Six Degrees of Steve

Want to know the Org charts for your favorite companies? Now you can!

As taken by techcrunch...

TheOfficialBoard Launches With Wiki Org Charts For 20,000 Companies

We’re all getting used to the idea that our personal information information is now public to the extent that we share it on social networks and elsewhere on the Web. Corporate data about people’s roles and functions within different organizations is similarly becoming increasingly public. All you need to do is search on LinkedIn to get a person’s entire work history or Jigsaw to find their direct contact information. Now you can add TheOfficialBoard, a contact database which goes one step further. It shows the organization charts for 20,000 of the largest companies, so you can not only look up an executive like Mark Zuckerberg but also see who reports to him or her.

Org charts are not always the most reliable indicator of power within a company, but they do serve as a handy way to visualize the power relationships within specific corporate networks. At launch, TheOfficialBoard is hit or miss in terms of its comprehensiveness and accuracy. (See Google. Where is Marissa Mayer? Does Joshua Schachter really report directly to Eric Schmidt? Update: he doesn’t). But it will get better over time. Like Jigsaw, it relies on its members to fill out the data about each company. And most of the detailed information is obscured unless you either add three contacts, or you can pay $100 a year for premium access. Both contact data or cash can be traded in for virtual currency, which then can be used to access the data. This data exchange model is also similar to Jigsaw’s, over which Michael once had a hissy fit.

But TheOfficialBoard takes pains to ensure the accuracy of its data beyond simply relying on the contributions of its members. Every e-mail is kept private. Members can only contact the executive through TheOfficialBoard, much in the same way LinkedIn works. Furthermore, it checks every executive e-mail address that is entered into the system and encourages the named executives at each company to verify the information. (The “contact an executive” feature has not yet been activated, the company is waiting until it has amassed tens of thousands of verified emails). Currently, there are 200,000 executives in the system across 80 counties. The service also offers alerts by company or individual executive. The alerts are sent out whenever there is a change in job positions.

TheOfficialBoard is based in France. It was founded by Thomas Lot, the former general manager of Apple France and VP Europe of Amazon. The site was launched with $150,000 in seed capital.

Update: It turns out Forbes.com also has an Org Chart Wiki, which I am told was something Roger McNamee pushed for after Elevation Partners took a stake in Forbes Media. To be honest, it looks like a half-hearted effort and is hard on the eyes. The challenge for all of these services is getting people with the correct information to give it up. For too many people, the incentive simply isn’t there.

Sacrifice your friends...get a burger...

Burger King has done it again, but this time using Facebook as their media.  Now, if you drop any 10 of your friends from Facebook (in jest of course), you get a free Whopper from Burger King.

If you are a friend of mine and want to drop me...I'll understand it....I'm hungry too.  But keep in mind, back at ya!

See the article here...

Want to get mobile email without the phone - get Peek

I was made aware of an interesting product in the mainstream that I think may have some legs.  It's called Peek and it is simply a mobile e-mail device that is both stylish and functional.

It's funny to see people out with two phones - one to call and one to get email.  However, the e-mail phone (usually a blackberry) comes with a cost - around $40-60 a month by the major carriers.

Based on what I can tell, if it can support your email (especially emails hosted by google) it's $99 for the device and $19.99 per month without a 2 year agreement.  If I run the numbers, you're already ahead of the game compared to getting the blackberry...unless you really want to play Brickbreaker.

In today's financial conditions, I think every little bit helps.

Web review - presdo.com

 

Eric Ly, who previously was a co-founder of LinkedIn and its first chief technology officer left to start www.presdo.com, which is a very simple, but effective online scheduling assistant. 

The interface is very simple, starting the process with adding in the event itself.  It then works to add in relevant information like time, people and even suggests locations to meet.  It then adds it into multiple calendar options including outlook, ical, yahoo and google calendar.

It's works well and I am looking forward to making it work for me moving forward.

I'm not sure if I would have done it.

Would you give up $11 million in royalties?

Apparently, someone, namely Ryuta Kawashima, the researcher behind Nintendo's Brain Age series of games for the DS portable system, would rather be working than enjoying $11 million in royalties he could have earned from his creations.

In this article in Yahoo, he loves his work so much, he turned down the offer, instead he used the proceeds to fund construction projects on the campus.

Oddly enough, he has teenage son's himself, but severly restrict their online playing time.

Wow.

Don't get in the middle of this online war....

Poor 59 year old John Lawson, who barely knows how to use a computer.  Apparently, anti-Scientology hackers thought that John Lawson was part of a hacker regime that was breaking into computers and spreading defaming info about the religion. 

