eBay adds RSS for search

It is essential for businesses offering dynamic content to have RSS feeds. Whether it is a blog or other information, to be found, one must be updated and served up via RSS. eBay has now joined in!

eBay adds RSS for search: "eBay started offering feeds for your searches last week. That's good. It'll help extend RSS even more. Plus it'll be nice for eBayers. It's just a shame they aren't using the proposed standard orange box, but instead the letters RSS in an orange rectangle.

But is RSS totally legit now or what? Rhetorical question, but I think this really is good news.

Tags:

• RSS
• eBay

History for Sale

A German enigma machine is on sale at eBay. Current price: $13,000+ US dollars.

Just think, what people gave their lives to break and steal is now being sold to the highest bidder over the Internet!

Tags:

• Enigma
• ebay
• German

The Power of Goals

Goal setting has always been very important to me. There was a study done a while back of achievement and it was "discovered" that those who graduated from a leading business school with written goals went on to accumulate a signficantly higher amount of net worth than those who didn't.

I've continued to teach my students about goal setting. This article is one of the best goal setting articles I've come across in a long time!

The Power of Goals: "I was not the most intelligent kid in school. I was not the smartest kid in class. I was not the best student ever. One thing I am sure of is I am the most ambitious person you can ever meet. As it turned out a few years after graduation I began to see the difference [...]"

Tags:

• goal
• setting
• motviation

Some great resources to read about Web 2.0

These three articles profile many of the services that I use including: bloglines and writely. Unfortunately, the top 25 on Business 2.0 doesn't include two of my new favorites: Airset (for calendaring and family management) and Odeo (for easy podcasting.) I also really like Talkr which takes my teaching blog and converts it to a podcast radio station for iPods.

Read these articles, they are important!

• Business 2.0's The Next Net 25
• Chicago Tribune's 50 best Web sites: SERVICES
• Designtechnica's The Best of Web 2.0 review

There are many new services that are free that are available including some great sales and marketing tools. (Read the Business 2.0 list, it does a great job of explaining the service in "newbie" terms.)

Tags:

• Web
• 2.0
• Internet
• Odeo
• Airset
• bloglines
• writely

Google Testifies about their Chinese censorship

This is an interesting read for those watching what Google is doing in China.

The hearing is being conducted because Google recently agreed to filter "objectionable" material on behalf of the Chinese government. This "objectionable" material includes of course, the most threatening religion to the realm, evangelical Christianity as well as all references to democracy. I believe that Google has abandoned American beliefs and has adopted a "Southpark" view of things:

Sometimes what's right isn't as important as what's profitable.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Prehistoric Ice Man, 1999

As we forget values, we lose our identity. As we lose our identity, we try to be everyone to everybody. As we try to be everyone to everybody we lose focus. As we lose focus, we lose profitability and someone else takes our place. Google didn't exist 8 years a go.

Food for thought!

Tags: Google, China, Chinese government, South Park, values, profit, blog, blogs, Vicki A Davis

How to add tags to your blog!

If you want to be "found" these days you need to be "tagged."

Growing up on a farm, we used to tag the cows with a little tag on their ear. It told us where the cow was from and ultimately that the cow belonged to us. You see, cows can be pretty dumb and they like to get out and mix in with other cows. Then you can't tell them apart!

To put it simply, the tags let us find the cows we were interested in -- ours!

Likewise, when you tag your post, people can easily find your blog information and you become a part of the "global web page" on your topic of interest.

For example, if you wanted to see Technorati's "global web page" on wiki education. (That's just one of my favorite tags.) So, you find the tags that are pertinent to your topic and you add them to your post.

The code is somewhat confusing, so here is how I simply add it to my blogger account. (I think there are other such plugins for wordpress and the other programs out there.)

1 - Use the firefox browser.

You can download it at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/.
I personally use it because it is faster, easier, less prone to viruses and pop ups. I've been gradually installing it on my computers a school.

2 - Download the Greasemonkey plug in.

This is a little "helper program" that lets you install features that change the way Firefox works.
You can download it at https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=748&application=firefox.

Close all firefox windows and restart. You'll see a cute little monkey in the bottom right corner.

3 - Install the Script

Read this first!
Go to http://userscripts.org/scripts/source/2182.user.js
At the top of the screen I see the words:

"Greetings fellow traveler. This is a GreaseMonkey user script. Click install to start using it."

