There was a “pro-business” Supreme Court ruling yesterday that scares me as a small business owner. At issue were campaign contributions from corporations to political campaigns (and I assume PACs and the like).

The losing side is lamenting that under the new ruling, the wealthy will have a greater influence over politics by using corporations as a proxy (though wealthy people already have more influence). The winning side is trumpeting it as a win for free speech (not free-speech for individuals, but the person-hood of corporations).

I am not overly concerned about corporations influencing wedge issues such as abortion, social security or even health care reform. Rather, I am worried about efforts by corporations to create seemingly innocuous laws that change the competitive landscape. Laws that will likely fly under the radar of the general (voting) public but create legislation that favors the big guys and hurts smaller businesses. To me, this ruling is not a threat to democracy; it is a threat to capitalism.

This issue has three main parts: motive and intent, the path of least resistance and the resulting feedback loop.

Motive and intent:

Corporations typically have a single goal: to make money for their shareholders. There has been debate about whether executive compensation has gotten so excessive that the motivation to make money for shareholders is threatened, but for argument’s sake, let’s assume the corporate boards are strong enough to ensure compensation is tied to profit. So the motive of the corporations is to make more money, not to take an ideological stance on issues that do not affect profitability.

When making political contributions it is generally safe to assume the intent is to make more money for the corporation.

The path of least resistance:

Startups, entrepreneurs and young small businesses are trying to gain market share, often times through innovations which lead to increased efficiency (i.e. creating value by removing inefficiencies in the marketplace).

These smaller businesses are often more in tune with the needs of the marketplace because decision makers are (by necessity) directly connected to the customers. The small businesses are more agile and quicker to adapt, whereas large corporations have more momentum. Think of a pickup truck versus a freight train. It is easier for a pickup truck to alter a course, but if the course doesn’t change, a freight train can transport more cargo to the destination with less energy.

There are generally two ways to increase profitability for shareholders: increase revenue or decrease costs. In a growing economy, the primary focus is on growth (more profit). In a shrinking economy, where growth is less likely, large corporations are first focused on maintaining their market position (some profit) and then on decreasing costs (more profit).

The competitive advantage of big corporations is momentum (market share, brand awareness, etc). The competitive advantage of small businesses is agility (innovation, increased efficiency, etc).

The resulting feedback loop:

When you combine the motive of increasing profitability for shareholders with the competitive advantage of momentum, you eliminate incentives for innovation in corporations. Primarily because it is costly and because it reduces the short-term profits that are the basis for executive compensation. Innovation by smaller and more agile organizations is also a threat to the continued success of the big corporations.

Given that big corporations have the cash flow necessary to spend meaningful amounts of money to influence political outcomes, the pressure on Washington will be for laws and regulations that favor the big corporations. This is already happening, but the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday has the potential to open the floodgates. The ruling reduces the checks and balances in place to protect capitalism in our economy.

It would be cost prohibitive for corporations to steamroll hot button issues like abortion or health care reform because the battle would be waged in the court of public opinion and would have strong opposition from ideology groups. The same is not true for issues where the general voting public has less entrenched positions. However, these are the same issues that prove vital to the continued strength of the United States economy, such as alternative energy, sensible patent and copyright laws, food safety, sustainable farming and net neutrality.

Increased political spending by big corporations will create a demand for laws that promote the status quo and stifle innovation.

Remember that scene in Office Space about having a million dollars? Here is a neat little animated refresher:

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</object>

In the movie, Peter goes on to say that if he had a million dollars he would do absolutely nothing. That is the whole point. If you have enough money that you don’t have to work for a living (and a million dollars wouldn’t do that for most of us), how would you spend your time?

I think a better question is “what would you do with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year?”

That is sorta kinda what I have. I made a major life change in March 2008 when I stopped working as a full-time employee in order to focus on entrepreneurial ventures. March 2009 was a little tough because I realized it was the one year anniversary and I felt like I could have been more intentional about how I spent that time.

As I am quickly approaching the two-year mark I am again reflecting on how I spend my time. Now that I have the freedom to decide how I want to spend my time, my life has become very ambiguous and unstructured. I think it is time for some self-imposed structure.

I was just reading How To Create a Balanced Life and it has some key steps that I really agree with:

1. Eat right: I had been doing really good about this, and my diet now is much better than when I was traveling all the time. There is room for improvement (like not skipping breakfast!!!)
2. Exercise: Again, I was doing really good, but this has fallen off in the past few weeks. Exercise time is really great for clearing the clutter out of my head and gives me more energy.
3. Know when to say “no”: My default has been to say yes to things until I am over-commited. I am hoping by creating a schedule for myself it will be easier to see when it is full.
4. Sleep: I tend to “work” until late at night. I am going to schedule down time at night and stick to it. This will help me get to bed earlier and thus get up earlier.

There are a few more suggestions, but those are the ones that I really agree with.

Tonight I am going to create the first iteration of my daily schedule. In addition to getting up earlier, including daily exercise, and scheduling time for meals, I also want to establish regular office hours where I will have dedicated work time as well as some weekly tasks like grocery shopping that I always seem to put off until the last minute. I also have a weekly schedule for when I have time with my kids. This allows me to schedule more intentional parenting time.

