Archive for the 'Services' Category

Apple to sell ringtones?

Think about it, it makes sense…

  • They have deals with the record labels already
  • They have a mechanism to transfer to a phone (iTunes)
  • They have a very large userbase
  • Profit on ringtones is higher than singles (and you could probably sell them for more)

The iTunes transfer may be the key to this working. It’s certainly a lot cheaper to operate as it bypasses the mobile phone operators.

So what’s missing? Well the Apple phone of course!

Just a prediction…

Share/Save/Bookmark

Vox - the Flickr of blogging tools

This is interesting..

Pete invited me into Vox (here’s my page) which is essentially a hosted blog site much like Blogger or Live Journal. The difference is the way you interact with the community and your media.

The reason I call it the Flickr of blogging tools is because of the first impression I had; you basically have flickr, but instead of photos you have blog posts. I can’t explain it any simpler than that. You have similar privacy options, tagging, sets, groups.

Go check it out, I have a couple of beta invites still…

Share/Save/Bookmark

Beta roundup

There’s a few interesting betas i’d like to get in on… i won’t list the google/yahoo ones, here are my favourites at the moment:

My friend Adam pointed me at this web based bug tracker:
http://www.tailshq.com/

And Ryan of DropSend is working on his new app, a marketing tool for newsletter owners:
http://www.heyamigo.net/

I’d sign up for both if you’re in the business of making or using webapps…

A couple of web widget.. erm, things.. have appeared. (are they webapps?). They essentially let you build, share and sell, small plugins (although i’m sure they’d hate me calling them that!) to sit on people’s websites..

WidgetBox, the web widget marketplace (placing itself as the big boy on the block)
http://www.widgetbox.com/

And then Jay has this going on:
http://www.snipperoo.com

Then sign up for mine too :)

This is my first app, completely independently. being built by myself and Nick.
http://www.pingbase.com/

update://

The day after i posted this i got an Odeo voicemail from Dan, the Tails developer…

Share/Save/Bookmark

PingBase website monitoring

Services that monitor websites for downtime are not new. Do a Google search for server monitoring and you’ll find hundreds of links to many competing companies. So surely starting a new monitoring service must be like opening a new car dealership next door to BMW’s store on Park Lane?

But what if you’re selling Smart cars?

PingBase is a more efficient, modern and affordable car. A car designed for not only the driver but it’s environment and the cohabitants of that environment.

All these monitoring services certainly do their job, although I’ve not used them all, so what’s wrong with them?

  1. The Price
    They are prohibitively expensive. usually charging around $10/month per domain or URL you want to monitor.
  2. The Free Trial
    You might get a month for free or maybe longer but for a much lower level of service.
  3. Access to data
    Few provide an API or even RSS, although around half offer multiple person notification lists of some sort.
  4. They’re not designed for everyone
    Most are designed for web developers or large corporations, they ignore the needs of the majority of websites and their owners.

I think that last point may be the most important. Everybody and their fathers brothers have a website and they all need to know the uptime, or downtime of their sites. A persons blog is a very important thing. Some livelihoods are made from blogs as well as reputations built from them.

If your blog is down, you need to know! But you shouldn’t have to pay more than it costs you to have the website for that knowledge.

Enter PingBase, a modern website monitor built for you, your friends, your company or your rabbit.

If you want to monitor your blog, PingBase will do that, for free, forever. If you want more, then you can upgrade to the first level which will allow you to monitor 10 URLs for $15/month with the added bonus of receiving SMS (text messages) as well as email when your site goes down.

There is an FAQ that should answer more of your questions, and you can sign up to know when it’s launched from any page on the site.

I’m really excited to get this up and running, I’ve been looking forward to announcing it.. I know it’ll be a useful addition to many peoples online lives.

Share/Save/Bookmark