Peter Weyant Ideas and Input

2012-01-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

Ownership has it's privileges, leverage that across the whole team.

Creating a Company of Owners - Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing :: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

2011-11-04T19:53:00.001-07:00

Great comments on Groupon's IPO today - comparing it with a fertilizer company that had its IPO today as well. Who has the stronger fertilizer?

Groupon's IPO may have surged today, but like most other big tech IPOs, the chances of it staying at that price are slim.

Rentech Nitrogen Partners L.P., a nitrogen fertilizer company, also launched its IPO at today at $20 per share. It probably has a better chance at sustaining its model than Groupon and subsequent daily deal copycats ever will. Says The Wall Street Journal:

Rentech has a lot of alluring attributes. Its chief competitors' stocks are up 50% for 2011. It's riding a wave of positive cyclical attributes such as high product pricing and low feedstock costs. And it plans to pay out a dividend that could yield between 11% and 12% over its next fiscal year, based on the midpoint of its expected $19 to $21 price range, a great draw for income-starved investors.
Groupon's bling is fake. Says the New Yorker, eloquently:

Most big tech I.P.O.s surge and then drop. And, with its decreasing profit margins, fishy accounting, massive marketing expenses, floundering innovations, massive insider payouts, and surging competitors, Groupon is surely not worth thirteen billion dollars, or whatever its market cap is at this very moment.
If merchants start pulling out of the daily deals space because they're losing money on Groupons, the gold will start chipping away, revealing nothing but a cheap trick, a flimsy tin.

- ReadWrite

Build Your Own Productivity Style by Remixing the Best [Productivity]

2011-08-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Build Your Own Productivity Style by Remixing the Best [Productivity]: "

You've tried everything: asked around, played with a few theories about 'how you work best', and downloaded app after app promising to make you more efficient. If you feel like nothing's working, this crash course examines some of the most lauded productivity systems, then walks you through how to can cherry pick the methods that work for you to create your own productivity style. More »

Before you get locked into Lync, consider open source options | Open Source Software - InfoWorld

2011-07-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

Before you get locked into Lync, consider open source options | Open Source Software - InfoWorld

9 Steps to Consider When Valuing Your Startup

2011-06-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

9 Steps to Consider When Valuing Your Startup

Determining your startup’s worth is one of the hardest parts of the fundraising process. There is no magic formula that will spit out a valuation, namely because the number is highly subjective. The entrepreneur, for example, anticipates huge potential and may therefore put a high valuation on his company. The investor, on the other hand sees a company that needs capital to grow and may fail without it, so he may set a low valuation. To help the process, we’ve devised a few considerations to help value your company.

2011-05-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Keep an eye on Google Chrome OS, making some major noise at the Google conference this week. Including new edge devices (Chromebooks) and services supporting the offline use of Google core applications coming this summer. Some major issues addressed on cost and security from a corporate standpoint as well as another option for a low cost consumer device to stroke the cloud.

Facebook is Great, But Does It Make Businesses Any Money?

2011-04-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Facebook is Great, But Does It Make Businesses Any Money?

Some thoughts on social networking and revenue creation...

Social networking is nothing more then another visibility tool for an initial dialog. The ability to to be available and engage an individual when and how they choose to engage is the issue. Opt in community (another word for social networking) to qualify who and why they should be in dialog with you to solve a problem is really no different then asking a neighbor about a lawn care service or a friend at the Chamber of Commerce meeting about a business attorney recommendation. The question of monetization for the business is really no different then evaluating that effort (hard/soft costs) for social activity vs. conversion - resulting revenue. Revenue for most is not a click through event, what I am referring to is the actual generation of core service or product revenue. Advertising and product placement in social sites is the same as yellow pages or search engine marketing. If that is where the buyer is, then engage them in the way they want to dialog. For customer support, social networking just provides another portal to engage and support, mainstreaming into all other forms of contact - i.e., call, email, chat...I would really look closely at both hard and soft costs as well as competitive position in use of social networking before investing a substantial amount of resources.

Sentenc.es - A Disciplined Way To Deal With Email

2011-01-06T06:53:00.000-08:00

A new movement to deal with email in a manner similar to SMS...more compressed and iterative. Three sentence responses to all email. Think you can play? I am going to try.

Sentenc.es - A Disciplined Way To Deal With Email

2010-12-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

Some on target predictions from James Carlini about emerging technology trends in 2011.

