Archive for August, 2007
Bad SEO
August 29th, 2007
MatthewLinks gone Bad.
Some links are bad… for example, if you are a car sales company and you’ve got dozens of completely irrelevant links to international hotel sites… yeah, YOU know the ones! in Prague, Munich, Shanghai etc! That’s a BAD neighborhood over there! That IS going to put a world of hurt on you! And as for the Free-For-All link sites, web rings, and 3 way link schemes… that’s just suicide in cyberspace! Why? its a blatant and completely indefensible attempt at cheating the system!
Easily Write Code
August 28th, 2007
adminThis fall the business world will see the first tentative release of a product that Charles Simonyi has been working on, in one form or another, for most of his professional life. No, it’s not word-processing software, which the Hungarian immigrant developed at Xerox PARC and then took to Microsoft in 1981, and which helped build him a fortune estimated at $1 billion. It’s more audacious than that. Simonyi’s five-year-old startup, Intentional Software, is making software so smart that you can simply tell it what you want to do. Lay down a few basic parameters, and it will write its own code. No programming skills are necessary. read more
iPhone Carrier Hack
August 27th, 2007
MatthewNEW YORK (AP) - Armed with a soldering iron and a large supply of energy drinks, a slight, curly haired teenager has developed a way to make the iPhone, arguably the gadget of the year, available to a much wider audience.
George Hotz of Glen Rock, N.J., spent his last summer before college figuring out how to "unlock" the iPhone, freeing it from being restricted to a single carrier, AT&T Inc.
The procedure, which the 17-year-old posted on his blog Thursday, raises the possibility of a cottage industry springing up to buy iPhones, unlocking them and then selling them to people who don’t want AT&T service or can’t get it, particularly overseas.
The phone, which combines an innovative touch-screen interface with the media-playing abilities of the iPod, is currently sold only in the U.S.
An AP reporter was able to verify that an iPhone Hotz brought to the AP’s headquarters on Friday was unlocked. Hotz placed the reporter’s T-Mobile SIM card, a small chip that identifies a phone to the network, in the iPhone. It then connected to T-Mobile’s network and placed calls using the reporter’s account.
T-Mobile is the only major U.S. carrier apart from AT&T that is compatible with the iPhone’s cellular technology, but smaller carriers also use the technology, known as GSM. In Europe and Asia, GSM is the dominant network technology.
The hack is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software, and missteps may result in the iPhone becoming useless, so few people will be able to follow the instructions.
"But that’s the simplest I could make them," Hotz said.
Technology blog Engadget on Friday reported successfully unlocking an iPhone using a different method that required no tinkering with the hardware. The software was supplied by an anonymous group of hackers that apparently plans to charge for it.
AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel and Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock said their companies had no comment on Hotz’ exploit. Hotz said the companies had not been in touch with him.
Fly for $10
August 24th, 2007
MatthewNo matter how good of a deal you’ve gotten for a flight in the past, chances are you’ve never flown for $10. That is, unless you recently flew on Skybus Airlines. According to this LA Times article, this cheap, new airline is the future of air travel. And believe it or not, the airline really does set aside a minimum of 10 seats for $10, though they get snatched up quickly. But even if you don’t make it in time to get the $10 deal, one-way fares start at $50 and rise by $25 increments up to $175; the average fare is about $100. The airline is able to offer such phenomenal pricing by cutting costs in certain places. "The result is that we have a cost structure that is so much lower than anyone else," said Bill Diffenderffer, chief executive for Skybus. For example, the airline doesn’t offer any frills. Instead, passengers have to pay for music, movies, drinks and food. And flight attendants make lower wages but receive 10 percent commission of what they sell on the plane, which ranges from food to watches to perfume. In addition, the airline is offering advertising space on the outside of the plane, on the overhead bins and even on the shirts of flight attendants.
The only downsides to the airline: about two inches less legroom than traditional airlines, and you have to pay for how many bags you check and for priority boarding.
Print From Your Cell Phone
August 24th, 2007
MatthewIf you’re an on-the-go entrepreneur, you’ll want to check out this latest printing technology from Hewlett-Packard. Cloudprint is a free service that makes it possible to print documents on any printer just about anywhere in the world. With Cloudprint, users can store and print documents using a cell phone. The technology allows travelers to take their documents with them, no matter where they go, simply by bringing along a cell phone and access to a nearby printer. Don’t know where that local printer is? The service will also offer a directory displaying the location of the nearest available printer on Google Maps.
