TechStar Companies

techstars_2.pngDon Dodge has written a post about the ten Techstar startups that have just launched.

 
EventVue - Social networking for conferences and trade shows. Works like Facebook for conferences, complete with pictures, bios, and contact info. Allows attendees to find each other and network during and after the conference. EventVue gets an affiliate fee for each new conference registration. EventVue is already in use at several conferences. You can see it in use on Brad Feld's blog. Competes with eXtreme Networking and IntroNetworks. Seeking $150K to continue product development.

IntenseDebate - A blog widget that provides threading and organization to comments. It includes a reputation ranking system, moderation tools, usage statistics, and user/topic tracking across multiple blogs. RSS feeds for comment threads or individual users. Supports WordPress, Typepad, and Blogger. Ad revenue model and up sell to premium services. Currently in use on 30 blogs, 500 more have signed up for beta. Seeking $500K.

SocialThing - A consolidated profile page for all your digital content; blogs, photos, music, friends, social networks, and links. Synchronize all your friends on all your social networks, from one profile page. Post pictures or other content once and have them appear on any of your social network sites. SocialThing is also a development platform for multiple social networks. Ad revenue model. Viral distribution through networks, and branded widgets. Seeking $500K.

StickyNotes - A post-it-note type app for Facebook. One of the top 30 Facebook apps. Over 1,700,000 users signed up in just six weeks, and have sent over 4M StickyNotes to date. They are working on several other Facebook apps in related areas. Cost Per Action advertising generating $30K per month. They will also use CPM and CPC in the future. Two developers, cash flow positive, not seeking funding at this time.

Search-To-Phone - Find local products and services by calling Search To Phone. Leave a voice mail asking about a product or service. The request is then routed to relevant local businesses, who respond back to you with information or an offer. SearchToPhone uses Microsoft's TellMe and Gold Systems technologies for voice recognition. They have just signed a deal with Excell Services to process 10 million calls. Ready to launch, looking for more partners, and a small investment.

Villij - A people recommendation engine that analyzes your online content, blogs, and bookmarks to find people of similar interests. When you register for Villij you are presented with a list of social networks, blogs, and websites. You check off the sites you use. Your profile on these sites is compared to other members to find profiles of people like you. Advertising and subscription model. Seeking $500K.

MadKast - A new way to share (push) blog posts with friends. It is a widget that can be placed on a blog to allow readers to send the blog post via email, mobile MMS, or social bookmarking networks, to friends in their network. MadKast also has a widget distribution network for other widgets, and they are working on a blog analytics service. Currently in use on 350 blogs, including Brad Feld, and mine. See the green MadKast icon next to the title of this post. Advertising revenue share model, split with bloggers, They will also charge a premium for the analytics package. Seeking $300K.

FiltrBox - A content filtering service that finds relevant content (blogs, news sites, and other web sites) and delivers it to you via RSS, email, and text messaging. Filtrbox uses topics, keywords, and context to rank relevant content.  There are sliders to adjust the sensitivity or depth of information to filter and retrieve. There is a "thumbs up / thumbs down" voting system to help refine your filter. The system learns what you like. Seeking $500K.

KBLabs - Developers of Facebook apps and widgets. They launched their first application (Wah! Cool) 4 weeks ago. They already have 100,000 users and 1.5 million page views per week. They have built several other apps called Post Secrets, Motivate Me, and Track Bot. Each of these apps has more than 4,000 users and is growing over 100% per week. Advertising model. Not currently seeking funding. KBLabs founders are going back to college this Fall, but will do consulting projects building Facebook apps.

BrightKite - Location Based Notifications via email, IM or SMS. The notifications are all about location or what they call "place-streaming". Streaming content about a "place" from a "place".  Alerts you when friends are nearby, or about great deals at nearby businesses, movie listings, etc. It could be used for conferences, events, bars, parties, or public places. BrightKite is also a platform for other location based apps from third party developers. Advertising model. Seeking $500K.

Blog Action Day for the environment: October 15th

action_250x250.jpgBlog Action Day is an awareness event to promote environmental awareness.

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

Blog Action Day is about MASS participation.

