Online Projects - Work and Fun

New Site Is Live

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:14:50 +0000

I work on many different web projects. Just recently, I did a quick site for my friend at Shawnee Transmission. You can find it at http://shawneetransmission.com. This is one of those projects that I like to work on because it can positively impact a small business with a simple online presence. I look forward to seeing how an auto repair shop can generate business online.

Shawnee Transmission can diagnose your transmission needs including repairs of transmissions, rebuild transmission, clutch repair, torque converter replacement and even simple transmission fluid changes. Shawnee Transmission serves the greater Kansas City area, but concentrates on the nearby surrounding suburbs including Overland Park, Lenexa, Merriam, Mission, Shawnee Mission, Edwardsville, Leawood, Bonner Springs, Tonganoxie and Kansas City.

Great Travel Deals Through Global Explorer Software

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:33:45 +0000

Well, it’s been way too long and I haven’t been good about doing my personal blog. Since it is the new year, I thought I would start doing better with occasional posts.

My time has been consumed lately with a new project which offers great travel deals. The new site is http://www.bestsecretvacations.com. The software is pretty simple, but what it delivers is phenomenal. The Global Explorer software links to providers who deal primarily with discount resort, vacation home rental and condominium properties. Most of the time, the savings pays for the initial price on the first trip. The closest comparison is similar deals you can only get by being a member of a travel club or a timeshare owner. However, you are not subject to the same limitations and there is no points system. As a matter of fact, you can use this software to book as many discount trips in a year as you would like, with no additional fees.

Overall, when I compare trips to places like the Atlantis Hotel where we went for our honeymoon, you can’t beat the prices. The software has really opened my eyes. I had told myself I would only work on projects that I would buy the product myself. I am thrilled to be part of this project and think this may be part of a huge change in the travel industry.

Green Home Design

schilly — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:35:23 +0000

It seems like green home design is the only thing people are talking about. My client projects often take me down this path. Having some basic construction knowledge from the process of building my home, I found this video interesting. It is from a firm in Europe, but they claim this has been used in North America for 30 years. I have not seen this unless it is only common in manufactured housing.

Could this “pre-fab” method be the future of home construction for custom built homes? It looks fantastic and energy efficient. I would have to think that it would not be terribly expensive to produce either. Is this a good answer to more energy efficient structures?

About Me

admin — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:24:11 +0000

For those that know me, I traditionally have resisted projects which would require me to do a large amount of writing. Therefore, taking on the responsibility of writing a blog seems to be the opposite of what I like. However, in my typical form, I have realized that this would be a much more efficient way to communicate some of the interesting (and sometimes even important) things I get to do in my daily life (read this as less writing). Trust me, my life is no more glamorous than anyone else’s. Because of my business, I often get to see interesting projects take off. While often a large portion of information I see needs to be kept confidential for my client’s sake (sorry not confidential because of national security or anything else from the movies), I will be able to give insight and early information. We all like to be the first to know, so hopefully I can provide a little piece of information to help occasionally.

So, what is it that I really do? Most of my friends stopped asking long ago. I have always been happy to share the details, but unless you are serious about your Internet presence, most really don’t understand. The focus of my company Hotspot Interactive (shameless plug for http://www.hotspotinteractive.com), is to help clients focus their Internet efforts and achieve the desired results. Some clients need more leads, some need more product sales, and others just need a quality professional presence. My service is structured around identifying and defining the desired results, ensuring the proper technology base is in place, building the plans to implement marketing and technology to achieve the desired results, executing the marketing and technology plans, and reporting on the results. I have done every piece of this multiple times throughout my career and can demonstrate client projects. One large website I did over 8 years ago. While the look has changed multiple times, the same basic structure is still in place and being used. The reason it is being used is because it still fits the clients business model.

Now that you know why I have started the blog and what it is I do, I will finish with a little bit of who I am. Since shortly after finishing college at Kansas State University, I have been involved with technology (about 13 years). I have had the experience of setting up one of the first Internet providers in the state of Kansas where we rolled out Internet to 200 rural communities in about a years time. I spent several years in various Internet and sales related roles at MCI. I had the opportunity to work on a few occasions with Vint Cerf who is considered the father of the Internet. (On a side note, when I was speaking with Vint on my background, his comments were “So you were really early with Internet?” I laughed because it was coming from the guy who invented it 25 years earlier.) He is truly an amazing person and a pleasure to be around. I have also spent 3 of the last 4 years managing the operations side of the business at a hosting provider and at a small cellular phone company. Both were great positions which gave me day to day operational management experience. During this whole time, I have always stayed active in website development and enjoyed watching sites mature to meet business objectives. Because of this, I started Hotspot Interactive in 2003, but decided to leave corporate life and work on my own. I have a few very good clients who have jumped at the chance to bring me on their projects. I believe I have also added tremendous value to their projects at the same time.

From here, I am focused on building a very solid business helping a small number of clients dramatically impact their online presence. I have strong relationships with partners in Kansas City, New York and New Delhi who have helped me grow fast already and will be an integral part of the next phases of my business. If you know of someone who is looking for assistance with their online presence, please point them to my business website or have them contact me directly.

