terrygold.com

Lee Shainis - Non-profit Entrepreneur

I first met Lee Shainis a couple of years ago at an introductory meeting for Boulder's Social Venture Partners.  Like many other entrepreneurs, he and his co-founder, Shawn Camden, started Intercambio de Comunidades because they saw an opportunity and they believed that they could get something off the ground that would make the world a better place.  They had very little money and they had never run a non-profit or any other organization for that matter, but they believed they could do it.  That's all it took to get started, a strong belief in an idea and the willingness to take the first step.

Intercambio is now almost six years old, but I know from talking to Lee that his vision is great and that the organization is really just getting started.  Lee's making a difference and just last week he started a blog about his experience as a non-profit entrepreneur.  Check out Lee's blog here, and if you would like to know more about Intercambio, click here.

Happy Zune Day!

It's even nicer than I expected!

Update 1 There is new Zune software, it doesn't plug in to Windows Media Player.  The screen isn't much bigger than a video iPod, but it looks a lot better.  That's my opinion and everyone else who has seen the two side by side that I've talked to.  The software did a great job of pulling in my old playlists and now it is searching for all my missing album art.  Very cool.

Update 2 I'm still very happy with the Zune.  One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that the Zune software can monitor multiple folders for new content.  What this means is that you can use a podcatcher to automatically update the Zune with podcasts.  I've done something else with it that I couldn't do with iTunes, as far as I know.  I set up a directory on each of my computers called Zune that I sync using www.foldershare.com.  Now I can drop a photo, video, mp3 or podcast into the directory on any of my computers (including the FJ!) and it will automatically sync to the Zune next time I plug in.

There has already been a lot written about the Zune so it should be easy to find plenty of information online, but many of the early "reviews" were written by people who already had a bias and didn't own a Zune.  The website Zunescene.com has a good list of reviews and while most people seem to love their Zune, it does seem fairly balanced.  There's also a blog by one of the Zune Team members that I just discovered.

Here's where I see this going.  The Zune is the first mainstream, connected media player and it is going to evolve from here.  I imagine that the Zune will be updated with new firmware throughout its lifespan, just as the iPod has been updated.  With a built-in WiFi radio, all sorts of new capabilities are possible.  Right now it is a bright-screened, better sounding, easy-to-use serious competitor to the iPod.  I can't wait to see what updates are in store over the next few months.

Where did iTunes go???

This afternoon I tried to start iTunes on my home computer and discovered that the icon that I keep in my task bar has gone missing.  Same for the Start Menu icon.  Digging deeper, I found that the executable is gone too, though the DLLs and my music are still there.

Now I remember that the new auto-update process kicked in last night to update iTunes and Quicktime, so maybe it failed.  Either that or iTunes has figured out that my new Zune will arrive next week.  Apparently some new sites will be launched with the Zune.  Check this one out and click on the tall robot.  The people-eating gumby creatures are fun too.

Update:  I guess I won't be reinstalling iTunes after all, or at least not easily.  In case you can't read the text of the error message below, it says "A later version of iTunes is already installed.  Installation of this version cannot continue."

Update 2:  Video iPod for sale.  Available late next week.

Update 3:  The new updater doesn't actually run the install program.  My shortcuts didn't point to the install program so they didn't run the install program as iTunes expected.  When I noticed that the installer had created new shortcuts, I was able to complete the installation.

Update 4:  Video iPod still for sale, available late next week.

Kansas City to Boulder Video

Several people said they would have liked to have made the drive with me last week when I drove the FJ to Kansas City.  Here's your chance, compressed down from about 12 hours to a minute and a half.  I had my web cam running all the way back from Kansas City to Boulder, saving a photo once every minute.  Most of the time I had EVDO wireless Internet service and I know of at least a few people who kept track of me by watching the web cam live on www.terrygold.com. It really was a fun trip and not boring at all.

Video: Kansas City to Boulder in the FJ Car Computer

Helping the community, one blog at a time

Yesterday I was part of a panel talking to a great group of local non-profit organizations.  Jesse Sarles from Channel Four, Seth Levine from Mobius Venture Capital and I were asked to talk about The Wave of the Future – Non-Traditional Media - Utilizing the Internet, blogs and other non-traditional media to get the word out. 

It was exciting to meet so many people who are dedicating their time and energy to helping other people in the community.  It also re-enforced my belief that this technology stuff is still way too hard.  More than one person said that they have websites that someone developed for them and now they aren't able to update it for themselves.  Most though had their websites and email working and were just curious about how blogging might help them get their word out to more people.

I think that starting a blog can still be pretty easy, but I'd like to offer these good people a hand.  If you can spend a tiny amount of your time helping one of these non-profits get started, drop me an email at [email protected] and I'll help you get connected.  If you are a non-profit looking for help, email me too and I'll see if I can find someone who can help you get started.  It really isn't that hard to do.

Stopin' at IHOP

I got an early start this morning and it has been a really nice drive. The leaves are turning and the air is crisp.

I listened to Internet Radio from Kansas City almost to Hays, which says great things about Verizon's EVDO coverage. I really didn't expect to have it work for most of the drive, but it has.

The webcam has been posting on 1 minute intervals and when I get home I'm going to turn the trip into a movie, compressed to a minute or two.

I had a great time at the Kauffman event and I'll write more about that soon. My pancakes should be here in a moment and then I'll be back on the road.

on the road

for Marshall