If that doesn't appear, you are may also go to Tools and click Install this script.

4. Start tagging!
Now, when you go into blogger, you'll see a new box called "Tags." That is where you use your tags. Just be consistent so people know where to go to find your stuff!

Also, don't use a million tags and make sure they are related to your topic or you will be making that awful canned lunchmeat -- SPAM out of your tags. That is a big no no and a good way to fall into blog oblivion!

5. Remember to ping!
Finally, remember that you still need to ping the appropriate sites. What is a ping? This is a signal you send to the blog search engines that you have updated your blog and have a new post for them to look at. Once they've looked at you, people can find you. THat is how technorati can show this post minutes after I do it!

There is a way for the script we just downloaded to do this! OK! When you click post you'll be taken to your post screen. You'll see a ping-o-matic button! Just click it and you've pinged!

I have been going to technorati and have an account and ping it manually. I've also tried ping-o-matic out today but am not sure how fast it will go. There are some other services that will also work.


Help!
The following hyperlinks will help you troubleshoot any problems.

• Greasemonkey Methods
• Userscripts.org

I know there are a million ways to do this! I'm such a newbie! I thought it would be helpful to blog about it while I'm a newbie and before I forget how hard it is to figure some of this stuff out!

Please experts out there! If I made a mistake or there's something better to do please post it here! (Just don't make me look too much like a newbie!)

It's like my first podcast! It took me four hours to figure it out and set it up! After that it takes me less that 10 minutes!

Find ways like this to automate! Don't be afraid of it, do it!

Tags:

• Tags
• Technorati
• greasemonkey
• scripts
• firefox
• educataion
• teaching
• ping

Rules for blogging

What a great article! I'm posting this for posterity and for my future blogging classes. Amanda LaBonar writes an excellent article for the Marquette Tribune, Personal Responsibility needed when blogging.

It is an excellent article. I picked it up from Anne Davis (no relation) at the anne.teachesme blog. Anne, in true teacher form creates an excellent synopsis of the article.

• Freedom of speech comes with personal responsibility.
• Everything you post represents you.
• I don't post anything I wouldn't be comfortable with anyone, from my parents to potential employers, viewing.
• We complain about free speech being taken away, but we are giving away our privacy without a second thought.
• I'm not bowing to the administration or running scared that something I might post will get me more then a slap on the wrist. I'm being realistic. These posts reflect you, and you never know who is looking at them.
• 
  

Tags: blogging, freedom of speech, responsibility, Anne Davis, Amanda LaBonar, blogs, teaching, education, blog, blogs, daily, daily life, journal, life, weblog, thoughts

Amazon CEO confirms that small towns can achieve success through technology

No suprise here --- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos delivered the keynote this week to a group of entreprenuers in North Dakota says:

"It's getting easier and easier to do amazing things from wherever you happen to be in the world," Bezos said at a press conference. "You can physically be anywhere as you do it, and you can affect the entire world with what you build...."

"This single individual [Shawn Fanning of Napster] completely changed something," Bezos said. "That's the kind of thing people can do anywhere. They can do it in Seattle, they can do it in North Dakota."

This is an important economic development point for small town America: being technologically savvy is essential. Economic Development organizations like the Economic Development and Technology Ventures (EDTV) at Georgia Tech offer programs like TechSmart to help small towns get up to par in technology.

As I often tell my students, when dealing with technology they and I often "don't know what we don't know." It is essential to constantly inquire and to never ever assume that you "know it all." We must continually benchmark and press forward in technology to ensure that we have communities that will foster the creation of Napsters and Amazons in the garages in our small towns.

Tags: economic development, small town, Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Economic Development and Technology Ventures, Georgia Tech, TechSmart, technology, Napster, blog, blogs, daily, daily life, journal, life, weblog, thoughts

Elements of Innovation - Guy Kawasaki Style

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/4039387

Here is a cool article by a Guy Kawasaki -- a columnist for Forbes and venture capitalist. He's been blogging for a very short time and has many page views. (uh over 150,000).

I think he has some good points but it boils to "thinking outside of the box." However, that old term is precisely that -- old.

He elevates true innovation to be even more important than quality. "Don't worry, be crappy," he says. I would argue that there is a balance to keep. To be an innovator you must be perceived as a quality provider in order to attract the early adopters. However, early adopters know that there are inevitably "glitches." As long as "glitches" don't turn into "gulches" that keep the product from behaving in its intended manner. Vaporware doesn't help anyone.

