Engineer2Entrepreneur

Eight Cheap iPod Tricks

Link: iPod Garage: the world's second-most popular iPod website.

There are all kinds of cheap and easy things you can use to improve your iPod experience.

BusinessBlogCast - Text: 6/27/05 Carnival of the Capitalists

Link: BusinessBlogCast - Text: 6/27/05 Carnival of the Capitalists.

The Carnival of the capitalist is up with some thought provoking articles.

Photon Courier has a great little post on technology for developing countries. We have a petting zoo here that has a museum area of old farm equipment. I think one of the best things we could do for developing countries is to provide them with some of that old technology.

Even if we only doubled their productivity, in time that would make a real difference. We can't just dump this technology on them, they also need to build production and maintenance infrastructure, but if its built on what they already have, they can bootstrap themselves, and that is all that is really needed.

Why iPod isolationism is a good thing

Link: iPod Garage: the world's second-most popular iPod website.

Some people think that the iPod and podcasting are just a fad and that they will fade fairly quickly. I have lived through a number of fads and the iPod does not actually seem to have any of it's symptoms.

Blog Business World - Marketing, Public Relations, Search Engine Optimization

Link: Blog Business World - Marketing, Public Relations, Search Engine Optimization.

They have a nice education section this week that has all kinds of good advice.

Grand Opening of the Ziggurat Math Store and Blog

It has come time to stop talking and start doing.
Our public school system is failing us in the United States. High Schools now have dozens of valedictorians but universities are replacing college math and English courses with remedial courses. And our students are falling behind in international math and science and programming competitions.

Something must be done and I am going to do something about it. I can't do everything but I can do one thing and that is to help parents teach their children mathematics.

I have launched a new blog called ZigguratMath.

I have written a book the first in a new series of books to help mothers teach their children the language of mathematics. Book one is all about teaching your children how to count. It is available as a downloadable ebook (.pdf) at the ZigguratMath Store.

A free report on why mathematics is important plus lesson 1 from the book is available there too.

For the grand opening the book is on sale at the ZigguratMath Store. This sales ends next Thursday.

iTunes 4.9: a Peek Around the Corner

Link: iPod Garage: the world's second-most popular iPod website.

Podcasting is definitely wild and woolly, but some important early moves are being made. Lots of people and groups who traditionally used audiocassettes for distribution are moving to podcasting. People are experimenting with various ways to make money with podcasts. Big names are experimenting with podcasting. Preachers are starting to Godcast. Software is coming out to make the whole creating a podcast process simple and easy. Downloading podcasts is going to become much easier with iTunes 4.9

The best ideas come from the outside not the inside.

Link: Joseph's Marketing Blog: Look for Competition LAST.

Only after you have created your business from the ground up, avoiding the influence of what's already there, THEN look towards the existing market; what can be improved, what could be added, etc.

The reason for this method is twofold:� �1)� Finding competition when you first think up an idea can be disheartening, and you may start to make cloudy judgment calls when you feel inundated with competitors.

2) When you form your idea based on your competition, you're confined to the strengths and weaknesses of them, and are only building on what they have already created.� If you work from scratch, you are essentially inventing the industry, and it gives you the opportunity to be even more outstanding. Mind you, I'm not suggesting ignoring competition, but looking at it only after you have built your own foundation.� Otherwise, you're trusting your foundation to your competitors, which definitely isn't a good idea.

The best ideas come from the outside not the inside.

Look at the evening news, they all look the same, and what is beginning to take their place, podcasts and RSS feeds.

For the business I will be launching very soon, I saw a niche because a major player got bought up and mutated away from the customers needs. For inspiration I am looking at related but quite different industries like corporate training, couching and consulting, mainly because they have different ideas that I believe will work very well in the niche I am getting into.

While I am sure there are good ideas in the industry and I will add them in as I find them, other industries have good ideas too and make me look different form the competition.

Byrne's MarketView: Carnival of the Capitalists!

Link: Byrne's MarketView: Carnival of the Capitalists!.

Some cool articles. The comparison of McDonalds vs a local diner is whacky but fun.

MAKE: Blog: MAKE ebooks for your iPod guide!

Link: MAKE: Blog: MAKE ebooks for your iPod guide!.

A neat little How-to on making ebooks for your iPod.

I do similar things with VoodooPad, a wiki-like note keeper.

Apple's Dangerous Game May Mean Big Gains

Link: Apple's Dangerous Game May Mean Big Gains.

Philippe Kahn, the founder of Borland, once gave me a very good piece of advice: "Don't ever give your customers a reason to reconsider." Why? Because when customers are forced to think about their buying decisions, some of them are going to shop elsewhere.

Good advice.

I am not too worried about Apple they haven't killed off their R&D division and so they are going to keep on innovating. They are really good at that. Sure it might be a little rocky but it is a good time to get into Apple development.