Getting paid for what you enjoy
We all want to do something we love, at our own schedule and get paid for it. Recently a friend of mine introduced me to PhilosopersNotes, a website that provides book summaries for self development in audio and text formats. While there are other companies providing the same service for a different market segment, what I like about this particular site is that the founder is getting paid for his pleasure reading. Whether or not this business sustains to provide financial independence is to be seen. It is a great idea to do something you love and then get paid it. I wonder if I can get paid for thinking and documenting my thoughts and self conversations!
If you are interested in trying out samples, the PhilosophersNotes website offers free samples of 3 books in audio and text format. Give it a try.
Morning memories
It is spring time in Iowa and all the vegetation is coming back to life. Watching nature do its work and noticing the subtle changes on a daily basis is such a joy that I wonder why we don’t take sufficient time to smell the roses and observe all the beauty around us.
Along the same lines, I was reminiscing about all the beautiful mornings and sun rises that I have seen. I have also seen many beautiful full moon nights. In general, I think that early mornings leave a much lasting impression and memories than late nights. Is there a reason why we remember one type of experience? Is it because of the senses involved in the experience or is it because we are following natural patterns of rising? What do you remember – the early morning experiences or late night experiences?
Google Docs Visualization Gadgets
Google is updating its online applications and new features are coming online without much fanfare. The Spreadsheet application allows you to add various kinds of presentation gadgets. In this particular blog post, I will post an example of a pie chart and a heat map. These presentation gadgets show that the path has been paved for new visualization gadgets which can be made available to users for presenting data in an easy way. For example, a simple spreadsheet containing country codes, and a count of people, offices or other statistic can easily be presented as a heat map. I think gadgets like these can be used to create useful dashboards for small companies that are using Google Apps. (FYI – Google Apps is the subscription version that is meant for SMBs and enterprises). I can envision creating a portal within a company and use tools like this to create useful dashboards.
Sample pie chart showing number of recipes in a given category (sample data):
Move the mouse over the sections and click to see the values
Sample heat map showing % of civilian households having computers and internet (data from US Census site – October 2003 data):
Click on ‘% Computers’ and ‘% Internet’ to see the different heatmaps.
For those of you who are curious how I did this, I create a spreadsheet in Google Docs, inserted a gadget. Configured the gadget to use appropriate data range. Publish the gadget (which gives you a public url that can be used to paste the content on another page).
I haven’t tried Office Live to see if they have comparable offerings. If you have tried this, please let me know.
Note: The visualization gadgets don’t print when you print the document. I tried to print to PDF and the images don’t show up on the PDF output.
Unlimited Skype - talk more for fixed price
I am a regular user of Skype. Today I noticed an announcement which makes Unlimited Skype available for $9.95/month. The list of countries is limited and doesn’t apply to all the countries. It does include most of Europe, China and Hong Kong as well. Skype-to-Skype on PC has always been free but this opens the door to call regular phones. The price point for this offering means a lot for small businesses. If you are doing any product development whether software or physical product, this allows you to reach out to your counter part in different parts of the world for a fixed price. This will allow for easier budgets as well as open up the communication channels even more. More information on the list of countries included in Unlimited Skype can be found here:
http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/subscriptions/#worldSubscriptionTab
Will this mean companies like Vonage will also come down in prices? Let’s wait and see.
Story of Stuff
Have you ever wondered what really happens along the supply chain? Do you think about the cost of things? What happens to the product after purchase and money is spent?
Watch this 20 min presentation and hopefully it will make you think about people in the supply chain.
Many years ago, a co-worker told me his rule for purchasing anything – evaluate ‘need’ vs. ‘want’. If you need the item, then buy it else it can wait. Following a simple rule like this prevents me from the impulse to just go and buy the next hot item. Your mileage may vary!
Who’s looking?
Have you tried Google Maps – Street View or Microsoft’s Bird Eye view? If you haven’t checked it out, then try it.
Given below are links to a location in San Francisco. Compare the same location using different maps.
Example from Microsoft Live Maps
Example from Google Maps – Make sure you click on the Street View button to be able to see the street level view.
Now, try MapJack. MapJack lets you see things from ground level (literally). The number of places available via MapJack is limited but when you think about the technology and what’s happening it is impressive and scary at the same time.
Are you impressed or scared? I do find that it is helpful if you are preparing a trip and want to see the pictures to gain familiarity about a new place but this technology has its own complications. Recently there were headlines that Google Maps – Street View van entered private property and continued to take pictures. What will happen when this type of technology pervades your everyday life?