First things first–is there anyone who comes to San Diego at any time of year and doesn’t think, “man, I could totally live here”? Of course not. I’m even originally from Southern California, and I’m still always amazed at just how perfect it is here… then add a few fish tacos and life is muy bien!

The fall CTIA show(http://daily.ctia.org/wirelessit09/) is more focused of the 2 North American wireless conferences, and always the smaller. 2009 is no exception–even smaller than usual I’d say, both because of the general economy and the recent consolidation in the mobile industry. However, the concentration of people doing serious business here is palpable, and none of the time wasters look to have bothered to make the trip. This is serious business, and the industry is moving fast.

Android is everywhere. While Apple seems to shun the wireless events (we’ll see if they keep that up come the fall showin Vegas) Google is everywhere, though mostly via other companies. Motorola has gone “all in” on the Android platform, and their developer conference held at the Hard Rock Hotel across the street from the conference center showcased how their new device line will be taking advantage of Android’s capabilities. Others were in play on Android too throughout the week. The other theme that was front and center was the app-store concept. Everyone wants one to be sure, but it’s not all rosy.  Many are finding that there are TOO MANY apps on the iPhone app store now, and subscribers can’t find what they want anymore. Methods for better app stores are necessary and on the way.

From the divShare perspective, one of the very exciting aspects of the show was the growth in mobile cloud computing players.  The cloud mobility story favored enterprise solutions (as I think cloud computing in general does at this time), but there is still chatter about how Apple and others plan to push hard in this direction during the coming years.  Of course anyone who wants to claim a leadership position there still has a window to do so.

Here is a great article from Fierce Wireless about mobile+cloud.

Start to formulate a mobile strategy for your company if you aren’t already.  The mobile device is going to be as important (if not more) than the PC soon, and almost as powerful.

The best example I can think of is based on “golf.” That’s a short-tail keyword. It’s just one word.

Google Golf and you’re going to find a lot of results. Each of these results contains the word Golf. For some reason, possibly mystical, one page has the #1 result. Many look upon this ranking with awe.

“How can I get top ranking for a single keyword?”

Now consider the phrase “buy Nike Golf shirts”. This is a long-tail phrase. Google this and you’ll get far fewer results than for golf, but is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Someone who types “golf” is probably at the beginning of the online research phase. These are tire kickers. They’re not likely to buy. A million clicks from this bunch might equal a few sales. It also equals server load and requires your website to bear the traffic. What is that traffic really worth?

On the other hand, less gross traffic from people searching for “buy Nike Golf shirts” seems like a high ROI effort to me.

Long-tail keyword ranking isn’t just about finding phrases that are easier to rank for than short ones, it’s about maximizing results.

Do what you love: Make your business stand out online with Dave Saunders  at http://www.davesaunders.net

It’s a big cat and mouse game.

There’s a bigger consideration you should be making though.

What do you want someone to do when they find your stuff?

I’ve seen companies spend huge sums of money on website designs where the phone number is buried on a single contact page requiring three clicks to get to. Other people will do nothing but Tweet keyword phrases and links without ever providing the slightest thing of value to the reader.

So before you crack into something like WordTracker to dig up keywords with high traffic and low competition, take a minute to ask yourself some key questions.

• Who do you want to find you?
• What do you want them to do when they find you?
• Why do they want your stuff?
• Why should they believe you?

These may seem like simple questions, but few take the time to answer them. The current state of the economy is a reflection of that. Average people are doing what other average people are doing and getting average results. Unfortunately, average right now means they’re losing money.

SEO opens some amazing doors that have never existed before. Don’t ignore its value, but don’t forget that in the end, you’re still dealing with people. Just because Google points someone at you doesn’t mean they’re going to buy.

Learn how how stand out online with Dave Saunders  at http://www.davesaunders.netRead the Social Media Manifesto from http://www.yoursocialbrand.com

Another approach to writer’s block on your blog, is to invite guest speakers.  This can not only add a different flavor, but it can be helpful for search engine optimization by including names of your guest blogger that may have their own following.  And most bloggers are interested in cross pollination, i.e., generating some traffic back to their own blogs as well.

