eBay buys recommendations website
EBay has $3.5bn in cash and has been on a spending spree
Internet auction site eBay has bought StumbleUpon, a website that recommends other websites, for $75m (£38m).
The deal means eBay will get access to almost 2.5 million registered users, who recommend sites to each other.
Users get search results that are based on their profiles, which the site says gives them more relevant results than a regular search engine.
...
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sold - Last.fm $280M
CBS buys online music site Last.fm
By Kate Holton and Kenneth Li
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp. said on Wednesday it bought Last.fm, the online music service that allows fans with similar tastes to connect, for $280 million in a bid to attract young audiences.
The London-based service has more than 15 million active users in over 200 countries, CBS said, and has earned praise for a system that recommends songs by tracking users' music-playing habits and linking them to other fans with similar tastes.
...
By Kate Holton and Kenneth Li
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp. said on Wednesday it bought Last.fm, the online music service that allows fans with similar tastes to connect, for $280 million in a bid to attract young audiences.
The London-based service has more than 15 million active users in over 200 countries, CBS said, and has earned praise for a system that recommends songs by tracking users' music-playing habits and linking them to other fans with similar tastes.
...
General Info - Costs
JUNE 4, 2007
Crunch Time At A Web Startup
Fast-growing Meebo has VC backing, great ideas, and rivals nipping at its heels
...
It doesn't take much for a typical Web 2.0 media startup to reach breakeven--only around $2.8 million of revenues to cover expenses, estimates Jeremy Liew, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. But to get a $500 million market capitalization--the kind of valuation that would justify a public offering and provide a good return to venture capitalists--revenues need to hit around $130 million.
...
Right now the most hotly discussed topic among these friends is how to spend the money their companies have raised. Meebo has $12.5 million from two rounds of venture funding from Marc Andreessen, Sequoia Capital, and venture-capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. That's about in line with the $15 million to $25 million some VCs estimate it costs to build a highly profitable Web-services company. For the moment, Meebo's fastest-growing expense is salaries. The company has 16 employees but expects to have 30 by yearend, with each new employee adding about $10,000 a month to costs.
...
Crunch Time At A Web Startup
Fast-growing Meebo has VC backing, great ideas, and rivals nipping at its heels
...
It doesn't take much for a typical Web 2.0 media startup to reach breakeven--only around $2.8 million of revenues to cover expenses, estimates Jeremy Liew, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. But to get a $500 million market capitalization--the kind of valuation that would justify a public offering and provide a good return to venture capitalists--revenues need to hit around $130 million.
...
Right now the most hotly discussed topic among these friends is how to spend the money their companies have raised. Meebo has $12.5 million from two rounds of venture funding from Marc Andreessen, Sequoia Capital, and venture-capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. That's about in line with the $15 million to $25 million some VCs estimate it costs to build a highly profitable Web-services company. For the moment, Meebo's fastest-growing expense is salaries. The company has 16 employees but expects to have 30 by yearend, with each new employee adding about $10,000 a month to costs.
...
Thursday, May 24, 2007
General Info - Guy Kawasaki
* The Art of Pitching. This reading, based on Chapter 3 of The Art of the Start, explains how to pitch your organization in a shorter and clearer way.
* The Art of Raising Capital. This reading, based on Chapter 7 of The Art of the Start, explains the overall process of raising money for your organization.
* The Art of the Start
* Rules for Revolutionaries
* Every Company a Startup
Full-text PDF of my infamous Palo Alto High School baccalaureate speech (PDF: 76KB). It has cost parents thousands of dollars, so read it at your own risk.
* The Art of Raising Capital. This reading, based on Chapter 7 of The Art of the Start, explains the overall process of raising money for your organization.
* The Art of the Start
* Rules for Revolutionaries
* Every Company a Startup
Full-text PDF of my infamous Palo Alto High School baccalaureate speech (PDF: 76KB). It has cost parents thousands of dollars, so read it at your own risk.
Network Routing Troubleshoot/Visualize
Visualize and troubleshoot network route.
VisualRoute combines the tools traceroute, ping, and Whois into an easy-to-use graphical interface that analyzes Internet connectivity, identifying where bottlenecks or outages occur. The popular IP locator capability identifies the actual location of IP addresses -- key information for investigating/reporting hackers and suspects. VisualRoute also provides an email tracking for troubleshooting email problems, a ping grapher for analyzing connectivity over time, and worldwide domain and network Whois information for quick problem or abuse reporting.
$49.95
VisualRoute 2007
Personal
$49.95
Internet connectivity testing for home users
View main features
• Basic Internet connection analysis
• IP locations on a world map
• Whois lookups
• DNS performance analyis
VisualRoute 2007
Advanced
$89.95
More in-depth connectivity testing for more technical users
View main features
• Advanced Internet connection analysis
• Continuous connection testing
• Packet loss and latency reports
• Connectivity report history
VisualRoute 2007
Business
$249
An extended connectivity testing toolset for networking professionals
View main features
• Single-user browser access
• Application port testing
• Trace report comparison
• Continuous connection testing
• Packet loss and latency reports
• Connectivity report history
• Custom maps
VisualRoute 2007
SupportPro
$395
An extended connectivity testing toolset with reverse trace connection testing
View main features
• Connection testing from remote systems
• Single-user browser access
• Application port testing
• Trace report comparison
• Continuous connection testing
• Packet loss and latency reports
• Connectivity report history
• Custom maps
VisualRoute Server 2007
Standard
Starts from $395/yr
Browser access enables remote users to test connectivity from your server
View main features
• Multi-user browser access provides connectivity testing from your server
• Packet loss & latency reports
VisualRoute Server 2007
Professional
Starts from $995/yr
Two-way connection testing identifies where remote connectivity problems occur
View main features
• OnDemand™ NTAs test remote connections as needed
• Multi-user browser access provides connectivity testing from your server
• Packet loss & latency reports
• Server-side database of all test results
• Includes flexible reporting options
• Enables easy identification of individual or group test results
VisualRoute Server 2007
NOC
Starts from $1,095/yr
Automated connection testing from remote systems continuously reports performance
---------------------------------------------------------
domaintools.com provides many tools and historical info.
---------------------------------------------------------
dnsstuff.com $3/month
VisualRoute combines the tools traceroute, ping, and Whois into an easy-to-use graphical interface that analyzes Internet connectivity, identifying where bottlenecks or outages occur. The popular IP locator capability identifies the actual location of IP addresses -- key information for investigating/reporting hackers and suspects. VisualRoute also provides an email tracking for troubleshooting email problems, a ping grapher for analyzing connectivity over time, and worldwide domain and network Whois information for quick problem or abuse reporting.
$49.95
VisualRoute 2007
Personal
$49.95
Internet connectivity testing for home users
View main features
• Basic Internet connection analysis
• IP locations on a world map
• Whois lookups
• DNS performance analyis
VisualRoute 2007
Advanced
$89.95
More in-depth connectivity testing for more technical users
View main features
• Advanced Internet connection analysis
• Continuous connection testing
• Packet loss and latency reports
• Connectivity report history
VisualRoute 2007
Business
$249
An extended connectivity testing toolset for networking professionals
View main features
• Single-user browser access
• Application port testing
• Trace report comparison
• Continuous connection testing
• Packet loss and latency reports
• Connectivity report history
• Custom maps
VisualRoute 2007
SupportPro
$395
An extended connectivity testing toolset with reverse trace connection testing
View main features
• Connection testing from remote systems
• Single-user browser access
• Application port testing
• Trace report comparison
• Continuous connection testing
• Packet loss and latency reports
• Connectivity report history
• Custom maps
VisualRoute Server 2007
Standard
Starts from $395/yr
Browser access enables remote users to test connectivity from your server
View main features
• Multi-user browser access provides connectivity testing from your server
• Packet loss & latency reports
VisualRoute Server 2007
Professional
Starts from $995/yr
Two-way connection testing identifies where remote connectivity problems occur
View main features
• OnDemand™ NTAs test remote connections as needed
• Multi-user browser access provides connectivity testing from your server
• Packet loss & latency reports
• Server-side database of all test results
• Includes flexible reporting options
• Enables easy identification of individual or group test results
VisualRoute Server 2007
NOC
Starts from $1,095/yr
Automated connection testing from remote systems continuously reports performance
---------------------------------------------------------
domaintools.com provides many tools and historical info.
---------------------------------------------------------
dnsstuff.com $3/month
Monitor - PC Hard Drive
Possibly show some ads for revenue. For the corporate versions, the program could be a small stub on each PC with recording and analysis on a web site.
HDDlife Notebook Edition monitors hard drive health and performance.
Worried about hard drive failures? Get HDDLife - a real-time hard drive monitoring utility with alerts, malfunction protection and data loss prevention functions. This hard drive inspector is an advanced proactive hard drive failure detection system which controls all of your hard drive risks. HDDLife uses S.M.A.R.T. technology, and works both for single PCs and large computer networks.
S.M.A.R.T. technology was developed by hard drive manufacturers to accurately predict hard drive life span and prevent HDD malfunction. HDDLife displays S.M.A.R.T. attributes in real-time and alerts the system administrator if particular hard-drive attributes exceed threshold values and are at risk. The system administrator can then backup data and/or replace endangered hard drives.
HDDLife loads on Windows start, compares new attribute values with the previous values and consumes absolutely no memory. The program is extremely straightforward - no fundamental knowledge of PC or hard drive technology is needed whatsoever. Zero failures during the last four years for the 100000+ hard drives monitored! 100% FREE to download and try.
Pricing
Home users
Single PC license $50 $70
Family license
(can be installed on up to five computers owned by the user and his or her family members.) $250
$150
($100 OFF!) -
Business users
10 users pack $400 $600
50 users pack $1,700 $2,500
250 users pack
500 users pack
HDDlife logo version 2.x pro logo notebook logo
Home users
Single PC license $30 $50
Family license
(can be installed on up to five computers owned by the user and his or her family members.) $150
$110
($40 OFF!) -
Business users
10 users pack $250 $450
50 users pack $900 $1,500
250 users pack $3,500 $6,000
500 users pack $6,500 $11,000
DiskMonitor enables network administrators to monitor local and networked disks, receive custom e-mails alerts, graphically view usage history, recurs entire disks to determine directory usage, and generate reports. DiskMonitor uses a Windows Service to poll disk usage. The service can send warning and critical e-mail alerts, create and optionally e-mail directory usage reports, as well as save disk usage information for graphical review. Many disks can be configured at once or each disk configured separately. All directories can be recursed enabling network administrators to determine which directories are using the most space and which directories have large numbers of files. When the network administrator needs to disable alerting, all alerting can be disabled and later e-enabled with a single click of the mouse. Two different emails can be sent out when disk usage runs low. One email can be sent to a desktop with detailed information while another email can be sent to a hand held device. Both email subjects are configurable and hand held device email subjects can be fully configured. The disk usage charts can be fully configured and emailed to other users from within the application.
$59.95
Hard Drive Inspector is a new software application that monitors hard-drives for possible problems and alerts PC owners when things go or might go wrong. The program is based on the S.M.A.R.T technology, which is a part of almost every hard-drive manufactured in the world today.
$29.95
===============================================
20071008
disk test
HDDlife Notebook Edition monitors hard drive health and performance.
Worried about hard drive failures? Get HDDLife - a real-time hard drive monitoring utility with alerts, malfunction protection and data loss prevention functions. This hard drive inspector is an advanced proactive hard drive failure detection system which controls all of your hard drive risks. HDDLife uses S.M.A.R.T. technology, and works both for single PCs and large computer networks.
S.M.A.R.T. technology was developed by hard drive manufacturers to accurately predict hard drive life span and prevent HDD malfunction. HDDLife displays S.M.A.R.T. attributes in real-time and alerts the system administrator if particular hard-drive attributes exceed threshold values and are at risk. The system administrator can then backup data and/or replace endangered hard drives.
HDDLife loads on Windows start, compares new attribute values with the previous values and consumes absolutely no memory. The program is extremely straightforward - no fundamental knowledge of PC or hard drive technology is needed whatsoever. Zero failures during the last four years for the 100000+ hard drives monitored! 100% FREE to download and try.
Pricing
Home users
Single PC license $50 $70
Family license
(can be installed on up to five computers owned by the user and his or her family members.) $250
$150
($100 OFF!) -
Business users
10 users pack $400 $600
50 users pack $1,700 $2,500
250 users pack
500 users pack
HDDlife logo version 2.x pro logo notebook logo
Home users
Single PC license $30 $50
Family license
(can be installed on up to five computers owned by the user and his or her family members.) $150
$110
($40 OFF!) -
Business users
10 users pack $250 $450
50 users pack $900 $1,500
250 users pack $3,500 $6,000
500 users pack $6,500 $11,000
DiskMonitor enables network administrators to monitor local and networked disks, receive custom e-mails alerts, graphically view usage history, recurs entire disks to determine directory usage, and generate reports. DiskMonitor uses a Windows Service to poll disk usage. The service can send warning and critical e-mail alerts, create and optionally e-mail directory usage reports, as well as save disk usage information for graphical review. Many disks can be configured at once or each disk configured separately. All directories can be recursed enabling network administrators to determine which directories are using the most space and which directories have large numbers of files. When the network administrator needs to disable alerting, all alerting can be disabled and later e-enabled with a single click of the mouse. Two different emails can be sent out when disk usage runs low. One email can be sent to a desktop with detailed information while another email can be sent to a hand held device. Both email subjects are configurable and hand held device email subjects can be fully configured. The disk usage charts can be fully configured and emailed to other users from within the application.
$59.95
Hard Drive Inspector is a new software application that monitors hard-drives for possible problems and alerts PC owners when things go or might go wrong. The program is based on the S.M.A.R.T technology, which is a part of almost every hard-drive manufactured in the world today.
