The point of email is to communicate. Years ago, when I felt like I was one of 4 people in Canada with an email account, I read a bit on email ettiquette. One of the points always stuck with me, “One day you will send an email that you will regret.” I have indeed.

Have you ever sent an email message that you regret? Big corporate servers sometime allow users to recall their sent email, if it is sent to a co-worker. Traditionally though, when you fire off that heated response to politically charged cult leader (he who’s name we shall not speak is what we call him)… your mail is gone forever and you can’t take it back.

The ability to get delivery and read reciepts is also a function that is missing in many modern email clients and web based email solutions such as gmail.

Enter the solutions: PointofMail

PointofMail is a great web service that allows you to send email by appening .poinofmail.com to the email recipients address. The email goes through the PointofMail server and then spins off to the intended recipient. You can setup your account to simply track delivery, opens and forwarded email. If you wish though, you can kick it up a notch and send your mail so that it can self destruct after a pre-determined period of time or so that you can, at will, recall the message.

In order to facilitate instant self destructing email or email that you can litterally yank out of the other persons inbox, PointofMail actually converts the email into an image and send the image to the final recipient. When you recall a message, PointofMail simply deletes the image off of their secure server. Should the person look at the message after it is recalled, you can have a polite little note show up… “sorry, I recalled my note because it was time sensitive, please call me …”

One nice feature is the ability to track attachments, such as how many times an attachment is read. You can also track your email message as it is being forwarded. In terms of sending sales proposals or other sensitive documents, you can learn quite a bit about the interest in your message by the frequency that it is opened, and forwarded.

Incidentally, when you send through PointofMail, you dont’ have to recall the message completely. You can simply edit the message. Change the message completely if you wish and it simply updates in the recipients email box!

If you send a document that is highly confidential and you want to, you can send it with a prompt to automatically delete itself if the first recipient tries to forward it to another person.  You can even password protect these highly sensitive messages with PointoMail!

PointofMail.com has plans starting as low as $29.99 per year.  Check it out here…

________________________________

Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.

My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com. ]]> http://www.davidawest.com/2010/06/28/have-you-ever-said-something-you-want-to-take-back/feed/ 0 http://www.davidawest.com/2010/05/21/whats-cool-in-the-world-of-the-web-today/ http://www.davidawest.com/2010/05/21/whats-cool-in-the-world-of-the-web-today/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 14:09:04 +0000 David West http://www.davidawest.com/?p=338

Google’s annual developer conference is well underway and there are a number of predictions and announcements being made. These advancements in both Google product offerings as well as technology announcements.

Technology announcements / predictions such as the general adoption of HTML 5 over the coming months. HTML 5 is being developed as the new standard and will bring a ton of functionality to web developers including the ease to embed video in h264 format and the ability to build rich web applications that have access to the local PC’s storage and resources such as cameras. I am going to refrain from making bold predictions about HTML 5′s impact on the internet, but it seems that it is going to propel the move to the cloud faster than ever before.

Google Wave has dropped the need to be “invited” to join wave. This will hopefully mean greater adoption by users. Wave is reported to also be “much faster” to use now. Google has also added permission management and an extension gallery to wave. I haven’t seen the ability to use wave as a primary email tool yet though. When Wave can pull my regular email from non-wave users, then it may be more widely adopted. Until then, it’s rather a closed community.

One of the other product developments that Googlers are talking about is “Google Storage for Developers”. This is a cloud based service build on Google infrastructure that will give developers access to low cost cloud based storage space. It sounds very similar to Amazon Simple Storage 3, a widely adopted cloud based storage solutions for developers. These services tend to be exactly what they are sold as… “for developers” to develop applications and services that leverage the low cost cloud based storage. Twitter, for example, uses Amazon Simple Storage to host portions of the Twitter application. While cloud based storage solutions like these are not exactly consumer products, they become the foundation of some fairly powerful potential in terms of development of cloud based services that you may very well already be using.

Cheers,

David West

CALGARY, AB. – The notorious new television program that’s been making headlines from coast to coast is set to broadcast Part 2! Featured on the front page of the National Post and every major TV, radio and newspaper network, Ralph Klein’s latest under-taking has the entire nation abuzz. On Saturday night, the former Alberta premier, master of the memorable soundbite, returns for the second episode of “On the Clock with Ralph Klein and Josh Groberman”: Canada’s first ever news-talk/game-show hybrid!