I have enjoyed the supreme flexibility of not having a schedule. I just feel like I can do a better job of getting done what I want to get done if I am more intentional about how I spend my time.

Admittedly, it is a good problem to have.

Afterthought: I think I will include time for a few blog posts a week, too

Remember that scene in Office Space about having a million dollars? Here is a neat little animated refresher:

<object width="320" height="265"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/16QSYESBuRU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/16QSYESBuRU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"/>
</object>

In the movie, Peter goes on to say that if he had a million dollars he would do absolutely nothing. That is the whole point. If you have enough money that you don’t have to work for a living (and a million dollars wouldn’t do that for most of us), how would you spend your time?

I think a better question is “what would you do with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year?”

That is sorta kinda what I have. I made a major life change in March 2008 when I stopped working as a full-time employee in order to focus on entrepreneurial ventures. March 2009 was a little tough because I realized it was the one year anniversary and I felt like I could have been more intentional about how I spent that time.

As I am quickly approaching the two-year mark I am again reflecting on how I spend my time. Now that I have the freedom to decide how I want to spend my time, my life has become very ambiguous and unstructured. I think it is time for some self-imposed structure.

I was just reading How To Create a Balanced Life and it has some key steps that I really agree with:

1. Eat right: I had been doing really good about this, and my diet now is much better than when I was traveling all the time. There is room for improvement (like not skipping breakfast!!!)
2. Exercise: Again, I was doing really good, but this has fallen off in the past few weeks. Exercise time is really great for clearing the clutter out of my head and gives me more energy.
3. Know when to say “no”: My default has been to say yes to things until I am over-commited. I am hoping by creating a schedule for myself it will be easier to see when it is full.
4. Sleep: I tend to “work” until late at night. I am going to schedule down time at night and stick to it. This will help me get to bed earlier and thus get up earlier.

There are a few more suggestions, but those are the ones that I really agree with.

Tonight I am going to create the first iteration of my daily schedule. In addition to getting up earlier, including daily exercise, and scheduling time for meals, I also want to establish regular office hours where I will have dedicated work time as well as some weekly tasks like grocery shopping that I always seem to put off until the last minute. I also have a weekly schedule for when I have time with my kids. This allows me to schedule more intentional parenting time.

I have enjoyed the supreme flexibility of not having a schedule. I just feel like I can do a better job of getting done what I want to get done if I am more intentional about how I spend my time.

Admittedly, it is a good problem to have.

Afterthought: I think I will include time for a few blog posts a week, too

Remember that scene in Office Space about having a million dollars? Here is a neat little animated refresher:

<object width="320" height="265"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/16QSYESBuRU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/16QSYESBuRU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"/>
</object>

In the movie, Peter goes on to say that if he had a million dollars he would do absolutely nothing. That is the whole point. If you have enough money that you don’t have to work for a living (and a million dollars wouldn’t do that for most of us), how would you spend your time?

I think a better question is “what would you do with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year?”

That is sorta kinda what I have. I made a major life change in March 2008 when I stopped working as a full-time employee in order to focus on entrepreneurial ventures. March 2009 was a little tough because I realized it was the one year anniversary and I felt like I could have been more intentional about how I spent that time.

As I am quickly approaching the two-year mark I am again reflecting on how I spend my time. Now that I have the freedom to decide how I want to spend my time, my life has become very ambiguous and unstructured. I think it is time for some self-imposed structure.

I was just reading How To Create a Balanced Life and it has some key steps that I really agree with:

1. Eat right: I had been doing really good about this, and my diet now is much better than when I was traveling all the time. There is room for improvement (like not skipping breakfast!!!)
2. Exercise: Again, I was doing really good, but this has fallen off in the past few weeks. Exercise time is really great for clearing the clutter out of my head and gives me more energy.
3. Know when to say “no”: My default has been to say yes to things until I am over-commited. I am hoping by creating a schedule for myself it will be easier to see when it is full.
4. Sleep: I tend to “work” until late at night. I am going to schedule down time at night and stick to it. This will help me get to bed earlier and thus get up earlier.

There are a few more suggestions, but those are the ones that I really agree with.

Tonight I am going to create the first iteration of my daily schedule. In addition to getting up earlier, including daily exercise, and scheduling time for meals, I also want to establish regular office hours where I will have dedicated work time as well as some weekly tasks like grocery shopping that I always seem to put off until the last minute. I also have a weekly schedule for when I have time with my kids. This allows me to schedule more intentional parenting time.

I have enjoyed the supreme flexibility of not having a schedule. I just feel like I can do a better job of getting done what I want to get done if I am more intentional about how I spend my time.

Admittedly, it is a good problem to have.

Afterthought: I think I will include time for a few blog posts a week, too

It has been a little over a year since I created a new venture with Nicholas Holland. We created Side Hobby LLC after Nashville’s first Startup Weekend to pursue our project gpsAssassin.

When we first started out we were (foolishly, but commonly) optimistic that it would just be a little 3 month side hobby (thus the name) that would either make a bunch of money or fizzle and die quickly. We thought the game would release before Christmas and we would be all done with it (or rolling in money) shortly thereafter.