There are many great places to find information on the web about the environment:

  • Treehugger - Easily the best environmental blog on the web, Treehugger has a great section called How to Go Green as well as tons of other useful stuff. It's manned by some 40 writers around the world and contains no less than 14,000 posts!
  • Wikipedia's list of environmental issues - With enough links to keep you busy for hours, Wikipedia should easily set you off on your environmental web travels.
  • Digg's Popular Environment Stories - lists tons of popular posts and articles on all sorts of subjects. Looking forward to seeing some Blog Action Day posts appearing here and on reddit on October 15th!
  • Green TV - If you need visual stimulation, Green TV has a lot of videos to get you going, divided up into channels of content, it is eminently watchable.
  • We can live green - A lot of things boil down to practicality and We Can Live Green will help you find actual products and consumables that are environmentally friendly.
  • IMDB's Highest Rated Environmental Movies and Documentaries - Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth isn't the only environmental DVD to watch, check out IMDB's list of features ordered by user ratings.

Phil Burns & The Daily Spike

internetman.jpgPhil Burns is something of a self styled geek, but even I was taken aback by just how far he'd gone with the launch of his new persona as a superhero from the internet for his DailySpike.com.

Phil seems to have been fairly stable when I've met him in the past, but his new job smuggling grapes past the Cylons has me arching an eyebrow.

Phil's been posting about the loss of privacy in China and elsewhere but it looks as though Phil may be more of a techsabitionist than anything else. That spandex doesn't provide much privacy protection if you ask me. It makes me wonder about Phil's history as a wrestling coach. I hope never to see The Daily Spike.

It seems that old hackers like Phil don't die. The just loose any fashion sense at all. I' guess the revert to the way they dressed in high school.

And, no, Phil will not be allowed to wear this getup to Fight Club... unless Ryan Money's willing to dress the same way.

Funding Univers & Angel Investing

 5280 Angel asks about the slew of companies trying to connect Entrepreneurs and Angels.

I've got a fair amount of experience with one of these businesses, Funding Universe. I know most of the management team and founders and have attended a number of the events they host. I must say that the events are far and away the best thing Funding Universe has going on and I, like 5280 here, have a slightly negative reaction in looking a web sites alone. However, at least Funding Universe, has their 'speed dating' events that I know have resulted in a number of companies getting funded.. by angels. (I'm not sure if they've had any VC success although I know they've hosted some events in CA.)

The speed pitch works remarkably well in a number of ways. The room is set up so that investors sit on the outside of a ring of tables. The companies change tables and have seven minutes to pitch the (usually four) potential investors. The investors have 'cheat sheets' about each company and can give some feedback to the entrepreneurs.

There have been duds. But, it's a good way to see ten deals over lunch.

I'd certainly be much more leery of a stand alone site that didn't have this kind of event.

Simple Curiosity? Blog for the uber-intelligent.

dogrocketThree days ago I had something of an epiphany. There's a blog missing. 

I'd sometimes like to post interesting snippets of knowledge that are somewhat funny and viral and wouldn't fit on my other blogs... So I decided to make a new one where I could write a post or so a week on 'why?'.

SimpleCuriosity.com


I've been blogging for around three years and have learned much. (about 45,000 unique readers a month cross my blogs) One of the thinks I've learned is that groups of smart people are valuable. So, with the thought that all the readers of my blogs must be inherently uber-intelligent... I offer you this.

Simple Curiosity is a site offering uber-intelligent posts from yours truly on: History, Science, Religion, Philosophy, Literature, The Arts, Business, Technology, Music, & Politics.

The idea will be to provide small, interesting, two minute read posts that my mother will want to get in her email and forward and is perfect for Stumble Upon. Mental Floss could be considered something close to the direction I'm taking except that instead of linking out to other articles, Simple Curiosity will be all content and little commentary. You know, Dictionary word of the day stuff and heavy linkbait.

Here are a few:

I'm looking to grow Simple Curiosity? and I'll be putting some time towards it. I'm also looking for interested blog partners who are willing to commit 2-3 quality posts a month on an area that is of interest to you personally an might not fit on your current blog. I don't care what area it is as long as it's interesting. In fact, the more unknown the subject the better. Funny is needed as long as the topic isn't the Holocaust or something else touchy.