Rising young Calgary producer, Josh Groberman, challenges an expert panel of pundits and politicians with questions on political, social, economic, and international issues. Topics are often amusing or controversial. Each panelist is then “on the clock” to respond within 15 to 45 seconds.

Perched atop his throne, “King Ralph” presides over the discussion, weighing their replies and liberally doling out “Ralph Bucks” for the best, candid or insightful responses. At the end of the show, whichever guest amasses the most Ralph Bucks is declared winner.

Part 2 airs on the CTS Television Network across Ontario, Alberta and nationwide via satellite.

We are proud to be broadcasting this program during Earth hour in Alberta, being that On the Clock is a “hybrid”!

Saturday, March 27 @ 8:00pm Mountain / 10:00pm Eastern.

Repeat (AB only) Sunday, March 28 @ 7:00pm Mountain.

For viewers who are obsessing over Ralph Klein’s retirement, please see today’s National Post’s LETTER OF THE DAY! http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2727780

Check out http://www.ontheclock.ca to watch part one and for complete broadcast coverage of the program.

Contact: Josh Groberman, President, Josh Groberman Productions Inc.
http://www.ontheclock.ca

Not long ago, Microsoft tried to buy into YAHOO with some billons of dollars. It didn’t work out. Apparently that didn’t turn Microsoft away from the potential of becoming a rival to Google. This was a bid that I actually hoped would occur – because competition is good. As much as I respect Google, it would be nice if there was an alternative search engine.

Enter Bing.com

Microsoft is not branding their new search engine as a “MSN” or  “Live” upgraded – it appears that they have actually been innovative. Some of my colleagues who know me may be surprised to know that I am excited about this. On the surface, based on a short into video, it looks like this may be something good.

I am glad that Microsoft is going to take another run at providing search results. I hope that eventually 50% of the world users use it for their daily search and I hope that in the not too distant future when I ask a prospective clients how they found us… they will answer “I Binged you”.

Competition is Good.  It’s good for search engines, it’s good for websit designers and it’s good for operating systems.

Enough said… for now.

Cheers – David

I first met Stuart Crawford several years ago at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.  Like many networking events that I attend, we exchanged business cards and continued to meet others that day.  I didn’t think anything more of this meeting.  Boy, did I not see the freight train of a relationship that was coming my way.

Lost in LIMBO

At that time, Stuart was with a Microsoft computer support firm that was making some great strides forward in helping smaller businesses to avoid being lost in LIMBO (Lost in Microsoft’s Big Organization).  Stuart has a very unique passion that many IT guy’s simply do not have or if they do, don’t demonstrate it in the community.  This guys is passionate about serving the Calgary business community.

New Kids on the Block?

In the past few years, my friend has evolved and most recently joined up with 3 other wonderful leaders in the Alberta technology community to form Bulletproof InfoTech.  Bulletproof is much more than the typical computer repair or network services company, they understand how business works.

Bulletproof Info Tech is the new kid on the block. Not to be confused with “young and inexperienced”, this is a company formed by two major stable networking companies and a team of professionals who have brought together their strengths to make something that truly is bullet proof!

Does it Take Technicians or Business People to Make IT Happen?

The model that I have observed Stuart, Rene Sloos, Jeff Anderson and Sean Tindall provide to business in Calgary and Red Deer wraps technology with a very deep understanding of business.  Want to know more about Web 2.0?  Need to figure out what small business telephone system you need?  How about just getting your in-house mail server to work?  Bulletproof  has so far demonstrated professionalism, caring for business in Calgary and Red Deer and a deep understanding of how technology works. That is how technology works in alignment with your business needs.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

I felt that Stuart’s friendship over the years, his commitment to business in Calgary and now Red Deer, and my new friendship with Rene, Jeff and Sean have warranted a post about them. It’s hard not to enjoy working with peers who all get excited about the evolution that technology and the internet have had on our lives.

Computer Support companies in Calgary are abundant. There are a lot of very talented and knowledgeable people in this industry.  If you need a solution that works, a company who cares and a group of guys you can have a business conversation with then Bulletproof InfoTech must be your trusted business partner.

When it comes to managing your information technology infrastructure, one size does not fit all… Vist the Bulletproof website here.

Tell me your thoughts on this… I would love to see your comment added below.

On another note, where do you network for your business? Visit the Calgary Entrepreneur site today.

