Entrepreneur: Someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it.

Sure, being an entrepreneur has its benefits; however, I’m starting to realize that the image of an entrepreneur is skewed in the public eye.   By definition, an entrepreneur holds responsibility for creating and growing their company.  Most often, real entrepreneurs can be found focusing on the continuation and improvement of their companies no matter the role they continue to play in the business.  Who better to obsess about the state of the business than the creator knowing the ins and outs? That’s true even if they have shifted risk by taking on staff and investors as their company grew from what once was an idea.  For most, the role of an entrepreneur doesn’t stop once certain accomplishments are made. Even after a successful exit the founder is likely to stay on board under new ownership.

The twisted assumption, since the dot-com era, is that entrepreneurs have more money and time than they can manage.  When I’m approached about a business idea, unfortunately, the majority of the time I hear things resembling quotes from Clients from Hell. That was a little amusing at first but has become an annoyance.  The reality, as I see it, is that the most successful entrepreneurs are either in it for the love of the money or the love of the game, beyond the money and benefits of being their own boss. Even though we see videos of Mark Zuckerberg “icing” his buddy, he’s worth billions and still shows up to work and stands behind his company through difficult times.

When it comes down to it, most entrepreneurs are interested in more than a dollar sign and are truly passionate about the company they are growing, almost as though it is an extension of themselves.  Rarely is a blockbuster company created with the sole intent of profit and early retirement. Rather, it begins as an innovation to improve the creators’ quality of life or efficiency.  Furthermore, the chance of hitting a grand slam your first at bat is nearly impossible (never mind, bad example). The underlying issue has been, and will be, that successful companies come from relentless passion and devotion, while blockbuster companies happen to arrive to the right place at the right time while being fueled by the same passion and devotion.

For me, however, it’s been a bit different.  Both of my grandfathers were entrepreneurs.  My father’s father operated a uniform company in a small town in the South.  I think that I’ve been brought up with a more realistic, appreciative sense of what it means to be an entrepreneur.  From a young age, I’ve understood that owning a company was more about an intellectual adventure than it was about chasing luxuries.  Money is available through any profession, so being an entrepreneur was more about the excitement of facing challenges and being innovative in your field.

As for myself, I’m a self-employed and bootstrapping the development of a company.  More often than not, my life style is glorified and envied by my peers if I’m logged on to messaging programs all day/night. The reality, fortunately, is that I enjoy what I do and make myself available for my clients.  I enjoy it to the point that I often work through weekends and spend my spare time on the road focused on my work.  More than enjoying what I’m doing, I enjoy the thrill and excitement of facing challenges and building my dreams into reality.  No matter how much devotion and energy I put into what I’m building, I’m left feeling like I’m shooting for the moon on a homemade rocket.  That excites me.

While I’m certain I’ve missed a lot of updates to the Facebook application, since my first review, the most recent version really has appeal.  In the previous review, I was rather disappointed as the phones browser seemed to support more features at similar speeds.  I had begun to recommend http://touch.facebook.com/ as an alternative, after the site became live a little while back.  For me it has been about speed and accesibility. For the most part, I found that the mobile site would load quicker then the application could fetch the data and http://touch.facebook.com/ had a slightly better interface.

I picked up an Asus EEE PC for it’s battery life, I decided that having a laptop with 4gb of ram and a 2.0 dual-core processor was a waste. I seldom use my laptop for anything other then writing, even then it’s for storage of pictures or other data. The fact that the netbook carries a 9+ hour battery life was a huge seller, however my Dell still averaged 3-4 hours on battery.

Once I booted up the netbook, the first thing I noticed was that it took (what I considered to be) a long time booting up. I ran it through it’s steps, once I set it up, and it still seemed to be lagging on the Windows loading screen. I never got around to timing it, though. Other things that normally take time seemed to take a bit longer, i.e. loading Mozilla. I thought to myself that it was an acceptable trade off, who was I to complain about a minute or two waiting for it to boot up.

