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December 25, 2009
 

8 Killer cloud apps you can't live without!

A while back, I subscribed to the idea of The Cloud, cloud computing and living a digital nomadic lifestyle. Well, like you I subscribed to many web2.0 services - some really didn't serve my purpose (despite being cool ideas) and some... well they just couldn't get my attention and so I just unsubscribed form their spamming/mailing list!

Here's the result of what's left in my bookmarks...

Let me just take a minute to explain why I use these services:
It's pretty clear that Gmail is the killer app, my digital nervous system (and with the overload of email, I'm having a nervous breakdown!!) All in all, its the central hub now, I use it for blogging, contact management, chat and other linked services such as calendar, docs, reader. (Willing to pay.)


37 signals rocks! The software is simple to use, well thought out. They're not cheap. But there never was such a thing as a free lunch! I use the Highrise web app to stay in touch with my network, as a deal maker - their cases and deals feature has really helped me! (Paid.)


Easy. That's the single word that describes how blogging should be. Ever since I started experimenting with them - I'm lov'in it! I went to the extent of setting up this site / blog / lifestream to replace my old blog. (Hope you're enjoying it!) Features like posting from email (in my case Gmail), the Posterous bookmarklet to share clippings from the web, the ability to just attach photos and have a gallery - and on top of all this, post to various other web 2.0 for sharing. (Willing to pay.)


Twitter is a great communication tool. However, it becomes just a broadcasting tool once you cross over 100 followers. Today, I use twitter, to shout to the world - share with them great stuff (through url shortners). Some live and die by twitter. But to me its Instant Messaging broadcasting!


Ever since my Mac's hard disk crashed (yes, Mac's do have that problem - occasionally) - I learnt a lesson. Backup. Backup. Backup. But it's a nuisance to do this every day, with Dropbox - everything is synced in the background - and they're fast! (yes, there's a difference between backup and sync). (Willing to pay.)


I recently joined Evernote because of their Blackberry app. It's like your online virtual mind. Whatever you see or want to remember, just clip it to Evernote - it organizes and you can even searches images (OCR) for a particular text. Great potential. (Paid.)


This is one thing Yahoo got right! I upload all my pictures here for backup. But I'm now questioning the usage of this, particularly when Dropbox almost does the same thing (showing picture galleries, albeit with much lesser functionality - but hey, do you really need that many functions? where's the time!?). (Paid.)


I kept this last, because I'm getting pissed by their copyright protection. Always tagging things are copyright protected, banning IP addresses. Nevertheless, its a promising company that uses a special e-paper technology (almost like PDF). Posterous uses them. I use them.

Yes I do use facebook, orkut and linkedin - but that's for a later discussion.

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Filed under  //   37signals   apps   cloud   dropbox   evernote   flickr   gmail   posterous   scribd   twitter   web-based  

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September 11, 2009
 

Setting up a virtual business

Setting up a virtual business is no easy task. The cost of doing so may be little, but there is a lot of effort to it. This is exactly how I plan to operate AVCION Capital - as a virtual business. And for that, all the information, files, documents - soft IP will have to be protected. If I were a consultant - this is of more importance than anything, as that is my leverage tool. Here are a few things I've learnt along the way, and I thought I'd share them with you...

Keep ALL files in one single location & backup regularly - If you work on two different computers, you will most likely have two copies of a document. Avoid this, either by syncing or using only one computer - and backing up to the cloud, or some secure location (frequently). By using only one computer, you only have to worry about backing up. By using two or more, you need to worry about syncing all files. My solution to this is DropBox (they have apps to install on Windows/Mac as well as a web-based interface, in case you cant install - use the DropBox Portable).

Keep Your Business & Personal Files Separate - If you're running a virtual operation, you need to keep your files in separate folders. You dont want to accidentally provide access to your business files only to share the wrong personal diary! It's healthy.

Email - I could write a entire book on Gmail and the use of email. It serves as a record, database, knowledge, blogging platform, chat, collaboration. No other software has such great features (yet). Add to this the integration with Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Tasks and Google Chat - and you have a killer communication platform. Go for Google Apps for Domains - this way, you can user your own domain / website to manage your entire virtual enterprise.

Use Tag/Label, Filter, Shortcuts in Gmail - a big time saver for organizing your emails, enabling them to be searched faster, tracking conversations threads.

Blog - I've learnt one important thing from blogging and that is expression of thought. Depending on the field of your specialization, I can only suggest having a blog. I use Posterous for lifestreaming (faster blogging). I use WordPress to create a private membership site - that publishes everything regarding my operations, track record, newsletter, updates, alerts etc to my members/clients/partners. You can have a mix of both.

