WaffleBox

One of the hardest things about achieving your fitness goals, losing weight, building muscle, etc., is staying on track. People usually deviate from their fitness regime because since changes happen slowly it is hard to judge your progress.

Gyminee is a new website, a kind of MySpace/Facebook for fitness buffs currently in private beta, that has set out to make fitness and health tracking pain free. From their website:

No more guessing, it’s time to take your fitness seriously. Gyminee allows you to track and visualize your fitness progress and goals.

Keeping a detailed health and fitness log is one of the best ways to stay motivated towards living a healthier lifestyle. Gyminee allows you to effortlessly track your weight, waist size, calories, protein intake, and much more. You can view detailed graphs that show how you are doing on specific exercises. Fitness tracking has never been so simple!

By jotting down your achievements, Gyminee can then give you a guide as to what you have achieved as well as where you need to improve. You can also join fitness groups, get the support you need from your friends or others on the site. Maybe even help motivate others like yourself.

It looks like a very interesting site, I’ve thrown my hat in to the beta ring, some really helpful tools.

Whenever you try to install a Firefox plug-in you usually get a warning stating “Firefox has prevented this site from asking you to install software on your computer”. If you actually read this, which most people do not, you then notice two options in the upper right hand corner of your browser window, as below.

What you are actually suppose to do is not really clear because the implications to a non-techie are hard to understand. (We, as techies, understand that Firefox has not been instructed that this site is “legit” and needs permission to install the plug-in, that we have to create an exception to allow it to be installed.) The options may seem easy since there are only two to choose from, but since most people don’t understand why they need to edit the options, they simply may not and instead click the X. The problem being that the necessary steps are unclear.

Shareaholic.com has bent around this issue as to make installing their plug-in completely pain free by creating a mini step-by-step how-to. See below:

Yes. There is more to read, but less to understand. It’s just 4 easy to follow steps. Fantastic! I love this!

What is Shareaholic?

Oh, I should mention, since you may be wondering, Shareaholic is also a really useful plug-in that makes submitting articles and bookmarks to your favorite social news and bookmarking sites pain free.

Shareaholic makes it easy for you to submit the web page you’re viewing to digg, del.icio.us, facebook, google bookmarks, magnolia, reddit, stumbleupon and twitter. If you prefer, you can also e-mail the web page to a friend.

Developers should take note as to what they have done, you don’t have to put up with lousy errors. You can easily find ways to remove their heuristic nature to your benefit.

ShotCode wants to bring the idea of web links to the real world.

It’s pretty interesting… Imagine you a concert poster while walking down the street, your favorite band is playing next week! Usually you’d have to remember to order tickets when you got home, but if that poster has a ShotCode on it, a little cog like image that acts like a real world link, you can use your mobile phone to take a photo of it (image below) and order tickets right there.

But what is wrong with URLs?
The ShotCodes seem to act more like AOL keywords than traditional hyperlinks, so presumabily they would be very good for presenting very specific data for a given link, like the ability to buy concert tickets.

This is a service that I could easily imagine being very usful for an array of scenarios from city and museum tours to ordering event tickets. The largest barrier is educating the public on this service, you could easily walk past a cog-link any never know it.

See how shotcode works here:
http://www.shotcode.com/data/movieformat

FeelImage.net is a new site that discovers Flickr photos based on your mood. Simply type in your mood and it will grab a slew of photos from flickr.com based on what you entered.

I believe what makes this site different from simply searching on flickr’s site is that it actually looks at a photos color and maybe its hue(?). It then attempts to determine a good pairing between photos and the mood you are searching.

That said, since it is a color discovery tool, you can search for things like “green car“, and a list of green car photos will be found. If you click the green car link you will see that not only green cars are found, but also cars that are among a good deal of green, such as in a grassy field.

If you go tot Sneakerplay.com RIGHT NOW (9:50pm CST) you will see that they are down for maintenance, but you’ll get a little surprise, something to kill the time while you wait for them to get the site back up online.

