Compromising Function for Form

I know, you’re not supposed to lead with a negative… so sorry… but its true. The single most shocking thing for me was that I made the decision to switch from an AWESOME network (Verizon) to a pretty ok network (AT&T). Even with all the traveling I did, driving all over the South, I didn’t have dead spots or dropped calls with Verizon, it just didn’t happen. Now, I can’t get out of the city limits before I’m dropping service!

And if that’s not bad enough… I knew it would be that way BEFORE we made the switch! Why make the switch then? Simple, to get the phone. It is simply a matter of pretty wins out over works almost all the time. (Now before you castigate me over the “pretty” comment, read on!) We sacrificed function over form. And don’t even get me started on me owning an Apple product!

Function Over Fight

My second observation about the iPhone is that it is not just a pretty toy, the dog-gone thing work pretty dog-gone well! See, its kind of like my relationship with Microsoft. I’ve never been a big Microsoft fan (in spite of the fact they kept food on our table for a very long time) but I am a HUGE fan of how well their apps work together. Learn how to use one office product and you know how to use them all kind of thing. The iPhone and most of the apps designed for it seem to fall into the same category. They just work, and in most cases work pretty well. The interface is intuitive and integration is simple to setup. It literally took me less than two minutes to integrate my iPhone calendar with my Exchange AND Google calendars… I couldn’t even do that with my BlackBerries.

The New PC?

Speaking totally in the metaphorical sense of course! Try this argument on for size though. With the majority of what we used home PCs to do now contained in this nifty little form factor, doesn’t that take a great big bite out of the role of the PC in the home? Is there enough left for it to do for it to survive? Is multi-touch going to be the demise of the keyboard and mouse? Check out this theory from my earlier post, Repent! Repent! The End of the Personal Computer is Near… and I wan’t even talking about the iPhone at the time!

A move away from the dedicated, sitting in the corner, all-purpose personal computer to more task specific appliances. Case in point, Tivo. I quite accidentally stumbled over Tivo’s cool integration with Netflix. Movies viewed on demand from Netflix via my Tivo. Or if I can’t find anything good there, I can watch YouTube videos or rent a download from Amazon…all through the Tivo. Great example of a task specific appliance. Oh sure, the interface is pretty weak, but hey, its still young.

Are there problems with this theory, only one I can see. The interface!!! The keyboard & mouse have worked well for the dedicated use computer, but as anyone who has tried to compose an email on their cell phone / PDA can attest, it doesn’t work nearly as well away from the desktop. Will it be speech to text, gestures, sub-cutaneous implant behind the ear? Don’t know but I do know, sooner or later, it has to change.

The simple fact is that the iPhone and iPhone apps have changed the way I go about my daily routine. I have instant access to information about movies without having to drag over the laptop or get up and head to the computer. Vickie can email a link to a recipe to Casey while she’s at the grocery store. Facebook and Twitter no longer require me to sit behind their screens to get my daily fix of what everyone else is doing.

But its only been three months. What is going to happen in the next three months that might change my opinion? Right now, I’m thinking not much… but who knows. And while this might not fit the definition of unconnected I’ve talked about in the past, being able to slip such a powerful little device in your pocket and head out to the beach…. well that’s just cool!

What has your experience been with the iPhone? Like it? Wish you hadn’t switched? or Don’t have one and don’t see what all the fuss is about. Leave a comment and get in the conversation!

- Thom

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After a bit of my daily web surfing yesterday I stumbled across a new little gem of a WebMoney widget called Money Magnet. It is so simple that it only took a few minutes for me to see how easy it would be to make some extra cash with this Money Magnet thing.

Making money online is the brass ring of the Internet and the Money Magnet guys have found a cool way to do it. Very simply you purchase a Money Magnet widget with PayPal from a site or blog that is displaying one (like THIS BLOG, hint, hint) for as little as $10. After you pay, you are taken directly to the page with the HTML code you need to put the Money Magnet widget on your site.