Any who, Ahmer convinced me to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix with the reasoning “might as well.” After installing it from a USB stick, I rebooted the computer in about 60 seconds. That’s 60 seconds to power off and back on. At this time I had installed it on the second partition, leaving the two factory partitions and the Win7 partition. I spent the next couple hours playing with the simplistic UI, installed Chrome, Pidgin, OpenOffice and Adobe Air. All applications I’ve used regularly on Windows. While the UI was a bit different then what I’d expect, it is not only efficient, but makes perfect use of the screen on the netbook. Essentially, I think Ubuntu Netbook Remix serves it’s goal here, providing an interface anyone could use. I think It might be fair to say that on a 10”, or smaller screen, it would be preferred over a “normal” operating system’s UI.

After a while, it really started to sink in that the Netbook Remix was a lot faster then Windows7. Within a day, I wiped the hard drive and started from scratch with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, using a 4gb swap and getting rid of anything Microsoft on the netbook.

While I am not entirely a Linux newb, I still haven’t been convinced to use Linux as my primary operating system on my desktop. I use enterprise builds on my servers, primarily CentOS, and have virtual machines running Ubuntu on my desktop. Oh, I also have an Android phone.. if that counts. Overall I’d say I’m still pretty young, in terms of Linux experience. However, the transition for the netbook was flawless and improved the performance and usability significantly.

The hype, while often strong, behind a new product almost always revolves around the existence of a product which owns the majority of the market share.  This has been the story with almost every Android phone that’s released, almost as though people expect a phone to take an immediate 40% share of the market.

Unfortunately, while I was browsing CNN between calls, I saw the headline (center page mind you) “Is Google releasing the iPhone killer.” This gains center attention, despite a plethora of equally disappointing articles (such as “woman defends tattooing her infant children.”) Despite the almost invisible article “Dow kicks ass” brushed aside to make room for the Nexus opinion.

Here’s the thing, for me and others, we look at each gadget as having the ability to compliment another instead of replacing it.  A good example is that along side my T-Mobile G1 I carry an iPod Touch and a Laptop.  While it is true that I can preform the same general tasks on my different devices, each carries their own benefits separate from the others.  I refuse to use my G1 for media, because the battery life is stretched thin as it is, while I can’t type on a virtual keyboard for the life of me, I won’t even go into the thought of writing code on my G1 (although I’ve done it numerous times) because it wouldn’t even be fun.

This is the same approach I take to the Nexus One and Apple Tablet launch, sure each would replace a device I already have, but neither will replace my need for the other devices, if anything it would create more of a reliance on them.  If I were to get the Nexus One, which I will some day (I hope), I would be even more bound to my netbook because of it’s keyboard and extended battery life. Whereas, if I were to acquire the Apple Tablet, I would rely more on my phone for communication and my iPod for media. If anything came close to minimizing my reliance on a gadget, it would be my netbook because it’s more powerful and the battery lasts 10 hours on a charge.

Right now, as far as it has been tested, there’s a couple issues using Facebook connect. If anyone would be gracious enough to comment using Yahoo or Twitter, I’d appreciate the help.

Adobe AIR, is a recent tool by Adobe which introduces cross platform development giving developers a universal market. While not all of the applications available are portals to web applications, the majority of them interface with on-line counterparts. When people think AIR, they are usually thinking about their favorite Twitter desktop client, however the potential goes far beyond just that as the platform will grow to provide what I think will be a corner stone to the future of development. Taking it a step further, Google developed their Chrome OS as a portal to their services for people on the go, specifically net book owners.

Chrome-OS, while an actual operating system, provides the same on line ideology of AIR (if not more). Chrome OS is a hybrid of hardware based technologies and cloud reliance. With Chrome-OS the idea is that the user will have a lightweight, almost instantly accessible operating system which connects applications (provided by Google and third party developers). Relying on Java, rather then operating on web based programming languages like PHP and Javascript. These applications, the life of your user experience, will require almost no overhead and will be ready to go within seconds of powering on your machine.

