Category: Business

Data Multicasting: A VERY Brief Overview

Nate
Oct 30 |19:15

I’ve been reading some techie docs lately on the power of data multicasting. Yes, I know it sounds incredibly boring, but it’s a valuable asset to have in the digital signage industry. In fact, there are only a handful of companies within digital signage that currently specialize in data multicast technology. To remain competitive, some will require adaptation and continuous engineering going forward. Many customers are asking for it, hence the education.

What is Data Multicasting?

Multicasting involves a one-to-many or many-to-many relationship and allows for increases in efficiency in use of network resources when it comes to packet distribution. Multicasting can use the following protocols: MOSPF, CBT, IGMP, PIM-DM, PIM-SM, and BGMP.

Multicasting can be used in the following applications:

  • Network Configuration
  • Content Distribution
  • Shared Apps:
  • Information Distribution
  • Multipoint Distribution: which includes, but is not limited to anycasting, unitcasting, and broadcasting.
 

More Application Essays for MBA Programs

Nate
Oct 5 |20:51

Yet another example of an MBA application Essay I’ve been writing.

Explain how your past accomplishments have prepared you for the MBA Program.

As an undergraduate, two friends and I explored means of funding our education. The resulting business venture was a franchised Dish Network retailer. From conception to implementation we were able to grow our small start-up to nearly 30 employees in less than four months. Although oftentimes requiring 18-hour workdays, our business was profitable within 30 days and gleaned first year annual revenues in excess of $650,000–a feat which helped us earn 2nd place at BYU’s coveted Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

During this time I also vigorously pursued a career in dentistry. Although I later learned I lacked passion for dentistry, the pursuit was a worthwhile endeavor which taught me a great deal about passion and work. As part of my pursuit toward dentistry, I enrolled in all the necessary undergraduate classes required for dental school matriculation. Compounded with these science courses, I also chose to remain a business management major. As part of my time spent as a hopeful dentist I participated in shadowing opportunities, including a self-funded, two week excursion to Honduras where I assisted a number of dentists, providing free dental work for the underprivileged of that country. Almost a month after returning from Honduras I excelled on the Dental Admissions Test (DAT), scoring in the 90th percentile.

Immediately following graduation, I even worked as a prosthodontist assistant. However, after several months of assisting, my eyes were opened. I realized dentists spent much more time working in their business than on their business. I also came to the realization that I had had more passion for my entrepreneurial pursuits than I did for dentistry. Consequently, after being accepted to several dental programs, I reluctantly declined the offers due to my lack of passion for the field. I am not one to recant progressive decisions, but I knew I would not be happy or passionate as a dentist. I had more passion for previous “means-to-an-end” businesses I had started than I did for dentistry. Knowing I would never be a leader in my field unless I possessed passion for my work, I knew I had to make the difficult decision of recanting the offers of acceptance. This was an extremely difficult juncture in my life and a defining moment.

Since my difficult decision, I have spent two years with Hughes-owned Helius, Inc.–a digital media development firm based in Lindon, UT. This firm provides software management solutions in digital media, digital signage, and corporate communications. At Helius, I have acted as the National Accounts Manager, working with both the sales and marketing team. I demonstrate and sell complex content management software solutions and help to manage market strategy for seizing customer opportunities.

As another current entrepreneurial side project, I also manage the largest digital signage industry portal at digitalsignage.com. This asset helps glean regular and viable leads for the digital signage industry worldwide. As part of the effort, I manage an industry-related news feed, write regularly on the site’s blog, and manage the litany of leads the site produces from its large user-base. Such leads are sold on a contractural basis to numerous companies around the globe, producing a nice residual revenue stream for myself and my parnters. Since the site’s official launch in early 2009, it has been the recipient of over 8,000 monthly visitors. In addition, with the help of two partners we have successfully gained banner advertising contracts with Intel, Visix, Deploid, and Hughes.

While my experiences may have ranged across very different fields, I believe my diversity of experiences, and particularly my pursuits of the “paths less traveled,” display my unique ability to succeed at virtually any task. In addition, my leadership acumen gained through entrepreneurial management, coupled with my love for learning, give me a very unique foundation from with which to build.

 

Another Fraudulent Bernie Bites the Dust

Nate
Jun 30 |20:16

My dad worked for MCI for most of his career which later turned into WorldCom under the regime of Bernard Ebbers. Those who do not know the story of some of the largest frauds in U.S. history should at least know the characters involved. News reports today told the sad, but conclusive tale that another Bernie has bit the dust. 