Bob Scheller
President,
Hotspot Interactive, Inc
Phone: (913) 871-6990
Email: bscheller at hotspotinteractive.com (substitute @ for “at” to help me prevent more spam email)

Marketing Overload

admin — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:59:46 +0000

Owning an Internet Marketing and Technology business, I took special notice of a post from Rick Butts (http://rickbutts.com/240/unsubscribe-stompernet/) to which his question I have been pondering myself the last few months. Most of the gurus out there focus on the strategies and tactics to get sales. I try to look more at what they are doing rather than what they are saying for my education. Most should be making more money doing this as a real business rather than selling the knowledge (with the exception of a very few). Are they really using all these techniques, or are they just trying to sell us something? I think Rick answers it in one statement:

“look at the “content” you’ve been getting from this person in the last 30 days. Is it on the “lite” side?”

That is the question and the answer summed up. Maybe my spam filter was right after all…

ViaCAD Beta Launched

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:05:45 +0000

ViaCAD™ 2D/3D V6 Open Beta

Precision CAD for All

Kansas City, MO, USA, May 23, 2008- Punch! Software, LLC, a leading provider of 3D design solutions and the fastest growing retail CAD publisher in North America, today announced an open beta for the next generation of ViaCAD™ 2D/3D for Mac and PC. ViaCAD is a highly functional, low-cost 2D/3D design product that revolutionizes the entry point for general-purpose precision design.

New Features: V6 packs in significant feature enhancements related to usability, 2D drafting, 3D modeling, performance, and data sharing. Containing over 150 improvements with upgrades starting at only $19.95, V6 continues to set the standard providing the most value in the precision CAD market. Features ready for beta testing include:

• New architectural drafting tools and drawing setup wizard

• Additional 2D drafting tools including single click fill and hatch

• More verification tools for bounding box and curvature circles

• Significant large assembly performance improvements and level of detail support

• 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator™ support

• Read native TurboCAD™ Mac files (V1,V2, &V3)

• Updated core modeling kernel to ACIS™ R18

Full Array of Features: ViaCAD 2D/3D includes a powerful array of design tools not normally seen at this price. Based upon the highly precise ACIS™ modeling kernel from Spatial, ViaCAD provides over 300 design tools for hobbyist and professional designers. Featured among these tools are:

• Associative NURBS-based modeling with skins, covers, and nets

• Constant and variable radius blending and chamfering

• Twist, bend, boss, hole, Boolean, and shell features

• History based solid modeling

• Local face editing tools for designing independent of history tree

• Draft, annotate, and automatically generate 2D drawings from 3D

• Mass properties and interference checking

• Intelligent wall, door, and window tools

• Access nearly one gigabyte of training videos, plus free phone support

Beta Information: Download the ViaCAD 2D/3D V6 beta, along with release notes, and the top 20 new features using the link below. The 30 day beta is actively supported in the Punch CAD user forum.

http://punchcad.com/products/viacad2d3dv6.htm

Pricing and Availability: ViaCAD 2D/3D V6 is scheduled to ship in June. ViaCAD 2D/3D is distributed through Fry’s, Office Max, Office Depot, Best Buy, Staples, Apple, and Amazon with a suggested retail price of $99. Upgrades from V5 and TurboCAD Mac are available as electronic download for $19.95.

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About Punch! Software

Punch! Software was founded in 1998 with the premise that 3D design software should be as fun to use as it is productive. With more than 2 million units of its Mac and Windows products sold via retail stores across the world, Punch! Software has consistently been the best-selling home and landscape design retail software brand in the U.S. for the last 8 years. The company excels in providing highly productive, but very affordable, software that appeals to 3D design hobbyist and professional users.

Product developed and marketed by Punch! Software include: ViaCAD™ 2D, ViaCAD™ 2D/3D, ViaCAD™ Pro, Shark™, Shark™ FX, Professional Home Design Suite®, Home Design Studio™, Home Design Architectural Series®, Master Landscape & Home Design®, and Interior Design Suite™. Punch! Software is based in Kansas City, MO. More information on Punch! Software can be found at www.punchcad.com and www.punchsoftware.com.

ViaCAD 2D/3D Media Contact:

Tim Olson

262 367 6940

tim.olson@punchsoftware.com

Professional Home Design, Home Design Studio, Home Design Architectural Series, Master Landscape series, Interior Design Suite, LogiCursor, and ViaCAD are trademarks or registered trademarks of Punch! Software, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

HouseBeautifulSoftware.com Launched!

admin — Sun, 25 May 2008 05:44:06 +0000

I am just now getting around to posting, but this week we launched the site for the new House Beautiful software from Punch! Software. Punch! is very excited about this piece of software because it is targeted as a “lifestyle” brand rather than the traditional segment of home design, construction, remodeling, etc. This software is the result of work by both Punch! and Hearst (publishers of House Beautiful magazine).

Take a look when you get a chance at http://www.housebeautifulsoftware.com. I know everyone involved is excited about this piece of software. Be sure to take a look at the virtual box tour. It literally lists hundreds of features. My personal favorite in this version of software is the ability to find plant recommendations which grow better in your particular location in the U.S. and Canada.

ViaCAD Downloads are Screaming!

admin — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:12:44 +0000

WOW! The response to the Beta downloads of ViaCAD 2D/3D version 6 were crazy the last few days. The press release helped spurred even more today. Feedback has been excellent on the beta so far and there is a lot of excitement for the product.

We are putting together a tutorial now for taking a 2D drawing done in Adobe Illustrator and converting it to a precision 3D object in ViaCAD. Version 5 does this today, but since the tutorial is new, we will probably focus on version 6, though it is done the same way in both.

If anyone is interested in taking a look at the beta, head over to http://punchcad.com/products/viacad2d3dv6.htm. This page is not linked off the main site, so you will need to go directly to it.