He brings back that good old target marketing we learned in business school. Emphasizes persistence. My favorite thought of his has to be this:

Think digital, act analog. Thinking digital means that companies should use all the digital tools at its disposal--computers, web sites, instruments, whatever--to create great products. But companies should act analog--that is, they must remember that the purpose of innovation is not cool products and cool technologies but happy people. Happy people is a decidedly analog goal.

True innovation is exciting. It is done by can do thinkers. It is done by people who are willing to take a risk.

Innovation is as difficult to predict as when you will fall in love or when you will get over an illness. Like love or illness, however, you can foster an environment conducive to innovation. Just as you can foster an environment where you're likely to fall in love or likely to get well.

I'm adding Guy's blog to my bloglines account. I'm very impressed. His article is shock therapy for those who are afraid to innovate although it shouldn't be taken too literally.

Tags: Guy Kawasaki, Forbes, innovation, glitch, vaporware, marketing, persistence, digital, analog, blog, blogs, weblog, thoughts

Optimus Keyboard - best of CES

I fell in love with it!

Every once in a while an innovation (or in this potential innovation) comes along that will change everything! We've been talking about LCD technology becoming so inexpensive that it will appear everywhere. Here is a very useful way to use it.

The Optimus keyboard available February 2006 (?) is going to be a great tool for graphic designers and folks alike. Imagine a keyboard that is "smart." When you change the font in Microsoft Word, the keys change to look like that font.

Big deal! Yes! What if your font is wingdings? What if you are multi or trilingual -- it changes to spanish or Russian characters as you change the font! What if you are a graphic designer? What if you are mathmetician and you need the correct symbol?

This is an incredible innovation that will inevitably create many knockoffs -- everyone is going to want one of these keyboards. I have to wonder if the input jack on the computer is going to have to change as the keyboard becomes more of a two way communicator.

It also is supposed to have ability to have buttons with a graphic that look like the icon assigned to that button. Special -- go on the Internet button or a button that takes you to your e-mail or favorite website. You won't have to remember which does which, the icon will be on the button!

Curious as to what the market response will be -- I showed this to my computer science students and explained the concept. These 10th graders saw the vision and wanted it now -- they said that $600 would be a little much but at $200 they would ask for it for Christmas!

One said - "This keyboard would the the iPod of next Christmas if it was priced correctly, we could see our emoticons on the keyboard. We'd have to have it because it would help us communicate much more easily with our friends on mySpace and in e-mail."

Others said -- "This is just the way that computers are going to have to be. No one will want a regular keyboard anymore if it works."

My student's response shocked even me! I hope this keyboard works as they say it does -- it will truly be an innovation that is wanted by anyone who has a computer.

I found so many bloggers who want this, its ridiculous!

Tags: Optimus keyboard, CES, market, keyboard, computer, innovation, invention, consumer electronics show, blog, blogs, daily, daily life, journal, life, weblog, thoughts

Plant the seeds of profit

Zig Ziglar explains this concept in his book See You at the Top. Thoughts are like planting corn in a garden. When you plant corn in your garden – you get corn, not potatoes. Whatever you plant will eventually come up. In this way, when you plan negative thoughts in your mind, negative reactions and attitudes will be your harvest. Also, when you plant corn, one seed produces hundreds of new kernels. Between planting and harvest there is a tremendous increase in the number of corn kernels.

What types of thoughts are you planting? What words are you planting in the minds of others? Encouragement? Positive outlook on the future of your company? Pessimism? Hopelessness?

We all have an innate desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Give them something bigger to be a part of.

Tags: Zig Ziglar, business, positive thinking, motivation, See You at the Top, blog, blogs, daily, daily life, journal, life, religion, weblog, thoughts

Customer service?

It is so difficult to get to talk to a human now when you need customer service. There is a "cheat sheet" posted on the Internet on how to reach a human from various companies. Sadly, I need to print it out.

Ahhh! THe advantages of a small town. I like to do business in my small town. This is not just because I'm a chamber member or a local citizen. It is because that when I'm in a crunch, I'll have someone to call on.

I have a perfect example. Over Christmas our big freezer went out at "The Shed" which is our family gathering place. Complete with all of the fixings for the holidays! On the Friday at lunchtime before Christmas!

