Wednesday, March 31, 2010

IPhone App to Sidestep AT&T

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

7 Amazing Lessons from 7 Distinguished Billionaires

via Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life by Mr. Self Development on 3/16/10

Schneier, Mark Cuban, Doctorow
They say that a million dollars in $100 bills is 43 inches high, but a billion dollars in $100 bills is almost three times the height of the Empire State building. A million dollars in $100 bills would weigh 22 pounds, but a billion dollars would weigh 11 tons.

Suffice it to say that the accumulation and maintenance of a billion dollars requires much wisdom. Today I want to look at seven amazing lessons from seven of the world’s most famous billionaires. These billionaires range from Bill Gates to Mark Cuban and each of these individuals have accomplished amazing things.

There are many things that we can learn from them so enough with the monologue; here we go!

7 Amazing Lessons from 7 Distinguished Billionaires

  1. Look for Opportunities

    “It's through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we've always mapped our path at Dell. There's always an opportunity to make a difference.” – Michael Dell, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Dell Inc.

    If you never look for an opportunity, you will never find one. The Wright Brothers were looking to see if it was possible for man to fly, they didn’t stumble upon it, they were looking for it. What are you looking for? The Scripture says seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be open to you.

  • Believe in Yourself

    “I always knew I was destined for greatness.” – Oprah, Media Mogul

    As the famous poem goes, “If you think you’re outclassed, you are, you have to think high to rise, you must be sure of yourself, before you can ever win a prize.” You must believe in “you” before anybody else will. Oprah believed that she would be a success, and she is. What do you believe about yourself, whatever it is, that’s what you will become.

  • Create an Atmosphere of Success

    “It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.” – Warren Buffet, Investor

    You can’t soar with the eagles, if you spend your time hanging with the chickens. Find people who are going where you want to go, and “conspire to aspire before you expire.” Atmosphere is critical, diligently guard who enters your inner-circle. Your friends are a prophecy of your future.

  • Empower Others

    “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – Bill Gates, Co-founder and Former CEO of Microsoft, currently the 2nd richest man in the world behind Carlos Slim.

    Who are you empowering, who are you helping, who needs you. You can’t go forward without helping others go forward. Instead of being concerned about how you’re going to get ahead, find a way to help others get ahead, and you will get ahead in the process. Empower others and you will empower yourself.

  • Focus

    “In the end, you're measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish.” – Donald Trump, Real Estate Investor/Developer, TV Personality

    Don’t be a “jack of all trades” and master of none. Don’t bite-off more than you can chew. Decide what you want to accomplish in your life, and spend your time accomplishing it. Work hard, take breaks, and in the end, if your focus is single, you will have accomplished it.

  • Learn From Your Mistakes

    “I'm the type that thinks if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it.” – Mark Cuban, Internet Entrepreneur and NBA Team Owner

    It sounds simple, but many people live a life of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

    The “cow in the ditch” example below gives us a pattern for how we should deal with our mistakes.

    Here are the three steps you should follow whenever a "cow ends up in your ditch:"

    Step 1: Get Cow Out of Ditch
    Step 2: Find Out How Cow Got in Ditch
    Step 3: Make Sure Cow Does Not Get in Ditch Again

    Using these three simple steps, you can solve many of life’s problems (from debt to relationship issues).


  • Only Go Forward

    “We will go forward, ... We will never go back.” – Michael Bloomberg, current New York City Mayor and Founder of Bloomberg LP

    You can’t make much progress forward if you keep on taking steps backwards.

    Make a decision to go forward, never settle, never stagnate, life is about growth, it’s about development. You are supposed to grow, you’re supposed to become all that you are capable of becoming, so go forward and never look back!

  • Thank you for reading and be sure to pass this article along!

    Additional Details on the Image Used: Bruce Schneier, Mark Cuban and Cory Doctorow. Mark is the only billionaire although I am sure the others are working in it. Bruce and Cory were recipients, along with Yochai Benkler, at the EFF Pioneer Awards.

    Written on 3/16/2010 by Mr. Self Development who is a motivational author that offers a practical guide to success and wealth; support him by visiting his blog at mrselfdevelopment.com. .Photo Credit: eschipul

    Posted via email from Brian's posterous

    Monday, March 8, 2010

    New Google Tool Visualizes Public Data in Animated Charts

    via Mashable! by Jennifer Van Grove on 3/8/10

    Google has just launched Google Public Data Explorer. The new Google Labs tool offers a visual way to look at and analyze large public data sets on a variety of popular search topics.

    The tool is specifically designed for avid data crunchers like students, journalists, policy makers, and could be seen as Google’s prettified approach to a user-driven computational search engine (think Wolfram Alpha). Public Data Explorer is its own dedicated utility that expands and improves upon existing functionality added to the search experience last year.

    Interested parties can visually dissect — in time-lapsed animation fashion and in an array of chart types — things like fertility rate by country, employment rates, and the flux of mortality rates in the U.S. Data is provided by the World Bank, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, the California Department of Education and four other public agencies. The visual animation technology comes from Trendalyzer, a service that Google purchased back in 2007.

    Google Public Data Explorer covers 80 different topics in the public data sector, focusing on the most popular topics as determined by search queries on Google.com. Users can explore ready-made charts or toy with data and reshape the visualizations into line graphs, bar graphs, maps and bubble charts. Charts can also be shared by direct URL or embed.

    While most of us won’t need this sophisticated of a tool on frequent occasions, it’s easy to see how this data could be extremely useful to researchers and those looking to understand the important trends that happen over time.




    Reviews: Google

    Tags: Google, public data, visualization

    Posted via email from Brian's posterous

    Get Better Customer Service by Knowing Exactly What You Want [Customer Service]

    I wish that everyone would follow these steps...

    via Lifehacker by Jason Fitzpatrick on 3/8/10

    Like it or not, customer service representatives don't exist to act as your personal grievance sounding board—they're there to resolve problems customers encounter. Speak their language and make action-based requests to get better service.

    Photo by Seattle Municipal Archive.

    Over at Computer Zen, blogger Scott Hanselman put together a great list of hacks for more efficient airline travel, but in doing so also highlighted an excellent tip that applies to working with customer service at virtually any industry you might deal with. Using terms and language that fits the industry and making clear and actionable requests is the path to customer service happiness:

    Make their job easy: Speak their language and tell them what they can do to get you out of their hair. Refer to flights by number when calling reservations, it saves huge amounts of time. For example, today I called United and I said:

    "Hi, I'm on delayed United 686 to LGA from Chicago. Can you get me on standby on United 680?"

    Simple and sweet. I noted that UA680 was the FIRST of the 6 flights delayed and the next one to leave. I made a simple, clear request that was easy to grant. I told them where I was, what happened, and what I needed all in one breath. You want to ask questions where the easiest answer is "sure!"

    Three important things are happening in the above example. He was informed about what was going on, he knew what he wanted, and he didn't waste any time telling the customer service representative how mad he was that the flight was delayed, what impact the delay would have on his life, or any other time-wasting monologues. If you want to vent, write a letter to the company. If you want results right then, tell the customer service representative explicitly what you would like done to resolve the issue.

    For more airline travel tips, check out the full post at the link below. Have a trick for dealing with customer service either from the customer or the rep side of things? Let's hear about it in the comments.

    Posted via email from Brian's posterous

    Wednesday, March 3, 2010

    The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?

    Bloom Energy's K.R. Sridhar, holding up fuel cells that are key components of the so-called "Bloom box."  (CBS)

    Will there ever be a time where you can step just a little bit farther away from the grid. The utility grid that is... 

    Posted via email from Brian's posterous