Clipmarks | rmowery's BusinessDevelopment collection

Yahoo! Pipes and The Web as a Database

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 03:23:04 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Written by Alex Iskold and edited by Richard MacManus. In this post Alex tests out and explores the emergent world of Yahoo! Pipes. He sees some interesting parallels with Relational Databases in the 90's, concluding that with pipes, the Web essentially becomes a giant database that can be queried and remixed in any number of ways.

One of the central concepts in Complex Systems is Emergence. It is this automagical process through which elements of a system give rise to a higher order system. Emergence is how physics becomes chemistry and chemistry becomes biology. It is how web 1.0 evolved into web 2.0, and how that, in turn, will become the next web.

While the exact mechanics of emergence is complicated and far from being completely understood, scientists know that a new system emerges as a combination of its elements and their interactions. In other words, complex systems are really networks - where elements interact with each other and give rise to a new system.

Perhaps today we are witnessing one of the most vivid examples of emergence - the remixing of the world wide web. The parts of the new web have crystallized - blogs, photos, video, audio, maps, RSS, social network profiles and even plain old HTML pages have formed an impressive network, that now can be mined and remixed. Mashups are really nothing new, the web has been a programmable oyster for at least a few years now.

What is new though is the recent systematic thinking about the web as a database. A few companies, including Dapper, have been working on the problem. But with the recent launch of Yahoo! pipes, we are beginning to see the real power of remixing.

Tags: pipes, yahoo, yahoo pipes, web 2.0, web database

Web forums replacing coffee shops for farmers

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:47:24 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Web forums replacing coffee shops for farmers

Story Highlights

• Online farm forums growing in popularity among farmers
• Report: Fifty-one percent of U.S. farms have Internet access
• Farmers share advice, tips that can save them money

MARTINSVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Tucked away in the den of his 127-year-old farmhouse, Ed Winkle huddles over his computer. The screen's soft glow lights up his eyeglasses, reflecting messages about tractors, corn hybrids and crop insurance.

Winkle is checking the latest postings on his favorite Internet farm forum.

Advice from fellow farmers around the country has enabled him to increase his corn and soybean production, better market his crops, learn how to rebuild engines and get good tires for his tractor.

Online message boards and chat rooms are replacing rural coffee shops and feed mills as places for farmers to talk farming and trade tips as more of rural America goes online.

"You get the best thinkers in agriculture," Winkle said of the forums. "You're mixing such a diverse group of people -- from different areas, from different backgrounds, different experiences, different ways of farming."

Fifty-one percent of U.S. farms have Internet access, according to a July 2005 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up from 48 percent in 2003.

More than two-thirds of them, however, still use dial-up modems to connect.

The popularity of online farm forums has grown as well, said Mack Strickland, an agricultural engineer at Purdue University and farm-computer expert. Some forums claim to have as many as 30,000 registered users.

Tags: web, farms, farmers, farming, internet, farm forums

The 10 Riskiest Businesses To Start

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:06:08 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

01.18.07, 4:30 PM ET

The 10 Riskiest Businesses To Start

The numbers aren't pretty.

While some two-thirds of small firms make it past the two-year mark, just 44% can hack it for four years, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And by "hack it," we're just talking survival rates here: Plenty of those "survivors" are choking down ramen noodles to keep the lights on.

If those odds don't scare you off, consider too that some industries may be inherently tougher to crack than others. Your friends might think that you rival Mario Batali in the kitchen, or that you can go sole for sole with the likes of Kenneth Cole (nyse: KCP - news - people ). But the sober truth is that it takes more than talent to run a restaurant, a clothing boutique and a host of other ventures. Sadly, some of the most enticing industries are also the riskiest.

Tags: business, forbes, risk, small business

101 Web Marketing Ideas and Tips

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 20:54:38 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.seopedia.org

101 Web Marketing Ideas and Tips

October 27th, 2006 - Filed under Internet Marketing & SEO by Cristian Mezei

Global Marketing (emphasizing technical specifications)

Don’t use site-wide links. They are highly deprecated in the latest algorithm changes, and may even lead you to a penalization of your website’s SERPs. As a measure of precaution, I recommend a maximum of one site-wide (no matter the number of pages) for every 40 to 50 unique links from 40 to 50 unique domains.

