J . M A I L

Where is the snail that used to deliver all my mail?

I want to discuss three things. (1) A cool news website. (2) Things worth spending $$$ on. (3) Start ups and umbrella companies.

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(1) I have been using the site Newsmap (http://newsmap.jp/) for a while now and I really like it.

“Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator.’

It allows me to quickly scan Canadian and American news stories. I started really liking the boxy size relevant design implementation after using SequoiaView to see files on my hard drives.

For news, this information visualization technique is awesome. I highly recommend giving it a try.

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(2) Things worth spend $$$ money on, and I mean big money if necessary. It was just a passing thought today and I will come up with some things as I type.

• Nice Bed Sheets (we all sleep a lot, me especially, nice sheets make life better and they don’t have to cost to much $$$. Costco has the best sheets I have ever used.)
• Cellphones (while some might disagree a nice phone makes geeky people like me joyful. I am just waiting for something like the moto Droid to be release in Canada.)
• Bikes (bikes are fun, they require very little upkeep and money once built [unlike cars] and they get you places fast while allowing for a bit of exercise along the way.)
• Books (they can literally change your life. Books are something I should spend more time with.)
• Bags/Knapsacks (I carry my chrome messenger bag with me everywhere. It has paid for itself in usefulness over and over again. You get what you pay for when it comes to bag so why not treat yourself.)
• Food (you get out what you put in. Having said that I still like a few questionable things, “McDonalds, I’m loving it!”)
• Money Clips (once you try a good one you will never go back to a bulky wallet - http://www.aperfectwallet.com/)
• Dark Chocolate and Coffee (needs no explanation.)

Have any other suggestions?

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(3) Start-ups and Umbrella Companies

The more press www.twitcritics.com gets the more I realize that a lot of it comes from start up new sites. Out there on the web there is a whole sea of start-ups of every imaginable nature. I guess this should have been obvious to me as starting a business is a very common thing.

But, I also realize that a commonality between a lot of these start ups is an umbrella company that contains them. These umbrella companies are typically small, offering a number of small products. For example: http://www.83degrees.com/ the makers of 30 boxes (a popular online calender). It is really amazing what a small agile team can do. Sure big corporations like Google and Microsoft do amazing things with their armies of employees but I think people often underestimate the work of a few good people. The web lends itself especially well to the small team approach. Take a small group of motivate and talented people and let their imaginations run wild and you will be left with a whole bunch of awesome small projects.

TwitCritics itself is moving in this direction, diversifying and dreaming big. Seeing all the other people out there dreaming big is inspiring. A small number of people can do amazing things and amazing things are awesome!