Joss Whedon Strikes Again

Sending this out to all friends and family who've been fans of Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) or of Doogie Hauser (Neil Patrick Harris) or even just fans of wacky stuff. Check out "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". Doogie, I mean Harris, plays Dr. Horrible, a young, evil mad scientist in love. Nathan Fillion (Mal, from Firefly) plays his arch-nemesis, Captain Hammer.

They're using the Hulu technology, which, if you've been reading my newsletter, you'll know that it's pretty high quality video for the Web.

Here's the thing, though: It's only available for a limited time. The first act went up yesterday (July 15th). The second goes up tomorrow (the 17th) and the final one goes up on the 19th. All three episodes will only be available until midnight Sunday (7/15/2008) when they will disappear. Supposedly they will be available for download at a nominal charge and eventually available on DVD. Right now, though, they are absolutely free.

Don't be surprised if you have problems accessing it. Apparently the first day of Act 1 brought the server to its knees because of all the people trying to view the Whedony goodness.

Hope you all enjoy!

So, what's the best fun video you've seen on the 'Net recently?

Life is Good

Those who actually check on my blog on a periodic basis have undoubtedly noticed a long dry spell here. Part of that, of course, is due to the darling angel who has decided to come live with us -- our delightful daughter, Kaylie. While she does take up some time, though, our life with her is becoming a bit more under control (as much as it can be, at any rate).

What's really taking up my time now is my business, Cyber Data Solutions.

Despite these "challenging economic times", my business is really taking off. I've picked up several new clients over the past few months and a number of former clients have been contacting me for new projects.

My cup runneth over.

Just a rundown on what's happening with CDS:

• Common Grove. I helped my buddy Blaine Roderique over at Q Ltd set up a carbon footprint calculator tied into a credit card processing system for people to purchase carbon offsets. That site should be going live any day now.
• IDSC Biotech Network. I met Mark Creswell, IDSC's glorious leader, through my sales training at Marr Sales. He called me in to help him update the content on their site and to do a little tweaking with the layout.
• Concordia University, Ann Arbor. Through a string of networking contacts which eventually led to being selected as a preferred vendor for Uproar Communications here in Ann Arbor, I got to work with the friendly folks at Concordia University -- I know, kind of ironic, right?). They were running into some technical problems and needed me to help them set up a stop-gap system which would give them time to consider their next big overhaul of their online presence -- guess who might be called in to help with that?
• Community Housing Network, Inc. Long-time clients, CHN, called me in to work on adding to and updating their existing CMS-based site. There were one or two small housekeeping projects that needed my attention as well.
• Clear!Blue. I started working on this project late last year with my friends Craig and Matt over at Defrost Design. We've now successfully launched this system. My part in it was to set up an administrative interface which allowed the C!B folks to maintain their own content on the site. Technically, this is a content management system (CMS), but unlike the work I do for CHN above (a general-purpose CMS called Drupal), this is a customized special-fit system designed to fit the customers specific needs.

There were a few other small items that I helped with during this time, but what I've listed were and are the larger jobs. Looking down the road, I've already got two or three more projects in the pipeline. At this rate, I'll have the best year ever with my business.

Now I just need to find a little extra time for some sleep!

So, what are the exciting things going on with your business or company?

Do I Smell Bacon?

A few months ago I wrote a post about a new member in the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, James Macsay of Radio Free Bacon. Well, after wowing them at the Chamber's networking breakfast, RFB has now started their second season.

For those who aren't familiar, RFB is a local audio variety show -- think "Prairie Home Companion" with an Ann Arbor flair -- performed live at one of Ann Arbor's landmarks, Zingerman's Roadhouse every Sunday from 3-5pm. If you can't make the live performance, you can always tune your radio to 107.1 as they will be broadcasting live. If you aren't local, you can still tune them in as 107.1 has a live streaming feed from their website.

You don't have to take my word for it. Everyone that I've talked with who's seen the show raves about how much fun these folks are. Be sure to check them out if you get a chance.

So, when was the last time you were at a live radio presentation?

Do You Own Your Website?

Hello, all!

I know I've been away for a bit. Details on that in an upcoming post. For now, I just wanted to let you know that the most recent issue of my e-zine has been sent out. This is the second part of my series on owning your website (and the dangers if you don't). This time we're talking about the questions you should be able to answer. Here's a short excerpt.