It has been an amazing experience so far, and I think we are going to keep growing the business for a long time to come. TechCrunch has said gpsAssassin could be the next highly addictive hit game. We have been featured on games.com, had an article make it to Reuters, and even got an editorial shout out in the Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville for Best iPhone Game Developed by Some Local Dudes. Needless to say, it has been an entrepreneurial success so far. (We aren’t making a bunch of money yet, but we are cash flow positive).

We have made some serious blunders along the way (I wish Nick’s BarCamp presentation was online, it was awesome). However, as a business we have addressed the problems, but as an entrepreneur I have learned a ton from them.

At times it has been stressful trying to juggle this “side hobby” with being a single dad while keeping up with the other projects I am working on. The freedom that comes from being able to pursue entrepreneurial ventures makes it totally worth it. I was able to spend every Thursday and Friday with my kids over the Summer, and for that I am really grateful.

So what’s next? We are keeping that close to the chest right now, but we are going to continue to grow gpsAssassin. Our numbers look good (and I think we are watching the right numbers). We are continuing to add new players. Most importantly, we have demonstrated that people will pay for what we are doing (thank you!).

It has been a little over a year since I created a new venture with Nicholas Holland. We created Side Hobby LLC after Nashville’s first Startup Weekend to pursue our project gpsAssassin.

When we first started out we were (foolishly, but commonly) optimistic that it would just be a little 3 month side hobby (thus the name) that would either make a bunch of money or fizzle and die quickly. We thought the game would release before Christmas and we would be all done with it (or rolling in money) shortly thereafter.

It has been an amazing experience so far, and I think we are going to keep growing the business for a long time to come. TechCrunch has said gpsAssassin could be the next highly addictive hit game. We have been featured on games.com, had an article make it to Reuters, and even got an editorial shout out in the Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville for Best iPhone Game Developed by Some Local Dudes. Needless to say, it has been an entrepreneurial success so far. (We aren’t making a bunch of money yet, but we are cash flow positive).

We have made some serious blunders along the way (I wish Nick’s BarCamp presentation was online, it was awesome). However, as a business we have addressed the problems, but as an entrepreneur I have learned a ton from them.

At times it has been stressful trying to juggle this “side hobby” with being a single dad while keeping up with the other projects I am working on. The freedom that comes from being able to pursue entrepreneurial ventures makes it totally worth it. I was able to spend every Thursday and Friday with my kids over the Summer, and for that I am really grateful.

So what’s next? We are keeping that close to the chest right now, but we are going to continue to grow gpsAssassin. Our numbers look good (and I think we are watching the right numbers). We are continuing to add new players. Most importantly, we have demonstrated that people will pay for what we are doing (thank you!).

It has been a little over a year since I created a new venture with Nicholas Holland. We created Side Hobby LLC after Nashville’s first Startup Weekend to pursue our project gpsAssassin.

When we first started out we were (foolishly, but commonly) optimistic that it would just be a little 3 month side hobby (thus the name) that would either make a bunch of money or fizzle and die quickly. We thought the game would release before Christmas and we would be all done with it (or rolling in money) shortly thereafter.

It has been an amazing experience so far, and I think we are going to keep growing the business for a long time to come. TechCrunch has said gpsAssassin could be the next highly addictive hit game. We have been featured on games.com, had an article make it to Reuters, and even got an editorial shout out in the Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville for Best iPhone Game Developed by Some Local Dudes. Needless to say, it has been an entrepreneurial success so far. (We aren’t making a bunch of money yet, but we are cash flow positive).

We have made some serious blunders along the way (I wish Nick’s BarCamp presentation was online, it was awesome). However, as a business we have addressed the problems, but as an entrepreneur I have learned a ton from them.

At times it has been stressful trying to juggle this “side hobby” with being a single dad while keeping up with the other projects I am working on. The freedom that comes from being able to pursue entrepreneurial ventures makes it totally worth it. I was able to spend every Thursday and Friday with my kids over the Summer, and for that I am really grateful.

So what’s next? We are keeping that close to the chest right now, but we are going to continue to grow gpsAssassin. Our numbers look good (and I think we are watching the right numbers). We are continuing to add new players. Most importantly, we have demonstrated that people will pay for what we are doing (thank you!).

I have not been using an RSS reader for months. Lately I have been trying to look at my NetNewsWire again, but there are a couple of things that frustrate me.

The first is that it is not easy for me to share items. I used to be able to clip them, but now that NNW syncs with Google Reader I want an easy way to “share” a post on Google Reader from NNW (maybe this exists, but I haven’t found it).

Also, I don’t want to subscribe to a bunch of RSS feeds. Instead I wan to just get a list of relevant posts to me. I have been filling this need with a combination of Hacker News for tech stuff and Newser for news. That isn’t really what I want though.

The first thing I want is a list of posts that people in my network have read, commented on, linked to, shared, etc.

I want it to be sorted by an attention score so that a post that two people in my network read and one commented on places higher than one that just has two reads (which is higher than one with one read, etc).

I am actually hopeful about the future of Facebook because of their new News Feed. If I was a fan of all of my news sources on Facebook (and my network had the same strategy), then the posts that were getting the most attention would be in my News Feed. The problem is that Facebook is not really where I want this information. Secondary problems have to do with the technical aspect of actually getting that data.