Cheers -
David A. West

Is OpenOffice.org 3 Ready for Business?

You can not discount the power of collaborative software development. After 20 years of community development, OpenOffice.org 3 is being used in business around the world. It is easy to use and allows you to save documents in a format that is approved by the International Organization for Standardization. If it is necessary to collaborate with other business people who are still locked into their vendor’s non-compliant document standards, OpenOffice.org 3 will allow you to downgrade your ODF documents to the format your colleagues are bound to by their current office software.

“OpenOffice.org v3 is the result of over twenty years’ of software engineering. A completely open development process means that anyone can report bugs, request new features, or enhance the software.”

What is OpenOffice.org?

OpenOffice.org 3 is the opensource version of the licensed StarOffice product available from Sun Microsystems.

“Anyone used to commercial software and its hyping and marketing speak will find OpenOffice.org 3 refreshingly different.”

“OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. ”

Technical support is available free of charge from community-sponsored sources (forums, mailing lists, etc.) or as a fee-based service from various third-party providers.

If You Prefer Licensed Software – Star Office May be an Alternative

If you like software packaged in shiny boxes with associated licensing fees and toll free numbers to call for help…

If you do want commercial support, the same software is also available as a fully supported and packaged product under the StarOffice brand from Sun Microsystems, one of the world’s most respected IT companies.

One user of StarOffice wrote “ I have Office 2007 and StarOffice 8 installed. I am constantly going to back to StarOffice because it is much easier to use and has more accessible features. Sure, many features are in Office 2007, but spending 30 minutes to find them is not my idea of “efficiency”. I love StarOffice.” — Brian B, Texas, USA

In addition to all of the components included with OpenOffice.org, Sun Microsystems bundles a number of additional applications and software components. Sun charges a fee for StarOffice, which it distributes under a relatively lenient, but still proprietary, software license.

StarOffice is easily purchased online and currently sells for $44.45 CAD. It is available for 5 operating systems.

What to Expect from a Transition to OpenOffice.org

Like any software, you should expect a transition or learning period when you upgrade to OpenOffice.org 3 from your current office suite – after all, it’s not the same software.  What you will find is that it is similar to the previous version of Mircosoft Office. It is user friendly and provides that majority of functionality that most day to day users enjoy. It runs smoothly on most operating systems and if it does crash it has incredible crash recovery. I have never lost a document in draft because of a crash.

What Not to Expect

You should not expect a heavily bloated office suite with hidden functionality that most business users will never use. You should not expect to be forced to “re-learn” how the office suite works every time there is a new version released because of radical user interface changes. You should not expect a major new version every 12 months that deprecates the prior version and forces you to “keep up” with the Jones’. Hmm, maybe that was a bit “over the top”… sorry.

Summary

In 2000 Sun released the StarOffice source code base under an open-source license, this started the OpenOffice.org project.

Open-source is a way to improve and develop software by utilizing the power of collaboration and communities – there is no denying that this power is what the Internet has given us as a gift.

Yes, I am an advocate of OpenOffice.org

It has served our business well and I am excited about the future of this project. Sun continues to provide key support to the project’s developer community. Since releasing the source code to the opensource community Sun’s developers have used “snapshots” of the OpenOffice.org code base for StarOffice releases.

We switched to OpenOffice as a standard over 18 months ago and continue to use it today. It runs gracefully on our PC’s, MAC and Linux operating systems (yes, we use them all). I have won a lot of work through proposals generated from OpenOffice. The recipients of our business proposals received PDF documents… it didn’t matter to anyone what office software I chose.

Learn more about OpenOffice.org here.

This respectful view was inspired by Stuart’s posting here, titled “OpenOffice is not for business“”.

Cheers

David A. West

Follow me on Twitter: davidawest

PS – we are just preparing, and in early beta, of our new business proposal software. Watch for it coming soon.

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PollDaddy – http://polldaddy.com/
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Convert doc to pdf online for free.

G.ho.st – Global Hosted Operating System – http://g.ho.st/?language=en
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Truecrypt – Free opensource disk encryption

Is it just me, or do some people say things in email message that they wouldn’t dream of saying to your face?

I remember when email was just evolving. I read a note on etiquette and one of the things that the author said was that “at some point all people will send an email that they will regret”.  How many times do you reply to message that raise your hair… only to delete the response. Some email messages have me actually leave my desk and take a walk.

