ahTXT Blog

The CEO & Rising Star - Morning of Day 2

I started the day late because I'm taking in a train from the burbs.  I love the train.  Now that I've ridden it a few times, I'm almost feeling like a local.  I know my bus routes, train schedule, and know how to properly hail a taxi.  But, it paid off to be late today, because who did I run into at the main showroom entrance?  John Donahoe himself.  Very nice man, about 9 feet 3 inches tall.  I looked like a Pygmy hugging his waistline.  I tried my best not to make him uncomfortable, but because I didn't have a camera handy, it was more akin to a kid hugging Mickey Mouse at Disney World without a parent to take the picture.. just me, and him, staring into the distance, me wondering if he'd consider "linking me in" after this encounter, or if he'd file a restraining order.

I introduced myself as Neil, the winner of the runner-up (said that second part under my breath) eBay Star Developer Award Most Innovative Application.  He asked, "What was your application?"  I said, "It's called ah-TEXT.  Instant notifications for sellers, sent directly to their mobile phones.  Sales, best offers, questions.  And ahTXT gives them the ability to respond and transact directly from their mobile phone.  Cool eh?"  He said, "That's excellent," (or something like that) pulling out his cell phone.  It was a RAZR if I'm not mistaken.  By this time, I've managed to turn on my video camera, press record, and hand it to his assisstant.  She said, "All ready to go?"  I saw the red light, and said, "Yep.. all set.  So, Mr. Donahoe, if you wouldn't mind pretending to be using ahTXT on your mobile phone.. I would be really happy to use this as a promotional video online."  Son of a gun, he did it!

His assistant tossed my camera back to me, and said, "We really gotta go."  Have you ever wondered where these high-powered and/or celebrity people have to go, when their assistant/P.R. person says, "We're in a hurry, we gotta go..." as they whisk them away, arm sweeping over their back?  Well, I wondered.  So naturally, I followed them.  Six strides into my pursuit, his assistant's head whipped back, she gave me a gentle glare, and that was that.  Another step forward and it would have been entering the continuum of stalking.  

Anxious to see how my video encounter with the eBay CEO went down on film, I sat down smack dab in the middle of the enormous hallway.  I touched PLAY, and this is what was captured.. video of the floor, shuffle-noise, shuffle-noise (handing off the camera), 'Is this on?  Okay.' <voice of semi-Star developer> [end scene].  Nothing.  She pressed the record button with her thumb, and ended the shot prematurely.  Can you believe it?  What an amazing plot.  The scene's emotion was palpable.  Cramer vs. Cramer meets Chariots of Fire meets Fantasy Island.  A golden moment captured on video, and she hit STOP.

eBay Live 2008 - Chicago - Day 1

I've been blogging about the eBay DevCon event (actually, I still have a draft that I haven't published yet -- have to find some notes about some of the sessions.. I'll do one of those notorious flash-back blog posts), but today is the first day of eBay Live!  (exclamation point is officially included, I'm not yelling it).  I arrived a little late, got my badge/credentials (I like the second word.. makes me feel so, F.B.I.) and PowerSeller tote bag, and headed in.

Unicyclists at the Verisign booth were juggling knives and bowling pins (a natural combo) in a little skit about safety that Verisign delivers.  Auctiva had a pretty large fancy setup with lots of people in the bright blue Auctiva shirts.  Ginger Leishman, an official eBayPal of ahTXT introduced me to Kevin Kinell, VP of Engineering @ Auctiva.  He's been there since 2000 (1 year after they started).  We discussed their business model a bit, talked some shop, and he shared with me that Auctiva has never won an eBay Star Developer Award before.  How about that?

ahTXT is a member of PeSA (Professional eBay Sellers Alliance) and ECMTA (E-Commerce Merchants Trading Association), and we're recently become partners.  So, we have a nifty banner clipped onto a table in the PeSA Pavillion, and you can come and meet us (Neil) in person if you so wish.  I'd be happy to sit down, share some Tic-Tacs, and shoot the eBay breeze with you (while I sign you up for an ahTXT account).

