Mark Fulton's Blog

3 Must Have Apps for GMail

Mark Fulton — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:39:33 +0000

An invisible, smart layer of the web is emerging. Browser applications are innovating by bringing useful data and powerful new functions to the most popular destinations on the web.

If you look hard enough (many of them are underground), you can find apps which enhance Reddit, Hacker News, Facebook, and many more.

Here are three extraordinary browser apps making GMail better.

Graph Your Inbox

This app enables a radical new view of the emails you’ve archived. Perform typical GMail search queries such as “from:(email)” or “label:Sales” and instantly have those messages charted by volume and time.

The charts are really interesting to look over. I’ve found it’s a great way to track my affiliate sales, PayPal and social activities.

EmailOracle

Just introduced to the world today, EmailOracle is bringing back an old email marketing concept and giving it to the public. Yes, now you can track when people open your sent emails!

By embedding an invisible image and monitoring it from EmailOracle’s server, they are able to deliver this useful information to you seamlessly. EmailOracle has another cool feature for reminding you to follow up if a response is not received in a timely manner.

Rapportive

This excellent service displays additional information about the people who email you. Rapportive searches the web for connections to email addresses on public networks and is able to find photos, formal titles, and links to social network profiles.

As a social media power networker, I am often delighted to find additional connections to people I may otherwise never have had.

A Fresh Look at Twitter

Mark Fulton — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:10:16 +0000

I do a lot of networking on Twitter. I manage nearly a dozen profiles for my various websites, apps and services. My main profile is @DotSauce which has just reached a following of 14,000. With this profile I am a curator, a domainer, a developer and a scout for all the most useful links related to social media, WordPress, startups and marketing.

Managing this content is not an easy task, but I have simplified it to a casual part of my daily routine, though I do take some days off. I’ve learned to filter out the noise and tune in to information that is relevant and valuable. The reward for curating all this content is a continually expanding reach. I am able to introduce new people to domain investing and web development all the time.

I don’t want to spoil the good thing I have going with the DotSauce profile. So, I am starting fresh with a personal account on @MarkUnfiltered.

Here are a few ideas and goals I have for getting this fresh Twitter profile in motion.

Share my thoughts on music, movies, media, society and the internet
Check-ins on location based services
Contest entries
Links to geeky, techy goodness
Promote Electronic / Dubstep music
Have some real conversations
Connect with locals
Follow selected interesting profiles
Create new and unique Twitter lists

It should be an interesting journey re-discovering Twitter and sharing some of my alternative interests. I’m definitely looking forward to the possibility of actually reading a good portion of Tweets from a new stream.

You’re welcome to follow along @MarkUnfiltered if any of this sounds interesting to you.

How would you do it the second time around? Send me some advice.

Paul Graham on the Future of Software and Startups

Mark Fulton — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:43:43 +0000

Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham shares his thoughts and predictions on the future of software, startups, technology, the United States, Apple and more at last year’s Business of Software conference.

I have noted almost all of the key points from his speech below.

- Bio Tech – May be big, you can make money in this space.

- It’s hard to start a software company. You are creating value when you write software. Good place to be.

- ‘Efficient Markets’ emerging as information flows around. (AirBNB)

- Side note: YC is applying mass production techniques to venture funding.

- Measurement – Google Ads are popular because returns can be measured. Inventing a new way to measure more stuff is a good idea.

- Thoughts on the U.S.: As long as you have peace and people can make money and be entrepreneurs – then society will be prosperous. If bandits, government, invaders steal the money from people who make it then society could collapse.

- Let the good times roll in Silicon Valley. California is still rich. you can start a co. anywhere but it helps to be here.

- Higher resolution world, stuff gets done. Networks of little organizations that make things happen are more efficient. As products have more and more of a technical component, it becomes less of a good idea to become a big company.

- Economic inequality

- Moore’s Law working, but differently. Moving towards multi-core. There is a gap to be spanned in helping to build software on advanced systems.