One thing I have noted is that when people are frustrated or feeling lost in a process they might shoot off a note that is borderline rude. It is clear that they haven’t really thought it through. More often than not, the email message is “out of character”. You know, when you think to yourself “that doesn’t sound like Mrs. X”. What is the best way to deal with it?  Ironically I think the answer is to rely on an old technology. Pick up the phone and call.

It seems apparent that people are more apt to write things in email that they quite frankly wouldn’t say to your face. Am I wrong about this?

I always remember that note about “one day regretting an email that I have sent”. I always ask myself, would I say that to a person if they were in the room with me?  If the answer is no… the email gets deleted.

The workplace has to be respectful. The respect is recipricol and has to apply equally between service provider and service receiver.  Some times written corrospondence shouldn’t replace a good old fashioned telephone call.

Tell me your thoughts on this… I would love to see your comment added below.

Cheers -
David A. West

The advent of video production as an offering of our company, and the addition of Raphael Boivin on our team – I took the leap into Mac. The old PC was having a tough time rendering video.

I have been using the Mac now for about a month and I have to admit, I like it quite a bit. So much that I regret not having made the move years ago. I have to admit that my frustration with PC was not so much a stability issue. I could live with, and did live with, an occasional blue screen error. What I had a tough time living with was Microsoft releasing new operating systems to the general public that potentially deprecate hardware as well as software.

In fairness to Microsoft, I don’t think that the issue is necessarily their operating system, but more an issue of compatibility of the operating system to the wide variety of hardware available. It has to be like a dog chasing it’s tail – hard to catch it.

One thing is certain, the Mac advertising is working. There appears to be more and more people shifting to Mac. Having said that, I don’t think the shift can be measured in terms of multitudes yet… a few people are switching. We will have to wait to see if a momentum gathers.

I would be remiss not to comment on Microsofts attempts to deflect all of the excellent Mac ads with their new campaign… “I’m a PC”.  Sorry, but it’s really not working for me. It was creative when Mac started the Mac vs. PC ads.  What Microsoft is doing in terms of showing “every day” PC users hanging out of their car windows proclaiming that they are a PC is just not creative.  They really should take a stand that it’s not an operating system issue… it’s a hardware issue. Perhaps we will see “Microsoft” computers along side the Dell’s and Macs of the World.

So, I mentioned that I might like to slowly switch our company to an all Mac platform and phase out the PC’s. I was met by some humorous objections. In fact, Dave F. Even created a set of characters representing his view on the switch to Mac. He has declared that he is a PC.

Incidentally, PC is an acronym for “Personal Computer”. The PC I chose runs MacOSx – not Windows Vista.

Cheers -

David A. West

Or just finding normal?

I wonder if we haven’t been screaming along so fast in the past several years that what we have come to enjoy as “normal” is actually 2x the speed of normal.  All of the talk of recession, sliding markets and a lower dollar has investors worried – with good cause.  It is very clear that something is wrong in the World.

I do believe that Calgary has been moving at great speeds that are not necessarily normal. A slow down may be necessary to find normal again. Having said that, like any business owner, I am concerned that the slow down will impact my business.

Has all of this impacted your business? Are sales down? What plans are you making to protect your business in a down economy?

Cheers

David A. West

If one more pick up truck risks my life on Deerfoot I am going to ‘blow a gasket’… how about slowing down and using a turn signal. I think the driving in Calgary is getting a bit out of hand.

My shortest blog entry ever… but it had to be said.

Cheers

David A. West

I did a little video shoot last weekend in the Crowsnest Pass then did a quick slice and dice edit. Here it is.

I’ve been a bad blogger lately, we have been hugely busy these last few weeks… no excuses – I will blog this weekend.

I hope you enjoyed the video.

David A. West

If the worker bees don’t get honey, the Queen bee will perish. Worker bees are responsible for everything that happens in the hive. They make the comb where the honey is stored and eggs are laid. Why am I thinking about bees again? Bees make a great metaphoric lead into interesting topics like employee and employer relationships. Plus, the last time I wrote about Bees in my blog, It brought a lot of visitors… who would have thought there was so much interest in bees.

Take Two…with a few word changes;

If the employees don’t get things done, the Company will perish. Workers are responsible for everything that gets done in an organization. They deliver the products or services and add the creative flash that makes your business what it is. Workers that regret or resent their employment do not contribute… your clients will feel their dissatisfaction.