I had a great time just meeting people.  Sellers of all types.  I met Tammy & Sue from Two Chicks Trading - they specialize in ski and snowboarding apparel and equipment.  They're out of Ohio.  I love to snowboard, so it was cool to meet the pair of PowerSellers and hear their story and what they're getting done here @ the conference.  They're looking for more goods to sell that aren't so seasonal (as ski-related items).  I had no trouble convincing them that even though they both sport the Blackberry, ahTXT is a far more intelligent and useful solution. :-)  [so I think]

I also met a fellow named Bill who is a PowerSeller.  He sells comics mostly, and his site is at www.CC-Gallery.com.  A very nice fellow out of Minnesota.  He's here to learn more about building his business, too.. but the best part of Bill are his bright red and yellow shiny tennis shoes.  I mean shiny.  He's ready to party with PeSA tonight, for sure.

There's a big ole' party being thrown by PeSA, and in fact, I'm going to head out and get ready.  People are dressed to the nines at this function, and I've got to find a substitution for my polo shirt with ahTXT.com embroidery and white ankle socks.  See you there!

Great sessions and people here at the DevCon

I've been to several conferences over the years.. most recently, the PeSA (Professional eBay Sellers Alliance) in New Orleans.. and that was fantastic.  Very well organized (as I've blogged about).  But this eBay Developers Conference in Chicago, on the development end, is fantastic.. why?  The sessions are good, and informative, no question.. but it's really about the people.

eBay, PayPal, and Skype are fully represented by their people, and they're all very accessible.  I've had the pleasure of meeting Laurel Kline (eBay - Webmaster).  She was doing the interviews with the Star Developer Award Winners (no, not the runners up, like ahTXT, despite my best efforts).  She was the person at eBay that first blogged about ahTXT on the eBay Developer Blog just days after we launched.  I also was lucky enough to meet Ginger Leishman (eBay Developers Program) who was one of the staunch supporters of of ahTXT to "sweep all eBay Star Developer Award categories".  Despite her best efforts, to no avail.  Kumar Kandaswamy (eBay Developers Program and Disruptive Innovation - don't you love that second part?) also was nice enough to chat a few minutes with me, and I hope to catch up with him later and maybe get some tips on how to make ahTXT even more disruptive.

I just got out of the Skype API presentation given by Peeter P. Motskula.  We're looking into offering that as a method of broadcasting ahTXT notifications.  If you're a Skype user contact us via e-mail and we'll include you in our alpha & beta testing.  Oh, and if you have a Skype handheld device, we especially want to work with you.  Peeter discussed the Skype API and application certification.

There's a lot going on, and I'm meeting a bunch of interesting people.  Just got a sweet demo by William on his application Retail ZIP (retailzip.com) -- launches in August 2008, but definitely worth a look.  Drag files into a Retail ZIP file, distribute your .retail.zip file anywhere, and if people want to unpack it, they can pay a specified price via PayPal (or just a password, if you wish), and bada-bing.  Really cool stuff.

eBay Most Innovative Application - First Runner Up, Wahoo!

ahTXT was just recognized as the runner-up to the eBay Star Developer Award in the category of Most Innovative Application.  Our logo and team photo was up on the big screen, but I was so excited, I forgot to turn on the camera.  We will be shooting a dramatic re-enactment video short.  Ben Kingsley will be portraying Rajiv Dutta, and Brad Pitt will portray none other than myself.  Julianne Moore will also be there, just because.

But anyhow, thanks to the eBay for the recognition.. and congratulations to the Scendix development team who won the Star Dev award for putting eBay on the Nintendo Wii.

Still in the middle of the keynote presentation.. Max Mancini is up there right now, and there's some compelling messages being delivered.  So... back to listening.

Better than Bagels

Okay, breakfast was much better than bagels and cold butter.  I got to eat with an entire PayPal team.  Before I could sit down though, they performed an AVS and CVV check on my PayPal Debit Card.  It was awkward at first, but after I was confirmed, it was smooth sailing.

The 2008 eBay Developers Conference (Chicago)

I just arrived at the McCormick Center in Chicago and picked up my badge.  Not surprisingly, I got lost, and three fellows from eBay found me stranded on the wrong side of the building.  So I got a three-man entourage escort to registration, and may have actually been the first person to register.

I just had the pleasure of meeting Delyn Simons (by the way, pronounced DAY-linn, which makes her name just that much cooler).  And now, I have the pleasure of having a 5-bar Wi-Fi connection provided by eBay.  An eponymous SSID of 'eBay Developers Conference' is set -- which gave me a great business idea of turning Wi-Fi SSIDs into ad spaces.  (If that market develops, remember where you read it first)

Breakfast time.  May there be real food and not cold bagels and hard butter.

