Happy Quote
July 24, 2006 in Happy Quotes"Life is really simple as far as I'm concerned. There is no luck, you work hard and study things intently. If you do that for long and hard enough you're successful."
- Jason Calacanis (founder of Weblogs, Inc. (Engadget, etc), which he sold to AOL for ~$30 million).
OOo Label Templates
July 24, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, FreeWhat is it?
OOo Label Templates: Free blank label templates, many same sizes needed for Avery Labels. Set-up site is very quick, designing and creating labels is pretty simple. Most business use all types of labels and the types offered here cover all needs. Since the ISO has approved the Opendocument format and lot of Governments and intuitions are adopting the ODF format, these templates are extremely useful in the work place.
Who makes it?
WorldLabel.com
Why is it the killerest?
They are free for download and save a lot of time and energy trying to find or create a template from scratch. They also correspond with Worldlabel products and you can save enormous amount of money buying their "generic Avery labels".
What could be improved?
They could include some instruction on how to use the templates for beginners.
How much does it cost?
Free
Rating?
Reviewed by Patrick Paroline
Hamachi
July 20, 2006 in 5 out of 5 stars, A piece of software, TechnologyWhat is it?
Hamachi: It's a zero-configuration virtual private networking (VPN) application. It essentially gives you a LAN over the Internet.
(Warning: This is a more technical one, but for you entrepreneurs with remote associates this is solid gold).
Who makes it?
Applied Networking Inc.
Why is it the killerest?
Hamachi is to VPN what Skype is to VOIP. It's a simple, clean, VPN application, that just works. Astounding really especially when you compare it to the horrible commercial VPN alternatives out there.
Solid support for Windows, passable versions for Linux and Mac (OS X).
Best of all - Hamachi is free.
What could be improved?
In the vast majority of cases this does indeed work (worked perfectly for me) but the support forums do have some pleas for help. With 3,000,000 users though - that's to be expected. (Incidentally, the support forums really do appear to be helpful.) Mac version doesn't have a GUI (yet).
How much does it cost?
Astoundingly Free
Rating?
Reviewed by Carson McComas
Wall Street Journal Daily Summary
July 19, 2006 in 4 out of 5 stars, A service, FreeWhat is it?
Wall Street Journal Daily Summary: A free, quickly digestible, daily summary of the Wall Street Journal. Think of it as the Cliff Notes for today's WSJ.
Who makes it?
Seeking Alpha, Ltd.
Why is it the killerest?
Lifehacker posted this a couple weeks ago, I subscribed to the RSS feed and have been very impressed by it. They do a quick summary of the WSJ headlines, and a blurb for each on the stock/ETF implications of the news behind story. It's really quite well done and I'm surprised it's free as it's quality and obviously takes hours to compose. This is a great way to stay apprised of top stories in the business world.
How much does it cost?
Free
Rating?
Reviewed by Carson McComas
Happy Links
July 18, 2006 in Happy Links- A - Z of Professional Blogging
Problogger Darren Rowse puts together this excellent blogging resource list including tools and ways to make money. - Site building/Affiliate marketing toolkit
Markus Frind chimes in with his own similar, if much less comprehensive, list. - Reviewed: Google Checkout Payment System
Ian Lurie takes the new system through the paces as a merchant, and a buyer. - Talking About Failure
Brad Feld thinks we need to give failure more air time when we discuss entrepreneurism. - Your Website Demographics
This predictive tool, (a "proof of concept" only they claim) part of Microsoft's new AdWords competitor gives you a feel for how the demographics to your site break down. Here at WH, it says we're 69% male, 31% female. - Shiny and deep
This is vintage Seth Godin with a pithy, excellent tip on how to market your thing. - So, what's wrong with small business?
Another Seth post - this one drawing a distinction between entrepreneurs and small business people. "The more I see both, the happier it appears that small business people are. They often make more money, take fewer risks, sleep better and build something for the ages, something they believe in and can polish and be proud of." Hmm... - Ten Ways To Improve Your Website Conversion Rate
Dave Child offers up a few useful tips. - What lessons can we learn from successful entrepreneurs?
This time, Donald Trump does the asking, and gets some good answers.
Happy Quote
July 14, 2006 in Happy Quotes"All big things in this world are done by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible."