1. Are you paying for the site?

Very few things in life are free. Unless you have your site on
one of several advertising-supported systems, *someone* must pay
for it. Usually whoever is paying for it has the ultimate
control over it. Check your financial statements for a monthly,
quarterly, or annual payment for your hosting services. If you
can't find anything, then you might want to start to worry.

2. Who hosts the website?

more...

If you'd be interested in receiving my e-zine, you can subscribe on the ezine page of the Cyber Data Solutions website.

So, do you own your website? Are you sure?

Working for Writing

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I took part in the Leadership Ann Arbor program. This was a year-long monthly gathering of a group of 50+ people to learn more about the city we live in and to discover how we can act as leaders in our community. Our class graduated back in June of last year, but many of us have chosen to continue to meet to share the ups and downs of our lives and to find ways to help each other out.

My good friend, Angela De Smet, is one of many cool people whom I met through Leadership. She really took the idea of leadership to heart. She serves as the Treasurer for 826michigan, an organization dedicated to supporting kids in developing their writing skills. As a writer myself, I applaud their efforts. After all, writing is the basis of all wealth.

Right now, 826michigan is working on a couple of fund-raising efforts. The first is an online auction. It's pretty straight-forward. They are asking members of the community to donate items which will be auctioned off. They will be accepting donations through May 20 with the auction closing down on May 28. Their site has more details.

The other event is kind of odd, fun, and intriguing. They are having a Mustache-A-Thon. They are looking for people who are willing to be a mustache farmer from March 24 through April 28. They'll take pictures each week and folks are supposed to donate to support their favorite 'stache. It will be interesting to see how this one goes. If you are interested in joining in the fun, be sure to check out the details over at 826michigan. They even mentioned something about "free beer".

So, what's the oddest thing you've done for charity?

Google 101

I attended an exciting presentation this morning put on by Google, Friends of CASA, and the NEW Center's npServ program. The lecture focused on the many benefits of various Google applications and services for nonprofit organizations. I'll go into some of the details in a later post, but there were two tools that I wanted to mention right away, just in case anyone reading this might have use of them.

The first is Google Checkout. This is a credit card processing service similar to PayPal. Right now, Google is running a promotion such that 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations pay no transaction fees. That's right. Every cent that someone donates through the nonprofit's website using Google Checkout goes directly to the NP. This deal runs through January 1, 2009. After that, the fees increase to 2% + $.20 per transaction. Unless you plan on doing more than $100,000 per month in donations, this is cheaper than PayPal.

It might even be cheaper than getting a merchant account from a bank, setting up an online card-processing gateway (such as Authorize.net) and hiring a programmer to set up the whole thing on your website. It's certainly a lot easier.

The second tool is Google Adwords.

I'm not going to go into detail here about how the whole thing works -- suffice for now to say that it is the facility which places those "sponsored links" at the top and right side of search results in Google. Again, I'll cover the details in a later post. The cool thing here is that Google has a program called "Google Grants", which offers what is essentially free advertising to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations.

As I understand, "free" is a price that most nonprofits can handle.

Both of these services have an application process, so you might want to check them out if you think you might be interested.

So, what might your nonprofit be able to do with these services?

Read Part 2 of this story.

Bluetooth: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Before I get going on the topic of the day, I just wanted to send a quick shout out to my buddy Bill MacConnel (I delivered a welcome bag to Bill as a new Chamber member back at the end of December). Bill has decided to jump into this whole blogging thing. His first post shoots a few pointed barbs at the marketing and advertising industries. Might be a fun one to follow!

Anyway, on with our story.

A few weeks ago I finally picked up a Bluetooth headset for my cell phone. For those who don't know what that means, Bluetooth is a wireless communications protocol -- which means that I can have a headset (or in this case an earpiece) connected to my cell phone with no wires between them. I bought mine (a Jabra BT135) through Buy.com for $15, though you can get them for much more. After using it for a couple of weeks now, I have a few observations.

First, the Good

I love this little gadget. A tap on the control button (there's only one button) and it takes me right into my phone's voice control feature. Hold it down a little longer and it re-dials the last number. The sound is clear despite the fact that I don't actually have to stick it in my ear. My wife, Lisa, says that she can't even tell that I'm using it, it picks up my voice so well. Heck, it's even comfortable to wear.

Next, the Bad

Actually, there isn't much bad to it. It does what it's supposed to do. About the only thing that doesn't work the way I'd like it to is that I can't listen to music through it. I have a "smart phone" which I use for a variety of purposes, including listening to podcasts that I've downloaded. As I understand it, if I wanted to do this, I should have purchased a Bluetooth stereo headset. Oh, well. Not that big a loss for me.

