ViaTalk Free is a way to call people at no charge. ViaTalk will connect you for free and you’ll get up to 10 minutes to chat away. Simply enter in your phone number and then enter the phone number of the person you’re trying to reach, and ViaTalk will connect you. This obviously works best if you’re using a land line and calling someone long distance, if you don’t already have a long distance phone plan. You could also use it with your cell phone, but then it wouldn’t be entirely free.
This service also doesn’t seem to work with International phone numbers. The primary goal of ViaTalk Free, however, is to help bring VoIP more into the mainstream, introducing broadband phone options to users that may not have considered VoIP as a personal option. Unfortunately there isn’t much information on the ViaTalk site regarding the free service option, but who doesn’t like free?
More at:http://www.viatalkfree.com/
Monday, July 16, 2007
Make Millions With A Microsite
Gerald Prolman launched OrganicBouquet.com in 2003 to sell sustainably grown flowers that are freshly picked and then gift-wrapped. But as the company grew, he needed a better way to meet the increasing demand from florists, event planners and other whole-salers. So in June, Prolman launched a microsite to make it easier for these customers to place orders.
A microsite lets you focus on a specific purpose, such as selling clearance or discounted items, selling products to businesses vs. consumers, promoting new merchandise, or trying out a new product line. Sometimes the design and navigation of a microsite differs from its parent site. “Unlike consumers, florists shop by variety and color, so the site is set up to help florists find what they need quickly,” says Prolman, 46, who projects 2006 sales of up to $5 million for his San Rafael, California, company.
So why didn’t Prolman just launch a separate section on his existing website to focus on wholesalers? Simple: to prevent consumers or future competitors from having easy access to the customized pricing available to wholesale customers. “The pricing is tailor-made for each customer based on volume,” says Prolman. “Once approved as a wholesale account, they will be given access to the site.”
More at:http://www.organicbouquetwholesale.com/
A microsite lets you focus on a specific purpose, such as selling clearance or discounted items, selling products to businesses vs. consumers, promoting new merchandise, or trying out a new product line. Sometimes the design and navigation of a microsite differs from its parent site. “Unlike consumers, florists shop by variety and color, so the site is set up to help florists find what they need quickly,” says Prolman, 46, who projects 2006 sales of up to $5 million for his San Rafael, California, company.
So why didn’t Prolman just launch a separate section on his existing website to focus on wholesalers? Simple: to prevent consumers or future competitors from having easy access to the customized pricing available to wholesale customers. “The pricing is tailor-made for each customer based on volume,” says Prolman. “Once approved as a wholesale account, they will be given access to the site.”
More at:http://www.organicbouquetwholesale.com/
Find And Test Your Million Dollor Idea
This group will help you create and prove a business idea that leads to your life vision, won’t break the bank, and is based on your values, strengths, and passions!
“Once I get my million dollar idea, THEN I’ll start my business.”
We’ve all heard this excuse! It may be the most common one in the book and is based on the false premise that great business ideas just hit us on the head while we’re doing something else. The reality of most successful business ideas arise as a result of continued brainstorming and testing! This group will help you do just that.
Group Features
Unlimited support with 24-hr response from group leader
Daily step-by-step instructions that walk you through specific actions you need to take in order to come up with a viable business idea
Four one-hour conference calls to hold you accountable to completing the actions and to receive multiple perspectives on the challenges you're facing from other members
Help finding a like-minded, daily accountability partner
Topics Covered
Creating, testing, researching, prototyping, pitching, protecting, and planning a profitable business idea that helps you achieve your life vision and is based around your passions, values, and strengths.
This Group Is For You If…
You have a million ideas and don’t know which to choose!
You have no idea what business you want to start, but you know you want to start one.
You have one idea that you’d like to test the feasibility of once and for all!
Expectations
Attend all of the conference calls
Post on the discussion board when asked to by the group moderator
Spend at least 15 minutes every weekday taking action steps toward coming up with and proving your business idea
Find an accountability partner (we can help)
Honor the privacy of other members
Conference Call Dates
Join us on August 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2007 at 8:00-9:00pm EST!
More at:http://www.journeypage.com/groups/entrepreneurship_0707/
“Once I get my million dollar idea, THEN I’ll start my business.”
We’ve all heard this excuse! It may be the most common one in the book and is based on the false premise that great business ideas just hit us on the head while we’re doing something else. The reality of most successful business ideas arise as a result of continued brainstorming and testing! This group will help you do just that.
Group Features
Unlimited support with 24-hr response from group leader
Daily step-by-step instructions that walk you through specific actions you need to take in order to come up with a viable business idea
Four one-hour conference calls to hold you accountable to completing the actions and to receive multiple perspectives on the challenges you're facing from other members
Help finding a like-minded, daily accountability partner
Topics Covered
Creating, testing, researching, prototyping, pitching, protecting, and planning a profitable business idea that helps you achieve your life vision and is based around your passions, values, and strengths.
This Group Is For You If…
You have a million ideas and don’t know which to choose!
You have no idea what business you want to start, but you know you want to start one.
You have one idea that you’d like to test the feasibility of once and for all!
Expectations
Attend all of the conference calls
Post on the discussion board when asked to by the group moderator
Spend at least 15 minutes every weekday taking action steps toward coming up with and proving your business idea
Find an accountability partner (we can help)
Honor the privacy of other members
Conference Call Dates
Join us on August 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2007 at 8:00-9:00pm EST!
More at:http://www.journeypage.com/groups/entrepreneurship_0707/
Brightkite
Brightkite is a new notification service for the purpose of providing options to users as to what kind of notifications they’d like to receive. The service is currently under pretty tight wraps, and the public beta is set to launch soon.
With the options of receiving updates via email, instant messenger or SMS text messages, Brightkite will give website publishers the ability to extend these options to the end user. Instead of having to constantly check our email inbox, people will be able to choose which type of notification they’d like. This could be for signing up for the alert to check out the public beta (as brightkite has done) or finding out when your friends have uploaded new images to their blog.
Brightkite’s future plan is to enable users to send notifications to their community from a mobile device, sort of a reverse option for its initial service offering. This future plan is probably a more important development for the company, as it empowers the end user directly, instead of as a result of another client utilizing Brightkite’s service. That way, users choose where the messages are sent, and who sees these notifications, building on Brightkite’s own platform and creating smaller communities in the process. Otherwise, much of what Brightkite offers is already built in to many of the applications we already use: access to email and instant messengers on your cell phone, SMS notifications for your Facebook newsfeeds, and so on.
more at:http://brightkite.com/
With the options of receiving updates via email, instant messenger or SMS text messages, Brightkite will give website publishers the ability to extend these options to the end user. Instead of having to constantly check our email inbox, people will be able to choose which type of notification they’d like. This could be for signing up for the alert to check out the public beta (as brightkite has done) or finding out when your friends have uploaded new images to their blog.
Brightkite’s future plan is to enable users to send notifications to their community from a mobile device, sort of a reverse option for its initial service offering. This future plan is probably a more important development for the company, as it empowers the end user directly, instead of as a result of another client utilizing Brightkite’s service. That way, users choose where the messages are sent, and who sees these notifications, building on Brightkite’s own platform and creating smaller communities in the process. Otherwise, much of what Brightkite offers is already built in to many of the applications we already use: access to email and instant messengers on your cell phone, SMS notifications for your Facebook newsfeeds, and so on.
more at:http://brightkite.com/
Foodio54 is a new restaurant review site
Foodio54 is a new restaurant review site that has recently launched.
The main purpose of Foodio54 is to find new restaurants on a local level, and review the ones you’ve already been to. Foodio54 has already included a large directory of restaurants nationwide, so you’re likely to find what you’re looking for. If you come across a restaurant you’ve already been to, you can leave a review and a rating. For restaurants you may be interested in, you can set a reminder for Foodio54 to get back to you about it later. This directory can also be edited by the community, so if you find a restaurant that should be deleted because it went out of business, you can submit a deletion request. If a restaurant is not included in Foodio54’s directory, you can be the first to add it.
While you can befriend other users, you cannot subscribe to their reviews. One of Foodio54’s features is the tracking of all the places you’ve reviewed first, which allows users to build some authority and credibility within the site, making it more important to be able to bookmark or subscribe to other users. I’d also like to see the ability to include photos with a review, as well as create a permanent list of places I’d like to check out, such as Menuism has done. Relying less on friends’ reviews and incorporating a personal recommendation system, as Group Recipes has done, would be great as well.
More at:http://foodio54.com/
Via-Mas
The main purpose of Foodio54 is to find new restaurants on a local level, and review the ones you’ve already been to. Foodio54 has already included a large directory of restaurants nationwide, so you’re likely to find what you’re looking for. If you come across a restaurant you’ve already been to, you can leave a review and a rating. For restaurants you may be interested in, you can set a reminder for Foodio54 to get back to you about it later. This directory can also be edited by the community, so if you find a restaurant that should be deleted because it went out of business, you can submit a deletion request. If a restaurant is not included in Foodio54’s directory, you can be the first to add it.
While you can befriend other users, you cannot subscribe to their reviews. One of Foodio54’s features is the tracking of all the places you’ve reviewed first, which allows users to build some authority and credibility within the site, making it more important to be able to bookmark or subscribe to other users. I’d also like to see the ability to include photos with a review, as well as create a permanent list of places I’d like to check out, such as Menuism has done. Relying less on friends’ reviews and incorporating a personal recommendation system, as Group Recipes has done, would be great as well.
More at:http://foodio54.com/
Via-Mas
Semapedia
Tagging in the real, meatspace world is an urban, semi-artistic endeavor which entails scrawling your handle all over public surfaces. Tagging in the wired universe is, of course, a folksonomy, a means of categorizing and organizing ideas, terms, things and themes. Semapedia brings the two together again, so to speak. Here’s how it works: you choose a wiki article with a real world connection. Copy the article’s URL and paste it into the Semapedia form (on the site’s homepage). Semapedia will churn out custom made tags available as a printable PDF. Print out the tags and attach them according to the content they link to (in some cases, it’d be wise to ask for permission, or simply do your deed at under the cover of nightfall). Cell phone users will be able access the wiki info by simply pointing their screens at the tag (provided they first download a 2D Barcode Reader for their phone). It’s tagging 2.0 style.
More at:http://www.semapedia.org/
More at:http://www.semapedia.org/
Fundable.com lets groups of people pool funds to make purchases or raise money
Fundable.com lets groups of people pool funds to make purchases or raise money. Similar to online auctions, Fundable's pages are created by people who use this site. Each project has a description of how much money needs to be collected and what it will do. Once enough pledges (not payments) have been collected, Fundable turns them into real payments and sends the total to the project's organizer. No one takes a risk when making a pledge: if a collection expires before reaching its total in pledges, Fundable deletes all pledges and never charges money. This lets you participate in a group purchase or fundraiser without worrying about what other people will do. No one pays until and unless everyone else makes a pledge.”
Fundable.org is a great idea, and your imagination is the limit of what you might raise money for. It is a fast and secure way to raise money or even make group purchases in a very simple way. Also, you have the security that your credit card or paypal account will not be charged unless the goal is met, so you know you are not throwing the money away here: either you are sure that the money goes to the group leader when you pledge for a fund raise (a good cause, most probably); or you are being charged when you are sure the group purchase is going on.
More at:http://fundable.org/
Fundable.org is a great idea, and your imagination is the limit of what you might raise money for. It is a fast and secure way to raise money or even make group purchases in a very simple way. Also, you have the security that your credit card or paypal account will not be charged unless the goal is met, so you know you are not throwing the money away here: either you are sure that the money goes to the group leader when you pledge for a fund raise (a good cause, most probably); or you are being charged when you are sure the group purchase is going on.