The system I want is the same one I described in my 3D Social Networking talk at BarCamp Nashville 2006 (slides). Here is how I think it could work in today’s landscape:

1. Aggregate my social networks. Pull the social graph from where my networking is acknowledging attention to articles. Give a point to the friend score for each one.
2. Try to identify the accounts for that user that also share content but might not have a social network (Disqus, Intense Debate, Delicious, etc)
3. Pull down the content that is shared on those sources, which might include aggregation of their own posts to twitter (via links), on Facebook (via imported notes), etc. Give each occurrence of an article one point for each friend point (connected on three networks and shared on two gives it a 6).
4. Add up the article scores across all of my network and give me a news list sorted by that score.

This would result in a system where the posts of my friend would have an advantage, but posts that multiple of my friends shared would float to the top.

Then, when I am ready to read some news I would be able to go to that one place and see loads of stuff that is relevant to me.

I think it is a hard system to build because there is a whole lot of aggregation and parsing, not to mention a pretty massive database. I also don’t think it is something that could easily generate revenue. I am hoping someone builds it, but I am not holding my breath.

Which brings me back to Facebook.

A few months back they acquired Friend Feed. One of the features that impressed me most about Friend Feed early on was the idea of “imaginary friends”. I think they removed or de-prioritized the feature, but it allowed me to pull content in from additional sources and let it play in Friend Feed’s ranking system. I don’t think it is too far fetched to see something like this make it’s way into Facebook now. If Facebook added Google Reader integration it would go a long way too.

update:
Apparently there are a couple of related posts today, I would have known this earlier if I was using a feed reader. Why I don’t use Google Reader anymore and Why I continue to use Google Reader.

I have not been using an RSS reader for months. Lately I have been trying to look at my NetNewsWire again, but there are a couple of things that frustrate me.

The first is that it is not easy for me to share items. I used to be able to clip them, but now that NNW syncs with Google Reader I want an easy way to “share” a post on Google Reader from NNW (maybe this exists, but I haven’t found it).

Also, I don’t want to subscribe to a bunch of RSS feeds. Instead I wan to just get a list of relevant posts to me. I have been filling this need with a combination of Hacker News for tech stuff and Newser for news. That isn’t really what I want though.

The first thing I want is a list of posts that people in my network have read, commented on, linked to, shared, etc.

I want it to be sorted by an attention score so that a post that two people in my network read and one commented on places higher than one that just has two reads (which is higher than one with one read, etc).

I am actually hopeful about the future of Facebook because of their new News Feed. If I was a fan of all of my news sources on Facebook (and my network had the same strategy), then the posts that were getting the most attention would be in my News Feed. The problem is that Facebook is not really where I want this information. Secondary problems have to do with the technical aspect of actually getting that data.

The system I want is the same one I described in my 3D Social Networking talk at BarCamp Nashville 2006 (slides). Here is how I think it could work in today’s landscape:

1. Aggregate my social networks. Pull the social graph from where my networking is acknowledging attention to articles. Give a point to the friend score for each one.
2. Try to identify the accounts for that user that also share content but might not have a social network (Disqus, Intense Debate, Delicious, etc)
3. Pull down the content that is shared on those sources, which might include aggregation of their own posts to twitter (via links), on Facebook (via imported notes), etc. Give each occurrence of an article one point for each friend point (connected on three networks and shared on two gives it a 6).
4. Add up the article scores across all of my network and give me a news list sorted by that score.

This would result in a system where the posts of my friend would have an advantage, but posts that multiple of my friends shared would float to the top.

Then, when I am ready to read some news I would be able to go to that one place and see loads of stuff that is relevant to me.

I think it is a hard system to build because there is a whole lot of aggregation and parsing, not to mention a pretty massive database. I also don’t think it is something that could easily generate revenue. I am hoping someone builds it, but I am not holding my breath.

Which brings me back to Facebook.

A few months back they acquired Friend Feed. One of the features that impressed me most about Friend Feed early on was the idea of “imaginary friends”. I think they removed or de-prioritized the feature, but it allowed me to pull content in from additional sources and let it play in Friend Feed’s ranking system. I don’t think it is too far fetched to see something like this make it’s way into Facebook now. If Facebook added Google Reader integration it would go a long way too.

update:
Apparently there are a couple of related posts today, I would have known this earlier if I was using a feed reader. Why I don’t use Google Reader anymore and Why I continue to use Google Reader.

I have not been using an RSS reader for months. Lately I have been trying to look at my NetNewsWire again, but there are a couple of things that frustrate me.

The first is that it is not easy for me to share items. I used to be able to clip them, but now that NNW syncs with Google Reader I want an easy way to “share” a post on Google Reader from NNW (maybe this exists, but I haven’t found it).

Also, I don’t want to subscribe to a bunch of RSS feeds. Instead I wan to just get a list of relevant posts to me. I have been filling this need with a combination of Hacker News for tech stuff and Newser for news. That isn’t really what I want though.

The first thing I want is a list of posts that people in my network have read, commented on, linked to, shared, etc.

I want it to be sorted by an attention score so that a post that two people in my network read and one commented on places higher than one that just has two reads (which is higher than one with one read, etc).

I am actually hopeful about the future of Facebook because of their new News Feed. If I was a fan of all of my news sources on Facebook (and my network had the same strategy), then the posts that were getting the most attention would be in my News Feed. The problem is that Facebook is not really where I want this information. Secondary problems have to do with the technical aspect of actually getting that data.

