Sunday, September 20, 2009

A Good Book With a Good Message

Like those you work with.

Jay Goltz, author of The Street Smart Entrepreneur and owner of a few sips in Chicago that employs more than a hundred people discovered the need to like and respect the people you work with.

He also has a few points for you to always keep in mind.


  • Respect the mission
  • Go the extra mile
  • Treat one another well
  • Rock from the top.
A short list of commandments for any organization.

How Many Domains are in Use

I was curious how many domains were registered - especially 4 character domains like trif.com.  Well there are a bit more than 1.5 million possible 4 character/digit possibilities and most are taken. In actuality, only about 450 names remain.

There are 83 million .com's registered and another 300 million deleted domains.  There are 12 million registered .net's and 8 million registered .orgs.

You'll find it interesting to note that more than 400,000 domains are added every day and more than 450,000 domains are expired every day.  So it would seem the .com is stabilizing.

One of the oldest domain names registered?  think.com was registered May of 1985. 1985 and 1986 saw registrations of dec.com, hp.com, and xerox.com.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Walk on Video for Your Web Site

We Just finished working with a client, Bulk Connection, Inc., to add content sensitive video overlay to web pages. We put together the web site, but the videos were inserted as a simple overlay after the fact.

Check it out at http://www.bulkconnection.com/Services_Liquid_Video.htm. Another example can be seen at http://www.whatsinyourcity.net/. The technology is a standard scripted video shot against a green screen and then overlaid onto your web page. You can do your own script or you can use an actor. It is very cool technology with a lot of possibilities.

The company that makes all this possible is OnSite Video, http://www.onsitevideos.com/ located in Boston.

What Makes Customer Service Work

For the past couple of years we have been defining and redefining our vision and mission for our Company. It isn't an easy thing.  In all our thought and brainstorming, we have found a few basic principles  that explain why we have been around for more than 27 years.  It all comes down to a few basic attributes which you can find in our people and by association in our Company.  These attributes should apply to all service organizations. Look for them.

The first is honesty.  Without honesty there can be no trust and without trust, you cannot keep a customer. A good sales person can sell anything once. Trust will keep that customer coming back. Next is loyalty. Loyalty to a customer is no different than the loyalty you have to your own company. Loyalty signifies your dedication and sense of involvement. It makes you one of the team. Third is listening. Listening can't be accomplished  while talking, selling, pitching or arguing.  Listening is the first step in problem solving.  

Lastly, it's PERSONAL.  Those who say, "it's just business" really don't get it.  It is never just business.  It is about relationships, friendship, pride and the ability to communicate. If you see these attributes in your vendor, hang on tight.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

What’s New

We humans are amazingly creative and inspiring. Don’t believe it? As you may have seen in the previous article, the presentation was given at the 2009 TED conference held this past July in Oxford, England. You can view other inspirational and moving presentations at http://www.ted.com. The service is also available as an App for your iPhone, search the App store for TED. It’s free and remarkable.

Are you interested in how some new ventures are looking to mimic nature, have a look at biomimicry in action http://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html. Would you like to know how schools kill creativity? http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html Looking to see how kids can be transformed by music? http://www.ted.com/talks/jose_abreu_on_kids_transformed_by_music.html.

See you in India in 2010?

Wires, we all hate them

Have a look at what is coming. You may have already gotten a glimpse with your wirelessly recharging emergency lights or your wireless electric toothbrush, wireless electricity is just around the corner. Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity, talks about how electricity can be harmlessly transferred from one object to another using a frequency transmitter and receiver. What this 10 minute video and demonstration. It is near-to-market technology that may soon charge your iPhone, pacemaker or electric car. I can’t wait.

Where do you look for Transportation News?

Have a look at topix. Specifically, look at http://www.topix.com/business/transportation for current news stories in transportation. TOPIX doesn’t source the news, they collect it. They follow other news organizations and post excerpts of the news article and provide a link to the source article for you to read the entire story. At any given time, you will find 8,000 headlines available for quick viewing 100 at a time. Interested in other subjects? Topix has 360,000 forums for you to review. Enjoy.