Finally, the Ugly

OK, I've seen people with these gadgets sticking out of their ears. They look like Borgs. Now I can understand doing this in an airport or something like that, but when you show up to a meeting wearing one of these? Well, you might not intend it to look that way, but it makes me feel like I am so unimportant that you would take any incoming call and interrupt our meeting. Not cool.

So, do you have a Bluetooth device of any kind? What do you think?

Freelancing Advice

I sent out volume 2, issue 4 of the "Clearing up the Confusion" e-zine today. This one focused on some of the new blogs that I've been following lately. In particular, I've become quite attached to The Freelance Switch. Here's what I wrote in the e-zine:

For those of us who are off running our own businesses, this is a great resource. It has "how to" articles, advice, links to a podcast, and even its own comic strip, "Freelance Freedom". This blog and its associated website are clearinghouses of great information. I think I've found at least one useful take-away idea every time I've visited. I also love their podcasts for those times when I'm not able to sit down in front of the computer. I can get in a little education while I'm shoveling the driveway.

If you'd like to read about more of the blogs that I recommend, check out the latest issue of the e-zine. You can read other issues in the archive, or you might even consider getting a subscription.

So, what blogs are you following lately?

Cell Phone Tools

I just sent out volume 2, issue 3 of the "Clearing Up the Confusion" e-zine. Here's an excerpt:

OK, I'll admit it. I'm a bit of a cell phone junkie. I use my phone for everything from taking snapshots, to reading email, to keeping track of my "to do" list. Heck, I can even use it as a GPS when I'm out looking for a client's office.

Some of these tools are a part of the phone itself. Others, however, reside out on the Web. That means, whether I'm sitting at the coffee shop, or relaxing on vacation, as long as I have a cell phone connection, I have access to my information.

So, what are some of these services and how well do they work? Here's a quick rundown of some of the ones I've been using...

To read the rest of this article check out the e-zine issue. You might even like to subscribe!

So, what cell phone tools would you recommend?

Show Your Colors with iGoogle Themes

I've written a couple of times now about the custom themes for the iGoogle personal homepage. My favorites include the beach scene (where I swear I saw the Loch Ness Monster at around 3am one night) and the images of different planets.

Now Google has gone one step further to allow those of us with the desire and skill to make our own themes. They've got the instructions available online with everything you need to know to include your favorite sports team, the memories from your last vacation, or even your business' logo at the top of the page. What's more, if you think the theme you designed is really good, you can submit it to Google to be included in the catalog of themes available to the public.

Imagine how cool it would be as a up-and-coming graphic designer to be able to include "Created iGoogle theme used by 1000's of people" to your list of achievements!

So, what images would you use for your personal home page?

The Old Song and Dance

Victor Herbert, Composer

OK, well, the song, anyway.

I was chatting today with a good friend of mine, Tom Petiet, whom I had met through the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce (he and I are both in the Ambassadors group together). In his day-job, Tom is the designer and illustrator extraordinaire behind Concept Studio, a local commercial arts services firm. In his free time, though (and I do mean all of his free time), he is the managing director of Ann Arbor's Comic Opera Guild.

It turns out that the COG has a production next weekend. For anyone who's been a part of a stage production, you know that things are pretty much at their craziest right now. Tom did take some time, though to let me know what was going on. I thought I would let everyone know the details, just in case any of you might be interested.

They're performing a concert presentation of "The Fortune Teller" by Victor Herbert (the same composer who brought us "Babes in Toyland"). They'll be holding the shows on February 8th and 9th at 8pm both nights. The venue is a little outside of Ann Arbor, but well within reason, as they'll be at the The Village Theater, 50400 Cherry Hill Road in Canton, MI. You can check out the theater website for purchasing tickets. Tom said that the shows will very likely sell out, so if you are interested, you might want to pre-order now.

I'm not an aficionado of light opera (though I do enjoy it), but apparently this is a pretty special showing as, according to the COG website, this will be the first time in over a half a century that any group has performed this work in its entirety. I guess it's pretty unusual for classics like this to be revived. So, if you are in the mood for music, fun, and comedy, be sure to check out "The Fortune Teller" next weekend.

So, what was the last stage performance you attended? When was that?

Artrain 101

The folks at Artrain are throwing a party or two to reach out to the community to let everyone know what's up and coming for everyone's favorite museum on wheels. The public is invited to an hour-long presentation complete with snacks. If you've read my post on the big changes for Artrain, you know that this will probably be an information packed hour.