To me both of these products are huge. Thanks to AIR, I’ve been able to utilize a lot of the same applications I use on my desktop on my new Netbook running Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Meaning, that with almost no effort, I am able to maintain the same level of productivity without having to adjust to new interfaces. Looking forward to Chrome-OS, the ability to interface with my Google Accounts is a huge step forward because I already use Google’s on line solutions for email, documents, contact management and even Google Voice as my primary number.

On the back burner, a bit less hyped, is Microsoft’s new solution which is looking to provide a cloud based solution for application hosting. While I’ve broken free of Microsoft’s grips, in terms of M$ Office, I still am considering this a step in the right direction for those backing ASP languages. I’m still a bit new to the pricing structure, which seems on par with other cloud solutions, however backing from such an industry leader is a good sign. Conveniently they saw it fit to make the announcement the same day Google announced Chrome-OS.

While I’ve become a big supporter of cloud based solutions in recent months, I have to say that beyond the convenience of being “portable,” cloud solutions still worry a lot of people. The first question I hear is always, without fail, “security” followed with the question of reliability. My response to both of these is “I’m sure the tech who set up the servers hosting your information know more about the issue than you or I.” In the cases of Chrome-OS and Adobe AIR, you’re trusting little extra with the corporations then you are currently using their products and services. Ideally, you’d be sharing less because you are interacting directly with the server and not a document based interface.

Like many others, I am sure, 2009 has really been a pain in the dick.

However, I need to make clear that 2009 has also been one of the strongest years.  While an emotional and stressful year, my friends and family have really been there to support on many levels.  If it weren’t for that support, I’m pretty sure the year would have been a big waste.

Most, all of you should know by now that I went back to being self employed this year. There came a point where I had to choose between a

9 to 5 and being on my own, as doing both was draining my spirit and energy. Leaving steady income to do contract and consultant work is about as scary as things get, even without this economy.

The experience, as a whole, has been thoroughly awesome and a tremendous growing experience.  Not to say it has been easy, quite the contrary it has been some of the most stressful work I have ever done, but I have made it through the year pretty much unscarred.  I’ve even been able to get some really good inspiration from my clients for my own projects.

While it would be nice to say that the year went without hiccups, this is also the year our landlord let the bank take the house. Naturally, this just added to the stress of everything else, however it is all over now and we are moving forward without looking back.

Speaking of looking forward, 2010 is looking optimistic, in the first part of the second quarter I am hoping to have enough clients to justify major server upgrades. As of now, my schedule is TBD, however as I set the road map for my projects I will have a better idea of what lies ahead.

Thanks to the inspiration of a few, I’m moving forward with a couple major projects. The relentless and continued support is always appreciated.  Being as it is such a huge step, I am continuously nervous about the outcome and irrationally doubting my talent and ability.

Never the less, my friends keep pushing me to evolve and continue pushing forward and striving to do better.  Even my newest friends and colleagues push and inspire me to involve myself further and grow both with knowledge and experience. To everyone who has supported me in 2009, I am extending my deepest gratitude.

My parents, while always supportive, have really been there as emotional and mental support when time got stressful.  There are no words powerful enough to express my gratitude for keeping me rational.

As a further disclaimer, I want to say that I have great respect and grattitude for police officers.

Here it was, a week before we had to leave the old house (landlord foreclosed). We had been looking at numerous houses, however without a landlords refferences the security deposit was huge (our last landlord ran off with our deposit). We found a dream house in a great neighborhood, but believed it to be out of our reach after everything was going south. For shits and giggles I made an apointment with the landlord and explained our situation, this was the second to last place we were planning on looking at before giving up.

On the day of the apointment to look at the house, my roommate and I were in the area looking at a couple other houses, so we were a couple minutes early for the 2pm apointment. Upon ariving the house was on the opposite side of the street, so we circled the next block instead of making a U-turn. As we circled we noticed a police officer, thus made the extra effort to drive perfectly (I haven’t had a traffic violation in 5 years). The officer pulls a U-turn and follows us, though we didn’t do anything wrong.

