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If you don’t have a Mobile website, you might want to put in on your 2012 marketing plan. Here are some facts that Google published:

More kids know how to use a smartphone than tie their shoes!

More Americans own a mobile phone than have a passport.

20 million U.S. households no longer have a landline.

2/3 of mobile users use their phone’s backlight as a flashlight.

The most commonly texted “word” is simply the letter “R”.

Here are six basic fundementals on developing a successful mobile website on a shoe string budget.

Checklist for creating a mobile website

1. KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid
You don’t need to have neon blinking animations, or flying pigs on your mobile site. Present the mobile users with what they are looking for in as little clicks, or touches as possible. You don’t need an eleborate website,but plan on using icons/text wisely. Ensure that your mobile site will work on all major mobile OS (Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, BlackBerry’s OS).

2. Relevant Content
As for content, a good starting point is to look over your analytics and pull out the highest traffic pages and skim it down. Nobody is interested in reading a technical document on a 4.6 inch screen, nor do you need to have all of the website’s content on the mobile site. Ensure that clean site codes and to reduce load speed.

3. Utilize mobile phone features and technology
Being that you are targeting smart phone users, be smart about it. Most smart phones have GPS tracking, camera, and voice commands and one should look at utilizing these features to interact with your user. A good example would be to serve up your store location info that is closest to them, or if you have a site-to-store like WalMart, then make it easier for the person to order via their phone and have it delivered to the store. Don’t forget to intergrate your Facebook, Twitter and other social media aspects.

4. Input device limitation
This goes back to No. 1 and knowing that you are working with fingers with a maximum of 4.6inch screen, or a scroll sensor. Use icons/text links that are spaced our so that you make it easier to navigate and to prevent accidental clicks. Avoid drop down menu, hover over, and flash as those might not be compatible with all devices.  Don’t overcrowd the screen with lots of text/icons, which makes it hard to navigate. Keep scrolling options from top to bottom as most mobile users prefer to scroll in one direction.

5. Drive the message Home
You are developing a mobile website for a reason – sales, lead, web presence! Make it easy for a person to convert with concise call to action. Streamline your conversion funnel and have your phone number clearly displayed as the last thing you want is for the person to leave your mobile site to Google for your phone #.

6. Test, Test and Update
What is the latest and greatest might drop off the cliff when things are moving quickly. Mobile searches have grown by 4x since 2010 (source: Google), and you want to be at the forefront as opposed to having your competitors lead the way. So test every quarter and tweak accordingly.

Here are some mobile websites that gave it some thought, and I am sure there are hundreds of good mobile sites out there.

• eBay http://mobileweb.ebay.com/
• Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw
• Safelite http://m.safelite.com/
• Lennoxhttp://touch.lennox.com/          
• Audible http://mobile.audible.com/

Please share your comments/feedback in the reply box.

I owned my bike for over a year and I have enjoyed the trails. Had a few ‘incidents’ which landed me in the E.R., from a badly discloated elbow that swelled up to the size of a grapefruit and almost slicing off my finger, but it is a hobby and adventure that I enjoyed.

I have been able to pack my bike and taken it to Austin, Houston, Huntsville, San Marcos for hours of fun and pain. I doubt I would have been able to fit a 29er (meaning 29 inch wheel as opposed to a 26 inch wheel) in my car. Learned more things about fixing my bike, other than the BMX years, physical limits and thinking 3x before taking that leap of faith as if I was 17yrs old.

Throughout the last twelve months, I have spent more money on the bike than the purchase price. Some were ‘enhancements’, some were done to replace parts that broke/worn out.

• Fork RockShox Revelation Team 150MM – link
• Rims Easton Havoc DH WheelSet 32mm
• Hubs Easton 6 bolt, 28 hole
• Tires Schwalbe Rocket Ron UST, 26 x 2.1
• Pedals CrankBrother Candy Clipless
• Seatpost Thomson Elite, 31.6mm

Here are some pictures I took during the water breaks.

Sunset at San Marcos Purgatory creek - Cannondale F4

At Huntsville State Park, North of Houston

One of the most anticipated IPO in the tech world was decided today, as Groupon Inc raised $700 million after increasing the size of its initial public offering and becoming the largest IPO by an Internet company since Google Inc raised $1.7 billion in 2004. This came after a widely publicized offer by Yahoo for $2 billion which was turned down, followed by Google unsuccessful bid for $6 billion. With the $700 million IPO, Groupon is valued at $13 billion after saying it increased the offering by 5 million shares to 35 million in total and pricing them at $20 each.

Analysts were anticipating that Groupon is valued at $15 to $20 billion, but I greatly question that value, but fell short. Don’t get me wrong, I have friends working there, and have bought from Groupon but I don’t see that model sustaining that $13-15 billion valuation.

