So much for a quick trip to the book store. I finally got out of there at 4:00 P.M. There was a lengthy article about the most useful programs of all time. It was hardly surprising (with all the junk out there) that most of them were software I’ve recommended over the past few years. Spybot, Audacity, OpenOffice, Opera, Foxit, GoogleEarth. It is like reading a list of my desktop shortcuts.That was at Border’s, where for a change they had some nice overhead musak, very classical-sounding. Some gorf who works there usually puts on that nerve-grating big band swing music, his favorite “A Lady Always Leaves With Her Escort”, a tune that will gag you three times over. When I watch those 1930s movies, I wonder if they really did have clubs full of people who danced like that.
I was reading up on RIAs, the on-line software that has finally arrived. What? You forgot how long ago I predicted this? That is correct, you don’t buy any software for your computer. You log on to their site and use theirs. It is sad that the computer industry can’t come up with new words and they still resort to acronyms. I think it means Rich Internet Applications but don’t quote me on that. They are on-line programs.
The one that intrigues me is called Lazybase, an online database that does away with all the heavy PHP and Apache coding. As usual, since this is new, one single brilliant idea will capture billions and yes, I’m working hard on it. The literature says you get two URLs, one for youself to build the database, the other a read-only version for the public to access your information. Come on, I just need one dumb idea like Amazon or Craigslist. The business cards again? The only thing holding me back was the database part and I already have an awful lot of business cards on file.
Furthermore, this Lazybase is integrated with email, which to me is the preferable way to place orders on-line. I see a flurry of recent government pamphlets are starting to agree with me on that one, and they are finally advising people not to talk to talk to strangers doing “surveys”. A recent popular scam is some lady approaching the guy mowing his lawn. She is from the “school board” and needs his opinion on something, politely asking if his wife is at home. If he says no, the lady “accidentally” drops her pencil, signaling the all clear to her accomplice that the house is empty. Of course, Mr. Studly, the suburban lawn-mower, simply has to chat with any friendly broad.
Anyway, I am also thinking of any cheesy crap I could use on Lazybase. Chatting, online dating, anything like that. YouTube has the video part, Blogger has the text part, eBay is a royal mess, but nobody yet has something on a database. This I understand, because most people haven’t a clue how a database really works. Why can’t I come up with the winning idea? What is wrong with my brain? I read that the others never anticipated success, but instead they came home and found their emails clogged with requests.
I can’t give names but a local business is about to experience harder times than they imagine. You see, I don’t like robot phone calls. My phone is for my use, not yours. I’ve identified a place starting up a robot calling database and they are about to find out they should not have put my phone number on the list without my permission. If that sounds arrogant, they started it. I also dislike the mentality that their 1% success ratio justifies bothering the other 99%. When I called and asked questions, they hung up on me. Bad move, Hernando, and it will cost you.