The cool thing is as soon as your PayPal payment clears, the owner of the site you bought from gets paid IMMEDIATELY! No waiting for minimum payouts, you don’t even have to wait for the end of the month. Your commission is deposited to your PayPal account INSTANTLY!

Another interesting thing about the Money Magnet widget is that you can buy widgets in different monetary amounts! I bought the cheapest at $10. The higher the dollar amount you purchase, the more you earn. For instance, with the $10 Money Magnet widget I will earn $5 for every sale originated through my site, even if the sale is for a $100 widget. Bummer right? Well, not exactly because with the $10 widget I can sell ANY Money Magnet widget ($10, $20, $30, $40, $50, and $100). If I bought the $100 widget I’d earn $50 per sale but I could ONLY sell the $100 widget.

So go ahead and add the 125×125 Money Magnet widget to your blog and see what kind of cash you can receive. All that’s left is to get the traffic! Check out more information and buy your own Money Magnet to start earning at www.GetMoneyMagnet.com.

Enjoy!

- Thom

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One of the interesting changes underway now in the online world is the shift away from anonymity toward personification.

I’ve been online now since 1995 and one of the attractions to the Internet has always been the cloak of anonymity created by the screen and keyboard. You could say anything to anybody, claim to be anybody you want or look any way you want. Even live a life online that was totally separate and apart from the reality of your daily world. But the advent of web cams and social networking is gradually changing all that.

At the risk of dating myself here, it reminds me a lot of the movie Tron where a hacker is literally abducted into the world of a computer to live out (or die in) his virtual life. As social sites like MySpace, Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn grow exponentially in popularity we are being forced to step out from behind the curtain and reveal more and more of ourselves. Don’t see the big deal? Many colleges and potential employers do because they are checking out their applicants online persona comparing it to the application. That “little fib” about your PhD on MySpace may have just cost you a job!

More than that though, all you have to do is look at how popular these sites are to see how desperately some people want to be known, not famous, just known. It’s almost sad.

Ok, so how does one go about managing this mess? Well, it’s not simple, maybe impossible, but here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Expect Someone To Connect the Dots

If you think you’ll be able to hide behind a different email address, think again. It may work against the casual observer, but if someone is really interested in finding out who is who, they WILL DO IT.

There Is No Expectation of Privacy On the Internet

Don’t write it, text it, email it, chat it, blog it, video it or otherwise commit anything to electronic “writing” that you don’t want someone to find out. It’s just too easy! Time after time (and hot video after hot video) we see a “private” message or video posted to the Internet for all to see. Before you snap that picture or click send…is this something you want other people to see? Think stolen camera or laptop!

Keep a Junk Mail Email Address

Email is free and plentiful in the Internet. Setup a free email address that you use to sign-up for website logins, newsletters, stuff like that. DO NOT use that address for your banking, credit cards, bill pay, etc. If you need to, setup another one for those chores and give it to no one. It’s not perfect, but it will GREATLY reduce spam and GREATLY reduce the likelihood of having your online identity stolen.

Common Sense Still Applies, Even In the Internet

Like my grandpa always said, “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” Why would Mr. Jambaba contact you randomly to receive his $1 million in cash? How reasonable does it sound that you won a contest you didn’t enter? THINK before you share!

Far From Complete

These are just a few of the many things I’ve learned over the past 18 years of connected living. There are many many more. Use common sense and treat every stranger online like you would if they walked up and knocked on your front door…at least that’s a good start! Do you have any good ideas? Share them with us in a comment below!

I wanted to take this opportunity to point out a new web presence I think you will all be interested in. GukuSabi is a new blog about stuff, kinda like Seinfeld, its a blog about nothin, but you’ll love it!

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I remember back in the 80′s business Utopia was the Paperless Office! Well that didn’t work out…yet. I was sifting through my Reader feeds this morning and made my way over to a couple of new blogs (well, new for me) that inspired me. First I found Skellie over at AnyWired.com. She had 30 Ideas to Help You Start Working Through the Web that I thought were very fab!! (Check out her article, you’ll notice some of her ideas as I move through this series) Thanks Skellie! While I was browsing her site, I found a 125 ad for Stephen over at Productivity in Context. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not even in the same league with Stephen when it comes to organization, but don’t let that stop you from checking out his blog.

