socialmeter is a nice simple site that scans major social websites for links to a specific URL. A fairly nice tool to get an overview of how your site is doing in the online social network scene.

A friend of mine, Matt Cutler, recently advised me to read the Venture Capital section of Brad Feld’s blog – Feld Thoughts. I’ve always enjoyed my inconsistent reading of Brad’s blog over the years, so when my 10 month old woke me up at 2am this morning, I decided I had the perfect opportunity to take Matt’s advice.

If you are actively considering raising any kind of investment capital (angel or VC), do yourself a favor: stop what you are doing and read the VC section of his blog now. He presents good information in a clear and entertaining way and also points to some very good writings on other sites. His blog is a must read for the uninitiated.

A friend of mine has been working on a game that harkens back to the days of the coin-op arcade. When he first told me that he was developing a one-button game, I was skeptical, but intrigued. This lead me to sign up as a beta-tester, where I learned that my video-game addiction is still healthy and strong.

The game, titled Dork: the game, is amazingly fun. Who knew one-button could provide so much entertainment! Dork is currently available for Windows with Mac OS X and Linux releases coming soon. If thinking back to the simpler days of Frogger gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, don’t hesitate to download and try out the Dork free trial!

I finally upped my geek quotient by purchasing a bluetooth headset for my cellphone a few months back. After fairly exhaustive research, I went with the Bluespoon AX2 by Nextlink. I’m happy to report that it was easy to pair with my Treo 650, and that it has worked very well over the past few months. Every so often, I have to re-pair the devices, but based on other Treo 650 bluetooth issues, I suspect this is a problem with the Treo and not the headset.

The AX2 is extraordinarily small and comfortable to wear. Sound quality seems to be as good as it gets over Bluetooth with minor static only at the end of the day when batteries are running low.

I’ve dropped it a few times, with only one incidence where the device broke. Customer service via email was prompt and led me to send the AX2 in for repair or replacement under warranty. Although I had to send it to Denmark, I had a new unit back in my hands in less than 10 days. I was impressed and definitely recommend the device and the company.

I just finished the book Mastering Real Estate Principles by Gerald Cortesi. A 500 page tome that many US states use as their bible for real estate broker licensing. I found it a good extensive read that is similar to, but more detailed than, Modern Real Estate Practice, which is used for real estate salesperson licensing. If you are planning on investing in real estate, I highly recommend reading both books, starting with Modern Real Estate Practice.

A friend of mine recently recommended an email newsletter put out by Martin Cagan of the Silicon Valley Product Group. I have not fully explored the resources provided on the group’s website, but I very much enjoyed yesterday’s newsletter(my first received) on the topic of the recruiting machine at Microsoft. As well, I enjoyed their whitepaper, “The Top 12 Product Management Mistakes” and look forward to reading their papers.

Eight months ago, one of my recent ventures struggled between sustaining and disruptive mindsets without ever really knowing how to describe the way in which the organization was at odds with itself. Ultimately, what decided the battle was pure pragmatism – it just wasn’t possible to move forward using the strategies, tactics, and metrics that work in a large organization bent on sustaining innovations. Eventually techniques more applicable to a startup company had to be used, and progress began in earnest.

I couldn’t have communicated my company’s past dilemma clearly unless I had read Clay Christensen’s book, The Innovator’s Solution. The book immediately provided me with a well-articulated framework and vocabulary to describe my experience last year. I finished the book armed with new tools to
harness and communicate my entrepreneurial intuition.

If you haven’t migrated entirely to Skype or another VOIP service that supports conference calling, and you have a need to organize conference calls, I highly recommend Free Conference.

The service is as the name would imply: free. This means”free as in beer”. Participants must only call a US long distance number, which in this day of flat-fee long distance and almost limitless cell phone minutes is typically not a burden. 800 number services are available for a premium, and the site also supports other interesting pay services such as call recordings and transcriptions. I have not had the need for these, so I have not tried them, but I could see how they would be useful to some.

Conference setup is via the web and is easy. Optional email notices are sent to each conference participant by the service, and participants can then RSVP if they desire. This site is a great tool.

I finally started using basecamp to manage projects for my ventures and have been pleased. The system is fairly straightforward to configure and is simple, yet powerful. Especially useful for geographically distributed groups. Perfect for the startup company because they offer free and affordable basic accounts.

For all those who feel guilty about the environmental impact of their driving, but just can’t figure out a way to live without a car, buying a TerraPass seems like a great way to help counter the effect of your car’s emissions on the world around you.

Here are some articles from news sources about TerraPass:

• CNN.com
• BusinessWeek online
• treehugger

I decided to move one step closer to a guilt free life and bought one earlier today.