Only in a small town would we see what happened next. We called and a repairman came out that afternoon. We have friends in the rent all business who helped us to get a freezer there within one hour! He wasn't at work so I called his wife at home -- she helped! Christmas was saved!

I saved some money and bought our school firewall from an online company that I adore and provides great customer service. We went back to school on Monday as teachers and I discovered that lightning had hit the firewall and modem. The modem is serviced locally by the city. Two men came in through the pouring rain and replaced the modem. It is Thursday and my firewall is still waiting. It is in transit and I have a shipment number but its just that it is still in transit. I have 350 students and 35 faculty waiting with bated breath for someone out of town to help. You see, no one worked on Monday and I had no one to call. They are great companies but I had no one to call.

Doing business locally is about just that...having someone to call. Having someone to help you when times are tough. I love to pench a penny but I pay a little more locally and when I'm in real trouble I have friends as well as vendors. I like to do the same for my customers. They know I will not leave them when the chips are down.

Think about local business when you think about the best customer service. You don't need a cheat sheet to find your friends!

Tags: local business, customer service, business, firewall, help, business, brightideaguru, Bright Ideas, coolcatteacher

Leadership is listening!

Each new year I work with my ninth grade classes on goal setting, planning, and character building. This is an opportune time because at the beginning of the ninth grade -- they think they know it all. They don't know what they don't know! At the middle of the year, they've gotten their grades and most of them have gotten the rude awakening that this is where it begins to count! They realize they want to make better grades and they are willing to change -- to listen!

Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Well, that is what so much of us do. We want new results but we don't want to change. It doesn't happen! Kids want better grades but they don't get organized, they don't write down their assignments, they don't study. We must teach them those skills.

I have a grandmother who I adore. She is truly a woman who has made much of her life after growing up with nothing in the depression. I am forever changed due to her presence. One of the most complimentary things that all people have said about her is how she listened. When you talked to my grandmother, she would attend to you with a rapt, engaged expression of 100% listening. She watched your body language and she saw everything! She listened and heard!

I want to be more like her. My new year's resolution is unlike that of many, I think. I am resolved to become a rapt, engaged listener. It is so important. I feel that I do it so poorly.

I have picked up a life changing book that I love called The Servant: A Simple Story about the True Essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter. In this book, the mentor Simeon is talking to a man who has been sent on sabattical by his wife and work for an inability to get along with people. He seemingly has everything but has some habits that cause problems with others.

Simeon tells John, the executive on Sabbatical:

"When you cut people off in midsentence like that, John, it sends some bad messages. Number one, by cutting me off you obviously have not been listening to me very well if you've already formulated your response in your head; two, you do not value me or my opinion because you refuse to take the time to hear me out; and finally, you must believe that what you've got to say is much more important that what I've got to say. John, these are disrespectful messages you just can't afford to send as the leader."

"But that's not the way I feel, Simeon," I [John] objected. "I have a great deal of respect for you."

"Your feelings of respect must be aligned with your actions of respect, John."

That is my question for you -- do you listen to your students? Do you interrupt them? There is one other think I love from the book, it is the definition of leadership.

"The key to leadership is accomplishing the tasks at hand while building relationships." (p 41)

I love it! It also has a great discussion on whether you lead through power or authority. I'll save that for another day!

Tags: leadership, business, success, listening, management, servant leadership, brightideaguru, Bright Ideas, coolcatteacher

Are you creating zombies?

This is an incredible article reminiscent of some of my best management courses in college. The author has created something called the zombie function. The author agrees with the horse whisperer, "The more you use the reins, the less they'll use their brains!"

This is a must read for managers including a great test to determine if you're a micromanager. This is from the Creating Passionate Users Blog.

