I’m pissed I even wasted my time clicking that crap and now I’m getting angrier by the second for even blogging about it.  Anyway, here is the straight dope right from Google’s mouth:

Public profiles
The purpose of Google Profiles is to enable you to manage your online identity. Today, nearly all Google Profiles are public. We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don’t allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public.

Keep in mind that your full name and gender are the only required information that will be displayed on your profile; you’ll be able to edit or remove any other information that you don’t want to share.

If you currently have a private profile but you do not wish to make your profile public, you can delete your profile. Or, you can simply do nothing. All private profiles will be deleted after July 31, 2011.

Here’s the link to the above.  Enjoy.

Now, I had heard of Google Apps Script, but I’m not a “real” programmer so I didn’t think much of it until I stumbled across a post the other day that made me investigate the API a little further.  It was quickly apparent that I could use Google Apps Script to replace my scheduled tasks.  Note in advance, if you need your task to fire at a precise time, this isn’t for you.  If, however, you can live with it running within a given hour read on.  Here’s an outline to get you started.  I’ve linked to the docs I used below.

1. Go to Google Docs
2. Create New > Spreadsheet
3. Go to Tools > Script editor
4. A new window will open and you will see a function stubbed out for you
5. Rename your function to something meaningful
6. Add a method to fetch the URL of the script you wish to run
7. Go to Triggers > All your triggers
8. You’ll be prompted to name your script
9. Now add your triggers to run your script

For example, I have a function that runs a daily production report:

function getProductionReport() {
   var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch("http://example.com/reports/production_report.php?token=sometoken")
}

The reason I added a token to the URI is that I have the  script check for the correct token before running the report.  It won’t run without it and even if it did, no output is returned to the caller.

Next, I created the triggers.  When you open the All your triggers window, you’ll be prompted to name your script.  Do so.  Now, you will be able to add a new trigger.  Choose new and under run you’ll see a drop down with your function.  Next, change Events to Time-driven. Next choose your timer (Minutes, Hour, Day, Week) then choose the interval you desire.  If you only want your task to run on weekdays, you will have to create a separate trigger for each day of the week.  That’s pretty lame, but I’m sure Google will improve this as time goes on.  Choose save and that’s it, you’re done.

Add as many functions and timers as you like and let Google’s servers do the rest.  Oh, and here is the documentation from Google:

Class UrlFetchApp and scroll down here for Time-driven triggers

When I have more time, I’m going to do a much deeper dive here.  It’s pretty crazy what you can do with Google Apps Script.  If you are using Google Apps Script for something trivial or complex, I’d love to hear about it.  Drop me a comment below.

One thing that hit me after I implemented this and saw it running day after day was that, out of everything else Google does every millisecond they always remember to run my little functions.  Pretty damn impressive.

Unfortunately, my ICON kept losing the pairing with my Droid X while on calls.  Normally, I think it just doesn’t work the way it should and by the time I’m frustrated to the point of  wanting to kick someone in the teeth, the next version is out and I buy that and move on.  Well, this connectivity issue became so annoying, I decided to submit my problem to Jawbone support.

I wasn’t thinking, “hey, this is a warranty issue.”  I just wanted to vent a little and see if anyone else was having similar problems.  Upon submitting the form, I was told they’d get back to me in 24 hours.  OK, we’ll see. Twenty-four hours later, I had a response from support.  The support email provided the steps to delete my BT profile and re-pair my Jawbone and encouraged me to either call them or write again if my problem wasn’t solved.

I followed their instructions knowing it wouldn’t work but wanted to give it (really anything) a try.  I made a test call and sure enough, the connection from the Jawbone to my phone dropped.  I emailed them back and received a response in a few hours asking me to call and telling me they’d walk me through the process of doing a master reset.

So, I called and waited on hold for a couple minutes until a friendly young lady picked up.  She walked me through the reset and took my mailing address in the even the reset didn’t work and they needed to process a warranty.  Now, by the time I called them, I was ready to fight for a replacement.  No fight necessary.  In fact, we scheduled a time for her to call me the next day to see if my problem persisted.

The next morning at the appointed time, I didn’t get my call and I had confirmed the reset didn’t solve my connectivity problem.  It’s OK, we all get busy and they had just launched the ERA.  I ended up calling in the afternoon and they answered the phone on the second ring.  I gave them my reference, told them the reset didn’t work and the support person started the warranty.  I received an email a couple minutes after hanging up and responded with a PDF of my receipt.  A couple hours later and they let me know they are sending my replacement.