Aggregate - I gather information, bookmark and research stuff using Google Reader (by subscribing to an interesting site's rss - you create a database aka archive that can be searched later on). I use a private site on Posterous to gather information using their bookmarklet. I also use Gmail+toread.cc again to keep a copy of any full webpage that I want to visit or read about later (this again, is being replace by Posterous). In the past I used to send copies of pdf,zips,docs, etc to Gmail - using it as a backup option, now DropBox takes this care of this - I just wish DropBox had an email to feature (like Drop.io)

Share - I distribute information/links on Twitter now. If I see something interesting, a bookmarklet - allows me to share the site as a shortened URL with a short comment. The short message gets distributed to those who follow me (targetted broadcasting i.e. narrowcasting), whilst also appearing on a public domain (twitter site) - means if anyone is searching for something - they can also see what i've shared. 

Bookmarks - I no longer use delicious, instead, bookmarks I like to revisit are stored locally, and synced using xmarks.com (addon for mac & pc). But since sites can go down in the future, I like to keep a copy of the text with me. Gmail+toread.cc / Posterous serves the purpose.

Network - with all the social media hype going on - I only found LinkedIn useful. I found it useful, because I know that people who at least update their profile - are serious about some kind of professional relationship. You can meet an interesting set of people. I just wish LinkedIn had a built in CRM feature (with Gmail Integration). Read Never Eat Alone. Dump Facebook.

Measure - Always measure whatever you do. There's a saying by famous Management Guru Peter Drucker - if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

Accounting - which is based on the above point. Gotta keep those books uptodate - use Xero.com - a New Zealand based group, offering web-based accounting. Good enough for now. (I needn't say this, but get a good accountant! Luckily, I work with some great guys in my bank - who are willing to help me keep the books!)

This is just the "start"... let me know what you'd like me to cover.

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Filed under  //   accounts   avcion   blogging   bookmarks   business   cloud   email   gmail   lean   less   lessons   network   process   share   startup   virtual  

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March 9, 2009
 

Unifying Cloud and Web 2.0

A while back, I tried to figure out Posterous' autoposting feature. There wasn't really much to figure out... it was "Dead Simple". However, I'd like to elaborate how I've set things up, to share information/knowledge/wisdom/stuff.

I recently registered jpm.cc as my blogging hub. Now, I also like Facebook, Delicious, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, GoogleReader - for social sharing and Posterous is a funny little thing that makes blogging fun again. It integrates quite well with the above (ok, not delicious). So I'm short of time, and I really want to continue sharing, creating, evolving knowledge...

I've also implemented a lifestream at jpm.cc/river incase you're interested in what's happening with my cloud/digital living...

I hate having to load up my wordpress dashboard, just to make a post. I'd rather email. Dead Simple huh! In comes Posterous. But I like to host the information on my blog (ok, images and media are something else)... and Posterous' autopost feature makes this easy.

You have a choice of posting options, just by changing the email id... blog@posterous... posterous@posterous... post@posterous... twitter@posterous... etc. to autopost to certain sites.

Basically, I wanted to use Posterous to handle images, html etc - thus avoiding the need to load up WordPress. I also wanted updates/links to the latest posts via Twitter, Flickr, Facebook - all taken care of. Dead Simple.

(So, if this appears on my blog jpm.cc - I know something is wrong. I tried blog@posterous... to post directly, that didn't work. So I'm testing this with posterous@posterous... which is supposed to post only to Posterous!)


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Filed under  //   autopost   cloud   email   flickr   posterous   twitter   wordpress  

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February 13, 2009
 

Gmail Offline

As part of living in the cloud series, and my experiments with it. I used the latest Gmail offline lab feature to experiment with having a version of my mail accessible offline. Its cool! Unlike the fortunate few who are trying to live in the cloud with high bandwidth connections like 8mb or 15mb (which I might consider if things get affordable in Bahrain).. I'm stuck with a decent yet unreliable shared internet connection - shared with around 50 or so flats in my building.

Now this is the irony, I'm trying to live in the cloud - yet i dont have a decent internet connection. Thinking about it, what if you were really disconnected from the wired web!? What would you do? How have you simplified life? Have you brought in minimalism to make ur life easier? Last year, when my Macbook crashed - and I lost precious kodak moment photos (no I forget to back up on flickr!) I thought my entire life was wiped away...

My lesson... DO NOT to rely on technology so much. Any day Google can fall, would you be ready then? When you outsource a major amount of your digital life to companies like google, flickr, dropbox, sugarsync, amazon, (or even posterous) - you run the risk of losing things. Though the risk is very minimal - nothing is permanent in life.

So take it easy. There's a real life beyond the cloud.

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Filed under  //   cloud   gmail  

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January 10, 2009
 

Going Online and Staying There

From the page Going Online and Staying There:

Going Online and Staying There

However, this masks a steep increase in the past few years in the proportion of people who spend a significant amount of time online  

Jan 5, 2009

-By Mark Dolliver, Adweek


With so many Americans already using the Internet, we're past the point of seeing massive increases in the percentage of the population that's wired. However, this masks a steep increase in the past few years in the proportion of people who spend a significant amount of time online.

In a Gallup poll of adults released last week (based on polling fielded in December), 48 percent of respondents said they spend more than an hour a day using the Internet. That's up from 43 percent saying the same the previous year and from 33 percent saying so as recently as 2005.