Technology predictions for 2011 (WTN News)

2010-12-16T10:31:00.001-08:00

Dancing Snowman Scam Spreads Virally on Facebook http://ping.fm/G58TG

2010-12-15T13:42:00.001-08:00

Do You Need Those Other Social Networks? http://ping.fm/hdl8I

2010-11-30T05:49:00.001-08:00

Always assume competition http://ping.fm/GUSni

2010-11-30T05:47:00.001-08:00

10 Things I Know For Sure About Building a Business http://ping.fm/ctLmE

Rumblings From the LibreOffice Camp Signal Good Things Ahead

2010-11-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

Rumblings From the LibreOffice Camp Signal Good Things Ahead: "

So the big winner here in a fork for open source business application suites - Google. Anyone else with any thoughts?

We've written widely about developers of the open source OpenOffice productivity suite resigning, with broad implications for the suite and for LibreOffice, the promising new fork of OpenOffice. Although it's only been a matter of weeks since the fork was announced, The Document Foundation (TDF) and community members are working away at a new suite, and there are signs that users will see much improvement in it, as compared to OpenOffice. Judging from these signs, and what has been achieved with previous OpenOffice forks, users are still likely to win following the big OpenOffice brouhaha.

OpenOffice has millions of users, and if a fork of it achieves meaningful goals, that is good news. It's not unheard of. Many people already favor the Go-oo fork of OpenOffice, which is lighter, faster and has surprising extras. Many people lament certain problems with OpenOffice, citing its spreadsheet and database as particularly lacking.

If you're interested in checking in on the status of LibreOffice, Bruce Byfield provides a good guide to the latest information, in this post:

"Recently, though, more concrete information has been released. This information appears in LibreOffice blog entries, notably those of Charles Schultz for November 10 and October 28, and in TDF announcements, one in German and the other in English."

In Byfield's post, he also supplies more information directly from the folks at LibreOffice. Most interesting of all, it sounds like the LibreOffice suite is being retooled to put content ahead of ever more features--probably a good idea. We all consume much more content now than we used to, and OpenOffice never really detoured to reflect that trend.

Among other things I'd like to see in LibreOffice is a much improved word processor. I spend most of my day in browsers, word processors and on email, and a truly great word processor would be a great centerpiece for a new overhaul of OpenOffice.

Byfield also reports that the LibreOffice folks are looking closely at new hardware platforms. That may or may not be a good idea. Netbooks, for example, are showing less promise than they once did. Could a retooled OpenOffice have a future on tablets, though?

One thing's for sure: LibreOffice's reimagination of the OpenOffice suite is going to be a big open source story, and one that may benefit a lot of users.

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451 CAOS Theory

On innovation and participation

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 07:17 AM PDT

Two of the themes that have risen to the surface in the open source blogosphere in recent week are innovation, and the apparent lack of it when it comes to open source; and participation, and the continued lack of it when it comes to corporate contributions to open source projects.
The H recently asked why there is no more new open source, while OStatic asked why open source lags the innovation curve. Meanwhile Ian Skerrett called for increased focus on corporate contributions, citing a similar call from Matt Asay, and gaining support from elsewhere.
It occurred to me – not for the first time – that these issues might be related. I previously noted that in the data management space we are seeing the Apache Hadoop ecosystem the various NoSQL databases being driven by open source corporate contributions that are innovating beyond the realms of the established relational database and establishing new database market segments.
So why haven’t we seen this level of corporate user-driven open source innovation in other market segments? I think the reason lies, in part, the fundamental tensions at the heart of traditional open source-related business strategies.
One of the most often–repeated statements about open source business strategies is the observation made by Marten Mickos, that open source users include those who will spend time to save money, and those who will spend money to save time.
Most traditional open source-related business strategies – be they the provision of support services, subscriptions, dual licensing, or closed source extensions – are based on separating those that are likely to spend money from those that are likely to spend time. It stands to reason, though, that those who are prepared to spend time are more likely to participate and contribute code.
Given that, as I previously noted, is it not somewhat unfair to expect those that have already spent money to save time to also spend time on open source contributions?
Then of course there is the fact that copyright assignment policies, vendor-dominated development projects and cathedral-style development models – all of which have dominated commercial open source business strategies in the last ten years – act as a barrier to corporate participation.
Meanwhile most commercial open source support agreements, even without any of the above barriers, are based on an agreement that modifications to the core code base will not be supported.
It is also true to say that vast majority of the open source-related vendors in the last decade have focused on disrupting established markets, rather than crating new markets. That isn’t to say that they haven’t innovated, but if it is true that open source developers scratch their own itch, then the dominant itch over the last few years has been market disruption.
What makes the Hadoop and NoSQL movements is that their growth is driven less by the itches of the associated vendors than it is the itches of the users/developers. Indeed we see vendors in these markets being led by existing users/developers in trying to figure out the opportunities for commercialization.
The fact that the rise of these projects has coincided with an increased focus on collaboration and community, as well as commercial interests, has been well documented on this blog.
In short, the dominant business strategies that epitomised the vendor-dominated open source development/distribution projects of open source 3.0 limited the potential for corporate participation in collaborative development and the focus on disrupting existing markets limited the potential for true, market-establishing innovation.
The increased focus on collaborative development communities, indirect revenue generation, distributed copyright ownership and permissive licensing are more likely to deliver both innovation and corporate participation.