More at:http://fundable.org/
Sunday, July 15, 2007
TrailGuide
Optimized Mobile Application With TrailGuide, the Basecamp experience has been adapted for efficiency on the phone so you can see more of the most important things on screen quickly and easily. Switching between projects takes seconds with just a few button presses and the whole application takes advantage of touch screens, scroll wheels, 5-way controls, back buttons and keyboards for navigation and data entry. View and Edit When you need to see what's fresh, check your projects to see if there's new activity. TrailGuide will post any pending changes you have made on the phone and show you if any projects have been updated. Just select the project to download the latest activity and begin working with it immediately. Stored Locally Having your project information stored locally on your phone does more than just give you access when you're offline. It provides instant visibility to Messages, Comments, Milestones and To-Do lists. Using TrailGuide, there's no waiting for pages to load in a mobile browser or scrolling through layouts that are designed for the desktop. Safe and Secure TrailGuide uses industry standard SSL to connect to Basecamp (the same level of security that online banks use), so your passwords and data are safe when downloaded to your phone. And even though TrailBlazer uses a server to communicate efficiently between your phone and your Basecamp data, nothing is stored permanently on the server.
More at:http://carrytheday.com/
More at:http://carrytheday.com/
Find New Customers in minutes "The New Google" Or Other Google"!
Find New Customers in minutes. Megaglobe Ads is the most cost-effective way for online advertisers to find new customers.
With millions of Internet users online, Megaglobe Ads provides an avenue for you to reach your target audience and drive traffic to your website.
Megaglobe Ads utilizes the Pay Per Valid Click (patent pending) technology to identify fraudulent and invalid clicks. Such clicks are not charged to our advertisers accounts.
Your Megaglobe Ads campaign is easy to create and allows you to advertise worldwide in minutes!
Are you ready to take your website to the next level? With Megaglobe Ads your new customers are just a click away.
More at:http://www.megaglobe.com/
With millions of Internet users online, Megaglobe Ads provides an avenue for you to reach your target audience and drive traffic to your website.
Megaglobe Ads utilizes the Pay Per Valid Click (patent pending) technology to identify fraudulent and invalid clicks. Such clicks are not charged to our advertisers accounts.
Your Megaglobe Ads campaign is easy to create and allows you to advertise worldwide in minutes!
Are you ready to take your website to the next level? With Megaglobe Ads your new customers are just a click away.
More at:http://www.megaglobe.com/
A New Online Social Networking Site Aimed For Professionals
www.highflya.com is a new online social networking site aimed for professionals all over the world highflya offers some unique features which are new to social network sites such as Vidmail its a form of videomessaging a professional individual ,its very good for getting consultations , industry advice and just communicating with other professionals on a more personal note .
HighFlya has an event listing board which can be sorted by date and country, there are also groups, forums and a job recruitment page on which prospective employees can post their CV’s. The site is free to join, however you can upgrade your account for a fee. Silver members pay 2 pounds a month and are allowed better listings on search/browse as well as 5 VidMails per month. Gold members must dole out 5 pounds in order to get even better listings on search/browse and 20 VidMails per month. Platinum members get the best listings and unlimited mails for a mere 10 quid a month.
more at:http://www.highflya.com/
HighFlya has an event listing board which can be sorted by date and country, there are also groups, forums and a job recruitment page on which prospective employees can post their CV’s. The site is free to join, however you can upgrade your account for a fee. Silver members pay 2 pounds a month and are allowed better listings on search/browse as well as 5 VidMails per month. Gold members must dole out 5 pounds in order to get even better listings on search/browse and 20 VidMails per month. Platinum members get the best listings and unlimited mails for a mere 10 quid a month.
more at:http://www.highflya.com/
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Intervals is a new hosted project and time management service for businesses
Intervals is a new hosted project and time management service for businesses by Santa Barbara-based web design firm Pelago.
After creating an account with Intervals, you are given your own sub-domain for one of two domains .Intervals is nothing like the simple “to-do list” site you may be used to. The site includes many advanced features and settings you may not get with other services. Similar to other project management services, you can create tasks and assign them to other members of the project team. Time spent on each task can be calculated out into billable and non-billable hours.
Intervals also features a handy timesheet feature allowing for calculation of real time spent for all members of the project team for all tasks involved in the project. Intervals also tracks clients, and can handle multiple projects at once. The free membership only includes one project, all other levels are not free. Many different types of graphs are available to help your team manage its time more efficiently.
At first, Intervals may seem a bit daunting, but the interface is actually very intuitive and includes many features you would expect from a great time management service. If you are managing a large project with multiple members, multiple clients, or have to juggle time sheets and billable hours, I recommend Intervals. They’re one of the few services to give the popular 37signals’ Basecamp a run for its money.
More at:http://www.myintervals.com/
After creating an account with Intervals, you are given your own sub-domain for one of two domains .Intervals is nothing like the simple “to-do list” site you may be used to. The site includes many advanced features and settings you may not get with other services. Similar to other project management services, you can create tasks and assign them to other members of the project team. Time spent on each task can be calculated out into billable and non-billable hours.
Intervals also features a handy timesheet feature allowing for calculation of real time spent for all members of the project team for all tasks involved in the project. Intervals also tracks clients, and can handle multiple projects at once. The free membership only includes one project, all other levels are not free. Many different types of graphs are available to help your team manage its time more efficiently.
At first, Intervals may seem a bit daunting, but the interface is actually very intuitive and includes many features you would expect from a great time management service. If you are managing a large project with multiple members, multiple clients, or have to juggle time sheets and billable hours, I recommend Intervals. They’re one of the few services to give the popular 37signals’ Basecamp a run for its money.
More at:http://www.myintervals.com/
PopShops is a new affiliate system that lets you create storefront widgets to place on your personal website or blog in order to make some extra cash
PopShops is a new affiliate system that lets you create storefront widgets to place on your personal website or blog in order to make some extra cash. The service is set to officially launch in the coming weeks.
With a reported 10 million affiliate products to choose from, PopShops offers variety and a long list of items that fit pretty much any walk of life. As the widget creator, you can choose by store or keyword to find the items you’d like to add. Your widget is fully customizable, from the number of items that show, to product description, size, color and more. What’s also helpful is the ability to save your template as a style sheet for future widget creations. Choose the embed code (Javascript, Flash, etc.) and place it on your site. PopShops also has plug-ins for a few blogs, including TypePad and Blogger, for easy insertion of your storefront widget.
PopShops lets you make money with its affiliate program from its associations with other networks, including Commission Junction, LinkShare, Red Galoshes and ShareASale. If you’re already member to one of these networks, you can use your existing affiliate badge number with PopShops to roll together the two accounts. PopShops offers basic stats for your storefront widget, such as page impression, but does not offer more inclusive tracking and reporting tools that could be helpful, even for choosing which products to add to your own widget.
Somewhat similar services include Starnum and Wize.
More at:http://www.popshops.com/
With a reported 10 million affiliate products to choose from, PopShops offers variety and a long list of items that fit pretty much any walk of life. As the widget creator, you can choose by store or keyword to find the items you’d like to add. Your widget is fully customizable, from the number of items that show, to product description, size, color and more. What’s also helpful is the ability to save your template as a style sheet for future widget creations. Choose the embed code (Javascript, Flash, etc.) and place it on your site. PopShops also has plug-ins for a few blogs, including TypePad and Blogger, for easy insertion of your storefront widget.
PopShops lets you make money with its affiliate program from its associations with other networks, including Commission Junction, LinkShare, Red Galoshes and ShareASale. If you’re already member to one of these networks, you can use your existing affiliate badge number with PopShops to roll together the two accounts. PopShops offers basic stats for your storefront widget, such as page impression, but does not offer more inclusive tracking and reporting tools that could be helpful, even for choosing which products to add to your own widget.
Somewhat similar services include Starnum and Wize.
More at:http://www.popshops.com/
Obopay, the company that lets you send money from your cell phone
Obopay, the company that lets you send money from your cell phone, has raised $29 million in its third round of funding. Led by Richmond Global Cellular, along with AllianceBernstein L.P., Citi, Societe Generale and others. Previous investors Qualcomm and Redpoint Ventures were also participants in this latest round.
With $17 million already raised by Obopay, the company is looking to take a strategic advantage point against the others in this space. Most of its competition could come from both Google Checkout’s and PayPal’s mobile payment option, which have been announced recently. Obopay’s most recent announcement was its AOL Instant Messenger integration, broadening the scope of options by which you can access and interact with your account. Many are looking to further integrate payment options into social networks, including MySpace’s own possible deal with Paypal, and the development of a PayPal facebook application.
More at:https://www.obopay.com
With $17 million already raised by Obopay, the company is looking to take a strategic advantage point against the others in this space. Most of its competition could come from both Google Checkout’s and PayPal’s mobile payment option, which have been announced recently. Obopay’s most recent announcement was its AOL Instant Messenger integration, broadening the scope of options by which you can access and interact with your account. Many are looking to further integrate payment options into social networks, including MySpace’s own possible deal with Paypal, and the development of a PayPal facebook application.
More at:https://www.obopay.com
Auctomatic, which provides tools for eBay Power Sellers
Y Combinator-funded Auctomatic, which provides tools for eBay Power Sellers, is expected to launch in the next few weeks. So far they’ve taken $400,000+ in funding, and other investors include Paul Buchheit, the creator and lead developer of Gmail. One of the founders, Patrick Collison, is an Irishman who landed a place at MIT: he’s now deferred his place and moved to San Francisco with younger brother John to focus on the auction service.
The site’s tools include listing templates, scheduling, bulk listing, image hosting and inventory management. As an eBay PowerSeller in a previous life, I can confirm that these tools are essential to anyone handling high volumes of listings: what’s more, PowerSellers are happy to pay for the convenience
More at:http://auctomatic.com/
The site’s tools include listing templates, scheduling, bulk listing, image hosting and inventory management. As an eBay PowerSeller in a previous life, I can confirm that these tools are essential to anyone handling high volumes of listings: what’s more, PowerSellers are happy to pay for the convenience
More at:http://auctomatic.com/
Finding The Right VC
Finding the right VC is a lot like dating–networking, friendly introductions and sheer luck all play a role. Discover how 3 entrepreneurs met their VCs and started lasting relationships that helped their businesses grow.
Smoothie-maker LightFull Foods was cooked up at 2-year-old Bay Area incubator Brand New Brands in May 2006. The San Francisco company received $6.1 million in venture funding last August from a half-dozen firms, led by Prolog Ventures in St. Louis. Other funders included Unilever Ventures, Burrill & Co., Mattson & Co., Palo Alto Investors and Great Spirit Ventures.
LightFull is headed by co-founders Lara Jackle, 37, a former Balance Bar marketing executive who is Light-Full's CEO, and Lynn Graham, 32, who is marketing vice president. LightFull's 90-calorie Satiety Smoothies--part of the hot "functional foods" trend--are sold in 1,300 grocery locations, including Dominick's, Safeway, Shaw's, Vons, Wegman's and Whole Foods Market. Nine months after the product hit store shelves, Jackle was forecasting more than $1 million in 2007 sales.
Entrepreneur: Lara, how did you get involved in LightFull?
Lara Jackle: It was a fortuitous story. I had an offer to move to Asia and head up emerging-market innovation for a big worldwide food company. A high-level career coach, Lori Ogden Moore, was helping me decide if this was the right move. She said, "I don't want to confuse your decision, but I know people who just raised a large [amount] of money and want to create the next generation of food products." She introduced me to Will Rosenzweig of Brand New Brands, and I became chief marketing officer of the incubator.
Prolog was an investor in Brand New Brands. [After LightFull was conceived at Brand New Brands], my original intention was to stay in the incubator [as an employee], but LightFull was so compelling, I ended up [leaving my job to take] it to market.
Entrepreneur: How did Prolog move from incubator funder to a funder of LightFull?
Ilya Nykin, Prolog managing director: LightFull didn't have an inside track. We needed to apply the same stringent criteria we apply to other investments. We were looking for the most breakthrough opportunities that address large unmet needs, that can be brought to market in a reasonable time and for a reasonable investment, and that have some scientific validity. This is the kind of company LightFull is. And Lara was the sort of leader we like to see: She has experience, energy, foresight, drive and vision.
Entrepreneur: Describe your relationship since the funding.
