CHEAPRENEUR

How AOL could easily takeover the microblogging scene - but won’t.

vipin chamakkala — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:15:03 +0000

Let’s take a quick look at Twitter… For the large userbase, twitter is a sort of away message for your life. That’s how I often use Twitter. And when you think about away messages, what program do you associate it to first? AOL Instant Messenger. AOL could have included new products alongside instant messaging to make use of it’s large, dedicated userbase. AOL could still can create a twitter competitor that’s connected to your aim profile. I would love it if there was an AIM version of twitter where I could simply leave an away message on the aim program or on a website and where people could reply back to me (and that would be visible to all). It’s a simple, more connected network of friends and friends of friends. Perhaps the main dillema is the user’s privacy, but with the right measures and hype they could have really brought some more respect to the company’s strategy side. AOL should launch it as a friendfeed, twitter, tumblr competitor where it’s easy to share anything or communicate anything to friends. I think that’s why a twitter competitor is still viable - much of the true instant messaging users are untapped. All AOL needs is a bunch of buzz and a simple sign in to activate your own AOL on-the-go microblogging service that serves as an away message to all your friends and their friends. They’ll never do it though, even after reading this article. AOL has become too corporate to even thinking about banking on this new frontier. Their closemindedness towards the startup world (and even the internet itself) has blinded it from new products that the current generation would actually use. Besides a disgusting interface and changes in beloved features, what did Triton offer over the previous version of AIM? Even if they can garner the innovation to produce this product, their corporate way of doing things will interfere with correct implementation. Lot’s of research must be done by AOL to understand the current tech climate and make use of it. AOL hasn’t even launched a true update to AIM Express! An online app that rivals Meebo could have easily conquered the web-based messaging world. AOL, why so blind? And where’s the web-based AIM application for my iPhone? Has AOL given up? Instead of trying to heavily monetize on it’s current sources of revenue, AOL should really focus on the power and dedication of its users. They should really put some money into market analysis and launch some new and innovative products. They could soar, but AOL should definitely not utilize their current decision makers and should instead hire a firm to give them strategy lessons. Whatever AOL is doing now is not working. With the advent of Facebook and text messaging, more of my friends are giving up on AIM for communication. Create Hype, launch a decent product with some new thinkers and we could all have a nifty little new tool. The functionality must all be there, as well as a more refined look not typically reminiscent of AOL.

Ahh, it saddens me that it will probably never happen. I’ve built a fond love (and reputation) with my aim screename.

Oh and if AOL ever creates a twitter competitor, you know where it came from!

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What if Kevin Rose created a social network and nobody came? A second look at Pownce.

vipin chamakkala — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:05:18 +0000

I know I’ve previously written about Pownce, but after further analysis I don’t think it’s working out to be the utility that its founders envisioned it to be. Pownce is a social networking site for sharing messages, links, files and events. After using it for four weeks now, I believe that Pownce is very unfocused. It combines the features of del.icio.us, digg, facebook and box.net into a very clunky interface. The overall UI is not geared toward the mainstream crowd that would actually add some value to Pownce. Perhaps that’s why they’ve increased file sizes… “it’s not working so let’s make it a pirate site!” I am constantly sharing links, pictures and music with friends of mine but in my social circle I am the only one that’s tech saavy and that would be more inclined to use something like Pownce. My friends use the Internet primarily for Facebook, Email, News (typical college students). I’ve convinced a bunch of my friends to join Pownce but the initial interest died out because Pownce’s user interface doesn’t cater to mainstream users - even when sharing MP3’s. How? It’s just not appealing. Mainstream users do not have the patience to sign up for a application like Pownce that’s psuedo social network / filesharing. We’ve already got Facebook!

Here are a few comments from Digg that echo my theory:

SDCarter: I hate to say it; but I think that’s what Pownce is. I signed up right after it was announced because I was curious and I thought it might be interesting. Since then, I’ve successfully invited four of my friends. None of us actually used Pownce. In fact, until an article about Pownce hit front page the other day, we’d all but completely forgotten about Pownce. It’s a great idea; I just don’t see it going anywhere near mainstream.

ThomasHawk: I love using Pownce to share mp3s with my friends. I also love that I can publish my best Flickr/Zooomr photos there.

–>Romulusx86: The MP3 sharing is great, you know, for those legal tunes you made.

—>Greekgoat91: no, for sticking it to the music industry

JordanM85: I still see no reason to ever use Pownce.