As we stop at the house, where we are to meet the owner, the officer parks behind us and aproaches my truck. At this point the owner is between her car and the house, staring at us with confusion and concern. Who could blame her, the people who are there to rent her house are being stopped by the police. As we explained our story, to the officer he alledges that I am looking for houses to burglarize.

When the landlord verifies our story to the officer, allegations of drugs start getting hurled at me. I tell the officer the truth, I have been clean since I was a teenager and haven’t touched alcohol in a year. His response, naturally, was ‘if you are so clean, let me search your car.’ At this point it almost seems like harassment, my story checks out and I haven’t had so much as a speeding ticket in half a decade. Naturally, I have nothing to hide, so I imeadiately consent to the search.

At this point I am walked to the back of my truck and searched. Next, my roomate is searched. We are now able to introduce our selves to the landlord, while the officer destroys my truck in hunt of some mysterious substance. My freshly detailed truck, by the way.

After the landlord and I exchange appologies, both sharing embarrasment in the situation, we start talking about the house and neighborhood. About 45 minutes later, the officer returns and asks me if I want a ticket or warning. For what, I don’t know, possibly obeying the speed limit, with too much insurance and good registration? I chuckled like he was joking, but it was apparent he was digging for something.

FINALLY, the officer parted with nothing but a story of a person who sits behind a computer writing code 14 hours a day. The landlord showed us the house, which was perfect and offered instant aproval since the “officer ran background checks in front of her.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the officers name because I would have sent him a thank you card for saving us the application fee’s.

Screenshot:

This was the first application I used for taking screenshots and is priced at $2 in the market.  This application uses the camera button as the trigger, while multi tasked, to snap a picture of your screen.  With a built in timer, you can forgo using the camera button even if it’s a bit of a hassle going back and forth between the screen shot application and the one you’re trying to take a picture of.

While using the camera button is intuitive, under certain apps it will just bring up the camera. As you can imagine, this gets frustrating when trying to write a review for an application (i.e. Photoshop). You also don’t have the ability to designate where the pictures are saved, they just end up in “../sdcard/dcim/screenshot/”

DroidCap:

When the camera button became an issue I found DroidCap.  DroidCap uses the accelerometer as a trigger, which can be frustrating while using auto rotate.  Still, it was free and could be put to good use.

My main complaint, however, is that it beeps before you trigger the phone to take a screen capture. Beeps loudly.

Again, you don’t have the ability to designate where the photos are saved.. “../sdcard/”

ShootMe:

ShootMe is another accelerometer triggered screen capture application, also free. This application utilizes the microphone as well, though I haven’t tried it (Screaming at my phone might be a little awkward). Being as free as DroidCap, this application is also a great deal for those interested in taking screenshots.

Again, it’s a little frustrating that all the pictures save to a predesignated folder, but it’s still free!

Screen Capture:

This application is $2.26 (or whatever 1.99 Euros is at the time of reading this) and is worth every penny.  This application uses an icon in the menu to trigger the screen shots, which is amazingly easy to get used to.  It’s also rare, though it does happen, that the interface is blocked by an application like the previous applications.  Some applications block the menu, therefore you’re not able to trigger the screenshot.

The awesomest part about this application is that it’s filled with options, starting with the fact that you can designate where the pictures save. Other options include deciding on what file type or prefix you want for the file.  You can even pick the quality, in order to use less space on the SD card.

Winner: Screen Capture.

I would chose Screen Capture because I think the options are exactly what’s needed. They all take the same quality pictures, however the options really make it worth $2.xx

For back up, for when you can’t access the menu, I would suggest DroidCap because it’s free.

While the site is targeted at designers (obiviously), it contains a lot of tips that apply to freelancers.

Click away with my endorsement.