FairSoftware – Find Business Partners Online
Entrepreneurs with a good idea for a web or iPhone application to develop can look for a team of co-founders with the necessary complementary skills using FairSoftware. This site makes it possible to find developers, graphic designers and other team members. The aim is to motivate the team by sharing revenue, and as this is a business partnership the venture can be started without raising finance to pay staff.
It works by using shares assigned to each team member and to pay new members as they are taken on and assigned tasks. This represents virtual currency which can be monetized once the business starts to make income, with each member receiving an amount based on the number of shares they own. If the business is sold or acquired the same method is used to divide the proceeds. The site answers the worries people will have about what to do with partners they take on who prove unsatisfactory, and how to be sure this can be done without financial loss or the risk of people taking the code for a design.
FairSoftware handles the complex issues of shares and division of share revenue and monitors the process. The deal made between team members can move on to the next stage with the formation of a real company. Once the product is developed it can be sold through the application store with revenue divided automatically according to the rules specified in the deal between partners. A look through the site shows that it has attracted entrepreneurs with ideas looking for developers, graphics designers, engineers, testers and financial officers. It will be interesting to see if this approach will appeal to people with the necessary skills to take a design idea forwards.
12VisitMe – Help People via Tourism
People from developing countries can offer travel opportunities to tourists and voluntary helpers using 12VisitMe, while travellers can find unusual and exciting holidays or offer their services as volunteers. This may all sound like charity work and perhaps a little dull, but the holidays on offer are extremely tempting. Feedback on the site shows travellers who have enjoyed their trips seeing the orangutangs in Indonesia, a Buddhist monastery in Tibet, and a round trip of Cuba, among other experiences.
Along with these holidays, which provide income for developing countries, the site is an easy way to find opportunities to volunteer: examples including working with animals in Gautemala, helping in orphanages, and working on sustainable tourism and community development in various regions. This website is sure to prove popular and useful to students and others wanting to visit a country by helping the community and wildlife.
At a time when many seem to be tiring of the usual packaged holidays it also offers more interesting ways to get to know the real countries and communities being visited. It’s a well organised site which makes it easy to offer or find holidays, and there’s invaluable advice and feedback on holidays, including best times of year to visit each place.
China’s BYD – A Model For Chinese Innovation?
I was surprised to see a TechCrunch article today about the supposed innovative tech hub that is Shenzen in China. Most of us know that the Chinese don’t seem to have too much of an ethical problem in copying software, gadgets, designer clothes and pretty much anything else, so the stereotype is that the Chinese manufacture, they don’t innovate.
It’s happened countless times in the startup world, which is why sites that are popular world wide tend to find it hard getting momentum in China as there is invariably a home grown Chinese copy (I can’t help but suspect this is somehow encouraged by the fiercely protectionist Chinese authtorities).
I’m open to having stereotypes contradicted but this article did nothing to do dispel my belief that China is an extremely efficient copying machine rather than a creative hub of innovative tech entrepreneurs.
The TechCrunch Article mentions BYD as being a shining example of innovation, with Western journalists supposedly agog at their R&D. I think R&D is Chinese for “Copy good ideas”.
For a start let’s take a look at their logo:
Not so innovative.
And some of their designs:
First the BYD S6 – A shameless copy of the Lexus RX
Next the BYD F6 and the spookily similar looking BMW 7:
I’m not so sure that we’ve seen the spark of innovation in China yet. A good start would be to tighten up software piracy laws and properly enforce intellectual property, perhaps then some truly innovative ideas might actually make some profit for their creators. Why spend all that time developing a great business or product when every Chinaman and his dog can create carbon copies faster than you can ship the originals?
VersionDownload – Return to Old Software Versions
Software upgrades sometimes leave users wishing they had stayed with the previous version that worked so well for them, but it can be difficult to revert. VersionDownload offers old software so it’s possible to downgrade if the latest product has problems or isn’t to your liking. It also helps counteract the problem of having somebody in the office or home who keeps pressing the upgrade button without consulting.
VersionDownload aims to provide previous versions of many freeware and open-source applications, including the popular ones and also some of the lesser known. To help users decide on which version to choose there’s also a blog which advises on features, layout and compatibility issues which could make an older version the right one for a particular computer. The VersionDownload site has a forum where the community can ask questions and get tips from each other.
Some of the main types of software available are categorised as instant messengers, browsers, audio and video players, file sharing, and office and news applications. These are organised clearly according to type of application with a great variety of free downloads – useful whether or not you have made a regrettable upgrade. To support the site financially some trial versions of software will be hosted along with the freeware.
PureSolo – Record Yourself with Backtracks
For all the singers who would like to record themselves with musical backing PureSolo offers backtracks, recording and a variety of ways to share your creation. The PureSolo plugin is free to let you record, and then it’s possible to choose from more than 20,000 popular tracks. The download for each track comes with backing and sheet music. The cost for each download is between £0.49 and £1.99, and the download can be used to create multiple versions of the track. For pure karaoke there are 1,500 tracks costing £0.99 each. Help screens with FAQs are vital on this kind of website and they are very clear and easy to understand.
The lyrics, sheet music and backing track (which PureSolo describes as being recorded by high quality session musicians) all come in a single file download. The recorded tracks can be burned to CD, saved as MP3 files, emailed to friends or used as ringtones. PureSolo also aims to build community, offering ways for musicians to network internationally. There are also competitions with musical prizes, including one for a Gibson Les Paul Studio Guitar at the time of writing. With increasing opportunities to perform and share music online this provides a first step for singers to record and broadcast their performance and meet contacts in the music world.
