DemoCamp IV

On Tuesday I demo'ed BackupMyMail at Bootstrap Austin's DemoCamp IV, and had a great time doing it.

DemoCamp is a quarterly(ish) event held by Bootstrap Austin that provides a forum for web developers and entrepreneurs to show off their new web applications. The rules are very simple: no powerpoint. This is for working (or sort of working) apps only. Sales and funding pitches are best left to other venues.

It's a great way to get feedback for that app you're developing. It's also a great way to see some of the really cool, under the radar stuff going on in Austin before it's ready for prime time.

For the 4th DemoCamp,  five new or developing apps were demo'ed:

Prefinery: Prefinery takes the pain out of collecting emails on splash pages prior to a product launch. Sounds simple, but think about it a while and a world of opportunities open up. I have a feeling this product will not be about splash page management when all is said and done, but rather something much bigger.

CloudFire: CloudFire is a welcome twist on photo and video sharing. In a nutshell, CloudFire searched for photos on your computer, serves them up to share with your friends over the net, thus eliminating the hassle of uploading to middleman websites like Flickr. The state of the art of photo sharing still sucks, so I'm glad to see this kind of innovation going on.

BackupMyMail: My own product, BackupMyMail, does just that: it backs up your web based email into the cloud. We currently support Gmail and Hotmail, but more providers are coming soon. We will also be backing up Tweets and Blogs in the near future. Today is the last day you can sign up for a free 30 day trial, so get to it.

Gelato: Gelato is a dating site mixed with a social media aggregator. The premise is that your personality is reflected in your online behavior. Your profile consists of your Twitter account, Facebook status, Netflicks selections, and lots of other stuff available on the web. When combined, you get a picture of what sort of person you're looking at. I'm not doing the service justice in my description - check it out when it gets out of private beta. This is a real breakthrough in dating sites, not a me-too. There will be challenges, no doubt, but for the right kind of person (very active on the web and looking for a date), Gelato looks to be just the ticket.

Minutes Notice: Minutes Notice is a system that allows local businesses (coffee shops, bars, restaurants,  anything really) to advertise across multiple outlets (Twitter, email, web widgets, RSS, etc) from one simple interface in real time. That last part is the most important. If a restaurant is having a slow period, they can blast out offers to customers in an effort to entice them to come in right now. Creating an offer is not much more complex than tweeting, and consumers can opt to receive these offers in a variety of ways through Youpons.net. You can choose to subscribe to a SMS feed of restaunart deals in the 78701 zip code, for example.  It's a simple, flexible, permission-based system that has a lot of potential.

All in all, it was a good time, and I think we all got a lot of good feedback on our products. Check it out next time at DemoCamp V.

Fun With Government, Part 2

Yesterday, I took a look behind the curtain of government backed commercial real estate loans. Today, I have a story that comes from the "you can't make this up" category. It involves everyone's favorite branch of the federal government, the always watchful TSA.

Back in 2006, I took an plane trip to San Jose. I've always been suspicious of airport security, at least since they stole my cell phone and a handful of birthday gifts years ago. But this time TSA was on the job protecting me, my stuff, and the American Way. On the way back from San Jose, they even left me a gift!

And here it is, the Official TSA box cutter that a TSA agent left in my suitcase.

In case you don't believe, here's a close up of the sticker.

For those of you who may have forgotten or are too young to remember, box cutters were precisely the implements used to hijack the airlines on 9/11/2001. TSA was formed in response to those attacks.

Today's threat level is orange.

Fun With Government, Part 1

In honor of the horrifyingly complex documents otherwise known as my tax return, I bring to you this week some examples of some of the more interesting facets of our beloved US Government.

The background for today's story: Our real estate company recently purchased an assisted living property in Virginia. Since the debt markets have pretty well collapsed, we were thankful that our property qualified for a HUD-guaranteed loan (the HUD-backed loan market is alive and well). Sure, we thought, there will be a little more paperwork, but the terms are attractive (especially in this market).

I just got a package in the mail from our attorneys. Attached to a large stack of documents was a note containing the words, "unfortunately", "voluminous", "arcane", and "a few more documents". Apparently I had to sign a few more pages. In blue ink. (Don't you dare use black ink!) Not in duplicate or triplicate, but decicate, if that's a word. Scans and faxes aren't allowed. Only originals signed in blue ink, delivered the old fashioned way.

A picture is worth a thousand words (the tabs are required signatures):

And that is just the paperwork confirming that our company exists. We haven't even gotten to the loan documents.

Come back tomorrow for more Fun With Government.