If you can write an intelligent post on:

  • How your eyeball works (well, that's one of mine so skip this first one)
  • Why plants are green.
  • How the Great Wall of China was built.
  • Romanticism
  • How a microwave oven works.
  • Egyptian war tactics
  • The rise of modern fashion.
  • A timeline of Paris Hilton's formal education. (maybe not)
  • How oral traditions were passed down among Native American tribes.
  • Footwear in the ancient world.
  • Musical Genres
  • How credit card transactions work.
  • etc.etc.etc.

I'll handle all of the technical aspects. There will be plenty of opportunities for backlinks, networking, and income will be shared equally based on contribution. You'll be able to back link to your sites, have an author page, use affiliate links, etc. You can read more here.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the right blogger(s). I you think this is you, please contact me via this form and include the fact that you read this post. I'll also be actively soliciting individual subject authorities from around the web.

If you think the site, the content, or the start of this as a potential business is worth blogging about, linking to, digging, stumbling, or whatever, I'd welcome a link or post, or subscription to Simple Curiosity's RSS Feed.

Kiva entrepreneur makes good on the first loan.

maddyfund.gifMaddy makes her first $50 back.

 
Kiva.org is a microloan sight that lends money to third world entrepreneurs in help their businesses and grow markets and economies. 

Maddy, my daughter (her blog is Pony Tail Club) received notification from Kiva that her first two micro-loans have been 100% repaid and her funds are now available.

If there's a non-profit that I can see really being of help, it's Kiva. 

ImageKind: Jeff Barson & those other artists.

body_eve.jpgIt's just slightly odd to look at my own work.

 
Of course, I've seen it all before. I spent much of my live in a dark room late at night drawing and painting it. The stories of those days have prevented more than a few college kids from pursuing an art career.

As another oddity, I often parallel being an artist to startups. Endless hours spent alone working on something that you hope someone will eventually want when you're done. 

ImageKind is a long tail artist aggregator. I like them. In the past they've been extremely responsive.

They're smart too. They've built ImageKind on top of existing printing technologies. In effect, wrapping technology around and existing market and need.

They also let me relive a few of the glory days of autographs and ascots. 

The First Park City Group Foundation Meeting.

Promontory_Home1.jpgHaving been thinking of forming a group in Park City for some time, we finally got a time where some of us could get together. It wasn't that easy and we finally resorted to a 'if you can make it' strategy.

This was the group: 

Barry Hobbs - Barry is someone that I like more every time I interact with him. (I've been out to his house in Heber where he has 40 acres (no mule) and bought a few tons of hay for my daughter and wife's horses.) Barry moved up here from Southern California a few years ago to get out of his probable future resting place at Forest Lawn. Barry's had an interesting career as both a VC and CEO. Interestingly, Barry and Robert know many of the same people and Barry evidently saw a pitch of Williams when he'd been raising money for a previous company in the 90s. Small world.

Robert Kibble - Mission Ventures: Robert, an Englishman, seems to have had the longest history since he was the lead investor in a company call Bay Area Networks. Robert has a cabin up here in PC so he can fly his plane up here and ski. I don't think I'm overstepping any boundaries in saying that Robert's got the longest VC resume of anyone in the group.

Peter Vitulli - CEO of Sciona, a consumer facing genomics testing company out of Boulder. Peter also lives in PC full time and commutes to Boulder weekly. I'll be interested in finding out if any of the CO readers of this blog happen to know him. Peter has what the group consensus was possibly the most difficult job on earth: CEO of a company with nine board members who are all investors in the company. This doesn't seem to have phased Peter to much as he was smiling most of the night.

Clint Carnell - VP for a medical company Thermage: A device company in the cosmetic medical space. (My company Surface is a big user of Thermage.) Clint and I hit it off and we're the ones that put this group together. Clint was the gracious host of the meeting and it couldn't have been a better venue. Clint's been involved with a number of turn-arounds with Thermage being the most recent. While I don't know how much credit to give Clint for Thermage, since he came on board that company's actually making money and is building a much better reputation. Clint's certainly a boon to the group and I can see that he's someone I would actively seek to work with.