The system I want is the same one I described in my 3D Social Networking talk at BarCamp Nashville 2006 (slides). Here is how I think it could work in today’s landscape:

1. Aggregate my social networks. Pull the social graph from where my networking is acknowledging attention to articles. Give a point to the friend score for each one.
2. Try to identify the accounts for that user that also share content but might not have a social network (Disqus, Intense Debate, Delicious, etc)
3. Pull down the content that is shared on those sources, which might include aggregation of their own posts to twitter (via links), on Facebook (via imported notes), etc. Give each occurrence of an article one point for each friend point (connected on three networks and shared on two gives it a 6).
4. Add up the article scores across all of my network and give me a news list sorted by that score.

This would result in a system where the posts of my friend would have an advantage, but posts that multiple of my friends shared would float to the top.

Then, when I am ready to read some news I would be able to go to that one place and see loads of stuff that is relevant to me.

I think it is a hard system to build because there is a whole lot of aggregation and parsing, not to mention a pretty massive database. I also don’t think it is something that could easily generate revenue. I am hoping someone builds it, but I am not holding my breath.

Which brings me back to Facebook.

A few months back they acquired Friend Feed. One of the features that impressed me most about Friend Feed early on was the idea of “imaginary friends”. I think they removed or de-prioritized the feature, but it allowed me to pull content in from additional sources and let it play in Friend Feed’s ranking system. I don’t think it is too far fetched to see something like this make it’s way into Facebook now. If Facebook added Google Reader integration it would go a long way too.

update:
Apparently there are a couple of related posts today, I would have known this earlier if I was using a feed reader. Why I don’t use Google Reader anymore and Why I continue to use Google Reader.

No, this is not a post about gpsAssassin (though that would have been a good and appropriate title).

I am talking about Google Maps.

Back in 2006 I first saw Google Maps on a phone with GPS. At the time I had a Sprint a900 and had to do a little hackery to get it to work. When I started traveling for work in 2006 I switched to a Palm Treo and then a Blackberry. Both of these had Google Maps, but the Palm didn’t have GPS. Again, with the backberry I had to unlock the phone in order to get Google Maps working, but once I did I found it to be one of the most freeing pieces of software ever.

I quickly started using Google Maps for much more than just seeing where I was. It quickly became my #1 tool for finding business phone numbers, locations and even websites. By using Google Maps in conjunction to my current location I was able to search for businesses and get location specific results. A great example is finding a nearby bank. I could have called the bank or gone to their website and used the branch locator, or I could just pull up Google Maps and type “suntrust”. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, due to license restrictions with how Google received their mapping information, they were not able to provide some of the most sought after features like audible turn-by-turn navigation and weather. Apparently that is starting to change.

Check out this video about the next version of Google Maps for mobile phones. It not only has turn-by-turn navigation, it also makes finding businesses along your route a simple task (as opposed to next to impossible with every navigation system I have used). What I am most excited about is the “layers” that they use to overlay the search information along your route. Mark my words, in 2010 Google will announce that weather data is available as a layer. Real-time weather in a draggable, searchable map. I can’t wait.

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Update:
It looks like Garmin and TomTom are in a world of hurt (for the short term at least. Their stock prices are down 16-21% respectively. That is a pretty serious one day drop. The question is, is it an artificially low price because of the news. I am tempted to sell all my AAPL and buy GRMN.

No, this is not a post about gpsAssassin (though that would have been a good and appropriate title).

I am talking about Google Maps.

Back in 2006 I first saw Google Maps on a phone with GPS. At the time I had a Sprint a900 and had to do a little hackery to get it to work. When I started traveling for work in 2006 I switched to a Palm Treo and then a Blackberry. Both of these had Google Maps, but the Palm didn’t have GPS. Again, with the backberry I had to unlock the phone in order to get Google Maps working, but once I did I found it to be one of the most freeing pieces of software ever.

I quickly started using Google Maps for much more than just seeing where I was. It quickly became my #1 tool for finding business phone numbers, locations and even websites. By using Google Maps in conjunction to my current location I was able to search for businesses and get location specific results. A great example is finding a nearby bank. I could have called the bank or gone to their website and used the branch locator, or I could just pull up Google Maps and type “suntrust”. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, due to license restrictions with how Google received their mapping information, they were not able to provide some of the most sought after features like audible turn-by-turn navigation and weather. Apparently that is starting to change.

Check out this video about the next version of Google Maps for mobile phones. It not only has turn-by-turn navigation, it also makes finding businesses along your route a simple task (as opposed to next to impossible with every navigation system I have used). What I am most excited about is the “layers” that they use to overlay the search information along your route. Mark my words, in 2010 Google will announce that weather data is available as a layer. Real-time weather in a draggable, searchable map. I can’t wait.

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Update:
It looks like Garmin and TomTom are in a world of hurt (for the short term at least. Their stock prices are down 16-21% respectively. That is a pretty serious one day drop. The question is, is it an artificially low price because of the news. I am tempted to sell all my AAPL and buy GRMN.

No, this is not a post about gpsAssassin (though that would have been a good and appropriate title).

I am talking about Google Maps.