Here are my observations:-

• Finite merchants and value.
  I have mentioned before and I will mention again, merchants/stores often don’t benefit from getting on Groupon other than the flash-in-the-pan sales from Groupon. In some cases, it is a disservice to the brand itself. The example I like to bring up is Gap selling on Groupon. Yes, it brought PR to the Gap at a huge cost of negative association as a brand discounter. Gap does not spend millions to have the Material Girl, Madonna promote the billion dollar brand and then be associated with a discounter like Groupon. Thus, there were complaints by companies that appeared on Groupon that the customers that walk through are there for the discounts and never return. There are also a finite number of companies that Groupon is able to approach.Despite Groupon’s eight-percent growth in the last quarter, its local deals revenue fell by three percent. Taking into account the growth in subscribership… It may not be a good sign that its core local deals business is already losing market share.
• Sustainable growth with competition
  Groupon’s business model is no rocket science and the barrier to entry is pretty much non-existence. The two big dogs on the block, Amazon and Google are also in this space. One day before Groupon’s IPO, Google Deals launched with a nationwide REI deal. Groupon’s closest competitor, LivingSocial is owned by Amazon.
  As of September 30, Groupon had 143 million subscribers, but in the third quarter only 30 million of them bought Groupons. Repeat customers increased from the second quarter but only numbered 16 million, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Failing to win enough repeat customers along with stiff competition may dampen the rapid growth.Days before the IPO, Groupon cut 10% of its sales force plus half of the copywriters in China.

It would be great to see Groupon fly high, but I just don’t see the machine fueling its growth with this business model.

Jobs, the co-founder of Apple lost his battle to a rare pancreatic cancer today. He stepped down as the CEO in August 2011 and was replaced by Tim Cooks. Jobs took a six month leave in 2009 to handle his battle and for a organ transplant.

Sadly, Apply released the iPhone 4S on Oct 4, 2011 and it was a mellow event. One must be wondering what the Execs know about Jobs’ condition during the announcement and knowing that the end was near for the ex-CEO.

Steve Jobs  touched the soul of millions, and here are some of his contributions.

• Started Apple computer at 20 year old in a garage
• 313 Apple patents.
• Graphical user interface, as opposed to command based computers.
• Macintosh, the first computing unit with that weird thing called a Mouse as an input device.
• iPod was a giant leap forward in the way people listened to music on the go. It started the digital music revolution.
• iTunes revolutionize the music industry and helped kill the CD.
• iPhone, redefined what a smartphone should be and put the internet in your pocket.
• iPad, made the device thin, lightweight, dynamic and easy to carry and merged the PC with a smartphone.
• Bought Pixar Animation, and successfully release Toy Story, Cars to name a few animations

We lost a great icon that revolutionize the electronic industry that touched the lives of millions.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs (1955-2011).

News Corp announced on 6/30/2011 that they sold MySpace to Justin Timberlake and Specific Media for $35 million. It was not disclosed as to the amount that Justin Timberlake invested.

Here are some interesting facts about the history of MySpace since News Corp acquired MySpace in July 2005.

• From July 2005 to late 2008, MySpace saw traffic grew from 20 million unique visitors to 70 million + visitors. As of May 2011, MySpace is tracking down and ended the month 30.1 million unique visitors as opposed to Facebook which is estimated at 142.6 million unique and on a upward trajactory.
• News Corp bought MySpace, the social media super star in July 2005 for $655 million ($580 million + $75 million to the founders), but began shopping MySpace around in Feb 2011 for a new owner. It was reported that MySpace will experience an operating loss of $165 million ending fiscal year June 30, 2011. News Corp was expecting to generate offers north of $100 million for MySpace when trying to unload the ailing social network, but accepted an offer for $35 million, or just 6% of the sum News Corp paid to acquire MySpace.
• At its peak Myspace employed 1,600 employees, which was reduced to 1,000 after laying off 30% of its workforce in June 2009. By June 2011, further job cuts reduced its size to 400 employees, with Myspace to lay off at least 150 employees and put another 150 employees on a transition plan in which they can still work for pay temporarily while looking for another job.
• The new owners, Specific Media along with
  Justin Timberlake mentioned that they might take the company public in the future if things goes as planned.
• News Corp. shares rose 1.3%, or 22 cents, Wednesday on the Nasdaq stock market to $17.39 after confirming the sale of MySpace.

The Catholic Cemetery is located in the heart of town, less than a block from Penang Road and about 2 blocks away from the famous E&O Hotel. I have pass this cemetery countless times, but never thought twice about setting foot in there although it was the resting place of Captain Francis Light. Cemeteries are not my favorite place to visit when I am kicking back and relaxing, but I guess this intrigued me.

