Ryminate

How to Use Your Cameraphone as a Scanner

Have you ever had a killer brainstorm session that ended with someone saying, "Alright, who's going to copy all this down?" I certainly have.

Enter scanR. In this situation I just take out my trusty cameraphone, take a quick pic, and then email it to my scanR account. A few moments later, I receive an email containing a link to my "whiteboard" in PDF or JPEG format. I can then forward this "whiteboard" on to the group so everyone has it. I love this because then you are able to record all the meaning conveyed by position, colors, and font (as well as any sketch ups) that are not transferable to a typed up medium.

It also works with books, magazines, and documents.The other day I was doing research at the library, and once I found what I needed I realized I didn't have any change to make photocopies. No worries, I just snapped a few photos, sent them to scanR, and I received a link shortly thereafter. With documents you can actually select to receive them in text format. Yep, all OCRed and everything.

You can also scan business cards and scanR will send you a corresponding vCard. Unfortunately this only works if you have a cameraphone with at least 2 megapixels. My Dash is only 1.3 so I haven't been able to try it.

All this reminds me of an old episode of Mission Impossible, not the old series, but the one that ran from '88 to '89.I remember Peter Graves sneaking into an office and pulling out a document scanner that was about the size of a king size candy bar. As he quickly scanned the "secret" documents the music crescendoed and someone burst into the room. I'm not sure what happened next but I do remember thinking, "Man, that thing is so cool!" Now I've got one of my own. :)

Countries With Universal Healthcare

(Click map for a larger view). This reminds me of the "Nations Who Have Not Yet Adopted the Metric System" map. My mom used to say, "Just because everyone's doing it, doesn't make it right." I agree. Plus, not everyone is doing it. There's Africa, Iran, and North Korea (among others).

Ryminate

I am in the process of changing the title of my blog from "Crossing the Rubicon" to "Ryminate". I originally used "Crossing the Rubicon" because I love the meaning behind the phrase. From Wikipedia:

The Rubicon river is notable as Roman law forbade any general from crossing it with an army. The river was considered to mark the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul to the north and Italy proper to the south; the law thus protected the republic from internal military threat. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC, supposedly on January 10 of the Roman calendar, to make his way to Rome he broke that law and made armed conflict inevitable. According to Suetonius he uttered the famous phrase ālea iacta est ("the die is cast").^[2]

Suetonius also described how Caesar was apparently still undecided as he approached the river, and the author gave credit for the actual moment of crossing to a supernatural apparition. The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has survived to refer to any people committing themselves irrevocably to a risky and revolutionary course of action – similar to the current phrase "passing the point of no return".

I love that. Nonetheless, I am going to file away my domain rubiconventures.com for later use and go with ryminate.com for the blog. "Ryminate" is derived from Ryan's ruminations. A bit corny I know, but I'm OK with corny. "Ruminate" is a great word that means "to chew over; reflect deeply on a subject." Also, a "ruminant" is "an animal that digests its food in two steps, first by eating the raw material and regurgitating a semi-digested form known as cud, then eating (chewing) the cud, a process called ruminating." I think that's a great image of what I do mentally with the stuff I post. (I'm half kidding).

Over the next little while I'll be changing the header, changing the domain mapping, updating some links, etc. Hopefully I won't break anything.

(Oh and yes I did use the Web 2.0 logo generator for the current Ryminate logo :).

Changing RSS Readers: From Bloglines to Google Reader

This past week I changed RSS readers from Bloglines to Google Reader . (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, RSS who?, check out this short video explanation of RSS).  I was very hesitant to make the change because I was a big fan of Bloglines, loved their mobile version, and for the most part it worked how I wanted it to. What pushed me over to Google's solution then?

First the pull factor: I am fascinated with the development of Google Apps. Google's recent acquisition of Postini sends a strong message to me (and to others) that Google is indeed building a enterprise capable application that will be able to replace Microsoft Exchange, a program that is expensive, too complex for most businesses, but offers a few must-haves like PIM and email synchronization, and shared contacts and calendars. Google Apps isn't where it needs to be to get my business, but I will certainly take a long, hard look in early 2008.

What does that have to do with getting rid of Bloglines? Well, in anticipation of a possible move to Google Apps next year, I am using many of Google's applications with more frequency: Gmail, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and Google Calendar. Using Google Reader was a logical extension of this.

Second, the push factors: A few little things have really bugged me with Bloglines. One, there isn't a GREAT way to save posts that I would like to file away. You can "clip" a post, but it's really an undelightful process. Two, last year I decided to divide my feeds into two different folders--feeds I want to read a) daily and b) weekly. Since then, I've wanted to get rid of these folders and haven't been able to do so. Maybe this is an easy fix, but I wasn't able to figure it out. Third, Bloglines has been re-serving me old articles as new articles on an increasingly frequent basis. This third reason was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So what do I think of Google Reader? Love it so far.  Very briefly, I love that I can "star" or tag articles and then forget them until later; the mobile version works great; it's easy to email articles via my Gmail account; there has been no re-serving of old articles, so far; and I can catch up on my feeds offline. Don't get me wrong, Bloglines is great, but Google Reader to greater.

Tour de France 2007 Google Mashup Map

For those following the Tour de France this year sans Lance, Ubilabs has put together an impressive Google mashup map of each stage. This mashup allows you to follow each stage LIVE, displaying the exact position, heart rate, cadence, speed, and power of the racing cyclists on an interactive map. Most impressive!

What was John Mackey Thinking?!

This week Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey, confirmed that he anonymously posted more than 1,000 comments to a Yahoo Finance chat board, most of which discussed his company. Let's just stop there for a moment and reflect--a Fortune 500 CEO that has time to post 1,000 comments to a Yahoo chat board?

