iPhone vs. BlackBerry Curve

I’ve been coveting the iPhone 3G for it’s sleek interface, slim frame, fully functional browser and especially for visual voice mail. But I was also unwilling to stand in line for several hours to get one. I get why the thing is so cool but after realizing that the ability to get any mail easily pushed would not work (with out Apple’s “Mobile Me“) and the blissful business functionality that comes with the BlackBerry I’ve decided to stick with my Curve 8310 for now. I’ll probably switch eventually but I’ll give them time to work out more of the kinks.

To be sure, the iPhone interface kills anything else out there but the essential functionality for me is great email, messaging and a great phone, all of which the 8310 does with ease. I never thought that day would come when my need for reliable and practical (at least in a phone/PDA) would outstrip my need to feel cool!

The other downer about the I phone is expandability. I can drop a micro SD card into the 8310 to expand the memory but no such luck on the iPhone. And given the nominal cost of memory these days it bothers me that Apple charges such a premium for 16GB vs 8GB. I probably wouldn’t carry quite that much media on the device at onetime anyway but it really is the principal of the matter. I’ve already paid for Apple “coolness” when I chunk down $200 for the device, why should doubling the memory add $200? Of course they got it by selling millions of the things in the first weekend so I guess I’d take everyone’s money too but it seems to me to be a short sighted purchase by many consumers and a bit pompous on Apple’s part.

I may eventually get one because they are so damn cool but then again I might just want to see what those Google guys pull off with Android. I love disruptive technology and Google might just make the iPhone popularity a  short-lived event in it’s current form. Plus I like Google’s “Don’t be evil” philosophy, and I’ll bet I can add extra memory.

All of that said, this might have changed my mind. It’s WordPress for iPhone and as a big WordPress user this is a major turn on.

http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/21/mobile-bloggings-next-step-wordpress-for-the-iphone-about-to-launch/

lijit - Search Based On Your Content

lijit is a new search application designed for publishers, which, with the advent of applications like Twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc… we all are to some degree.

lijit enables you to add a search widget (er.. wijit) to your site or blog and return results based on your network of content. For example, if someone searched this site through the lijit search (very top right) for “Community Crush” (shameless plug I know, you might experiment with “Wordcamp” too and get a lot back) you would get results from all of my content sources (Facebook, twitter, this blog, Linkedin, stories I’ve dug, …). In another tab, you can see search results from my “network” or sites that I follow and/or trust. Of course you can get plain ol’ web results too or you can get results that are specific only to this site.

The idea is that it aggregates all of my content and trusted sources so you can find it in one place while still differentiating between my content (in the case of me) or content from my network.

It’s a clever idea and one which should do well. I’m going to continue testing it for a while but if all goes well I’ll remove the default search for this site and use only the lijit wijit.

I learned about lijit at WordCamp 2008 while talking to Aaron Brazel who is now working with lijit.

lijit has also secured $7.1M in Series C funding so they should be araound and doing well for sometime. I’m looking forward to seeing how this grows and evolves.

If you’re a WordPress user they also have a lijit search plugin with integrated statistics to replace the default WordPress search. I’ll be pluggin that in shortly. Note: ***This plug-in is only available for those WordPress users with versions 2.3-2.6.***

Do some lijit searches and let me know how it works for you.

Protecting Ideas and Intellectual Property

One of the most daunting aspects of starting any kind of business for most entrepreneurs is knowing how to protect their ideas and intellectual property. There is a tendency to be borderline paranoid with sharing even the most trivial aspects of your idea so the question becomes, “How do I find the balance between protecting my idea and providing enough information to the people I need to get feedback from?” In a cut-throat and highly litigious business environment there are no guarantees but there are a few basic rules that will help you find that balance:

1. ALWAYS use an NDA. An Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA, can be simple one page document that is signed by you and the party you are sharing information with about your idea or product which simply states that they agree not to disclose to any one else, or use for their own competitive benefit, any of the information you are sharing with them.If you don’t get an NDA and someone steals your idea, you may find your self in the difficult position of establishing who had the idea first, potentially sacrificing first-commer advantage in the market and it could cost you your business. Always keep unsigned NDA’s with you so you can quickly pull one out if the time is right to chat with someone. If they won’t sign it, don’t do business with them. If they want the NDA reviewed by their attorney before discussing your idea then respect that decision, it’s not an unreasonable thing for them to do, in fact, it shows that they are prudent. Note VC’s may decline to sign them so you’ll have to put faith in the fact that they are there to fund good ideas, not steal them, still, only deal with reputable VC’s and continue to use NDA’s with everyone else, including all business partners, angel investors and employees and contractors.