$29.95
===============================================
20071008
disk test
Web Log Analyzer, Site Analytics
Are there online web site analyzers?
AlterWind Log Analyzer is web site traffic analysis software. This log analyzer allows to generate all traditional reports and also has same additional features. Reports generated by the AlterWind Log Analyzer will help you to estimate the auditory of your site, also to determine the effectiveness of your advertisement and marketing steps, to advance the functionality of the site and find new ways of increasing site's popularity.
The price of the full version of AlterWind Log Analyzer Professional is $125 (US).
The price of the full version of AlterWind Log Analyzer Standard is $89 (US).
The price of the update from AlterWind Log Analyzer Standard to AlterWind Log Analyzer Professional is $59 (US).
=======================================================
20070926
Javascript in each page is the modern way to track, instead of parsing web server logs.
Simple setups from: visistat, nextstat, clicktracks.
Complex setups from: websidestory, webtrends, omniture, google analytics.
IndexTools provides the most cost effective Enterprise Web Analytics solution on the market today - Period!
IndexTools owns the Intellectual Property rights for its award-winning, proprietary database backend. This enables us to deliver the highest quality products and services - both faster, and at a much lower price.
IndexTools Web Analytics 9.0 USD GBP EUR
E-Business starts from...(per month) $49.95 £26.95 €39.95
Enterprise starts from... (per month) $249.00 £139.00 €199.00
Pricing methodology
All customers are assigned an 'entry level fee basis' based on edition and initial committed volume.
In addition, the entry level rate entitles the customer to purchase additional blocks of page views. Additional blocks are purchased to satisfy the total estimated committed monthly volume (e.g. 200.000 page views, 700.000 page views or 200.000.000 page views, etc.).
=====================================
20080217
http://nuconomy.com/
WPP - the ad giant with a growing appetite for digital plays - has bought a stake in Israeli Web analytics company NuConomy for an undisclosed amount, although Globes reports that it was around $3M
NuConomy claims its platform measures consumers engagement and interaction with content, while giving advertisers actionable insight into the audience they engage with. In short, what the want to provide for free is audience engagement data that you might find with the likes of Omniture. How and why will they do it for free? Well we don't yet know the biz model but surely they plan on selling aggregate data. They also are working on software to help you target ads at your readers once they have been segmented by NuConomy.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/11/nuconomy-emerges-to-provide-next-generation-site-analytics/
Tel Aviv/San Francisco based Nuconomy (part of the recent Israeli Web Tour in California) is aiming to give publishers a lot more information about what’s happening on their sites than Google Analytics currently offers.
============================================================
20080411 alarm:clock newsletter
Yahoo! Buys Ad Analytics Firm Indextools
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yahoo! Buys Ad Analytics Firm Indextools Yahoo! has paid an undisclosed amount for online ad analytic firm IndexTools. Founded in 2000 in Frankfort, Germany, IndexTools' competes with bigs like Webtrends, Visual Sciences, Omniture and Coremetrics. To some extent it also competes at the low end with Google Analytics and Microsoft adCenter Analytics. IndexTools track consumer clicks when a visitor loads a Web page that contains IndexTools' tracking script. The script gathers data about the Web page and visitor and forwards the information to a data center, which processes and archives the data.
IndexTools charges anywhere from $50 to $250 per month depending on the size of your business. Yahoo! boasts that it will put the offering in front of its 150K advertiser users. This is much less than its other enterprise competitors. IndexTools says that "We are probably one forth of the price of Omniture, one third of the price of Coremetrix, and one half of the price of WebTrends."
One of the most interesting aspects of the deal is that IndexTools tracks data across Google, Yahoo and MSFT Adcenter. And you can bet most of the data is about Google. Also, Yahoo has close ties with a lot of the analytics companies like Omniture. This is sure to put a frost those. That said, we have to hand it to the Yahoo! folks for making strong strategic moves at a time of turmoil.
AlterWind Log Analyzer is web site traffic analysis software. This log analyzer allows to generate all traditional reports and also has same additional features. Reports generated by the AlterWind Log Analyzer will help you to estimate the auditory of your site, also to determine the effectiveness of your advertisement and marketing steps, to advance the functionality of the site and find new ways of increasing site's popularity.
The price of the full version of AlterWind Log Analyzer Professional is $125 (US).
The price of the full version of AlterWind Log Analyzer Standard is $89 (US).
The price of the update from AlterWind Log Analyzer Standard to AlterWind Log Analyzer Professional is $59 (US).
=======================================================
20070926
Javascript in each page is the modern way to track, instead of parsing web server logs.
Simple setups from: visistat, nextstat, clicktracks.
Complex setups from: websidestory, webtrends, omniture, google analytics.
IndexTools provides the most cost effective Enterprise Web Analytics solution on the market today - Period!
IndexTools owns the Intellectual Property rights for its award-winning, proprietary database backend. This enables us to deliver the highest quality products and services - both faster, and at a much lower price.
IndexTools Web Analytics 9.0 USD GBP EUR
E-Business starts from...(per month) $49.95 £26.95 €39.95
Enterprise starts from... (per month) $249.00 £139.00 €199.00
Pricing methodology
All customers are assigned an 'entry level fee basis' based on edition and initial committed volume.
In addition, the entry level rate entitles the customer to purchase additional blocks of page views. Additional blocks are purchased to satisfy the total estimated committed monthly volume (e.g. 200.000 page views, 700.000 page views or 200.000.000 page views, etc.).
=====================================
20080217
http://nuconomy.com/
WPP - the ad giant with a growing appetite for digital plays - has bought a stake in Israeli Web analytics company NuConomy for an undisclosed amount, although Globes reports that it was around $3M
NuConomy claims its platform measures consumers engagement and interaction with content, while giving advertisers actionable insight into the audience they engage with. In short, what the want to provide for free is audience engagement data that you might find with the likes of Omniture. How and why will they do it for free? Well we don't yet know the biz model but surely they plan on selling aggregate data. They also are working on software to help you target ads at your readers once they have been segmented by NuConomy.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/11/nuconomy-emerges-to-provide-next-generation-site-analytics/
Tel Aviv/San Francisco based Nuconomy (part of the recent Israeli Web Tour in California) is aiming to give publishers a lot more information about what’s happening on their sites than Google Analytics currently offers.
============================================================
20080411 alarm:clock newsletter
Yahoo! Buys Ad Analytics Firm Indextools
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yahoo! Buys Ad Analytics Firm Indextools Yahoo! has paid an undisclosed amount for online ad analytic firm IndexTools. Founded in 2000 in Frankfort, Germany, IndexTools' competes with bigs like Webtrends, Visual Sciences, Omniture and Coremetrics. To some extent it also competes at the low end with Google Analytics and Microsoft adCenter Analytics. IndexTools track consumer clicks when a visitor loads a Web page that contains IndexTools' tracking script. The script gathers data about the Web page and visitor and forwards the information to a data center, which processes and archives the data.
IndexTools charges anywhere from $50 to $250 per month depending on the size of your business. Yahoo! boasts that it will put the offering in front of its 150K advertiser users. This is much less than its other enterprise competitors. IndexTools says that "We are probably one forth of the price of Omniture, one third of the price of Coremetrix, and one half of the price of WebTrends."
One of the most interesting aspects of the deal is that IndexTools tracks data across Google, Yahoo and MSFT Adcenter. And you can bet most of the data is about Google. Also, Yahoo has close ties with a lot of the analytics companies like Omniture. This is sure to put a frost those. That said, we have to hand it to the Yahoo! folks for making strong strategic moves at a time of turmoil.
Monday, May 21, 2007
General Info - Healthy Corporate Thinking
The challenge is to embed healthy thinking at all levels of the organization. The first step is to understand the attributes of a healthy company—in our experience, one that shows resilience to shocks, executes well, aligns employees around a common purpose, focuses on renewal, and ensures that its practices complement one another.
Monitor the way you allocate resources
The quickest way to get everyone in an organization thinking deeply about its health is to break down resources into two categories—those devoted to driving performance and health, respectively.
Monitor the way you allocate resources
The quickest way to get everyone in an organization thinking deeply about its health is to break down resources into two categories—those devoted to driving performance and health, respectively.
Postal Mail Forwarding
$1.75M funding to scan/open/forward/shred mail.
This could be useful for companies that have consultants on the road, or people working from home.
Can this be replicated to postal systems in other countries?
Monthly Pricing Plans
Item Bronze Plan Silver Plan Gold Plan
Pay Monthly $12.50 $24.95 $49.95
Prepay 6 Months - Save! $65.70
($10.95/mo.) $119.70
($19.95/mo.) $239.70
($39.95/mo.)
Best Value
Prepay 12 Months $119.40
($9.95/mo.) $215.40
($17.95/mo.) $431.40
($35.95/mo.)
Included Per Month:
Named Recipients 1 5 20
# of Remote Addresses 1 1 5
# of Mail Pieces Received 35 150 300
# of Pages Scanned
(we never open your mail until you tell us to!)
35 100 300
Mail Recycled Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
Mail Shredded 10 ounces 25 ounces 50 ounces
Storage Days 70 200 400
One-Time Activation Fee Residential: $25
Business: $50 Same as Bronze Same as Bronze
-----------------------------------
2011.11
This avoids the physical mail open/scan by grabbing the physical print stream at the source. This can go worldwide.
"Zumbox provides the world’s first platform for digital postal systems. It connects large transactional, financial and government mailers to consumer households for the delivery and storage of digital postal mail via the Internet. Digital postal mail is an exact facsimile of paper mail created from a redirection of the print stream delivered to a secure, centralized digital mailbox and including convenient, powerful interactive features."
-----------------------------------
2012.02
UPS sells PO Boxes with physical address. An interesting feature is they will bundle the mail and forward it. Another interesting feature is the ability to intercept UPS packages in-flight - make the delivery physical address in a non-sales tax state and intercept everything to home residence that charges sales tax.
This could be useful for companies that have consultants on the road, or people working from home.
Can this be replicated to postal systems in other countries?
Monthly Pricing Plans
Item Bronze Plan Silver Plan Gold Plan
Pay Monthly $12.50 $24.95 $49.95
Prepay 6 Months - Save! $65.70
($10.95/mo.) $119.70
($19.95/mo.) $239.70
($39.95/mo.)
Best Value
Prepay 12 Months $119.40
($9.95/mo.) $215.40
($17.95/mo.) $431.40
($35.95/mo.)
Included Per Month:
Named Recipients 1 5 20
# of Remote Addresses 1 1 5
# of Mail Pieces Received 35 150 300
# of Pages Scanned
(we never open your mail until you tell us to!)
35 100 300
Mail Recycled Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
Mail Shredded 10 ounces 25 ounces 50 ounces
Storage Days 70 200 400
One-Time Activation Fee Residential: $25
Business: $50 Same as Bronze Same as Bronze
-----------------------------------
2011.11
This avoids the physical mail open/scan by grabbing the physical print stream at the source. This can go worldwide.
"Zumbox provides the world’s first platform for digital postal systems. It connects large transactional, financial and government mailers to consumer households for the delivery and storage of digital postal mail via the Internet. Digital postal mail is an exact facsimile of paper mail created from a redirection of the print stream delivered to a secure, centralized digital mailbox and including convenient, powerful interactive features."
-----------------------------------
2012.02
UPS sells PO Boxes with physical address. An interesting feature is they will bundle the mail and forward it. Another interesting feature is the ability to intercept UPS packages in-flight - make the delivery physical address in a non-sales tax state and intercept everything to home residence that charges sales tax.
Paid Talking Head
Ted records a video clip of whatever the highest bidder wants him to say.
tedsaidit.com is a free speech and free market site. High bidders on eBay become the official sponsor- and have creative input in the actual content- of a one minute tedsaidit.com quicktime web video. Release dates are specified in the live eBay auctions.
tedsaidit.com is a free speech and free market site. High bidders on eBay become the official sponsor- and have creative input in the actual content- of a one minute tedsaidit.com quicktime web video. Release dates are specified in the live eBay auctions.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
General Info - Software Development Steps
First 11 steps look do-able.
1) Requirements specification
2) Research helpful libraries and frameworks
3) Technical specification
4) Prototype
5) Realistic requirements specification
6) Research helpful libraries and frameworks
7) Rewritten technical specification
8) Revised requirements specification
9) Revised technical specification
10) Start implementation. Get portions of it working
11) Release alpha, look for help
12) ?
13) Profit!!!
I would make these steps:
4) Prototype
10) Start implementation. Get portions of it working
I know what the SE textbooks say, but you have to get started, especially if it's your own personal project and you're looking to get people involved.
You must start, it's critical. Do not create a Sourceforge account. Do not create a Google Code account. Do not create or commission a website. Do not apply for an SVN account from the admins. Do not create icons. Do not gather a mountain of docs and resources. Do not attempt to specify your specifications. Do not test different IDEs, frameworks, GUIs or databases. Do not read blogs - no 'planet' blogs, no developer blogs. Do not, under any circumstance, create or commission your own blog. Do not pass Go and do not collect $200 until you have got the bloody thing going.
1) Requirements specification
2) Research helpful libraries and frameworks
3) Technical specification
4) Prototype
5) Realistic requirements specification
6) Research helpful libraries and frameworks
7) Rewritten technical specification
8) Revised requirements specification
9) Revised technical specification
10) Start implementation. Get portions of it working
11) Release alpha, look for help
12) ?
13) Profit!!!
I would make these steps:
4) Prototype
10) Start implementation. Get portions of it working
I know what the SE textbooks say, but you have to get started, especially if it's your own personal project and you're looking to get people involved.
