Not too long ago we reported on some cool new tech that Google was supposedly working on in their secret and experimental labs. That tech was then called “Google Goggles” although now they are calling it “Project Glass.” They haven’t shared any product details or release time-line, but they have several pics of people wearing a potential version of the high-tech glasses. The final design may end up different. They also released the video above, that is supposed to demonstrate what they eventually intend the product to do. The tech is pretty slick, and if they can pull it off, it could just change the way we view and interact in the world. In fact, it would not be too far-fetched to say that “Project Glass” shows that Apple isn’t the only innovative company that can come up with ideas and designs that can change the world. Kudos to Google and their engineers!
Google launched a petition. Wikipedia voted to shut itself off. Senators’ websites went down just from the sheer surge of voters trying to write them. NYC and SF geeks had protests that packed city blocks.
You made history today: nothing like this has ever happened before. Tech companies and users teamed up. Tens of millions of people who make the internet what it is joined together to defend their freedoms. The free network defended itself. Whatever you call it, the bottom line is clear: from today forward, it will be much harder to mess up the internet.
The really crazy part? We might even win.
Approaching Monday’s crucial Senate vote there are now 35 Senators publicly opposing PIPA. Last week there were 5. And it just takes just 41 solid “no” votes to permanently stall PIPA (and SOPA) in the Senate. What seemed like miles away a few weeks ago is now within reach.
But don’t trust predictions. The forces behind SOPA & PIPA (mostly movie companies) can make small changes to these bills until they know they have the votes to pass. Members of Congress know SOPA & PIPA are unpopular, but they don’t understand why–so they’re easily duped by superficial changes. The Senate returns next week, and the next few days are critical. Here are two things to think about:
1. Plan on calling your Senator every day next week. Pick up the phone each morning and call your Senators’ offices, until they vote “no” on cloture. If your site participated today, consider running a “Call the Senate” link all next week.
2. Tomorrow, drop in at your Senators’ district offices. We don’t have a cool map widget to show you the offices nearest you (we’re too exhausted! any takers?). So do it the old fashioned way: use Google, or the phonebook to find the address, and just walk in, say you oppose PIPA, and urge the Senator to vote “no” on cloture. These drop-in visits make our spectacular online protests more tangible and credible.
That’s it for now. Be proud and stay on it!
–Holmes, Tiffiniy, and the whole Fight for the Future team.
P.S. Huge credit goes to participants in the 11/16 American Censorship Day protest: Mozilla, 4chan, BoingBoing, Tumblr, TGWTG, and thousands of others. That’s what got this ball rolling! Reddit, both the community and the team behind it, you’re amazing. And of course, thanks to the Wikimedians whose patient and inexorable pursuit of the right answer brought them to take world-changing action. Thanks to David S, David K, Cory D, and E Stark for bold action at critical times.
If you are a Google+ user who wants to put your posts there and on Twitter and/or Facebook, the tool for you is Publish Sync: a Chrome-only extension. There are not many options for cross-posting your updates to Google+ as well as the other social networking services. This one seems to do the job. You will only be able to use it in Google’s Chrome web browser, however.
You can download the extension from the Chrome web store and install it in your browser. It places an icon in the toolbar that looks like a vine with two leaves. Click on the icon and it provides four services, which can accept Publish Sync content – Facebook, Google+, Twitter and the lesser known Plurk (see image below). At the bottom of the drop down box are buttons for sharing the page you are currently viewing in the browser. You can share a link or Like it on Facebook or give it a +1 on Google+, which is the equivalent of a Facebook Like. You can also invite other Facebook friends to use the extension.
Set up the app by clicking on one of the four service buttons. You will either log into that service and authorize the app, or if already logged in, just allow Publish Sync access to your account by authorizing it. Then go to one of the services and type in an update you want posted. You will see below the box where you add the update check boxes for the other services. Select the ones you want to cross-post the update to and it sends them on to that service when you send out the post. Below is an example of how it looks on the Twitter site.
At the time I wrote this the Facebook integration was not working. I clicked on Facebook and the link opened a tab that said, “Please try again later.” I’m guessing it is either blocked or overloaded right now. Hopefully the developer will get this fixed or traffic will slow down making it possible again.