Free Business Software
August 24th, 2007
MatthewIn your day-to-day operations you probably use software for a variety of purposes, ranging from e-mail to accounting. Much of this software you can be using for free. But before you get too excited and think you should build your entire business on free software, take a step back.
While free software cuts down on expenditures, it often comes with minimal or no support. If the software you’re using is a critical part of your business operations, consider paying for it to get support.
Office Productivity–competes with Microsoft Office, Corel Word Perfect
Open Officeis a software suite that contains word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, illustrator, database and mathematical equation creator modules. If you don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for a competing product, Open Office is a viable option.
Customer Relationship Management–competes with Salesforce.com, Microsoft CRM
Sugar CRMis open source software that provides robust sales management, marketing automation, customer support and reporting capabilities. If you find that you’re managing your customer relationships using your PDA, e-mail address book or maybe the back of a napkin, you need a system that’s more robust and has more features.
E-mail Hosting–competes with Webmail.us, Mi8.com, Kerio, Microsoft Exchange
E-mail is one of the most important services your business needs. You can pay a monthly fee for a hosted e-mail service, or you can host your e-mail server yourself and pay for someone on your staff or a local techie to manage it for you.
Google has a service–Google Apps–that offers smaller businesses free e-mail hosting. You get up to 2 GB of storage per user.
Blue Tie also offers a free e-mail hosting service. You can sign up 20 users and every one of them gets 5GB of storage.
PDF Creation–competes with Adobe Acrobat
Want to create a PDF document instead of merely reading them? Then you’ll need a PDF creator. You can buy Adobe Acrobat, or you can download the free Primo PDF creator, which is what I use. Once you download it, you’ll be able to begin creating PDF documents.
There’s also a lot of software you can download to try out for free. If you’re satisfied with it, you can then buy the full version of the software after a certain number of days–usually 15 or 30. If you don’t pay for the software, it will lock up or revert to a reduced-use mode. Download.com is a great resource for this. Look not just for large software packages, but also for add-on software that can boost your productivity. You can often find quality add-on software for your gadgets–BlackBerry, Treo and iPod–as well.
There are some things, however, you shouldn’t skimp on, such as you business’ security, your website, and your logo. It’s your business, show you care.
Smart use of Icons
August 24th, 2007
MatthewIcons and infographics are so integral to all GUIs (OS’s and online) that, like the street signs outside your window, we hardly notice them, even when we’re using them. And that’s exactly the way it really should be. The first time we see one it should help explain a concept behind a menu item, button or link — perhaps with a shopping cart silhouette next to a purchase option or a disk next to the ’save’ option. After the first time, we then tend to use them as flags or landmarks to move around interfaces we are familiar with.
However, there are times when that imagery can work against what you’re trying to achieve. Sometimes it can be as simple as emphasizing the wrong part of an interaction. In an online shopping situation, do you mark the ‘BUY’ button with coins or bills — emphasizing what the user is losing — or do you associate the process with the shopping cart or bag, emphasizing what your user is gaining. We don’t have to bug the Amazon board room to know the answer to that one.
Take the time to step outside your design. Try to think as a first time visitor. Usually the most successful icons are also the more simple.
Character Salaries
August 22nd, 2007
adminTo be young, good-looking and fictional. Exemplified by exciting jobs and countless romantic conquests, the lives of television characters leave little to be desired — and much to be questioned. Don’t you ever wonder how so many of them sustain their glamorous lifestyles? After all, most live in luxurious digs, have a seemingly endless array of wardrobe choices and sport hairstyles that probably cost so much to maintain they’d make John Edwards blush.
In the spirit of awards season, we looked at what some Emmy nominees’ onscreen personas would be making in real life, and if these characters could get by without the help of Hollywood writers.
George O’Malley (T.R. Knight, "Grey’s Anatomy")
The job: Surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital
The salary: $50,968 in Seattle, Wash. (National average: $47,251)
The verdict: Pretty accurate, considering that George shares his living expenses with co-workers and that his only major expenditures seem to be drinks from the local pub.
Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco, "The Sopranos")
The job: Psychiatrist
The salary: $190,193 in New Jersey (National average: $150,210)
The verdict: With close ties to mob boss Tony Soprano, Dr. Melfi has her fair share of problems, but money probably isn’t one of them.
Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven, "Entourage")
The job: Hollywood agent
The salary: $86,454 in Los Angeles (National average: $69,282)
The verdict: Unless he’s taking far more than the standard 10 percent, the real Ari would be in debt up to his Armani collar trying to maintain his Hollywood mansion, luxury sports car and extravagant social life.
Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa L. Williams, "Ugly Betty")
The job: Creative director of Mode magazine
The salary: $51,996 in New York (National average: $37,277)
The verdict: Perhaps Ms. Slater has a little money pocketed away from her modeling days to help pay for her Botox treatments and designer wardrobe.
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland, "24")
The job: Federal Agent
The salary: $49,057 in Los Angeles (National average: $44,587)
The verdict: L.A. is expensive, but Agent Bauer’s job doesn’t allow him much leisure time anyway; plus, with his MacGyver-like resiliency, he’ll always find a way to get by.
Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub, "Monk")
The job: Private detective
The salary: $73,909 in San Francisco (National average: $56,300)
The verdict: Luckily, Monk doesn’t have extravagant tastes, so he can probably live on this income despite San Francisco’s pricey cost of living.
Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer")
The job: Los Angeles police chief deputy
The salary: $59,890 in Los Angeles (National average: $39,088)
The verdict: Although Johnson’s a no-nonsense kind of gal when it comes to her job, the high-maintenance hairstyle is a dead giveaway that either this chief deputy is enjoying some kickbacks or the show’s writers aren’t playing by the coupon-cutting rules.
Liz Lemon (Tina Fey, "30 Rock")
The job: Head writer for a TV variety show
The salary: $58,851 in New York (National average: $47,536)
The verdict: Not one to spend money on fancy clothes, expensive wine or weekends in the country, Liz’s only extravagance seems to be an alarmingly high amount of takeout food, so she could easily maintain the same lifestyle on her real life counterpart’s salary.
Alan Shore (James Spader, "Boston Legal")
The job: Attorney
The salary: $94,416 in Boston (National average: $77,462)
The verdict: A grown-up version of the poor little rich kid Spader played in Pretty in Pink, the narcissistic, womanizing Shore could realistically live quite comfortably on what he makes, but if he goes through money the way he goes through women, he’s headed for trouble.
Pam Beesley (Jenna Fischer, "The Office")
The job: Receptionist
Average salary: About $19,254 in Scranton, Penn. (National average: $21,020)
The verdict: Pam doesn’t make much money, but with a lifestyle as unassuming as her demeanor, she really doesn’t need to. She’s not into flashy clothes or spa treatments, lives in a modest apartment, and needs little more than a few close friends nearby to have a good time.
American Airlines Sues Google
August 21st, 2007
MatthewAmerican Airlines filed suit against Google in federal court late last week, alleging that the search giant’s AdWords program infringes on American’s trademarks. Without authorization or approval, Google sold the right to use American Airlines’ trademarks and service marks, the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northwestern District of Texas, asserted.
According to the suit, Google’s search engine is helping third parties "mislead consumers" and "misappropriate" the American Airlines marks by using them as keyword triggers for AdWords campaigns and by displaying the trademarks in the actual ad text, the airline claimed.
The airline pointed to several ways in which Google is violating its trademarks but reserved its greatest ire for Google’s policy of selling trademarks as keyword triggers for other companies’ ad campaigns. The complaint includes screen shots that show the AdWords system recommending American Airlines trademarks for an ad campaign
Read More About this here.
Temecula Wine Country
August 18th, 2007
MatthewOur office is located in Temecula, approximately 5 miles from Temecula Wine Country. I came across this article and had to add it. We have personally helped set up two wineries without a location. They are online wineries and have grown into extremely successful businesses.
Wine Without the Vineyard
With options like custom crush facilities, wine lovers don’t have to buy a vineyard or build facilities to bottle their own creations.
One of Judd Finkelstein’s favorite things about being a winemaker at his family’s Napa Valley winery is getting his hands dirty, whether that means picking the grapes, punching down the cap or working with the barrels. But being a winemaker these days doesn’t always mean attentively tending to a vineyard–or even being in the same state where your wine is produced.
In addition to Judd’s Hill Winery, which produces less than 3,000 cases of wine per year, the Finkelstein family also owns Judd’s Hill MicroCrush, a custom crush facility that helps approximately 100 clients make their own wine. They’ll do everything from sourcing the grapes from Napa Valley vineyards to designing the label and bottling. In fact, Finkelstein says some long-time clients have never visited the winery. But he also has a client from North Carolina who’ll fly to California with 48 hours notice during harvest season, arriving in the “predawn darkness with picking shears in hand.”