As our business evolves we add resources to ensure that we can deliver the services that we sell. In our business of web design and development, our number one resource is people. I have been a people manager for most of my adult life. At one point in my career I had a dozen direct reports who helped me coordinate and manage a team of nearly 400 personnel on 24 hour shifts.

I can’t imagine managing people without these thoughts;

• recognize and appreciate each individual persons strengths
• forgive their weakness (if it doesn’t impact your business negatively)
• be flexible, not everyone has a good day every day
• value the things your people have learned and recognize that starting over with a replacement is more difficult than coaching the employee you already have
• the time we put into growing skills in our people is priceless
• give regular feedback, be honest, honesty should not be hurtful
• feedback has to include positive remarks

Back to Bees… the bees all work together to fill up the comb. Each individual has to contribute.

How do you work with people. Have I missed any important points in my list above? I am sure I have… share your thoughts.

Have you seen the Part Machine buses running around?

Tell me your thoughts on this… I would love to see your comment added below.

Cheers -
David A. West

For as long as I can remember, and my Mother can confirm this, I have wanted to drive a bus. Until today I haven’t had that opportunity. I always thought that driving a bus would be pretty cool.  

….hey, there are pictures here… read more.

Tom Malin of Party Machine, a great client of ours, popped by for coffee this morning. He brought with him the most magnificent party machine you can image. Tom described it as his “baby”. He re-built, painted it and finished the interior. Tom’s hands touched every bit of this baby! You will be impressed when you see a Party Machine drive by… wait until you see the inside! The inside is as cool as the outside! Too cool actually.

I put some pics to the right… see Tom Malin in the lower left and the eKzact Smart car in the lower right!

Enter the “British Bus”! Look out Austin Powers.

So, today Tom facilitated my wish to drive a bus. After an orientation and a small safety chat, I got behind the wheel and off we went. Grind, grind… Tom was very forgiving as I got the feel for the manual transmission. What great fun! I learned that it is legal for me to drive the bus with a class 5 license when there are no passengers. Rest assured that Tom’s drivers are all professionals.

If you are planning a family reunion, bachelor party, stagette or want to organize your own corporate event then you need to talk to Tom. Choose from the Tiger Bus, The Zebra Bus, The British Bus or if you want something luxurious, ask about stretch limo’s! Party Machine is a true home grown success. Check them out here… PartyMachine.ca

Thanks so much Tom. I can hardly wait for my next lesson.

Have you seen the Part Machine buses running around?  

Tell me your thoughts on this… I would love to see your comment added below.

Cheers -
David A. West

For those of you unfamilier with Skype, it is a peer to peer text, voice and video application. The Skype website says, “Skype is free calls, video calls and instant messages. And you can call landlines and mobiles anywhere in the world at great rates. Free to download and easy to use. “ I agree, in principle, with their statement.

SkypeIn(tm) is when you buy a 10 digit phone number and have it assigned to your Skype Account. People can call you from a cell phone or landline by dialing your Skypein number and ringing you on your computer.  You can buy SkypeIn numbers for 21 countries… but unfortunately, not Canada.

Until Now…
Now you can get a number for most major Cities in Canada for Skype…
…but still not from Skype.

If you really want a SkypeIn number with a Canadian area code, there is a really inexpensive way to acheive it.  I did.  I can now be reached on my Skype account by anyone who dials my new number with the 403 Area Code – 403-775-2205 (give it a try… I spend 80% of my day near a PC)

Here is how you can get a Canadian phone number to ring into your Skype account;

1. Get a subscription for unlimited calling in the US & Canada for your Skype account… 3 months, the cost is $7.95.
2. Buy a SkypIn number for your account.  Choose from a number for any of the 21 Countries that are available… I chose a number in Texas. I like Texas.
3. Now, navigate yourself over to LES.NET.  Sign up for an account ( no cost to open the initial account).
4. After you are logged into your LES.NET account –> click the menu “order DID” that’s a fancy telecom term for “Phone Numbers” (direct inward dial… I think
5. Once you buy the phone number you want for Calgary… you need to get it to ring into your Skype Account.
6. Click the menu Peers/Trunks –> on the bottom, click “New Trunk”
7. Edit the Trunk details –> give it a name  –> Peer Type = Phone Number –> Peer Address = YOUR SKYPEIN number… remember the number you bought and assigned to your Skye Account earlier   –> SAVE your changes.