Tags: management, micromanagement, brightideaguru, Bright Ideas, coolcatteacher

Google Tips and Tricks

Google is by far the easiest to use search engine, in my opinion. They have been relentlessly rolling out new features and I'd like to share some of them with my readers. Here are some useful tricks:

• Use a wildcard - When searching Google, the asterisk symbol (*) can be used as a wildcard. For example, if you want to search for cancer medical, medicine, etc. You can type cancer med* and Google will return all entries -- cancer medicine, cancer medical treatments, cancer medicine centers, etc.
• Find a movie - I love this one! I wanted to see what time a specific movie was playing at a nearby town. I went to Google and typed movie: Chicken Little Albany,GA. Here's Google's answer for me. It includes movie reviews, the play time, the rating, the movie theater, directions to the movie theater and the movie times. In the taskbar shows the words: Movie Showtimes and I can show the times tomorrow, Friday, Saturday -- up to several days out! Wow
  

  33 reviews	Chicken Little 1hr 21min - Rated G - Animation/Family - IMDb
  		Carmike Wynnsong 16 - Albany 2823 Nottingham Way, Albany, GA - Map 1:00p

• Restaurant menu finder - NOw, I'm really in the mood for ribs after the movie. I can click on the Map button shown beside the movie theater and it takes me to Google Local. NOw I have a map with the movie theater on it. I can click in front of the address in the search box and type rib restaurant near 2509 Nottingham Way, Albany GA (notice I just had to type rib restaurant near the address was already there. It found 5 restaurants near the movie theater and put them on the map for me. It also tells me the distance in miles from the theater and gives me the phone number and description. This is done through a very cool indexing of restaurant menus. This is great, particularly when you are traveling.
• Search Number range - To search for a price range, you can use two dots (..). To search for an iPod between 100 and 300 you can Google iPod $100..300.
• Google Calculator - Google has a built in calculator. This is much faster than opening up windows calculator (particularly if you've put a google box on your toolbar. You can do simple (10% of 5000, 10*70) or you can also do number conversions (10 miles in km).
  
• Search a website - You can search websites that don't have search boxes. Say, I wanted to search my website -- Just type site:www.brightideasusa.com -- this works with most any website.
• Search from your cellphone - This is cool but not for the faint of heart. You will text your query by typing in 46645 on your cellphone. (This stands for GOOGL). You can then type in the word. If I wanted to find Ribs in Albany I'd type in ribs.31779. OK, so my final text will look like this 46645 ribs.31779. I can also do 46645 weather.31779 for weather or phone numbers or addresses of businesses by saying 46645 Long Horn.31779. You will get text-message responses free of charge (depending on your text messaging plan) within seconds. Definitely cheaper than connect 411 services.
• Track FedEx Shipments - Just type in the shipping number into Google. IT will offer you a tracking link. Click on it and you can find out a lot of information on your package! (This also works with UPC codes, patent numbers, other numbers )
  
• Flight Information - When you google the names of two cities, Google will offer to search for flights. You can also indicate which service to search. This is a great, easy comparison tool.
• Find the phone number - One of the most frustrating things to find is that toll free phone number for a business when you know you need technical support and you want to talk to a live person. My husband received a Sirius satellite radio for Christmas so if he needed tech support he can type in Sirius Customer Support, if that doesn't work (it didn't) you can type in Sirius Customer Support 800, (or try 888, 877, 866-- the other extensions. That last search returned the 800 number. No more searching!
• Stock Quotes - This is the easiest. Type the ticker symbol into Google to get a plethora of information about your stock quote.
• Define words - And if you don't know what a plethora is, just type define: plethora into Google and then you get definitions from several sources. My students love this. You can click on the definition and get synonyms and antonyms as well.
• Find out the weather - Type weather: Camilla,GA to get the weather in my hometown. Try yours out!
• Find books - You can find books! Google has indexed books and continues to add many daily. You can type in books about farming. The first entry is a listing of the first three books and a link to Books About Farming. Click there to see a complete listing.
  
• For a complete listing go to Google Search Tips . Wow!
  

Google continues to be very cool and more than that -- useful and time saving. I believe we will be easily googling from our cell phones, portable devices and computers for years to come. I believe voice googling is just around the corner.

News from the blogosphere -- Chinese censorship

Some happenings in the Internet world in 2005 have me greatly concerned.

Did you know that MSN is censoring their new MSN China Portal in agreement with the Chinese government? Yes this was back in June, but it still bothers me.

The words and phrases blocked by Microsoft include "Taiwan independence," "Dalai Lama," "human rights," "freedom" and "democracy."

In a statement, lead MSN product manager Brooke Richardson said, "MSN abides by the laws, regulations and norms of each country in which it operates. The content posted on member spaces is the responsibility of individuals who are required to abide by MSN's code of conduct."

Now, Yahoo has helped track down a dissident journalist in China who will now spend 10 years in prison.