Use the title and meta description tags as wise as possible. They are your best choice of avoiding supplemental pages. Try to make each page with it’s own unique title and description, and never repeat more than 20-25% of the title and description tags content on different pages. Use a limited number of characters (8-10) in the title tag, and put the most important of them, relevant to each page, at the beginning.

Read my previous post on 14 search marketing questions, asked by Digitalpoint members.

Try to use H tags (1,2,3 etc) at the top-most possible location in the pages of your website, in the source order, and NOT visual order.

Tags: web marketing, marketing, business, business development, internet, web20

The Internet’s Biggest Google Whores

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 05:51:31 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: WOW! Some of these folks are raking in the cash!

Clip Source: www.johnchow.com

The following is a list of the Internet’s eight biggest Google AdSense publishers. The information was compiled from interviews and articles found on the Internet. Whenever possible, I list the source of the information.

Clip Source: www.johnchow.com

September 25th, 2006 by John Chow

Clip Source: www.johnchow.com

I apologize in advance if I missed anyone on the list. If you make more than the people listed, please send me proof of your Google AdSense earnings and I will add you on the next time the list is updated. This is a list of individual site owners - people just like you and me. Big corporate AdSense publishers like AOL are excluded.

1: Markus Frind: PlentyOfFish.com - $300,000 per month

Markus Frind is a local Vancouverite who is turning the online dating world upside down. His site, Plentyoffish.com is biggest free dating site on the Internet. Plentyoffish.com receives up to 500 million page views per month and make over $10,000 per day for Markus, who runs the site from home.

You think a site this big would be staffed by a hundred people but the only employee that Markus has is his girlfriend, who helps to answer the emails. Markus coded Plenty of Fish all by himself. The site is lean and mean and requires only four servers to handle all that traffic.

Doubts about Makus’s Google earnings were silenced when he posted this $900,000 check from Google. According to Markus’s blog entry, the check represented two months of AdSense earnings.

Tags: google, adsense, money, making money, google whores

ThinkingPHP and beyond

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 18:39:48 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.thinkingphp.org

Well I don’t know, but if this post makes it to digg.com’s homepage, I’ll donate 75% of the ad income generated by it to the foundation. So if you’ve not donated, anything to the best PHP framework so far, go ahead and digg this story! But let’s get the promised article going:

#1 - Leverage the community to provide commercial support:
The idea of using paid support to finance the costs of open source development is old and not very effective. The problem is that the developers are already way too busy maintaining the project, and there is no money for paying people to deliver support. However, while talking in #cakephp today, a completly new idea was born. What would happen if you would leverage the real power of open source to deliver the support? The people who are doing the support for free right now anyway? The Community!. All you have to do is to setup a web site where newbies can sign up and pay $5-10 to get a support account with 5-10 credits. Whenever they ask a question it’s gonna cost them 1 or more credits to have it answered. The people who answer this questions are simply active members of the community who answer those questions for free and let the money go to the foundation. And using credits instead of single transactions is a practical way to process micropayments via paypal without loosing most of the money on transaction fees! But before I loose myself in the details of this new idea, here comes the next:

Tags: opensource php, open source marketing, business, business concepts

Web Platform Primer - what's available via API?

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 06:46:26 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Why cool overview......

Clip Source: www.readwriteweb.com

August 22, 2006 / 1 comments

Web Platform Primer - what's available via API?

The Web computing platform today encompasses a wide range of functions, a lot of which are accessible via APIs (Application Programming Interface). From the relatively simple bookmarking service del.icio.us, to more complex functionality like Amazon S3's complete virtualization of data storage - it's amazing what can be done nowadays using Web APIs.

In this post, I've categorized the Web platform into 6 infrastructure building blocks and I will briefly outline some of the products that define each one. The common thread is that each product mentioned has an API, which means it can be integrated as a part of other services.

Tags: web20, primer, platform, web platforms, infrastructure

Online volunteers roll up their sleeves

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:29:58 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Wednesday, August 23, 2006; Posted: 12:19 p.m. EDT (16:19 GMT)

Online volunteers roll up their sleeves

NEW YORK (AP) -- When it comes to volunteering, Caitrin Murphy finds satisfaction in spending 10 months helping Tijuana orphans or a Saturday building low-income homes outside Washington, D.C.