Jackle: We have a very active relationship. Ilya is a board member--we meet monthly on the phone and quarterly in person. As young women entrepreneurs, [Graham and I are] confident in our ability to market LightFull, but the investment community is male-dominated and can be intimidating. Prolog has been instrumental in helping us retain our independence and authenticity while we discuss possible investments from big companies.
2.
Ryla Teleservices & Frontier Capital
Kennesaw, Georgia-based Ryla Teleservices, which provides outsourced call-center services, landed $700,000 in funding in 2002 from SJF Ventures in Durham, North Carolina. Ryla has since grown from 21 employees to more than 350.
The 6-year-old company received just over $6.5 million in second-round funding in March, with Charlotte, North Carolina-based Frontier Capital as the majority investor. Founded by former D&B call-center manager Mark Wilson, 46, Ryla's president and CEO, and his wife, vice president and COO Shelly Wilson, 47, Ryla had $14 million in sales last year.
Entrepreneur: When did Ryla and Frontier first meet?
Mark Wilson: A little more than two years ago, when we were seeking growth capital. We were using a small consultancy [which has since dissolved] that provided [introduction] services to small businesses like ours.
Entrepreneur: So you essentially met on a blind date?
Wilson: That's right [laughs]. We were careful not to have our deal shopped around too much, though. I didn't want to talk to just anybody.
Entrepreneur: What exactly were you looking for?
Wilson: We wanted a partner that would let us do things in a creative, flexible way. Our approach, of being successful by developing people, requires patience. My experience with VCs is that not all are receptive to that; some are more focused on bottom-line issues.
Entrepreneur: What happened in the two years between meeting and funding?
Andrew Lindner, Frontier managing partner: Our model is to track a company for a while, which is exactly what we did. Ryla fit our stage and sector focus: We are a growth-capital provider focused on highly differentiated service businesses in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Mark got better and better looking during the "dating" period [laughs]. Seeing the dramatic growth in Ryla's top line, and expansion of gross margin, was one of those magic moments. He has no sales force and has grown from zero to $14 million in revenue pretty quickly.
Wilson: That [long time frame was] important to me. It makes me feel more comfortable that we took the time, and they know who we are.
Entrepreneur: Now that Ryla and Frontier have teamed up, how will your relationship work going forward?
Lindner: We look to be a valuable confidant to Mark as he grows his business. We hope to help from a strategic standpoint, figuring out how to scale [Ryla] into a bigger business, and to provide tactical support and coaching [on] all the day-to-day things required.
Wilson: Andrew is our board member from Frontier, but everybody that's part of Frontier has visited our center. I've gone to Charlotte on a couple of occasions as well.
Lindner: The plan is [monthly] board update/financial results calls and every-other-month face-to-face board meetings, for starters. We're coming down for an in-person, all-day strategy session as part of a 180-day kickoff plan.
Via-Entreprenuer Magizne
Smoothie-maker LightFull Foods was cooked up at 2-year-old Bay Area incubator Brand New Brands in May 2006. The San Francisco company received $6.1 million in venture funding last August from a half-dozen firms, led by Prolog Ventures in St. Louis. Other funders included Unilever Ventures, Burrill & Co., Mattson & Co., Palo Alto Investors and Great Spirit Ventures.
LightFull is headed by co-founders Lara Jackle, 37, a former Balance Bar marketing executive who is Light-Full's CEO, and Lynn Graham, 32, who is marketing vice president. LightFull's 90-calorie Satiety Smoothies--part of the hot "functional foods" trend--are sold in 1,300 grocery locations, including Dominick's, Safeway, Shaw's, Vons, Wegman's and Whole Foods Market. Nine months after the product hit store shelves, Jackle was forecasting more than $1 million in 2007 sales.
Entrepreneur: Lara, how did you get involved in LightFull?
Lara Jackle: It was a fortuitous story. I had an offer to move to Asia and head up emerging-market innovation for a big worldwide food company. A high-level career coach, Lori Ogden Moore, was helping me decide if this was the right move. She said, "I don't want to confuse your decision, but I know people who just raised a large [amount] of money and want to create the next generation of food products." She introduced me to Will Rosenzweig of Brand New Brands, and I became chief marketing officer of the incubator.
Prolog was an investor in Brand New Brands. [After LightFull was conceived at Brand New Brands], my original intention was to stay in the incubator [as an employee], but LightFull was so compelling, I ended up [leaving my job to take] it to market.
Entrepreneur: How did Prolog move from incubator funder to a funder of LightFull?
Ilya Nykin, Prolog managing director: LightFull didn't have an inside track. We needed to apply the same stringent criteria we apply to other investments. We were looking for the most breakthrough opportunities that address large unmet needs, that can be brought to market in a reasonable time and for a reasonable investment, and that have some scientific validity. This is the kind of company LightFull is. And Lara was the sort of leader we like to see: She has experience, energy, foresight, drive and vision.
Entrepreneur: Describe your relationship since the funding.
Jackle: We have a very active relationship. Ilya is a board member--we meet monthly on the phone and quarterly in person. As young women entrepreneurs, [Graham and I are] confident in our ability to market LightFull, but the investment community is male-dominated and can be intimidating. Prolog has been instrumental in helping us retain our independence and authenticity while we discuss possible investments from big companies.
2.
Ryla Teleservices & Frontier Capital
Kennesaw, Georgia-based Ryla Teleservices, which provides outsourced call-center services, landed $700,000 in funding in 2002 from SJF Ventures in Durham, North Carolina. Ryla has since grown from 21 employees to more than 350.
The 6-year-old company received just over $6.5 million in second-round funding in March, with Charlotte, North Carolina-based Frontier Capital as the majority investor. Founded by former D&B call-center manager Mark Wilson, 46, Ryla's president and CEO, and his wife, vice president and COO Shelly Wilson, 47, Ryla had $14 million in sales last year.
Entrepreneur: When did Ryla and Frontier first meet?
Mark Wilson: A little more than two years ago, when we were seeking growth capital. We were using a small consultancy [which has since dissolved] that provided [introduction] services to small businesses like ours.
Entrepreneur: So you essentially met on a blind date?
Wilson: That's right [laughs]. We were careful not to have our deal shopped around too much, though. I didn't want to talk to just anybody.
Entrepreneur: What exactly were you looking for?
Wilson: We wanted a partner that would let us do things in a creative, flexible way. Our approach, of being successful by developing people, requires patience. My experience with VCs is that not all are receptive to that; some are more focused on bottom-line issues.
Entrepreneur: What happened in the two years between meeting and funding?
Andrew Lindner, Frontier managing partner: Our model is to track a company for a while, which is exactly what we did. Ryla fit our stage and sector focus: We are a growth-capital provider focused on highly differentiated service businesses in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Mark got better and better looking during the "dating" period [laughs]. Seeing the dramatic growth in Ryla's top line, and expansion of gross margin, was one of those magic moments. He has no sales force and has grown from zero to $14 million in revenue pretty quickly.
Wilson: That [long time frame was] important to me. It makes me feel more comfortable that we took the time, and they know who we are.
Entrepreneur: Now that Ryla and Frontier have teamed up, how will your relationship work going forward?
Lindner: We look to be a valuable confidant to Mark as he grows his business. We hope to help from a strategic standpoint, figuring out how to scale [Ryla] into a bigger business, and to provide tactical support and coaching [on] all the day-to-day things required.
Wilson: Andrew is our board member from Frontier, but everybody that's part of Frontier has visited our center. I've gone to Charlotte on a couple of occasions as well.
Lindner: The plan is [monthly] board update/financial results calls and every-other-month face-to-face board meetings, for starters. We're coming down for an in-person, all-day strategy session as part of a 180-day kickoff plan.
Via-Entreprenuer Magizne
Friday, July 13, 2007
Tao Of John Chow
I see loads of blogs copying John Chow dot Com (Style, design, evilness, etc.). Sadly, many of them failed. Honestly, I am one of those. I am one of the victims who copied John Chow’s marketing tactics. But why did my blog became successful? What did I do to make my blog more interesting?
I’m not self promoting here guys. I’m just here to share the things that I learned from this great blogger that helped me through my blogging difficulties and marketing.
So, I’ll just go straight to the point. Here are the 5 things I learned from John Chow that made me a successful blogger.
1. Be Unique
“What the heck Carl? You just said you copied John Chow’s marketing strategies and now you want us to be unique?”
Yea I copied, but not literally! I just get the thought on how John Chow became successful and revised some of it.
Like for example, John Chow is the evil one right? That’s why people love him, he’s unique in some kind of way. John Chow uses branding for people to love him. So if I say, who is the root of evil again? What comes up in your mind? Of course, John Chow!
2. Socialize with famous bloggers
To those loyal John Chow readers here, did you remember the time when John Chow is chatting with Darren Rowse through Adwords? The “I love Darren Rowse” ad? That was the perfect idea that caught Problogger’s eyes and noticed JohnChow.com
3. Leverage Your Knowledge
There are so many great bloggers out there with great and useful post. Some are guru’s blogging just for popularity. But how did John Chow established himself as the make money online authority to many people?
As stated in the guest post of Adii from my blog:
I doubt that he knew anything about making money online and monetizing blogs when he first started blogging. But John Chow has persisted with his goal to be regarded as an expert (see the wording, his readers thinks he is the expert, although he might not even think so himself) and he had the self confidence and arrogance to back up these goals.
4. Don’t Play with Google
If you could recall, remember when John Chow edited his robots.txt? Then after a day or two, his rank went down in Google for the keyword “Make Money Online.”
Yeah… I know if you want to be an SEO expert, you gotta experiment. But please, not on your main blog that gives you 5 figure monthly. I hope John Chow gets some Google love soon.
Oh yea. I told Google that I hate them because you’re not in the top search results for the keyword John Chow! Though I’m not switching to Yahoo
5. Never, Never Give-Up
Even though John Chow is still not showing up number one in the search results today. He still have this sportsman spirit (John Chow used to hold the 100 meter dash in his High School) that keeps his blog alive and his community active. He even reached another blogging milestone by breaking the 6,000 RSS mark!
This is also a reason on why people don’t make money online. They give up. After few months they give up because they are not earning or they’re earning not enough. Remember, Blogging is like planting a tree. It takes years to harvest the fruits.
Via-Carl
I’m not self promoting here guys. I’m just here to share the things that I learned from this great blogger that helped me through my blogging difficulties and marketing.
So, I’ll just go straight to the point. Here are the 5 things I learned from John Chow that made me a successful blogger.
1. Be Unique
“What the heck Carl? You just said you copied John Chow’s marketing strategies and now you want us to be unique?”
Yea I copied, but not literally! I just get the thought on how John Chow became successful and revised some of it.
Like for example, John Chow is the evil one right? That’s why people love him, he’s unique in some kind of way. John Chow uses branding for people to love him. So if I say, who is the root of evil again? What comes up in your mind? Of course, John Chow!
2. Socialize with famous bloggers
To those loyal John Chow readers here, did you remember the time when John Chow is chatting with Darren Rowse through Adwords? The “I love Darren Rowse” ad? That was the perfect idea that caught Problogger’s eyes and noticed JohnChow.com
3. Leverage Your Knowledge
There are so many great bloggers out there with great and useful post. Some are guru’s blogging just for popularity. But how did John Chow established himself as the make money online authority to many people?
As stated in the guest post of Adii from my blog:
I doubt that he knew anything about making money online and monetizing blogs when he first started blogging. But John Chow has persisted with his goal to be regarded as an expert (see the wording, his readers thinks he is the expert, although he might not even think so himself) and he had the self confidence and arrogance to back up these goals.
4. Don’t Play with Google
If you could recall, remember when John Chow edited his robots.txt? Then after a day or two, his rank went down in Google for the keyword “Make Money Online.”
Yeah… I know if you want to be an SEO expert, you gotta experiment. But please, not on your main blog that gives you 5 figure monthly. I hope John Chow gets some Google love soon.