It sounds like a lot to go through, but honestly it was one of the very best customer service experiences I’ve ever had.  That support interaction saved me as a customer. I’m looking forward to having a properly functioning ICON and also to waiting for a sale on the ERA.

Way to go Jawbone, you have a customer for life!

UPDATE: I see a lot of people are looking for how to do the master reset of the jawbone.  Of course, I can’t remember and they didn’t email me the procedure.  If you find instructions telling you to tap the button 7 times as part of what you need to do, you’ve found the right way to hard reset it.  Definitely give them a call though — 1 800 JAWBONE.  I’m sure whoever answers will be happy to help.

Please buy PhoneTag and integrate their transcription technology immediately. That is all.

V/R,

Calmighty

Now, if they’d only fix their transcription to work as well as PhoneTag’s, I’d be set.

So, my thought here is that Motorola, Verizon, and Google are responsible for getting the leaks out.  Purposely.  Now, that’s just mere speculation on my part, but it makes sense when you consider that we’re not talking about thousands of employees having access to the tools or files to begin with.  Maybe I’m wrong.    Why not leak just enough for the rooting community to have their way with a number of the phones on their respective carriers?  At the same time, make it just hard enough that casual users who don’t know what they are doing won’t be bricking their phones left and right.

Prove me wrong in the comments or share your thoughts.

The funny thing is that people will read this.  They probably should be handling their stuff instead.  So, that’s the subject here.  Since this is my blog, I’ll be preachy.  You have to handle your stuff.  Sometimes you might think you’re overwhelmed.  Forget it.  You are not overwhelmed.  Make a list and start checking things off that list.  You will feel so much better after having done so.

It’s not even advice. In fact, I’m going to go after my list now.  What’s on yours?

The capitalization costs associated with your startup are something that should be well defined in your business plan.  Unfortunately, sometimes plans do not match reality.  That is why your capitalization plan is one of the most important aspects of your startup.  Now, if you’re bootstrapping, it’s not such a big deal.  But, if you’re building something serious, you have to account for planned and unplanned costs.  It’s a daunting task to say the least.

Most important, have a PLAN.  Not just the big picture.  You need a real business plan — spreadsheets and all.  Figure out QuickBooks — get training if you need it.  You’re a big picture person?  Too bad, the details are where it’s at.  Get comfortable with the idea that outside of being well-funded, you need to analyze every transaction in your business.  Your investors will definitely want to know what your profitability report looks like.  Know your books, period.  Now, some of that comes after capitalization, but the reality is you need a plan BEFORE you get to that point.  Plan as if.  Act as if.

I’ve consulted for businesses that have bootstrapped and financed and the singular conclusion I have drawn is that in both cases these businesses’ success hinged upon their level of organization and planning.  I know it sucks.  Just suck it up and do it.

There is a lot of hype surrounding registering a domain name that contains the keywords for your product or service.  I’ve had domains rich in my keywords and others bereft of any relevance at all.  The common wisdom is that you domain name doesn’t matter.  Having tried it both way, I disagree.

Yes, all the good names are taken unless you have a lot of cach lying around.  The good news is that you can still be creative and find good domains.  Hyphens are your friend.  Plurals are you friend.  And, of course, optimizing your pages will always yield better non-PPC results (i.e. search traffic).

I’d like to tell you that I’m going to keep you posted on my latest experiment, but honestly I’m too lazy to post all that much.  Stay optimistic, but not foolishly so.  There are still a ton of great domains to be had!  If you’ve found a great name and have made it work, let me know.  You don’t have to be specific, just share your experience in the comments below.

All that changed yesterday.  I never thought I would say this, but please leave me voice mail!  I just discovered a service called PhoneTag.  PhoneTag intercepts your voice mail (you actually transfer your voice mail service to them) then transcribes the message into text.  The service then emails the text of the message to you and attaches the original message as a WAV audio file if you really want to listen to it.

The best part is that it is crazy accurate.  I received a 40 second message this morning that was letter perfect including punctuation — very impressive.

PhoneTag offers a free 30 day trial membership then you have paid options thereafter.  You can choose from a per message fee of $0.35 each, a flat fee of $9,95 for 40 messages ($0.25 each if you go over) or $29.95 per month for unlimited messages.

Give them a try.  If you sign up using the links here you’ll get 30 days free.