MaYoMo – User Generated Journalism
MaYoMo stands for Map Your Moments and invites users to act as journalists and videojournalists from all over the world to create an international news channel. The site is attractively presented with a world map covered yellow indicators wherever news stories have been created. Hovering the cursor over these indicators shows thumbnails of video stills plus the headlines, and viewers can click to watch the whole story. The variety of subjects covered is comprehensive, and stories remain available long term with a slider below the map to choose a date range. Viewers can browse by hovering their cursors over the general world map to choose a story, or select from the subjects on the menu.
Citizen journalism has become important in countries where the press are having trouble gaining entry, with video from mobile phones filling in the gaps television journalists can’t fill. There is potential for this website to fulfil a significant purpose. It’s also fun, with lifestyle and entertainment sections. The journalism and videos vary in quality, from those presented by skilled writers and videomakers, to the extremely amateur, although even the unskilled can broadcast an important video. One showing Michael Jackson stepping from the coroner’s van and asking if he was still alive show the potential for scams and misinformation. Despite this there’s no doubt citizen journalism is with us, fills an important role, and lets everybody have their say. The way MaYoMo has presented such a massive project in such a clear and well-organised way is impressive.
Fuel My Ride – Cashback Gas Card Scheme
Fuel My Ride invites advertisers to promote their goods and services with a cashback scheme on the website, and offers customers gas/petrol cards when they redeem the cashback code for their shopping. The aim is to provide an approach to advertising that is more cost effective than pay-per-click. With this method, pay-per-redemption, the advertiser only pays 10% of any sales actually generated so that Fuel My Ride only earns if the adverts lead to sales.
Advertisers create their own advert on Fuel My Ride, offering a cash reward and also uploading pictures if required. Each advert is allocated a unique code so that when customers buy they are given this code which they can redeem as a gas/petrol voucher. Pay-per-click not based on actual sales can be expensive if it doesn’t bring a return, so this pay-per-redemption approach is appealing, although the use of gas/petrol vouchers may complicate it and perhaps limit it to the US market. Customers might, however, be attracted by the vouchers as most people drive and it does give the site the appealing Fuel My Ride name. The website needs some rewriting as the idea is simple but comes across as a bit complicated due to the way the service is described.
Wirenode – Create Mobile Websites
Wirenode lets users create mobile websites, and with more and more people accessing the internet from their phones this is a useful tool. It’s free for individuals and by subscription for companies, with no limitations on the service provided in the free version. Setting up a website is simple – in minutes it’s possible to use the RSS feed to create a mobile version of an existing website with a name change.
The Wirenode website states that users can create mobile websites with multiple pages, create a simple demo page with one click, include you own images and images from Google Search, create a table of contents page and include various widgets. The Wirenode site is easy to use and understand, taking the user step-by-step through the process of creating a mobile website.
It’s possible to create a number of websites and link them to each other. Individuals have all the features of the subscription versions, including no advertisements and custom domain, and can create a limitless number of websites. Commercial users can also have a free version, but this includes advertisements on the website, up to three websites, and no custom domain. Premium members can have up to ten websites, custom domain and no advertisements on the site for 15 Euro per month.
Mimbeo – Vacation Rentals
This vacation rental website covers the US, Canada and Mexico and lets owners and managers list their properties for free. Once a vacation property is listed it’s broadcast to more than 25 social networks and sites, including all the popular ones. Mimbeo will also work with other vacation website operators, inviting them to list their properties and link back to their own site. Any operators with more than 500 listings also get free banner advertising, and all operators have a featured partner link on the Owners and Property Manager pages.
Free membership permits unlimited use, 15 pictures per listing, link to website with every listing, availability calendar, Google Map integration, owner profile page, 24/7 editing access, and a multiple listing account, plus viral marketing via Facebook, Twitter and the other main social networks.
Travellers use the site by choosing the state or country they wish to visit and then browsing the rental properties available. Most property owners and managers ask for a deposit at the time of booking, and Mimbeo clearly warns the buyer to use a credit card or Paypal and never a wire transfer, Western Union, a money order, cashier’s cheque or cash. The opportunity for community to give feedback on rentals would be useful on this kind of site to give buyers confidence in the property owner or manager they are renting from.
Trourist – Travel Advice by Social Network
Trourist takes the old idea of seeking travel and holiday advice from friends and puts it on to a social network so that, whatever the destination, tips can be found from hundreds of contacts. The R in Trourist stands for ‘real’, as this method lets the traveller benefit from the actual experiences of others in each destination of choice. To start, the user types in a destination to find out which of their contacts have been there. Each of these contacts will have filled in details on travel, accommodation and local events worth visiting or avoiding. It’s possible to bookmark useful data, and to choose these contacts as travel advisers, asking them for more information.
On return the traveller, or Trourist, writes up information about the trip for others to access. Another benefit is that it’s international, so information can be given by locals in the place to be visited, and users could also recommend the advantages of their own local area. This makes it easier for people to plan their whole trip without the need for a package deal, and without having to rely on brochures and travel agents. For anyone on a budget this will be appealing, and also for those who want to design their own holiday rather than having it done for them. It will also help beat some of the more misleading holiday brochure claim