The result has been this home number, social security, and home address was posted online and he has been barraged with calls for days with people who think he is this super high level hacker-a-bob.

Somehow, the offending group thought they found the perpetrator, but didn't figure that his home computer may have been used unknowingly to transmit information.

The article in wired magazine outlines his plight and the steps to plead with somebody to stop the calls.  You make the call...is he telling the truth or is this 59 year old man an "unusual suspect."

This is a lesson to all of us.  Don't piss off Tom Cruise or the Pope or any religious leaders who has the ability to Da Vinci code us into the dark ages...

Yikes...

If you must die...please be considerate

Yeah, I'm going to talk about death now.  Not for long, but enough to get my point across.

There is an poem that hangs on the wall above my kitchen sink that ends with the verse "it's not how they died, but how much they lived..."  I can relate to that and that really how I'm trying to live life.

However, 100 out of 100 people die and so far, I haven't seen anyone who's been able to reduce that number.  So faced with my own mortality, whether sooner than later...and I hope much, much later, I wanted to share some online resources to help you prepare for pushing up the petunias....

DirectHosting.info - An article about questions you should as yourself before you choose a “lifetime hosting” solution. In theory, this would be a a hosting account that would keep your online presence going indefinitely.

ProBlogger.com - A checklist from ProBlogger about how to prepare your spouse or loved ones to deal with your online endeavors after you’ve passed away.

ItsMyLife.com - Offers private letter delivery as well as extra documents such as funeral plans, wills, living wills and more.

LetterFromBeyond.com - Offers two level of memberships at £4.99 per year or £8.99 per year. Several letters per level plus pictures.

MyLastEmail.com - Offers online memorial and obituary services so your friends will be informed of your passing or you can leave messages for them.

PostExpression.com - Try the service for free, and then pay 19.00 € a year. Create multimedia-rich emails to be sent at any date in the future. If you pass on while a member, and scheduled emails to be sent years from now, they will still be sent.

TheLastEmail.com - The service offers four levels of service that range from free (you can send 1 email) to 18.99 € a year (unlimited emails). All emails can be edited and changed at any time.

YouDeparted.com - YoDeparted will not only store emails for you, but also instructions for your family, information on life insurance policies, how to access safety deposit boxes and more.

HumanArchives.org - Create a free page about yourself or a loved one to be memorialized. Include pictures and video so the person can be remembered.

Legacy.com - Monitors numerous newspapers for obituaries and offers you the service to set up guest books for people to leave their thoughts and memories.

LivingTributes.com - Offers various pricing packages from simple photo hosting up to a lifetime memorial.

MyDeathSpace.com - Keeps track of MySpace members that have passed away. Offers forum for discussion, and links to the deceased users profiles so you can leave comments of memory.

BuildAWill.com - Gives you a basic will that you can print off for $19.95. If you want unlimited changes, you can upgrade to the “Will Vault” for an additional $9.95.

DoYourOwnWill.com - Just as the name implies, this site will walk you through creating your will for any number of different scenarios (children are minors, children aren’t minors, single, and so on). Can also do Living Wills.

Global-Wills.com - Unlike most sites that focus just on the United States, Global-Wills handles wills for residents of several different countries. Most countries pay the equivalent of $47.95 USD.

LegacyWriter.com - Can hanle wills, living wills, power of attorney, all priced around $14.95 to $19.95, or $34.95 for a “complete package”.

LegalDocs.com - Has a wide range of legal documents for numerous occasions. Documents cot from $0.00 to $89.75, with wills looking to be mostly under $20.00.

LegalZoom.com - Answer the online questions and your documents will be prepared and delivered to you online within 48 hours. Prices range from $69.00 to $119.00.

Nolo.com - As well as offering will templates you can purchase, they also offer free FAQs and step-by-step guides to what you need to do to make sure your affairs are in order.

Wills.com - Will let you download a simple will template for $23.95 and set up at least a 4-page will with unlimited distribution of assets and more.

Wills-Online.com - This site offers you the option to do the will yourself, or to have a paralegal draw up the forms for you for an extra fee.

(taken from a recent mashable article)

Do Wii need one?

Sp

In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to quickly share a wonderful online tool if you are in the search for that elusive Nintendo Wii. 

A friend of mine (thanks Virg) pointed me to www.wiialerts.com which uses the power of comparative online shopping to alert people of when a Wii is available somewhere in the online universe.

Honestly, I don't need a Wii as I grew up with Atari's, Commodore 64's and a Playstation 2.  It comes down to two words: Sucked In.  I know if I got one, it could potentially be the end of me and all I'll be writing about for the next six weeks is nonsense about being a level 4 druid or something.