Oh yea. I told Google that I hate them because you’re not in the top search results for the keyword John Chow! Though I’m not switching to Yahoo
5. Never, Never Give-Up
Even though John Chow is still not showing up number one in the search results today. He still have this sportsman spirit (John Chow used to hold the 100 meter dash in his High School) that keeps his blog alive and his community active. He even reached another blogging milestone by breaking the 6,000 RSS mark!
This is also a reason on why people don’t make money online. They give up. After few months they give up because they are not earning or they’re earning not enough. Remember, Blogging is like planting a tree. It takes years to harvest the fruits.
Via-Carl
vBulletin is a professional, affordable community forum solution
vBulletin is a professional, affordable community forum solution. Thousands of clients, including many industry leading blue chip companies, have chosen vBulletin - It's the ideal choice for any size of community. Making your site a hub for information and discussion encourages visitors to return again and again. It's also a highly effective way of improving your service to customers or users of your website. Our dedicated development team constantly strives to keep vBulletin at the forefront of new Internet innovations, while always keeping an eye on security and performance.
More at:http://www.vbulletin.com/
More at:http://www.vbulletin.com/
PayScale is a market leader in global online compensation data
PayScale is a market leader in global online compensation data. With the world's largest database of individual employee compensation profiles, PayScale provides an immediate and precise snapshot of the job market. Our patent-pending real-time profiling system indexes custom employee attributes (such as industry-specific certifications) and specific job titles for every industry. PayScale Professional provides employers with accurate, reliable compensation detail never before available. My PayScale and PayScale Premium give individuals the accurate facts and negotiation know-how they need in order to make smart, informed career decisions.
More at:http://www.payscale.com/
More at:http://www.payscale.com/
Tv-Reality BusinessShow Inspiring Entrepreneurs
Millions of Britons are hatching new business ideas and inventions, with popular reality TV business shows such as ‘Dragon’s Den’ inspiring one in twelve wannabe entrepreneurs.
NatWest reveals that nearly 17 million Brits* harbour a business idea, with 30 per cent planning to turn their ambition into a reality – a quarter (26 per cent) within the next year. Of those wishing to set up in business, nearly half (43 per cent) view being their own boss as the ultimate reward.
Whilst some may resent reality TV dominating our screens, these ‘start up’ shows are already having a positive influence on UK plc by encouraging new business. One in five (19 per cent) young entrepreneurs (aged 18-34) who set up a company in the last five years was inspired by reality TV. However, how accurately such shows represent everyday working life is another matter, as those running their own businesses warn they make ‘starting up’ look glamorous (45 per cent) and easy (32 per cent).
Motivations to go solo include the ability to work more flexibly (77 per cent), the feeling of freedom and independence (70 per cent) and frustrations with their current boss (37 per cent) - nearly a quarter (22 per cent) had their ‘eureka’ moment at their work desk.
Whilst famous entrepreneurs like Alan Sugar represent the massive financial rewards to be had, those dreaming of owning a business have more achievable financial goals.
They expect to earn up to £40,000 annually from their business, just above the £28,000 that is actually earned by the average UK entrepreneur. In fact, making a fortune isn’t why most get into business, of those already set up, only one in ten (11 per cent) small businesses stated a desire to make a fortune as the original motivation for deciding to go it alone.
The entrepreneurial spirit is at its strongest within the IT and telecoms sectors, of all those considering having their own business, over one in ten (11 per cent) originate from these industries. Whether they want to stay in these industries may be a different matter as over half of all business owners (58 per cent) set up in a completely different sector from their previous career.
Life-changing moments also play a part in fuelling a spirit of enterprise. Redundancy (30 per cent), illness (17 per cent), having children (10 per cent) and career breaks (10 per cent) provided a trigger for the three in ten entrepreneurs prompted to go it alone.
According to the NatWest findings reality can far outweigh ambition when it comes to going it alone. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of entrepreneurs starting out in the last five years were tempted to give up on their dream, with cash-flow problems, lack of finance and poor marketing knowledge the biggest practical hurdles to getting up and running. The fear of failure, stress and lack of confidence in their abilities were the greatest emotional challenges cited.
Launching a new package to get small businesses off the ground, Steve Pateman, Chief Executive, Business Banking, NatWest said: “Whilst it’s encouraging that TV programmes can inspire an army of armchair entrepreneurs into action, they only really scratch the surface of what it takes to run a successful business.”
Pateman continues: “Although over half (52%) aren’t confident they have the skills and financial know-how to get started straight away, with advice from an experienced local business manager offered by NatWest, plus useful money saving benefits, these initial hurdles needn’t be a barrier to getting a good business idea off the ground.”
NatWest reveals that nearly 17 million Brits* harbour a business idea, with 30 per cent planning to turn their ambition into a reality – a quarter (26 per cent) within the next year. Of those wishing to set up in business, nearly half (43 per cent) view being their own boss as the ultimate reward.
Whilst some may resent reality TV dominating our screens, these ‘start up’ shows are already having a positive influence on UK plc by encouraging new business. One in five (19 per cent) young entrepreneurs (aged 18-34) who set up a company in the last five years was inspired by reality TV. However, how accurately such shows represent everyday working life is another matter, as those running their own businesses warn they make ‘starting up’ look glamorous (45 per cent) and easy (32 per cent).
Motivations to go solo include the ability to work more flexibly (77 per cent), the feeling of freedom and independence (70 per cent) and frustrations with their current boss (37 per cent) - nearly a quarter (22 per cent) had their ‘eureka’ moment at their work desk.
Whilst famous entrepreneurs like Alan Sugar represent the massive financial rewards to be had, those dreaming of owning a business have more achievable financial goals.
They expect to earn up to £40,000 annually from their business, just above the £28,000 that is actually earned by the average UK entrepreneur. In fact, making a fortune isn’t why most get into business, of those already set up, only one in ten (11 per cent) small businesses stated a desire to make a fortune as the original motivation for deciding to go it alone.
The entrepreneurial spirit is at its strongest within the IT and telecoms sectors, of all those considering having their own business, over one in ten (11 per cent) originate from these industries. Whether they want to stay in these industries may be a different matter as over half of all business owners (58 per cent) set up in a completely different sector from their previous career.
Life-changing moments also play a part in fuelling a spirit of enterprise. Redundancy (30 per cent), illness (17 per cent), having children (10 per cent) and career breaks (10 per cent) provided a trigger for the three in ten entrepreneurs prompted to go it alone.
According to the NatWest findings reality can far outweigh ambition when it comes to going it alone. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of entrepreneurs starting out in the last five years were tempted to give up on their dream, with cash-flow problems, lack of finance and poor marketing knowledge the biggest practical hurdles to getting up and running. The fear of failure, stress and lack of confidence in their abilities were the greatest emotional challenges cited.
Launching a new package to get small businesses off the ground, Steve Pateman, Chief Executive, Business Banking, NatWest said: “Whilst it’s encouraging that TV programmes can inspire an army of armchair entrepreneurs into action, they only really scratch the surface of what it takes to run a successful business.”
Pateman continues: “Although over half (52%) aren’t confident they have the skills and financial know-how to get started straight away, with advice from an experienced local business manager offered by NatWest, plus useful money saving benefits, these initial hurdles needn’t be a barrier to getting a good business idea off the ground.”
Online backup services can be a great, great way of keeping your data secure
Online backup services can be a great, great way of keeping your data secure.You could buy a 300 gig’er hard drive from Best Buy and use it, but nothing beats having a copy of a file directly on the Internet — it’s accessible from anywhere, and you never have to worry about waking up to find your hard drive corrupt. With broadband speeds increasing, it’s also getting faster and faster, and there is no doubt it’ll eventually be the preferred option for backing up data.
backup.com is"it’s simply letting a software/web service model automatically backup your data over the Internet so you never have to worry about doing it — that is of course, until you lose it, in which case it’s a simple one-click-restore.
It isn’t too processor intensive, and presents a clean look and feel. One downside to backup.com is the absence of a free plan and the high, high cost of storage — their plans are priced like it’s 2002! On the other hand, you get what you pay for, and its customer support service to be responsive and caring. If you’re the person who likes to get what he pays for and no strings attached, backup.com is probably your best solution.
more at:http://backup.com/
backup.com is"it’s simply letting a software/web service model automatically backup your data over the Internet so you never have to worry about doing it — that is of course, until you lose it, in which case it’s a simple one-click-restore.
It isn’t too processor intensive, and presents a clean look and feel. One downside to backup.com is the absence of a free plan and the high, high cost of storage — their plans are priced like it’s 2002! On the other hand, you get what you pay for, and its customer support service to be responsive and caring. If you’re the person who likes to get what he pays for and no strings attached, backup.com is probably your best solution.
more at:http://backup.com/
Managment Tool
VersionOne is an Atlanta-based provider of enterprise project and lifecycle management solutions for agile development. Enabling today's leading agile methodologies, VersionOne helps companies simplify the process of delivering software. By offering powerful, easy-to-use planning and management tools, VersionOne enables: Faster delivery cycles, Greater business adaptability, Reduced project risk, and Enhanced project visibility and predictability. The days of long, bureaucratic software projects are limited. Rapid return on investment drives today's business decisions, leaving traditional methodologies scrambling to address current business dynamics. VersionOne's agile project management tool offers flexibility and integrated support for next-generation software development methodologies which helps deliver the competitive advantage leading-edge technology organizations need to survive in today's markets.
More at:http://www.versionone.com/
More at:http://www.versionone.com/
Yoomba
World’s only open communications experience, where any email address can be instantly contacted by you for free - simply by calling or chat. Everyone has an email address, and with Yoomba, every email address becomes a phone or messenger. So why not email call or email chat with friends, family or colleagues around the world for free? There is no need for a new email address, a new ID, or another phone number - you just activate and Yoomba! Yoomba offers unique one-touch buttons which appear in your preferred email application, making connecting to anyone just one click away, and with Yoomba you also have access to your most popular contacts, at a glance. Whether it’s Outlook, webmail or simply from your browser – don’t change a thing – just Yoomba.
More at:http://www.yoomba.com/
More at:http://www.yoomba.com/
Thursday, July 12, 2007
DailyTube
Most of the time we lost in searching while getting right thing but suppose you want to search online video from youtube or other similarly site. DailyTube is there to help. They find the best videos on the internet and send them to subscribers via free email. They’ve got a team of 25 editors, webscouts, and writers to ferret out the cream of the crop on a daily basis. Each selection is posted and categorized as Humor, Celebs, Sports, Music, Late Nite, Web Stars, or Campaign ’08. Videos can be comment on, rated, and shared.
More at:http://www.thedailytube.com/
More at:http://www.thedailytube.com/
CrossLoop is a free screen sharing
CrossLoop is a free screen sharing utility requiring only a small download and no registration. Any computer user who can install a program can get this software up and running. The greatest thing about CrossLoop is that the service bypasses routers and firewalls. This is an amazing step forward for screen sharing technology, and it should make computer repair and diagnosis more efficient.
CrossLoop is secure, encrypting all data using 128 bit encryption and a random 12 digit access code. CrossLoop is made possible through the use of proprietary VIP Tunnel technology and the open-source VNC viewer from TightVNC.
One user acts as a host and the other user joins the session with the access code displayed on the host’s screen. Simple solutions like this help us solve some of the most frustrating problems. Never again will I sit with a family member on the phone trying to explain how to download software.
More at:http://www.crossloop.com/
Via-rev2.0
CrossLoop is secure, encrypting all data using 128 bit encryption and a random 12 digit access code. CrossLoop is made possible through the use of proprietary VIP Tunnel technology and the open-source VNC viewer from TightVNC.
One user acts as a host and the other user joins the session with the access code displayed on the host’s screen. Simple solutions like this help us solve some of the most frustrating problems. Never again will I sit with a family member on the phone trying to explain how to download software.
More at:http://www.crossloop.com/
Via-rev2.0
Peer-To-Peer Lending
Peer-to-peer lending continues to spread across the globe. Now its spreading its wing in china like Zopa (UK) and Prosper (US), as well as German Smava and Dutch Boober done it earlier.