- Want to deliver something? Think about what screen they are sitting in front of. (TV, iPad, Phone)

- Server based apps will continue to have a long run. Will become more complicated. Software and data will by default live on servers.

- Good customer service will be more important as it’s easier for customers to switch. They can also research and find out if you have good service. Customers now involved in designing your product. You learn alot from talking to customers.

- Apparently frivolous stuff often turns out very useful. (Facebook, Math, Twitter) – Bummed he missed out on his Twitter name. (Update: Found a good Twitter name @PaulG)

- Popular programming languages will emerge. Adopt the hottest languages. You should write server based apps in lots of languages. Don’t look down on “scripting languages” which are more abstract/powerful.

- Open source is big.

- Linux will never be a factor on desktop. (Paul cowers) The world has done design for you. Linux will be on servers for sure. Buy Apple stock. Hackers are a leading indicator of what people will be using in the future. (Audience was 40% – 50% Mac users)

- Everybody wants iPhones. Good for browsing the web. Problem for hackers because Apple are jerks. Android can’t compete with iPhone.
Apple cares about the iPhone the way Google cares about search.

- Design is something to bet on. China has made manufacturing a commodity. Design is software winning over hardware.

- Real-time is not bogus in the way “Web 2.0″ was. Something definite going on, it’s the computing equivalent from the change in going from dial-up to cable internet. Protocols may go real-time.

- Google Wave is going to be important. (Whoops)

- Venture funding is not going to go away because VCs need you. They may not have the upper hand they’ve had in the past. Will give people money on better terms.

- Founders will more and more have the upper hand. Investors are learning it does not work to fire founders. Really matters who the founders are. Technical founders more and more important.

- Programmers can learn to do business. It’s a lot easier for hackers to learn business than business men to hack.

Do You Show Up In Google Social Search Results?

Mark Fulton — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:12:05 +0000

You may have noticed a new feature on Google search results pages that show related content from your social circle.

These additional results show up if you are logged in to GMail or other Google services. You may recognize a link to your friend’s blog post or someone you follow on Twitter.

Here is an example search result from my social circle:

Exploring Your Google Social Circle

Google has provided a dashboard which contains comprehensive details on your entire social circle.

From the same page you can also confirm if your content is appearing within social results.

5 Ways to Get Your Content to Appear

There are a few simple, yet important methods for getting your content to appear on social results. Follow the tips below to boost exposure to your content.

Setup your Google Profile and add links to your websites
This is the most important method for having your content to appear within social circles. Simply edit your profile and add links to your blogs, other social profiles and websites.
Connect with people on Google Buzz
Networking on Buzz will quickly add people to your social circle.
Encourage adding your RSS feed to Google Reader
When your readers add your blog feed to Google’s RSS reader, that content has a chance of appearing in social results.
Add other social profile links and grow those networks
Almost all of the social circle results I’ve encountered come from a connection on Twitter (shown in above screenshot). Add links to your YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr profiles for instant connections with your friends on those networks.
Email your associates and friends with GMail
When you email people using GMail, they are added to your contacts. If those individuals also use GMail they will appear in your Chat Contacts and are further added to your social circle.

Thank you for reading. Please connect with me on Google so that I might discover your content as well!

40 Premium Web Design Resources Bookmarked This Year

Mark Fulton — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:54:54 +0000

I’ve just dived into the Design folder of my bookmarks toolbar and selected the best resources I’ve bookmarked in recent months.

I have a preference for tutorials and articles for beginners as well as freebies, icons, textures and WordPress.

Enjoy!

How to Get Infinitely More Follow Suggestions from Twitter

Mark Fulton — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:14:42 +0000

I am loving Twitter’s latest feature that pops up 3 suggestions for people to follow each time you follow someone. Unfortunately, by using the feature as is, we are limiting it’s full potential to provide additional suggestions.

Get 3 more suggestions by simply opening each profile in a new tab and following from there.

There will be a point where your interests will diverge, so I don’t recommend blindly following using this method.

Stay tuned for the suggestions feature to be released as a stand alone option where you can search by keywords. It should be appearing on the “Find People” page soon.