Citizen Global

Right-Brained people will like this

I am realizing more and more that I am more right-brained than left-brained even though I have always struggled and wanted to be more left-brained. Here is a cool website that I discovered today that strongly appeals to the right side of my brain: http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/ Check it out!

Check out this cool service – Jaxtr.com

If you make international calls frequently, check out Jaxtr. It’s an amazing service that lets you phone anywhere in the world for
free. Basically, you register your phone number and your friends register theirs. You then click “call” and it gives you a local number to call. You call that number and it says
“jaxtr is connecting your call” and it connects for free. You get 100 free minutes a month.

Jaxtr links your phone to the web, so you can hear from callers worldwide while keeping your existing phone number private. Jaxtr’s PrivacyShield™ automatically routes calls to voicemail. You can then easily control which friends you want to ring through to your phone. It works with any phone you already use, including ordinary landline phones. No download required.

Jaxtr is free. Their website says that in the future, they will offer premium services for jaxtr power users, but their basic service will remain free.

With jaxtr, you bypass expensive international mobile fees. Now, for the first time, you can call friends and family overseas at the same cost and with the same convenience as calling a friend down the street.

I thought it was worth passing on…

Very cool and downloadable: Web Trends Map 2007 by Information Architects

Information Architects has created (again) a Web Trends Map 2007 V. 2 which maps the 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective. It is made to resemble the Tokyo metro map and is quite clever. You can purchase one or just download them.

Translator interruptus

I’m taking a few weeks off from freelance translating. In the last 5 years I have taken any and every freelance gig I have been able to get my hands on. My specialty: translating from Dutch into English. Mostly marketing, business and some technical documents. I have honed my translating skill and my technical ability (using SDL-TRADOS) to such an extent that I am secure in the knowledge that, should every there be a lull in my income or an increased need for income, I can quickly pick up where I left off since I continue to be registered with Proz.com and translatorscafe.com two of the front-runners in online markets/clearing-houses and excellent examples of what the Internet is really good at: creating markets by bringing supply and demand together in one location and removing barriers to doing business. PayPal is another example of a service that has made borders and barriers come crashing down in the last 5 years. I can’t understand how there are still people who don’t trust PayPal (an eBay company). I am happy with the knowledge that I can make an income (limited by how many hours I am willing to stare at a computer screen a day) and, hopefully, will never be poor again. Have PC, will travel!

Starbucks shooting itself in the foot…

So, I telecommute 2-3 days in the week and, since I have two little kids at home and have found that, when I stay home, I end up doing things around the house including playing with them, I try and find a nice quiet place (with coffee) to work.  Salem, MA (where I live) has some city-sponsored hotspots. In addition, there are cafes that offer hotspots. Since I like some variety in my life, the other day I decided to try Starbucks instead of my usual “office”, Jaho’s.

I installed myself and my computer at a table near a window and got into the mood for working. It was a quiet day and I was ready to produce. When I fired up my browser, however, all I got was a T-mobile homepage which tried to charge me an arm and a leg for connectivity. I was able to pick up the city’s wireless connection but only e-x-c-r-u-c-i-a-t-i-n-g-l-y slow. So slow that it was almost non-existent.

I promptly packed up my stuff and left, vowing never to come to Starbucks again. Not that I loved their coffee but I was at least willing to give them a second chance. Now they’ve lost me. I don’t understand how, in this day and age, when wireless is almost ubiquitous, expecially in urban areas, they still hold on to such a policy. Not good for business, in my opinion.

There may be a solution, though. The other day, I discovered a WiFi community called “Fon”. Fon offers a promotion where they offer a free wireless router “…if you live above or next to a Starbucks (or any cafe/coffee shop for that matter!) that will earn you cash from the minute you plug it in. This also means if you are a cafe, coffee shop, restaurant or other public venue you are eligible. By installing your FON router, you let others share your broadband for a daily fee. A fee that goes straight into your pocket. A savvy patron of your Starbucks need only pay $2 a day for your WiFi. The router comes with two channels – a private and a public – so you and your Starbucks customers will always be separate. Simple and secure. ..”

Now, that’s what I call savvy entrepreneurship!