P2P lending enters a very different market in the People's Republic, where personal credit ratings are virtually non-existent, making lending to strangers riskier business. Which is why PPdai won't be taking on loans and 'reselling' them to lenders. Instead, PPdai primarily aims to standardize and facilitate loans between family and friends, which are more common in China than personal loans from banks.
On a side note: acknowledging that trust is a key issue, another 'bankless banking' venture that's moving swiftly is Lending Club. Just 6 weeks after launching, Lending Club has facilitated over USD 250,000 in loans. What makes Lending Club different? Starting with Facebook, it latches on to an existing social network to leverage human connections that are already in place: "We believe that person-to-person lending will gain faster adoption in an environment where people feel connected to one another." More updates to follow as P2P lending develops!
More at: www.ppdai.com — .www.lendingclub.com
P2P lending enters a very different market in the People's Republic, where personal credit ratings are virtually non-existent, making lending to strangers riskier business. Which is why PPdai won't be taking on loans and 'reselling' them to lenders. Instead, PPdai primarily aims to standardize and facilitate loans between family and friends, which are more common in China than personal loans from banks.
On a side note: acknowledging that trust is a key issue, another 'bankless banking' venture that's moving swiftly is Lending Club. Just 6 weeks after launching, Lending Club has facilitated over USD 250,000 in loans. What makes Lending Club different? Starting with Facebook, it latches on to an existing social network to leverage human connections that are already in place: "We believe that person-to-person lending will gain faster adoption in an environment where people feel connected to one another." More updates to follow as P2P lending develops!
More at: www.ppdai.com — .www.lendingclub.com
Yelp.Com For Promoting Your Business
http://www.yelp.com/
I'm making a ton of money from Yelp, and it's freaking me out." Woe is Christopher Hall, the 34-year-old owner of Splitends, a hair salon in Orange County, Calif. Its chic décor is more architectural firm than beauty parlor. He has appeared on a reality show, in the L.A. Times, and on TV news segments. He's photogenic and has a quick wit. He serves beer to customers. So business, unsurprisingly, was decent as soon as he opened the place last December. Until March 6. That's when things got crazy.
Now he's literally in pain from all the coiffing. "I've been doing hair for 16 years, and I'm busier than I've ever been," he says. "Saturday I came in at 6:30 a.m., left at 8 p.m., and did 22 people. I woke up Sunday and my hands were all swollen. I had to put them in an ice bucket."
Yelp founders Stoppelman (sitting) and Simmons in their native habitat, i.e., a San Francisco club
Most Yelpers give San Francisco's Delfina high marks. But one diner says he found a roach; the owner says sabotage.
Thanks to reviews by Lau (head in sink), Hall has so much business he has to ice his hands on weekends.
What happened March 6? That was the day Anita Lau wrote about Splitends at Yelp.com, an online platform for user reviews of everything from dive bars to funeral parlors. Lau has posted 2,036 reviews and 1,340 photos, has collected 790 compliments on her work from fellow Yelpers, and along the way has amassed the power to put bodies into barbershop chairs. She gave Splitends the maximum five stars, praising Hall and saying, "I absolutely love my haircut."
The review started a logroll of new clients for the stylist and a couple dozen subsequent five-star critiques. "I've taken out ten ads in OC Weekly this year and have gotten maybe one call," says Hall. "I get anywhere from five to 15 calls a day from Yelpers. They come in and then write reviews. Then other people see the reviews, think it must be great, and call. It's its own little biosphere. It feeds itself."
For those outside California, let's back up a bit. Yelp is part social network, part localized review site - think Facebook meets Zagat - and it's fast becoming the web's gift to small business. A platform for ratings of anything with a postal address, Yelp offers the service industry new insight into what the chattering masses are saying. The name "Yelp" comes from a friend of the founders who simply liked the word. But it also serves as a nifty contraction of "yellow pages," which reveals the company's ambitions: a land grab on the $100 billion that's spent every year on local advertising.
"There's an information shortage when it comes to local businesses," says co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. "If you look at the yellow pages, what are you seeing? You're seeing how much money a business spent to buy a big ad. We're a place for a conversation between the prospective customer and the business owner."
Many well-funded companies have tried to tackle local search over the years, using a mix of strategies. There's the directory model, which involves a massive sales force upselling business owners to ever bigger, flashier ads. There's the Citysearch tactic of creating proprietary content and selling ads against it. And then there's the search-engine route of crawling everyone else's content and automating the ad sales. Yelp is taking a different road: crowd-sourcing. For years Zagat has been compiling anonymous user reviews, but Yelpers get to fully express their feelings and make names for themselves.
Employing the same user-generated content model that powers YouTube or Craigslist, Yelp can reach into a city's every nook to reveal hidden car washes, dentists, plumbers - the sorts of unsexy but necessary services that make up our daily lives. When we discover something wonderful (or horrible), we love to tell our friends about it. We also turn to people we trust when we need a good recommendation. Yelp is enabling those conversations to happen on a massive scale.
There's any number of reasons the site could fail. But so far the enthusiasm Yelp has generated indicates otherwise - usage is up nearly 400% to 1.8 million users a month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. In San Francisco the dining and nightlife scene has been all but completely trolled, analyzed, and pontificated upon (or "Yelped," for short), and the site has recently caught fire in Chicago, New York, and L.A. In those cities it has begun changing the way local businesses do their marketing.
The word most often used to describe Yelp - other than some variation on the ever-flexible brand itself, which can be intoned positively, as in "I Yelped that awesome crepe wagon," or negatively, "That bitchy waiter totally got Yelped!" - is "addictive." Anita Lau drives around Southern California in an SUV with a vanity plate that reads I [heart] YELP. The plate is unique. The sentiment isn't.
***
A charismatic 29-year-old with a boyish smile and a self-deprecating streak, Stoppelman started the company in 2004 with longtime friend and CTO Russel Simmons, 28. (No, not the hip-hop impresario. This Russel has only one "L.") After their last employer, PayPal, was sold to eBay (Charts, Fortune 500), the co-founders cashed out and began kicking around startup ideas with a former colleague, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin. One day Stoppelman was looking for a doctor but had no clue how to find a good one. That gave him and Simmons an idea for a convoluted automated system in which people could e-mail friends asking for recommendations on, say, local doctors, and the answers would be logged at a communal site for everyone to see. Levchin floated the duo $1 million to build out the plan. It went nowhere. But the co-founders noticed an interesting tendency among the early users. People were writing unsolicited reviews of their favorite businesses just for fun. So Yelp switched tack. "I remember the moment that Russ said, 'There should be a way for you to write your own reviews without asking questions,'" Stoppelman recalls.
Full Text:http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/23/100134489/index.htm?postversion=2007071003
I'm making a ton of money from Yelp, and it's freaking me out." Woe is Christopher Hall, the 34-year-old owner of Splitends, a hair salon in Orange County, Calif. Its chic décor is more architectural firm than beauty parlor. He has appeared on a reality show, in the L.A. Times, and on TV news segments. He's photogenic and has a quick wit. He serves beer to customers. So business, unsurprisingly, was decent as soon as he opened the place last December. Until March 6. That's when things got crazy.
Now he's literally in pain from all the coiffing. "I've been doing hair for 16 years, and I'm busier than I've ever been," he says. "Saturday I came in at 6:30 a.m., left at 8 p.m., and did 22 people. I woke up Sunday and my hands were all swollen. I had to put them in an ice bucket."
Yelp founders Stoppelman (sitting) and Simmons in their native habitat, i.e., a San Francisco club
Most Yelpers give San Francisco's Delfina high marks. But one diner says he found a roach; the owner says sabotage.
Thanks to reviews by Lau (head in sink), Hall has so much business he has to ice his hands on weekends.
What happened March 6? That was the day Anita Lau wrote about Splitends at Yelp.com, an online platform for user reviews of everything from dive bars to funeral parlors. Lau has posted 2,036 reviews and 1,340 photos, has collected 790 compliments on her work from fellow Yelpers, and along the way has amassed the power to put bodies into barbershop chairs. She gave Splitends the maximum five stars, praising Hall and saying, "I absolutely love my haircut."
The review started a logroll of new clients for the stylist and a couple dozen subsequent five-star critiques. "I've taken out ten ads in OC Weekly this year and have gotten maybe one call," says Hall. "I get anywhere from five to 15 calls a day from Yelpers. They come in and then write reviews. Then other people see the reviews, think it must be great, and call. It's its own little biosphere. It feeds itself."
For those outside California, let's back up a bit. Yelp is part social network, part localized review site - think Facebook meets Zagat - and it's fast becoming the web's gift to small business. A platform for ratings of anything with a postal address, Yelp offers the service industry new insight into what the chattering masses are saying. The name "Yelp" comes from a friend of the founders who simply liked the word. But it also serves as a nifty contraction of "yellow pages," which reveals the company's ambitions: a land grab on the $100 billion that's spent every year on local advertising.
"There's an information shortage when it comes to local businesses," says co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. "If you look at the yellow pages, what are you seeing? You're seeing how much money a business spent to buy a big ad. We're a place for a conversation between the prospective customer and the business owner."
Many well-funded companies have tried to tackle local search over the years, using a mix of strategies. There's the directory model, which involves a massive sales force upselling business owners to ever bigger, flashier ads. There's the Citysearch tactic of creating proprietary content and selling ads against it. And then there's the search-engine route of crawling everyone else's content and automating the ad sales. Yelp is taking a different road: crowd-sourcing. For years Zagat has been compiling anonymous user reviews, but Yelpers get to fully express their feelings and make names for themselves.
Employing the same user-generated content model that powers YouTube or Craigslist, Yelp can reach into a city's every nook to reveal hidden car washes, dentists, plumbers - the sorts of unsexy but necessary services that make up our daily lives. When we discover something wonderful (or horrible), we love to tell our friends about it. We also turn to people we trust when we need a good recommendation. Yelp is enabling those conversations to happen on a massive scale.
There's any number of reasons the site could fail. But so far the enthusiasm Yelp has generated indicates otherwise - usage is up nearly 400% to 1.8 million users a month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. In San Francisco the dining and nightlife scene has been all but completely trolled, analyzed, and pontificated upon (or "Yelped," for short), and the site has recently caught fire in Chicago, New York, and L.A. In those cities it has begun changing the way local businesses do their marketing.
The word most often used to describe Yelp - other than some variation on the ever-flexible brand itself, which can be intoned positively, as in "I Yelped that awesome crepe wagon," or negatively, "That bitchy waiter totally got Yelped!" - is "addictive." Anita Lau drives around Southern California in an SUV with a vanity plate that reads I [heart] YELP. The plate is unique. The sentiment isn't.
***
A charismatic 29-year-old with a boyish smile and a self-deprecating streak, Stoppelman started the company in 2004 with longtime friend and CTO Russel Simmons, 28. (No, not the hip-hop impresario. This Russel has only one "L.") After their last employer, PayPal, was sold to eBay (Charts, Fortune 500), the co-founders cashed out and began kicking around startup ideas with a former colleague, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin. One day Stoppelman was looking for a doctor but had no clue how to find a good one. That gave him and Simmons an idea for a convoluted automated system in which people could e-mail friends asking for recommendations on, say, local doctors, and the answers would be logged at a communal site for everyone to see. Levchin floated the duo $1 million to build out the plan. It went nowhere. But the co-founders noticed an interesting tendency among the early users. People were writing unsolicited reviews of their favorite businesses just for fun. So Yelp switched tack. "I remember the moment that Russ said, 'There should be a way for you to write your own reviews without asking questions,'" Stoppelman recalls.
Full Text:http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/23/100134489/index.htm?postversion=2007071003
The Web 2.0 Toolbar "hyperaggregates"
Save time and keep up on the latest Web 2.0 news right from one browser toolbar. The Web 2.0 Toolbar "hyperaggregates" or combines the best of Social Search, Social Bookmarking, Social Pics, Social Video, Web 2.0 Jobs, Web 2.0 Blogs and Social News websites into one place - your web browser!.
Get the latest Web 2.0 news and updates with the Web 2.0 toolbar. The makers of this zeitgeisty toolbar have taken to ‘hyper- aggregating’ all things 2.0, making it all accessible from the 2.0 toolbar.