William Borghetti - On his (fifth?) startup Send Side Networks, William seems to be the groups entrepreneur in residence and I find myself agreeing with him completely regarding his views with the state of startups in Utah. While it takes only a small amount of wine get Williams views of the Utah capital markets and the way they work, I couldn't agree more with his views. Barry, in a later conversation I had with him, referred to William as a fighter pilot, just add gas and he goes. (He was referring to this in a startup way and it was entirely complimentary.) William's also philosophically inclined to give back which I find refreshing. He's got some good policies including buy-me-lunch-and-I'll-tell-you-stuff, and no-need-to-call-in-on-powder-days.

There were three others who were out of town and couldn't make it back to Park City mid-week.

Andy Graham - APG Partners, Newport Beach
Jed Palmacci - VP of Hansen Medical (public) Great guy and personal friend.
John Jurrius - Managed the Southern Ute Funds

The meeting was hosted by Clint up at the Pete Dye clubhouse in Promontory. Clint, Peter, and Robert all live or have second homes there. If you're unfamiliar with Promontory, it's a Park City community that will be tipping the one billion dollar mark when completed. It's quite nice. (My wife's chief complaint is that the seven million dollar equestrian center supposedly only has one horse in it.)

The room in which we met is 'men only', which surprised me somewhat ( no cigars or smoking jackets). Clint found that out when he reserved the room and they asked if any 'ladies' would be attending the meeting. Clint exceeded my expectations and set the standard high since we had a dedicated staff of two (men) for the evening and one of the appetizers which was some sort of wild boar. I guess that 's what comes from being in sales, you've got to set the stage.

After we'd dispensed with the customary round-robbin introductions, Clint and I spoke for no longer than two minutes about our ideas for forming some kind of investment group or vehicle in PC. There was a general consensus that UT could benefit from some additional resources and funding sources for entrepreneurs who came with high quality deals. William, having raised almost 100 million dollars in VC money (I think none of it in UT) was especially salient on this point.

Robert expressed a great deal of surprise with who was there and told Clint and I that he had expected a group of 'Dentists' which I both understood, and thought was quite funny. He also gave us an A++ which, even in England, has got to be top-notch.

I think there is going to be some movement here and sooner rather than later.

Startup Weekend:70 Geeks, a plan & 48 hours.

Angel 5280 posted about Startup Weekend:

I just finished reading through the Startup Weekend blog covering blow by blow the fascinating events of this past weekend in Boulder. I did not participate in the activities, but I was definitely excited to see how this experiment played out. If you don’t already know, Startup Weekend was a project where 70 people ranging in expertise spent from Friday night until Sunday night building a company from scratch and launching a product before Monday.

Well, it didn’t happen. The application that the group decided to build, Vosnap, is still not live, and I am not even sure it is going to be finished. I get the feeling some of the folks who cranked all weekend long are disappointed that the site wasn’t running this morning, but I think they are all champs who should feel no shame. The lessons learned this weekend are more valuable than a quick-friend-polling web application anyhow.

This was like a good ‘ole fashioned barn raising for the web! That is what I like to see. People chipping in their knowledge and talents to a single cause and working together to accomplish a common goal. I can imagine the crazy dynamics going on in a room filled with 70 random geeks hopped up on Javascript and Red Bull so the fact they accomplished anything at all is astounding. If nothing else, at least they made this tasteful animated gif to promote their site:Vosnap

People are probably already reworking the Startup Weekend concept to fine tune it and avoid future mistakes and missteps. I hate to play the monday-morning quarterback, but I do have some suggestions that may be helpful for future “flashups.” (oooh. I think I just coined a new buzz word for a three-day startup)

  1. (beforehand) Identify the idea, team leaders, and specific skill sets required so the weekend can be devoted to development and testing
  2. Reduce the size of the group to less than 20 for manageability and focus
  3. (beforehand) Team leader should contact/interview applicants to gauge abilities for proper role placement and weed out unnecessary redundancy
  4. (beforehand) Outline key milestones and rough time line to help with direction and execution
  5. Always, always wear underwear if your pants ride low…(above photo)
TechStars, Startup Weekend... Why is it that Boulders got all this going on? It makes me want to move even though I don't drink Coors.

Notice: I don't usually post an entire post from another thread unless I get really excited as in this case. As a form of payment for this blatant plagerism I'll give 5280 Angel these three links from my page rank 4 blog to build his Google Juice.