2010-09-09T07:47:00.001-07:00

Just uploaded 'Unified Communications' to SlideShare. http://slidesha.re/cSHzqg

2010-08-17T09:23:00.001-07:00

Google vs Oracle, open vs closed, or good vs evil http://ping.fm/8RlEU

2010-08-12T09:01:00.001-07:00

The Art of the Elevator Pitch: 10 Great Tips - ReadWriteStart http://rww.tw/b5AnoS

2010-08-08T12:23:00.001-07:00

RT @TechCrunch Delta Flight 1843 From JFK To Hell http://tcrn.ch/buGR46 Truth, short airline stocks

2010-08-06T13:44:00.001-07:00

Five Ways Android Will Defeat iPhone and BlackBerry - http://shar.es/0aFd7

New Zealand rejects software patents | opensource.com

2010-07-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

New Zealand rejects software patents | opensource.com

2010-07-28T09:20:00.001-07:00

Cutting the landline cord - and losing family identity.... http://ping.fm/oOasc

2010-07-27T10:57:00.001-07:00

Censorship is a network engineering issue (to be overcome) - Ethical hacker interview regarding WikiLeaks release of war papers

2010-07-23T13:46:00.001-07:00

Indian Ministry brings $35 IPad like low cost computing device to reality â€“ Prices to drop further [Exclusive pictures] http://bit.ly/b9y5T9

2010-07-22T13:31:00.001-07:00

Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about events, small people talk about other people.

2010-07-17T07:35:00.001-07:00

crunch Xbox 360 Giveaway http://ping.fm/s5w0p

2010-07-16T10:24:00.001-07:00

Steve Jobs announces custom Apple duct tape fix, same duct tape only 200% higher price. Apple store will place on phone for free with new purchase.

2010-07-13T04:41:00.001-07:00

Venture capital funding for open source software-related vendors increased 11.5% in the second quarter, the third consecutive quarter of positive growth following a 6% rise in 4Q09 and a 38% increase in 1Q10. http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2010/07/12/vc-funding-for-oss-related-vendors-up-11-5-in-q2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+451opensource+%28451+Open+Source+Blog%29

2010-07-09T09:14:00.001-07:00

Open source SIP integrated VoIP video calls from Android based devices http://ping.fm/92VBT

2010-07-09T09:04:00.001-07:00

Open Source Means Cost Savings http://ping.fm/1AqdG

2010-07-01T17:18:00.001-07:00

Large systems with inbuilt complex bureaucracies have a hard time changing. Take advantage of that. http://ping.fm/4dz6h

2010-06-25T16:02:00.001-07:00

Google Android continues growth on Apple Apps
http://ping.fm/ckEDs

2010-06-21T06:10:00.001-07:00

The Promise of SIP - Trans-modal Glue, No Jitter Blog | blog: http://bit.ly/cymDLL

2010-06-19T15:22:00.001-07:00

I follow my friends and see what's going on nearby with Buzz for mobile from http://m.google.com googlemobile

2010-06-19T05:21:00.001-07:00

Did Microsoft Pressure Dell to Change Ubuntu Linux Statement? No way, The VAR Guy http://bit.ly/bM7yVc

2010-06-18T05:46:00.001-07:00

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from OK Go http://bit.ly/azsYtY

2010-06-14T16:25:00.001-07:00

Starbucks caves free WiFi July 1 - yes!
http://ping.fm/UOTmF

Is Your Startup Too Geeky?

2010-05-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Is Your Startup Too Geeky? - Is that even possible? Good discussion on how to relate start-up to customer solution profile.

65,000 Android Devices Shipping Daily, According To Google : Mobile Marketing Watch - The Pulse Of The Mobile Marketing Community

2010-05-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

I am looking forward to the Sprint 4G device in June...