Marglar: Nobody uses or gives a **** about Pownce

Bottomline: Pownce is now just a great tool for music pirates. It will never catch on to the mainstream unless Pownce heavily markets its audio sharing capabilities - but that’ll be riddled with its own legal ramifications that Kevin Rose would not want to deal with. You should have just made a Facebook application, Kev.

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Location-aware services are the future of social networking

vipin chamakkala — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:55:57 +0000

I got out of the subway today, opened up the streetflow application on my iphone and I was instantly greeted with dozens of local suggestions for lunch. The suggestions were actually very informal but they work perfectly for my needs - cheap eats and reccomended dishes at various locations in the financial district (where pizza can go for five bucks a slice!).

Location aware services such as Streetflow are gonna become extremely popular once the iPhone 3G and 2.0 firmware come out within the next few weeks. In it’s essence, it’s a new take on social networking utilizing people and information that’s relevent to you and your location. Apple has a huge forefront in this new field with the iPhone. Not only is the technology vital, but open app development is essential to location based services that will soon hit the market. I’m expecting some great stuff in the coming weeks - we’ve already got greats in the jailbroken arena such as StreetFlow (restaurant suggestions), Twinkle (location aware twitter client), and iFlickr (geotagged pictures posted to your flickr account). Imagine knowing where all your friends are at a given time… Instead of an away message, you’ve got their location. A tad stalkerish, but like Twitter I think it could possibly break into a “niche” mainstream userbase.
So I’ll be trying food from Veronica’s today - it’s supposedly a famous Jamaican food cart down by the water with great food. Check back for more reviews on location aware services in the coming weeks!

Here’s a quick video overview of StreetFlow in action on Youtube. By the way Yelp, it’s time for you to put all that information you’ve got on local businesses to use… Develop an iPhone app!

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The cheapreneur is back!

vipin chamakkala — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:40:19 +0000

So what had happened was… Simple - what happens to most bloggers - just not having time to update and write posts on regular basis. I’ve been extremely busy with work because two associates in our group took vacations and I had to assist with their daily, cumbersome responsibilities. Not only that but I’ve also been busy brainstorming a whole slew of concoctions for web applications that I’d like to develop this summer, hopefully. Also, I’ve been noticing a hefty amount of traffic to the blog as of late - mostly search engine referrals - so I really think it would be important to continue blogging. Expect one post per day from this moment onwards and if I break this vow, cheapreneur’s advertisements are coming down!

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Diggnation coming to New York next week!

Vipin — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:11:29 +0000

Diggnation will be recording their next show at Studio B in Brooklyn on June 4th. If you don’t know, diggnation is a “news” show from the creator of Digg.com - Kevin Rose and his buddy Alex Albrecht. It’s sure to be a great time and if you can make it you should really come through! Studio B is located in the uber trendy neighborhood of WIlliamsburg. It’ll be my first Diggnation ever! The show takes place on Thursday, June 4th. It starts at 7PM and continues till 11:45PM but you should get there at six to enjoy good music and drinks with other digg fans before the show begins.

Studio B is located at 259 Banker Street between Meserole Avenue & Calyer Street in Brooklyn. Get directions from HopStop.com.

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Part One: How to make your business startup idea a reality

Vipin — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:30:11 +0000

1) Write down your idea - Write down everything about your idea. I mean everything. Include the most minute details about each and every single feature of your idea. I don’t care if its on a napkin or on Word, do it!

2) Tell your friends - Ask them for an objective opinion. Take a note of everything they say. Many of your friends will probably tell you that your idea isn’t viable or that they just don’t see it happening - don’t let that bother you so much. Instead, look at the core reasons why they don’t think it’ll work… Ask them WHY and make sure they give you an answer! I’m actually in the process of setting up a project manager, called ProjectPier, on one of my domains that I’ll use to get my friends to comment on my ideas anonymously. It keeps me in check and makes sure I don’t get too ahead of myself because sometimes that happens too. Make sure you ask for their insight too, what they’d like to see in it - maybe you forgot something.

3) Research - Conduct intensive research on the area that you’re focusing on. There’s sure to be something out there with some sort of likeness to your idea. Research your target, why they need your product/service and how it will help them. Place a heavy focus on what’s already out there, and how your idea is different. Check this site out for a more in depth writeup on conducting research for your business idea.

4) Create a business plan - If you’re still captivated about your idea after telling your friends about it, create a simple business plan. This is basically taking everything you’ve written and organizing it clear categories and headings.