5280 Angel Investing for smart entrepreneurs l Best Angel Investors in Colorado l  Ski smarter than Sonny Bono

Park City Angel Investment Group is on. Get ready to reap the whirlwind.

I had a long phone call with Clint Carnell yesterday about finalizing the dates for the first meeting of whatever this group turns in to.

Clint was kind enough to offer to host the inaugural get-together at his home over in Promontory which should provide ample room for everyone's egos.  It surprised me slightly when Clint informed me that three of his invitees will be flying in from CA for dinner. It seems that the potential to have some sort of investment vehicle up here in Park City carries some real interest for those guys who have a second home up here and would like to make a move.

There's another group forming up here and I had coffee with one of the founders to discuss what we're both up to. That group (I've forgotten the name since they're just forming) is at 50 now and I think a majority of them are real estate guys. There may some crossover but the feedback I've received is that our little group will stick to 'real businesses'.  (not my emphasis)

I'll have to be careful since my wife's horses are now dependant upon the hay we're buying from Barry Hobbs' son Jake. If something goes wrong I could loose it all. 

Simple Curiosity? - A new site for the uber-intelligent.

Three days ago I had something of an epiphany about blogging. There's a blog missing. One that deals with interesting snippets of knowledge that's somewhat funny and viral. So I decided to make it.

SimpleCuriosity.com - Tickle your thinking bone.

 
I was somewhat supprised that the domain was still available so I snapped it up along with a simple curiousity since two people I asked misspelled it that way.

Now I'm not claiming that it's for everyone. Certainly there are some trailer-park-Charlies  who wouldn't be interested in any brain food but they don't read blogs anywhay. This site is the one I'm building because it's the one I want. It's filling up with the kind of stuff my Mom loves to send to me. I figured If I write it myself at least I'll get to pick the subject matter and I should be interested.

Fight Club, for those of you who are ready to rumble, has been no something of a haitus lately since I've been hauling hay. (No, actually I really have to haul hay. It's certainly one of the least enjoyable days I have.) 

Blog Mastermind Master List

I signed up for Yaro Starak's Blog Mastermind course and have found it to be much better than I expected.


Click here to get The Blog Profits Blueprint

The quality of the bloggers involved ranges from first timers to ole' grizzled vets like yours truly.  Here's a somewhat comprehensive list of the bloggers involved:

If you're with blog mastemind and you're willing to put these links on your blog... post your blog and url in the comments.

Blogging from Utah: Dooce & Dude.

Having met a number of Utah bloggers and read any number of Utah blogs, I can say this. Dooce (pronounced 'Duce') from Heather B. Armstrong stands sole.

 "This website chronicles my life from a time when I was single and making a lot of money as a web designer in Los Angeles, to when I was dating the man who would become my husband, to when I lost my job and lived life as an unemployed drunk, to when I married my husband and moved to Utah, to when I became pregnant, to when I threw up and became unbearably swollen during the pregnancy, to the birth, to the aftermath, to the postpartum depression that landed me in a mental hospital. I’m better now."

 Where most of the 'guy blogs' I read are decidedly on the techie or business site, It's nice to see that someone else exists.

It's seems that Heather has decided to give voice to sarcasm. Vive le difference. 

Review: Squarespace.com vs. Wordpress

You can find a list of other reviews I have completed and links to the products and resources I use to run my businesses in the Resources Section of this website.

Squarespace.com Review - Dynamic web sites.

Blogging Evolved

Name: SquareSpace
URL: www.squarespace.com
Purpose: Dynamic web sites, blogs, content management for laymen. 

Let me start by saying that my personal experience to date with Squarespace has been 100% satisfactory. I have never had a complaint the system has always done what I wanted it to do. I’ve been blogging for the last four years and have switched all of my blogs from hosting systems like Wordpress or Blogger, and my static sites (I still have one) to squarespace.com.

Your web site is the most important part of your online presence. How it looks. How it acts. And more importantly, how easy it is to change, are of prime importance in making a decision on what kind of system to use.

What are your options?

Static HTML Sites:

 
By far the most common choice are static sites. Of course it's not really by choice, they were simply the only available choice until recently. If you have a site, it's probably static, meaning that it's not easily updatable and you can't to it yourself unless your pretty technically inclined.