I am a believer in democracy and American business. I know that Yahoo and MSN state that they must comply with the laws in the countries in which they operate.

Bottom line, China is a repressive communist regime. It consistently imprisons and "reeducates" its citizens in ways that are agreeable to the government. It is an open secret that "about 30,000 people" are dedicated to policing China's "Great Firewall."

China's censorship is vast, and they are filtering many "objectionable items" out of China as well as seemlingly tracking some citizens queries to ferret out objectionable people.

With Yahoo, Microsoft, and yes Google "cooperating" extensively because they want to do business in China. I have to wonder.

I know that choices have to be made as many of the Internet businesses want to be the leaders in their fields and move to worldwide brands. However, China has a history of emulation and providing things more cheaply (just look at the automotive knockoffs they generate in plants located near American manufacturing plants.)

We as American's are participating in the repression and rape of the Chinese people. These people have no choice but to work for nothing and our businesses take advantage of it so that we can have $3 toaster's at Wal-Mart.

I do not hate the Chinese people -- I feel for them greatly as they are taken advantage of by such a terrible government. I dislike the Chinese government for what they are doing.

I also am ashamed that our American businesses are participating in such un-American behavior all for the almighty dollar. When the wall that separated Berlin fell, we cheered. With such ingrained alliances with the Chinese regime, I have a feeling many American businesses would rather it stay in place than evolve to a democracy.

I take issue with what is happening to dissidents in China. Thousands upon thousands of baby girls are killed in china (they have dying rooms at state run orphanages.) People are tortured, reeducated, and killed in china by the tens of thousands. An the world is more up at arms that there "might be" a terrorist prison run by the CIA in Europe.

There is something wrong with this picture.

I have to wonder if such alliances between Big American companies had existed prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, our own American countrymen would have helped reinforce the wall splitting Germany in half.

Indeed, that is what American companies are doing now -- reinforcing the Chinese firewall.

I think these countries should learn from Woodrow Wilson:

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.

Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924)

New add ons for your gadgets.

I love gadgets! I particularly love gadgets that don't cost a lot but add functionality to the one's you have. I've profiled several add ons that you may want to get. All of these are less than $20.

1) An FM transmitter.

This lets you take your music from your laptop, iPod, Palm, mp3 player, or computer and transmit it over radio waves. You can then use any radio tuner in your house or car to listen to that music or movie.

Here are some cool ways to use this:

• If you have a laptop with a DVD player in it, put it in the car to watch movies on long trips and listen to the sound over your car stereo. (If you want it for this, you may want one that plugs into your cig adapter.)
• Listen to your favorite music in the kitchen from your computer in the office.
• Watch a movie in your room on your computer with surround sound from that great stereo.
• Play MP3's on your old stereo system with the great speakers by transmitting to the radio tuner.

You will have to tweak it a little. I bought mine at Wal-Mart but here is a FM Transmitter at Amazon if you like to order online (it is a little more expensive - I found mine at Wal-Mart for $19.95.) Anyone receiving a laptop or MP3 player for Christmas needs this!

2) A Car Chargers for your electronic device

This allows you to charge your laptop, mp3 player, pda, palm, anything on the go. Do not order the one from the company that makes your product unless you want to pay a premium. Get the cheapo one at WalMart or this one from Amazon.

This is a must if you want to watch movies on your laptop in the car! That laptop won't make it over an hour or so. It is also great for those of you who take digital cameras on trips -- you can charge your battery for your camera on the go!

3) Extra Memory Card

NOw, this one item may cost a little more depending on how much memory you want. Computers aren't always handy to download things -- you'll be happy if you have an extra SD card or flash card or whatever type you have. Again, walmart has cheapies!

4) Rechargable batteriess -

This is an absolute must! You will simply go broke with all of the electronics around! RAdio Shack has some great recharging stations. It is also very environmentally friendly. Here are some online stations.

5) USB Flash Drives

This is a must! The students I teach who lose floppies always lose their data. I've yet to determine if it is the cheap floppies, the state of the lockers, or some sort of mega magnetic force generated by all of the magnetic devices in their lockers but floppies aren't reliable.

I like the memory keys that go on keychains. Everyone should have one, no exceptions. It is simply the way to get data, backup data, etc. IF it is with you all of the time it provides a perfect backup for mission critical items such as your financial software.

Merry Christmas!