Power Search, for instance allows you to quickly search for results from multiple 2.0 sites like Youtube or Flickr. Power Submit lets you post pages to several (up to 30) social sites at once.
More at:http://www.web20toolbar.com/
Get the latest Web 2.0 news and updates with the Web 2.0 toolbar. The makers of this zeitgeisty toolbar have taken to ‘hyper- aggregating’ all things 2.0, making it all accessible from the 2.0 toolbar.
Power Search, for instance allows you to quickly search for results from multiple 2.0 sites like Youtube or Flickr. Power Submit lets you post pages to several (up to 30) social sites at once.
More at:http://www.web20toolbar.com/
NetworthIQ is a social personal finance manager
NetWorthIQ , will help you in tracking how much money you have. You can post your net worth publically and compete against others to earn the most. At the site you can trade advice with others that are willing to help you achieve the level of success that they have achieved and the site itself will give you a mountain of advice for making your net worth soar. The service is absolutely free to sign up for and the site boasts articles by the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for credibility.
NetworthIQ is a social personal finance manager designed to make monitoring your net worth easy and, dare we say it, maybe even fun. Heck, it's even FREE!
More at:http://www.networthiq.com/
NetworthIQ is a social personal finance manager designed to make monitoring your net worth easy and, dare we say it, maybe even fun. Heck, it's even FREE!
More at:http://www.networthiq.com/
ValueWiki is an investment site for pooling investment research
ValueWiki is an investment site for pooling investment research. Our Mission is to create a single source for investor information in the most efficient possible format. ValueWiki is dedicated to the Wikimedia Foundation's mission of empowering the world through free and public internet information. ValueWiki combines the collaborative power of message boards with the informative power of investment sites, creating a centralized information hub for investors. ValueWiki is a collaborative Wiki-Project running on the mediawiki platform. The Project Goal is to create a complete catalogue of all Worldwide securities.
More at:http://valuewiki.com/
More at:http://valuewiki.com/
GetCashBoard
Cashboard creates estimates and track you performance, logs times for yourself, your employees and subcontractors, and sends and tracks invoices
Cashboard is the best way to manage estimates, invoices, time tracking and payments for your small business. Cashboard is a hosted application that you access from a web browser. You don't have to install anything on your computer to use Cashboard. Although it's hosted we don't hold your data hostage. Download it anytime you want.
It will helpful for entrepreneurs, students and small business owners manage their time and money. It helps that this site grew out of personal experience and seems tailor made for those users that need it the most. The traffic is decent and the users who submitted testimonials seemed pleased with the service.
More at:http://www.getcashboard.com/
Cashboard is the best way to manage estimates, invoices, time tracking and payments for your small business. Cashboard is a hosted application that you access from a web browser. You don't have to install anything on your computer to use Cashboard. Although it's hosted we don't hold your data hostage. Download it anytime you want.
It will helpful for entrepreneurs, students and small business owners manage their time and money. It helps that this site grew out of personal experience and seems tailor made for those users that need it the most. The traffic is decent and the users who submitted testimonials seemed pleased with the service.
More at:http://www.getcashboard.com/
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
BuyBlogComments
BuyBlogComments is the first of its kind. Finally you can purchase quality blog comments without the stress of finding someone to write the comments, or buying some high priced automated program. We specialize in selling blog comments for blackhatters who are looking for good quality backlinks. We have three different types of packages, you can either buy 100 blog comments, 500 blog comments, or 1000 blog comments at a time.
The main aim is to get a site more backlinks from the URL link that generates after leaving a comment. This has to be by far the most sick idea I’ve ever seen. Buying forum posts is one thing as it stays all on one forum. But buying comments across 100, 500 or a 1000 blogs just means that now I have to delete even more spam, or worse mark someone who looks legitimate as spam.
Those blogs that use do follow with their comments will have to be more vigilant now, as those using the Top commenter plugin for WP {as I do}.
I’m writing about this so that other bloggers get to know about this virus spreading around them, the better prepared you are the better off you’ll be.
More at:http://www.buyblogcomments.com/
Via-Pro
The main aim is to get a site more backlinks from the URL link that generates after leaving a comment. This has to be by far the most sick idea I’ve ever seen. Buying forum posts is one thing as it stays all on one forum. But buying comments across 100, 500 or a 1000 blogs just means that now I have to delete even more spam, or worse mark someone who looks legitimate as spam.
Those blogs that use do follow with their comments will have to be more vigilant now, as those using the Top commenter plugin for WP {as I do}.
I’m writing about this so that other bloggers get to know about this virus spreading around them, the better prepared you are the better off you’ll be.
More at:http://www.buyblogcomments.com/
Via-Pro
Litepost Is a New StartUp That Aims To Re-Invent E-mail
Litepost is a new startup that aims to re-invent e-mail.
What they say:
We designed Litepost from the ground up, to provide more functionality, to be more efficient—completely different from, yet superior to, all others' [existing email services]."
Inspired by 37signals (37signals.com), Oddpost.com (acquired by Yahoo! in 2004), and, especially, the free and open source software movement (FOSS), Litepost aims to include "no unnecessary features," and yet provide all the functionality a user could possibly need.
While focused on simplicity and ease-of-use, Litepost incorporates several powerful new features not found in any existing email client.
Litepost's new and improved features include:
—a fully skinnable interface
—mail merge, a completely new function
—tag cloud organization
—improved autosort and automerging capabilities.
More at:http://www.litepost.com/
What they say:
We designed Litepost from the ground up, to provide more functionality, to be more efficient—completely different from, yet superior to, all others' [existing email services]."
Inspired by 37signals (37signals.com), Oddpost.com (acquired by Yahoo! in 2004), and, especially, the free and open source software movement (FOSS), Litepost aims to include "no unnecessary features," and yet provide all the functionality a user could possibly need.
While focused on simplicity and ease-of-use, Litepost incorporates several powerful new features not found in any existing email client.
Litepost's new and improved features include:
—a fully skinnable interface
—mail merge, a completely new function
—tag cloud organization
—improved autosort and automerging capabilities.
More at:http://www.litepost.com/
Watch And Be Rewarded
AdPerk is a company that helps magazine publishers make more money, by putting its advertisers' videos in front of readers and potential subscribers. Readers also get paid to watch the videos.
On the magazine's Web site, you're given a pitch to "Watch and be Rewarded." You're presented with a collection of videos, and can select which ones you want to watch. You earn credits for watching. On the Dwell magazine site, for example, advertisers include Rheem furnaces, Delta faucets, and so on. Their promo videos are short -- 30 seconds to 2 minutes -- and you get one credit for each 30 seconds you watch. These credits are then applied to your Dwell subscription. Six credits (three minutes) is good for three issues of the printed magazine.
They also get a nice payback on their time: a free subscription extension for 2 minutes of watching videos you like is not bad. Also, there's no onerous step to earn the credits. There's no blocking of content (see Ultramercial), quizzing, or anything awful like that, although you do have to enter a Captcha at the end to prove you've played the video through.
Advertisers get a very good outlet for promotional videos they already have. That's key -- AdPerk is not recommending that advertisers create new vids for their products.
more at:http://www.adperk.com/
On the magazine's Web site, you're given a pitch to "Watch and be Rewarded." You're presented with a collection of videos, and can select which ones you want to watch. You earn credits for watching. On the Dwell magazine site, for example, advertisers include Rheem furnaces, Delta faucets, and so on. Their promo videos are short -- 30 seconds to 2 minutes -- and you get one credit for each 30 seconds you watch. These credits are then applied to your Dwell subscription. Six credits (three minutes) is good for three issues of the printed magazine.
They also get a nice payback on their time: a free subscription extension for 2 minutes of watching videos you like is not bad. Also, there's no onerous step to earn the credits. There's no blocking of content (see Ultramercial), quizzing, or anything awful like that, although you do have to enter a Captcha at the end to prove you've played the video through.
Advertisers get a very good outlet for promotional videos they already have. That's key -- AdPerk is not recommending that advertisers create new vids for their products.
more at:http://www.adperk.com/
Rezgo Is For Online Booking Website To Sell Your Goods Or Services
Rezgo allows you to set up a online booking website to sell your goods or services. You can organize your products, customize your booking website, accept credit cards payments, track and respond to bookings all in one simple to use system.
Rezgo includes product management tools, customer contacts, product info, and booking management all within one simple system.
Rezgo is easy to set up and requires no additional software. You can customize your Rezgo booking site with templates, or have Rezgo do it for you.
More at:http://www.rezgo.com/
Rezgo includes product management tools, customer contacts, product info, and booking management all within one simple system.
Rezgo is easy to set up and requires no additional software. You can customize your Rezgo booking site with templates, or have Rezgo do it for you.
More at:http://www.rezgo.com/
Monday, July 9, 2007
Keegy Is RSS mashup site
Keegy is a RSS mashup site that spiders selected web 2.0 type of blogs for the posts that they write. When you visit the site you are immediately taken to your own separate country sub domain and shown the relevant content based on the sum of all the site users from your own location.
The site then kicks it’s Artificial Intelligence algorithm in and analyzes the behavior of all the visitors from your locale and ranks the posts from the various blogs according to an ever updated local preference. The site constantly generates tags and a new home edition based on the interaction coming out of the City/Country.
So, say you’re in India and if all those people every read and click on is hindi music, cricket and Indian hot girls than that’s what you’re going to see.
Clicking on a story’s link it opens up with in a frame of the keegy site itself. You can return back to keegy with a click, rate the article for the benefit of others or visit the actual site/blog by clicking on the “close frame” option.
The tags on the left let you filter the stories by your interest. Also you can visit any of the country’s sub domains to have a look at what viewers from there are reading.
The categories seem broad enough, you can suggest your own feed and hopefully they’ll accept it. They were just launched recently so it might be beneficial for blog writers to get in now. Feeds have to approved by their admin to be displayed.
More at:http://in.keegy.com/
The site then kicks it’s Artificial Intelligence algorithm in and analyzes the behavior of all the visitors from your locale and ranks the posts from the various blogs according to an ever updated local preference. The site constantly generates tags and a new home edition based on the interaction coming out of the City/Country.
So, say you’re in India and if all those people every read and click on is hindi music, cricket and Indian hot girls than that’s what you’re going to see.
Clicking on a story’s link it opens up with in a frame of the keegy site itself. You can return back to keegy with a click, rate the article for the benefit of others or visit the actual site/blog by clicking on the “close frame” option.
The tags on the left let you filter the stories by your interest. Also you can visit any of the country’s sub domains to have a look at what viewers from there are reading.
The categories seem broad enough, you can suggest your own feed and hopefully they’ll accept it. They were just launched recently so it might be beneficial for blog writers to get in now. Feeds have to approved by their admin to be displayed.
More at:http://in.keegy.com/
Google Now Coming With "Socialstream"
What They Say:
"Socialstream is the result of a Google-sponsored capstone project in the Master's program at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. This project was guided by three goals that built upon each other:
Initial Task: Rethink and reinvent online social networking
Refined Focus: Discover the user needs related to social networking and explore how a unified social network service can enhance their experience.
Prototype Goal: Create a system for users to seamlessly share, view, and respond to many types of social content across multiple networks.
Directed to help improve the online community orkut, the project's scope was not to simply redesign the interface. Our team considered how online social networking could bring greater value to users, especially for ages above twenty. After initial brainstorming and research, we chose to focus on the effects of a new model for online social networking: a unified social network that, as a service, provides social data to many other applications."
SocialStream is a project created by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, and funded by none other than Google, which tries to really unify all the social networks in one place. This means that not only you will be able to gather bits and pieces of your digital life in one place; you’ll also be able to update your social networks directly from SocialStream. See the screencast below for an overview of the project in its current stage.
The application is not actually live yet, and there’s no word on when it will be launch. From what I can gather from the screencast, the idea is great, but the actual implementation seems a bit too complex for the average user.