Anyway, these two kinda got me thinking about HOW I do what I do and thought it might be a good idea to showcase some of the ways I work mainly in the connected world and leave very little residue behind in the UNconnected world. Here goes.

Start With The Basics

It might be a good idea to back-up just a bit and hit a little history. I’ve had the jtrigsby.com domain for many many moons now, I don’t even remember how long I’ve had it. The web portion of the domain has gone through several iterations, most of them requiring direct access to the server, FTP access, or something of the like. What a hassle. And then there is the email monster! Yuck!

I stumbled across Google Hosted Apps almost a year ago. Like a lot of things (like blogging) it took me a little while to figure out how to take advantage of this fab tool, but I finally got it. If you missed my story about Google Apps (The Latest Killer App!), Google Apps is a hosted application (meaning its all on-line, nothing on your computer) developed by Google. It provides users with email, calendar, web hosting, docs, spreadsheets, and presentations. And the best part is…IT IS FREE!

Needless to say, free is good!

So I signed up! Now, you are not required to have (or buy) your own domain name, it will work just fine using a Google sub-domain, but since I already had jtrigsby.com, I redirected it over to Google Hosted Apps and the rest was easy. I now get to use a private branded Google Mail app for all the mail sent to jtrigsby.com, have my own calendar, and my own document repository. All on-line, all free. What? You don’t see the big deal? Well let me tell you. My email, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations are now available from any computer with Internet access and I don’t have to deal with or manage server, connectivity, spam, or backup issues! In fact, I’ve got the world’s single largest hosted apps company doing all that for me…FOR FREE! Wow.

Now Google Apps has a web hosting feature, they even have a pretty slick little on-line web page editor. And yes, it is on-line so I could access it from anywhere, and did. I started my WebMoney series on the old site. I spent lots of time writing and editing the pages, saving drafts, etc, etc. Then the blogging light bulb clicked on (finally)! I spent weeks working on the traditional web site and it only took a couple of hours to move all that data over to Blogger…and that includes getting the blog setup and the domain name redirected!

So now I have email, calendar, docs, and a blog/website. The basics of my Internet Empire are in place. With this array of applications, all on-line and web based, I’m mobile and don’t have to carry anything with me to stay connected. As long as I can borrow a computer (dare I say even a Mac!) I can stay in touch, answer emails, and get a little work done. This is something that’s really important to me since I’m on the road a lot and away from my desk. It’s also pretty cool that I can setup a user account (the first 100 are FREE) for Vickie and share my calendar with her so she can see what I’ve got going on, where and when. How cool is that?!?

What tools do you use to stay connected? Are you still using a pc based email client like Outlook? Any tips? Be sure to leave a comment below and share all that you know with the rest of us.

Next time…Keeping Up A Social Life, Online!

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Late night coffee has to be the fuel that drives the Internet. Here’s the story of one perfect cup!

I was only about 10:00 pm. Yeah, it had been a long day, but not a hard one. Lots of time on the keyboard, dinner encouraging me to nap, and a few more  social media chores to be done before bed all contributed to this cup of coffee.

Vickie was up working on CulinaryClique.com, trying to get a few more awesome recipes posted. As she often does, she had already setup the coffee maker for tomorrow morning, so that all that would be required was a stumble into the kitchen and click the button. But that was a couple of hours ago. With at least another hour or so to go we both wanted a cup. The challenge was on.

A few months back I picked up a press pot while I was on the road. The spartan accommodations I had that trip left me in a hotel room without a coffee pot. I’ve only used it a couple of times and had not been all that excited with the outcome… but my nagging craving for caffeine was calling and I had to answer. Not wanting to ruin it, I did what all good web geeks do… I Googled it.

