The Churchill Clubs has a neat 1.5 hour video focusing on “what it takes to build a successful startup”. It’s moderated by Guy Kawasaki, one of the original Apple Computer employees responsible for marketing of the Macintosh in 1984, is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

The others in the panel are leaders in new/successful web 2.0 companies:

• Lauren Elliott, Founder, Personal News Network
• Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder and CEO, LinkedIn
• Joe Kraus, Co-Founder and CEO, JotSpot
• Daniel Mattes, Co-Founder and CTO, Jajah
• Alex Welch, Co-Founder and CEO, Photobucket

      

I know… I know… it’s been over a month and everyone has stopped reading this. But, I’ve been working really hard on a new project! And we’ve just released it! The project is FORECLOSEDmaps.com.

FORECLOSEDmaps.com scrapes a bunch of web site finding foreclosed properties and stores it in our database. Then, we tie the properties into Yahoo! Maps. This allows you to see a big picture of ALL the foreclosures in central Arkansas.

Investors are then show flags for each property in foreclosure. If they click on the flag, they can see details about the property including address, owner information, lender information, estimated auction price, contact information, etc.

The big idea is that investors can make a more informed decision if you present them information that is easily comprehended. There are over 190 foreclosures in Pulaski County… There is no way you can comprehend all 190+ properties… unless you are using FORECLOSEDmaps.com.

      

A few months ago I spoke about wikis. A wiki is a concept or online collaboration model that allows any user to edit some content of webpages through a simple browser.

That means that we should be move past the idea of static text. We should move into wiki database information, wiki graphics, or wiki music. Why can’t a bank take advantage of the wiki concept. What if the users could help develop the Frequently Asked Questions. Wouldn’t that make more sense than a “technical writer”?

I know… a lot of these don’t make a lot of sense but my point is that, “wiki is a concept not a product.” You can make anything you want a wiki. The idea is online collaboration between a large group of people.

      

Microsoft just released SSE, an extention to RSS format. Currently, RSS is like a one-way radio. RSS can push data to your reader but you can’t push items back to the reader. That means, that, you can read my blog using bloglines.com but you cannot send information to my blog.

SSE will allow two-way communication. It’s being written as a “revolutionary” format. Althought I never like hearing about things being “revolutionary”, I like the idea of SSE. I’ve only read of people talking about community calendars. But I like the idea of “online conversations”. If 20 or 30 people are interested in the same thing, they can discuss it through their blogs. The SSE format would allow them to have a large discussion. Uh oh… I feel a new buzzword coming on… How about “ConverLog”.

Check out a good post on SSE

Also, check out a Microsofts Web Site About SSE.

Because it is so new, If you can create a useful application based around SSE, I’m sure you would get many reviews and immediate fame. Good luck.

      

I found this article that speaks about why companies should use wiki. I think it’s interesting because I recently wrote an article on Wiki for What.

If you’re interested, take a look at this article. It states Kodak, Cingular, Disney, Motorola, and SAP are also among the notable companies with wiki success stories.

      

Mainly… Tabbed Viewing

      

Yes, I hate fiction books. They’re entertaining but they are a complete waste of time. When I get done reading for an hour, I feel like I should have been doing something more productive. It’s the same reason I hate video games, movies, and television. I can get captured by them for days and not get a single thing accomplished.

With that said, I’ve been addicted to a fictional blook. Yes, that’s spelled correctly, it’s a blook. It’s the idea of a blog and each week a new episode is released. And yes, its an episode. It’s the first time that written stories have been able to apply the same type of “cliff hangers” that “24” captures. After each week you’re wondering what’s going to happen next. It’s well written and actually teaches a lot about the process of a technology company in the midst of going public during the dot-com boom.

Hey… it’s free! It will go to press soon and you can pre-order a signed copy.

WHY CAN’T I STOP READING THIS BLOOK!

      

Tim O’Reilly has been a trend spotter for many years. His accomplishments range from have a Technical Writing Empire, investments in del.icio.us, creation of arguably the first portal (Global Network Navigator), and lists of other accomplishments. The most successful recent venture is a wonderfully retro idea: Make, a quarterly print magazine in the spirit of Boy Scout DIY projects. The first issue, published in February, had articles on doing aerial photography with kites, making your own videocam stabilizer, and building a machine to read the magnetic stripes on credit cards. O’Reilly believes that the urge to hack stuff is “more common than we thought.” And it dovetails perfectly with the participation-based Internet he extols. The magazine has already exceeded his goal of 30,000 subscribers. He’s created a “Make Your Own Collegiate Text Book” site where universities can add chapters from different publishers including O’Reilly, Addison-Wesley Professional, Peachpit Press, New Riders, Prentice-Hall PTR, Sams, Que, Cisco Press, Sun Microsystems, and may more.

A great article was just posted in Wired about Tom O’Reilly

If you are interested in reading about the latest trends, keep your eye on Digg, slashdot, and del.icio.us/popular. Or just try a new site that incorporates all three of those sites in one location, http://diggdot.us/.

      

Google just released Google Base. Google Base is a place where you can add all types of information that they’ll host and make searchable online. Some of the major media outlets are blowing it up to be a lot more than it is. Many people are eagerly waiting the fierce competition between Google Base and eBay.

Examples of items you can find in Google Base:

• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures

From what we’ve seen so far, it’s far from competition for anybody. It currently seems to have an easy interface to post information and its free. But, other than that, it doesn’t seem to be scoring well with anyone.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/11/15/google-base-launched-yuck/

http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2005/11/google_analytic.html

Michael Arrington says this on CrunchNotes this morning:

Google Base has a lot of problems. The big one for me is that is another centralized content play, when all of the really interesting content is created at the edge. Jeff points out some other issues with Base, including the fact that the data is not only centralized but there is no API for non-Google search engines to access the data.

I’m assuming that Google Base (like all other Google applications) are taking on the Agile Development Process and they’ll solve the API issue. But, they’re still far from being “competition” for eBay. Here is a list of things I don’t like:

1. I don’t really know why I would use this site.
2. Google’s purpose is to manage all the information… this site only adds to the mess
3. When I search for products, I get a bunch of junk. Drill-downs are non-existent and I’m not sure how its organized
4. I have to upload my information to Google. Can’t someone just request the information from me and allow me to store it on my machine?

Google Base by itself is nothing but, due to Google’s size and other products (Google Wallet, Google, Froogle), this could evolve into a sweet little package. All they have to do is scrap what they have and start over.

      

I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems that the feed reading market is very fragmented. I know… I know… ANY market that has easy entry (almost all technology markets are easy to enter) and not a big player will easily become fragmented.

BUT… it’s just a little surprising because I know that RSS technology will… already has… changed our world.

ABC News - Nov. 10, 2005 — The votes are now in: Newspapers are officially dying.

Every news web site or blog is producing news instantly. News web sites have replaced nationwide press and blogs have replaced local and specialized press. Rather than waiting for your daily 10 o’clock news, you can have it instantly from your favorite web site. And since everyone has a unique perspective, you may want to visit MSNBC for your financial news, CNN for your nationwide news, and BBC for your world news. Now, you’d hate to have to visit all of these web sites… but you will. Feed readers allow you to read multiple feeds from one central location. It is instantly delivered… you don’t have to wait until 10 o’clock.

Technology is going through another rally and funding is getting easier to come by. Investors are taking on new challenges and innovation is sparking. I’m going to predict that within the next year, we’re going to see some IPO’s, mergers, and acquisitions. One feed reader will emerge as a leader.