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January 28, 2010

What Is Graphic.ly?

via graphic.ly

According to their landing page:

"Graphic.ly is a place for all people that love the art and story telling that lives within the pages of a comic book or graphic novel, and enjoy nothing more than sharing that enthusiasm with their friends."

From what I've heard and seen, Graphic.ly is gearing up to take the comic book market by storm.

The reason why I'm highlighting this particular startup is because their co-founder and several of its team members are based in Middlesbrough, which is close enough to Newcastle upon Tyne, my home away from home.

Having seen Kevin Mann (Co-founder) present at SuperStartup, I'm sure this little company has every chance of soaring to great heights.

Note: Graphic.ly is a TechStars seed funded startup.

If you're interested in becoming a beta tester, head on over to: http://graphic.ly/

Filed under  //   Beta   Comic   Startup  
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December 30, 2009

How Would I Change @Gowalla?

Gowalla, incase you're not familiar with this particular breed of startup, is a geo-location powered platform for sharing your location with friends and the public.

According to Gowalla, their primary uses are as follows:

  • Share your experiences through Gowalla with your Facebook & Twitter friends.
  • Stamp your passport and earn rewards at the places that you visit.
  • Discover and create locations anywhere in the world with your iPhone.

That there is the problem, as in my opinion I think they're missing a trick, one that may have the ability of changing the direction of the business model.

Granted, as a user I'm perfectly capable of completing each of the three steps outlined, and somewhat enjoy the experience. However, the interaction ends there. Beyond their standard scenarios, I don't have a reason to use Gowalla at times that I'm at home or at a location that I would prefer to be kept private.

I don't think it's wildly inaccurate to assume most users aren't comfortable with posting the location of their home residence on Gowalla. That's the goldmine right there. If I were able to update on my activity while at an undisclosed 'home' location, I'd be a much more active user.

There's no reason to limit the use cases for a platform that is perfectly capable of supporting a localised update feature. For now, I've moved the Gowalla iPhone app to the second page of my iPhone in the hopes that it will encourage me to make more use of it.

How would you like to see Gowalla increase their usage stats? Perhaps you just don't see the point? Either way, leave a comment below.

Filed under  //   Feedback   Gowalla   Startup  
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December 12, 2009

My Upcoming Guide to Social Media for Startups & Small Businesses

Filed under  //   Business   Guide   Social Media   Startup  
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October 2, 2009

iFixit.com, Damn Near Perfect

This isn't one of those articles that I plan ahead of time, but rather one that has been prompted by a short encounter on twitter.

Incase you haven't come across iFixit before, they're a relatively small startup that offer detailed electronics teardowns, DIY repair guides and all the tools you'd need to do them. Basically, they're aim is to put the power back in the hands of the consumer, when it comes to the maintenance and repair of personal electronics.

I've used their walk-throughs in the past for learning how to upgrade the RAM on the latest unibody MacBook Pro, as well as replacing the HDD in older MacBooks. In each case, it was a piece of cake.

If you follow my twitter account you'll know that in the past I've gone on the record saying that I think in my opinion iFixit is one of the industries most underestimated companies. I've never come across any substantial publicity for them, in the form of web blogs or anything else. The main attention they get as a company is for the awesome teardowns that they publish. If you're a gadget nerd, you'll love them.

It's rare to come across a company who's business model is to fix the planet, and you know what, I believe them.

Today I put across the suggestion that they include more targeted advertising on their site, here's the conversation in ful:

You might be fooled into thinking that these were calculated responses, but I get the feeling that these folks are out to do some good. It's nice to know there are successful businesses out there that have everyones best interests at heart.

If you'd like to follow iFixit on twitter, you can do so by going to @iFixit Head over to their site and check them out for yourselves, I guarantee that you'll get back something useful.

Filed under  //   iFixit   Opinion   Startup  
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