You must start, it's critical. Do not create a Sourceforge account. Do not create a Google Code account. Do not create or commission a website. Do not apply for an SVN account from the admins. Do not create icons. Do not gather a mountain of docs and resources. Do not attempt to specify your specifications. Do not test different IDEs, frameworks, GUIs or databases. Do not read blogs - no 'planet' blogs, no developer blogs. Do not, under any circumstance, create or commission your own blog. Do not pass Go and do not collect $200 until you have got the bloody thing going.
General Info - Commencement Address
Steve Jobs at Stanford, 2005:
So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
...
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
...
So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
...
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
...
General Info - Appliance Hardware
These are small, low-power, low-price.
MicroClient Jr.
MicroClient Jr. w/ no other option 120.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ option to install HD 120.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ two RS232 ports 150.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ WiFi 170.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ WiFi and two RS232 ports 200.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ support for 3rd party WiFi 120.00
Accessories (Add to price)
1 GB CF (Compact Flash) 40.00
2 GB CF (Compact Flash) 60.00
SIAS Full Screen Browser (kiosk mode, installed in 128MB CF) 50.00
SIAS Thin Client Software 50.00
1 GB CF (Compact Flash) with IPCop (Firewall/VPN Software) 40.00
1 GB CF (Compact Flash) with Puppy Linux / Damn Small Linux 40.00
decTOPTM
Memory 128MB SDRAM 10GB HDD
Power AC adapter
Connectivity V.92 modem / Ethernet
Input Devices Mouse Keyboard
Ports 4 USB VGA Video Out (up 1600x1200)
Audio
Microphone In (audio in)
Headphone Out (audio out)
Dimensions 5.5x 8.5 x 2.5 inches
Weight 3 lbs
Model Design Mini desktop
Standard Limited Warranty 1 year
Software Specifications Microsoft Windows CE. NET 5.0
$99 Sheeva
CPU Core
* 1.2 GHz operation
* L1 Cache: 16K Instruction + 16K Data
* L2 Cache: 256KB
Memory
* DDR2 400MHz, 16-bit bus
* 512MB DDR2: 1Gb x8, 4 devices
* Power efficient Samsung devices
* NAND FLASH Controller, 8-bit bus
* 512MB NAND FLASH: 4Gb x8, direct boot
* 128-bit eFuse Memory
Power
* Universal AC input, 5V DC output module
* High efficiency POL DC-DC converters
Development Interface
* System Development Board
* JTAG and Console Interface via USB
* SDIO expansion
* JTAG OpenOCD support via USB
High speed I/O & Peripherals
* GE, USB 2.0 Host
* RTC w/ Battery
MicroClient Jr.
MicroClient Jr. w/ no other option 120.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ option to install HD 120.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ two RS232 ports 150.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ WiFi 170.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ WiFi and two RS232 ports 200.00
MicroClient Jr. w/ support for 3rd party WiFi 120.00
Accessories (Add to price)
1 GB CF (Compact Flash) 40.00
2 GB CF (Compact Flash) 60.00
SIAS Full Screen Browser (kiosk mode, installed in 128MB CF) 50.00
SIAS Thin Client Software 50.00
1 GB CF (Compact Flash) with IPCop (Firewall/VPN Software) 40.00
1 GB CF (Compact Flash) with Puppy Linux / Damn Small Linux 40.00
decTOPTM
Memory 128MB SDRAM 10GB HDD
Power AC adapter
Connectivity V.92 modem / Ethernet
Input Devices Mouse Keyboard
Ports 4 USB VGA Video Out (up 1600x1200)
Audio
Microphone In (audio in)
Headphone Out (audio out)
Dimensions 5.5x 8.5 x 2.5 inches
Weight 3 lbs
Model Design Mini desktop
Standard Limited Warranty 1 year
Software Specifications Microsoft Windows CE. NET 5.0
$99 Sheeva
CPU Core
* 1.2 GHz operation
* L1 Cache: 16K Instruction + 16K Data
* L2 Cache: 256KB
Memory
* DDR2 400MHz, 16-bit bus
* 512MB DDR2: 1Gb x8, 4 devices
* Power efficient Samsung devices
* NAND FLASH Controller, 8-bit bus
* 512MB NAND FLASH: 4Gb x8, direct boot
* 128-bit eFuse Memory
Power
* Universal AC input, 5V DC output module
* High efficiency POL DC-DC converters
Development Interface
* System Development Board
* JTAG and Console Interface via USB
* SDIO expansion
* JTAG OpenOCD support via USB
High speed I/O & Peripherals
* GE, USB 2.0 Host
* RTC w/ Battery
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Morbidty And Mortality Mash Up
Overlay data on a mapping service.
Provisional cases of infrequently reported notifiable diseases Data is html table.
May be able to serve a few ads.
Provisional cases of infrequently reported notifiable diseases Data is html table.
May be able to serve a few ads.
OSHA Injury Reports
OSHA injury summaries must be certified and posted.
Online 300 log.
Products: OSHA300Online: Pricing
Start Using OSHA 300 Online Today!
Free Trial!
Listed below is the pricing for OSHA 300 Online. OSHA 300 Online is priced per location and is a monthly service with no long-term obligations or contracts.
Per Location
Per Month
1 - 10 Locations
$ 5.00
More than 10 Locations (Discount Available)
$ Call
Number of Users
Unlimited
Number of Locations
Unlimited
Number of Incidents
Unlimited
* Five locations or less are billed annually
* Six or more locations can be billled monthly.
You sit down with them in an office, and they will normally want to look at your record keeping requirements, your OSHA 300 log, and your training requirements. That could take 15 minutes, it could take an hour; it depends on how big your facility is, and what you do, exactly.
__________________________________________________________________
2013.01
http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/handbookhttp://www.dol.gov/elaws/OSHARecordkeeping.htm
http://www.in.gov/dol/files/300_Log_Presentation.pdf
Online 300 log.
Products: OSHA300Online: Pricing
Start Using OSHA 300 Online Today!
Free Trial!
Listed below is the pricing for OSHA 300 Online. OSHA 300 Online is priced per location and is a monthly service with no long-term obligations or contracts.
Per Location
Per Month
1 - 10 Locations
$ 5.00
More than 10 Locations (Discount Available)
$ Call
Number of Users
Unlimited
Number of Locations
Unlimited
Number of Incidents
Unlimited
* Five locations or less are billed annually
* Six or more locations can be billled monthly.
You sit down with them in an office, and they will normally want to look at your record keeping requirements, your OSHA 300 log, and your training requirements. That could take 15 minutes, it could take an hour; it depends on how big your facility is, and what you do, exactly.
__________________________________________________________________
2013.01
http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/handbookhttp://www.dol.gov/elaws/OSHARecordkeeping.htm
http://www.in.gov/dol/files/300_Log_Presentation.pdf
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Start A Bank
StartaBank's industry specialists can help you from inception through the opening of the bank's doors welcoming your first customer. With over 20 years of industry experience, StartaBank has the answers you'll need to realize your goal of opening a new community bank.
America's Christian Credit Union, which requires attendance at certain evangelical churches. Others were pretty darned broad, like Wescom Credit Union, which allows anyone who lives, works, worships or goes to school in Southern California to become a member.
--------------------------------------------
2009.01
Start a credit union. Or multiple credit unions - for different focus groups. One "open credit union" could allow online voting/participation in many decisions.
Create and license software needed to start/run a credit union. SaaS would allow quicker credit union startups for less upfront cost.
--------------------------------------------
2009.03
Regulatory risk in that credit unions are chartered by law/politicians. The laws can change to make it less profitable.
This article says that North Dakota has a budget surplus and all banking uses the state-owned Bank of North Dakota. Supposedly North Dakota is the only state with it's own bank.
If states can do it, can cities/towns also do it?
( Member Business Lending )
This effectively limits the dollar amount of total MBL lending to 12.25% of credit union total assets.
...
Even though very few credit unions are approaching the 12.25% MBL ceiling, the very existence of that ceiling discourages credit unions from entering the field of member business lending. Credit unions must meet strict regulatory requirements before implementing an MBL program, including the addition of experienced staff. Many are concerned that the costs of meeting these requirements cannot be recovered with a limit of only 12.25% of assets.
Credit Union conference June 2009 http://training.cuna.org/download/acuc_2009_brochure.pdf
--------------------------------------------
Credit Union Software:
http://www.pclender.com/solutions_cu.php
http://strategicservices.cuna.org/
--------------------------------------------
Starting A Credit Union:
10 steps to starting your own credit union
Time and dedication required to start your own credit union
How to Start a Credit Union
Credit Union can be chartered at state level or at federal level.
NCUA charters federal credit unions.
--------------------------------------------
How is a Savings & Loan different?
America's Christian Credit Union, which requires attendance at certain evangelical churches. Others were pretty darned broad, like Wescom Credit Union, which allows anyone who lives, works, worships or goes to school in Southern California to become a member.
--------------------------------------------
2009.01
Start a credit union. Or multiple credit unions - for different focus groups. One "open credit union" could allow online voting/participation in many decisions.
Create and license software needed to start/run a credit union. SaaS would allow quicker credit union startups for less upfront cost.
--------------------------------------------
2009.03
Regulatory risk in that credit unions are chartered by law/politicians. The laws can change to make it less profitable.
This article says that North Dakota has a budget surplus and all banking uses the state-owned Bank of North Dakota. Supposedly North Dakota is the only state with it's own bank.
If states can do it, can cities/towns also do it?
( Member Business Lending )
This effectively limits the dollar amount of total MBL lending to 12.25% of credit union total assets.
...
Even though very few credit unions are approaching the 12.25% MBL ceiling, the very existence of that ceiling discourages credit unions from entering the field of member business lending. Credit unions must meet strict regulatory requirements before implementing an MBL program, including the addition of experienced staff. Many are concerned that the costs of meeting these requirements cannot be recovered with a limit of only 12.25% of assets.
Credit Union conference June 2009 http://training.cuna.org/download/acuc_2009_brochure.pdf
--------------------------------------------
Credit Union Software:
http://www.pclender.com/solutions_cu.php
http://strategicservices.cuna.org/
--------------------------------------------
Starting A Credit Union:
10 steps to starting your own credit union
Time and dedication required to start your own credit union
How to Start a Credit Union
Credit Union can be chartered at state level or at federal level.
NCUA charters federal credit unions.
--------------------------------------------
How is a Savings & Loan different?
IP Address Management
BlueCat Networks Enterprise IP Address Management Appliance
BlueCat Networks Launches Version 2.0 of Enterprise IP Address Management Appliance
BlueCat Networks (www.bluecatnetworks.com) has announced the commercial availability of version 2.0 of its Proteus Enterprise IP Address Management (IPAM) Appliance, an end-to-end IPAM solution optimized for both DNS and DHCP and IPv4 and IPv6 multi-mode networks. Proteus provides central management and control of geographically dispersed networks with multiple configurations and millions of IP address. Proteus 2.0 offers a multi-core architecture, built-in network discovery tools, migration templates, MAC pooling, and full DNS and DHCP IPv6 support. Pricing for Proteus starts at $29,995.
IP Address Management Built Right with NO PER IP PRICING!
* IP Address Management, DNS and DHCP
* 100% Appliance Based
* 100% Web-Based Administration
* User Provisioning & Scheduled Deployments
* Full Auditing, Reporting and Compliance
Proteus 2150™ IP Address Management (IPAM) Appliance for Small and Medium Enterprise
Proteus 2150™ delivers the power of BlueCat’s enterprise class Proteus 5000 IP Address Management Appliance to the small and medium enterprise, empowering administrators to take command and control of their IP network. The Proteus 2150 provides small and medium enterprises a powerful, yet affordable, IP Address Management solution that enables organizations to dramatically improve operational efficiency and service levels for mission-critical IP networks.
Proteus 2150™ helps the small and medium sized enterprise streamline and reduce the cost of managing IPAM DNS/DHCP services.
Proteus 2150™ offers:
* Advanced support for IPv4 and IPv6 DNS and DHCP as well as full-circle VoIP (ENUM, NAPTR, DNS, DHCP, NTP & TFTP) with wide-area failover
* Integrated IP Inventory Modeling with end-to-end DNS and DHCP Management
* 100% web-based user interface with concurrent management for over 500 administrators
* Comprehensive web service-based SOAP application programming interface (API) simplifies integration with existing applications and infrastructure (Support for Perl and Java Scripts)
* Industry-leading scalability, resiliency and availability
* Able to centrally manage up to 10 Adonis appliances
Key Benefits
* Industry-leading ROI of up to 500% within the first year of deployment
* Deliver high availability with up to 99.999% uptime
* Object Tagging — Simplifies the management and administration of complex, dispersed networks.
* Multi Core Architecture — Model, build and verify DNS, DHCP and IP Address configurations from one appliance, then deploy on your time when you are ready
* Network Discovery — Provides on the fly discovery of all network assets to build new configuration or audit the accuracy of existing IP network models.
* Network Migration — Simplify migration from existing IPAM environments (spreadsheets, Lucent Vital QIP etc.)
Key Features Integrated, Full Lifecycle Management
* Complete solution for managing addresses, in IPv4and IPv6 address spaces.