Komando.com features ahTXT as Cool Tool

Not familiar with Kim Komando?  Well, she's a digital force to be reckoned with.  She has her own radio show, writes a column for USA Today, is the author of 9 books about life in the digital age, and sends out 5 million newsletter e-mails every week.  ahTXT was lucky enough to be picked as a Komando.com Cool Site of the Day.  Now, by the time you read this, we'll probably be no longer featured as that cool site.. but, it's true.  On May 23, 2008, we were cool.

You may just very well learn something from Kim Komando.. so head over to her site, subscribe to her newsletter.  Her story is very cool.  And honestly, could she have a cooler name?  This lady was made for marketing in the digital age.

Thanks to Kim and her crew for recognizing ahTXT as a cool tool.

The Horrible Earthquake in China

I do not watch television news very often.  I'm more of a news radio listener -- public radio, NPR, etc.  For several days I've been rather disconnected from all news media, working on business projects, and playing outside with the kids (the weather's been quite nice).  I did, however, just take a few minutes to read an article on the NYtimes and view a dozen or so photographs of the disaster and recovery efforts, and I am absolutely floored.

If you're a spiritual person (maybe even if you're not), please consider some prayers for those millions of people who have been affected by this tragedy.  If you've taken the time to read the details in the news, or to view the photographs, I need not say much more.

HTML, CSS, still a mess.

I started learning HTML back in 1993/1994. There wasn't a WYSIWYG HTML editor (what a dream that was, back then), so you either used notepad.exe or something like HotDog by Sausage Software (assuming you were using Windows).  I remember when browsers started supporting the FONT tag.. it was fantastic. The coolest thing you could so back then was an animated GIF.. or my all time favorite, <blink>, similar to BASIC's "FLASH" function.. incredibly useful calls.

Anyhoo, being more of a back-end programmer, messing with front-end/interface appearance elements really isn't my strong suit.  In fact, if you're using Microsoft Internet Explorer, you've probably seen really bad text and graphic alignments here or there. Yes, I'm using Firefox on Linux, and coding the HTML by hand, mostly.  I was using a WYSIWYG editor (Konquerer/nVU), but the CSS syntax that I heavily relied on look great in Firefox/Linux and Firefox/PC; however, in IE, the elements didn't do the same thing.

So, by hand I do HTML and CSS.  So, please, I beg you, if you see something that look incredibly schlocky, screen shot it, and send it over to help at ahTXT dot com.  In fact, I use this very cool Web site called ieCapture (http://www.iecapture.com/).  I go there, type in my URL, and their computer will take a screenshot of my Web app with MS Internet Explorer 8.0 beta. Cool, eh?

One more cool thing.  I submitted a question to Khoi Vinh, the design director of the New York Times Online (http://nytimes.com).  I asked: Regardless of platform or browser, NYTimes.com looks the same. This is not an easy feat to accomplish because of inconsistencies between browsers and how they handle HTML and CSS. How do you do it and with which tools?

And he responded:  It’s our preference to use a text editor, like HomeSite, TextPad or TextMate, to “hand code” everything, rather than to use a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) HTML and CSS authoring program, like Dreamweaver. We just find it yields better and faster results.

But really the browser-to-browser consistency that you see (and I have to admit, it’s far from perfect) is the result of a vigilant collaboration between many different groups — the visual designers and technologists in the design team that I lead, their counterparts in our technology staff, and the many, many detail-oriented people who come together to make the site a reality every hour of every day.

You can read his complete article/answers here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/business/media/21askthetimes.html

Long story short?  The login box at the top of the home page is now right-justified on MSIE. :-)

 

Summit - Day 3 - Summary

On the final day of the E-Commerce Summit, I had somewhat of a late start.  The night before, I was hanging out with Mike from Sirius Sports Cards (eBay Store for sports memorabilia trading cards) and when I rolled in around 1:00 PM for lunch, so did Mike.  We had a lunch (sponsored by Amazon) with several interesting people including a fellow from Trainz.com - Model and Toy Trains, David White from eBay & Beyond Talk Radio Show, and the rep from PRNewswire.com (lunch table captain).

