Free books for your iPad ↵

Few people know that the iPad is actually very open when it comes to books. While the only means to purchase books for it is the iBookstore on the iPad itself (so far), it’s possible to import ePub files into iTunes and sync them to your device. Here’s some tips to (legally) fill up your iPad with books without spending hundreds of dollars.

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Ultra-thin iPhone stand that fits in wallet

I've found this to be the perfect solution for when I'm on-the-go and still want to be able to prop my iPhone up w/o having to lug around yet another phone accessory. Brilliant use of the law of physics & fits perfectly in my ultra-thin wallet.
Available here ($6.75)

What haughty startup bloggers don't tell you ↵

It doesn't matter if your website looks like ass.

link ↵

Why a recession is the best time to start a company ↵

Six reasons:
1. Low opportunity cost.
2. Cheap talent.
3. Cheap stuff.
4. Eager customers.
5. Competitor carnage.
6. "Now" is always the right time.

It includes a photo that is taken in Singapore too :-)

link ↵

When I joined Apple ↵

There's been enough chitter-chatter on the Internet on all things iPad; I need not contribute more to it. But what's happening around us is about more than just the iPad. Daniel Jalkut says it best:

I joined Apple because they were threatening to change the world. I stayed on at Apple because they were changing the world. And I remain loyal to that company because, in spite of my absence, they have changed the world. In more ways than I can imagine, they’re inventing the future. And I’m along for the ride. 

I'm still working off of a 5-year-old iBook G4 and an iPhone 3G S but in no way do I feel left out. On the contrary, I feel like I'm part of the ride because my machines continue to perform beautifully & never cease to amaze me 'til this day.

We live in interesting times.

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If you could run a business without interacting with anyone else.. ↵

.. it would be wonderful & perfect. Unfortunately, somewhere along the course of business, we have to have contact with customer, vendors and even employees.

This reliance can be a constant source of heartburn. So you can either take some Tagamet or learn how to get permission to follow-up with people.

Jason Cohen shares about his irrational fear of the phone (glad to know I'm not the only one!) & how we can create natural follow-up points to make easier for us to contact someone.

link ↵

Use your support e-mails as your help files ↵

Brilliant idea from Cube of M:

If you are running a software company, you probably receive a lot of emails every month, asking for something or the other. You then reply back to the email explaining something or the other.

Create a private posterous account and whenever you reply to use an email, BCC the posterous account. At the end of the month, hire someone to go into the posterous account and rewrite all the emails into help file entries. Download the text and put it on your website as help file entries.

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Starting a (better) bank.

Awhile back, I remember reading an impressive essay by Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress) on how he would start a bank, if he wasn't leading Automattic. He gave it a name i.e. SafeBank, goes on to list its would-be features, design, how the bank would make money, market itself virally, and how a big part of the bank's website would be the blog.

Today I come across banksimple, which fulfills almost all of Matt's visions for SafeBank.

If Matt isn't involved in this already, I guess someone out there was listening.

Update: 27/5/2010 
banksimple is co-founded by early Twitter employee Alex Payne. (Source)

Flash games made by Tonypa ↵

Maddeningly addictive, and I've yet to discover them all.

I must say the bestest thing I like about Tonypa's games is the soundtrack.

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"It's easier to be an asshole to words than to people." ↵

Derek Sivers (founder of CD Baby):

It's too overwhelming to remember that at the end of every computer is a real person, a lot like you, whose birthday was last week, who has three best friends but nobody to spoon at night, and is personally affected by what you say.

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Soon, a PC will not have files, folders, or documents ↵

So where is it all stored? In "the cloud". What is the cloud? Who cares. 

I don't want to deal with the details, just make it work. 

But if we must know. 

Sachin Agarwal (co-founder of Posterous),  gives us the most succinct explanation of "the cloud" IMHO:

I want to be able to access all my data on my iPhone, iPad, and iCar. And I want them all to be in sync. I want the data to be managed automatically, backed up, secure, and fast. If I buy a video on my iPad, sync it to my TV instantly. If I take a photo on my iPhone, sync it to my iPad. Don't ask me anything, just make sure everything is everywhere.

People don't listen to advice ↵

Jessica Mah:

There are two distinguishing factors I see in good entrepreneurs: 1) they actively solicit advice, 2) they immediately act on that advice. Most “entrepreneurs” have this false sense of productivity by doing part 1, yet they don’t follow up with part 2. Why is this? 

I’ve had and still have this issue myself. And when I nod my head in approval at a good idea, it’s usually because it’s a good idea. I don’t follow up with part 2 not because I’m lazy, but because I can’t figure out how to get it done in the limited time I have. So then the idea gets tabled, never to return to unless I hear the same advice again. But even when I hear the same advice from a second source for the second time, I’ll probably get stuck in this endless loop of not listening to very good advice.

Better marketing for the homeless ↵

An experiment by Brian of Daily Conversions improved a homeless man's earnings by over 100% over several days:

..we changed colors and went from cardboard to white to spark the interest of people walking by instead of automatically having negative associations that they have with cardboard and homeless people. We want this to look like a new age homeless man who is really trying to make it work for himself. The biggest difference, is that we are now introducing a bribe. We are basically saying "hey I'm homeless, help me, donate to help feed my family and pay my medical bills... but not only that, if you donate right now I'll give you a free squirt of hand sanitizer". This can be applied to list building and all sorts of other aspects of Internet Marketing almost as is..

More on A/B testing.

Why Post-Teens Use Twitter ↵

In response to TechXav's Why Teens Don't Use Twitter, Lucian Teo aptly summarises why post-teens use Twitter:

Peers.

Peers are people you think are like yourself. They need not be friends; they could be people you admire, visionaries in the same field of work or have similar tastes in fashion or art.

In short, peers are people you want to be associated with, and ultimately become.

 link ↵

When Woman Is Boss ↵

In 1926 at the age of sixty-eight Nikola Tesla (one of my favourite scientists) shared his foresight on things to come. Amongst his predictions of vest-pocket communications equipment and unmanned aircraft, he regarded the emergence of woman as one of the most profound portents for the future.

...the female mind has demonstrated a capacity for all the mental acquirements and achievements of men, and as generations ensue that capacity will be expanded; the average woman will be as well educated as the average man, and then better educated, for the dormant faculties of her brain will be stimulated to an activity that will be all the more intense and powerful because of centuries of repose.  Woman will ignore precedent and startle civilization with their progress.