65,000 Android Devices Shipping Daily, According To Google : Mobile Marketing Watch - The Pulse Of The Mobile Marketing Community

Facebook and Twitter fans more likely to open their wallets

2010-03-21T14:54:00.001-07:00

Facebook and Twitter fans more likely to open their wallets

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For Startups, How Much Process Is Too Much? - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

2010-03-16T06:25:00.001-07:00

For Startups, How Much Process Is Too Much? - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

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Fresh and Meaty StartUp Jobs | StartUpers

2010-03-06T08:34:00.001-08:00

Fresh and Meaty StartUp Jobs | StartUpers

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Entrepreneurs: Beware of Vanity Metrics - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

2010-02-24T06:32:00.001-08:00

Entrepreneurs: Beware of Vanity Metrics - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

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Methods of Work: It Didn’t Happen If You Didn’t Write It Down « Design By Gravity

2010-02-23T06:43:00.001-08:00

Methods of Work: It Didn’t Happen If You Didn’t Write It Down « Design By Gravity

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6 Great Approaches to Public Speaking - ReadWriteStart

2010-02-02T08:09:00.001-08:00

6 Great Approaches to Public Speaking - ReadWriteStart

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Domino's Does Itself a Disservice by Coming Clean About Its Pizza - Advertising Age - Garfield's Ad Review

2010-01-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

Great review of how not to redirect your ads and consumer opinion. BTW, new garlic crust does make it taste almost like a real pie - if you do not have a good real pizza place around, you can fall back on them.

Domino's Does Itself a Disservice by Coming Clean About Its Pizza - Advertising Age - Garfield's Ad Review

Leadership and Innovation in a Commoditized World - Now, New, Next - Harvard Business Review

2010-01-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

Leadership and Innovation in a Commoditized World - Now, New, Next - Harvard Business Review

The Perfect Storm: Why Now is the Time for Open Source - TechWeb Digital Library

2009-12-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Introduction to the opportunity presented by open source based solutions.

The Perfect Storm: Why Now is the Time for Open Source - TechWeb Digital Library

Getting Facebook into the Marketing Mix!

2009-12-16T16:59:00.000-08:00

Great input on business use of Facebook

Getting Facebook into the Marketing Mix!

Beagle Search Tool Fetches Data From Deep Inside Your Linux System - Desktop Search - Lifehacker

2009-12-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

Some tools to match MAC and Windooz 7...without slow crash and burn

Beagle Search Tool Fetches Data From Deep Inside Your Linux System - Desktop Search - Lifehacker

Ballast Point closes $140M fund that has Raymond James as anchor - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

2009-10-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Money is starting to get ready for investment, any good ideas?

Ballast Point closes $140M fund that has Raymond James as anchor - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

How to Gracefully Torpedo a Competitor | Sales Machine | BNET

2009-10-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

You know your competitor is positioning your prospect, how do you guide them to further discovery?

How to Gracefully Torpedo a Competitor | Sales Machine | BNET

10 Business Mistakes for Start-Ups to Avoid - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

2009-10-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

10 Business Mistakes for Start-Ups to Avoid - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Beyond Facebook - Yeoman Technology Group

2009-10-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Beyond Facebook - Yeoman Technology Group

A Twitter Sharing Time Saving Tip | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

2009-10-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

Great SMB marketing material and strategy...

A Twitter Sharing Time Saving Tip | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Google Wave And The Dawn Of Passive-Aggressive Communication

2009-10-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Expansion on a WSJ article about always on and impact on modes of communictions

Google Wave And The Dawn Of Passive-Aggressive Communication

Google’s Abandoned Library of 700 Million Titles | Epicenter | Wired.com

2009-10-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

A history lesson in internet time, where is the Library of Congress?

Google’s Abandoned Library of 700 Million Titles | Epicenter | Wired.com

Discussion: Business Owner's Toolkit | LinkedIn

2009-10-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

Great review of two key business approaches, SWOT and SMART. http://bit.ly/hCMX0

Official Google Blog: Place Pages for Google Maps: There are places we remember!

2009-09-29T16:49:00.001-07:00

Official Google Blog: Place Pages for Google Maps: There are places we remember!

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Has Twitter Peaked? - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com

2009-09-25T19:48:00.001-07:00

Hmmm...

Has Twitter Peaked? - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com

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Cisco UC CTO: Combine Best of On-Premises and On-Demand Delivery

2009-09-25T13:48:00.001-07:00

Right concept, with a tweak. Open source premise and cloud on demand drives a better ROI and business continuity.