In case you missed it…

Do you hate these?

photo credit: © 2007 yuan2003

Would you prefer being here?

photo credit: © 2007 flydime

Then head over to StartBackpacking.com, a site dedicated to educating people about backpacking around the world!

Respectance.com is a new social network site that is geared towards sharing the lives of people who have passed. Its a way to tribute the people who were close to you, as well as a way to discover some really great people who have now passed.

It is a really nice site, but can be a real heart breaker when you come across profiles of kids, or young adults.

I’ve been working on some new websites for awhile now and I have amassed a list of resources that were pretty helpful in coming up with things like domain names and just general brainstorming around company names. We all want a really cool name for our startups and websites… Right? A name that stands out, is easy to spell, easy to remember etc. Coming up with a name/domain name combination can be tricky, since seemingly every good name is taken. For me it is usually just an issue of getting my creative juices going, so here are some really good sites to help find a good name for you website or company.

My Number 1 Tool

Before I get into all the web 2.0 name generators, I have to say that my favorite tool, by far, is:

Thesaurus.com

The easiest thing you can do is start off with a defining word, something that encapsulates everything your startup or website stands for, enter it into thesaurus.com, and you are off. You can easily begin blending and discovering new and interesting names. Their word of the day feature can also be very helpful.

Name Generators

1. The Web 2.0 Web Generator - Click a button, get a name. The lazy man’s solution. There are actually some really good names in there.
2. Bust A Name - Give Bust A Name a handful of words and watch this AJAX machine go to work! From a usability perspective, Bust A Name is fantastic. Easily and quickly add and remove words, save domain names you like. Very Cool!
3. Dotomator - Looking to do a little bit of work? Give dotomator a list of prefix words and a list of suffix words and let it mash them up, all combinations spit out.
4. Kessels Name Generator - Random names are generated based on “languages” such as Elven, Dwaven and Ork.
5. Web 2.0 Name Generator - Pretty cool. Enter a ton of keywords and it will generate a single name for you.
6. High-Tech Company Name Generator - Give them your actual name and profession and names will be generated based on that.
7. NOEMATA Name Generator - Lists random names on each page refresh.
8. Web Two Point Oh! - Random names and product generation. I believe these are based on existing web 2.0 companies.

Domain Name Generators

9. SnapItNow - Pretty flexible tool for finding a good, available domain name. I’ve gotten some good suggestions with this tool.
10. Nameboy - Limited, but still may be useful to you.
11. Webmaster-Toolkit’s Domain Name Generator - Enter a single word or phrase.
12. ICDomains Domain Name Generator - This one actually sucks. Don’t bother.
13. Hack/ DMG - 15 random new names on each click.
14. MakeWords - Ok. Spits back some pretty vanilla suggestions.
15. Name Generator - Takes 3 keywords and hands out variations on those words.

General Name Generators

Here are a few name builders that could really belong to either header, or may be good for developing product names.
16. Wordlab Name Builder - Generates recognizable, 2-4 syllable words.
17. Drug-O-Matic - Geared to generating pharmaceutical names, but some of the names I found were pretty good.
18. Name Your Band - Ok, so it is for naming bands, but still useful when in the brainstorming process.
19. Morpheme Machine

A morpheme is a meaningful linguistic unit consisting of a word or word element that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts, and we cram them together in over 151,000 ways in our little machine. - wordlad.com

20. ACME Namemaker - “Here are over 26,000 ways to blend in quite nicely.”
21. Hobbit Name Generator - Just for kicks.

Some thoughts on naming your startup or domain name

While some people think that a name really does matters much, I think there is a good degree of importance, in a name, but not only for the names sake alone, but the process you go through when developing a name. I know I usually over think names for new domains I am launching instead of spending time on actually building my site. But there are implications, ideas and worldviews that can easily be attached to your company name and domain name, all to your benefit.

A good example may be YouTube. I know several people who hate the name and felt it would really hurt them in the long run, back when they first launched. This obviously did not hurt them. In fact, the name probably really helped them.

