2 Dec
December is a month of celebration. Usually because we have Christmas and then New Years quickly following. What you may not know is that there are a lot of people that have their birthday’s on Dec 16. Myself, Dean Whittaker and Dan Morrison are a few and we’re trying to find out who else.
So if your birthday is on Dec 16, let us know so we can join in celebration which is happening at Fricanos Pizza. We’ll buy the pizza, you bring the fun.
30 Nov
A few days ago, Pownce.com announced they were going to discontinue the service and join the SixApart team (a blog company). We began discussing this as a team and how they went about closing their doors and decided to start posting some of our conversation and hopefully you can join it as well.
What is (or was) Pownce.com? Pownce is (err was) a way to keep in touch with and share stuff with your friends. Send people files, links, events, and messages and then have real conversations with the recipients.
Zach Moazeni: Check out http://www.sixapart.com/pownce/
Aaron Schaap: yea – we saw that the other day and where chatting about it. I think
it’s pretty stupid that they couldn’t roll the product or feature into
another product or say something like – “Hey, we’re no longer going to
do this but you can get a FREE account at VOX or some other place for
your commitment to pownce”.
Want to read up on it more later.
Janson Hartliep: Yup. This seems like an even crazier decision to close than what Value of n just announced. If only because of the visibility of pownce over iwantsandy or stikkit. I really wonder why the acquiring company doesn’t continue to support the services – if even in a hobbled state.
Both such decisions really beg the question of longevity and trust within the web app sphere. At least with desktop apps if the company goes out of business I can continue to *use* the software. Food for thought I suppose.
Aaron Schaap:
I think either the founders got sick of doing it and wanted a job with a little less stress and 24hr responsibility and/or SixApart wanted the talent at Pownce and to reduced competition. Wondering if a bad economy mixing w/their projections was a result of any of it as well.
Zach Moazeni: Yeah, I had the same feelings.
First: Giving 15 days to get your ass out of the system you’ve been using for months seems very shortsighted (They announced it Dec 1st, and it’s shutting down on the 15th). I guess it was a Deputy-Dan-Approved (internal joke) strategy.
Even if they don’t offer it in a hobbled state, at least allow your users to continue to use it longer than two weeks.
Second: FuzzyBunny (new product idea we have, no that’s not the real name or is it???) really came to mind. Both from the company (Pownce) offered for their customers or to the Users themselves if the company didn’t offer a solution. It also hit home that this could happen to other hosted blogging solutions like Vox or Typepad.
Janson Hartliep: Totally.
Also while “social” applications may not be quite as critical of a tool, relying on something like iwantsandy as part of your daily workflow would really suck when it shuts down. Value of n suggests other tools such as RTM or google, but iwantsandy fit a niche that was obviously valuable for it’s users. Other tools just don’t nail it on the head.
I do think Value of n is being a little bit nicer to their customers, with full FAQs on the implications, how to get data out, and where to go from there. But even then, the users who rely on the service are left out in the cold. There’s value there just begging to be utilized.
Zach Moazeni: Oh and I remember reading this tweet earlier in the morning. Also made me think of using FuzzyBunny on a non-hosted blogging solution.
What are your thoughts on how Pownce.com is treating their customers? What does this mean for the business use of web applications that you may use on a daily basis. What about tools you use just for fun?
30 Nov
Livvy Zimmerman is freelance graphic designer in the Holland area. After graduating from GVSU in 1999, she worked as a designer for Johnson Controls and Hart Media Group. She then ventured into the world of freelance, naming her business Dutch Studio (after her first dog). This has been a great fit for Livvy because of her motivation, self discipline and strong work ethic. She has been a successful freelancer for over six years. Her work includes a large variety of print formats including restaurant menus, brochures, logos, trade show graphics, booklets, CD and jewel case graphics, corporate identity, t-shirts and much much more. Her approach to design is a combination of memorable concepts, fresh images and strong color palettes. Typography is also a strong suit. She enjoys meeting people and collaborating on new projects.
29 Nov
I was lucky enough to attend the latest RubyConf, a conference about the programming language Ruby which we use all the time at Elevator Up. Every time I come home from a good conference, I always feel refreshed. I really think there’s something to hanging out with people passionate about their work. It’s as if all the creativity flowing around the event re-energizes the mind.
There are a few reasons why I enjoy attending conferences:
It’s exciting to listen, or better yet have a conversation with the people who create the tools you use everyday. In some cases, they created the tools that made your career possible. In my case, the software development community is actually fairly small, so it’s not out of the question to have a beer with these "rock stars".
Right after I get over being star-struck, I begin to think: while these people are very smart, most are not geniuses. That sounds insulting on the first pass, but seeing these leaders as normal people gives me perspective. One of the commonalities I find in the leaders I’ve met is passion and dedication. This emboldens me to ask myself what am I passionate about, and what am I willing to commit to finishing. Then just do it.
After being inspired, the next question I usually ask myself: "What’s stopping me from doing that now?" Seeing the many small innovations that are built for the fun of it which have many other users outside themselves (e.g. learning more about the tools, working with others to accomplish the goal, inadvertently inspiring something bigger), I grow jealous. Jealous that they are able to push away all the things that can clutter a mind and discourage it from doing something great. Especially after seeing they are real people I wonder what’s stopping me from growing to do that as well. After talking with people it, the common answer I get is "I wanted to do it, so I started working on it."
Watching people work on their ideas, on all scales, makes me wonder if I truly appreciate my free time. I don’t think I need to work 100% of the time, but I know I waste a lot of time that could be put to good use. And beyond that: put to use on things I enjoy. And even further than that: put to use on things that may earn me bags of money. Every time I leave a conference my mind is bubbling with new project ideas, which ones to work on first, and how to schedule time to "just start doing it."
If you feel burnt out in your career and think a "much needed" vacation is the only remedy, I encourage you to explore the conferences in your field. Sometimes you are able combine the two, as did many of the people who brought their families to Orlando towards the end of RubyConf 2008. You may find that you can’t wait to get back to work.
24 Oct
Over the last 12 years Kris has been helping businesses and organizations think strategically about their marketing and corporate communications. Leveraging his disciplines in marketing, strategy & branding he has served as a partner to managers and directors for their marketing and corporate communications initiatives. These initiatives have enhanced operational communications, improved brand awareness and customer retention, and have increased revenues or lowered overhead.
Kris currently owns and operates a strategic communications consultancy called BLACK, Inc. The primary focus at BLACK is to build strategic marketing communications in order to empower businesses and organizations to realize their goals. Those at Black, Inc. build solutions to help more people connect in more meaningful ways to a larger mission, purpose and brand. In addition to Kris’s work at BLACK he is actively involved in pro-bono work for a handful of not for profits organizations.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kristophermcneil
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