* Centrally manage address allocation/ reallocation, pool monitoring, utilization tracking and creation and deployment of DNS/DHCP configurations
Ease of Use and Reliability
* 100% web-based administration interface streamlines and improves configuration accuracy for critical DNS/DHCP services
* Built-in configuration error-checking
* Delegated administration with granular access rights
* Automated address block allocation saves time, reduces errors and maximizes address utilization
* Carrier class appliance solution with built-in failover and high availability
Flexibility and Scalability
* Advanced navigation features improve efficiencies, reduce learning curves and enable administrators with varying skills levels to manage and deploy the network
* Delegated administration rights with concurrency for over 100 administrators
* Integrated Identity Management with Pre Connect Network Access Control (NAC)
* Built-in support for LDAP/RADIUS/AD/Kerberos authentication
* Scalable to millions of IP addresses and thousand of locations
Auditing and Reporting
* Built-in reporting engine drives compliance with SOX, SAS 70, PCI and HIPAA
* Advanced audit and reporting covers all aspects of IP management including DNS, DHCP, IP Inventories, Network Performance, Change Management and Network Access Controls
Lower Cost of Ownership
* Appliance-based licensing — No costly Per-IP Licensing models
* Migration Engine — Migrate legacy IPAM into Proteus effortlessly
* Lowest cost of ownership — End-to-end IPAM solution, no additional modules required — Proteus grows with your business
* Lower the cost of implementation, drive administrative efficiencies and improve network accessibility with advanced policy management
Proteus — IP Address Management Built Right!
IP Address Management
Tracking changes and updates to an enterprise’s IP address space is cumbersome. Existing spreadsheets based solutions and home grown applications are not linked to DNS and DHCP servers, this makes keeping these inventories accurate increasingly difficult. It is the complexity of these networks that is driving the need for dedicated IP Address Management (IPAM) solutions. Proteus Enterprise IP Address Management Appliance™ version 2.0, is the best way to handle the myriad of details involved in managing complex distributed networks.
Proteus is designed to meet the needs of organizations in a number of markets including:
* Financial Services (Banking, Brokerage, Retail, Insurance)
* Retail and Manufacturing Organizations
* Healthcare (Hospitals and Extended Care Facilities)
* Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical
* Government (Federal, State Government Agencies)
* Military (Intelligence, National Security, Department of Defense, Army, Navy)
* Educational Organizations
* Organizations with complex VoIP and Unified Communications Deployments
Proteus IPAM Appliance enables organizations to structure and run mission-critical IP networks based on the needs of business while simplifying the arduous task of complying with securities and privacy regulations. Using a unique Multi-Core architecture, Proteus seamlessly aligns and translates business policy with DHCP and DNS services across the enterprise. Proteus provides end-to-end integrated IP Management service for unified control of network administration, authorization, authentication and audit.
Web-Based, Purpose-Built Enterprise IPAM Appliance
Proteus is the industry's only 100% web-based, Enterprise IP Address Management (IPAM) appliance to provide integrated management of IPv4 and IPv6 networks.
Proteus is a purpose-built appliance based on an optimized firewall-grade operating system that has never in its 5 years of use, to our knowledge, been breached. Proteus provides the industries most advanced IPAM application programming interface (API) to speed integration with third party provisioning systems, enterprise resource planning applications and other tools. The API uses web-services (SOAP) to drive interoperability; this means organizations can easily create custom integrations using Java and Perl scripting. Proteus enables you to automatically deploy, manage, and monitor your entire IP infrastructure to drive ensure compliance with industry regulations such as SOX, SAS No 70, GLBA, SEC, and HIPAA regulations.
The Proteus IP Address Management (IPAM) Appliance is designed to help organizations with large, geographically dispersed networks to easily configure, automate and integrate IP services across the entire network, regardless of network, size, scope or location. Proteus is massively scalable and provides non-stop high availability. A single Proteus appliance will easily manage millions of IP addresses and thousands of domains. Proteus streamlines the management and operation of your organization’s existing DNS and DHCP servers, making management, deployment, and administration of these mission-critical infrastructure applications simple and secure.
DNS + DHCP + IP Modeling = PROTEUS
Any device or service connecting to a network requires a unique IP address, but using a spreadsheet or database to keep track of addresses invites disaster in today’s business environment. An onslaught of wireless mobile devices and VoIP devices are feeding an insatiable appetite for scarce IP addresses — an effective IP address management solutions integrates IP inventory management, network modeling and then automatically translates these models and inventories into functional, error-free DNS and DHCP configurations.
Design your networks with a simple conceptual view, then deploy and manage those networks across the entire organization. With Proteus, network administrators get the benefits of centralized proactive management, audit reporting, and lower total cost of ownership for network resources. Enabling groups of administrators to proactively manage up to 100,000 zones, the typical return-on-investment for a Proteus IPAM solution is as high as 500%.
IP Address Management: under the hood
Proteus uses a “multi-core” architecture to seamlessly manage and monitor all DNS and DHCP service activities on the network. The multi-core architecture makes integration with identity management (IDM), Pre and Post Connect Network Access Control (NAC) easy as well. This architecture enables organizations to manage thousands of Adonis DNS/DHCP/IDM appliances, making Proteus the ideal tool for planning and implementing complex IP networks. Proteus works with existing security and authentication infrastructure as RADIUS/LDAP/AD /Kerberos /RSA SecureID support is built-in.
Proteus handles the non-intuitive service integration details, freeing you to envision and design an entire network solution without the distraction of actual implementation. When it’s time to deploy, Proteus becomes “mission control”, offering full customization of configurations from a centralized and secure web-based interface.
See a view of the data that matches the perspective most suitable to the situation — conceptual or task-oriented — and let Proteus manage the behind-the-scenes details. Proteus checks DNS records syntactically and logically prior to configuration deployment, enabling administrators to edit any portion of the configuration before deployment. All links are verified with Proteus’ advanced live data-checking feature, ensuring availability, minimizing dead records, and improving network resource resolution and reliability.
End-to-end solutions, security, and support
One in ten companies with revenues exceeding one billion dollars still lack an IP Address Management (IPAM) solution, according to Forrester Research, with almost half of US businesses still using spreadsheet-based IP management and a limited-functionality manual update process. IPAM enables centralized management of large distributed and dynamic networks, but any size organization can benefit from implementing a comprehensive IPAM solution. The inherent complexity of managing unified policies — for IP protocol, DHCP, DNS, and other directories — is rapidly forcing organizations to adopt end-to-end IPAM solutions like Proteus.
With Proteus, organizations large or small benefit from an IPAM design and implementation that is secure and stable at all levels. Defeat hackers, DNS cache poisoning, and denial-of-service attacks with the tightest ACL/TSIG-implemented security available in current networks. Every transaction is audited and available to administrators, and DNS configurations are validated to ensure availability and minimize critical outages. Proteus Enterprise IPAM Appliance is all about the details, but delivers big-picture benefits that include intuitive interfaces, the most advanced data checking tools available, and world-class technical support from the Client Care professionals of BlueCat Networks.
_____________________________________________
IP Address Manager provides detailed visibility into IP address space usage.
Starts at $1995
"Prevent your subnets and DHCP scopes from filling up with preventative alert notifications
Periodically scan your Cisco IOS DHCP and Microsoft® DHCP servers for IP address changes
Create IPv6 subnets and plan your IPv6 migrations NEW!
Create, schedule, and share reports showing IP address space percent utilization
Coordinate team access with role-based access control and track who made each change
Determine what device had a specific IP address at a given point in time with historical address tracking NEW!
Scan and track unused IP addresses for free and only pay for managing the IP addresses that you are using
Easily identify non-responsive IP addresses to optimize your IP allocations"
BlueCat Networks Launches Version 2.0 of Enterprise IP Address Management Appliance
BlueCat Networks (www.bluecatnetworks.com) has announced the commercial availability of version 2.0 of its Proteus Enterprise IP Address Management (IPAM) Appliance, an end-to-end IPAM solution optimized for both DNS and DHCP and IPv4 and IPv6 multi-mode networks. Proteus provides central management and control of geographically dispersed networks with multiple configurations and millions of IP address. Proteus 2.0 offers a multi-core architecture, built-in network discovery tools, migration templates, MAC pooling, and full DNS and DHCP IPv6 support. Pricing for Proteus starts at $29,995.
IP Address Management Built Right with NO PER IP PRICING!
* IP Address Management, DNS and DHCP
* 100% Appliance Based
* 100% Web-Based Administration
* User Provisioning & Scheduled Deployments
* Full Auditing, Reporting and Compliance
Proteus 2150™ IP Address Management (IPAM) Appliance for Small and Medium Enterprise
Proteus 2150™ delivers the power of BlueCat’s enterprise class Proteus 5000 IP Address Management Appliance to the small and medium enterprise, empowering administrators to take command and control of their IP network. The Proteus 2150 provides small and medium enterprises a powerful, yet affordable, IP Address Management solution that enables organizations to dramatically improve operational efficiency and service levels for mission-critical IP networks.
Proteus 2150™ helps the small and medium sized enterprise streamline and reduce the cost of managing IPAM DNS/DHCP services.
Proteus 2150™ offers:
* Advanced support for IPv4 and IPv6 DNS and DHCP as well as full-circle VoIP (ENUM, NAPTR, DNS, DHCP, NTP & TFTP) with wide-area failover
* Integrated IP Inventory Modeling with end-to-end DNS and DHCP Management
* 100% web-based user interface with concurrent management for over 500 administrators
* Comprehensive web service-based SOAP application programming interface (API) simplifies integration with existing applications and infrastructure (Support for Perl and Java Scripts)
* Industry-leading scalability, resiliency and availability
* Able to centrally manage up to 10 Adonis appliances
Key Benefits
* Industry-leading ROI of up to 500% within the first year of deployment
* Deliver high availability with up to 99.999% uptime
* Object Tagging — Simplifies the management and administration of complex, dispersed networks.
* Multi Core Architecture — Model, build and verify DNS, DHCP and IP Address configurations from one appliance, then deploy on your time when you are ready
* Network Discovery — Provides on the fly discovery of all network assets to build new configuration or audit the accuracy of existing IP network models.
* Network Migration — Simplify migration from existing IPAM environments (spreadsheets, Lucent Vital QIP etc.)
Key Features Integrated, Full Lifecycle Management
* Complete solution for managing addresses, in IPv4and IPv6 address spaces.
* Centrally manage address allocation/ reallocation, pool monitoring, utilization tracking and creation and deployment of DNS/DHCP configurations
Ease of Use and Reliability
* 100% web-based administration interface streamlines and improves configuration accuracy for critical DNS/DHCP services
* Built-in configuration error-checking
* Delegated administration with granular access rights
* Automated address block allocation saves time, reduces errors and maximizes address utilization
* Carrier class appliance solution with built-in failover and high availability
Flexibility and Scalability
* Advanced navigation features improve efficiencies, reduce learning curves and enable administrators with varying skills levels to manage and deploy the network
* Delegated administration rights with concurrency for over 100 administrators
* Integrated Identity Management with Pre Connect Network Access Control (NAC)
* Built-in support for LDAP/RADIUS/AD/Kerberos authentication
* Scalable to millions of IP addresses and thousand of locations
Auditing and Reporting
* Built-in reporting engine drives compliance with SOX, SAS 70, PCI and HIPAA
* Advanced audit and reporting covers all aspects of IP management including DNS, DHCP, IP Inventories, Network Performance, Change Management and Network Access Controls
Lower Cost of Ownership
* Appliance-based licensing — No costly Per-IP Licensing models
* Migration Engine — Migrate legacy IPAM into Proteus effortlessly
* Lowest cost of ownership — End-to-end IPAM solution, no additional modules required — Proteus grows with your business
* Lower the cost of implementation, drive administrative efficiencies and improve network accessibility with advanced policy management
Proteus — IP Address Management Built Right!
IP Address Management
Tracking changes and updates to an enterprise’s IP address space is cumbersome. Existing spreadsheets based solutions and home grown applications are not linked to DNS and DHCP servers, this makes keeping these inventories accurate increasingly difficult. It is the complexity of these networks that is driving the need for dedicated IP Address Management (IPAM) solutions. Proteus Enterprise IP Address Management Appliance™ version 2.0, is the best way to handle the myriad of details involved in managing complex distributed networks.
Proteus is designed to meet the needs of organizations in a number of markets including:
* Financial Services (Banking, Brokerage, Retail, Insurance)
* Retail and Manufacturing Organizations
* Healthcare (Hospitals and Extended Care Facilities)
* Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical
* Government (Federal, State Government Agencies)
* Military (Intelligence, National Security, Department of Defense, Army, Navy)
* Educational Organizations
* Organizations with complex VoIP and Unified Communications Deployments
Proteus IPAM Appliance enables organizations to structure and run mission-critical IP networks based on the needs of business while simplifying the arduous task of complying with securities and privacy regulations. Using a unique Multi-Core architecture, Proteus seamlessly aligns and translates business policy with DHCP and DNS services across the enterprise. Proteus provides end-to-end integrated IP Management service for unified control of network administration, authorization, authentication and audit.
Web-Based, Purpose-Built Enterprise IPAM Appliance
Proteus is the industry's only 100% web-based, Enterprise IP Address Management (IPAM) appliance to provide integrated management of IPv4 and IPv6 networks.
Proteus is a purpose-built appliance based on an optimized firewall-grade operating system that has never in its 5 years of use, to our knowledge, been breached. Proteus provides the industries most advanced IPAM application programming interface (API) to speed integration with third party provisioning systems, enterprise resource planning applications and other tools. The API uses web-services (SOAP) to drive interoperability; this means organizations can easily create custom integrations using Java and Perl scripting. Proteus enables you to automatically deploy, manage, and monitor your entire IP infrastructure to drive ensure compliance with industry regulations such as SOX, SAS No 70, GLBA, SEC, and HIPAA regulations.
The Proteus IP Address Management (IPAM) Appliance is designed to help organizations with large, geographically dispersed networks to easily configure, automate and integrate IP services across the entire network, regardless of network, size, scope or location. Proteus is massively scalable and provides non-stop high availability. A single Proteus appliance will easily manage millions of IP addresses and thousands of domains. Proteus streamlines the management and operation of your organization’s existing DNS and DHCP servers, making management, deployment, and administration of these mission-critical infrastructure applications simple and secure.