Most of the comments were discussed Whole Foods or its competitors, but Mackey also made some very entertaining comments with regard to his "real" identity":

"I've stated my identity on this board before, but no one apparently believed me. I am George W. Bush and a long-time customer of Whole Foods Market. I own quite a bit of stock in the company and have owned it since the IPO back in 1992."

For a greatest hits compilation of Mackey quotes, check out this article in the the WSJ (subscription).

I'm quite certain the SEC is all over this one. I'm guessing right now someone is putting together a timeline showing 1) Mackey's comments to the chat board, 2) the Whole Foods stock price, and 3) a history of Mackey's trades in WFMI. There is also the pending antitrust issue with the FTC on Whole Foods' bid for Wild Oats. This deal was already in trouble--this may kill it.

I'm guessing that in the end Mackey will be found to be foolish, but not a criminal. This episode will likely damage the Wild Oats takeover, perhaps beyond repair. Nevertheless, Whole Foods should not in the words of Al Lewis of the Denver Post, "...bag the organic fruitcake running Whole Foods."

Yesterday and today the headlines are screaming, "Whole Foods CEO Mackey Is Out Of His Organic Mind." To that article and others I say...   

Yes, he is crazy, but he has always been that way.

From the very beginning when Mackey was operating his first health food store, he was crazy. Of the experience he said, "We didn't even have a shower …I would take showers in the Hobart dishwasher in the [store’s] restaurant, you know, using the spray hose." (Now that's quite an image, isn't it).

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Every great institution is the lengthened shadow of a single man. His character determines the character of the organization.” This is certainly true of Mackey and Whole Foods. His unconventional leadership has yielded some of the most innovative management techniques of the past few decades. These management techniques have yielded a profitable company, and among other recognitions, nine years running on Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list. For a great overview of "Mackey Management", check out Charles Fishman's article on Mackey, "The Anarchist's Cookbook", available here.

Certainly Mackey's participation in Yahoo chat boards discussing his company is both idiotic and out of line, but assuming he has not broken any laws, (which at this point could be a BIG assumption), be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. 

Free Business Start-Up Guide!

The Business Resource Guide distributed by the Colorado Office of Economic Development is one of the most comprehensive, state-provided business start-up guides in the nation. Not only that, but it's FREE!

If you are starting a business, the Guide provides a great framework for thinking through the many of the important issues that should be considered. Check it out by section, or in its entirety (warning - pdf):

• Introduction
• Starting a Business Checklist
• Business Entry Options
• Legal Structure and Registration*
• Income and Property Tax
• Colorado Sales Tax
• Employer Responsibilities
• Bookkeeping
• Sources of Assistance
• Choosing Your Advisors
• Business Plan
• Marketing
• Financing Options
• Liabilities and Insurance
• Trademarks, Copyrights and Patents
• Important Contact Information

• Download Entire Guide (44 mb pdf)

* Trade Name Update. Effective May 30, 2006, all registration of trade names formerly with the Department of Revenue moved to the Secretary of State. Please see their website, http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/business/main.htm, for more information.

**This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice**

Boulder Denver New Technology Meetup Featuring Don Dodge

Last night was another great Boulder Denver Tech Meetup, where 5 companies take the stage for 10 minutes each--5 minutes to demo and 5 minutes to answer questions. The event was very well attended.

Don Dodge of Microsoft's Emerging Business Team began the night with a brief keynote. Don was on the founding team of Alta Vista, was VP of product development at Napster, and prior to Microsoft worked at Groove Networks with Ray Ozzie.

Don talked briefly through some of the experiences from his resume and described his present role at Microsoft working exclusively with startups. Don pointed to Microsoft's Empower program, which for $375 annually, provides software startups with $10k+ in Microsoft software and support. He also referred to Boulder as a hidden gem in terms of the quality of its tech startups.

Andrew Hyde then gave a great rundown on StartupWeekend. While VoSnap has not yet launched (hopefully this will happen soon as the site received 5,000 hits last night), several cities around the U.S., and several abroad, have expressed interest in holding their own StartupWeekends later this year. As someone who participated in the inaugural StartupWeekend, I believe Andrew will be very successful in taking this concept to the masses.

Post-Don and Andrew, some great companies presented last night. Here's a brief rundown:

• Feed - Facilitates the use of SMS to make payments in retail locations. Feed is now testing in Boulder and San Francisco.
• ShareYourLook - A social network for fashionistas allowing users to upload their pictures and share their style with the world. As you can imagine, the user demographic is overwhelmingly female, except for in Asia where it is mostly male, which I thought was very interesting.
• LocalGuides - A place where users can create and explore user generated "local guides" on everything from Colorado road trips to San Francisco's Chinatown.
• Villij - A cool "people recommendation" engine. Villij in some ways takes social networking to another level in that it proactively looks to connect people based upon mutual interests inside and outside the platform. Villij needs beta testers so check them out.
• Printfection - Self-described as "technologists who do screen printing", Printfection differs from CafePress in that they focus on allowing anyone to use their API to open their own online store. They also claim their quality is much better. You can try it and get a T-shirt for $2.

See you at the next Meetup.

24 Hours Into Building VoSnap... Techcrunched!

We are 24 hours into building VoSnap at StartupWeekend, and we've been TechCrunched!

Startup Weekend is Cranking!

I'm live blogging from Startup Weekend in Boulder, CO. Startup Weekend is 70 people in a room trying to build a startup in one weekend. We are 4.5 hours into the weekend and things are quickly taking shape. The startup will be known as VoSnap. More details to come.

I am acting as a legal advisor and we are blazing through formation documents, trademark searches, terms of use language, and some novel legal issues. What a way to spend a Friday night!