But onsite projects aren't always feasible, so Murphy instead turned to the Internet and, with two co-workers, remotely created a Web site for an organization that helps farmers in the West African country of Cameroon.

"It's an adequate alternative," Murphy said. "I would prefer a hands-on, physical experience at the site. At the same time, ... by doing a project virtually we could affect the lives of people we would never think of meeting."

Online volunteering is growing as Internet access improves worldwide, particularly among African and Latin American organizations needing assistance.

Tags: online volutneering, volunteers, volunteer internet

It's a do-it-yourself paradise

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:40:35 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.insidebayarea.com

It's a do-it-yourself paradise

New South City stores will boost density of building retailers in North County

By Todd R. Brown, STAFF WRITER

Chain retailers are taking advantage of consumers' eagerness to remodel rather than shop for pricier digs by rolling out bigger and better stores, some right around the corner from existing big-box shops.

South San Francisco recently OK'd a 124,000-square-foot Lowe's with a 25,000-square-foot garden center just 2 miles from the San Bruno Lowe's and a few doors down from a 24-hour Home Depot approved weeks before at 900 Dubuque Ave.

"Both Lowe's and Home Depot are very enthusiastic that the market is there to continue operation," South San Francisco City Manager Barry Nagel said Friday. "We hope for great success."

Tags: diy, home depot, lowes, home improvement

A very critical marketing lesson I learned while trying to bluff a veteran poker player. (Hint: I lo

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 05:06:05 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.nichegeek.com

A very critical marketing lesson I learned while trying to bluff a veteran poker player. (Hint: I lost.)

I know, I know... I sound like a broken record with the “get a life” rant. But I see the wasting of life as a crime. You know, many subscribers tell me they always wished they’d started a band way back when, or had a few more unseemly adventures before settling down. And I say, yeah, I hear you.

For the rest of the game, he seemed to be able to read my mind -- he would fold if I truly held a good hand, call me when I tried to bluff, force me to fold in fear when he bluffed. He cleaned me out.

I learned two very important lessons that night. They work in business, as well as cards:

First: Never fool yourself into thinking something is easy, when you KNOW it’s difficult. Take the diet market. I recently saw a series of TV ads making outrageous claims like “lose weight while you dream”, and “eat all the pie and candy you want, and still lose 20 pounds a week without exercise”. I have a little experience in this market -- if an ad works, it can bring in aton of orders.

Second: You can bluff your way along for a while... but if you really don’t have the chops to back it up, you’ll eventually end up being exposed. I know of many people out there touting themselves as “marketing experts”... and they’re just flat out writing checks their ass can’t cash.

The world is awash in bullshit... and starved for substance!

Tags: marketing, substance, poker business tips

20 Great Resources on Entrepreneurship

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:25:53 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.lifehack.org

20 Great Resources on Entrepreneurship

A topic that we usually introduce about at lifehack.org is entrepreneurship. It is a sexy topic to talk about within the business/management category. We could learn a lot from some successful entrepreneurs because they are productive and motivated. At Listible, it has a lot of 20 good resources for entrepreneur, from blogs like our favorites: Steve Pavlina and Guy Kawasaki, and other less mentioned but with hidden gems of good posts:

Entrepreneruship is quickly becoming one of the most desired and sought after career paths. This list is a compilation of the best web resources for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Signum sine tinnitu - by Guy Kawasaki - Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Forbes.com.

Steve Pavlina - Personal Development for Smart People.

Seth's Blog - Seth Godin's riffs on marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread.

Cinventure - Cincinnati's resource for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Tags: entrepreneurship, 20 resources for entrepreneurs, business, business development

Branson's next big bet

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 02:52:15 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Branson is one of my top 5 favorite entrepreneurs.

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Richard Branson, entrepreneurial icon, shares his freshest ideas - like a Virgin superfuel that will let us jet around the world guilt-free.

Branson's next big bet

July 27 2006: 3:50 PM EDT

By Carleen Hawn, Business 2.0 Magazine

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Business 2.0 Magazine has identified the Best business ideas in the world. This is the first in a series that will appear here throughout the next month. Check back daily for updates.

Where others see disaster, Richard Branson sees opportunity. The founder of Virgin Group has business interests on six continents, including airlines, express trains, and limousine services, so his company's contribution to global warming worries him.