The reception will be down at the Artrain Ann Arbor home near the New Center. They're actually having three gatherings - January 31 at 5:30pm, February 21 at 5:30 and March 12 at 8:30am. Everyone is welcome. They'd love it if you would RSVP to 734-747-8300, but you are also more than welcome to come unannounced.

So, if you've ever been interested in Artrain and you would like to find out more about the changes in store, reserve some time to stop down at 1100 North Main, Suite 106, Ann Arbor, MI. They'll be glad to see you.

So, when was the last time you attended Artrain?

Remember The Milk Add-On

I just wrote about "Remember the Milk" in my e-zine this past week. It's a great tool to keep track of all of the tasks you might have to do in your everyday life. A number of folks who follow David Allen's "Getting things DONE" teachings apparently swear by it.

Today I found out about a nifty new add-on for RTM if you are also a Gmail user and your browser is Firefox. This tool displays your RTM task list right alongside your email in the browser window. No longer do you have to switch windows in order to add new items to your task list. Everything is right there.

I've already installed it. I'll have to let you know if it radically transforms my life or anything.

So, what tools do you use for your task lists?

TV on Your Desktop

I was fortunate enough to be reading TechCrunch today when the notice went up that there were some private beta invitations available for the much-anticipated Hulu.com service.

What? You've never heard of it?

Hulu is a site which provides premium content on the Web. "Premium content" includes both current and classic programs from a variety of providers, including NBC Universal, FOX and a smattering of others.

When I logged in I was able almost immediately to stream a recent episode of "Monk" to my computer screen. I checked out "The Office" and browsed through a number of clips from the Sci-Fi Channel, including their recent "Tin Man" miniseries. I was especially thrilled to discover that Hulu has the complete run of one of my favorite short-lived shows, "Firefly".

The video quality was remarkably good. Despite that, my desktop computer had no problems keeping up with the playback. My "so old that Moses must have brought it down" laptop was even able to do a fairly respectable job (though I didn't try to run it on full screen mode -- I'm not expecting miracles, after all).

The videos show with "limited commercial interruption". In the case of the hour and 26 minute "Firefly" pilot episode, this meant that there were 5 30-second commercials. Not a big deal, but if you really can't stand commercials, then you may have a hard time since there isn't any convenient way to fast-forward (though you can attempt to restart the video after the ad spot).

Some interesting features include the ability to "pop-out" the video to a separate smaller window, go to full screen mode, and even to embed clips or even whole videos in your content. The latter facility even allows you to specify a smaller chunk of the video if you wanted to make commentary on a specific part of the offering. I would have loved this tool back when I wrote about meeting Gil Gerard of 1970's "Buck Rogers" fame (Hulu has a selection of Buck's adventures in their library).

I'll be interested to see how this develops. Right now the catalog of videos includes whole seasons of episodes, but not usually the entire run of a show. Will they continue to add episodes until the entire run is available? Will the episodes expire? Do people even want to watch TV this way?

So, how would you use the Hulu service? Or would you?

What I Meant to Say Was...

When I wrote that post about being back on track, what I actually meant to say was that I was careening hopelessly out of control.

Kaylie is an absolute angel of a baby. Oh, she gets a little fussy in the evening, but that's not unusual for newborns (or so I've been told). She does take up a little bit of my time -- time, of course, that I am glad to spend with her.

The other challenge in my life right now is also a good one.

I've got a lot of work coming in.

I'm cleaning up the last details for the big upgrade for Community Housing Network. I'm also in the middle of cleaning up the Bruce Donovan Construction website and adding a portfolio tool so they can highlight photos of their projects. I just finished fixing a response form for Pink Papaya Parties (using ASP.NET, no less!). Tomorrow is the big kick-off meeting for the project I'm working on with Defrost Design and today I got a call from my friends at the Michigan Venture Capital Association to add a new file upload facility to their site.

My cup runneth over.

In the meantime, I at least got the most recent issue of my ezine out the door (only 12 hours late). You can check it out in the archives or, if you prefer, you can sign up for a subscription.

So, what are the joyous challenges in your life right now?

Getting Back on Track

It's a slow process to get back on track again. I remember even as a little kid, missing even a day of school made me feel like I was hopelessly lost and scrambling to get things done when I got back.

I only really took a single week off after Kaylie was born (and that was Thanksgiving week, to boot). Oh, last week was pretty light, too, but I did work. Still, this week I've been feeling like I'm scrambling. At least I finally got a new issue of my e-zine sent out this evening.

