I'm a huge fan of most Google applications and am consistently turning my web development clients on to the benefits of using GMail for managing e-mail, typically via their own domain and Google Apps. A while back I stumbled upon this post on the official GMail blog explaining how use "multiple" addresses while only needing one e-mail address.
Let's assume your e-mail address is : scottellis@yourdomain.com
You can insert a period "." anywhere in the name and Google will ignore it so you could give someone the address "scott.ellis@yourdomain.com" and email would still just come to scottellis@yourdomain.com. Alternatively, if you were weird you could do something like s.co.tt.ell.is@yourdomain.com and the effect would be the same.
More interesting and useful is adding a plus "+" after your email address. You can append anything to your e-mail address and still receive it at the regular e-mail address making it easier to flag, label or otherwise filter certain e-mails. For example, you could use "scottellis+airlines@yourdomain.com" and use that address for any e-mail you get from various airlines. It would still come to scottellis@yourdomain.com but you could then filter on that address. I would probably do the specif airlines like scottellis+aa@yourdomain.com but you get the idea.
I haven't been so much a lazy blogger lately but rather a very busy one. I have been working on revamping my site from the ground up. Old content will get ported over but the look and feel will change dramatically. I'm also going to make an effort to inject a bit more of my personality into the site. The overriding concept will be the same but more clearly defined and I'll begin talking a great deal more about technology and reviewing relevant products and services while continuing to pontificate ideas and how to make them work. If I'm successful, we'll learn to tie all of those things together in a way that allows our ideas to go from fleeting thoughts through execution to sustainable if not heavily automated businesses and projects.
Stay tuned, I'm planning to launch over the weekend so things will be a little haphazard until Monday but it should be fun.
TechQuest from the Metroplex Technology Business Council
I've been looking forward to reporting to you on the Metroplex Technology Business Council, a new program for large tech companies in the DFW area and small businesses & entrepreneurs that has just gone live.
The program is called TechQuest, and it's a way to match up entrepreneurs, small-med businesses, grad students & professors, and just about anyone who has a good tech idea with large companies who are looking for solutions. The first partner company is Texas Instruments, and they have listed dozens of technology areas on the MTBC website that they are interested in and would like to receive solution ideas from individuals and companies (solar, nanotechnology, wireless, home automation, many many more). MTBC volunteers will screen the applications, help the presenter to clarify their "pitch", and schedule a meeting with the appropriate person at the larger company, in this case, TI. The possible outcomes of this matching could be supplier-vendor, licensing, creating a new start-up company, or all sorts of partnership opportunities. This is a very unique program to get people in front of high-level company executives that they might not otherwise have the chance to meet.
The process as simple and fast as possible: just read the sought-after tech areas, and send in an email application answering 2 basic questions.
If successful, it isn't hard to imagine this model being replicated elsewhere. As corporations, particularly in tech, continue to seek creative and innovative ideas it was only a matter of time before they formally started to reach beyond their walls. If you are an entrepreneur or "idea person" who can also take their idea to at least a prototype phase or detailed explanation, this could be a tremendous opportunity.
I've been an avid Blackberry user for years now. Despite some of the limitations and the fact that it doesn't have the cool appeal of an iPhone, for the combination of business and personal use, speed, efficiency, form-factor and reliability I've yet to find anything to beat it. While my 7290 was getting a bit tired, and historically Blackberry's were not great phones, it was still a great device overall.
With the Curve, RIM has really outdone themselves. I got the 8310 about a month ago now and the only changes have been positive. Internet applications, which I rarely use save for Google Maps when I get confused in downtown Dallas are exponentially faster, the screen is several magnitudes brighter and even the little trackball, which I thought I would be challenging has turned out to be faster and a easer to use than the old scroll wheel with an adjustment curve of about a day. The keypad is still a full QWERTY board but a bit smaller than before so typing is a touch more challenging but it's really a small trade off. If anything, it's encouraged me to be even more succinct it my e-mail and text messages which is probably a good thing.