2. Keep the Rights. If you are enlisting help in building your idea or product, you should have a written agreement with them that any work they do for you and anything which results from that work is yours/your company’s, in addition to the NDA. Otherwise they may be a partner, not an employee or contractor and likely won’t be a partner you want.

3. File a provisional patent or utility application. The cost is far less than a traditional patent (about $200) and provides added protection by way of documentation and registration for 1 year. It’s not the complete protection some would like you believe it is and if you have that strong of an idea then you will still want to file for a complete patent but it is still a good tool to employ in protecting your idea. File within 1 year of any offer for sale, public use or public description (any printed medium including theInternet ) of your idea/product or you loose the right to file. If you really want to lock down your idea from prying eyes, you may be able to utilize a nonpublication request in conjunction with the utility application.

4. You own the copyright to anything you produce as soon as it is fixed to some medium but filing an inexpensive copyright so that it is now a registered copyright will provide added protection for things like written works, music, photographs, … and can often be done in collections.
IP is has quickly become one of the most valuable assets of any company or individual for that matter so protecting your IP is an essential step in running your business and should be viewed as such rather than something which can be put off, postponed or ignored all together.

As always, consult an attorney on these things to be sure you get the best advice for your situation though things like the NDA are pretty straight forward and easily deployed.

For more good info on copyrights and legally protecting your stuff the internet visit PlagiarismToday, the blog of Jonathan Bailey.

Free Business Ideas - Events

Even though I like to talk about ideas, generating them and turning them into profitable businesses, I tend to be a little tight lipped about my own specific ideas for obvious reasons. However, I have more ideas than I’ll ever have time to execute on so from time to time I come across ideas that I want to just throw out there for all to think about or execute on. I might eventually run with the idea too, then again I might not, but the point is that sometimes ideas are better shared, especially when you know (if you are honest with yourself) that you’ll never actually do it. If that’s the case, share it with someone, or everyone! Wouldn’t it be better to see our idea come to life than to sit on it and have it never go anywhere. Karma doesn’t get much better than giving someone an idea that makes them millions or just helps them to create a business that is fun and successful enough to provide them the freedom we would all love to have.

Recently I read an article about Sheldon Adelson who started the Comdex tradeshow and then sold it to Japan’s Softbank for $862M. For whatever reason, I had never thought about an “event” as a business but apparently it’s big business for the people who put it on, not just those who are there promoting products and services.

So why not turn any event into a business opportunity. Odds are you have been to a big event of some sort, somewhere and thought your hometown could use this, or a better job could be done of the event you went to.

Events might include:
- Film Festivals
- Food and Dining Festivals
- Seasonal Celebrations
- Holiday Events
- Trade Shows (don’t forget to target a niche’)
- Charity Fundraisers

You’ll need a couple of things to make this work, namely you need to be a detail oriented person and you must know how to delegate. Event planning is time consuming and is often more complex than it looks. In fact, a well planned event looks smooth and easy to the attendees even when it is anything but behind the scenes.

Ways to monetize: Sponsors, sell space, charge admission, sell advertising, upsell “special” parts of the event (and probably a host of others I’ve never thought of).

Got ideas for making money on an event? Share them with us in the comments….
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Alternatives to Help Lower the Cost Of Starting Up

Like many entrepreneurs, I have in the past made the mistake of racking up expenses before I was actually executing my business because I thought I needed those things in order to make my business work. It takes money to make money right? Well, that old saying is really only true in it’s literal interpretation. It will cost you money to incorporate, host your website, … but there are many areas where spending has become less necessary than in the past.

Communications:
Mobile phone plans are cheaper than ever and many include long distance, data and other services. Some will even give you access to wifi hotspots. I personally have not had a home phone since 1998, long before most people gave them up for only having cell phones. After the first six months of that year I realized I never used it and was spending $50-60 a month for nothing. Ditch it if you can, but if you really need a separate line, go with a VoIP service provider like Vonage.