Great way to start the day, eh?  Lunch.  Truthfully, lunch wasn't settling in so well, so I just jabbered a bit with everyone at the table learning exactly what they do and asking why they attended the event.  If I would have known that PRNewsWire was giving away an iPhone, I would have schmoozed up a little more to the rep at lunch.  After all, I think I was the only attendee at the event that didn't have a smart phone.. in fact.. my "hi-tech hybrid Moto ic502 military grade" Sprint phone looked more like a bag phone from 1985.

After lunch, Mike and I attended the Yahoo! Stores Panel from Yahoo! Small Business (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com).  On the panel was ECMTA's own Cresta Pillsbury, 1Choice4YourStore (http://1Choice4YourStore.com)  and Solid Cactus (http://solidcactus.com).. the last two being Yahoo! Store experts/consultants.  I expected an infomercial-type presentation, but it was quite informative. So much so that I'll probably launch a Yahoo! Store (maybe I was a little encouraged by the 6 month free trial certificate given to each attendee of the presentation).  The theme of the Yahoo! Small Business presenter though was a little left of center, however.. he seemed to be focusing on the fact that there are a lot of "misconceptions" about what a Yahoo! Store looks like.. you know, the standard template looking store that people associate with a Yahoo! Store.  (Wow, maybe I do have that preconceived notion of what a Yahoo! store looks like).  In any case, I might suggest a little more of a "sexy" presentation.. because honestly, some of those Yahoo! Stores were straight up beautiful (in an e-commerce kind of way, of course).. so once he established that.. he could have moved on to the more important points of why a Yahoo! store is a great e-commerce backend.

After Yahoo! spoke, Solid Cactus got up there and did their presentation as well as a very funny woman from 1Choice4YourStore.  Okay, why am I sitting here critiquing their presentations?  I'm an awful public speaker, and have never given a proper presentation in front of 100+ people, unless you count a toast at a wedding.. but.. let me say this.. their services are fantastic.  I've seen some of their work online (customizations of Yahoo! stores were phenomenal).  Also, their expertise in the e-commerce realm can not be questioned; however, I really didn't walk away from their presentation understanding what they did.  I do appreciate what they were trying to teach us.. CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT.. important, important, important.  But hey, don't be afraid to get up their and say exactly what your company does, and why we should use you.. then teach us lessons. ;-)

Last, but not least, was the final presentation with Brad Fallon from Stompernet (http://stompernet.com).  I've heard a lot about Brad Fallon and his company.. one of my good buddies works for him down in Atlanta, and some people very close to me have worked with Brad a long long time ago when SEO was just becoming an acronym.  A very young energetic super-entrepreneur and SEO expert got up on stage and instead of the traditional power-point presentation.. went right to a browser and at Google typed in: "SEO Expert".. he was the #1 result.  Type in: "Coolest Guy".. he was the #1 result.  Just to show the crowd that indeed, he does know how to rank high on search engines.  It was a pretty good pep-talk, and of course, everyone attending was probably more interested in the giveaways that were saved until the end.

Sadly, I did not win a thing.  So, I'm still here with my analog bag phone.  Haya Greenwood from Virtual Exchanges (http://www.virtualexchanges.com - Best Place for New Shoes at Discount Prices) combined our content-winning-mojo, but still didn't pull out a prize. I think it may have been too much mojo, Haya. They were giving away Wii units, Dell computers, phones, cars, trips to the moon, it was insane.

But anyway..

 

What was really great about networking at this event is how open the attendees were with each other.  Even though I've been selling on eBay for years, I never really understood the value of networking with other eBay sellers and service providers.  And after this PeSA/ECMTA summit, I do understand.  Again, I had a two-fold mission.. spread the word about ahTXT (http://ahTXT.com - real time event monitoring and notifications sent via SMS text message directly to your mobile cell phone for all of your auction listings on eBay - how is that for applying some SEO tips I learned from NetSol?), and learn about being a more effective seller on eBay.

It was worth every dime (even the last two that I have to rub together).  Whether you're a service provider or vendor that wants to network with sellers, or a seller that wants to network with sellers and vendors, you really need to attend this event.  I would say that it is rather geared towards the more advanced seller; however, if you're just starting out, and you're a good listener and like meeting new people, I would still consider attending the summit in the fall.  In fact, I would suggest that if you sell on eBay, that you join PeSA/ECMTA - huge discounts on summits and other services, too.