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The Death Ray And The Lean Startup
July 27th, 2010
When I was but a fledgling entrepreneur, like most fledgling entrepreneurs, I became frustrated with the process of trying to raise money for my fledgling venture. Now, this was during the “dot-bomb” era, and so raising money was supposed to be easy. We also had an increasingly vocal contingent of curmudgeons, wondering why we couldn’t just earn our money like everyone else, with hard work and everyday construction materials. We were pioneers, forging a new economy from bits and bytes and assembling entire companies by applying mass production to “value chains” where “capital formation” was no different than tightening bolts on a combustion engine!
How to write an effective résumé
July 22nd, 2010
If you are applying for a job at Border Stylo, you might be interested in this blog post. I want to thank Ray Schneider, our HR Director, for his help with it.
First of all, let’s clear something up: A résumé is a tool to get a phone call, period. It’s not a diary or a list of every single thing you’ve ever done. There are many different opinions on how to write one. The truth is that there is not a single right answer on how to do it. However, there are some tips that might help you write yours in a more effective way. Here you have a list of some recommendations and some things that you should avoid doing.
It's a Long, Long Poll
July 20th, 2010
HTTP, that sprawling protocol responsible for creating and sustaining
the World Wide Web, deals only in requests and responses. That is,
client-generated requests, and server-generated responses. This is strictly observed. J. Random Webserver on the Internet cannot call your web browser up and go beep in its ear.
It happens like this: A client calls out to his server and asks for a
martini. The server gives him a martini. This works fine until the
server forgets to put the olive in. Then what to do? The server can’t go give the client an olive on his own initiative. It just isn’t done. Don’t be gauche. The client must notice the missing garnish and make another request.
The 12 Steps
July 15th, 2010
We’ve all heard of the “12 Steps” that are recommended for people with addictive behavior. Well, these days the somewhat bleak economic outlook (although there are signs it may be improving) would be enough to drive anyone to pull out those “12 Steps” in order to stay on the right path. That got me thinking… what are the 12 Steps that people should think about as they navigate the muddy job market during these troubling times? All of the normal preparation and intensity of looking for a job, having a great interview and how to handle “follow-up” is now 10 times more critical with the marketplace being so congested. There are great candidates on the market who would not normally be looking for a job due the numerous layoffs we’ve been hearing about in the news the last two years. It’s enough to drive anyone crazy. Have no fear – there is now the “12 Steps to Finding a Job in a Down Economy”.
VidCon was about community, not vlogging
July 14th, 2010
If you follow our tweets, then you know I took the weekend off from being a blogger and went to VidCon. I don’t think I quite pulled off being a vlogger – I shied away from most cameras – but the YouTube community was very welcoming of this blogger.
In case you don’t know what VidCon is, it’s the first ever three-day YouTube conference where the most influential and popular video makers and their fans could meet, interact off-screen and dance. Yes, there was a lot of dancing. Check out the crazy dance party that took place during Rawn’s accordion performance. Even the registration line was rickrolled acapella-style!
Setting the Stage for Quality Customer Support
July 1st, 2010
At some point we’ve all been down the rabbit hole that is Customer Service. Being on hold for (insert humanoid voice here) “an estimated time of 5…minutes” is not much more fun than being transferred from one department to the next, only to end up right where you started. And just when you think you’ve figured it all out, you go ahead and press “0” to surpass all this nonsense and talk to a (gasp) real live person; but low and behold, the “instructions have changed” and there is no magical “0” option to ask your 5 second question to a real person (who often hates his/her job and wants you off the phone ASAP) until your “5…minutes” are up.
Adding Nodes to the DOM with Style
June 29th, 2010
Extension developers who want to overlay HTML on pages face two style-related challenges: preventing page styles from affecting the added HTML, and ensuring that the added HTML is visually over top of the rest of page. This blog post will show you how to use XBL to add nodes to the page with style, complete with a working demo.
Social Media gets Sporty
June 24th, 2010
When most think about sports, “social media” is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind, but don’t be fooled. Professional sports are not immune to the cult of the celebrity, and just as with Hollywood stars, fans want to have more and more access to their favorite athletes.
Thus, once untouchable professional sports stars are gaining followers beyond traditional media as they expand their digital presence and fan base. By removing their helmets, shoulder pads and baggy shorts, their real and uncensored selves shine thru Twitter, YouTube, and the blogosphere.
Border Stylo is looking for Catalysts
June 17th, 2010
We’re a rapidly growing internet start-up that’s ready to make the internet a better place for everyone, and we want you to be a part of it.
We’re assembling a team of Catalysts for our summer program who will help champion our new product, Glass, across the web. The Catalyst Program is a three-week crash course in web product and evangelist-based marketing.
What is Glass?
Glass is an add-on for the Firefox browser that creates a virtual canvas over the entire internet. This allows you to share your thoughts online by literally placing notes on top of any website for anyone you choose. We’re currently in Beta, so you’ll be one of the first to have access to this brand spanking new technology. For a quick preview of Glass, check out our Quickstart video here.
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Latest Comments
Dallas over Atlanta? That’s a pick only a Pistons fan could make.
Yeah, moving your focus is a big help. Sitting on the same issue for too long will just leave me feeling frustrated. It’s those times like you said of moving on, when I usually instantly get the idea that I was missing.
The are lots of variations of designer’s block. One trick I’ve used to avoid this particular “zone killer” is to switch problems – work on something more mundane. “What aspects of this problem have obvious solutions?” is the question I ask myself. And then I get started on those. Often, right in the middle of doing the mundane thing, an idea will pop into my head and I can go back to the creative problem solving stuff.
Phil is number one in points!
You can keep your basketball as long as you continue to put up with our fascination with Babylon 5 reruns :)
“In software engineering graduate school I got the idea that what language you used just changed the time estimation method by multiplying by a constant, but now I’m starting to see that Perl really is different” -My old boss
Thank You very much for including me on the “Humanizing Your Brand” list. Businesses are made up of people that serve people, thus Humanizing the Brand is vital to success.
Good Luck and Great Sales to all!
@Ramon_DeLeon
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