Thanks to Lucas Caro for creating the Wavr WordPress Plugin so users can now embed Google Waves into posts.

37 Signals‘ Basecamp has set the bar over the years as the most popular and admired collaboration tool available. Along with Highrise, Campfire and Backpack, they have created one of the most appealing suite of online tools available for project management. However, cost and the fact that you can’t self-host the software has been an issue for many in deciding whether or not it is worth it.

Well, today I think I have finally found one of the best options available. It’s still in the early stages, but Open Atrium is an open-source alternative that combines many of the same features as Basecamp and more. It was created by the incredibly gifted and professional team at DevelopmentSeed.org, who evidently have been around a long time developing open-source software for Drupal and promoting projects for a variety of global causes. As always, there is a bit of a learning curve when installing and running open-source alternatives, but in the end I think Open Atrium is worth the effort.

The lack of videos for many songs and the fans who love them has turned photo galleries, screensavers and personal video into reflections of what the music means to them. An example of this can be seen in this video that I found online. I love the song and was hoping for a beautiful video to go along with it. What I found is someone who loved the song as well and used their photo gallery to express it. It’s not much, but with more powerful video editing tools available to people in the future who have little experience in this medium, we will begin to see a video for every song ever written.

From Yahoo!, HTC and now CNN, 2010 is sure to see the “You” brand elevated to the next level. Millions are now unemployed and searching for a way to distinguish themselves in this over-saturated market. Read my insight on this new self-marketing opportunity and what CNN wrote recently.

“YOU” is the Brand New You – Originally published August 29, 2009.

Jessica Dickler of CNNMoney.com recently wrote an interesting article on the growing trend of people using social networks, blogs and other community-based tools to help them build a positive online reputation. By describing and promoting your interests, experience and expertise, you are taking that extra step beyond the resume and showing employers another dimension of yourself.

Elizabeth Ragone co-founded a clothing store in Wisconsin. After the recession hit, the business began to wither and eventually Ragone decided to leave the company to find employment. Rather than focus on the traditional means of browsing the classifieds, making a phone call or sending a resume, Ragone used  social networks, her own personal blog and a post of her resume and experience to “establish a personal brand.” Later, Ragone was given a tip that a company was hiring. After an interview with the company and a mention that she had her own blog with knowledge of the industry, she was hired the next month.

In many ways the idea of a Brand is beginning to turn inside out. In the corporate realm, businesses continue to spend millions of dollars in advertising and strategy, but no longer see a significant ROI in print, television, radio or internet. In many ways, this is due to the economy, but we as people are emerging as the more powerful facilitator of brand loyalty and trust. The fact that an individual can be interconnected with hundreds or thousands of people through social media, blogs and networks, then share their unique opinions, experiences and background with others is a very powerful tool.

As more and more people begin to build and solidify online reputations, others will flock to them as a way to establish relevancy, purpose and quality. The “YOU” brand is quickly emerging as a richer and more fulfilling reflection of who we are, what we like, how we express ourselves and ultimately why we do it. Let’s just hope that others find “YOU” interesting.

A big shout out and “Thank you!” to the team over at Magnamole™ for linking my article on the Press Section. Sharon Wright has a great product and team behind her that is sure to make the Magnamole™ invention a big success. It is the type of product that I can see having many useful applications here in the United States. Cable, electric, fiberoptic and telephone companies are just some of the types of businesses that would benefit greatly from the Magnamole™.

Originally published on August 5, 2009

I am a really big fan of the BBC America show Dragon’s Den that airs Tuesday evenings at 9/8C. During the day I am a designer, social media strategist, website designer and wordpress developer. I’m all over the newsfeeds looking for exciting new articles that I can read and post about. Fortunately, today I came across one of the nicest ones I have seen in months.

Sharon Wright of North Lincolnshire, England was featured on a recent episode of the Dragon’s Den and I missed the show for some reason. Luckily though, I came across Justin Parks website where he actually had an interview and a two-part video of Sharon Wright showing her product to the Dragons. I’ve been following Justin Parks for the past few months because of his insightful, yet casual approach to social media. He doesn’t to try to wow and dazzle you, he provides facts and commons sense. I tend to follow people I trust rather than being sold something.

Sharon Wright was featured showing an ingenious, yet simple product named the Magnamole™ that she invented to solve problems that most cable, phone, electrical and repair companies face every day. The product helps installers to guide a cable through walls without needing to use unsafe methods like a wire hanger. A demo video of the product can be found here.