More at:http://www.hcii.cs.cmu.edu/M-HCI/2006/SocialstreamProject/index.php
"Socialstream is the result of a Google-sponsored capstone project in the Master's program at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. This project was guided by three goals that built upon each other:
Initial Task: Rethink and reinvent online social networking
Refined Focus: Discover the user needs related to social networking and explore how a unified social network service can enhance their experience.
Prototype Goal: Create a system for users to seamlessly share, view, and respond to many types of social content across multiple networks.
Directed to help improve the online community orkut, the project's scope was not to simply redesign the interface. Our team considered how online social networking could bring greater value to users, especially for ages above twenty. After initial brainstorming and research, we chose to focus on the effects of a new model for online social networking: a unified social network that, as a service, provides social data to many other applications."
SocialStream is a project created by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, and funded by none other than Google, which tries to really unify all the social networks in one place. This means that not only you will be able to gather bits and pieces of your digital life in one place; you’ll also be able to update your social networks directly from SocialStream. See the screencast below for an overview of the project in its current stage.
The application is not actually live yet, and there’s no word on when it will be launch. From what I can gather from the screencast, the idea is great, but the actual implementation seems a bit too complex for the average user.
More at:http://www.hcii.cs.cmu.edu/M-HCI/2006/SocialstreamProject/index.php
Get Paid For Giving Advice
If you are expert at anything but still you have nothing to do or you have some extra time in hand after completing your work then now your times could utilise well by giving advice to someone and in return you can earn money.Here is a site which provides users what they want I mean if you are registered users of this site you will earn money for giving your advice to their clients.
Users register with username and email, price per minute and areas of expertise like digital photography or fashion. Skype, an Internet phone service, is required for both parties.
Payment system was more sophisticated than on other sites. The adviser and client can talk free of charge until they agree upon the terms of the call. The customer is charged only for the amount of time they actually spend on the call.
More at:http://www.bitwine.com/
Users register with username and email, price per minute and areas of expertise like digital photography or fashion. Skype, an Internet phone service, is required for both parties.
Payment system was more sophisticated than on other sites. The adviser and client can talk free of charge until they agree upon the terms of the call. The customer is charged only for the amount of time they actually spend on the call.
More at:http://www.bitwine.com/
TeleMoose Is For Browsing Amazon Products On Your iPhone
TeleMoose is the latest development with this latest application, you can browse through Amazon products on your iPhone.
The design is sleek, and you can easily access reviews, the product descriptions, and the ever-important related products. These are all available in a variety of categories, from DVDs to games and music. You can also send an Amazon product to a friend via email directly from the iPhone application, and of course, purchase the product from Amazon from your iPhoneYou can still use the service even if you don’t have an iPhone, as it’s created a web-based simulation online.
You won’t get as many search results with TeleMoose as you would with Amazon itself, and I’m not sure this new application is necessarily better than going to Amazon directly on your iPhone. It’s nearly impossible to do another search once you’ve pulled up the details on a particular product, as there is no longer a search bar once you’ve navigated away from the main TeleMoose page. In related news, Apple has recently released the iPhone Developer’s Guide.
more at:http://telemoose.com/
The design is sleek, and you can easily access reviews, the product descriptions, and the ever-important related products. These are all available in a variety of categories, from DVDs to games and music. You can also send an Amazon product to a friend via email directly from the iPhone application, and of course, purchase the product from Amazon from your iPhoneYou can still use the service even if you don’t have an iPhone, as it’s created a web-based simulation online.
You won’t get as many search results with TeleMoose as you would with Amazon itself, and I’m not sure this new application is necessarily better than going to Amazon directly on your iPhone. It’s nearly impossible to do another search once you’ve pulled up the details on a particular product, as there is no longer a search bar once you’ve navigated away from the main TeleMoose page. In related news, Apple has recently released the iPhone Developer’s Guide.
more at:http://telemoose.com/
Free Video Editing Tools
JayCut is a new video mixing service that is aimed to provide video editing tools for free, with your own content.
You can upload photos and videos to be included in your personal gallery, and create folders that can be set as private, for friends only, or public. When you’re ready to mix a video, you’ll use the content from your personal gallery to do so. The video editor provided by JayCut is rather simplistic, with some core funtionality and a few effects options. There are also groups you can join, and share videos within these groups.
While mix videos can be downloaded, regular videos and photos cannot, and you cannot bookmark or “favorite” other users’ content, or include it in your own mixes. I’d like to see some channels as well, for better organization of JayCut content for search and site navigation purposes, and maybe some group collaboration tools for groups as well, enabling multiple users to contribute to the creation of a video mix. Similar sites include JumpCut, YouTube and Photobucket, and mojiti.
more at:http://jaycut.com/
You can upload photos and videos to be included in your personal gallery, and create folders that can be set as private, for friends only, or public. When you’re ready to mix a video, you’ll use the content from your personal gallery to do so. The video editor provided by JayCut is rather simplistic, with some core funtionality and a few effects options. There are also groups you can join, and share videos within these groups.
While mix videos can be downloaded, regular videos and photos cannot, and you cannot bookmark or “favorite” other users’ content, or include it in your own mixes. I’d like to see some channels as well, for better organization of JayCut content for search and site navigation purposes, and maybe some group collaboration tools for groups as well, enabling multiple users to contribute to the creation of a video mix. Similar sites include JumpCut, YouTube and Photobucket, and mojiti.
more at:http://jaycut.com/
BIDernet Is New Online Auction Industry Which Pays You For Trading
If you like eBay and enjoy trading online, than you will definitely be excited to learn more about how BIDernet is revolutionizing the online auction industry. BIDernet, Inc. has developed a unique, patent pending, multi-tiered Affiliate Referral Program, which allows everyone to share in the profits of one of the internet’s fastest growing online auction websites."
It's FREE to join and you can refer others and get paid up to 40% commission on all auction fees collected monthly on 6 referrals past your initial referral. There is unlimited income potential in this affiliate program. Theyr unique 3 minute flash presentation is encoded with your referrer ID and if you send the email and a user clicks to view the presentation, you get the referral if they join.
More at:http://www.bidernet.com/
It's FREE to join and you can refer others and get paid up to 40% commission on all auction fees collected monthly on 6 referrals past your initial referral. There is unlimited income potential in this affiliate program. Theyr unique 3 minute flash presentation is encoded with your referrer ID and if you send the email and a user clicks to view the presentation, you get the referral if they join.
More at:http://www.bidernet.com/
Own Your Football Club Team And Earn Money
Sometimes I think how this world has been change since Internet came into our daily life.New addition is football club which you can own and sell and could earn nice profit it will be virtual football club.
You can buy a football club to help promote and advertise your website. When you do buy a club you will be given personal banners to place on your site to help boost your clubs value. Also using real time- real life stats, scores and achievements will all add value to your club depending on how well your club performs throughout the whole football season. The greater the value of your football club, the higher the position it will appear advertised on the homepage.
More at:http://www.footballclubtycoon.com/
You can buy a football club to help promote and advertise your website. When you do buy a club you will be given personal banners to place on your site to help boost your clubs value. Also using real time- real life stats, scores and achievements will all add value to your club depending on how well your club performs throughout the whole football season. The greater the value of your football club, the higher the position it will appear advertised on the homepage.
More at:http://www.footballclubtycoon.com/
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Slamdot Aims To Take The Pain Out Of Webhosting For You
Slamdot aims to take the pain out of web hosting for you. All your account functions are available from a central dashboard which is really easy to get used to. What impressed me was that the information which is most important to each relevant section of the account is displayed in the right sidebar, making navigating quicker than usual.
Some of the special features that Slamdot has are -
completely integrated billing, support, hosting, and domain management
ability to manage multiple hosting plans (great for web design clients)
built-in FastCGI control so you can restart Rails applications
The hosting provider’s state of the art servers are located in the SoftLayer datacenter near Dallas, TX. The RAID servers come with at least 2GB of RAM and all data is backed up nightly. See here for a full set of hosting features and signing up for their web hosting service.
Right, now let’s have a look inside. You dashboard is where you can do all of your billing and account-related management, clicking through to the main plan management you see a tabbed interface which is very…well 2.0 if you will. Each tab has their own respective sub categories to further manage your hosting plan.
The hosting control panel shows you the amount of bandwidth and disk space you have used and how much you have left, handy information to always know for customers. You can jump to the most important areas straight away from the welcome page, which can save you a lot of time if you have many domains to manage or work as a hosting manager.
My one main gripe that I’ve always had with my current host is the absolutely retarded way of collecting stats. Instead of showing me unique visitors, they show me the number of server requests each of my visitors has made. Which in effect makes for totally useless stats. Slamdot though does things differently.
The first thing you see when you click on “Website” are your web stats and you are greeted by an Alexa chart for your domain, along with a month by month comparison, followed by a daily visit log of unique and total visitors. It also shows the amount of data transferred. You can see more detailed stats by clicking on the “Webalizer Stats” button. More help is only a search away.
Each hosting plan offers you a bunch of features, at $11 a month the Personal plan gives you the option to host up to 3 websites, MySQL databases, domain pointers, subdomains, email accounts, FTP accounts and more. Which if I look at it comes out around a $1 cheaper than where I currently host. But I have to say the ease of use makes the price I pay seem much much higher. Though personally I wouldn’t host 2 websites on one plan itself, let alone 3.
Uploading files via Slamdot’s file manager is very easy, you simply click on the directory you want to upload to and browse for your file to upload and do it, that’s it.
Advanced Features
Going into the advanced features, you see a bunch of options, again the ease of use in navigation was just very pleasing. From manging your databases, backups, Perl Modules, FastCGI and Cron Jobs. Setting up an SSL will need you to get a dedicated IP, which costs an extra $1 month.
More at:http://www.slamdot.com/
Via-http://www.everybodygoto.com/
Some of the special features that Slamdot has are -
completely integrated billing, support, hosting, and domain management
ability to manage multiple hosting plans (great for web design clients)
built-in FastCGI control so you can restart Rails applications
The hosting provider’s state of the art servers are located in the SoftLayer datacenter near Dallas, TX. The RAID servers come with at least 2GB of RAM and all data is backed up nightly. See here for a full set of hosting features and signing up for their web hosting service.
Right, now let’s have a look inside. You dashboard is where you can do all of your billing and account-related management, clicking through to the main plan management you see a tabbed interface which is very…well 2.0 if you will. Each tab has their own respective sub categories to further manage your hosting plan.
The hosting control panel shows you the amount of bandwidth and disk space you have used and how much you have left, handy information to always know for customers. You can jump to the most important areas straight away from the welcome page, which can save you a lot of time if you have many domains to manage or work as a hosting manager.
My one main gripe that I’ve always had with my current host is the absolutely retarded way of collecting stats. Instead of showing me unique visitors, they show me the number of server requests each of my visitors has made. Which in effect makes for totally useless stats. Slamdot though does things differently.
The first thing you see when you click on “Website” are your web stats and you are greeted by an Alexa chart for your domain, along with a month by month comparison, followed by a daily visit log of unique and total visitors. It also shows the amount of data transferred. You can see more detailed stats by clicking on the “Webalizer Stats” button. More help is only a search away.
Each hosting plan offers you a bunch of features, at $11 a month the Personal plan gives you the option to host up to 3 websites, MySQL databases, domain pointers, subdomains, email accounts, FTP accounts and more. Which if I look at it comes out around a $1 cheaper than where I currently host. But I have to say the ease of use makes the price I pay seem much much higher. Though personally I wouldn’t host 2 websites on one plan itself, let alone 3.
Uploading files via Slamdot’s file manager is very easy, you simply click on the directory you want to upload to and browse for your file to upload and do it, that’s it.
Advanced Features
Going into the advanced features, you see a bunch of options, again the ease of use in navigation was just very pleasing. From manging your databases, backups, Perl Modules, FastCGI and Cron Jobs. Setting up an SSL will need you to get a dedicated IP, which costs an extra $1 month.