DNS + DHCP + IP Modeling = PROTEUS
Any device or service connecting to a network requires a unique IP address, but using a spreadsheet or database to keep track of addresses invites disaster in today’s business environment. An onslaught of wireless mobile devices and VoIP devices are feeding an insatiable appetite for scarce IP addresses — an effective IP address management solutions integrates IP inventory management, network modeling and then automatically translates these models and inventories into functional, error-free DNS and DHCP configurations.
Design your networks with a simple conceptual view, then deploy and manage those networks across the entire organization. With Proteus, network administrators get the benefits of centralized proactive management, audit reporting, and lower total cost of ownership for network resources. Enabling groups of administrators to proactively manage up to 100,000 zones, the typical return-on-investment for a Proteus IPAM solution is as high as 500%.
IP Address Management: under the hood
Proteus uses a “multi-core” architecture to seamlessly manage and monitor all DNS and DHCP service activities on the network. The multi-core architecture makes integration with identity management (IDM), Pre and Post Connect Network Access Control (NAC) easy as well. This architecture enables organizations to manage thousands of Adonis DNS/DHCP/IDM appliances, making Proteus the ideal tool for planning and implementing complex IP networks. Proteus works with existing security and authentication infrastructure as RADIUS/LDAP/AD /Kerberos /RSA SecureID support is built-in.
Proteus handles the non-intuitive service integration details, freeing you to envision and design an entire network solution without the distraction of actual implementation. When it’s time to deploy, Proteus becomes “mission control”, offering full customization of configurations from a centralized and secure web-based interface.
See a view of the data that matches the perspective most suitable to the situation — conceptual or task-oriented — and let Proteus manage the behind-the-scenes details. Proteus checks DNS records syntactically and logically prior to configuration deployment, enabling administrators to edit any portion of the configuration before deployment. All links are verified with Proteus’ advanced live data-checking feature, ensuring availability, minimizing dead records, and improving network resource resolution and reliability.
End-to-end solutions, security, and support
One in ten companies with revenues exceeding one billion dollars still lack an IP Address Management (IPAM) solution, according to Forrester Research, with almost half of US businesses still using spreadsheet-based IP management and a limited-functionality manual update process. IPAM enables centralized management of large distributed and dynamic networks, but any size organization can benefit from implementing a comprehensive IPAM solution. The inherent complexity of managing unified policies — for IP protocol, DHCP, DNS, and other directories — is rapidly forcing organizations to adopt end-to-end IPAM solutions like Proteus.
With Proteus, organizations large or small benefit from an IPAM design and implementation that is secure and stable at all levels. Defeat hackers, DNS cache poisoning, and denial-of-service attacks with the tightest ACL/TSIG-implemented security available in current networks. Every transaction is audited and available to administrators, and DNS configurations are validated to ensure availability and minimize critical outages. Proteus Enterprise IPAM Appliance is all about the details, but delivers big-picture benefits that include intuitive interfaces, the most advanced data checking tools available, and world-class technical support from the Client Care professionals of BlueCat Networks.
_____________________________________________
IP Address Manager provides detailed visibility into IP address space usage.
Starts at $1995
"Prevent your subnets and DHCP scopes from filling up with preventative alert notifications
Periodically scan your Cisco IOS DHCP and Microsoft® DHCP servers for IP address changes
Create IPv6 subnets and plan your IPv6 migrations NEW!
Create, schedule, and share reports showing IP address space percent utilization
Coordinate team access with role-based access control and track who made each change
Determine what device had a specific IP address at a given point in time with historical address tracking NEW!
Scan and track unused IP addresses for free and only pay for managing the IP addresses that you are using
Easily identify non-responsive IP addresses to optimize your IP allocations"
Whole House Air Purification
Manufacture a similar filter box, and get some certification (Consumer Reports?). Then sell into residential home builders (Toll Brothers) in volume.
Whole-House Air Purification
Perfect 16 ID-2225 (for 3-ton air handlers)
IQAir Installed Price:
$2,795.00
Perfect 16 ID-2530 (for 5-ton air handlers)
IQAir Installed Price:
$3,295.00
This is a box that provides two V-shaped surfaces for four thick furnace filters. No moving parts, just simple filtration in-line on the furnace air intake. There are various replacement filters prices from $64 to $480.
----------------------------------------
MSRP $549, online store $329
Key Features:
BioGS™ HEPA Filtration - Main filter made of the most advanced Bio-Engineered Fiber Material which traps and destroys allergens and contaminants. (No secondary pollution through the HEPA filter like the conventional HEPA Air Cleaner.)
Flu Prevention Capability - The Osaka Public Health Research Center in Japan found that the BioGS™ HEPA filter coated with anti-influenza virus agent effectively lowered the viral transmission of H3N2 influenza virus.
Traps airborne allergens and contaminants down to 0.3 microns in size, 99.97% of the time.
Nano-Silver Sterilization - Features a Nano-Silver pre-filter to help kill airborne bacteria, mold and viruses.
Energy Efficient - Inexpensive to operate. (Only consumes 33 Watt at high speed & 7 Watt at silent speed.)
Cutting Edge Motor Technology with Inverter Control - Unit can operate at 5 different speeds. Completely Silent at low speed.
Covers up to 600 square feet based on 2 air changes per hour.
Generates negative-ions.
Activated Carbon Deodorization - Charcoal based Honeycomb Activated Carbon filter eliminates many common household odors, Volatile Organic compounds and household chemical smells.
Zero Ozone Emissions
Superior Quality - Product engineered by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and includes a 5 year warranty.
Long Life HEPA Filter, Washable Pre-filter & Deodorization filter - HEPA filter lasts up to 3 years based on 12 hours daily operation. Pre-filter and Charcoal based Honeycomb Activated Carbon filter are washable.
General
Size of Product (INCH) 22.5H x 18W x 9D
Weight 17 lbs.
Color Chrome Silver
Pearl White
Lime Green
Metallic Blue
Power Consumption 7 to 33 watts
Timer Setting 1, 2, 4 Hours
Modes of Operation Pollen, Auto, Turbo, Silent
Fan Speeds Low, Medium, High, and Turbo
Air Quality Sensor Dust, Odor
Effective Coverage Area
Normal Residential Use 600 square feet
Allergy Sufferer 300 square feet
Air Flow (Cubic Feet per minute)
Speed 5 (Turbo) 159 CFM
Speed 4 (High) 139 CFM
Speed 3 (Med) 95 CFM
Speed 2 (Low) 60 CFM
Speed 1 (Silent) 39 CFM
Noise Level
Speed 5 (Turbo) 45 dB(A)
Speed 4 (High) 39.9 dB(A)
Speed 3 (Med) 34.2 dB(A)
Speed 2 (Low) 25.9 dB(A)
Speed 1 (Silent) 18.4 dB(A)
CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate)
Pollen 163
Dust 145
Smoke 144
Filter Life
Nano-Silver Pre-Filter Washable
BioGS™ HEPA Filter Up to 3 years
Deodorization Activated Carbon Filter Washable (recommended replacement every 3 years)
Warranty
Parts Warranty 5 Years
Labor Warranty 5 Years
Whole-House Air Purification
Perfect 16 ID-2225 (for 3-ton air handlers)
IQAir Installed Price:
$2,795.00
Perfect 16 ID-2530 (for 5-ton air handlers)
IQAir Installed Price:
$3,295.00
This is a box that provides two V-shaped surfaces for four thick furnace filters. No moving parts, just simple filtration in-line on the furnace air intake. There are various replacement filters prices from $64 to $480.
----------------------------------------
MSRP $549, online store $329
Key Features:
BioGS™ HEPA Filtration - Main filter made of the most advanced Bio-Engineered Fiber Material which traps and destroys allergens and contaminants. (No secondary pollution through the HEPA filter like the conventional HEPA Air Cleaner.)
Flu Prevention Capability - The Osaka Public Health Research Center in Japan found that the BioGS™ HEPA filter coated with anti-influenza virus agent effectively lowered the viral transmission of H3N2 influenza virus.
Traps airborne allergens and contaminants down to 0.3 microns in size, 99.97% of the time.
Nano-Silver Sterilization - Features a Nano-Silver pre-filter to help kill airborne bacteria, mold and viruses.
Energy Efficient - Inexpensive to operate. (Only consumes 33 Watt at high speed & 7 Watt at silent speed.)
Cutting Edge Motor Technology with Inverter Control - Unit can operate at 5 different speeds. Completely Silent at low speed.
Covers up to 600 square feet based on 2 air changes per hour.
Generates negative-ions.
Activated Carbon Deodorization - Charcoal based Honeycomb Activated Carbon filter eliminates many common household odors, Volatile Organic compounds and household chemical smells.
Zero Ozone Emissions
Superior Quality - Product engineered by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and includes a 5 year warranty.
Long Life HEPA Filter, Washable Pre-filter & Deodorization filter - HEPA filter lasts up to 3 years based on 12 hours daily operation. Pre-filter and Charcoal based Honeycomb Activated Carbon filter are washable.
General
Size of Product (INCH) 22.5H x 18W x 9D
Weight 17 lbs.
Color Chrome Silver
Pearl White
Lime Green
Metallic Blue
Power Consumption 7 to 33 watts
Timer Setting 1, 2, 4 Hours
Modes of Operation Pollen, Auto, Turbo, Silent
Fan Speeds Low, Medium, High, and Turbo
Air Quality Sensor Dust, Odor
Effective Coverage Area
Normal Residential Use 600 square feet
Allergy Sufferer 300 square feet
Air Flow (Cubic Feet per minute)
Speed 5 (Turbo) 159 CFM
Speed 4 (High) 139 CFM
Speed 3 (Med) 95 CFM
Speed 2 (Low) 60 CFM
Speed 1 (Silent) 39 CFM
Noise Level
Speed 5 (Turbo) 45 dB(A)
Speed 4 (High) 39.9 dB(A)
Speed 3 (Med) 34.2 dB(A)
Speed 2 (Low) 25.9 dB(A)
Speed 1 (Silent) 18.4 dB(A)
CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate)
Pollen 163
Dust 145
Smoke 144
Filter Life
Nano-Silver Pre-Filter Washable
BioGS™ HEPA Filter Up to 3 years
Deodorization Activated Carbon Filter Washable (recommended replacement every 3 years)
Warranty
Parts Warranty 5 Years
Labor Warranty 5 Years
General Info - Reasons Not To Start
... I think the rate of people who wish they'd gotten a regular job will stay close to 0%.
3. Not determined enough
You need a lot of determination to succeed as a startup founder. It's probably the single best predictor of success.
4. Not smart enough
... most companies do more mundane stuff where the decisive factor is effort, not brains.
... if you think it takes a lot of intelligence to get rich, try spending a couple days in some of the fancier bits of New York or LA.
If you don't think you're smart enough to start a startup doing something technically difficult, just write enterprise software. Enterprise software companies aren't technology companies, they're sales companies, and sales depends mostly on effort.
pad
Why to Not Not Start a Startup
New: Y Combinator Startup News.
March 2007
(This essay is derived from talks at the 2007 Startup School and the Berkeley CSUA.)
We've now been doing Y Combinator long enough to have some data about success rates. Our first batch, in the summer of 2005, had eight startups in it. Of those eight, it now looks as if at least four succeeded. Three have been acquired: Reddit was a merger of two, Reddit and Infogami, and a third was acquired that we can't talk about yet. Another from that batch was Loopt, which is doing so well they could probably be acquired in about ten minutes if they wanted to.
So about half the founders from that first summer, less than two years ago, are now rich, at least by their standards. (One thing you learn when you get rich is that there are many degrees of it.)
I'm not ready to predict our success rate will stay as high as 50%. That first batch could have been an anomaly. But we should be able to do better than the oft-quoted (and probably made up) standard figure of 10%. I'd feel safe aiming at 25%.
Even the founders who fail don't seem to have such a bad time. Of those first eight startups, three are now probably dead. In two cases the founders just went on to do other things at the end of the summer. I don't think they were traumatized by the experience. The closest to a traumatic failure was Kiko, whose founders kept working on their startup for a whole year before being squashed by Google Calendar. But they ended up happy. They sold their software on eBay for a quarter of a million dollars. After they paid back their angel investors, they had about a year's salary each. [1] Then they immediately went on to start a new and much more exciting startup, Justin.TV.
So here is an even more striking statistic: 0% of that first batch had a terrible experience. They had ups and downs, like every startup, but I don't think any would have traded it for a job in a cubicle. And that statistic is probably not an anomaly. Whatever our long-term success rate ends up being, I think the rate of people who wish they'd gotten a regular job will stay close to 0%.
The big mystery to me is: why don't more people start startups? If nearly everyone who does it prefers it to a regular job, and a significant percentage get rich, why doesn't everyone want to do this? A lot of people think we get thousands of applications for each funding cycle. In fact we usually only get several hundred. Why don't more people apply? And while it must seem to anyone watching this world that startups are popping up like crazy, the number is small compared to the number of people with the necessary skills. The great majority of programmers still go straight from college to cubicle, and stay there.
It seems like people are not acting in their own interest. What's going on? Well, I can answer that. Because of Y Combinator's position at the very start of the venture funding process, we're probably the world's leading experts on the psychology of people who aren't sure if they want to start a company.
There's nothing wrong with being unsure. If you're a hacker thinking about starting a startup and hesitating before taking the leap, you're part of a grand tradition. Larry and Sergey seem to have felt the same before they started Google, and so did Jerry and Filo before they started Yahoo. In fact, I'd guess the most successful startups are the ones started by uncertain hackers rather than gung-ho business guys.