Final thought, whether you are considering team blogging or guest bloggers, it will be important to know a bit about the contributors, their reputations, and their writing style to make sure it will indeed enhance your blog.  Happy Blogging.

http://www.podtech.net/home/4586/team-blogging-tips-from-southwest-airlines

First of all, a netbook is laptop that is designed with the Internet in mind.  Basically, it’s designed to wirelessy access the internet and use the resources of the Internet.  So, it’s about browsing, using Web-based applications, and storing your files “in the cloud” (not locally on your hard drive, but on the internet).   The average netbook has the following features/functions as compared to a conventional laptop:

• Less processing power than a laptop
• Less storage (sometimes not even a conventional hard drive, but solid-state storage)
• Smaller size (usually 2 - 3 pounds)
• Smaller keyboard (80 - 95% of normal)
• Lower price tag

So, back to the original question - do I want a netbook?  If you are asking yourself this question, it really all comes down to what you will be doing with your netbook?  Compared to conventional laptops, netbooks are underpowered (read: slower), have smaller screens and a slightly undersized keyboard.  But, it may be enough to do what you need.  With a netbook, you can access the Internet and all its applications.   Applications you can get to and use include software for browsing the Web, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, music, contact management, calendars, task management, posting to your blogs, sending email and more.  But, because of the smaller, lower resolution screens and decrease in processing power, there are some things that may be better left to your higher-powered laptop or desktop, such as high-end video or photo editing.

One thing’s for sure, if you have a netbook, you will need to access your files in the cloud.     Of course, if you are a divShare user you have that covered, and it may just be a matter of uploading more of the files you’ll want to access from your netbook.  Either way, netbooks are here, and there are more models for us to choose from each day.

Comparison of Netbooks: http://www.netbookgrid.com/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook
What is a Netbook?  http://news.cnet.com/what-is-a-netbook-computer/?tag=mncol

From their site:

On June 24th, we hope you’ll join us from the ground or onboard any Virgin America flight for the Day in the Cloud challenge, a scavenger hunt unlike any you’ve ever clicked through. All you’ll need is a net connection, a Google Account, and the warm, comforting glow of your computer screen.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this, but nice to see non-tech companies embracing our beloved Cloud.  We’ll all get our heads (and directory structures) up there soon enough.

Check it out at: http://www.dayinthecloud.com/

Don’t keep your only copy of priceless photos, videos, and work files on your hard drive–back them up quickly and easily to your divShare account!  Never lose a photo, never bounce an email, and never share a broken link!

We hope you like the changes we’re making, and please know we’ll never stop improving your divShare experience!

According to blogger Reuven Cohen at ElasticVapor:

“Busy day for cloud interoperability related news. Google just announced a new service called Google Wave, described as an open communication and collaboration platform & protocol based on hosted XML documents (called waves) supporting concurrent modifications and low-latency updates. In simple terms Google Wave can be thought of like an ajax spreadsheet over XMPP. “

Check out his entire article at: http://www.elasticvapor.com/2009/05/google-jump-into-cloud-wave-ajax-over.html

Read Write Web describes the G.ho.st services as:

A fabulous, ambitious virtual operating system, G.ho.st launched at Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco two years ago. The browser-based computers allow users to leave their desktop, files, and applications in the Amazon-hosted cloud and access them from just about any place or device with an internet connection.

It’s great to see The Cloud as a more useful platform for productivity, and obviously divShare looks to help lead the charge in this.  See the entire story on this at: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ghost_virtual_computing_adds_api.php

You publish, you control, right? Yep.

Check out this video of the Facebook experience without divShare Privacy controls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs

However, because of how Facebook’s APIs work, our users have found some considerably slower performance when using their dashboard within FB.  Unfortunately there is little divShare can do about this, but please know we are petitioning Facebook to optimize the data transactions.

Another item of note concerning Facebook… they just came out with their new, much ballyhood Privacy Policies, allowing for more openness.  In our opinion it falls short of what we’d want.  Read Write Web kind of feels the same: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/despite_new_openness_facebook_remains_fundamentall_1.php