Well, lets just say I hit the mother lode! Over at CoffeeGeek.com (isn’t that a perfect name!) I found How to Use a Press Pot! It not only gave me step-by-step instructions but pictures to boot! (One of which I borrowed for this article. Thanks guys!) With the exception of using the “right” kind of grinder, I followed the instructions to the letter and man, did it come out great! Well, great enough for me to sit down and write about it!

So a big, hearty, energized thanks goes out to Mark Prince, the Coffee Kid, over at CoffeeGeeks.com. Next time your over there, tell him Thom and Vickie sent ya! And try a press pot, you might just like it!

@jtrigsby

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With 2007 officially behind us now and the first working day of 2008 arriving bright and shiny (with a very light dusting of snow), it’s time to get back into the salt mine and get to work.

One of the burning questions for me and probably a lot of you out there is how do I balance the connected life with off-line time too? I mean, you can’t always have email up and reader open can you? So I’m taking suggestions. What are some of the ways you can stay connected without being tethered to the computer all the time.

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Over the past year I’ve been on a quest to find the way to make money from home/on the Internet… and I’ve seen plenty. Everything from bogus ads on Craigs List to mortgage brokering. During that time I’ve also done lots of reading on finances, debt, and getting things done. Through all of this I was beginning to piece together what I thought was a pretty original framework for how to work my way out of debt, build some residual income, and not have to work 26 hours a day. Then I found Brian Lee’s blog, Genius Types.

If anyone else had been home they would have seen me sitting slack-jawed in front of my monitor reading all the things I had just moments ago been so proud of as original thought! But instead of being mad, upset, or disappointed… I was thrilled! Brian had just confirmed my ideas and gave me even more confidence in my own. The link that got it all started was to his number one article, Five Ways to Create Passive Income With Little Or No Money. For the better part of the remaining day I wandered around through Brian’s posts gleaning nuggets of wisdom and encouragement. Wow!

Brian doesn’t just tell you how, he proves that it works!

While there is no shortage of blogs that will tell you how to make money online, some even promising huge payback in a couple of weeks, Brian is a bit more practical and doesn’t mind proving it.

First, Genius Types is all about passive income, what I call mailbox money. Little or no effort for a regular, recurring income stream. Without a doubt there are ways to make your Internet business pay off quickly, but from what I’ve seen they take lots of time and effort…and then they’re gone. I’m willing to make the trade-off of slower start for longer return!

Second, and this has been the kicker for me, Brian posts a detailed breakdown of where his blog income comes from each month! Granted, I haven’t read the whole Internet yet, but I have yet to find anyone else bold enough to do this. This also means Brian is complete transparent about how much he makes. While he hasn’t broken the $1,000 a month plateau yet, he does grow his income each month and that is the name of the game.

All Part of the Plan

Finally, Brian is using the Internet as one source of income that is part of a larger plan, one that will free him from the mouse wheel of working for debt and allow him and his family the latitude to pursue their joys and passions. This is the reason I like Brian and his approach so much! He’s not out looking for the quick buck, he’s put together a plan and he’s working the plan.

So many times people get into a temporary bind (like charging up credit cards for Christmas?) and go out looking for a quick payday to get out of that whole, only to dig a new one the very next day. That’s crazy, but it was me and 98% of the rest of America. I hope that by drawing attention to Brian’s blog that more of us Internet citizens will wake up and see what we’ve been doing to ourselves and maybe glean some great pearls from Genius Types to help jump off that treadmill!

Thanks Brian for all your work on Genius Types! Keep up the good work and good luck.

-Thom

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Write at least one post every day
Network with (not just link to) other bloggers
Average at least 100 daily unique visitors
Average at least 300 daily page views
Have at least 100 RSS subscribers
Average at least 3 comments per post
Break into the top 5,000,000 on Alexa (currently 8,167,786)
Generate at least $500 monthly ($4.11 last month, I know, long way to go, right?)

Wish me luck!

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I’ll let my friend David Wier get us started…

1. If they start their email “my dear Friend” – they’re not

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