Sharon’s background in Health & Safety was a key factor in providing the “aha!” moment that we sometime have. As she presented her demonstration and product to the Dragons, “our jaws dropped” according to Theo Paphitis. The product was a hit and she got more funding than she asked for from Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan, who now have a 22% equity in her company. It was great seeing every Dragon loving the product, smiling and providing Sharon with the support she will need for what is truly a great product. I’ll be following Sharon’s story and product more closely to see how it does. It’s great to see success stories in action. Congratulations to Sharon and your Magnamole™. I wish you all the best.

I finally decided to take the plunge and settled on a GTD app for my Mac and iPhone. For those who don’t know, a GTD app is for Getting Things Done. The premise being that you sort your to-do items, tasks and lists into meaningful categories that allow you to “focus” on what is important. “That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks.”

My problem wasn’t that I couldn’t get things done, but I couldn’t sort efficiently through the maze of e-mails, links, documents, etc. that I am bombarded with as a graphic designer every day. I ended up testing all sorts of GTD apps for the next 6-9 months to assist in my workflow and all of them ended up lacking something.

I new that if I was going to commit to a GTD app, then it had to be really good. I wanted something that had simplicity, an intuitive interface, the ability to integrate mail, calendars, documents, and would finally help me get more done with less confusion. I tried Process, Daylite, iGTD and OmniFocus but they were either too complex, expensive or lacked intuitive approaches to managing my day.

After struggling with Apple’s lame iCal and Mail integration in prioritizing my workflow, I decided it was time to implement a new productivity workflow in my life. Enough was enough. I ended up going with Things from Cultured Code. So far I am really impressed with this little application for managing my daily, weekly and monthly tasks. The interface is elegant and intuitive and it’s incredibly simple to add new to-dos on the fly, attach e-mail, notes, due dates, documents and directories then prioritize everything in a snap. I end up focusing on the tasks at hand and less on who sent me what and when and where something is located. It’s a brilliant piece of work and will require a little shift in the way you think, but overall I’m very happy.

I’ll be reporting back over the next several weeks to give my results on how effective Things has done in improving my day-to-day projects and tasks workflow. Maybe I will end up losing some weight in the process too!

September 22, 2009

Well… I have been using the Things app for a couple of months now and I wanted to report back and give some feedback.

I started using Things and taking it seriously back in August. I began by reading the documentation and watching the video provided by the Cultured Code team. I cannot stress how important it is to read instructions before you begin. If you already do this, then you have been raised well. ; )  After using Things for a couple of weeks I found that it indeed helped me to focus on the tasks at hand for each day, however I slowly noticed that other projects began to creep in from e-mail.

My goal in using Things was to get away from e-mail running my life. E-mail slowly began pouring in from all sorts of areas and the mountain of tasks began to overwhelm me. I realized that e-mail gives us a false sense of control. We think we are on top of client requests, projects and communication goals because it provides us with a request or a response without having to ask for it. The problem with this is that many of these requests are not important or they dilute real communication. E-mail becomes a priority simply because it has the magical ability to appear on our desks. No one is their to deliver the message or tell you why. It’s simply there for you to figure out. As a result, we are stuck scratching our heads and wondering what priority we should give this message.

After a few weeks of using Things, e-mail again became a mainstay of managing projects. I simply had to respond to every e-mail someone sent me. Everything was a priority and everything was due yesterday. It was the only way I could make it through a project and get it completed. A few weeks later, however, I realized how much e-mail was making my life more complicated. I had to get this monkey off my back and get back to Things. I decided to reexamine my workflow by reading Chris Brogan’s article on reducing email. His article titled “How I Tamed my Inbox” summarizes what he has done to simplify his life. The article is interesting in that you learn how to make some fundamental shifts in how you approach communication and project management. By learning to prioritize and sort tasks by category instead of lists, you are able to sift through what is truly important for today and shelve unimportant tasks for another day. Some tools required are a calendar application and project management software (in his case he also uses Things).

I will report back again in a few weeks on what I have done to simplify my workflow by relying less on e-mail and more on project management. E-mail will always be an important tool of communication, but I’m not convinced that it’s the best way any more.

In this video, Alex Capehart explains what Media Temple does and how they have grown. No wonder they call themselves the Media Temple. I highly recommend Media Temple as a webhost now that the GridService has stabilized and appears to be working at full capacity without hiccups. They have intuitive admin controls, one-click app installs and a network of designers, agencies and developers that is unparalleled. Have a go with them on a 30-day money back guarantee. You won’t be disappointed.