Bernie Madoff, for over 20 years, ran the largest ponzi scheme known to man and now he’s behind bars for 150 years. Sadly, 150 years may not seem like justice to those whose lives have been completely devastated by his actions. I know personally that the Bernie Ebbers fraud caused a lot of grief for WorldCom employees, including those in my family.

I listened to a heated debate on NPR this morning regarding new regulation proposals to separate the power from the money on wall street. Something has to be done. Interestingly, the warning signs are always there. It’s just that no one suspects anyone in such a position of trust to be so moronic. I guess it’s our own fault for being nieve and turning a blind eye to the facts. Let’s just hope we can all get our act together and pull our head out. 

It’s events like this that make people tight-fisted, unwilling to invest in wall street, and keep the economy from booming. It may be super cheesy to quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman, but I think it appropriate: “with great power comes great responsibility.” The problem I see is that in many instances great power reduces requirements for accountability. Such was the case with these two sleeze balls. 

 

Will Google Wave Kill Facebook?

Nate
May 28 |20:27

Google Wave is being introduced and will shortly take the place of email, gchat, and lifestreaming. But the biggest looming question is, will Google Wave be a Facebook killer?

Google Wave Screenshot

I love Google apps. They are super useful, including Google Reader, Gmail, and iGoogle are great. I’m using Google Chrome as we speak. Google Wave is the next best integration of all three with it’s Google Wave application.

Google is positioning the new app as a kind conversation and collaboration system. It’s as logical as the jump was from mail to email, telephone to chat, or blogging to microblogging. Wave is described by Google as “equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.” It sounds to me like a bit of social networking that may end up being a nice competitor for our Friends at Facebook.

Create a Wave, add people to it, toss in some gadgets, feeds, and photos, and mix with a rich text editor. You’ll see new content in near-real time as your friends add it, and you can even hit the rewind button and watch your Wave evolve from scratch. Wave’s power will come from its extensibility and ability to integrate with existing activity sources like GMail, Facebook, and Twitter.

Wave is built on HTML5 and the Google Web Toolkit. What’s more, the team plans to make the source code powering Wave open source to encourage developer involvement in the project’s continued growth and evolution. If you’d like to get involved, head over to the Wave Developer Blog for API information and a look at what you can build with Wave.

These are at least 4 reasons why Google Wave Will Kill Facebook:

1. Google is Google. Have you seen the Compete.com #s for Facebook vs. Google? Facebook may be gaining, but Google already has a base of Gmail subscribers worldwide that could trump the monkey.

2. Facebook doesn’t have search. Imagine what the Google search algorithm mixed with Wave will do?

3. Google’s revenues dwarf Facebook. More money for diversification? I guess Facebook did just get the influx from Russia…

4. Facebook has apps, Google has applications. Think about it. Facebook is a good networking center, but I’m sorry Google just has too many applications that have more useful applications than Facebook.

These are some of my thoughts. What do you think? Will Facebook be killed by Google Wave?

 

Google’s Morphing Ranking Algorithm + Power of Generic Domain Names

Nate
May 16 |05:42

I picked up a great post from randfish over at the SEOmoz blog a couple of weeks ago along with a report by Marketing Charts that coincide nicely. The SEOmoz post talks about how the Google ranking algorithm has changed, while the Marketing Charts post gives some great information on the benefit of generic domain names. Both posts were great reads and coincided with some of the work I’m currently doing at DigitalSignage.com. 

The SEOmoz post gave the following as the largest contributing factors to Google’s ranking: 

  • Domain Trust/Authority 
  • Anchor Text in External Links
  • On-Page Keyword Usage 
  • Raw PageRank / Link Juice 

    • The Marketing Charts report gives some of the reasons for generic domain name success: 

    Memorable Domains attributes the strong performance of generic domain names to several factors:

    • Because a generic domain name describes a product or service using the words people automatically associate with the topic, it encourages them to click more.
    • The presence of search terms in the domain name leads to higher organic rankings or a
    • better ad quality score in pay-per-click ad ranking algorithms.
    • Search engines commonly automatically bold any word in the domain name that matches the search term, drawing attention to the listing.
    • There is a potential positive impact of the domain name on ad quality score.
    The report also gave some great exceptions to the rule:
    “generic name is an established brand or website with a strong awareness and trust factor for the product or service search terms in question. Even in such cases, a generic domain name has potential value in targeting very specific product or service search terms with an appropriate keyword-rich domain. The findings suggest that established brands should consider a generic name for minisites associated with a particular product, service or ad campaign.”

    I just thought all these facts were interesting and some might benefit from me sharing them here.