It would be nice if this extension allowed me to type a post in the address bar and click the button to cross-post to all the selected services. Other Twitter Chrome extensions let you do this so I know it is possible. I’d also like to be able to select some text on a web page and right-click it to post the text. This is also possible since Twitter’s Mac app adds this functionality not only to Chrome, but Safari and Firefox as well.
Joanna Shows, a business coach with business coaching firm ActionCOACH, says that she sees a solid business plan as the single most important step in laying the groundwork for future success. “The business plan is absolutely the breathing embodiment of the business,” she says, adding that a good business plan will provide space for flexibility while still setting parameters on heedless ambition. “Business is almost like a cattle field,” Shows continues. “You can roam all you want within the field, but once you hit the electric fence it is going to zap you.”
Going Light on the Marketing
Stuart Skorman, a former rock band manager who was an early investor in Whole Foods and has since earned a reputation as a serial entrepreneur, says that he thinks anyone who plans out their business before their marketing strategy is foolish. When Skorman was launching his chain of video stores, called EmpireVideo, he planned on big success, but was strategic about who he would target. “I designed the whole company for 200 people,” Skorman says. And he doesn’t mean 200 customers; he created the company for people who could provide publicity, including editors at national publications. “Your story has to be viral,” he says.
Thinking Too Small
“Plan no small plans,” says Craig Jennings, serial entrepreneur and founder of Powhattan Consulting Corp. Paul Graham, investor and founder of start-up incubator Y Combinator, offers similar advice in a 2006 essay he wrote, titled “The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups.” Graham wrote that entrepreneurs seem to sometimes unconsciously avoid risk, stepping away from challenges in ways that are hard to recognize in ones self. “If you make anything good, you’re going to have competitors, so you may as well face that,” Graham wrote. “You can only avoid competition by avoiding good ideas.”
Being Rigid About Your Idea
At some point, a company may need to change direction, and the founder has to be willing to go along with this change. “The key design work often happens after launch,” Skorman says. “Being agile and flexible means that no matter how much I love this idea I have to be flexible. It’s also a sort of opportunism.” Changing course doesn’t always mean adapting to failure. Sometimes it may be a matter of seizing a market opportunity that had not before been apparent. Tom Ehrenfeld, author of The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You, says, “Be prepared to constantly ask what exactly you are selling right now, what solution you are dealing with for your customers.”
Assuming That Passion Is Contagious
Whether you’re pitching to investors, motivating employees, or selling your product, be sensitive to the kind of response you are getting from your audience. Skorman says he learned this lesson, that enthusiasm is not always contagious, over time. “If you had talked to me thirty years ago, I would have said it’s easy to start a company,” he says. “All you have to do is mortgage your house and be ready to work 20 hours a day.” Entrepreneurs often get carried away with their own ideas, Skorman says, to their companies’ detriment.
Ignoring Strong Criticism
Shows says that her work sometimes requires that she tell business owners the very thing they don’t want to hear, like they’re targeting the wrong market, for example. She’s obligated to just “sit down with them and be very honest,” she says. “Being nice only means that nothing inside me cares enough to tell you what the reality of it is.” The ability to take that strong criticism may counteract the failure to learn, which Ehrenfeld says can bring down any start-up. “When things don’t go according to plan, throw blame out the window,” he says.
Giving It Your All, Financially
Many small business owners may be tempted to drain themselves dry when it comes to financing their business. When a founder has already sacrificed his sleep, other career opportunities, and perhaps a small portion of his sanity, it seems only natural to try to make it work by investing as much as you can. However that won’t work, says Jennings. “The purpose of the business is to work for you,” Jennings says, and a founder should be sure to provide for himself even while the company is growing. “A modest salary is critical to your well-being.”
Not too long ago we reported on some cool new tech that Google was supposedly working on in their secret and experimental labs. That tech was then called “Google Goggles” although now they are calling it “Project Glass.” They haven’t shared any product details or release time-line, but they have several pics of people wearing a potential version of the high-tech glasses. The final design may end up different. They also released the video above, that is supposed to demonstrate what they eventually intend the product to do. The tech is pretty slick, and if they can pull it off, it could just change the way we view and interact in the world. In fact, it would not be too far-fetched to say that “Project Glass” shows that Apple isn’t the only innovative company that can come up with ideas and designs that can change the world. Kudos to Google and their engineers!
Today was nuts, right?