The 8310 has embedded GPS which I have yet to use and the camera is acceptably good for a phone camera, which I almost never use anyway. I haven't used the media player extensively and don't foresee it replacing my iPod anytime soon but I can imagine it being useful in some instances and I'm glad to have one on-board; it's a feature I've felt belonged on all phones for sometime. The built in speaker-phone is surprisingly clear and loud which again, as a business user is quite nice. It's got push-to-talk, ala the old Nextel phones but I could care less about that.
As mobile devices go you would be hard pressed to beat the 8310 on almost any account so if you have been on the fence about the Curve, I would recommend it. If you are a more casual user and have been pondering an iPhone that might be a preferable choice for you. I'll re-investigate the iPhone once they get it on 3G and speed up the data side. At that point the iPhone could become pretty compelling even for business users but until then, Blackberry still wins.
One of the most daunting aspects of starting any kind of business for most entrepreneurs is knowing how to protect their ideas and intellectual property. There is a tendency to be borderline paranoid with sharing even the most trivial aspects of your idea so the question becomes, "How do I find the balance between protecting my idea and providing enough information to the people I need to get feedback from?" In a cut-throat and highly litigious business environment there are no guarantees but there are a few basic rules that will help you find that balance:
1. ALWAYS use an NDA. An Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA, can be simple one page document that is signed by you and the party you are sharing information with about your idea or product which simply states that they agree not to disclose to any one else, or use for their own competitive benefit, any of the information you are sharing with them.If you don't get an NDA and someone steals your idea, you may find your self in the difficult position of establishing who had the idea first, potentially sacrificing first-commer advantage in the market and it could cost you your business. Always keep unsigned NDA's with you so you can quickly pull one out if the time is right to chat with someone. If they won't sign it, don't do business with them. If they want the NDA reviewed by their attorney before discussing your idea then respect that decision, it's not an unreasonable thing for them to do, in fact, it shows that they are prudent. Note VC's may decline to sign them so you'll have to put faith in the fact that they are there to fund good ideas, not steal them, still, only deal with reputable VC's and continue to use NDA's with everyone else, including all business partners, angel investors and employees and contractors.
2. Keep the Rights. If you are enlisting help in building your idea or product, you should have a written agreement with them that any work they do for you and anything which results from that work is yours/your company's, in addition to the NDA. Otherwise they may be a partner, not an employee or contractor and likely won't be a partner you want.
3.File a provisional patent or utility application. The cost is far less than a traditional patent (about $200) and provides added protection by way of documentation and registration for 1 year. It's not the complete protection some would like you believe it is and if you have that strong of an idea then you will still want to file for a complete patent but it is still a good tool to employ in protecting your idea. File within 1 year of any offer for sale, public use or public description (any printed medium including theInternet ) of your idea/product or you loose the right to file. If you really want to lock down your idea from prying eyes, you may be able to utilize a nonpublication request in conjunction with the utility application.
4.You own the copyright to anything you produce as soon as it is fixed to some medium but filing an inexpensive copyright so that it is now a registered copyright will provide added protection for things like written works, music, photographs, ... and can often be done in collections. IP is has quickly become one of the most valuable assets of any company or individual for that matter so protecting your IP is an essential step in running your business and should be viewed as such rather than something which can be put off, postponed or ignored all together.
As always, consult an attorney on these things to be sure you get the best advice for your situation though things like the NDA are pretty straight forward and easily deployed.
For more good info on copyrights and legally protecting your stuff the internet visit PlagiarismToday, the blog of Jonathan Bailey.
After I posted my "pre" review of Woopra yesterday I found the following video on John P's " OneMansBlog." It's an audio free video which walks through the functionality of Woopra so if you already have access, watch it and learn a thing or two; if you don't already have it, it makes a functional demo if you want to see more of the features but is at a little low resolution to give you too much detail. Users familiar with the application will have an easier time following along.
While taking part in the Dallas WordCamp a couple of weeks ago we were introduced to Woopra but one of the company founders John Pozadzides and given an opportunity to take part in the beta trial of the hosted, real-time website analytics program.