People have a passion for the art of winemaking and want to be involved in the process,” Finkelstein says. Virtual winemaking–making wine without owning a crushing facility–has become a popular alternative. As of November 2006, there were 5,970 wineries in the U.S., with 1,587 of those being virtual wineries, according to Wine Business Monthly. And Provina’s $3,499 egg-shaped WinePod, which allows enthusiasts to make wine in their homes, is a bestseller. The 2006 model sold out, and there’s a waiting list for the 2007 version.
Alternatives like these are turning winemaking into a more accessible process for Americans, who are embracing wine. “People are realizing it’s pretty easy to do,” says Paul Beveridge, a lawyer who also has been making wine for the past 19 years and teaches a course on winemaking for busy professionals. “It’s like any other art form; you can make it as complicated as you want.”
Many ardent wine lovers would never be able to see their name on a label or barrel without options like custom crushing facilities, co-ops that allow grape growers to share facilities and popular winemaking sites, such as Crushpadwine.com. That’s because the cost of purchasing a vineyard and building facilities continues to increase. In addition, persevering through the lengthy and complicated permitting process can cause more frustration than a glass of wine can cure. In fact, Beveridge jokes–sort of–that you need to be a lawyer to produce and sell wine.
For Trey Busch, owner of Sleight of Hand Cellars–yes, he named it after the Pearl Jam song–virtual winemaking options allowed him to start his own label by keeping capital costs to a minimum. Busch was working as a winemaker at Basel Cellars in Washington state when he created a business plan for his own winery, which he started a few months ago. “I thought, If I’m going to work this hard, I want it to be for myself,” he says. Friends and fellow enthusiasts Sandy and Jerry Solomon agreed to provide the financing and now serve as his business partners.
Busch produces two types of wines under the Sleight of Hand label: “negociant” project wines, which are blends of purchased juice that sell for less than $20, and wines made at a custom crush facility from sourced grapes. The negociant wines have allowed him to generate income immediately, since he doesn’t have to wait for the wine to age. His first harvest for the custom crush line will be in 2007, and he’ll release those wines in 2009. Customers can imbibe at the company’s tasting room in Walla Walla, Washington, which also serves as Busch’s office. “You don’t have to put up a ton of capital this way,” he says.
To differentiate his wines, Busch has put a lot of time and effort into marketing. “It’s the second most important thing next to quality,” he says. “Most consumers are guilty of buying wine based on how the label looks.” To coincide with the Sleight of Hand theme, Busch hired a graphic poster designer to create images for the labels based on 1920s and ’30s magic posters. His business cards look like a deck of cards on the back, and he hired a magician for the grand opening.
While Busch quit his day job as a corporate buyer at Nordstrom to get into the winemaking business in 2000, Beveridge says giving up your main stream of income isn’t necessary. Rather than following the model of “retiring as a wealthy lawyer and purchasing a vineyard,” he began making wine when he was a young law associate and has owned Wilridge Winery in Seattle since 1988. He says throughout the years, there have been very few occasions when he’s had to take an emergency day to harvest grapes or tend to other pressing matters at his winery, which produces 1,500 cases of wine per year. And aside from grape growers, Judd’s Hill MicroCrush counts many business executives among its clientele.
As wine’s popularity continues to grow in the U.S., the market for virtual winemaking will likely increase as well. Beveridge attributes a 1991 60 Minutes episode proclaiming wine’s health benefits to the beverage’s initial U.S. market boost. It was only one year later that Judd’s Hill began crushing grapes as a favor to two growers as a way to market their produce to grape-purchasing wineries. Both sides of the U.S. wine landscape have since continued a simultaneous upward climb.
“Wine has always held this mystique as one of life’s finer pleasures and people have maybe been a little intimidated by it,” Finkelstein says. “Now that we’ve made it accessible, and more and more people have more disposable income, too, winemaking has become very appealing.”
But for some, there’s still no substitute for the complete package. “I’m the only person who owns this piece of land,” Beveridge says of the vineyard he recently purchased after buying grapes for 19 years. “I’m going to be the only person growing grapes there. And to have total artistic control of the process–that’s the ultimate.”