iSawToday – The Coolest Thing I Saw Today on the Web

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo

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The coolest shoes ever!

Since acquiring my Five Fingers several months ago I keep hearing how ugly and strange they are.  While I can’t say the attention bothers me I thought I’d post up a great article I came across today about the benefits and concept behind these ’shoes’:

Barefoot Running and Sports – Why it’s better

And here’s why they rock:

1. Running in them feels fantastic, I feel like a weight was lifted.

2. They keep my feet just as warm as slippers but I don’t have to take them off to run to the store.

3. They are a great conversation starter or “third object”

Cheers!

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Being an entrepreneur, one of the most challenging/time-consuming/energy-usurping tasks is finding a suitable name/domain for a company.   While the process starts out being fun frustration quickly sets in as you realize every domain name under the sun is taken.

A good friend of mine named Dan has a solution of this. He looks up relevant words in another language, hoping to find a pronounceable word with meaning and available domain.

This morning I turned to a similar approach for a new company.  Rather than run tens of queries at Google Translate I found this awesomely handy tool which looks up words in multiple languages: http://www.nicetranslator.com/ .

Combine that with the fastest domain lookup tool I’ve ever used at https://domize.com/ and finding foreign company names becomes much-less painful…. although I’m still searching.

How do you find company names and domains?

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Here’s a great interview with another Midwest startup success. Andrew Mason gives a great interview to Silicon Prairie News about the success and funding of GroupOn.com

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Surrounded by entrepreneurs most days of the week I’m never short on ideas for the ‘next great thing’.  The harder part is finding and vetting an idea that can make money and be successfully scaled.  I thought the following post on vetting web startup ideas from Ash was a great read.  This is something that I do more or less everyday but never in such an organized fashion.  He’s got several great diagrams that describe the decision making process of going from idea to product and customer base.

Thanks for the great post Ash!

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Since the first time my parents let me watch Temple of Doom I’ve wanted to be Indiana Jones.  At the age of 8 that meant jumping from couch to La-Z-Boy, at 10 it meant fixing a ridiculous frayed rope to the ceiling of the basement, and at 29 it meant going on adventurous trips to Africa, Cambodia, and elsewhere.

Was this all because instead of monsters in my closet I saw Nazi’s, poised to divulge my secrets of the Holy Grail?   Although, I did dream of Nazi’s in the closet (thanks Mom&Dad), I think Indy embodies the things that many people will never do but sit around and wish they could/would.  So if that’s you -time to take action. Head over to WIRED and read this awesome article on how to grab things with a bullwhip Indiana Jones-style.

Grag things with a bullwhip Indiana Jones style

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The morning news informed me that Wisconsin is to be the recipient of $810 million dollars in federal grant money for the construction of a high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison, WI.

Now I love trains, in fact my parents attic is piled high with HO scale model railroad gear form my younger days.   Trains that I plan to recover and enjoy with my children some day but I can’t help wonder why we would put in a high-speed train without asking the people first?  Even the Simpson called a town hall meeting  and held a vote. If Doyle is any sort of governor he should be able to sing and dance us into submission in no time!

Why not hold a contest in which engineering firms and designers from WI propose ways to spend the money? Thereby encouraging innovation and creating blue-collar jobs.  The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 used that approach and out of it came the Ferris Wheel, Moving Walkways, and numerous other innovations.

Oh and if you wonder how the Simpson’s monorail story goes, hop on over to Shelbyville and ask.

Cheers!

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The 2010 Winter Olympics are just over a month away and I can’t help wonder what role online video will play in this years broadcast.  I did a quick scan hoping to find mention of NBC’s digital plan but came up with very little.  So I’d like to take the liberty of recommending NBC give CBS and IBM a call and ask them to make the olympics as amazing to watch online as the 2009 U.S. Open Tennis Tournament was.

For those of you that aren’t tennis fans or didn’t make it to the U.S. Open website this year.  Every match that wasn’t on network TV was accessible LIVE via online streaming -with  your computer plugged into a TV you could watch matches, quickly switch between courts, pull up live statistics via overlay, and view live picture in picture.

Far and away the most amazing live video experience I’ve had to date.  How awesome would it be to have full live access to the 2010 olympics with those features? Imagine traveling around a map of Vancouver to the various event destinations, being able to watch full coverage of any event.

I’d work from home the entire two weeks if I could have bobsled and luge on 12/14!  Has anyone gotten word of what NBC’s planning?

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The holiday season is full of opportunities to network and meet/greet people so I decided to throw together a list of my top 5 small talk tactics:

1. Show up early – I did this by accident several weeks ago and had nothing to do but talk to the event organizers and help them rearrange the tables.  In return these two ladies made introductions for me throughout the evening.
2. Use an exciting opening phrase – Rather than the traditional “How are you?” greeting, incorporate a phrase such as “What are you working on that’s new and exciting?”  or “What’s new and exciting?”  I’ve used this at tradeshows for several years now and it’s a great way of getting other people to open up.
3. Give descriptive answers – Rather than answer the inevitable question “What do you do?” with “work for a software company”.   Try giving a more specific answer such as “I  sell and market data mining software to insurance companies.” Even though my example is tech-y I’ve given given my bogey the option of connecting on several fronts: software, sales & marketing,  and insurance.
4. Prepare – Formulate interesting answers to common questions that you know you will be asked. (apply #3)
5. Recommend & Refer – As you begin to meet people throughout the evening make recommendations and introductions between your new acquaintances.

What’s your favorite small talk tactic?

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A recent conversation has led to a revisited appreciation for the ORIGINAL ending credits from Return of the Jedi, -you know the “Yub-Yub” Ewoks song.

Give this clip a listen and then write George Lucas a letter and tell him to stop screwing with his already great movies.

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