw this article a couple of weeks ago in the Portsmouth Herald and it really intrigued me.. A 70 year old lady having a WebCast Party!! Even though I am not a fan so far of Barrak's online campaign.. he seems to be creating a ground swell.. I still need to see and hear more from him. But it is really impressive that this could be a new way that mainstream America connects w/ candidates and elected officials.
clipped from seacoastonline.com
PHOTO

Barbara Engelbach of Portsmouth is one of about 15 Seacoast residents who gathered to watch Sen. Barack Obama on a live webcast Saturday in a Portsmouth home.

Photo by Liz Kenny

Dennett Page had been planning a house party all week for friends --and even strangers --to gather and watch Sen. Barack Obama over a Webcast


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Sunday, April 8, 2007

New Service Jobs created By Apple Tv






I have been reading the onslaught of all the Apple Tv Hacks that have come out since the release of the Apple Tv last month.. at first I thought there would be a couple minor breakthroughs.. but they just won't end.. so that got my entrepreneurial mind working ...

I definitely see a bunch of places where you can send your Apple Tv to get Hacked or what I as a gear-head would call "upgraded" . I am not a tech savvy enough to want to rip open my Apple Tv myself but I would gladly send it to 'reputable' Apple Mechanic.

Voip Porn!!


I have recently worked w/ Skype's new service "Prime" . Basically it allows you as a "consultant" cough cough .. to bill via Skpe calls and make money per minute..hmmm . I found this service when helping a friend and colleague to add a value added feature to his Tutor site. For an honest user.. Skype really falls short .. first is that Skype charges 30% commission yikes!! and get this they keep your money for four months to discourage any scams etc.. but in my opinion this will keep legitimate users away..


Then I found WeSquare via Stumble Upon .. a cool and potentially effective tool for people looking for Skype Prime's features..but allows you to use any communication platform... IM/ VOIP/ etc.. Widgets will get these features to the main stream faster.. but I have a feeling that they may mire in the muck of "Dirty Talk"..

Nice tool for Site Owners






I tried out Website Grader the other day and I found it to be a useful and intriguing service.. Basically breaks down different categories (SEO/Page Rang/ Back Links / SMO ) . The Parent company is Hubspot.com ... which is from Dharmesh Shah who has one of my favorite Start-up Blogs. Check it out.. let me know what you think..

I knew it was a good idea!!




Last month I posted about PitchAVC.com .. after seeing this article by Seth Levine
.. Well yesterday I read about Bambi Francisco "fiasco" regarding a conflict of interest between her job at Market Watch and her startup Vator.Tv I think that the attention that this has received will actually catapult her site.... but it does really need a good make over..very low budget.

P.S. I did ask a certain VC mentioned in this article .. when I originally posted if this would be a viable venture... and thought for the entrepreneur "yes" but most VC's won't give it a second look.. I agree..but as technology becomes cheaper and cheaper and VC's and Angels are trying to find other creative ways to find the next big thing.. this might be great avenue for both given her resources and contacts.. Good Luck Bambi!

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