This is an awesome article in plain language. It asks some basic questions that sometimes get forgotten. Really, these questions should be obvious, but sometimes people get caught up in the fine details of design or coding, forgetting what they wanted to achieve in the first place.

This guy is my new professional hero!

This is a straightforward common sense article, nothing ground breaking or earth shattering, but good basics nonetheless. One excerpt that I liked:

“When something is visually appealing, the mind will get involved and interest will be created.”

Interesting post about embracing and engaging your audience. Good advice.

I know Americans have had mifi for a while, but it’s a brand new concept around here. Aliant just rolled out their HSPA network, and now 3GS is available on Telus, Bell and Rogers. Previously in Canada, you could only get an iPhone on Rogers - and the plans they offered were on the pricey side, for sure. That, coupled with the fact that Rogers service has always been spotty in Atlantic Canada meant slow iPhone sales around here.

What’s more intriguing to me is the possibilities of Mifi. I haven’t seen the actual offering yet, but it looks like it’s just around the corner:

http://www.bce.ca/en/news/releases/bm/2009/10/27/75247.html

Depending on what data plans they come out with, it seems to me that this is the way to go for many, as opposed to a dedicated 3GS phone. If you can carry a credit card sized mobile wifi hotspot, and if the networks speeds come up, my opinion is why even bother with a mobile phone anymore?

Think about this. Instead of buying an iPhone, why not get an iPod Touch. It’s pretty well the exact same thing sans the phone part. If you have a Mifi card, your iPod is now an iPhone thanks to things like Skype. There’s even a possibility that the rates would be cheaper (not sure about that yet). The bonus is that you can also have your netbook, laptop, PSP, or any other networkable device around you too, and only ever worry about one connection and one bill.

This also means you’ve divorced your data and connection plan from the hardware to an extent, meaning you get much more flexibility. A year from now, when some new gee whiz wifi phone or device comes out that makes your iPod look like crap, you can simply add it to the mix of mobile devices you already use. If your iPod goes on the crapper, it’s also simple enough to pick up and use any wifi skype device instead.

While it all might not be total reality now, I don’t think it’s going to be a long time where we simple get a portable Mifi card instead of the phone itself for mobile. Granted, that means you’re carrying at least two devices instead of one, and won’t be for everybody.

My prediction: Smartphones with built-in mifi hotspots within 2 years.

(via )

Some big changes have been made. I’ve now moved my blog over to Tumbr, redesigned the website, and finally got around to putting up a Facebook page. Oh, and everything has been Twitter-fied too. This blog theme is temporary, I’ll be working on putting it more in line with the website soon as well.

Ever adventuring into other Internet platforms, this is my first shot at tumblr. I’m thinking the days of hosting your own Wordpress based blog are almost over, and I’m looking into more up to date options. Wordpress certainly had it’s day, but it seems to be evolving into a weird hybrid CMS & blog. Too many features and plugins to be considered a blog, but not enough connectivity.

Granted, I believe it still has it’s place. Larger blog/magazine type sites like Smashing are well suited to it, especially if you plan to monetize the blog itself, and the site is the whole business. However, as an add-on blog to a business whose main focus is something besides a blog, it’s getting long in the tooth IMHO. As a CMS for a website that is not magazine/content based, I’ve found it really weak as well, compared to things like Concrete5.

So, here goes my attempt at Tumblr.

I was contacted a little while ago to see if I’d be interested in becoming a sponsoring partner in the 2009 Innovacorp I-3 Start-up competition.  Normally I shy away from these type of things, as it means pro bono work, and I sometimes have a hard time just keeping up with the paid work in front of me. However, I’m always mindful of networking and promotion opportunities, and keeping the hopper full of upcoming projects and work, so I took a serious look at this.

I decided to sign on for this one. Of course, in reality little is done in business for completely altruistic reasons. I quickly realized that this was not just some poorly run organization that was just there to take advantage, there would be genuine good quality promotion of my services to my very target market. The services I will be providing to the ultimate winners will also be fun and rewarding - the atmosphere and energy surrounding a new, ambitious start-up company can be contagious and exciting.

If you’re running a start-up, or have a great business idea, and you live in Nova Scotia, you NEED to check this out. The deadline for initial submissions is October 8.