But instead of wringing his hands, Branson sees a new fortune to be made in reinventing the fuel business, much the way he's made over air travel, credit cards, health care, and more.

He's investing in conventional ideas like ethanol plants and solar power, but he's also developing a formula for a new ultraclean fuel that can power his jets as well as cars and trucks.

What we love about Branson is that he's part Warren Buffett, part P.T. Barnum. Not every idea he's dreamed up has panned out: Virgin Cola bombed in the United States, and the irresistibly named Virgin Brides retail chain is down to one lonely store in Manchester, England.

Tags: richard branson, virgin, entrepreneur, business, concepts, money

How to build a startup out of nothing

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:46:11 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

How to build a startup out of nothing

By locating in Mexico and using Latin America as a lab, software company Sapotek launched on the ultracheap.

August 14 2006: 6:41 AM EDT

By Robert Levine, Business 2.0 Magazine

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Joshua Rand flies to Mexico on business every few weeks but rarely takes a laptop. Instead, he uses the virtual-desktop software made by his startup, Sapotek, based in New York and Toluca, Mexico.

The software, also called a webtop, lets users access personal files and software applications - including e-mail, word-processing, and spreadsheet programs - from any Internet-connected PC.

In 2003 the company began offering a free Spanish-language version of the webtop, which has attracted 100,000 users in Mexico and Latin America. The giveaway was not an act of altruism but a way to stress-test the service before its official debut.

It worked: Since last year Sapotek has licensed the software to six enterprise clients, including universities and companies with limited IT budgets, and in July it started marketing an English-language version in the United States.

Tags: business, low-cost, mexico, spanish, virtual desktop, sapotek

Where to find the world's hottest startups

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 04:00:08 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Where to find the world's hottest startups

From Aussie blog mining to Finnish friend finding, we've located the planet's most innovative new sites.

(Business 2.0) -- The editors have identified the Best business ideas in the world, which will appear here in a series throughout the next month. Check back daily for updates.

The term "Web 2.0" is used so widely these days, you'd think it was taking over the globe. And you'd be right.

The catchall phrase - used to describe websites that thrive on what their users make of them is no longer limited to the United States.

As Web 2.0 success stories like Flickr and Del.icio.us prove, this kind of technology is dirt-cheap to implement and borrows data freely available from other websites. A guy in his bedroom in Chile can come up with a novel way to navigate global classified ads - and, in fact, one has.

A lot of these global entrepreneurs are simply copying the biggest ideas in America's Web 2.0 canon. For every Digg.com, the popular U.S. site that lets readers nominate and vote on the most important news stories, there's a Yigg.de (the German version of the same).

Tags: web20, internet, business, world enterprise, australia, africa, startups, entrepreneur

Parents Learn Basics of MySpace

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:45:55 GMT

clipped by: bunnicula
clipper's remarks: Now this is what the government should be advocating.

On a clipping related note: I tired to clip just bits of this article but duplicate paragraphs kept appearing in my clip.

Clip Source: www.news14charlotte.com

Parents learn basics of MySpace
7/13/2006 8:51 AM
By: Shawn Flynn, News 14 Carolina


	WATCH THE VIDEO



		MySpace Classes Parents are advised to let their children use MySpace, but to keep an eye on what they are doing.

CHARLOTTE -- A new course is teaching parents about the uses and potential dangers of the world's most popular Web site.

MySpace.com started three years ago as a small, music-oriented social network, but last week it became the top ranked site, capturing 4.46 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic. A majority of those users are teenagers.

The social network was thrust into the local headlines earlier this year when it was discovered that Brock Franklin, a teenager charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly driving drunk and causing a fatal wrong-way wreck, used his page to brag about getting drunk and getting high.


	MySpace.com has receives 4.46 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic.

Matt Gullett, a MySpace instructor, says the class teaches parents the dos and don'ts of dealing with their teenagers and MySpace.

“'We're going to go into how a MySpace account is actually set up, and then some of the clues as to as a parent what you should be looking for,” he said.

ImaginOn has its own MySpace account, set up to inform teens how to stay safe. It recommends that teens keep detailed information private, use an alias, avoid online flirting and to trust their gut feelings.

Gullett said it is better to allow your teen to use the site, than to forbid it, but it is always a good idea to keep an eye on them.

Tags: myspace, social networking, education