BigBlueHat

UPDATE: If you missed Gadgetfest ‘07, you can hear smaller presentations via a podcast created by the GSABusiness magazine.

Brad and I enjoyed Gadgetfest ‘07 a couple hours ago. This year, Gadgetfest featured some DIY gadgets, a squirting Zune, a touch screen device for gyms (I got the t-shirt for this one!), a very expensive HD camcorder, a Canon S5, and our very own Nokia N800.

While there weren’t as many “toys” this year, the practical nature of so many of the devices was actually exciting. It was good to see so many useful devices and some of them obtainably priced!

If you haven’t been to a GSATC meeting yet, you should visit. Even if your interest in technology is mild or “strictly business,” the GSATC will introduce you to new technology and new people using that technology in the Upstate of South Carolina. We’ve enjoyed attending many of the events, and plan to keep it up in 2008.

As far as gadgets go for 2007, what were some of the gadgets or software products you felt were most influential or had the highest “coolness” factor this year? I’ll start off (to avoid the obvious):

• Apple iPhone
• Nokia N800/N810
• BlueInk

Any others?

This year has been full of blessings at BigBlueHat. From new employees to segways and other gadgets, we have a list of gratitude we’d like to share. To those of you directly or indirectly involved with the items in this list, you have our thanks.

First, Brad. This year would not have been possible without the addition of Brad Garrett. Brad came on full-time at BigBlueHat in January. He’s been an invaluable asset and has allowed us to move more quickly into the world of web software by adding many improvements to BlueInk and becoming the programming lead for a new software project due next month (more on that next month).

Second, many new web sites. As our recent porfolio update shows, we’ve done several new sites, all of them built on the BlueInk Content Management System. We’re thankful to the clients who have used us to build or revamp their web sites. The feedback on BlueInk has been helpful, and we look forward to serve them and others with more BlueInk enhancements in the coming months and years.

Third, the Greenville Lion’s Club New Vision Car Show. We are working with the Greenville, SC chapter of the Lion’s Club to create a web site for the club and for their annual New Vision Car Show. In exchange for our help, they gave us the privilege of marketing space at the car show. We had a great time, and look forward to next year.

Fourth, Sara. Sometime in September we found a need for some help. Sara is now working part time for BigBlueHat keeping things running smoothly, providing her word crunching editorial skills to our clients, and bringing more dry humor and appreciation for simplicity to the office. We look forward to working more with Sara in the coming months, and seeing the writing on the web sites we serve improve exponentially.

Last, FastTrac. Benjamin finished the FastTrac GrowthVenture class last week. Ten weeks of very fast, focused entrepreneurial goodness is already beginning to pay off. We’re thankful to the SC State legislature for helping make it possible for us to be apart of FastTrac this year. We recommend it for any new or growing company in South Carolina.

Thank you to everyone who’s helped make this year possible. We look forward to serving you with what’s left of this year and all of next year.

Thank you again, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

The Donut Shoppe, our source for everything good about donuts, has closed their doors. I was forced to buy donuts from a franchise this morning. It’s sad to see a seemingly successful small business suddenly disappear.

I wish the owners well as they pursue their new career options.

If you know of another local donut shop in the area, I’d love to hear about it. Something about franchised donuts just leaves something to be desired (probably just saturated fats and the like, but it’s still missed all the same).

We like them. A lot. Especially those from a quaint locally owned outfit known as the Donut Shoppe. I suggest you try the chocolate-covered cream cheese donut, which is just as unnecessarily decadent as it sounds, and the donut known simply as “spice.” These treats have been known to cause me to utter profound phrases such as, “Just remember… always eat lots of donuts… on Tuesday.”

Some days these donuts provide just the inspiration we need to tackle the world’s problems, such as adding many wonderful features to our CMS of triumph known as BlueInk. In recent days we have added the capability for front-end registration and a corresponding permissions system, refined a couple of content types (contacts and events) based on popular microformats, and constructed a fairly robust form-builder system. We invite you to try our demo and let us know what you think—we are seeking to enhance it steadily, so if you have any ideas, criticisms, or observations, we are all about hearing them. Just let me grab a donut first.

If you enjoy meeting people, sharing ideas, and discussing the South Carolina business horizons, you might check out the following networking events:

• Upstate Entrepreneur’s Forum - The Warehouse Theatre on Augusta road in downtown Greenville began hosting the UEF meetings earlier this month. Our last meeting was excellent. We discussed making the Upstate more entrepreneurial: how to attract more entrepreneurs, what could be done to increase innovation, what was needed from the city and community to increase entrepreneurial ventures. Paul Savas, our host, was very gracious to let us use the space. More information about our last meeting is available at the Upstate Entrepreneur’s Forum web site.
• Networking Underground - Hosted at Greenville downtown’s Coffee Underground, Networking Underground meets monthly and centers around free and friendly networking. The last meeting was the 18th, and I enjoyed meeting a couple sales reps, a youth worker, and a financial strategist. Next month’s meeting (August 22nd at 7:30 am) will be the fourth in the series, and should prove to have an even larger gathering.

Do you attend networking events in upstate South Carolina? If so, which ones?