 

Pros: You already have one.
Cons: Hard to build. Expensive. Search engines hate them. No traffic.
Cost: Expensive to build and host.

Blogging Software: Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad

 
Extremely uncommon for medical businesses in the current market. Wordpress , Blogger, Typepad... these were the first attempts at making dynamic sites that are easily updatable and they work as far as they go. Their somewhat technical and again you'll have to hire someone if you'd like to customize your site and offer more than a standard template. 

 

Pros: Relatively easy to set up. Inexpensive or free. Search engines love them if regularly updated.
Cons: Hard to customize. Limited function. Still need some tech savvy to implement.
Cost: Cheap. From little to free depending on configuration.

Dynamic Content Management Sites:

 
Squarespace.com is the next generation of content management systems that go far beyond what's previously been available. Squarespace has built a system that takes absolutely no knowledge of html, css, or other geek speak and it's built from the ground up for ease of use. If you can use Word, you can use squarespace.

 

Pros: Easiest to use and setup. Completely functional with advanced features like built in RSS feeds. You can try it for free.
Cons: None, if you don't mind the price tag.
Cost: About what a static site costs: From $7 to $25 a month.

The Bad.

 
I always like to get the bad news out of the way so here it is... I used to have here that I couldn't think of anything but I've since stumbled across some shortcomings. Here it is:

Squarespace is not open source so they don't have nearly as many members or or growth as Wordpress has. While it means that squarespace provides detailed support (which is excellent I might ad) it also means that they don't have nearly the footprint or developer time that Wordpress does. So, squarespace does not support at least one of the options that I would like to use on my blog. Text Link Ads uses server side scripts. Since squarespace is hosted, they don't allow you to install server side scripts and so I can't use one of methods I'd like to monetize my traffic. Text Link Ads doesn't offer a scripted solution yet so I'm SOL on this one.
I emailed Anthony about this and he responded that if they felt any platform gained enough of a foothold they would start supporting it. I would expect this negative to resolve itself and I certainly can't consider it as anything but a note but I thought I'd include it since I it is something I would like.

How I found Squarespace.

Blogging EvolvedBack in 1999 I started to need web sites. So I learned how to write and code so I could build them the way I wanted.

As usual I conducted extensive due diligence before deciding to use squarespace. (As a guy the definition of horror is finding out later that there was a better choice I could have made.). I read forums and surfed around the web. I talked to my geek coder friends. I quickly came to realize that squarespace different from everything else available. It was clean, it was customizable, and most of all, it just worked perfectly and had everything I could want and nothing I didn't. The fact that they were charging actually made it an easier decision for me since it convinced me that they were going to make money and actually stay in business, making it easier to get help and service rather than have to research and do everything on my own with a 'free' service.

Now I'm inherently nervous about putting all of my eggs in one basket, so I started a new site in order to test squarespace and find out if it was as good as I hoped. 

To be honest I have very little confidence that squarespace would live up to my expectations. I've been more than pleasantly surprised. In fact, every site but one (Surface Medical Spas) has been built or switched to squarespace. Here's the list:

There are some others that I've helped my friends set up as well but I don't own them.

Why choose Squarespace over a free blog site?

You can get a blog up and running for free as on Wordpress or Blogger. It's a valid solution and I've done just that in the past. (Squarespace also has a 30 day trial period that's free.) There are a number of things to take into account:

  1.  I've found the 'free services' to be something of a misnomer since there is either:
    • Significant time involved that could better be spent elsewhere so you're, in effect, paying yourself 50cents an hour.
    • You end up having to pay someone to do it for you anyway.
  2. Starting at $7 a month squarespace is a steal. In most cases if you're really running a site you're going to be responsible for hosting it anyway. (My virtual server for Surface Medical Spas runs about $49 a month.)

  3. Since Squarespace is a paid service, they offer a host of support features and technical support. Since switching all of the blogs I run to Squarespace I've opened up around 35 support tickets. In every case the problem has been resolved and the tech support has been phenomenal with same day turnaround.