I'm sure, too, that as Kaylie develops a more stable schedule, we'll do better with that ourselves.

So, do you have a hard time getting back on track?

A Day of Work

So, I've been spending a lot of time working on my business lately. Well, to be more accurate, I'm working on those parts of my business which aren't actual billable work. I've been out networking, writing, answering emails, reading, and making calls. I've even done a bit of paperwork here and there.

So, I was quite happy this afternoon to just sit down and work in my business. I released my inner Technician and just got some work done.

Primarily, I've been working on the Community Housing Network's site upgrade. Right now I'm adding in the new content. When that's done, I'll need to make some final tweaks to the user interface and we should be good to go. Wish me luck on that.

Now, this morning (during the "working on" period) I spent some time preparing a proposal for a potential new client. This afternoon they faxed the signed agreement, which means that, as of today, I'll be working with Bruce Donovan Construction to clean up their Web presence.

Today's been a good day.

So, how do you split up the "working on" versus the "working in"?

Artrain Goes Offrail

Today we had our monthly meeting of the graduates of the Leadership Ann Arbor class of 2007. One of the members of this group is my buddy, Brian Tolle. Brian is not only the President of the Tolle Group, an organizational leadership consulting firm in Ann Arbor, but also a board member for Artrain. Today he had some sad news for us.

Artrain is leaving the tracks.

For many years now, the cars which house the Artrain exhibit have been transported to far-flung communities by attaching them to the ends of freight trains. Unfortunately for the exhibit, the railroad tracks in the United States are over capacity and, as a result, it's become more and more difficult to travel to distant areas reliably.

That being the case, the board finally made the difficult decision to stop the train. Artrain will finish up the year and then the cars will be sold off. An era will end.

Don't worry too much, though, as Artrain will be reborn as a fleet of specially designed semi-trucks. This will not only allow the exhibit to carry on, but will also give it access to the 60% of the country which doesn't have rail service.

So, if you find that Artrain will be showing up in a town near you, I recommend you stop in and see it. If you can't, be sure to catch it the next time it rolls into town in its new incarnation.

I guess that just like any other business, even a mobile art museum has to roll with the times and adjust to the changing scenery.

So, when was the last time you had to adjust your business because the world had changed?

Business Update

It's been a while since I posted an update on how things are going with Cyber Data Solutions. We've (and I'm using the royal "We" here) had a number of developments recently

First off, I finally got around to setting up CDS as an LLC. This is something that I've been meaning to do for quite a while now -- at least since I went full time in January. I had it all built up in my head as this big difficult thing to do that I would probably need a lawyer to help me out. Well, it turned out that I did need a lawyer, but only because the process was so simple that I didn't believe it. Honestly, it's about as difficult as filling out your name, address, and the new company name on a form and sending it in (with appropriate payment, of course) to the state of Michigan.

Next, I just picked up a new project with Defrost Design. For those who've been reading for a while, you'll remember Defrost as the design company with whom I worked on the Michigan Venture Capital Association's website. They did all the heavy lifting to make a gorgeous website. Then I came in to build some if the back end systems. The new project is fairly similar, though on a larger scale. This one will also be using Flash as the front end technology. Should be an interesting site when it's all done. I'll let you know when there's something to see.

I'm still attending Chamber events among other networking opportunities. In fact, I'm scheduled to work as an Ambassador for the Wednesday "Morning Edition". It's the monthly Chamber networking breakfast held at Weber's Inn at 7am. They always have good speakers and usually there's a pretty good crowd of people who are ready to network. Hope to see you there!

So, what was the last good networking event that you attended?

Writing News and Taking a Break

Just a couple of quick announcements:

1. I just got an email in my inbox today, letting me know that I had been upgraded to "Platinum" status on EzineArticles.com. The way this works is that you have to submit ten articles as a "Basic" member and have them approved. At that point you can request to become a Platinum member. The benefits are that you can submit an unlimited number of articles and you will supposedly get priority approval on any new articles. As a Basic member you are limited to only ten articles and the response time on approval for me, at least was between six and eight days.

I'll let you know if the approval time is any faster for me now.

2. I'm on vacation this weekend. Lisa and I are up in Toronto to see Cirque du Soleil -- something we do every other year or so. As such, my posts might be a bit sporadic until I get back.

Until then, have a great weekend. I know I will!

So, where did you go on your last vacation?