Cable, Fiber or DSL? Whatever you chose, you’ll need net access. If you can get fiber great but unless you are in a bandwidth intensive biz, you probably don’t need it right now. Cable is better than DSL in my opinion but if you opt for DSL, don’t let the phone company convince you that you have to have an active landline for it to work, you don’t (I used to work in Telecom and know better and now you do too). You need wires there yes, but not landline service.

Technology:
Microsoft Office is a great suite of tools but it’s not necessary. Open Office or just using Google Docs can be a great alternative and both are free. I haven’t used Open Office in a while but the only down side to using Google Docs will become obvious if you do really heavy spreadsheets with lots of drop-down lists, pivot tables and other dynamic functionality. If you don’t, and that is 99% of you, then Google or Open Office are a great way to save hundreds of dollars and not worry about loosing data if your computer crashes.

Need an extra computer, consider installing Ubuntu in stead of Windows. it’s the most user friendly Linux version ever and if the majority of use for that computer happens through a web browser, all the better, it’s fast, secure and free.

Here are a few other ideas for you:
1) Buy new technology or other assets when you need them, not in advance because you expect you’ll need them later.

2) Be prepared to trade services with people when you can but expect that some will still simply want to be paid for their work and eventually you’ll want the trade thing to all but go away. still, in the early stages it can save money and you might build a great partnership.

3) Shop around, for everything.

4) Don’t go cheap on things you really need or that are core to you doing business. Spend where you need to, not where you don’t.

Starting a business is fun but expenses can run away if you aren’t careful and that first big bill will show up before the first revenue and strip the fun out if it very quickly. Starting a business isn’t an excuse to go on a shopping spree just because you can write some or all of it off.

37 Google AdWords Secrets

Building a business is tough business, even in the on-line world. Unfortunately, as we are looking for resources to help us learn how to grow our businesses on-line, we are faced with an overwhelming number of options and it can be difficult to tell the good from the bad. As a part of the “Net Generation,” actively online since about 1994 (but partially on-line since 1990), I have seen a lot of “Net” things come and go. The internet has lowered some barriers to entry for entrepreneurs but also created new learning challenges requiring new skills to remain competitive. I am still learning everyday and have yet to feel even the slightest degree of complacency with it.

One of the common learning challenges to internet-entrepreneurs is that of on-line advertising. In particular, the now ubiquitous pay-per-click (PPC) advertising such as that which Google has popularized is flooded with competition and pitfalls. There are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of publications, e-books, websites and other sources which promise to teach you how PPC works. My experience so far has been that some of those resources are useful and some are total junk often set up only to sell you something. So be careful! I read all of these publications with a healthy degree of skepticism but occasionally find some that are useful and worthwhile.

You can easily spend a lot of money on useless information but you can spend even more on your PPC advertising without getting much if anything in return if you don’t know what you are doing. The point is that PPC works, and we need to learn how to make it work for us, but it isn’t as simple as putting up and ad and “they will buy” any more than you can just put up a site and expect a million visitors to find it. Advertise without direction and watch your wallet shrink, do it right and watch it grow. It’s like anything else, constant learning and applying yourself will pay off.

So how do we learn from good resources while avoiding the pitfalls of the bad? The simple answer is do your research. In my continued pursuit to bring to you tools and information that are worthwhile I’ll mention the first of the PPC e-books I’ve found that have been well worth the cost. I’ll preface the rest of this by telling you that I have actually been using the suggestions in this book and it has kept it’s promises. “37 AdWords Secrets” by Roger Hall is a collection of (surprise) 37 techniques for improving your Google AdWords performance. Roger is a Google Certified AdWords Professional and his e-book sells for $37 or about $1 per “secret.” I have been using the techniques in Roger’s book for over a month and have seen the performance of my own AdWords campaigns improve making the book a bargain at that price. Whether you are selling your own stuff or an affiliate marketer selling someone else’s product, this book will easily pay for itself. When you buy there are also several follow on bonuses that will come after your purchase which are also quite useful (and free). If you want to try before you buy there is a “5 Secrets” primer which is free and can be found here. If you would like to purchase the full 37 Secrets you can click on the link inside the free “5 Secrets” e-book or download it here.

You don’t have to go alone. There are more tools to come but if you do ANY on-line advertising, 37 AdWords Secrets is a great place to start.