Category: internet

group project management – Basecamp

On By Rick McIn blogs, economics, internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Keith joked, “Rick wants everything on the internet to be free.”

Not true.

I want everything to be bought and sold in micro-payments. Like the fraction of a penny Google is paying me for you opening this page on your computer. (They hope you will click on one of their eight advertising links.)

Google is making billion$ on these tiny transactions.

The problem with you or I selling something on-line is that some geek in a basement somewhere will offer it for free.

How do you compete against free?

I store over 6000 photos on flickr. And happily pay US$25 / year. That’s an amazing value / transaction. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent.

There are free photo hosting sites. But flickr is so much superior, I’d rather pay.

You can host blogs for free, but I recommend the US$10 / year WordPress plan including domain name. A much better value than free anywhere else.

There are many free project management websites and software tools. But I’m testing one called Basecamp. It’s got a free limited version — but I’ll likely upgrade to the pay-as-you-go, pay-as-you-need, US$12 / month version if it works as reported.

Project management and collaboration

Collaborate with your team and clients. Schedules, tasks, files, messages, and more.

Basecamp is part of the 37signals suite, considered best in class at what they do.

You can try to convince me to use cheaper (or free) software. But first read this article: Why You Shouldn’t Compete With 37Signals

I’ll check out Basecamp and the other 37signals products. And report back here.

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Simply Google

On By Rick McIn Google, internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I’ve tried many different default home pages for my internet browsers, most often settling on a BLANK page because it loads fastest.

Currently I am trying a new one called Simply Google (not a Google product). It’s great for getting faster access to image search, news search, Wikipedia and a long list of others.

See what you think.

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Simply Google

Leave a comment if you have a different home page you like.

RSS (really simple syndication) explained

On By Rick McIn blogs, internetLeave a comment

These days I am loathe to READ an explanation on how to do anything. It’s too slow. And boring.

Instead, I want a fast, fun video tutorial on-line.

Here’s a perfect example …


Click To Play
There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don’t know where to start.

Yahoo Photos OUT – Flickr IN

On By Rick McIn internet, photos, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Yahoo! is doing something brave. And smart.

They are shutting down Yahoo Photos, the biggest host on the web with 2 billion pics. It’s crappy.

The service will be shut down in favor of the newer and more social Flickr, which they acquired in March of 2005. …

Yahoo is not forcing transition to Flickr – instead, users are being given the option of choosing among a number of top photo sharing sites.

If you are a current Yahoo! Photos user, you will be given the option to export all your photos into Flickr (a one-click process) or you will be able to export to a few other services such as Photobucket, Snapfish, Kodak Gallery or Shutterfly. …

Breaking: Yahoo To Shut Down Yahoo Photos In Favor Of Flickr

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source – where else?

John Dvorak is dead to me

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, dead to me, internet, product complaints, videocastsLeave a comment

I’ve known for a long time now that tech reporter John Dvorak is a sloppy, irresponsible yellow journalist.

Time to cut him loose. Let him sink to the bottom of the dead pool.

I’ve cancelled my RSS subscription to his blog and videocast. And will plug my ears when he happens to appear on other audiocasts.

His buffoonery is getting old.

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Dvorak is known throughout the tech community as being a Troll_(Internet). His theories are far fetched and is almost invariably wrong at most of the conclusions that he draws.

Wikipedia

definition of “Troll”:

… someone who intentionally posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community such as an online discussion forum to bait users into responding.

Wikipedia

back-up your files on-line automatically

On By Rick McIn internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

logo_verbose.pngObviously everything on your computer should be backed up to the internet when you are on-line.

How is it we do not have this already?

A new start-up called Mozy is getting big buzz now that G.E. just signed a huge contract with them.

How It Works

1. Sign up for an account. …

2. Download and install software. …

3. Select files to be backed up. …

What You Get

* 2GB of free, secure storage (Or go Unlimited for $4.95/month!) …

Alternatives to Mozy

* Burn a new CD or DVD every Sunday night and store them at your brother-in-law’s office.
* Pay $200/year for an online backup service that uses old, mediocre software.
* Buy a $200 external hard drive and hope your office doesn’t burn down.
* Do nothing and don’t worry about backup. (We suggest closing your eyes, plugging your ears and repeating “I’m in my happy place, I’m in my happy place.”)
* Run a cron job of rsync, gzip and mcrypt piped over ssh to your friend’s server over his DSL line.