Now. There you have it!  Dial the local 403 number (in my case) and it forwards directly to my SkyIn number in Texas and then rings through to my PC!

Les.net rates are very inexpensive. You can get a North American Toll Free number for a one time fee $15, montly fee $2.50 and $0.055/min.  Canadian numbers with Les.net are $3.50 per month plus $0.011 per minute or a flat rate of $8.88. You choose, pay-as-you-go or flat rate.

I know that it is sometimes easier read than done. If you want a local Canadian number for your Skype account and find the above steps overwhelming… just drop me an email from the contact page here and  I will either coach you through it or just simply get you setup.

Happy Skyping.

Hey – why not get Skype now and give me a call? – 403-775-2205

Cheers -
David A. West

Managing my passwords has become a point of frustration and fear.

Email accounts, client accounts, ftp accounts, banking and much more… ever forgot your password.  Of course system administrators are great at forcing secure passwords that include unnatural characters and numbers (a good practice by-the-way).  It only makes sense that a good password is also a hard password to remember.

Then comes the warning… don’t use secure and highly sensitive passwords at websites or other “not so secure” locations that may be vulnerable.  Perhaps you are in a similar boat as me? I have hundreds of client accounts, hosting control panels, email services, servers, etc. etc. and there is now way to keep all of the user names and passwords.

Enter KeePass

As noted on the KeePass website:

“KeePass is a password manager or safe which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish). For more information, see the features page. “

I have been using KeePass for the last couple of years and I love it!  I like that the user interface is straight forward and intuitive and I like that it is free. Free as in OpenSource. In fact is is OSI Certified.

The author of the software, Dominik Reichl says,

“in my opinion all software that has something to do with security should be open-source ”

KeePass is now in version 1.11 and  comes ready Windows as well as a new version for your memory stick.  There are also several community contributions for PocketPC, Linux/Mac and even BlackBerry!  I have to try it on my Blackberry!

Visit the KeePass site at this link and you can download the software.

Hey – why not get Skype now and give me a call?

Cheers -
David A. West

ODIOGO is a service where you can give your blog a voice… free. I like free.
With a few keyboard strokes and a quick download of the WordPress plugin I had my blog talking within 10 minutes.

From the Odiogo site… “Odiogo’s media-shifting technology expands the reach of your content: It transforms news sites and blog posts into high fidelity, near human quality audio files ready to download and play anywhere, anytime, on any device. “

So, how can something so good… be free?  Advertising revenue of course.  While it is not initally apparent, a short dig around their site and you will find that their business model includes the insertion of audo ads into the audio stream.  I will be listening for the ads in my blog stream.

As noted on the Odiogo site “The Odiogo Advertising Servers insert audio spots into the content. The Odiogo Billing Servers calculate the revenue share among the parties.”

I like cool things on the Internet that seem to have great potential.  Way to go Odiogo!

Hey – why not get Skype now and give me a call?

Cheers -
David A. West

1996 was when I first started instant messageing my long time friend Robin Lecomte. After high school we went off in our own directions, me to Toronto, him to Edmonton.  I ended up in Calgary in 1991 and in 1996 Robin and I started chatting away on ICQ.

I tried MSN over the years… but something about it didn’t really work for me

We, as a business, Adopted Yahoo IM

We adopted Yahoo messanger as our IM tool of choice after testing both Yahoo and Skype around 4 years ago.  At the time voice chatting was only supported by Skype (if I recall correctly) and while voice via an instant messanger was kinda cool… the voice quality wasn’t.  We still chat primarily with IM text messages… until this week.

Testing IM Voice Quality with D.A.D.

The true test for voice quality over the last few years has been a quick call to my father – Larry. He isn’t much tuned into technology, but he has no quams about telling me if he thinks it’s a “bad technology”. So over the years when I test various voice-over-ip services, I just give Dad a call.  Just the slightest echo or static will put him over the edge. “Are you talking to me through that dumb computer again?”, he would say. I called my brother the other day using Yahoo and a new speaker phone for instant messangers… “Can’t you afford to call me on a real phone…” he asked.  I concede, they were right. The voice quality from Yahoo messanger wouldn’t cut the mustard in business.

What About Skype?

