Joseph Bulger IV

I just recently got a new phone, a Droid Eris. So far I’m liking it a lot. The keyboard is surprisingly easy to use. I haven’t gotten around to tethereing the phone yet, but thats my next step. Then I’ll be able to use my computer from the road, something the iPhone didn’t offer me, which is why I went with an Android phone. So here’s hoping!

Google Voice is a message management system that was originally called  Grand Central, but got bought out by Google.  I was a real fan even before Google got it, but all the lines had been bought out so I couldn’t get into it.  I recently received an email that they had opened up some more lines, so I jumped.

Now I have google voice, and there are some things that I think are really cool about it.  When someone leaves you a voicemail, it transcribes the recording for you so you can read it online.  Also, all texts that are sent to you are viewable online as well.  One other awesome feature is that you can add a call widget to your web site (I have one on the right hand side) that allows people to call you without giving out your phone number.  It’s great if you have a portfolio online, and want people to contact you about freelance jobs or something, but you don’t want to give out your number.

Check it out!

I’m working on a reputation system for a site I’ve been recently working on (http://www.serveandtrade.com).  I’m going through some ideas so I thought I’d post them on here and see what people think.

Let’s start buy throwing up what we currently have so we can see where we’re trying to go.  Here’s a mockup of what a user will see when they search for trades right now.

I have a couple problems with how it works right now.

1. I don’t like that it’s in a grid/table format.  I have to fix that first.  I’m moving more towards something like a list layout.
2. There are some things missing that I would like to be able to do.  For instance, if I just searched for “can of soup”, and I see that Michelle has the one I want, I would like to have a button/link/something to click on that says “I want that!”  Right now the only thing you can do is go look at the trade, or ask a question.
3. Clicking on the owner’s link takes you to their profile, but it doesn’t show you what other trades they have, or trades they are looking for.  That information could really be useful.

I’m sure there are other things I could think of, but for now I’m going to start focusing on these three and build some mockups to illustrate these workflows.

First, getting rid of the grid.

This search list looks a lot better I think.  There are some more features on here then the other one, but we’ll go over those in subsequent posts.

So at this point I’m looking for any feedback.  ANY feedback, good or bad… I’ll take it all.  I really haven’t made up my mind at this point yet, but I think I’m heading in the right direction.

Next post will be about the “I want it!” feature.  Stay tuned!

I’m trying out a new product Microsoft is releasing on the web called Hohm.  It’s a web site dedicated to tracking your energy expenditure and cost, so that you can reduce your energy consumption and also save you some cash along the way.

How does it accomplish this?  It profiles you and your house.  It asks you some basic (and some not so basic) information about your house and your energy habits.  The cool thing is you can choose to fill in as much, or as little, as you want.  No pressure.  However, the more information you can give it the more accurate the reports will be.

Other cool things include the ability to track your energy bills through an automated feed.  This has to be set up with your utility company(ies), but if they offer it, then it’s a quick way for Hohm to get a lot of information about your energy consumption.  I live in Homestead, FL, and as of today they haven’t set up any of the providers here.  I’m hoping they will in the future so I can submit them my data feed and get some real data to project.

I’m really using it as a way to try and save money primarily.  If it works out I’ll be writing a success story on it at a later date.

I’ve discovered a product that I really enjoy using and thought I would share it.  It’s called Balsamiq Mockups and it’s a tool that you can use online or on your computer for drawing up quick ideas on software systems.  They use a sketchy kind of font to give you that “drawing out a spec” feel.  What really makes the product so appealing is how fast you can build up a simple mock to show to your team.  I’m literally able to sit down at my computer and within 5 minutes have a meaningful mockup of some kind of feature I want to convey.  Really powerful stuff.

Here’s an example of the kind of thing you can build with it.

Balsamiq Demo