Back in 2006 I first saw Google Maps on a phone with GPS. At the time I had a Sprint a900 and had to do a little hackery to get it to work. When I started traveling for work in 2006 I switched to a Palm Treo and then a Blackberry. Both of these had Google Maps, but the Palm didn’t have GPS. Again, with the backberry I had to unlock the phone in order to get Google Maps working, but once I did I found it to be one of the most freeing pieces of software ever.

I quickly started using Google Maps for much more than just seeing where I was. It quickly became my #1 tool for finding business phone numbers, locations and even websites. By using Google Maps in conjunction to my current location I was able to search for businesses and get location specific results. A great example is finding a nearby bank. I could have called the bank or gone to their website and used the branch locator, or I could just pull up Google Maps and type “suntrust”. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, due to license restrictions with how Google received their mapping information, they were not able to provide some of the most sought after features like audible turn-by-turn navigation and weather. Apparently that is starting to change.

Check out this video about the next version of Google Maps for mobile phones. It not only has turn-by-turn navigation, it also makes finding businesses along your route a simple task (as opposed to next to impossible with every navigation system I have used). What I am most excited about is the “layers” that they use to overlay the search information along your route. Mark my words, in 2010 Google will announce that weather data is available as a layer. Real-time weather in a draggable, searchable map. I can’t wait.

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Update:
It looks like Garmin and TomTom are in a world of hurt (for the short term at least. Their stock prices are down 16-21% respectively. That is a pretty serious one day drop. The question is, is it an artificially low price because of the news. I am tempted to sell all my AAPL and buy GRMN.

I can’t believe how long it has been since I have posted anything. At some point I just fell out of the habit of blogging and I started thinking that any posts that could break the silence would need to be quite substantial in order to warrant the infrequent posting. I don’t like that.

There has been lots going on in my life that I wish I had been posting about. My personal life is going through lots of changes, but I want to keep that private in order to respect the privacy of others.

Professionally, I have been staying pretty busy with gpsAssassin. That is something I am going to be writing lots more about soon.

So, this post is completely worthless, except to help me start getting in the swing of things again.

I can’t believe how long it has been since I have posted anything. At some point I just fell out of the habit of blogging and I started thinking that any posts that could break the silence would need to be quite substantial in order to warrant the infrequent posting. I don’t like that.

There has been lots going on in my life that I wish I had been posting about. My personal life is going through lots of changes, but I want to keep that private in order to respect the privacy of others.

Professionally, I have been staying pretty busy with gpsAssassin. That is something I am going to be writing lots more about soon.

So, this post is completely worthless, except to help me start getting in the swing of things again.

I can’t believe how long it has been since I have posted anything. At some point I just fell out of the habit of blogging and I started thinking that any posts that could break the silence would need to be quite substantial in order to warrant the infrequent posting. I don’t like that.

There has been lots going on in my life that I wish I had been posting about. My personal life is going through lots of changes, but I want to keep that private in order to respect the privacy of others.

Professionally, I have been staying pretty busy with gpsAssassin. That is something I am going to be writing lots more about soon.

So, this post is completely worthless, except to help me start getting in the swing of things again.

I just read an article in the Nashville Business Journal about some ambiguous program filed under the keyword “entrepreneur”₁. Read Chamber wants to lure tech start-ups to see what I mean.

First off, I can’t even tell what the article is about. Is it about some Chamber initiative? Is it about the Accelerator₂ program at Owen? Is it about the Virtual Entrepreneurship Center they are teaming up to create? There is a sentence about all three, but no substance. Let alone any inclination of how any of this is designed to lure tech startups₃ to Nashville. However, it did pique my interest enough to go search₄ the internets for more information.

Luckily, the NBJ was scooped by Milt Capps₅ 8 months ago on Venture Nashville (link to Milt’s article). Milt actually has some details about what the Virtual Entrepreneurship Center is or will be. By “details” I mean that he has some quotes from people responsible. However, the lack of substance in their quotes leads me to the conclusion that a Virtual Entrepreneurship Center sponsored by a local Chamber of Commerce is not only a complete waste of resources, but also a solid step towards the continued mediocrity of Nashville as a location for tech startups.

Why is a Virtual Entrepreneurship Center a complete waste of time and money? The last thing people creating startups need is more web resources. Every kind of resource you can put on a website for entrepreneurs is already on the web. There are already some exceptional resources online for entrepreneurs. To add insult to injury, an entrepreneur who live in Nashville runs exactly that kind of resource. It is SmallBusiness.com and is run by Rex Hammock (and that URL is hard to beat).

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe they are creating something unique that is specific to Nashville and will eliminate a barrier that local startups have been experiencing. So, let’s look at the quotes and see what they have to say:

First up, Janet Miller the Chief Economic Development and Market Officer for the Nashville Chamber of Commerce:

“Our knowledge and attention to the needs of existing and future businesses, combined with the creativity of these students will surely lead to an exciting opportunity for Nashville, especially when it comes to supporting technology start-ups”

Oh, ok, so they know some stuff we don’t and by combining that with creativity (which I guess is where the entrepreneurs come in) then an exciting opportunity will magically appear. Surely.

Maybe she didn’t convince me, but I am sure Bobby Frist (who I think is really smart guy and is definitely a successful entrepreneur) will be able to explain the value to the entrepreneurs:

“I believe the health of this region’s economy begins with a strong entrepreneurial culture, and the creation of the Virtual Entrepreneur Resource Center will further develop that culture in new and important ways.”