I installed the latest version of Skype and made it my default internet phone software.  I dial Dad’s number… slowly and with a degree of apprehension. What unique and colourful remark will he have for  me when he detects that I am talking to him through my PC again?

Dad: Hello.
David:  Hi Dad.
Dad: My Son!  (yes, it’s true, he talks that way)
David: What have you been up to today?
Dad: …well…

He goes on to tell me about his adventure building a fence gate.  My fence of course, I am not very handy with a hammer… I type fast though

To my delight, Dad didn’t detect that I was talking to him through my computer on a speaker phone.

Skype has evolved into an excellent, quality service. They have tons of plans, services and options available.  I am quite excited about the possibilities!

My business… we are holding our first conference call using Skype this Saturday. There will be 7 of us connecting at a pre-determined time to do a full project review. Helen will be connecting from her Hotel in London.

We will be adding Skype support to our growing list of products and services that we recommend to our small business clients.

Hey – why not get Skype now and give me a call?

Cheers -
David A. West

“Don’t do that Dave”, the famous line from a “2001 A Space Odyssy” written & Directed by Stanley Kubrick, rings loudly in today’s connected world. Are we getting close to the point where we are answering to the Hal in our life?

Is your blackberry your ‘Hal’?  How about your inbox, shall we call it the in-Hal? Do you interrupt meetings to answer ‘Hal’?  Do you check you ‘Hal’ before you have your first coffee of the day?  If you answer YES to any of these questions, then I suggest that you are answering to Hal.

In the movie, Dave eventually shuts Hal down. In our world, we are not likely to shut our Hal off… but we do need to put the real people first and be careful not to answer to Hal to the demise of real relationships.

“2001 A Space Odyssy” was produced in 1968.  How did they know?

Have a great Canada Day!  Happy Birthday Canada.

Best Regards

David A. West

I read about “off line” or “disconnected” web applications some time ago. We are now starting to see these off line applications come into production use. Google has recently added the ability to use their popular “Google Docs” applications off line.

The Google Docs applications include a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application. Up until this point, Google Docs has been an on line only application. While the apps are extremely useful and easy to use, the limitation of only being able to work while on line was at time difficult. The limitation of only being able to show a presentation, for example, while connected to the Internet was one of the biggest limitations that I found.

The advent of the ability to synchronize a local copy of the Google apps and my actual files to my local laptop has removed the limitations. I can now work on a presentation or document on line, and in full collaboration with my peers, and then take my laptop off line (say flying to Vancouver) and continue to work on my presentation. When I arrive in Vancouver and setup to speak at the convention center, I can run the off line version of my presentation during my lecture!

If you haven’t tried Google Docs, you can easily create a free Google account and give them a try. If you are looking for an enterprise solution to email, document collaboration and calendaring, then you should consider Google Apps for your business. We have helped several small business clients in recent weeks to take full advantage of Google Apps in their business. Our own company, eKzact Solutions, has been using Google Apps for nearly 5 months now. We have grown to love the Shared Calendaring, Gmail Interface and the Apps for document collaboration.

One really nice feature of Google Apps is that we get all of the upgrades Google staffers enjoy! No fees for upgrades, and no fear of end of life. Google uses their own applications to support their own business and their 10,000+ employees around the world.

If you would like to learn more about integrating Google Apps into your business, please drop us a note here.

Cheers,

David West

Or is there? You may have noticed the billboards promoting a new Cellular phone service – Koodo Mobile. My first impression was, “cool”. Competition for Rogers and Telus. I thought to myself, “gee, I hope these Koodo folks are tuned into customer service. I hope they will answer their phones when we call.”

It turns out that my hopes for a new cellular phone service in Canada will have to wait. Koodo is a brand name that Telus has used to launch a new product to appeal to the younger demographic (apparently). Koodo is to Telus, as Fido is to Rogers. A no frills, pay per second, digital cellular phone product.

While there is no mention of the relationship between Koodo and Telus on the Koodomobile.com website, a quick search on my favorite search engine returned the results I was looking for.

The discount carrier is owned by Western Canada’s top telecom operator, Telus Corp., which already offers wireless services under its own brand but wants to target a new demographic without changing its core image.

- Telecomunications Industry News

It’s interesting that the same features that clients have grown to dislike in their core cellular services, access fees, unnecessary media services, excess fees, per minute billing etc., are the features that they are promoting at Koodo.