The first reaction to Woopra by almost everyone is WOW! Visually the application is very engaging and includes features such as a world map that shows a ping wherever someone is hitting your website from in real time and a stock-type ticker at the bottom with scrolling statistics among a myriad of other things. You can drill down into your statistics any number of ways, tag visitors (i.e. if you know who they are you can always know when they come to visit) and even start a real time chat with them (could be creepy or fun depending on how you look at it and use it).
For any stats geeks out there Woopra will be a must. You can sign up now and as soon as they have openings in the Beta trial they'll let you in. Otherwise, you'll have to want until general availability. Some noise has been made about the usefulness of "real-time" statistics but I can easily imagine situations where real time stats could be very useful such as during a campaign or product launch, or for monitoring sudden bandwidth issues and requesting real-time increase of bandwidth from your host. If you have ever observed the "Digg effect" on your website you know what I am talking about. I'd also like to say, it's just cool...
Cali Lewis, host of GeekBrief.tv had an opportunity to interview John P. at WordCampand provide a more in depth demo of the platform which will include API's for expansion.
One thing I would personally like to see built in (hint hint if you read this John) would be real time threshold notices so that if my traffic suddenly spikes while I'm not watching the screen I get an SMS message, that way I can call up my webhost and increase bandwidth on the fly preventing a site crash (or crash of anyone else's if on a shared server).
This would make a nice integration point between Woopra and Layered Technology's ability to throttle bandwidth on the fly and leverage their gridLayer computing system.
I'll hold off on a full review until the product is out of Beta and generally available.
As I was writing the posts on the Idea Lifecycle Matrix I got caught in a couple of conversations about frameworks vs methodologies vs processes reminding me that there is some confusion about the differences between all three and how they fit together.
I'll start by telling you that despite the way these terms probably sound to you and the way they are often abused they are not "fluffy" consulting words used to describe useless constructs whose only purpose it to help guys in suits look smart and charge high fees. The application and understanding of frameworks, methodologies and processes can transform businesses, they are why some companies, despite what you may think of them, have grown to immense size and value, unimaginably so to most of us. So I would encourage you to put aside any preconceived notions you have about these topics and we'll see if we can clarify some of the confusion.
Frameworks: Frameworks are by definition a little loose. They exist to provide structure and direction on a preferred way to do something without being too detailed. In essence, frameworks provide guidelines. They are powerful because they provide guidance while being flexible enough to adopt to changing conditions or to be customized for your company while utilizing vetted approaches.
The Idea Lifecycle Matrix is an example of a framework. More well known is the Capability Maturity Model or CMM.
Methodologies: A methodology is an approach to "doing something" with a defined set of rules, methods, tests activities, deliverables, and processes which typically serves to solve a specific problem. An example of a business methodology would be how, in a defined, planned manner, you test something, validate results, establish the deliverables and determine how to improve and monitor that "thing" on an ongoing basis. Methodologies demonstrate a well thought out, defined, repeatable approach. Using well worn methodologies provides a lot of support to the validity of the way you do something and the results you get which is important to your clients.
The scientific method is an example of a methodology (now just apply that thinking to business).
Processes: Processes are probably the easiest to understand since we all work with them daily, even when we don't know it. A process is simply a well defined set of steps and decisions points for executing a specific task. Well planned and deeply understood processes are essential to your ability to automate business tasks. This is really where that magic happens, a the process level. Generally speaking, processes are highly repeatable and if it can be repeated it can be automated (with exceptions or occasional human intervention of course).
An example of a process would be how you process payments to vendors you work with and the steps and decisions involved in doing so. When working through processes and defining them be EXTREMELY detailed, otherwise attempts to automate will end in futility. Capture every action and decision and outline sub-processes as necessary.
Hopefully that clears up the differences between frameworks, methodologies and processes. While they appear somewhat hierarchical, and can be, they aren't always necessarily so, particularly in both directions. Frameworks will typically have methodologies but not always. Methodologies will typically have [multiple] processes embedded, but some processes will be stand alone.
The real power of combining these things is in developing processes in the context of a methodology and applying methodologies in the context of a framework and most importantly, when you utilize all of those things in the context of YOUR business. The exact same approach won't work for every business but every business, no matter how large or small, can benefit from applying these principles.