Hrm. Maybe he was having an off day. In case you aren’t seeing a pattern here, Frist’s co-chair gave an equally fluffy quote:

“Nashville is full of smart, creative, independent people, and this Web-based Resource Center will help them achieve their goals as entrepreneurs.”

Here, let me try: By exploring synergies between the creative spirit of Music City entrepreneurs and the more than 8,000 years of expertise of our committee we will gain a better understanding for exactly how to provide resources to people in less creative and experienced areas like Alabama.

Now, I know I am being harsh. I have been a very vocal supporter and participant in the growing community of tech startups in Nashville. I would love for the Chamber of Commerce to participate in a meaningful way, but this isn’t it. I am sure some of the 82 committee members (who I think have great intentions), must have been frustrated with such a neutered and meaningless outcome. It must have taken a lot of time for a committee of 82 to come up with an idea this lame. I think the quotes above show that they aren’t very excited about it.

I hate to be critical of what I think are good intentions. It is going to take the collaboration of the interested groups in order to take Nashville to the next level (and this is currently happening with the Nashville Technology Council and the BarCamp / geek / etc camp). The reason I am writing this is that I think we need to praise innovation and risk-taking and condemn mediocrity in order to raise the bar for Nashville. The Virtual Entrepreneurship Resource Center reeks of mediocrity to me.

₁ – The word “entrepreneur” is becoming meaningless.

₂ – The Accelerator program at Owen Business School looks cool. I briefly toys with attending this summer.

I just read an article in the Nashville Business Journal about some ambiguous program filed under the keyword “entrepreneur”₁. Read Chamber wants to lure tech start-ups to see what I mean.

First off, I can’t even tell what the article is about. Is it about some Chamber initiative? Is it about the Accelerator₂ program at Owen? Is it about the Virtual Entrepreneurship Center they are teaming up to create? There is a sentence about all three, but no substance. Let alone any inclination of how any of this is designed to lure tech startups₃ to Nashville. However, it did pique my interest enough to go search₄ the internets for more information.

Luckily, the NBJ was scooped by Milt Capps₅ 8 months ago on Venture Nashville (link to Milt’s article). Milt actually has some details about what the Virtual Entrepreneurship Center is or will be. By “details” I mean that he has some quotes from people responsible. However, the lack of substance in their quotes leads me to the conclusion that a Virtual Entrepreneurship Center sponsored by a local Chamber of Commerce is not only a complete waste of resources, but also a solid step towards the continued mediocrity of Nashville as a location for tech startups.

Why is a Virtual Entrepreneurship Center a complete waste of time and money? The last thing people creating startups need is more web resources. Every kind of resource you can put on a website for entrepreneurs is already on the web. There are already some exceptional resources online for entrepreneurs. To add insult to injury, an entrepreneur who live in Nashville runs exactly that kind of resource. It is SmallBusiness.com and is run by Rex Hammock (and that URL is hard to beat).

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe they are creating something unique that is specific to Nashville and will eliminate a barrier that local startups have been experiencing. So, let’s look at the quotes and see what they have to say:

First up, Janet Miller the Chief Economic Development and Market Officer for the Nashville Chamber of Commerce:

“Our knowledge and attention to the needs of existing and future businesses, combined with the creativity of these students will surely lead to an exciting opportunity for Nashville, especially when it comes to supporting technology start-ups”

Oh, ok, so they know some stuff we don’t and by combining that with creativity (which I guess is where the entrepreneurs come in) then an exciting opportunity will magically appear. Surely.

Maybe she didn’t convince me, but I am sure Bobby Frist (who I think is really smart guy and is definitely a successful entrepreneur) will be able to explain the value to the entrepreneurs:

“I believe the health of this region’s economy begins with a strong entrepreneurial culture, and the creation of the Virtual Entrepreneur Resource Center will further develop that culture in new and important ways.”

Hrm. Maybe he was having an off day. In case you aren’t seeing a pattern here, Frist’s co-chair gave an equally fluffy quote:

“Nashville is full of smart, creative, independent people, and this Web-based Resource Center will help them achieve their goals as entrepreneurs.”

Here, let me try: By exploring synergies between the creative spirit of Music City entrepreneurs and the more than 8,000 years of expertise of our committee we will gain a better understanding for exactly how to provide resources to people in less creative and experienced areas like Alabama.

Now, I know I am being harsh. I have been a very vocal supporter and participant in the growing community of tech startups in Nashville. I would love for the Chamber of Commerce to participate in a meaningful way, but this isn’t it. I am sure some of the 82 committee members (who I think have great intentions), must have been frustrated with such a neutered and meaningless outcome. It must have taken a lot of time for a committee of 82 to come up with an idea this lame. I think the quotes above show that they aren’t very excited about it.

I hate to be critical of what I think are good intentions. It is going to take the collaboration of the interested groups in order to take Nashville to the next level (and this is currently happening with the Nashville Technology Council and the BarCamp / geek / etc camp). The reason I am writing this is that I think we need to praise innovation and risk-taking and condemn mediocrity in order to raise the bar for Nashville. The Virtual Entrepreneurship Resource Center reeks of mediocrity to me.