It’s actually a pretty good idea. Cover all of the markets. Launch a new brand that has no reputation, good or bad. Generate more business. It’s really not unlike the numerous web developers who have multiple website to generate business in several markets.

Koodo’s to you Telus. I like the new Koodo brand and the offering. I just have to decide now between Fido or Koodo for my teenagers

Cheers

David A. West

PS: Koodo Mobile, Telus, Rogers and Fido are all trademarks of their respected owers and mentioned here only because of the newsworthiness of the topic.

As Christmas approached like a high speed train, I thought it would be a good time to send a note out to our clients.  A lot of things have happened in the past several months. It was high time to tell the clients.

While drafting our e-zine, I came up with several objectives for our business in 2008.  They have now been jotted down as our business “New Year Resolutions”.

Our business turned 3 years old.  In terms of a business, there is a lot of maturing that is done in the first few years.  Talking to Tom Malin of Party Machine yesterday, we were chatting about running a business.  Tom is considering a business blog.  We agreed that there are very few business owners that don’t have something to share in terms of “learning”.  One of our resolutions for 2008 is to continue to encourage our clients, the members of my peer group, and the members of our networking groups, to share their experience.  I am going to work closely with one of my mentors, Stuart Crawford, to encourage business owners to start a blog.

We are growing… Sandy Thoen has joined us as an Internet Consultant.  Sandy is a graduate of the U of C Web Design & Development program.  Sandy has already brought several high profile clients to eKzact, including Brewers Distributor.  David Fradette joined us in September as project coordinator. David’s role is to ensure we turn-out customer requests in a timely manner. Our design/development team also continues to grow. We add design and programming resources as needed to keep up with demand. Moving into 2008 we will continue to grow.  We have a very clear sales objective for 2008 and have developed plans to acheive these goals.

On a side note…We moved…

eKzact Solutions has moved. Our phone numbers have not changed.  The e-newsletter to the clients was just sent, in order to get our new address out to them.  Mail sent 10 minutes ago – 15% opened, 3 bounced, 4 visits to our website… I love how measurable and email campaign can be.  I certainly do not get stats like this from the Yellow pages.  I’ll check the campaign results again tomorrow, and will know exactly how many people have read my note.  I’ll also look at the analytics for eKzact.com to see an increase in unique visitors as a direct result of the newsletter.

We have updated our clients on a number of plans that we have for the new year.  I’m not going to write about each of the programs we are introducing in this blog entry – but stay tuned.  We have a series of objectives for marketing to our own clients in 2008.  This is one of our “New Year Resolutions”… market to our own clients. This growing group of valuable supporters is often overlooked by business owners. 

What are your business resolutions for 2008?  Give yourself some clear objective goals, make them measureable, and then test them out.  You just may be surprised at the results.

All the best to you for the Christmas Season and I wish you all continued success for 2008

David A. West

Jacob, from Northern Alberta, called me today to enquire about getting his honey business online.

Jacob was calling because he is on a quest. Jacob wants people to find his business online when they search for honey. He has a free website from his telephone company and isn’t sure how to get it to work for his honey business. I think, hmm, a sweet opportunity to gain a new client. The “free” website that came with his internet access was causing him grief, I guess, because he couldn’t figure out how to get his buzzing business online. I guess free isn’t always such a great deal.

The fact that Jacob was entering the word “honey” into the search engines and his business doesn’t show up seemed to be bothering him. We talked at length about professional website development and how search engines work. I predicted that a free website may not help his business to sell honey. Although, I admit that even a free website, in the right hands, might perform for a business.

So driving home with David, my co-worker, we’re chatting about Jocob’s honey business. The conversation quickly switches to bees. Neither David or I know much about bees, other than the fact that they make honey. We guessed that they must hibernate, or something, in the winter time. After all, I said, have you ever had a bee bother you while you have a picnic in the winter? David quickly pointed out that we don’t often picnic in the Winter.

Our conclusion – if Jacob needs a website to sell honey in the dead of winter, the bees must still be out there… somewhere. Do bees make honey in the winter?

An interesting part of our day as web developers is that we don’t really know who our next potential client will bee.

I hope Jacob calls me back to develop his marketing website. We have a few questions. I’m thinking some sort of “buzz marketing” could be the answer for Jacob.

Where is your next client going to bee? Does your website bring you new clients?

Sorry for my stinging attempt at humour.

David A. West