In this post, I want to look at just the question of when it makes sense to use Facebook Connect, Twitter Oauth, OpenID, Yahoo Browser-Based Authentication, Google Friend Connect or basically any of the other authentication mechanisms. Example What do I mean? Here’s the block that you see when you look at a blog enabled by Disqus (a third party commenting tool that can be embedded in blogs and other content): It allows you to authenticate yourself using Facebook Connect , Twitter Oauth (sign in with Twitter), OpenID , and Yahoo Browser-Based Authentication .

TechCrunch says that Google just bought Aardvark for $50 million. I’m skeptical – if I want to consult my circle of friends, I’ll just Facebook or blog it. Everyone wants to know where to eat, where to go on vacation… These are Google questions and Yelp questions! But for specific, tough-to-Google questions What the hell is Aardvark (vark.com) ? It’s like a Yahoo Questions that works.

I’ve written about Google’s Data Liberation Front before … They are the nice people dedicated to making sure its as easy to get your data out of the cloud as it is to get it in . A beefed up export feature for Google Docs now allows you to convert, zip and download multiple files in a couple simple steps. You can zip up to 500MB of files (more than almost Today they announced a new feature worth acknowledging.  Just one more reason Google Apps is a great MS Office substitute for most people and organizations…

This is that post. Value of Blogging I started the presentation talking about the value of blogging. But rather than believing me, listen to Tom Peters and Seth Godin: . Seth Godin Doesn't matter if anyone reads it. What matters is the metacognition of thinking about what you are going to say. How do you force yourself to describe in three paragraphs why you did something. You are doing it for yourself to become part of the conversation even if it's very small. Tom Peters No single thing in the last 15 years professionally

Repost of SMCLA's Going Goo Goo Over Google Analytics The Google Analytics panel was a big success with a great turnout of over 150 people at the  Mahalo office in Santa Monica. It takes 5 minutes: Google Analytics is about as easy to setup as setting your alarm clock. Set aside 5 minutes, get your cut and paste Below is a highlight video of the evening.  To To view the entire talk click here .  

recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog .  Since Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there.  I Should you blog? I guess let’s file this under sales & marketing advice . I

And let's face facts, we normally are talking Google search. If you don't know the basics here, go look at Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (PDF). Which is also really important: off page SEO. However, if all you do is follow the on page SEO advice, it is unlikely that you will get much traffic via search. Off Page SEO The other aspect of SEO is at its most basic, how many pages with decent Google Page Rank point to you using anchor text that helps you with optimization. I recently had a conversation with an pre-launch startup where they discussed how SEO was going to be really important for them.

Don’t worry, we didn’t either until today when he opened up a little bitchfest on the BarCampLA Google group . would say most blogs consist of poor, unethical journalism. Thanks for joining us for Great Moments in Google Groups, till next time. ...Tags: Don’t know John Pratt ? The exchange was funny enough to make HackerNews under the title “ How not to promote your new startup “. Certainly an appropriate title

Don’t worry, we didn’t either until today when he opened up a little bitchfest on the BarCampLA Google group . would say most blogs consist of poor, unethical journalism. Thanks for joining us for Great Moments in Google Groups, till next time. ...Tags: Don’t know John Pratt ? The exchange was funny enough to make HackerNews under the title “ How not to promote your new startup “. Certainly an appropriate title

Pause for Simpsons Fans] The team has been on my case to get on this whole blogging thing and the time has arrived.  Today’s topic, and a personal favorite is Google Apps.  Here at Startup Army we’re using a combination of Google Apps and Microsoft Office to keep ourselves organized and productive.  Hey Everybody! [Pause I’ve got plenty to say and now you’ll get to hear some of it.