22. Make it short and sweet - The shorter the domain name, the better for a few reasons. For one it means there is less to type into the address line of a browser. It’s quick to get to. It is that much easier to remember. Low syllable words are easy to verbally express to others. Which overlaps into the next suggestion.

23. Use recognizable words - When you use a made up word, it makes it that much harder to remember, spell and pronounce. Which, of course means that your name recognition will not spread as quickly. Make things easy on your visitors by giving them words they are use to, it does not matter if they are funny combinations.

24. Spell it like it sounds - Google looks right, but it’s not. Squidoo is another good example, I think. It is a made up word, but it is spelled just the way it is pronounced. So using a funny or made up word can be redeemed if it can easily be spelled - As long as the pronunciation is easy as well.

25. Don’t use a temporary name - I have made this mistake and even Seth Godin recommends against it. What ends up happening is you throw up a “filler” name onto your prototype website, something quick and easy. But as you begin to build your website around this temporary name, you begin to identify with it, and even like it. The problem is that it really is not a name that fits with what you are doing, but it has grown on you so much that you can’t leave it behind. So you either stick with it, if it is a name that has not been registered, or you begin looking for names that revolve around your temporary name.

26. Have fun with it, push the envelope - Don’t be afraid to really push your name to the edge, explore “controversial” words or ideas that are fun. When you really push your thought process, you will actually help come to a better understanding of your company or website.

Still need some more help?

If you want to move past the “generators”, here are some articles that give advice and tactics on developing a name on your own.

27. How to name your company (ThinkVitamin.com) - Great article on all aspects of naming your company. From delegating the task itself to the brainstorming process.

28. Yudkin/generate.html - This is a guided step process that will help you get the creative juices flowing.

29. How to create a company name or slogan (The link is to the Yahoo Cache. PDF is here: company name or slogan) - Tips geared more towards picking the RIGHT words for your company or slogan.

30. 7 Secrets to Good Brainstorming (FastCompany.com) - Some great tips on brainstorming in general. This is often the root of the problem.

31. Choosing a Company Name (SideRoad.com) - Discusses the implications of the names you choose and how to work from that perspective to develop a name.

Company List

Sometimes it helps just to browse and read about current companies to get you thinking about different ways others have developed their brand and name.

32. List of Company Name Etymologies (Wikipedia.com) - A massive list of company names and their origins.

33. TechCrunch Company Index (TechCrunch.com) - Lists all the companies they TechCrunch has profiled. The majority are web 2.0.

34. Mashable’s The Social Network Grid (Mashable.com) - Not a comprehensive list, since it serves a different purpose, but useful none the less. Especially since you can filter by company type.

Just do it for me… Companies that will, that is

Don’t want the headache of trying to come up with a name. There are plenty of companies that will help, for a fee of course. (Names + Their Tagline)

Brains on Fire - We help companies create and sustain excitement about who they are and why they are here.

IgorInternational.com - The best product and company names require the least advertising.

A Hundred Monkeys - Naming a company? You need a lot more than a naming company.

Jell Creative - Plain talk. Clear thinking. Relentless energy. A sense of humor and humility. Sound good? Then we’re a match

Moveo Integrated Branding - Movéo drives business results by helping organizations build brands and then delivers cross-media solutions to enhance them.

That is all I have. If you know of other branding companies, please let me know in the comments section below.

Above all, create a kick ass website

When all is said and done, build a killer app that you truly want to use, and things will fall into place much easier.

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This is brilliant. Have you even made a call hoping the person at the other end would not pick up so you could just leave them a voice message? This is what you can now do with Pinger.

We’ve all been there-you make a call and think to yourself, “please don’t pick up”, or you call and think “I hope I’m not interrupting…” With Pinger you leave the message at your convenience, and they get it at their convenience. Unlike voicemail, there is no ringing, no annoying prompts, no lengthy greetings-just your message. Try sending a group message out to a bunch of people on different mobile phones. It’s impossible without Pinger.

One great feature is the ability to leave messages for contact groups, so you could leave a message for all your friends at once.