Cisco UC CTO: Combine Best of On-Premises and On-Demand Delivery

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The Dell Deal - KnowledgeToday

2009-09-23T16:49:00.001-07:00

Wharton comments on the need for services to compliment product sales

The Dell Deal - KnowledgeToday

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From Nothing To Something. How To Get There.

2009-09-21T09:25:00.001-07:00

From Nothing To Something. How To Get There.

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How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress Without Losing Google Traffic - Step by Step Guide

2009-09-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress Without Losing Google Traffic - Step by Step Guide

Top 10 Publicity Tools for $1 or Less

2009-09-18T05:52:00.001-07:00

Top 10 Publicity Tools for $1 or Less

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Sangoma: How to reduce Asterisk Load by 70 percent

2009-09-15T07:19:00.001-07:00

Sangoma: How to reduce Asterisk Load by 70 percent

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Dell renews Ubuntu Linux desktop lineup - Computerworld Blogs

2009-09-11T11:06:00.001-07:00

Dell renews Ubuntu Linux desktop lineup - Computerworld Blogs

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The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions | Information Is Beautiful

2009-09-11T08:43:00.001-07:00

The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions | Information Is Beautiful

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A Tale of Two Pitches

2009-09-09T08:45:00.001-07:00

A Tale of Two Pitches

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2009-09-08T16:17:00.001-07:00

Develop a value proposition for your technology with five simple questions Tech Marketing Blog

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A Sales Force Built Around Cold Calling

2009-09-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

A Sales Force Built Around Cold Calling

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The Top 20 VC Bloggers (September 2009)

2009-09-08T11:02:00.001-07:00

Show me the money, and the thinking behind it.

The Top 20 VC Bloggers (September 2009)

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2004-01-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, finally broke down and joined the emerging world of the blog after years of just www.weyant.com, and peter@weyant.com.

Peter Weyant Ideas and Input

Build Your Own Productivity Style by Remixing the Best [Productivity]

Before you get locked into Lync, consider open source options | Open Source Software - InfoWorld

9 Steps to Consider When Valuing Your Startup

Facebook is Great, But Does It Make Businesses Any Money?

Sentenc.es - A Disciplined Way To Deal With Email

Rumblings From the LibreOffice Camp Signal Good Things Ahead

Related Activities

Related Software

Related Blog Posts

451 CAOS Theory

Just uploaded 'Unified Communications' to SlideShare. http://slidesha.re/cSHzqg

New Zealand rejects software patents | opensource.com

Is Your Startup Too Geeky?

65,000 Android Devices Shipping Daily, According To Google : Mobile Marketing Watch - The Pulse Of The Mobile Marketing Community

Facebook and Twitter fans more likely to open their wallets

For Startups, How Much Process Is Too Much? - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

Fresh and Meaty StartUp Jobs | StartUpers

Entrepreneurs: Beware of Vanity Metrics - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

Methods of Work: It Didn’t Happen If You Didn’t Write It Down « Design By Gravity

6 Great Approaches to Public Speaking - ReadWriteStart

Domino's Does Itself a Disservice by Coming Clean About Its Pizza - Advertising Age - Garfield's Ad Review

Leadership and Innovation in a Commoditized World - Now, New, Next - Harvard Business Review

The Perfect Storm: Why Now is the Time for Open Source - TechWeb Digital Library

Getting Facebook into the Marketing Mix!

Beagle Search Tool Fetches Data From Deep Inside Your Linux System - Desktop Search - Lifehacker

Ballast Point closes $140M fund that has Raymond James as anchor - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

How to Gracefully Torpedo a Competitor | Sales Machine | BNET

10 Business Mistakes for Start-Ups to Avoid - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Beyond Facebook - Yeoman Technology Group

A Twitter Sharing Time Saving Tip | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Google Wave And The Dawn Of Passive-Aggressive Communication

Google’s Abandoned Library of 700 Million Titles | Epicenter | Wired.com

Discussion: Business Owner's Toolkit | LinkedIn

Official Google Blog: Place Pages for Google Maps: There are places we remember!

Has Twitter Peaked? - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com

Cisco UC CTO: Combine Best of On-Premises and On-Demand Delivery

The Dell Deal - KnowledgeToday

From Nothing To Something. How To Get There.

How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress Without Losing Google Traffic - Step by Step Guide

Top 10 Publicity Tools for $1 or Less

Sangoma: How to reduce Asterisk Load by 70 percent

Dell renews Ubuntu Linux desktop lineup - Computerworld Blogs

The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions | Information Is Beautiful

A Tale of Two Pitches

A Sales Force Built Around Cold Calling

The Top 20 VC Bloggers (September 2009)