The Innovation Scout - Mark Regan
Tracking the progress of the innovators

For the best Tampa SEO

I have a meeting this week with a business coach.  I’m curious about how this works.  Will he just be more of a therapist or will he bring some business knowledge to the table and help me with my current struggles of strategy and salesmanship?

Life is good these days and some changes happening at my company have reignited my blogging flame. Though I may take this forum a new direction in hopes that it will be more current and authentic. With that said…

6 months ago we acquired a 10′x15′ office suite around the corner from my house that today holds the four of us. It has been great, but it has been bothering me as to whether it is necessary. With today’s tools do we need to be in each other’s presence? As we continue to grow, do the candidates need to be within driving distance?

We have decided no. Next month we will close our physical office and move all of us back to our respective homes. We still plan to meet in person on occasion, but we have laid out the tools we need to collaborate online in such a way that we may meet less and less.

I will miss my office. It legitimized the business to me. Of course our customers never saw it. It never lead to new business. The Internet connection was horrible. But it did give me a place to work after 5pm when my daughters came home after their long day. So that is not a selling point to moving back into the house.

If you can’t do something right, don’t do it at all.

And that applies to me and this blog. As you can see from my lack of posts, I have not been giving this blog the attention it deserves.

Rather than force something of poor quality I am going to pause my blogging days until I get a new passion again.

Hope to be back soon.

Mark

One of the most desirable iPods ever, the Apple iPhone (one of my previous toys) with features like the multi-touch display and Cover Flow iPod interface, is the most sought after device in the world, and yet price-wise, it remains outside the reach of most people. But this is not the end of the iPhone-like products. If you are looking for some specific features, such as, a QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA (3.5G) connectivity or stereo Bluetooth (A2DP), you have choices.

One of these alternative products could be the LG KU990 Viewty, which is a Windows Mobile 6 handset, and features a touch screen. The handset has a 5-megapixel camera, which takes immaculate still pictures, and provides you with the facility of slow-motion video shoots as well. With 3G, the device lets you surf the net faster and you have a web browser comparable to that of the iPhone.

The HTC TyTN II features a touch screen, and facilitates access to your emails through a Microsoft Exchange server. It is a Windows Mobile 6 handset, featuring GPS along with some easy-to-use navigation software. With a flip up screen in the HTC TyTN II, and a QWERTY keypad, it is the ideal device which you could use like a mini-notebook while you are on the move.

Nokia N95 will impress you if you are specifically looking for features of a 5-megapixel camera, an MP3 player and a GPS system all offered in the same device. N95 features Wi-Fi, and HSDPA connectivity providing fast internet access. The phone is considered to be one of the best Apple iPhone alternatives available in the market today.

The BlackBerry Curve 8300 is another superb alternative, being one of the best user-friendly mobile phones yet. It provides email features, along with a 2-megapixel camera, a flash and a media player. The features in the phone extend to BlackBerry® Maps, expandable memory, Voice-Activated Dialing, tethered modem and trackball navigation. In addition, this phone has a QWERTY keyboard, instant messaging, text messaging, web browser, and advanced phone functionality.

Let me tell you why I would want a Slingbox.

I travel extensively in my profession. At times, when I am in my hotel room, I miss those TV programs back home that I love most. Sometimes I would want to watch one of my stored programs. So what do I do? I take out my notebook, log on to my Slingbox and, as I relax in my hotel room, I get to watch all my favorite programs.

As you sit in on your lanai, drinking a beer, you get your notebook, and get it to hook up your wireless Internet service. After that you just log on to Slingbox, and let your TV program stream into your laptop. Mind you, you have your TiVo kept next to your TV in your living room, and you are accessing all your favorite programs remotely.

When you get one of these gadgets, setting it up is easy. You would just need to install the Slingbox client in your notebook or PC. The software hunts and locates your Slingbox from your home network, and then all you do is follow as you are guided. You are guided through the configuration steps, and you get feedback of what is happening with each step that you go through. That’s it. You are ready to watch the stored programs in your TiVo, or live shows on your TV from wherever you want. If you have a wireless connection to your Internet, or an Internet service where you are, go anywhere in the world and watch your programs.

The day is finally here no more tapes in your camcorders. The latest camcorders have a hard drive installed, providing you with more video than MiniDV or DVD. These latest hard drive camcorders are gaining popularity in the market, and do not restrict your video shooting. Sure it costs a bit more, but the advantage provided by the latest hard drive camcorder with its large storage capacity makes it more appealing. Leaves one to wonder what is next?

If you are traveling with your camcorder, you might want to film important events in high definition. Your hard drive camcorder provides you with that benefit, along with the advantage of endless shooting. Sony has recently introduced its compact models in the market. The Sony 60GB DCR-SR220 and DCR-SR85 camcorders provide you with continuous recording (LP mode) of up to 41 hours, where as the 40GB DCR-SR65 and 30GB DCR-SR45 models provide up to 27 and 20 hours respectively.

Canon HG10 is the smallest high definition hard drive camcorder in the world. The camcorder weighs just over 1.2 lbs and is Canon first HD hard drive camcorder. The model has 40GB hard disk that provides 5.5 hours of AVCHD recording, when set to the highest quality setting, compressing the video at 15Mbps.

However, some buyers tend to think that a removable storage media, such as a tape, or a removable memory card, is an advantage. Panasonic in its new SDR-H18 has provided the option of either recording your video shoots to a built-in 30GB hard disk, or to a SD/SDHC flash memory card, with no change in video quality.

JVC Everio GZ-MG360 is the new super-slim designed 60GB hard drive camcorder recently launched by JVC. This camcorder offers 35x optical zoom, along with integrated auto illumination, high performance Konica lens, and provides you with 75 hours of video shooting. The camcorder also features a slot for microSD Card, which can be used for storing videos and stills which you would want to share.

I, myself, just recently bought the Sony DCR-SR42. It is so nice to not have those pesky tapes anymore.

Seth Godin nailed it again on one of his posts recently.

If you’re in the job market, or if I am ever again, this is a rule to live by.

Check out what Google is now doing with certain online merchants/businesses. From their search results you can search within another site exclusively. Search on ‘best buy’ and you will get back a screen similar to this allowing you to search within Best Buy’s website only. I wonder how I can get some of my businesses integrated into this.

How timely given my earlier post on free. This morning I’m signing up for driving course and the resulting certificate is all I’m after. Check out the backwards fee for this certificate.