Just in the past year, there have been significant increases in more-than-an-hour-a-day Internet use by people with income under $30,000 (from 22 percent to 32 percent), unmarried people (from 38 percent to 48 percent), 18-29-year-olds (from 50 percent to 62 percent) and people with a post-graduate education (from 56 percent to 68 percent). Though Americans in the 65-plus age bracket still lag behind younger age cohorts in heavy Internet usage, the number saying they're online more than an hour a day rose briskly, from 14 percent to 23 percent.

Cutting against the generally upward trend were downticks among respondents with income of $75,000-plus (from 65 percent to 63 percent) and 30-49-year-olds (from 56 percent to 54 percent). More surprising was a statistically significant downturn among college graduates (from 56 percent to 51 percent).

There was also a notable gender gap in the findings: While the number of men using the Internet more than an hour a day rose from 44 percent to 53 percent, the number of women doing so was essentially flat (41 percent in December 2007, 42 percent in December 2008).

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Filed under  //   cloud   online   statistics  

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January 7, 2009
 

Cloud Storage - SugarSync vs DropBox vs Evernote

In my cloud computing experiments, I started with offline data storage. Privacy & security issues aside - I thought I'd touch upon three services that you might find interesting. My experiment started with Jungle Disk, which I later dropped after finding it more techy.

Then the three contenders that I still continue to think about are:

The last one is a bit more unique. However, let's go for the first - SugarSync. I'm currently using this as paid service. The service plans seemed reasonable, so I hopped on board - the most important thing for me was 1) a backup, 2) the ability to access the files while I'm away from my laptop - ideally online at office or some other place. 3) the ability to share files or send them to anyone with an email id and 4) the ability to sync with another laptop, ideally my own or my wifes.

SugarSync survived all these. The only issue I had was with Mac Bundles, not really sure if that's solved. But most of my files, are pdf, text, excel (windows) or a few doc files - which they have no problem with. The first sync took ALOT of time, nearly 2 days, for 2 Gb... that's because they control the upload so you dont notice any difference in speed for browsing and using the other programs.

DropBox, the second and latest contender, I first heard about this but couldnt get an invite. Now I have an account - and I must say I'm pretty impressed. So here's the review cut short - fast web-based access, using ajax max (not like sugarsync, which is image heavy), the desktop app is invisible i.e. forms part of your system folder (sugarsync has to sit in your MacOSX dock - which is annoying), supports delta sync (only necessary sync in English). 2GB free and new plans on the way other than 50GB (i only require less than 2Gb for essential stuff, my pictures are handled by Flickr). I've just uploaded 1.16Gb of files (I didnt want to wait as long as SugarSync so I tried with a smaller bite of 72mb first and that was FAST!) and 1.16Gb will take roughly 1 hour at an average upload speed of 65 - 75 - 90 KB/sec range - according to the current progress bar! (Far better than 2 days). This does heat up my MacBook Air quite a bit - but hey, it will be for a short while.

The next is Evernote, heard of them - never got around to trying it out. Sorry, the only thing I found unique in this was the OCR technology. Good, but the 500mb upload limit per month was not good for starters. Furthermore, I really dont need OCR and indexing. Maybe be good for others, I like the fact they had integrated with EyeFi (which I use for my digital camera) and Skitch. Lots of potential, but as you can see from above - my needs were different. This doesnt mean I wont experiment with Evernote, I certainly will - when I have the time!

Hope you enjoyed this quick review, share your thoughts, experiences, and reviews here. For more serious stuff on VC/PE/Investments, remember to visit my blog at http://www.jpmartin.com/ (sign up for an email while ur there!)

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Filed under  //   cloud   reviews   storage  

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January 6, 2009
 

Living In THE CLOUD

Cloud computing has become a hot term these days, with the onslaught of NetBooks - people are accepting the concept of Information/Software/Apps as a Service (SAAS, IAAS, AAS). I've been talking about this for a long time, actually it was Larry Elison of Oracle who talked about this first - he used the term, Dumb Terminals. Bill Gates certainly rubbed it off. But today, If we have enough computing power and bandwidth - we can easily live the Cloud Lifestyle.

I've recently purchased the MacBook Air (after switching a year ago to Mac) - and I'm reorganizing my life around this. This means simplifying a lot of things. Chucking out apps that I don't need, reorganizing my desktop (real one). Decluttering and eliminating stuff, applications, subscriptions etc is essential to this.

Furthermore, I'm also learning alot from experts like Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion.com and building my own knowledgebase of cloud computing, living a nomadic life (at avcion.pbwiki.com). One thing I've learn from my previous consulting profession, was that you should be very familiar with your tools if you really want to use them efficiently.


To end this, I'm adding a photo on Steve Jobs, yes life was simpler - it still can be!:

CAPTION FOR PHOTO
"This was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and that's what I had."..... Steve Jobs.
Photo credit: Diana Walker

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Filed under  //   cloud   digital   knowledgebase   macbook   simple  

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