Of course, we think Mozy is the best and easiest solution to the backup problem!

Mozy: Online Backup

I’ve signed-up to try it. But they have no Mac version as yet. UPDATE: Mac version just released.

TIME’s Most Influential People

On By Rick McIn humour, internetLeave a comment

The wisdom of the mob is evident.

Sidney Crosby fights it out with Angelina for a top spot.

Who do you think should be on this year’s list of TIME’s most influential people? Read through the profiles of the 200 candidates and rate your top choices.

Here’s the list, so far:

time-top100.jpg

VOTE for COLBERT.

The Most Influential People of the Year – The TIME 100 — Are They Worthy? | TIME

Facebook.com is BOOMING

On By Rick McIn internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

cov115.jpgGood cover story on FastCompany magazine this month.

Another guy barely out of his teens, sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a rented apartment.

The internet is a wild place.

I am totally enjoying Facebook, so far. I check it every day as do half of all users.

This is from the May edition of FastCompany, showing registered users who have visited the site at least once each month. Speaks for itself.

Facebook’s Active Users, In Millions

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ADAPT OR DIE – why is this so hard to learn?

On By Rick McIn internetLeave a comment

A parable on the death of the retail record store caught my eye.

They started a record (CD) store in New York City in 1993. They closed in 2005.

The exact same story could have been written by owners of small book stores, travel agencies, retail stock brokers, small newspapers, and magazine publishers. They have all been dramatically changed by the Internet.

The changes were inevitable and the reactions were predictable. It is easy to blame the industry giants for stubbornly holding on to their way of doing business. But it was the small players who were hurt the most. Business, like life in the wild, is ruled by Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest”.

The environment is constantly changing. The strongest last the longest but unless they adapt, they too will die. The The Innovator’s Dilemma tells us that very few businesses in any industry make the transition to the new way of doing things. …

5_cd_death.jpgThe record labels continued to put out junk CDs with two good songs for $20. The labels made deals with big box stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy that allowed them to sell for less than the small retailers cost. The Internet allowed millions of kids to download singles for free.

Amazon did the same thing to small book stores. Travelocity and Expedia put pressure on the travel agents. E*Trade and Fidelity crushed the retail stock broker. The story goes on and on.

The real story is how entrepreneurs adapt. The record store owners … are now in the online music business.

I am reminded of the cute little book “Who moved my Cheese?”. The story of a mouse who followed the same routine everyday until someone moved his cheese. Then the mouse had to figure out how to adapt to the change and create a new routine. The smart mouse figures it out. The dumb mouse keeps looking for the cheese in the same old place.

How do you like that? Business all boils down to the habits of a mouse. Take that, Harvard Business School.

Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: Spinning into oblivion – the death of the music business, and the habits of a mouse

give the Opera browser a try

On By Rick McIn internet, product endorsements1 Comment

I always have at least two browsers open. I find it quicker to switch back and forth browsers than between tabs or windows in the same browser.

On Mac I use Safari, Firefox, Camino and Opera.

They are all good. All similar. The only bad browser these days is Internet Explorer.

If a web feature does not work in one, I try it on another.

In the past I found Opera the most annoying as it uses different key stroke shortcuts. But having just downloaded the most recent version (9.1), there is one feature which makes it worth my time. In Opera you can zoom in on text AND GRAPHICS. This is a killer feature for any user who has trouble reading small, light fonts.

Give it a try.

What is Opera?

Opera is a powerful tool that gives you more options when surfing the Web. It is faster, safer and easier to use than your current browser. We designed Opera to fit your life – whether you want to have more fun, get more done or express your style.

Why should I download Opera when I already have another browser?

If you use Internet Explorer you are more likely to be subjected to dangerous software such as viruses and spyware. Opera is more secure, and takes up less of your computer’s memory.

Easy Switch – Questions about switching to Opera – Opera Web Browser

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