More at:http://www.slamdot.com/
Via-http://www.everybodygoto.com/
User Generated Captiond Video
dotSUB provides users to create captions for online videos. After uploading a video to dotSUB's website, it’s first transcribed in the original language. Sentence by sentence, a user can then translate the resulting text into his or her own language. Subtitles are automatically imbedded in the video and can be viewed on dotSUB in everything from Korean to Ukrainian. The system also allows for collaborative captioning on a single video. If a work is still in progress, the amount of speech that's been subtitled is displayed (e.g. Italian 12%), and other users can pitch in to finish the work. Like Wikipedia, anyone can edit or add to the captions.
Project ReadOn which is like this but it doesn't embed captions, showing them in a separate frame instead. While ReadOn's captions are rendered in large type and therefore easy on the eyes, they're prone to falling out of sync with videos, since both are loaded separately.
As web video's popularity continues to grow, making it accessible to both the hearing impaired and speakers or students of other languages is a worthy cause that could grow into a substantial niche market. One to look into if you're involved with online media, accessibility or education.
More at: www.dotsub.com — www.projectreadon.com
Via-Springwise
Project ReadOn which is like this but it doesn't embed captions, showing them in a separate frame instead. While ReadOn's captions are rendered in large type and therefore easy on the eyes, they're prone to falling out of sync with videos, since both are loaded separately.
As web video's popularity continues to grow, making it accessible to both the hearing impaired and speakers or students of other languages is a worthy cause that could grow into a substantial niche market. One to look into if you're involved with online media, accessibility or education.
More at: www.dotsub.com — www.projectreadon.com
Via-Springwise
Dollors Diggers
About: Hip-hop community website and e-newsletter
Who started it: Felicia Palmer and Steven Samuel of SOHH.com
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
When: Started in 1993
Startup costs: Less than $500
A lot has changed for Felicia Palmer and Steven Samuel since they started SOHH.com in 1993. Back then, the site was known as Support Online Hip-Hop and was simply a place where the two could post newsletters and run an online bulletin board about hip-hop music and the community. Using Samuel's home computer, they built the site themselves from scratch. "We picked up a book on HTML and pretty much figured out how to launch the site in a week," Samuel, 35, says.
Now SOHH.com is a vibrant urban media company boasting 2006 sales of more than $1.5 million. Palmer says the company owes its growth to word-of-mouth popularity and a resurgent interest in online companies from advertisers after the dotcom bust. "We never really spent any money [on marketing]," says Palmer, 37. It was unique and interesting content, such as hip-hop awards when the hip-hop scene was still emerging, that drove visitors to SOHH.com--and kept them coming back.
More at:http://www.sohh.com/
Via-Entrepreneur
Who started it: Felicia Palmer and Steven Samuel of SOHH.com
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
When: Started in 1993
Startup costs: Less than $500
A lot has changed for Felicia Palmer and Steven Samuel since they started SOHH.com in 1993. Back then, the site was known as Support Online Hip-Hop and was simply a place where the two could post newsletters and run an online bulletin board about hip-hop music and the community. Using Samuel's home computer, they built the site themselves from scratch. "We picked up a book on HTML and pretty much figured out how to launch the site in a week," Samuel, 35, says.
Now SOHH.com is a vibrant urban media company boasting 2006 sales of more than $1.5 million. Palmer says the company owes its growth to word-of-mouth popularity and a resurgent interest in online companies from advertisers after the dotcom bust. "We never really spent any money [on marketing]," says Palmer, 37. It was unique and interesting content, such as hip-hop awards when the hip-hop scene was still emerging, that drove visitors to SOHH.com--and kept them coming back.
More at:http://www.sohh.com/
Via-Entrepreneur
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Some Resources For Online Entrepreneurs To Help Them Get Up And Going Fast
Some resources for online entrepreneurs to help you get up and going fast. From legal, to design, and development - these websites can shave weeks off your schedule and save you thousands of dollars. (I concentrated on Internet-based businesses for this post.)
FindLaw
Findlaw.com has a special section for small business. It is located at http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/.
There are tips on everything from naming your businesses to business plans. They will also tell you the differences between a S-Corp and a LLC, if you need a refresher on the finer points of incorporating a small company.
BizBuySell
If you want to get going fast, you can buy an existing, operating online business at BizBuySell. Also, if you are ready to sell out of your small business, you can sell a small business here, too.
GotVMail
Get that big-company phone number for a small company price. They provide a 1–800 number and answering service.
LogoYes
A good looking logo can separate the serious business from the people that are just playing business. Customers pick up on professionalism. You need a great logo. Design and create your own logo online. LogoYes has on online interactive design studio to let you play around with designs until it is just right. If you are so inclined, this tool can help you build that perfect logo for your next enterprise. If you don’t want to do it yourself with LogoYes, and you are not artistically inclined, then see number 5.
Basecamp
Collaboration is crucial. Basecamp is a cost effective way to manage a dispersed group of entrepreneurs. Bootcamp facilitates project management online.
eLance
When you need some code written or any other jobs done for your startup, you can post the job to eLance. Freelancers will bid you your job. You can then select the best person for the price and get some work done.
Highrise
Keep track of who you talked to and what you said with this online CRM system. Organize your sales calls, or your contact with contractors. You can also do things like review each other’s notes, see follow-ups, and set reminders to contact clients later.
A Good Web Host
I recommend HostMySite, but there are many good hosts out there. The host and plan you need depends on what you need to build. If you think you will need a little more horsepower than a shared plan can provide, but don’t want to pay the price for a dedicated server quite yet, you can check out the newer VPS (Virtual Private Server) plans that give you some of the benefits of a dedicated server without the price of a dedicated server.
A Domain Name
There are many good sites to register your domain name. I recommend GoDaddy or Network Solutions. These companies both have control-panels that let you manage multiple domains. This gets useful when you end up managing several domain names.
Legal Zoom
LegalZoom lets you set up your corporation online for a relatively low cost. They can also file trademarks for you. This site can save you a bundle of money and time when you need to get the legal paperwork done.
More at:http://www.findlaw.com/
http://www.bizbuysell.com/
http://gotvmail.com/
http://www.logoyes.com/
http://www.basecamphq.com/
http://www.elance.com/
http://www.highrisehq.com/
http://www.hostmysite.com/
http://www.godaddy.com/
http://www.legalzoom.com/
Via-will
FindLaw
Findlaw.com has a special section for small business. It is located at http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/.
There are tips on everything from naming your businesses to business plans. They will also tell you the differences between a S-Corp and a LLC, if you need a refresher on the finer points of incorporating a small company.
BizBuySell
If you want to get going fast, you can buy an existing, operating online business at BizBuySell. Also, if you are ready to sell out of your small business, you can sell a small business here, too.
GotVMail
Get that big-company phone number for a small company price. They provide a 1–800 number and answering service.
LogoYes
A good looking logo can separate the serious business from the people that are just playing business. Customers pick up on professionalism. You need a great logo. Design and create your own logo online. LogoYes has on online interactive design studio to let you play around with designs until it is just right. If you are so inclined, this tool can help you build that perfect logo for your next enterprise. If you don’t want to do it yourself with LogoYes, and you are not artistically inclined, then see number 5.
Basecamp
Collaboration is crucial. Basecamp is a cost effective way to manage a dispersed group of entrepreneurs. Bootcamp facilitates project management online.
eLance
When you need some code written or any other jobs done for your startup, you can post the job to eLance. Freelancers will bid you your job. You can then select the best person for the price and get some work done.
Highrise
Keep track of who you talked to and what you said with this online CRM system. Organize your sales calls, or your contact with contractors. You can also do things like review each other’s notes, see follow-ups, and set reminders to contact clients later.
A Good Web Host
I recommend HostMySite, but there are many good hosts out there. The host and plan you need depends on what you need to build. If you think you will need a little more horsepower than a shared plan can provide, but don’t want to pay the price for a dedicated server quite yet, you can check out the newer VPS (Virtual Private Server) plans that give you some of the benefits of a dedicated server without the price of a dedicated server.
A Domain Name
There are many good sites to register your domain name. I recommend GoDaddy or Network Solutions. These companies both have control-panels that let you manage multiple domains. This gets useful when you end up managing several domain names.
Legal Zoom
LegalZoom lets you set up your corporation online for a relatively low cost. They can also file trademarks for you. This site can save you a bundle of money and time when you need to get the legal paperwork done.
More at:http://www.findlaw.com/
http://www.bizbuysell.com/
http://gotvmail.com/
http://www.logoyes.com/
http://www.basecamphq.com/
http://www.elance.com/
http://www.highrisehq.com/
http://www.hostmysite.com/
http://www.godaddy.com/
http://www.legalzoom.com/
Via-will
LiveRail Is Video And ad Distribution Network
LiveRail is a site for video and ad distribution network, looking to marry the video ad industry with those that create their own video content.
This inline advertising model is quickly taking shape amongst the user-generated video services such as Blinkx and YouTube. Advertisers pay only when a viewer clicks on the ad, which is displayed according to LiveRail’s algorithm determining the best videos and audience with which to attach ads. As an advertiser, you also have the opportunity to indicate your target demographic as well. For those who want to monetize their online video content, sending it to LiveRail for hosting and embed the video into your website, which now had ads.
For its beta test phase, LiveRail is allotting $1000 daily budget for advertisers, granting them the chance to familiarize themselves with the LiveRail product. Other companies that utilize ad distribution networks include Flixya, Google and Metacafe.
more at:http://www.liverail.com/
This inline advertising model is quickly taking shape amongst the user-generated video services such as Blinkx and YouTube. Advertisers pay only when a viewer clicks on the ad, which is displayed according to LiveRail’s algorithm determining the best videos and audience with which to attach ads. As an advertiser, you also have the opportunity to indicate your target demographic as well. For those who want to monetize their online video content, sending it to LiveRail for hosting and embed the video into your website, which now had ads.
For its beta test phase, LiveRail is allotting $1000 daily budget for advertisers, granting them the chance to familiarize themselves with the LiveRail product. Other companies that utilize ad distribution networks include Flixya, Google and Metacafe.
more at:http://www.liverail.com/
OneDump
OneDump is for those people who were till then worried about uploading, use it to upload pictures, text files, and audio files so that you don't have to worry about losing them or cluttering your computer's memory. What distinguishes OneDump from other similar services is that it is extremely simple and requires no registration. You can upload files and grab the URL for sharing directly on OneDump's home page. There are more perks if you register: OneDump offers file folders, slideshows, and an easy interface to upload and manage your stuff. The startup will soon be offering the ability to upload files directly from cell phones like the T-Mobile Sidekick or by just emailing it from your mobile phone.
More at:http://www.onedump.com/
More at:http://www.onedump.com/
Discovering Your Match
Matchmine is a media discovery platform, meaning we help match video, audio and textual content with you based on a sophisticated understanding of your personal tastes. The media discovery platform gets to know what you like, and then finds the movies, video, music, news and other content you'd love to find yourself, if only you had the time. Kind of like having a best friend whose full time gig is to send you great stuff. Behind the scenes, we're a Boston-based startup that brings together top people from the disciplines of technology, science, mathematics and media in service to a three part vision.
More at:http://www.matchmine.com/
More at:http://www.matchmine.com/
Razz
Razz, Inc. is a global publisher of entertainment software and services for mobile phones and other voice communication platforms. The Company's proprietary audio distribution channel, the Razz, enables consumers to mix sound content into their phone conversations and onto their personal web pages. Leveraging this patent-pending technology, mobile content distributors can now offer their consumers a new voice-centric entertainment service, and content owners can further monetize their branded properties. With the company's flagship mobile handset application, the Razz Player, consumers can interject stored sound clips into live conversations, outgoing messages and voicemail. In short, the Razz provides a complete publishing and distribution solution for this new category of media: "in call entertainment".
More at: http://www.razz.com/
More at: http://www.razz.com/
LessonBites
LessonBites provides a marketplace for people with skills to sell their knowledge using internet-based video. Many instructors now give away their skill to video sharing sites. We believe that if your skill is truly valuable you should be able to sell it. LessonBites.com enables people to upload their lesson videos, setup their online store with ease and sell their skills.
More at:http://lessonbites.com/
More at:http://lessonbites.com/
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