So, in this case I spent many painful (but oddly enjoyable) hours writing custom controls to build a fairly interesting and attractive RSS “widget” for Windows Mobile… there are some screen shots below. Yeh, I know it’s no iPhone app but it’s not bad…

As a side note, after seeing some of the demos of Silverlight running on mobile devices (Windows AND Nokia – that’s right Nokia), I’m pretty psyched to see this technology flourish. It may be just what the doctor ordered. Flash Lite is another possibility but has been painfully slow to get adoption. Oh, there’s the iPhone SDK now too which is sure to enable some beautiful mobile apps. Good times!

Well, today there is no excuse for not pursuing your dream.  There are plenty of options out there and thanks to the open tubes on the internet those options are easy to find.

One of the best options for young, aspiring entrepreneurs is TechStars.  This is an amazing opportunity to nurture your ideas and learn from the best.  You will be exposed to brilliant folks who have “been there and done that”.  And to top it off, all the people involved in TechStars are good people!

The founder of TechStars, David Cohen, is one of the brightest tech minds I have ever met, and he is down-right a generous and kind human being.  Don’t get me wrong though, David will not hold back and will let you know what’s on his mind and that is another trait that I admire and aspire to replicate.  You’ll also get introduced to folks like Brad Feld – I have not had an opportunity to work too closely with Brad, but when you hear him speak and recognize the legacy he is creating in the Boulder Tech scene you realize this is a special individual and you should pay close attention.  The opportunity to learn from folks like this is on par with a degree from a top notch university, is condensed into one summer, and you get a little bit of cash to boot.

If you are thinking about TechStars stop now and just apply.  Do it and thank me later!  The application deadline is coming fast -  http://www.techstars.org/apply/

Well, that’s old news. Now the entire process can be done from your device in just 2 steps (it is in beta, so keep that in mind).

Got to http://mbeta.newsgator.com/d (don’t forget the /d for download) and grab the installer. Once the process is flushed out completely, we’ll drop ‘beta’ from the url:

Fire up the client. If you already have an account you’re done and off to the races. If not, just enter a username and password and you’re done (we’ll create an account for you on the fly):

If you just created a new account, you’ll be teed up with a mobile starter pack.

At this point, you are good to Go! with mobile RSS! That was easy, yeh? You can always add more feeds or tweak your settings from Go!, NewsGator Online, or one of our awesome and FREE clients (FeedDemon, NetNewsWire, or Inbox).  Thanks TD for helping with the html and artwork.
Enjoy!

My co-worker and friend, Nick Bradbury, sums it up in one line:

“PS: As I’ve written before, I think the so-called battle between web and desktop apps is overblown. It’s a hybrid world, not an either-or situation.”

“On January 9, 2008 Jay Leno stated that he was his least favorite guest ever on the Tonight Show, adding (lightheardedly) that Wahl was “a pain in the ass.”  Check it out.
Wow! That is pretty impressive and is a great example of the power and immediacy of user generated content!

So, you’ve went out and bought a shiny new mobile device, and now you are looking for some great software. But that new device and the holiday’s have tapped your budget. Well, I have good news for you. If you want to keep up with what’s going on in your world from your mobile, you can do that now and it won’t cost you a penny. NewsGator’s mobile news readers are all FREE:

• Windows Mobile – get NewsGator Go! for FREE
• Blackberry or Java devices – get NewsGator Go! for FREE
• iPhone – check out m.newsgator.com from your iPhone, it’s been tuned for the device
• all the rest – check out m.newsgator.com too

And while you’re at it, grab one or all of the other NewsGator client products. They are all free as well! The clients are all fantastic, and they all synchronize with each other:

• Windows – get FeedDemon for FREE
• Mac – get NetNewsWire for FREE
• Outlook – get Inbox for FREE

I’m glad we are giving our killer consumer products away – it’s a great move for the company and a great move for our customers! A few months ago I was on vacation in the mountains outside of Denver relaxing in the hot tub with some other folks from the area. We started talking about what we do; all these folks were intelligent and technology savvy. However, none of them knew about RSS – I explained what it was and they all agreed it sounded great and useful. Well, now that our clients our free I hope I don’t need to do any more explaining!

On top of spreading the love about RSS, this move will certainly help my friends and co-workers in the enterprise side of the house sell more software. As folks learn about RSS and the aewsomeness of NGES, their job of selling becomes that much easier! In addition to helping enterprise sales, we will also be focusing the clients on delivering more relevant content - you’ll be hearing much more about that in the following weeks and months.
Nick and Greg do a great job of explaining this transition so be sure to check that out. Get ‘em while their hot!

But what about the opposite. Nice people don’t suck. In fact, when you meet nice/good people make sure you value that relationship. I have a really good exaple about a great person and one who I am really glad to call a friend.

That cat is Andrew Hyde. Last week I was supposed to meet Andrew to kick around his business plan/idea (which is really cool btw). Unfortunately on the bike ride up from Denver to Boulder, I hit a patch of ice south of town, slid into an intersection, and tagged a car. I didn’t get hurt too bad but dinged my bike up a bit. I showed up to the Trident coffee shop way late and Andrew had left already.

When I told Andrew what happened and that I was about to leave the coffee shop, Andrew was just concerned about me! In fact, Andrew drove over. On the way, he saw me waiting for the bus, picked me up, and drove me home. We had a great conversation on the ride home, and I am really glad to have such a kick ass friend. Thanks Andrew!

[On a side note, if you are thinking about funding Andrew’s new business, do it. Andrew is guaranteed to be successful - just look at what he’s done with Startup Weekend.]

I think it gave him some pretty good spring action until the hinge broke off.  I called Brother and within 5 minutes I had a new hinge on the way and will be sure to keep the Brother out of harm’s way from now on.

Way to go Brother - solid customer service!