We have some evidence to support this. Several of the most successful startups we've funded told us later that they only decided to apply at the last moment. Some decided only hours before the deadline.
The way to deal with uncertainty is to analyze it into components. Most people who are reluctant to do something have about eight different reasons mixed together in their heads, and don't know themselves which are biggest. Some will be justified and some bogus, but unless you know the relative proportion of each, you don't know whether your overall uncertainty is mostly justified or mostly bogus.
So I'm going to list all the components of people's reluctance to start startups, and explain which are real. Then would-be founders can use this as a checklist to examine their own feelings.
I admit my goal is to increase your self-confidence. But there are two things different here from the usual confidence-building exercise. One is that I'm motivated to be honest. Most people in the confidence-building business have already achieved their goal when you buy the book or pay to attend the seminar where they tell you how great you are. Whereas if I encourage people to start startups who shouldn't, I make my own life worse. If I encourage too many people to apply to Y Combinator, it just means more work for me, because I have to read all the applications.
The other thing that's going to be different is my approach. Instead of being positive, I'm going to be negative. Instead of telling you "come on, you can do it" I'm going to consider all the reasons you aren't doing it, and show why most (but not all) should be ignored. We'll start with the one everyone's born with.
1. Too young
A lot of people think they're too young to start a startup. Many are right. The median age worldwide is about 27, so probably a third of the population can truthfully say they're too young.
What's too young? One of our goals with Y Combinator was to discover the lower bound on the age of startup founders. It always seemed to us that investors were too conservative here—that they wanted to fund professors, when really they should be funding grad students or even undergrads.
The main thing we've discovered from pushing the edge of this envelope is not where the edge is, but how fuzzy it is. The outer limit may be as low as 16. We don't look beyond 18 because people younger than that can't legally enter into contracts. But the most successful founder we've funded so far, Sam Altman, was 19 at the time.
Sam Altman, however, is an outlying data point. When he was 19, he seemed like he had a 40 year old inside him. There are other 19 year olds who are 12 inside.
There's a reason we have a distinct word "adult" for people over a certain age. There is a threshold you cross. It's conventionally fixed at 21, but different people cross it at greatly varying ages. You're old enough to start a startup if you've crossed this threshold, whatever your age.
How do you tell? There are a couple tests adults use. I realized these tests existed after meeting Sam Altman, actually. I noticed that I felt like I was talking to someone much older. Afterward I wondered, what am I even measuring? What made him seem older?
One test adults use is whether you still have the kid flake reflex. When you're a little kid and you're asked to do something hard, you can cry and say "I can't do it" and the adults will probably let you off. As a kid there's a magic button you can press by saying "I'm just a kid" that will get you out of most difficult situations. Whereas adults, by definition, are not allowed to flake. They still do, of course, but when they do they're ruthlessly pruned.
The other way to tell an adult is by how they react to a challenge. Someone who's not yet an adult will tend to respond to a challenge from an adult in a way that acknowledges their dominance. If an adult says "that's a stupid idea," a kid will either crawl away with his tail between his legs, or rebel. But rebelling presumes inferiority as much as submission. The adult response to "that's a stupid idea," is simply to look the other person in the eye and say "Really? Why do you think so?"
There are a lot of adults who still react childishly to challenges, of course. What you don't often find are kids who react to challenges like adults. When you do, you've found an adult, whatever their age.
2. Too inexperienced
I once wrote that startup founders should be at least 23, and that people should work for another company for a few years before starting their own. I no longer believe that, and what changed my mind is the example of the startups we've funded.
I still think 23 is a better age than 21. But the best way to get experience if you're 21 is to start a startup. So, paradoxically, if you're too inexperienced to start a startup, what you should do is start one. That's a way more efficient cure for inexperience than a normal job. In fact, getting a normal job may actually make you less able to start a startup, by turning you into a tame animal who thinks he needs an office to work in and a product manager to tell him what software to write.
What really convinced me of this was the Kikos. They started a startup right out of college. Their inexperience caused them to make a lot of mistakes. But by the time we funded their second startup, a year later, they had become extremely formidable. They were certainly not tame animals. And there is no way they'd have grown so much if they'd spent that year working at Microsoft, or even Google. They'd still have been diffident junior programmers.
So now I'd advise people to go ahead and start startups right out of college. There's no better time to take risks than when you're young. Sure, you'll probably fail. But even failure will get you to the ultimate goal faster than getting a job.
It worries me a bit to be saying this, because in effect we're advising people to educate themselves by failing at our expense, but it's the truth.
3. Not determined enough
You need a lot of determination to succeed as a startup founder. It's probably the single best predictor of success.
Some people may not be determined enough to make it. It's hard for me to say for sure, because I'm so determined that I can't imagine what's going on in the heads of people who aren't. But I know they exist.
Most hackers probably underestimate their determination. I've seen a lot become visibly more determined as they get used to running a startup. I can think of several we've funded who would have been delighted at first to be bought for $2 million, but are now set on world domination.
How can you tell if you're determined enough, when Larry and Sergey themselves were unsure at first about starting a company? I'm guessing here, but I'd say the test is whether you're sufficiently driven to work on your own projects. Though they may have been unsure whether they wanted to start a company, it doesn't seem as if Larry and Sergey were meek little research assistants, obediently doing their advisors' bidding. They started projects of their own.
4. Not smart enough
You may need to be moderately smart to succeed as a startup founder. But if you're worried about this, you're probably mistaken. If you're smart enough to worry that you might not be smart enough to start a startup, you probably are.
And in any case, starting a startup just doesn't require that much intelligence. Some startups do. You have to be good at math to write Mathematica. But most companies do more mundane stuff where the decisive factor is effort, not brains. Silicon Valley can warp your perspective on this, because there's a cult of smartness here. People who aren't smart at least try to act that way. But if you think it takes a lot of intelligence to get rich, try spending a couple days in some of the fancier bits of New York or LA.
If you don't think you're smart enough to start a startup doing something technically difficult, just write enterprise software. Enterprise software companies aren't technology companies, they're sales companies, and sales depends mostly on effort.
5. Know nothing about business
This is another variable whose coefficient should be zero. You don't need to know anything about business to start a startup. The initial focus should be the product. All you need to know in this phase is how to build things people want. If you succeed, you'll have to think about how to make money from it. But this is so easy you can pick it up on the fly.
I get a fair amount of flak for telling founders just to make something great and not worry too much about making money. And yet all the empirical evidence points that way: pretty much 100% of startups that make something popular manage to make money from it. And acquirers tell me privately that revenue is not what they buy startups for, but their strategic value. Which means, because they made something people want. Acquirers know the rule holds for them too: if users love you, you can always make money from that somehow, and if they don't, the cleverest business model in the world won't save you.
So why do so many people argue with me? I think one reason is that they hate the idea that a bunch of twenty year olds could get rich from building something cool that doesn't make any money. They just don't want that to be possible. But how possible it is doesn't depend on how much they want it to be.
For a while it annoyed me to hear myself described as some kind of irresponsible pied piper, leading impressionable young hackers down the road to ruin. But now I realize this kind of controversy is a sign of a good idea.
The most valuable truths are the ones most people don't believe. They're like undervalued stocks. If you start with them, you'll have the whole field to yourself. So when you find an idea you know is good but most people disagree with, you should not merely ignore their objections, but push aggressively in that direction. In this case, that means you should seek out ideas that would be popular but seem hard to make money from.
We'll bet a seed round you can't make something popular that we can't figure out how to make money from.
6. No cofounder
Not having a cofounder is a real problem. A startup is too much for one person to bear. And though we differ from other investors on a lot of questions, we all agree on this. All investors, without exception, are more likely to fund you with a cofounder than without.
If you don't have a cofounder, what should you do? Get one. It's more important than anything else.
So here's the brief recipe for getting startup ideas. Find something that's missing in your own life, and supply that need—no matter how specific to you it seems.
Eventually it gets demoralizing to work on dumb stuff, even if it's easy and you get paid a lot.
And that's not the worst of it. The thing that really sucks about having a regular job is the expectation that you're supposed to be there at certain times.
3. Not determined enough
You need a lot of determination to succeed as a startup founder. It's probably the single best predictor of success.
4. Not smart enough
... most companies do more mundane stuff where the decisive factor is effort, not brains.
... if you think it takes a lot of intelligence to get rich, try spending a couple days in some of the fancier bits of New York or LA.
If you don't think you're smart enough to start a startup doing something technically difficult, just write enterprise software. Enterprise software companies aren't technology companies, they're sales companies, and sales depends mostly on effort.
pad
Why to Not Not Start a Startup
New: Y Combinator Startup News.
March 2007
(This essay is derived from talks at the 2007 Startup School and the Berkeley CSUA.)
We've now been doing Y Combinator long enough to have some data about success rates. Our first batch, in the summer of 2005, had eight startups in it. Of those eight, it now looks as if at least four succeeded. Three have been acquired: Reddit was a merger of two, Reddit and Infogami, and a third was acquired that we can't talk about yet. Another from that batch was Loopt, which is doing so well they could probably be acquired in about ten minutes if they wanted to.
So about half the founders from that first summer, less than two years ago, are now rich, at least by their standards. (One thing you learn when you get rich is that there are many degrees of it.)
I'm not ready to predict our success rate will stay as high as 50%. That first batch could have been an anomaly. But we should be able to do better than the oft-quoted (and probably made up) standard figure of 10%. I'd feel safe aiming at 25%.
Even the founders who fail don't seem to have such a bad time. Of those first eight startups, three are now probably dead. In two cases the founders just went on to do other things at the end of the summer. I don't think they were traumatized by the experience. The closest to a traumatic failure was Kiko, whose founders kept working on their startup for a whole year before being squashed by Google Calendar. But they ended up happy. They sold their software on eBay for a quarter of a million dollars. After they paid back their angel investors, they had about a year's salary each. [1] Then they immediately went on to start a new and much more exciting startup, Justin.TV.
So here is an even more striking statistic: 0% of that first batch had a terrible experience. They had ups and downs, like every startup, but I don't think any would have traded it for a job in a cubicle. And that statistic is probably not an anomaly. Whatever our long-term success rate ends up being, I think the rate of people who wish they'd gotten a regular job will stay close to 0%.
The big mystery to me is: why don't more people start startups? If nearly everyone who does it prefers it to a regular job, and a significant percentage get rich, why doesn't everyone want to do this? A lot of people think we get thousands of applications for each funding cycle. In fact we usually only get several hundred. Why don't more people apply? And while it must seem to anyone watching this world that startups are popping up like crazy, the number is small compared to the number of people with the necessary skills. The great majority of programmers still go straight from college to cubicle, and stay there.
It seems like people are not acting in their own interest. What's going on? Well, I can answer that. Because of Y Combinator's position at the very start of the venture funding process, we're probably the world's leading experts on the psychology of people who aren't sure if they want to start a company.
There's nothing wrong with being unsure. If you're a hacker thinking about starting a startup and hesitating before taking the leap, you're part of a grand tradition. Larry and Sergey seem to have felt the same before they started Google, and so did Jerry and Filo before they started Yahoo. In fact, I'd guess the most successful startups are the ones started by uncertain hackers rather than gung-ho business guys.
We have some evidence to support this. Several of the most successful startups we've funded told us later that they only decided to apply at the last moment. Some decided only hours before the deadline.
The way to deal with uncertainty is to analyze it into components. Most people who are reluctant to do something have about eight different reasons mixed together in their heads, and don't know themselves which are biggest. Some will be justified and some bogus, but unless you know the relative proportion of each, you don't know whether your overall uncertainty is mostly justified or mostly bogus.
So I'm going to list all the components of people's reluctance to start startups, and explain which are real. Then would-be founders can use this as a checklist to examine their own feelings.
I admit my goal is to increase your self-confidence. But there are two things different here from the usual confidence-building exercise. One is that I'm motivated to be honest. Most people in the confidence-building business have already achieved their goal when you buy the book or pay to attend the seminar where they tell you how great you are. Whereas if I encourage people to start startups who shouldn't, I make my own life worse. If I encourage too many people to apply to Y Combinator, it just means more work for me, because I have to read all the applications.
The other thing that's going to be different is my approach. Instead of being positive, I'm going to be negative. Instead of telling you "come on, you can do it" I'm going to consider all the reasons you aren't doing it, and show why most (but not all) should be ignored. We'll start with the one everyone's born with.
1. Too young
A lot of people think they're too young to start a startup. Many are right. The median age worldwide is about 27, so probably a third of the population can truthfully say they're too young.
What's too young? One of our goals with Y Combinator was to discover the lower bound on the age of startup founders. It always seemed to us that investors were too conservative here—that they wanted to fund professors, when really they should be funding grad students or even undergrads.
The main thing we've discovered from pushing the edge of this envelope is not where the edge is, but how fuzzy it is. The outer limit may be as low as 16. We don't look beyond 18 because people younger than that can't legally enter into contracts. But the most successful founder we've funded so far, Sam Altman, was 19 at the time.
Sam Altman, however, is an outlying data point. When he was 19, he seemed like he had a 40 year old inside him. There are other 19 year olds who are 12 inside.
There's a reason we have a distinct word "adult" for people over a certain age. There is a threshold you cross. It's conventionally fixed at 21, but different people cross it at greatly varying ages. You're old enough to start a startup if you've crossed this threshold, whatever your age.
How do you tell? There are a couple tests adults use. I realized these tests existed after meeting Sam Altman, actually. I noticed that I felt like I was talking to someone much older. Afterward I wondered, what am I even measuring? What made him seem older?
One test adults use is whether you still have the kid flake reflex. When you're a little kid and you're asked to do something hard, you can cry and say "I can't do it" and the adults will probably let you off. As a kid there's a magic button you can press by saying "I'm just a kid" that will get you out of most difficult situations. Whereas adults, by definition, are not allowed to flake. They still do, of course, but when they do they're ruthlessly pruned.