Learn something new: Sign up for the blogging class!

I've been getting e-mails over the past couple of weeks and seem to have quite a bit of interest in a class.

I'm discussing the possibility of a class in Camilla in the next month that would cover the topic of blogging. You would create a blog of your own (using the free blogger system) and I would teach you the basics. It will be a 2 hour class.

I'm working on the structure of the class now. If you are interested, please send me an e-mail. I can have 19 people in the class. It will cost $35 per person. You will have materials you can take home.

Read about why you should have a blog and sign up!

Online Word Processor saves time and money

There are so many new web aps that I have on my list to try over the break, that I doubt I will get them all. Web aps are the hallmark of the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

Today I am composing on a cool new web app called writely.com . This is an online word processor with all of the basics that most businesspeople would need. This is different from wikipages in that you can keep things confidential and still invite collaborators. You can keep wikipages private but this web app allows you to import and export from Word. The only person needing word is the final person to work on the document. Everyone else can just use writely. (Save on software!)

This is a must use for bloggers. Microsoft Office has several glitches that cause all of us who blog to have to use other word processors. By using writely, I can copy and paste directly into my blog without a hitch. Yeah!

To start, just log onto writely.com and create an account. You can then create and edit documents. You can even collaborate with other people at your office if it is a group project. The difference here between this and a wikipage is that writely is a word processor.

Until the produce the final word document, they can edit from any computer where they can log onto writely.com. This is a great advantage for folks and provides them with portability. (Just remember, I suggest you never enter your username and password for anything in public internet cafes -- they are a haven for hackers!)

Another great feature is the ability to directly produce Adobe PDF files from writely -- something you cannot do with Word.

So much for lugging those bothersome floppy disks that always give out. Do your research from home or the office. Login to writely and add your changes and be done.

Very impressive! Let me know your favorite web apps. This has got to be killing the folks at Microsoft.

Recent Reviews:

• John C. Dvorak
• TechCrunch
• USA Today - Great article that explains what all of this is about!

Other cool web aps to try:

• NumSum - Online spreadsheet
• gOffice - Online office suite
• Zimbra - E-mail and Outlook replacement
• RSSCalendar - I love this calendaring program. I've written about how easy it is to integrate with your website.
• Backpack - Great for competitive analysis, sharing lists
• Wikispaces -Blogged about this tool also.

Take some time to "play" with some of these new apps. A business that isn't collaborating is missing out on efficiency and increased competitiveness.

Here, robot robot -- make my business more efficient!

There was a great article in this month's Reader's Digest about robotics making our lives easier. Many of the items were far fetched like the rubber sink, the robot that attaches to your wall and mops your floor while you sleep. I'm sure they'll be there but they are not currently meaningful.

I want to tell you about one item that I have seen work and I believe can begin to save businesses on janitorial fees. There are two janitorial essentials businesses need -- continual vacuuming and continual trash dumping. Trash dumping -- that can happen during the day without bothering workflow. Vacuuming -- now that is another story.

We have an incredibly large 3,100 square foot concrete floor facility at my father's farm. To sweep and resweep -- it took forever and we really just felt like we were pushing the dirt around.

That was until he got a roomba by a company chillingly named iRobot (Will Smith had a movie by this name.) This little baby moves around the floor quietly and gets up the dirt. When we leave, we make sure we put the countless dining chairs up on the table (the more clear area the better) and the floor stays spotless. With seven grandchildren and a dog -- that is amazing.

Now, how can this apply to your business? Well, how about having daily trash pickup handled by someone in your office, easy enough. Try a Roomba and move it to a different room nightly -- or for that matter get a one for the large rooms. Set it to vacuum at night. When it is "tired" a/k/a batteries are running low -- it returns to the docking station for a new charge.

This is definitely one item on my wish list. I think it has a business application and not just one for tired housewives. I'd like to see an industrial version that moves itself from room to room and uses GPS.

Currently for less than $300 you can get one of these. I believe we will continue to see rote routine jobs such as these supplanted by robotic devices with increasing frequency over the next several years. They have just announced the Scooba for linoleum flooring that is just coming to market.

I am dissappointed that they don't have a more commercial offering for carpet cleaning as I think that is where real potential lies, but until then, smaller home offices and high traffic offices with secure information make great locations for the roomba.

Now that is a bright idea!

Buying information: