The Small Business Web, a loosely affiliated group of web app providers that cater to small businesses, today launched a handy directory that not only lets you know which companies belong to the group and what they do, but, crucially, which of the apps integrate with each other. So, for example, if you go to Freshbooks’ entry, you’ll see that it integrates with Setster, while BatchBook, Outright, MerchantOS and Shoeboxed all integrate with the invoicing app.
As I discussed in a post over on GigaOM Pro (sub. req.) “Enterprise 2.0: Web Apps and the Patchwork Quilt Problem,” one of the major problems with the proliferation of web apps is that users often end up using many different services from a variety of vendors whose tools don’t work well with each other, if at all. The Small Business Web’s integration effort is an attempt to try and solve that problem.
As well as having an A-Z listing, the directory is categorized and has a search feature, which is useful, as browsing through the directory makes clear that the Small Business Web is not that small anymore — there are currently more than 50 apps listed. It has grown substantially since Scott first wrote about it this time last year, when it was comprised of just five founding companies. It’s great to see that more web app providers are realizing the value of working with each other to improve their products.
Do the apps you use integrate well with each other?
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking at a conference in Abu Dhabi this week, confirmed that the Chrome OS operating system is on track for delivery in the second half of this year. While we already know that it’s headed for netbooks, there are new reasons to believe that its brightest future may be as an adjunct OS on netbooks and tablets.
Google is taking several big gambles with its upcoming OS, not the least of which is that it will require users to work with all data in the cloud. That will rule out countless applications and utilities that are, in some cases, beloved to users, and there is a good chance that Google’s cloud-only gamble could backfire.
But what if Google adopts an “if you can’t beat them, join them” strategy with its Linux-based operating system, and oversees its shipment on netbooks and tablet devices alongside other OSes? If the idea sounds far-fetched, check out the video below from Mobile World Congress, in which Freescale shows a $199 tablet computer concept that runs Chromium OS (the open-source core of Chrome OS), Linux and Android.
If you think about it, a tablet or netbook running the cloud-focused Chrome OS alongside one that caters to local applications could offer a lot of flexibility. And Freescale’s demo shows that very low price points could be achievable for these types of devices.
Linux-based operating systems are already used on many devices in conjunction with OSes such as Microsoft Windows, sometimes through virtualization, and sometimes via lightweight Linux-based platforms such as Splashtop. There are also brand-new operating systems that are designed from the ground up to run alongside other ones, such as Jolicloud.
Google has already witnessed its Android mobile OS being forked into numerous new incarnations, and seen it running as a secondary operating system on some devices. The company has undoubtedly envisioned scenarios in which Chrome OS accompanies other platforms. Remember that in the operating system business, you don’t have to be the top dog to succeed — just ask Apple.
In the end, it won’t even matter whether Google delivers or encourages dual-OS devices based on its new platform. Let’s not forget that Chrome OS is open source and malleable, and is already showing up out in the wild alongside other operating systems–even before it’s launched.
Related content on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):
Google Chrome OS: What to Expect
There’s a big geeky holiday coming this weekend — and no, I don’t mean SXSW. It’s Pi Day on Sunday, aka March 14, aka 3/14. But in the leadup to this year’s day most resembling the constant ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, many self-proclaimed nerds are ramping up for the longest extended Pi Day of our time, on 3/14/15. As a rapidly growing Facebook event, “The Only Pi Day of Our Lives,” explains,
Yes, the time is upon us. Everyone knows pi day is March 14th, but any true nerd realizes pi is not 3.14, but rather an irrational constant which continues infinitely in decimal expansion. Starting at 9:26:53 (.589… sec) AM, the longest extended Pi Day of our lives will come into action. The date, at the AM and PM hours, will be ” 3/14/15 at 9:26:53.589. Days like this only come once in a lifetime!
Sure, it might be a bit of an exaggeration to say “the time is upon us” for an event five years out, but honestly, what’s more charmingly nerdy than prepping for Pi Day? The Facebook event, which has 131,871 registered participants and encourages attendees to invite all the nerds they know, does note that 1592 was a better year for Pi Day, and that there are many way to interpret pi’s existence in all sorts of dates. Pi Day, by the way, is totally legit; it was officially recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives last year.
Image from piday.org. Video of a 6-year-old reciting 380 digits of pi in Japanese from YouTube.
WebWorkerDaily readers are a diverse bunch. Every week, I profile a different reader and ask them to share what they do, how they do it, and some of their favorite hints and tips.
My name is Larry Salibra. I am a Chinese speaking Italian-American tech entrepreneur living in South China, where I run the company I co-founded. I invented and coded the first versions of Pay4Bugs and Attigo. In the early days, I wrote a lot of code, but now my daily duties are more focused on product and market development, working with our awesome development team in Guangzhou, interacting with customers, and establishing and documenting our internal processes so they can be delegated to new team members.
I wake up around 10 a.m., check email on my iPhone and then check in with my U.S.-based business partner, C.S. Hsia, to see what’s happened overnight via our internal XMPP chat. I then head out to lunch and on to the office. During my daily 15-minute walking commute, I check up on the night’s Twitter and Facebook activity on my iPhone while reading the latest news on Bloomberg’s iPhone app. I spend the afternoon working with our development and support team in Guangzhou, testing out their implementations of new features to make sure they feel right for the international market. Usually, I leave work before dinner with time for a quick trip to the swimming pool. Most evenings, I spend time working on strategy and product design and working with customers and/or suppliers in the U.S. and Canada. I tweet throughout the day and blog when the urge arises.
Web apps allow us to keep costs down and reduce the complexity in operating our mini-multinational business.
A mix of operating systems keeps me in tune with latest on each platform. I use open source whenever possible because there’s no reason to spend money if there’s a free solution that works perfectly well. The open-source tools I use also free me from vendor lock-in:
My iPhone 3GS is always at my side. I make extensive use of iPhone Internet tethering over Bluetooth on China Unicom’s amazing 3G network. On the iPhone, EchoFon, Facebook, Bloomberg and Skype keep me connected. Blossom lets me share my SmugMug albums on the go, while the .977music app keeps me in touch with the latest U.S. music, despite living in the Orient.
Don’t underestimate the power and value of a piece of paper and a pen. I carry a small notebook and pen everywhere. A blank piece of paper makes for a faster planning and design tool than all the hardware and software that money can buy. If you can’t come up with a good design or proposal that makes sense on a piece of paper, all the web apps in the world are not going to change that.
If you would like to be profiled on WWD, get in touch with me at simon (at) gigaom (dot) com.
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Updated: Turns out, March Madness isn’t the only major sporting event starting this weekend: Cricket fans all over the world have been feverishly awaiting today’s start of the Indian Premiere League Cricket Season. In fact, the first game is already underway while I’m writing this story, with the Deccan Chargers facing off against the Kolkata Knight Riders, and the audience is going crazy on Twitter, posting tweets faster than a Cricket fan’s heartbeat.
So where do you turn to watch the Indian Premiere League Cricket Season? Not ESPN or Fox Sports. U.S. broadcasters tend to ignore the event, but cricket fans can turn to YouTube instead, where the complete season — with all of its 60 matches will be broadcast in real time almost all over the world. Missed a match? No worries, the IPL’s YouTube channel will also offer past games on demand.
The Indian Premiere League has only been around for three seasons, but it’s already been called “the world’s hottest sports league” by Forbes. The 2008 semifinals and final were watched by 62 million TV viewers in India, which comes to about 11 percent of the country’s cable audience. YouTube signed a deal with the league in January, which marks the first time the site was able to secure the online rights for a sports event of this scale.
YouTube will broadcast the Indian Premiere League games worldwide in real time, with one big exception: the U.S., where viewers won’t get to see the games 15 minutes after they’ve ended. That may be a concession to conflicting pay-TV rights, but it should actually help many of us to follow the league. Today’s game between the Deccan Chargers and the Kolkata Knight Riders started at 8 p.m. local time in Mumbai, which is 6.30 a.m. PST, and some games will get underway even earlier. Cricket fans can find the complete schedule for the season here.
Update: Subscription-based online sports site Willow.tv will stream the games in real time in the U.S., but cricket fans have to pay $60 to gain access to the live streams.
Related GigaOM Pro content:
Are You Ready for the TV Widget Revolution? (subscription required)
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