5) Design a Mockup - If its an internet startup, create a mockup of how the site will be laid out using Photoshop or even something basic like paint. Include all the different pages and functionality that you want your website to have. Later, this can be used to show the designer exactly what your website is all about as it gives them a complete grasp of its layout, functions and design. Here’s another great resource that explains how to create an excellent Photoshop mockup of your website idea.

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Long commute? Invest in yourself by listening to some great entrepreneurial podcasts!

Vipin — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:31:47 +0000

I commute from Long Island to the Financial District every morning by train. The commute is roughly 2 hours on the Long Island Railroad and it’s a huge chunk of my time. Normally, I keep myself occupied with music on my iPhone and usually doze off. But lately, I’ve been getting into the world of podcasts. There are quite a few awesome podcasts out there that are as educational as they are fun. For example, I listen to VentureVoice every morning as well as a few video podcasts by Revision3 (Diggnation, GigaOm, & Social Brew). Harvard Business Video Ideacast is also a great vidcast that focuses on current trends, strategies and social technologies (they’re old, but smart as hell!). Time that I would otherwise spend listening to the same music over and over is now spent learning about new aspects in social media and the internet - and watching Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht joking around and having beers.

Podcasts are turning into the “new newspaper” for train and subway rides. It’s something that’s really great to get into because you’re really making a great use of otherwise wasted time. There are podcasts that teach you languages, programming/website design, and even New York Times Podcasts. So, do yourself a favor, and wake up every morning and start your commute with a brand spanking new podcast. Seriously, it’s worth it and honestly, I even get excited now to get on the train and begin!

Check out the awesome entrepreneurial podcasts on iTunes under the Business, Careers, and Tech categories. Enjoy, and if you have a podcast you’d like to share, feel free to comment it up!

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uh oh - a new facebook profile redesign coming soon!

Vipin — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:36:52 +0000

I always hate it when an application that I use on a regular basis suddenly adopts a new redesign. Even if it’s just slight, at first glance I’ll always dislike it. But then… I’ll grow to adore the new design and wonder how I ever used to the old format.

Facebook has come a long way from the lonely wall it used to be. Now it incorporates so many different avenues of content and information. A new redesign is coming in the next few weeks and I’m sure to hear plenty of my friends complaining just like they complained when the NewsFeed made its debut.

Here’s a look at the changes in the upcoming facelift.

Expanded and interactive “Wall,” where users can generate their own content, friends can write Wall posts, and applications can publish Feed stories
Additional tabs on the profile, where users can feature their favorite applications
Profile boxes, which appear in the narrow column, separate from the tabs
Profile action links

I like it. It now seems like an enhanced version of Twitter! I like how Facebook is vying to become a huge conglomerate of smaller independent ideas. Rock on Zuckerberg, you are a god.

Remember the good ol’ days when you had quotes like, “too close for missles, i’m switching to guns” (from Top Gun, 1986) on the bottom of every Facebook page? Ahh, here’s a screenshot of one of the first formal redesigns. How far we’ve come…

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how to add blogrush to your wordpress blog for quality traffic

Vipin — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:33:12 +0000

I’ve been told that BlogRush really helps bring quality traffic to your blog and so I decided to give it a try. What BlogRush essentially does is provide links on your sidebar with relevent articles by other bloggers. It’s a free service and I’m gonna try it to see if it really does bring in traffic. I’ll post results in two weeks.

Installation on a WordPress blog is easy: Go to your dashboard > widgets > add a text widget to your sidebar with your blogrush code. And that’s it. They supposedly take 48 hours to review your blog and I’m currently waiting for them to accept this blog.

Don’t forget, I’ll post my traffic comparisons in less than two weeks to see if BlogRush really does work. Let’s hope it does!

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So you finally joined Pownce… Now what?

Vipin — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:47:05 +0000

There’s only one thing to do: invite/tell friends! Pownce is geared to keep you in touch with your closest friends. I really want all my friends on it just so we can all share our music with each other - I’ll probably pitch it to them all somehow this week. I really like this whole unlimited space concept with the max individual file size at 100mb. Get started today at Pownce and add me at http://pownce.com/vipin. Be quick and get the best names now kids. Pownce can be a little buggy right now, but its got potential.

Hmm, I wonder how long it takes to upload/download things off the Pownce server… One moment please.

UPDATE: A threee megabyte mp3 took me less than five seconds to upload. But it’s probably because of the sick speed Fordham hooks me up with (see below)! Either way, when the next generation of internet technologies and speeds arrive, Pownce will be set to conquer it. I think it’s in its most basic form now with plenty planned for later.

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