This week I had the pleasure of telling my story as an entrepreneur to a class at Atlantic Baptist University here in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. The instructor and her husband are friends who also happen to own my favourite summertime ice cream destination (Ava’s Ice Cream). Afterward we were chatting about how to use the Internet in hyperlocal cases… Read more →
The Recurring Vendor No-Love-Fest
Have you ever dialed *611 (or some equivalent number) on your mobile phone to reach your mobile provider? Have you then been asked to enter your phone number? Don’t they already know that? Last week I was in Las Vegas for the seriously awesome MIX 2009 conference. Since I am from Canada, I went to the self-service site for my… Read more →
The Usability of No Results
Have you heard the expression "URLs are dead"? Web users don’t remember URLs anymore. We search for what we need. This is a boon for Google, Microsoft (Live), Yahoo, et al because they can sell advertising space beside the search results. Unfortunately the state of search on individual sites isn’t quite as evolved as the highly tuned general-purpose search engines.… Read more →
Starbucks Survivor
Lovin’ this commercial today: (Hat tip to Gair Maxwell) Read more →
The Netbook Resolution Conundrum
I just had my first conversation about accommodating netbook screen resolutions for a RIA (Rich Internet Application) prototype. Netbooks are those little laptops showing up in every electronics store on the planet (e.g., Lenovo IdeaPad, Asus Eee PC, Acer Aspire One, Dell Mini, HP Mini). According to The Channel Wire, the "netbook market grew by more than 160 percent quarter-on-quarter… Read more →
Rejoice: You Cannot Implement All Your Ideas
Every year we are bombarded with pilot episodes of new television shows. Comedies, dramas, dramedies, game shows, and the cultural embarrassment we call reality TV. I normally watch a lot less television than the average person [1], but I do have a handful of favorite shows. Near the top of the list is Scrubs, which I have really missed this… Read more →
For Inexperienced Job Seekers
Read Exploding Offer Season by Joel Spolsky. Some good tips for students seeking summer jobs / internships or even just inexperienced job seekers. Read more →
Pay Your Power Bill in Spider Drawings
For your Friday afternoon entertainment: I hope this is true. I really do. From: David Thorne Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.37pm To: Jane Gilles Subject: Re: Overdue account Dear Jane, I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles… Read more →
No Forced Entry with Keys Made from Photos!
Researchers have successfully cut keys from digital photos. Using a digital image of a key from almost any angle, Sneakey measures the depth of each cut, strings together this information and spits out a bitting code – typically a five or six digit number – that locksmiths use to make each cut on a blank key. The bitting code, along… Read more →
Google Flu Trends
This makes total sense once you hear about it: Google has determined that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. So Google can use search term data to predict flu outbreaks. That’s cool and yet another creepy indicator of the scary amount of access Google has to trends in human behaviour. http://www.google.org/flutrends/ The closest state to me is… Read more →