₁ - The word “entrepreneur” is becoming meaningless.

₂ - The Accelerator program at Owen Business School looks cool. I briefly toys with attending this summer.

I just read an article in the Nashville Business Journal about some ambiguous program filed under the keyword “entrepreneur”₁. Read Chamber wants to lure tech start-ups to see what I mean.

First off, I can’t even tell what the article is about. Is it about some Chamber initiative? Is it about the Accelerator₂ program at Owen? Is it about the Virtual Entrepreneurship Center they are teaming up to create? There is a sentence about all three, but no substance. Let alone any inclination of how any of this is designed to lure tech startups₃ to Nashville. However, it did pique my interest enough to go search₄ the internets for more information.

Luckily, the NBJ was scooped by Milt Capps₅ 8 months ago on Venture Nashville (link to Milt’s article). Milt actually has some details about what the Virtual Entrepreneurship Center is or will be. By “details” I mean that he has some quotes from people responsible. However, the lack of substance in their quotes leads me to the conclusion that a Virtual Entrepreneurship Center sponsored by a local Chamber of Commerce is not only a complete waste of resources, but also a solid step towards the continued mediocrity of Nashville as a location for tech startups.

Why is a Virtual Entrepreneurship Center a complete waste of time and money? The last thing people creating startups need is more web resources. Every kind of resource you can put on a website for entrepreneurs is already on the web. There are already some exceptional resources online for entrepreneurs. To add insult to injury, an entrepreneur who live in Nashville runs exactly that kind of resource. It is SmallBusiness.com and is run by Rex Hammock (and that URL is hard to beat).

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe they are creating something unique that is specific to Nashville and will eliminate a barrier that local startups have been experiencing. So, let’s look at the quotes and see what they have to say:

First up, Janet Miller the Chief Economic Development and Market Officer for the Nashville Chamber of Commerce:

“Our knowledge and attention to the needs of existing and future businesses, combined with the creativity of these students will surely lead to an exciting opportunity for Nashville, especially when it comes to supporting technology start-ups”

Oh, ok, so they know some stuff we don’t and by combining that with creativity (which I guess is where the entrepreneurs come in) then an exciting opportunity will magically appear. Surely.

Maybe she didn’t convince me, but I am sure Bobby Frist (who I think is really smart guy and is definitely a successful entrepreneur) will be able to explain the value to the entrepreneurs:

“I believe the health of this region’s economy begins with a strong entrepreneurial culture, and the creation of the Virtual Entrepreneur Resource Center will further develop that culture in new and important ways.”

Hrm. Maybe he was having an off day. In case you aren’t seeing a pattern here, Frist’s co-chair gave an equally fluffy quote:

“Nashville is full of smart, creative, independent people, and this Web-based Resource Center will help them achieve their goals as entrepreneurs.”

Here, let me try: By exploring synergies between the creative spirit of Music City entrepreneurs and the more than 8,000 years of expertise of our committee we will gain a better understanding for exactly how to provide resources to people in less creative and experienced areas like Alabama.

Now, I know I am being harsh. I have been a very vocal supporter and participant in the growing community of tech startups in Nashville. I would love for the Chamber of Commerce to participate in a meaningful way, but this isn’t it. I am sure some of the 82 committee members (who I think have great intentions), must have been frustrated with such a neutered and meaningless outcome. It must have taken a lot of time for a committee of 82 to come up with an idea this lame. I think the quotes above show that they aren’t very excited about it.

I hate to be critical of what I think are good intentions. It is going to take the collaboration of the interested groups in order to take Nashville to the next level (and this is currently happening with the Nashville Technology Council and the BarCamp / geek / etc camp). The reason I am writing this is that I think we need to praise innovation and risk-taking and condemn mediocrity in order to raise the bar for Nashville. The Virtual Entrepreneurship Resource Center reeks of mediocrity to me.

₁ – The word “entrepreneur” is becoming meaningless.

₂ – The Accelerator program at Owen Business School looks cool. I briefly toys with attending this summer.

It looks like I am going to get to participate in some pretty neat events in Nashville over the next month.

Technology Nashville – Thursday May 21st
I am going to be participating on a panel discussion on "Dashboards, Widgets and Other Components to Track Performance". The discussion will be moderated by Bayard Saunders and will also Michael Summar, Garrett Harper, and Major Wang.

Mobile Communications Roundtable – June 4th
I don’t know all of the details yet, but I think it is going to be a panel discussion of mobile platforms including Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and iPhone. I am sure we will include a little about Android too. I really like how the NTC has been evolving over the past year and am grateful for the opportunity to get to participate.

Nashville LAMP User Group presentation on AppEngine – June 16th
It looks like the LAMP User Group is going to be great. This month Jon Wage is presenting on Symfony (PHP) and in July Cory Watson is going to be presenting on Catalyst (Perl). AppEngine isn’t quite the LAMP stack (no L and no P and A isn’t Apache), then again alternate databases and webservers are getting more popular. I would love to see future presentations on MySQL, document databases like CouchDB and Tokyo Cabinet, and an overview of webservers including Apache and nginex (hint, hint).

So if you are interested in learning about any of these topics or just want to keep me from talking above my pay grade, come out and support some local tech events in Nashville and say hi.