The other way to tell an adult is by how they react to a challenge. Someone who's not yet an adult will tend to respond to a challenge from an adult in a way that acknowledges their dominance. If an adult says "that's a stupid idea," a kid will either crawl away with his tail between his legs, or rebel. But rebelling presumes inferiority as much as submission. The adult response to "that's a stupid idea," is simply to look the other person in the eye and say "Really? Why do you think so?"
There are a lot of adults who still react childishly to challenges, of course. What you don't often find are kids who react to challenges like adults. When you do, you've found an adult, whatever their age.
2. Too inexperienced
I once wrote that startup founders should be at least 23, and that people should work for another company for a few years before starting their own. I no longer believe that, and what changed my mind is the example of the startups we've funded.
I still think 23 is a better age than 21. But the best way to get experience if you're 21 is to start a startup. So, paradoxically, if you're too inexperienced to start a startup, what you should do is start one. That's a way more efficient cure for inexperience than a normal job. In fact, getting a normal job may actually make you less able to start a startup, by turning you into a tame animal who thinks he needs an office to work in and a product manager to tell him what software to write.
What really convinced me of this was the Kikos. They started a startup right out of college. Their inexperience caused them to make a lot of mistakes. But by the time we funded their second startup, a year later, they had become extremely formidable. They were certainly not tame animals. And there is no way they'd have grown so much if they'd spent that year working at Microsoft, or even Google. They'd still have been diffident junior programmers.
So now I'd advise people to go ahead and start startups right out of college. There's no better time to take risks than when you're young. Sure, you'll probably fail. But even failure will get you to the ultimate goal faster than getting a job.
It worries me a bit to be saying this, because in effect we're advising people to educate themselves by failing at our expense, but it's the truth.
3. Not determined enough
You need a lot of determination to succeed as a startup founder. It's probably the single best predictor of success.
Some people may not be determined enough to make it. It's hard for me to say for sure, because I'm so determined that I can't imagine what's going on in the heads of people who aren't. But I know they exist.
Most hackers probably underestimate their determination. I've seen a lot become visibly more determined as they get used to running a startup. I can think of several we've funded who would have been delighted at first to be bought for $2 million, but are now set on world domination.
How can you tell if you're determined enough, when Larry and Sergey themselves were unsure at first about starting a company? I'm guessing here, but I'd say the test is whether you're sufficiently driven to work on your own projects. Though they may have been unsure whether they wanted to start a company, it doesn't seem as if Larry and Sergey were meek little research assistants, obediently doing their advisors' bidding. They started projects of their own.
4. Not smart enough
You may need to be moderately smart to succeed as a startup founder. But if you're worried about this, you're probably mistaken. If you're smart enough to worry that you might not be smart enough to start a startup, you probably are.
And in any case, starting a startup just doesn't require that much intelligence. Some startups do. You have to be good at math to write Mathematica. But most companies do more mundane stuff where the decisive factor is effort, not brains. Silicon Valley can warp your perspective on this, because there's a cult of smartness here. People who aren't smart at least try to act that way. But if you think it takes a lot of intelligence to get rich, try spending a couple days in some of the fancier bits of New York or LA.
If you don't think you're smart enough to start a startup doing something technically difficult, just write enterprise software. Enterprise software companies aren't technology companies, they're sales companies, and sales depends mostly on effort.
5. Know nothing about business
This is another variable whose coefficient should be zero. You don't need to know anything about business to start a startup. The initial focus should be the product. All you need to know in this phase is how to build things people want. If you succeed, you'll have to think about how to make money from it. But this is so easy you can pick it up on the fly.
I get a fair amount of flak for telling founders just to make something great and not worry too much about making money. And yet all the empirical evidence points that way: pretty much 100% of startups that make something popular manage to make money from it. And acquirers tell me privately that revenue is not what they buy startups for, but their strategic value. Which means, because they made something people want. Acquirers know the rule holds for them too: if users love you, you can always make money from that somehow, and if they don't, the cleverest business model in the world won't save you.
So why do so many people argue with me? I think one reason is that they hate the idea that a bunch of twenty year olds could get rich from building something cool that doesn't make any money. They just don't want that to be possible. But how possible it is doesn't depend on how much they want it to be.
For a while it annoyed me to hear myself described as some kind of irresponsible pied piper, leading impressionable young hackers down the road to ruin. But now I realize this kind of controversy is a sign of a good idea.
The most valuable truths are the ones most people don't believe. They're like undervalued stocks. If you start with them, you'll have the whole field to yourself. So when you find an idea you know is good but most people disagree with, you should not merely ignore their objections, but push aggressively in that direction. In this case, that means you should seek out ideas that would be popular but seem hard to make money from.
We'll bet a seed round you can't make something popular that we can't figure out how to make money from.
6. No cofounder
Not having a cofounder is a real problem. A startup is too much for one person to bear. And though we differ from other investors on a lot of questions, we all agree on this. All investors, without exception, are more likely to fund you with a cofounder than without.
If you don't have a cofounder, what should you do? Get one. It's more important than anything else.
So here's the brief recipe for getting startup ideas. Find something that's missing in your own life, and supply that need—no matter how specific to you it seems.
Eventually it gets demoralizing to work on dumb stuff, even if it's easy and you get paid a lot.
And that's not the worst of it. The thing that really sucks about having a regular job is the expectation that you're supposed to be there at certain times.
Monday, May 14, 2007
General Info - Entrepreneurial Proverbs
Several items from Entrepreneurial Proverbs.
# Prudence becomes procrastination -- it's great to research your market and talk to potential buyers about your ideas. It's terrible to let an excess of this become a impediment to getting started. Too much prudence edges away from research and into procrastination.
# Momentum builds on itself -- just start. Do whatever you can. Draw a user interface. Write a spec. Make something, anything, that people can see and touch and try. A prototype is worth ten thousand words. Once you start moving, you will find that people start to carry you along.
# Jump when you are more excited than afraid -- lack of fear is irrational, and too much fear is debilitating. Make the jump into your business when you have considered the fear, and come out more excited than afraid.
# Build what you know -- this is the most basic advice of idea generation: scratch an itch you have yourself. To make a great company, stop and ensure that your need is broadly felt, and that your solution is broadly applicable -- not everyone spends their life in front of a computer, remember.
# Build the simplest thing possible -- engineers have the hardest time with this, with not overdesigning for the need they're addressing. Make the simplest possible product that makes a significant dent in that need, and you'll do far better than you would addressing two or three needs at once. Simplicity leads to clarity in everything you do.
# Solve problems, not potential problems -- you can waste a lot of money implementing solutions for problems you don't have yet, and may never have. Work on the biggest, most pressing problems today, and put aside everything else.
# Test everything with real people -- it's unbelievable how helpful this is. Go find civilians, real people who use computers because they have to and not because they love to. Find them in Starbucks, or at the library, or in a college computer lab. Give them $20 for 20 minutes, and you'll be paid back a hundred times over.
# For investors, the product is nothing -- the classic engineer's VC pitch has ten slides about the product and two about the academic achievements of the founders. That's a terrible pitch. One slide should be about the product, while the rest cover the market, competitors, financials, funding history, and the relevant experience of the team. The product matters far less to most investors than the reactions of customers, the properties of the market, and the credibility of the team. Obsess about the product on your own time; present your business in all of its parts.
# Prudence becomes procrastination -- it's great to research your market and talk to potential buyers about your ideas. It's terrible to let an excess of this become a impediment to getting started. Too much prudence edges away from research and into procrastination.
# Momentum builds on itself -- just start. Do whatever you can. Draw a user interface. Write a spec. Make something, anything, that people can see and touch and try. A prototype is worth ten thousand words. Once you start moving, you will find that people start to carry you along.
# Jump when you are more excited than afraid -- lack of fear is irrational, and too much fear is debilitating. Make the jump into your business when you have considered the fear, and come out more excited than afraid.
# Build what you know -- this is the most basic advice of idea generation: scratch an itch you have yourself. To make a great company, stop and ensure that your need is broadly felt, and that your solution is broadly applicable -- not everyone spends their life in front of a computer, remember.
# Build the simplest thing possible -- engineers have the hardest time with this, with not overdesigning for the need they're addressing. Make the simplest possible product that makes a significant dent in that need, and you'll do far better than you would addressing two or three needs at once. Simplicity leads to clarity in everything you do.
# Solve problems, not potential problems -- you can waste a lot of money implementing solutions for problems you don't have yet, and may never have. Work on the biggest, most pressing problems today, and put aside everything else.
# Test everything with real people -- it's unbelievable how helpful this is. Go find civilians, real people who use computers because they have to and not because they love to. Find them in Starbucks, or at the library, or in a college computer lab. Give them $20 for 20 minutes, and you'll be paid back a hundred times over.
# For investors, the product is nothing -- the classic engineer's VC pitch has ten slides about the product and two about the academic achievements of the founders. That's a terrible pitch. One slide should be about the product, while the rest cover the market, competitors, financials, funding history, and the relevant experience of the team. The product matters far less to most investors than the reactions of customers, the properties of the market, and the credibility of the team. Obsess about the product on your own time; present your business in all of its parts.
Stress Tracker
Make a web site where people can register and record the +/- items in their day with stress count, and overall stress rate.
Access personal calendar online, make a small Windows or java app that sits in the taskbar.
Possibly hook into user's calendars at work (Outlook) and web (yahoo google calendars).
Serve adds specific to the activities and links to stress reducing activities.
Access personal calendar online, make a small Windows or java app that sits in the taskbar.
Possibly hook into user's calendars at work (Outlook) and web (yahoo google calendars).
Serve adds specific to the activities and links to stress reducing activities.
Firefox Extension For Passwords
There are several Firefox password extensions. This can export the stored passwords to a file.
This can synchronize Firefox bookmarks to multiple machines/account via an intermediary FTP server.
Create an extension to store the passwords on a web site so that the extension will lookup up and complete logon/password fields at any web site. The web site storage can be encrypted with a master password. There can be functionality to help user change account passwords.
No revenue potential.
=============================================================
20071128:
$20, free trail. Password Revealer is a utility that can show you most passwords that are typed in a password edit box (those that hide the password and show asterisks instead).
Run Password Revealer, and drag the revealing icon to the hidden password.
$15 Password revealer reveals most passwords hidden behind asterisks row on web pages and almost any application with only one click.
This can synchronize Firefox bookmarks to multiple machines/account via an intermediary FTP server.
Create an extension to store the passwords on a web site so that the extension will lookup up and complete logon/password fields at any web site. The web site storage can be encrypted with a master password. There can be functionality to help user change account passwords.
No revenue potential.
=============================================================
20071128:
$20, free trail. Password Revealer is a utility that can show you most passwords that are typed in a password edit box (those that hide the password and show asterisks instead).
Run Password Revealer, and drag the revealing icon to the hidden password.
$15 Password revealer reveals most passwords hidden behind asterisks row on web pages and almost any application with only one click.
Consulting Gig Paid With Customer Cost Savings
CPT Global does mainframe consulting and has an ad in IBM SYSTEMS MAGAZINE. "We will end do so on 'Risk-Reward' terms, to only be paid after you have achieved a result."
Financial Planning Software
IPS AdvisorPro
Annual license fee per firm * $395 $495
Advisors Assistant comes in three different versions to best suit your needs.
Advisors Assistant Single User Version
For a producer working alone, the Single User version allows installation on one computer.
Advisors Assistant (Contact Management & Policy Tracking) $499
Investment Module $299
Insurance Commission Module $299
Investment Download Programs - See Below
Imaging Assistant Scanning Module - See Below
Advisors Assistant Network Verson
The Network Version allows more than one person to be working in Advisors Assistant at the same time. Each user can see all of the names in Advisors Assistant.
Advisors Assistant 5 User Network $899
Additional Network Users $99 each
Investment Module $399
Insurance Commission Module $399
Investment Download Programs - See Below
Imaging Assistant Scanning Module - See Below
Advisors Assistant MultiProducer Version
This network version includes extra security. The MultiProducer Version allows you to limit access to names based on the Primary Producer.
Advisors Assistant 5 User MultiProducer Network $1599
Additional MultiProducer Users $199 each
Investment Module $499
Insurance Commission Module $499
Investment Download Programs - See Below
Imaging Assistant Scanning Module - See Below
Advisors Assistant Investment Download Programs
Download daily investment transactions and prices from the following sources:
DAZL; DST FAN Mail; Fidelity/NFS; First Clearing; First Trust/Datalynx; Jefferson Pilot; LPL; Pershing; Rydex; Sterne, Agee & Leach; Schwab; SEI; TD Waterhouse; Vision 20/20; Wedbush Morgan; XMLife. Download daily account positions from Albridge.
One Investment Download Program $299
Each Additional Investment Download Program $100 each
Advisors Assistant Imaging Assistant Scanning Module
Single User Imaging Assistant $299
Network Imaging Assistant - 1 Scan Station, 5 View Stations $499
Additonal Scan Stations $99 each
Additional View Stations $49 each
Annual license fee per firm * $395 $495
Advisors Assistant comes in three different versions to best suit your needs.
Advisors Assistant Single User Version
For a producer working alone, the Single User version allows installation on one computer.
Advisors Assistant (Contact Management & Policy Tracking) $499
Investment Module $299
Insurance Commission Module $299
Investment Download Programs - See Below
Imaging Assistant Scanning Module - See Below
Advisors Assistant Network Verson
The Network Version allows more than one person to be working in Advisors Assistant at the same time. Each user can see all of the names in Advisors Assistant.