So who is this chap by the name of Captain Francis Light? Apparently he was in the arm forces or responsible for a ship, as he had the title of a Captain.. He was the founder of Penang, the Pearl of the Orient, or at least that is what is written in history. The Thais and Burmese have been trading with the locals of Penang prior to that but in 11 August 1786, Francis Light landed on Penang at what is later called Fort Cornwallis, and renamed the island Prince of Wales Island in honor of the heir to the British throne. Francis Light was born in Suffolk, England on 15 December 1740 and lost his life in 21St October 1794 to malaria.

The grave of Capt. Francis Light. It looks like it was repaired.

Penang Catholic Cemetery Map. This map will identify the graves of those that are buried at the cemetery. It is often mistakenly called a Protestant cemetery but per the map, it is a Catholic cemetery. Not that it makes a difference to me but just a FYI

Penang Catholic cemetery map with the details of those who are buried there. It also gives you a short description of the person buried in the grave/tomb.

Tomb with a pergola. It was interesting to see some of the different designs and structures around there.

Tomb of Rev R. S. Hutchings, founder of Penang Free School 21 October 1816. There were fresh flowers laid at his tomb.

The tomb of Captain Francis Light. 15 December 1740 - 21 October 1794

If you found the information useful, please feel free to leave a comment.

The Penang Museum located off Farquhar Street is a place of interest that one should absolutely drop by if you would like to know more about the Pearl of the Orient. If you heard that the Museum is run down, dirty, and not worth your two minutes to park your car, then they are wrong. Yup – Wrong! Prior to that, the museum was in deplorable condition but with the new local government in place, it is a place of information, comfortable (with air condition) and reflects the changes that Penang went through from the 1800′s.

Opening hours :
9.00am to 5.00pm – Saturday to Thursday
Closed: Friday

Admission Fees: RM1.00 (Adult)

The first funicular train that used to ply the Penang Hill railway. This train was replaced decades ago with more practical and safer units.

Old School Bicycle that your grandpa would ride. This was used to sell/deliver cigarettes. The container says "CHIN ENG" (name of the store).

Rickshaw in the far left as the random dude walk past.

A beautiful lady sitting in front of a "chongkak" set in their hands on display. There are areas in the museum where they encourage interactions like this area here.

Corridor of information at Penang Museum

"Chingay" aka Balancing Giant Flag that is being hung from the ceiling of the museum. These flag pole are about 25ft - 30ft and weight more than 60 pounds.

I have been away from updating this site mainly due to work, but I was privileged enough to get some time off to travel to Penang with my partner, and to Bali. It was an amazing trip with the food and sights. Honestly, it is mostly the food.

We also took the opportunity to take in the sights around Georgetown and Penang. One of the most popular places around is Gurney Drive, which hugs the coast with numerous tourist attractions from the mall to the famous road side hawkers. Gurney Drive was named after  ‘Sir Henry Gurney’ who was the High Commissioner of Malaya in 1950 to 1951.

I was told that Gurney Drive is 1.2 miles (1.9km) in length, but I was unable to find data to back it up. Go early in the morning and you will find health conscious people walking the length of the esplanade, and at night, you will find couples to party goers.

Fishing boats anchored at the East end of Gurney Drive at dawn. Gurney Drive is a seafront promenade in Georgetown, Penang.

Father and Son - best buddies. Cheesy pose though

This desirable stretch of land have many unique mansions that has lasted the test of time and would dwarf those off Beverly Hills, but at the same time, development has managed to catch up with high rise concrete buildings and malls.

Granite Pergola in one of the mansions that face the sea. Notice the Angsana tree behind the Pergola.

One of the numerous high rise hotels that dot Gurney Drive.

Sun Rise in the East. Taken at Gurney Drive, Penang.

The Chicago Tribune reported today that Google’s bid for Groupon fell apart when Groupon rejected the internet giant’s offer. Initially, Yahoo tried to buy Groupon at half that amount and failed too. It is said that Groupon might be looking at an IPO in 2011.

Amazon is also looking to buy Groupon’s closest competitor for less than $200 milion.

Groupon’s business model is pretty solid as they keep 50% of the revenue that they generate online. I.e. If they sell a $50 value gift cert at GAP for $25, Groupon would make $12.50 off each the certificate that they sell and GAP gets $12.50.

The bigger question is, what value does that create for merchants other than a potential new customer. In the case of GAP, are they really generating a new customer?

I for one have bought from GAP and am a regular customer. Is it a good deal for me, “Yup” as you get to stretch your dollar further by 100%.

As for GAP, I doubt that they get new customers because at one time or another, one have bought from them.

On the flip side of things, I think it is more of a PR to generate buzz, but at what cost? Brand image – because now GAP is being associated as a discounter? Cash flow – because selling a $50 gift cert for $12.50, or at 75% off.

At the end of the day, it is Groupon and the consumers that are coming out ahead while the merchant is getting short changed.