However, I was intrigued enough to see if this thing really worked and it did...a little too good.  It was free (bonus) to sign up and I could check with sites I wanted to be notified if a Wii was on sale.  I could also be informed via e-mail and/or even text messaging.  It only took about 2 minutes to do...

I signed on Monday morning and to my surprise, I got a text within 20 minutes saying a Wii was on sale at walmart.com.  Okay, I don't really need one, but once I got that text and went to the site and found there was a real live Wii to be had at a reasonable price, I was hooked.  However, my wife was nowhere to be found, so I watched helplessly as these precious Wii's all went to fine homes within 4 minutes. 

Then yesterday, I got the buzz again on the phone, then a follow up call from my friend Virg.  It was on sale at Amazon.com!  I called my wife to plead with her the need for a Wii.  Actually, it could have been a lump of coal or a dead mouse because it was easy to get caught up in the moment.  The whole experience was dizzying and exciting.  When I told her as calmly as I could about the sale, I was all but sure that she would have put world hunger before a Wii, but I was pleasantly surprised by her answer. 

"Well, go ahead and buy it because you can always sell it for a profit on ebay."  Really?  Hadn't thought of that, but my even keeled, non-video game wife was actually talking sense.  After checking that, in fact, the shortage of Wii's has driven the price up, I realized that even if we don't ever open the box, I can make a pretty good profit.

So, I logged in and bought one before they were all gone.  It's supposed to be here by Christmas, so we'll see.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'll ever become guitar hero or be a champion dance, dance revolution guy, but I have to say, the experience was pretty thrilling. 

But now that I've gotten my fill, I've turn off my alerts and am recovering from the day...

But wait...the site says I can get alerted for ANY product?  Oh man, this could get ugly....

I am here...on my non-GPS/GPS enabled blackberry

I, like many of my working friends, own a blackerberry, aka "crackberry" because it's so addicting.  I ended up getting a AT&T Blackberry Curve, which replaced an older crackberry that finally gave out from my thumbing....

When I was salivating...um....choosing my replacement blackberry, there were two options available the Curve or the 8800.  The biggest difference to me was that the Curve had a digital camera, while the 8800 had integrated GPS. 

I thought I'd rather have the camera than the GPS, which I could still get if I got a $100 attachment and paid a monthly cost.  At this point, I've been happy with my decision.  The curve does everything I need it to do and I take photos as I please and send them to my family when I want.

However, it looks like I may now be able to get GPS on my blackberry and at no cost through Google mobile maps!

I just downloaded it on my blackberry and started it up and wallah, it showed my location about 2 blocks from me....not bad!  Apparently, google maps has been able to coordinate with local cell phone towers to triangulate my position to about 2500 meters.

I'm kind of excited.  Right now, I don't need exact GPS, but it'll be good to know if I'm near someplace if needed.  I know the technology will get better and as I always say, "If it's free, it's me!"

Have a great weekend! 

Being successful doesn't mean creating the idea....but building on it.

In the land of opportunity, creating the big idea isn't the only way to be successful, but it definitely has it's perks.  The other way to do it, which many have ventured, is supporting that great idea with value added services and products that help to increase the enjoyment of that big idea.

Two companies that I have seen do this week are Jibbitz.com and whateverlife.com.  If you are like me, especially with kiddos, you have a pair of fine looking crocs on your feet on the weekends or even when you are walking around the house.  Crocs are an incredible shoe and people just love them.

Enter Jibbitz.  Per their website Jibbitz was born in 2005 when owner and stay-at-home mom, Sheri Schmelzer, and her three children were inspired to decorate their collection of 12 pairs of Crocs in the basement of their Boulder, Colorado home. With clay and rhinestones, Schmelzer developed unique charms that fit into the holes of Crocs. Sheri's husband, Rich, saw the potential to create a unique accessory brand with colorful snap-on products specifically suited for Crocs shoes. Ultimately, they were in fact, purchased by Crocs.  If you go to their website, you'll see how much they have been able to expand in so many areas, giving pleasure to a generation of resin-based clod wearers like me.

Next whateverlife.  With the rise to power that is MySpace, millions of people have the power to create and customize their homepages that reflect who their are and how they communicate to the world.  Or they can go to whateverlife.com's website, where they can purchase a custom made MySpace template or pay for a template instead.  Ashley Qualls, the founder of whateverlife.com has made a cool $1million on her business.  Not bad...for a 17 year old.

It doesn't take long to see that opportunity is out there for many of us, you included, of finding how to be successful just by looking around.  They are out there, just waiting to be found.

Good luck!