Advisors Assistant 5 User Network $899
Additional Network Users $99 each
Investment Module $399
Insurance Commission Module $399
Investment Download Programs - See Below
Imaging Assistant Scanning Module - See Below
Advisors Assistant MultiProducer Version
This network version includes extra security. The MultiProducer Version allows you to limit access to names based on the Primary Producer.
Advisors Assistant 5 User MultiProducer Network $1599
Additional MultiProducer Users $199 each
Investment Module $499
Insurance Commission Module $499
Investment Download Programs - See Below
Imaging Assistant Scanning Module - See Below
Advisors Assistant Investment Download Programs
Download daily investment transactions and prices from the following sources:
DAZL; DST FAN Mail; Fidelity/NFS; First Clearing; First Trust/Datalynx; Jefferson Pilot; LPL; Pershing; Rydex; Sterne, Agee & Leach; Schwab; SEI; TD Waterhouse; Vision 20/20; Wedbush Morgan; XMLife. Download daily account positions from Albridge.
One Investment Download Program $299
Each Additional Investment Download Program $100 each
Advisors Assistant Imaging Assistant Scanning Module
Single User Imaging Assistant $299
Network Imaging Assistant - 1 Scan Station, 5 View Stations $499
Additonal Scan Stations $99 each
Additional View Stations $49 each
Aircraft Maintenance Software
Tdata is putting their flat client products on the web.
MTrax - Maintenance Tracking Software
$ 749.00
$ 1,498.00
iTrax - Inventory Software
iTrax - Single workstation license (includes 1 year of software upgrades and support)
$ 1,995.00
Additional iTrax workstation licenses - each
$ 495.00
iTrax - Continued support and upgrades after first year (single user)
$ 249.00
iTrax - Continued support and upgrades after first year (2+ users)
$ 399.00
MTrax - Maintenance Tracking Software
$ 749.00
$ 1,498.00
iTrax - Inventory Software
iTrax - Single workstation license (includes 1 year of software upgrades and support)
$ 1,995.00
Additional iTrax workstation licenses - each
$ 495.00
iTrax - Continued support and upgrades after first year (single user)
$ 249.00
iTrax - Continued support and upgrades after first year (2+ users)
$ 399.00
General Info - Startup Location
Crucian Global is setting up business to help startups locate their business paperwork and company server in St. Croix for tax advantages.
By setting up shop in St. Croix, you get gain tax incentives including income tax credits of 90% on revenues from rtpark operations and you enjoy U.S. intellectual property rights protection. Crucian is just hiring its management team and is the first tenant in its tech office park so you would need to expect some hickups.
By setting up shop in St. Croix, you get gain tax incentives including income tax credits of 90% on revenues from rtpark operations and you enjoy U.S. intellectual property rights protection. Crucian is just hiring its management team and is the first tenant in its tech office park so you would need to expect some hickups.
Time Tracking
PERSONAL
Monitor PC program usage and upload to web site to record how time is spent.
Could the same be accomplished with plug-ins to popular apps such as IM or Skype? Would companies pay for a site-license to install on all of their PCs?
GROUP
letsfreckle.com
unlimited projects
unlimited reports
invoicing
timer
unbillable time analysis
pulse work rhythm analysis
budgeting & min. increments
always-on SSL security
frequent data back-ups
API access
data export (CSV, JSON, XML)
Freelancer or Soloist
1 user account $12 per month
5 user accounts $24 per month
15 user accounts $48 per month
_____________________
201103
Time-Assistant
SaaS
Free to try (Demo mode); $398.00 to buy
_____________________
201108
RescueTime is a web-based time management and analytics tool for knowledge workers who want to be more efficient and productive.
Three plans:
individual free
individual $6-9/month
team $per user/month
They have a MSWindows data collector application.
_____________________
201111
paymo.biz
Free
Monitor PC program usage and upload to web site to record how time is spent.
Could the same be accomplished with plug-ins to popular apps such as IM or Skype? Would companies pay for a site-license to install on all of their PCs?
GROUP
letsfreckle.com
unlimited projects
unlimited reports
invoicing
timer
unbillable time analysis
pulse work rhythm analysis
budgeting & min. increments
always-on SSL security
frequent data back-ups
API access
data export (CSV, JSON, XML)
Freelancer or Soloist
1 user account $12 per month
5 user accounts $24 per month
15 user accounts $48 per month
_____________________
201103
Time-Assistant
SaaS
Free to try (Demo mode); $398.00 to buy
_____________________
201108
RescueTime is a web-based time management and analytics tool for knowledge workers who want to be more efficient and productive.
Three plans:
individual free
individual $6-9/month
team $per user/month
They have a MSWindows data collector application.
_____________________
201111
paymo.biz
Free
Basic $9.99/month
Premium $3.99/employee/month
UPC Price Lookup
SnapTell does a UPC price lookup for shoppers by allowing shoppers in a store to send a mobile photo of a UPC to a web site that will return prices from the major shopping sites.
I didn't know how to moetize this idea several years ago. I suppose the monetization is the problem of the VC guys, while the founders take VC investment.
I didn't know how to moetize this idea several years ago. I suppose the monetization is the problem of the VC guys, while the founders take VC investment.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
River Raft Guide, Photo Sharing Startup, $250M
The former river raft guide just sold his photo sharing site. The site is said to have 41 million users and nearly 3 billion images.
MySpace to acquire Photobucket
Tue May 8, 2007 12:13PM BST
By Kenneth Li/Eric Auchard
LAS VEGAS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - MySpace, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has reached a preliminary deal to acquire Photobucket, the world's top photo-sharing site, for around $250 million in cash, a source familiar with the deal said on Monday.
...
MySpace to acquire Photobucket
Tue May 8, 2007 12:13PM BST
By Kenneth Li/Eric Auchard
LAS VEGAS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - MySpace, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has reached a preliminary deal to acquire Photobucket, the world's top photo-sharing site, for around $250 million in cash, a source familiar with the deal said on Monday.
...
Monday, May 07, 2007
Reverse 911
This should be technically straight-forward to dial phones and send SMS. It could be a tough sales cycle for a start-up. A big name like Honeywell with an established sales force may be helpful to make the sale.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011.11
Instant Alert Plus product page.
This link from a county describes their use of Instant Alert Plus.
The document mentions:
Cost $35,000.
Cost depends on the size of the user's audience or citizen base. The system starts at $10K and goes up, based on the scope of the project.
Denver paid Qwest Communications International $57,000 for
installation of an emergency notification system and $13,000 per
month. They also pay 23 cents per call upon activation. The population
in Denver is 554,000. (Source: Cellular location system developed. By
Steve Calk. Rocky Mountain News. June 3, 2002.)
Code Red charges $15,000 to install its system.
The CityWatch system from Avtex for Osceola County cost $26,400. CityWatch maintenance costs the City of Waukegan $5,134.
"Market size, health and vendors in the "reverse 911" marketplace" on Google answers.
Private service that provides alerts to consumers for $99/year.
AlertFind - an employee emergency notification system. Charges from $500 per month.
Honeywell (NYSE:HON - news) recently upgraded a system used by schools to meet the needs of universities in alerting students to potential danger. The Instant Alert Plus technology can make 100,000 30-second phone calls and send 125,000 text messages within 15 minutes.
While that may be more than enough to cover a campus from students to faculty, employees and parents, the system could eventually cover much larger communities or entire cities.
"The good thing is this a very scalable system," said Taylor. "I'm sure we could add capacity if we had the need to do one million (alerts) in 15 minutes."
Such mass communication methods can be used for anything from notifying chemical plant employees of a leak to mundane matters like informing parents about a school meeting.
"In a Michigan school district, it was used to make parents aware that a man was posing as a policeman with a badge and walking up to students and asking to rifle through their schoolbags," Taylor said.
...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011.11
Instant Alert Plus product page.
This link from a county describes their use of Instant Alert Plus.
The document mentions:
2007 National Incident Management System (NIMS) requirements. As noted in the 2006 requirements under the Public Information System Section, localities are required to “Implement processes, procedures and/or plan to communicate timely, accurate information to the public during an incident through a joint Information System (JIC) and Joint Information Center (JIC)”.FEMA paper on reverse 911.
Cost $35,000.
Cost depends on the size of the user's audience or citizen base. The system starts at $10K and goes up, based on the scope of the project.
Denver paid Qwest Communications International $57,000 for
installation of an emergency notification system and $13,000 per
month. They also pay 23 cents per call upon activation. The population
in Denver is 554,000. (Source: Cellular location system developed. By
Steve Calk. Rocky Mountain News. June 3, 2002.)
Code Red charges $15,000 to install its system.
The CityWatch system from Avtex for Osceola County cost $26,400. CityWatch maintenance costs the City of Waukegan $5,134.
"Market size, health and vendors in the "reverse 911" marketplace" on Google answers.
Private service that provides alerts to consumers for $99/year.
AlertFind - an employee emergency notification system. Charges from $500 per month.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Electronic Payments Via Mobile In Rural Areas
The article authors write that rural areas, such as rural China, are cash based and people do not have banks nor credit cards. The authors propose using mobile payments, in particular SMS messages to merchants.
Developing a new rural payments system in China
China could provide itself with a rural payments system cheaply and quickly by taking advantage of an existing technology and infrastructure.
Jan Bellens, Chris Ip, and Anna Yip
Web exclusive, May 2007
A growing middle class and a decade of annual double-digit growth in retail sales have provided a powerful magnet for businesses hoping to cash in on emerging China. Yet outside of the main cities—in the vast expanse of rural China, where around 750 million people live—the reliance on cash makes it difficult for consumers to spend and for retailers to sell.
China has just 530 point-of-sale (POS) terminals and ATMs per million people, far below the 10,000 per million found in the United States. Accordingly, cash is used in 83 percent of all payment transactions in China, compared with just 21 percent in the United States. With most of these terminals and ATMs in China’s cities, practically all rural transactions are cash based.
One way to wean rural consumers off their reliance on cash might be to add more ATMs and POS terminals. However, we estimate that such an effort would cost at least $2 billion and add just 130 terminals and ATMs per million people. Installing equipment and extending the telecommunications network in remote areas would also take a prohibitively long time.
Recognizing the need for a new rural payments system, in August 2006 the People’s Bank of China directed domestic banks to devise a solution. China views the development of a low-cost, noncash payment network in rural areas as critical to increasing rural spending and closing the wealth gap with urban areas.
The good news is that mainland China can tackle the problem by using existing technology, without a hefty price tag. McKinsey research shows that the mainland’s existing mobile Short Message Service network could be quickly and cheaply deployed to provide an SMS-based payment system in rural areas.
Because the most expensive parts of the infrastructure—the mobile network and millions of mobile phones—are already in place, we estimate that the cost of this solution would range from less than $40 million to $60 million. A payment-settlement system among merchants, banks, and mobile-phone network providers would account for the bulk of this expenditure. The initial investment would quickly be recouped through transaction commission fees and mobile-phone usage charges.
There are alternative mobile-payments solutions gaining exposure around the world, but these are not well suited to the needs of rural China. For example, Seoul and Tokyo have both introduced a system that allows a transaction to be completed using a mobile phone with a special built-in chip and an in-shop noncontact reader. However, the need to install the reader and to use special—and expensive—mobile handsets renders the solution inadequate for rural China.
...
_____________________________________________
2011.01
Near field communication
Recent reports that Google is developing its own NFC-based solution for using smartphones as an e-wallet.
Developing a new rural payments system in China
China could provide itself with a rural payments system cheaply and quickly by taking advantage of an existing technology and infrastructure.
Jan Bellens, Chris Ip, and Anna Yip
Web exclusive, May 2007
A growing middle class and a decade of annual double-digit growth in retail sales have provided a powerful magnet for businesses hoping to cash in on emerging China. Yet outside of the main cities—in the vast expanse of rural China, where around 750 million people live—the reliance on cash makes it difficult for consumers to spend and for retailers to sell.
China has just 530 point-of-sale (POS) terminals and ATMs per million people, far below the 10,000 per million found in the United States. Accordingly, cash is used in 83 percent of all payment transactions in China, compared with just 21 percent in the United States. With most of these terminals and ATMs in China’s cities, practically all rural transactions are cash based.
One way to wean rural consumers off their reliance on cash might be to add more ATMs and POS terminals. However, we estimate that such an effort would cost at least $2 billion and add just 130 terminals and ATMs per million people. Installing equipment and extending the telecommunications network in remote areas would also take a prohibitively long time.
Recognizing the need for a new rural payments system, in August 2006 the People’s Bank of China directed domestic banks to devise a solution. China views the development of a low-cost, noncash payment network in rural areas as critical to increasing rural spending and closing the wealth gap with urban areas.
The good news is that mainland China can tackle the problem by using existing technology, without a hefty price tag. McKinsey research shows that the mainland’s existing mobile Short Message Service network could be quickly and cheaply deployed to provide an SMS-based payment system in rural areas.
Because the most expensive parts of the infrastructure—the mobile network and millions of mobile phones—are already in place, we estimate that the cost of this solution would range from less than $40 million to $60 million. A payment-settlement system among merchants, banks, and mobile-phone network providers would account for the bulk of this expenditure. The initial investment would quickly be recouped through transaction commission fees and mobile-phone usage charges.
There are alternative mobile-payments solutions gaining exposure around the world, but these are not well suited to the needs of rural China. For example, Seoul and Tokyo have both introduced a system that allows a transaction to be completed using a mobile phone with a special built-in chip and an in-shop noncontact reader. However, the need to install the reader and to use special—and expensive—mobile handsets renders the solution inadequate for rural China.
...
_____________________________________________
2011.01
Near field communication
Recent reports that Google is developing its own NFC-based solution for using smartphones as an e-wallet.
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