Just created a Pownce account… pownce.com/rjb. Feel free to add me as a friend, my account look pretty baron right now.

I am really interested in seeing how I will use it. More as a private tool, just for exchanging info/files with my friends, or in a more public way. I imagine a more public one, but I’ll see. Maybe both? Will I neglect my Twitter account even more? (twitter.com/rjb)

I made a quick comment awhile back on news.ycombinator.com about how I felt that a sense of ownership is vital and will be the next steps internet startups will take.

I think this idea of ownership is growing as “everyday” web users feel a need to own their online identities and data. We already are seeing this with tools like Weebly. Web developers and techies have enjoyed this luxury for quite some time. - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24089 in reference to Subdomains + Development = Sucks: A quick tip from Kevin Hale of Wufoo

I have been thinking more on this topic so I thought I would get my ideas down on, um digital paper.

What I Mean by Ownership
Since the internet and web hosting has been made possible, really only tech savvy people have been able to setup hosting accounts and services to house their domains. Techies can quickly piece together all the loose ends that go in to setting up a new website. Registering a domain and hosting account. Writing the html/PHP/Perl/whatever. Uploading the data, images etc. Setting up emails for a variety of scenarios, mailing lists, forwards, etc. And so forth.

We are inherently attached to our websites so there is no question of ownership. It’s ours. Then came along sites like Geocities that really changed the game, anyone could start a website, but “ownership” lightly faded. Things like the domain name, which no user owned, were brought in to question.

I have never signed up with an online backup solution for similar ideas. I know is 20+ years I will still have all my data, music and pictures, on some form of local media that I will be able to access. And I can easily migrate it to whatever new media storage comes along. I am in charge of it. The problem of course is that not everyone knows how to do this, even though it is painfully simple. This is a huge reason why I love the idea behind Drobo. I helps people take charge of their data. What you get is massive storage AND redundant backup that is painfully easy to manage. Not an internet technology, but since so much of our data is moving online, I think it applies.

Maybe I am the only one, but I think that the current trend of locking people in to a site is a horrendous use of technologies.

I feel like I really lost my direction and focus so I am just going to stop writing…

UPDATE: I literally just came across this post on tech crunch: Ex Microsoft Team Launches “They’re Beautiful”. Michael Arrington posts about “They’re Beautiful”, a service that lets you send virtual flowers to people via email. What a coincidence!

Virtual goods have been getting a lot of attention from big publishers such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. And why not. People are making quite a bit of money selling virtual goods online. I have never bought, sold or even investigated virtual goods beyond what I read in blogs and newspapers, but we all should be paying attention.

Virtual goods are primarily, if only, found in games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, but they may have a place in social networks.

My Idea
What if, as a website (socially based) owner, I could offer a means for other users to “buy” virtual, or real gifts for my friends. Things like virtual presents like flowers, or a new, kick ass background image (just thinking off the top of my head).

Mashable reported on a new service called SocialFlowers that lets Facebook users send real flowers to their friends. Pretty cool. Markus Frind, of PlentyOfFish.com fame, actually predicted this nearly a year ago: My billion dollar idea that will redefine ecommerce.

I could see this happening for all sorts of goods. If I could add my Amazon wishlist to whatever social network I’m attached to, maybe there could be an easy way for my friends to buy me a gift for my birthday.

So the question is… Should you offer your users Goods or Virtual goods?
I find it hard to imagine that boyfriends around the world would even consider thinking twice about sending their girlfriend a dozen virtual roses, or more, to plaster all over their MySpace pages! I know when I used to send my girlfriend roses at her work she loved showing them off to others there.

I really believe both have a place within social networks. But the approach taken thus far has resembles a retailer like format. Services like AuctionAds take a bit of a different approach in that it is a much more clever way of getting people to interact with goods. I really think that we will see more of this spill over into social networks.

Some Linkage to Wet Your Appetite
The growing value of virtual goods
Sony Plans to Auction Virtual Game Property - Registration required.
Awaiting Real Sales From Virtual Shoppers