  4. Squarespace comes with some really great features standard:
    • Search: Where Google's site search works great, Squarespace blows the doors off.
    • FAQ builder: If you've ever tried to build a FAQ (as I first did here: Medspa FAQ) The new FAQ feature stomps any other solution I've seen.
    • Drag & Drop: Moving stuff around on a whim.
    • RSS: No longer any need to configure your RSS feeds. It's already done.
    • SEO: Snap. Everything is valild and optimized so people can find you.
    • Build forms and capture information from your visitors. You've truly got to see this in action to believe it.
    • I could go on ad nauseum but here's the Squarespace feature set.

Building a dynamic business site that actually works the way it's supposed to.

 
If you're building a business site these day's it's easier than every. You no longer need to know HTML or CSS or any geek speak. However, and this is important, building a site that no one goes to is a waste of time. There are literally billions of web pages and your tiny spot on the web had better be easy to find.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of using Squarespace is the ease of use. While I'm writing this on the site, I've got spellcheck and the rest of the editing tools that everyone takes for granted. If my front desk needs to offer a special at a certain location, they just log in and do it... The don't have to call me, get the IT guys involved, or shed a tear. It's so easy that my daughters site at Pony Tail Club is run completely by my wife and daughter who have zero, zilch, nada, snake-eyes, by way of geek training. 

If that isn't the tipping point I don't know what is.

LinkedIn says it owns business networking.

LinkedIn says it will own business networking

In the future, everyone will likely maintain two online profiles. So said LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye in an extended lunchtime interview last week here in Fortune’s conference room/pool hall. We had opened the conversation with THE question of the moment: in a Facebook world, what’s the future for LinkedIn — or for that matter any other “vertical” social network?

Yeah, I use it. Mostly just to keep track of people. 

The human bite wound: 12 times more common in men.

Men are 12 times more likely than women to sustain severe human bite injuries for which surgery may be necessary, according to a study published in the July issue of the Emergency Medicine Journal.

Injuries are most likely to occur during brawls at weekends or public holidays and in most cases alcohol is involved.

The researchers reviewed the 92 patients requiring assessment for human bite wounds by the plastic surgery service at St James's Hospital Dublin, Ireland, between January 2003 and December 2005. Eight five of them (92%) were men and the 92 patients had a total of 96 bites.

Alcohol was implicated in 86% of the injuries and illicit drugs in 12%. Seventy per cent of incidents resulting in a bite wound had occurred during the weekend or on a public holiday. Seven out of ten bites were to the face and 65% of the facial injuries were to the ear.

Bites became infected in one in five patients and infection was most common when patients waited longer than 12 hours to seek medical attention. Only 14% of the patients reviewed have or plan to undergo reconstructive surgery for the damaged caused by the bite.

Human bite wounds are a relatively common reason for referral for plastic surgery and there are two main types: the occlusive bite with or without tissue loss which occur when teeth close on the skin and have been seen in several high profile contact sporting events, including the Tyson-Holyfield boxing match in 1997; and the 'fight bite' when flesh on a closed fist is pierced by a tooth.

The authors say: 'The incidence of human bite wounds is largely unknown because many minor injuries do not present to the emergency department for medical assessment.

'The human bite injury is a deceptive wound and because of the potential for infective, functional and aesthetic complications it requires prompt treatment.'

The human bite injury: a clinical audit and discussion regarding the management of this alcohol fuelled phenomenon
http://www.emj.bmj.com

Internet sales slowing since I've started going to the gym.

Via the Times: Online Sales Loose Steam as Buyers Grow Web-Weary.

 
Since the inception of the Web, online commerce has enjoyed hypergrowth, with annual sales increasing more than 25 percent over all, and far more rapidly in many categories. But in the last year, growth has slowed sharply in major sectors like books, tickets and office supplies.

Growth in online sales has also dropped dramatically in diverse categories like health and beauty products, computer peripherals and pet supplies. Analysts say it is a turning point and growth will continue to slow through the decade.

The reaction to the trend is apparent at Dell, which many had regarded as having mastered the science of selling computers online, but is now putting its PCs in Wal-Mart stores. Expedia has almost tripled the number of travel ticketing kiosks it puts in hotel lobbies and other places that attract tourists.

The slowdown is the result of several forces. Sales on the Internet are expected to reach $116 billion this year, or 5 percent of all retail sales, making it harder to maintain the same high growth rates. At the same time, consumers seem to be experiencing Internet fatigue and are changing their buying habits.