- Charles Hamilton (1876–1961), English writer
Simplybill
July 11, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, Hosted software, InvoicingWhat is it?
Simplybill: An online invoicing tool/service
Who makes it?
Simplybill
Why is it the killerest?
Very simple to use, plus inexpensive (starting at free). It allows you to email invoices, or print them for snail mailing. Has a time tracking desktop widget (paying accounts only) that synchs with Simplybill (PC only right now, a Mac one coming in the next few days). Sends reminders and thank yous. It alerts you when invoices are overdue. Supports recurring invoices.
What could be improved?
An API might be nice.
How much does it cost?
From Free to $25 a month
Rating?
Reviewed by Carson McComas
Dabble DB
July 10, 2006 in 4 out of 5 stars, Hosted "Office", Hosted softwareWhat is it?
Dabble DB: A hosted web application replacement for desktop "consumer" level database software.
Who makes it?
Smallthought Systems, Inc.
Why is it the killerest?
It's a nice, simple, and quite impressive, hosted spreadsheet/database solution. It has a clean and simple interface, but it's also very powerful. It's obvious that a great deal of thought, work, and refinement has gone into this product.
What could be improved?
I'm not sure how much sensitive or critical information I'd want to trust to a hosted environment like this.
A novice will still have a learning curve (as they would with any solution).
How much does it cost?
From $10 to $150/mo. Starts with a free 1 month trial.
Rating?
Reviewed by Carson McComas
Yahoo! Music Unlimited
July 7, 2006 in 5 out of 5 stars, Fun, TechnologyWhat is it?
Yahoo! Music Unlimited[*]: A flat out, too-good-to-be-true, $60/yr, all you can eat, on demand, music candy store.
Who makes it?
Yahoo!
Why is it the killerest?
If you are tethered to your desk for most of the day and enjoy music, this service is a life-changer. I reviewed Yahoo's Launchcast music service a year ago. A month ago, I finally upgraded to Unlimited and haven't accomplished a single thing since.
Not really, but here's what I love:
- You have to use a special Yahoo! player. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of another media player on my computer, but this thing is amazing. I don't use it to catalog my music (still use iTunes for that) but I do use it with this service, and it's positively amazing. It uses Windows Media Player as it's guts (transparently) and it is very impressive. It's polished and does a brilliant job of reading my mind and making it easy to run around like a wildman inside the candy store.
- It keeps all your ratings from Launch and lets you use them to find music you like.
- You can share a song you like via link with a friend (fellow subscriber) over email or IM.
- It still has the Launch radio built in as part of it. And the best part? You hear a song you like - 2 clicks later you're on the song or album page. Listen to the song again, or the whole album. Any time.
- If you want to buy a song, (a la iTunes) it's only $0.79.
- You can put any music locally on your machine.
- You can make playlists.
- You can run it on up to three computers at a time.
- I've finally, almost, after repeated, near-intravenous listening - gotten enough of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. (Does that make me craaazzaay?)
What could be improved?
It doesn't work with the iPod. But this isn't Yahoo's fault, it's Apple's.
It doesn't have every single song ever created. Again, not Yahoo's fault (it's typically the label's fault) but it's a bummer. That said: with over a million songs, 90% of what I look for, I find. It's amazing really.
You can't burn CDs without paying (duh) or take it with you (although they have a service ("take it to go" tab) that allows that too, for $10/mo).
How much does it cost?
$60/yr or $7/mo - start with a free trial .
Rating?
Reviewed by Carson McComas
[*] The links above are affiliate links. Should you wish to follow them without supporting this site (fine!), or if it just makes you feel yucky, please use this direct link instead: http://music.yahoo.com/ymu
Interview with Scott Lake of Shopify
July 5, 2006 in An interview
I followed some of the pre-launch buzz behind Shopify and
everything I saw led me to believe these guys were doing it right. There's such
a tremendous need for well done, simple, affordable, clean ecommerce solutions
for small businesses. Yahoo stores and a few other players have tried to make
this work - but no one that I've seen really seemed to "get it" from a
functionality, pricing or usability standpoint, and none of the players is at
the level that innovative web development is today. Well, Shopify finally
launched a few weeks ago and it looks to me like they're delivering on the hype.
It was my privilege to shoot a few questions at Scott Lake, co-founder of Jaded
Pixel, the company behind Shopify.