More and more companies are starting to realize that managing business processes using spreadsheets is a cumbersome and inefficient way of solving problems. However, hiring a software developer to create an application from scratch that replaces the spreadsheets can be costly and time consuming. RapidBiz is a tool that eliminates the time and cost associated with third-party development by allowing both developers and non-developers to create applications quickly and easily.

“When people want to have something done right now, they have a tool set that allows them to do it, and better yet, it deploys it immediately to the web,” explains Terry Bird, Founder, President and COO of VACAVA, maker of RapidBiz. “So if you want to get that information out to your customers, your suppliers, your team, you can do that literally in a matter of minutes or hours today with RapidBiz.”

The RapidBiz interface features a simple drag-and-drop methodology where users name fields, tie them to the appropriate field or column in the database, click save and create their app. In addition to stand-alone apps, users can create apps that serve as extensions of their existing ERP solution.

“I think we all understand that ERP is great and provides a wealth of features and functions around the process,” says Bird, “but it can’t do everything for everybody every time. That’s where RapidBiz really shines is if you need to extend an existing solution, whether it’s ERP, financial or anything, then RapidBiz can probably do that very easily.”

While the tool is designed to allow anyone to develop an app, RapidBiz has consultants on hand that will help you through the process should you need assistance, or they will develop the app for you using the tool. Apps are 100% web-delivered on standard IE and Firefox browsers, and users can link to any database to which a connection can be established. Customers have already used the tool to develop a wide variety of applications from a global quotation process to a sales support system to a global supply management system just to name a few. Once your app is developed, deploying it is as simple as clicking a button.

“When we developed it, we knew that you couldn’t just do it so I could develop it and then I’ve got to hand it off to a programmer, and then the programmer has to deploy it,” explains Bird. “We didn’t want that. Literally all you have to do is change a radio button from in development to deploy or active, and it is now available on the web. And it’s available to whoever you give the URL to and who’s authorized to actually go after the app.”

Come join the Google+ discussion to talk about RapidBiz in-depth with us.

Why is Google calling itself an identity company now?

Why is David Kirkpatrick, one of the smartest journalists I know, telling the world on Forbes that a social revolution is coming to companies?

Why have I moved almost all of my available time and blogging behavior to Google+?

I just spent 40 minutes in audio explaining why. I call it the “Game of all Games.”

It is the game to addict us, to impel us to give our identities over to Google or Facebook, and what will that do.

In the audio I talk about a few pieces of the new identity stack.

First, the things about us that they need to know:

1. Our health info. Do you have cancer, like Steve Jobs has? That’s part of your identity.
2. Your family. Who are you related to.
3. Your friends. Who do you hang out with? Who would you call to get you out of jail, or to help you move?
4. Your favorite brands (and most hated). That will tell the system a lot about you. Do you fly United? Or Jet Blue. Do you drink Pabst? Or RedBull? Etc etc.
5. The games you play. Monopoly? Blackjack? World of Warcraft?
6. Your politics? Says a lot about you and the kinds of people you would probably like to hang out with. Ronald Reagan joked with his doctors “I hope you are Republicans.” It isn’t really a joke.
7. Religion.
8. Music. If I try to take you to an Eminem concert will you like that or, will you be like my producer who threatened my life for trying that.
9. Food. Sushi? Thai? Steak? Vegetarian.
10. Questions and answers. What do you answer on Quora? Did your answer get the respect of the community there?
11. Books. Romance or O’Reilly tech book?
12. Location. If you live in New York you probably have different life expectations than someone who lives in Emigrant, Montana.
13. Interests and hobbies. Are you into pottery, like my dad, or are you into Ham radio, like Leo Laporte?
14. Movies. Star Wars or Black Swan?

Then I talked about the user interfaces of this new game of games.

1. App stores. The tools to use, the games to play.
2. Notification streams. What is happening. Things you need to know.
3. Activity streams. Metadata about what everyone did in the system and who is doing it.
4. News and media stream. Who is generating media (posts, videos, photos, audio) and who is doing it?
5. Pagination displays. Flipboard is one such UI. But there will be others before we decide on who displays our content and context.

What are the verbs that everyone is using to hook these systems together? The lowest-common denominator ones are:

1. Post.
2. Comment.
3. Share.
4. Like.
5. Buy.
6. Review.
7. Tag.
8. Circle, or list, or group.
9. Read.
10. Search.

But there will be many, many others. I’ll soon have a video up with Badgeville, who are building addiction systems for bloggers (oh, sorry, you all call them gamification systems) that are tracking hundreds of verbs.

Finally I get to the meat. I talk about what this means to:

1. People discovery (finding a doctor in San Francisco, today, is what you do on Yelp, but Yelp has a “masses is asses” problem. It doesn’t know to bias your answers based on your politics, religion, health background, family background, and other stuff talked about above.
2. Content discovery. In the pre 9/11 world we went to news brands to get our news. You know, New York Times, or CNN, or Yahoo. After 9/11 RSS brought the news to systems like Google Reader or Twitter. But in the future it will come to us via notification streams on our phones. What content will come there? Your identity system will decide for you based on your context and actions you take.

Add this all up and you can see you’re soon going to have to choose between Facebook or Google for your identity systems (or, like I am, both).

How does Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, play into this? He’s carving up the “at work” identity systems and pulling them into Salesforce Chatter. I believe that for the next 18 months most people won’t think Benioff is important in this game of games, but that sometime in 2013 it will be clear that Benioff has an identity system to play the game of games with.

It’s a game for everything we do on our phones, our tablets, and on our TVs.

It is, simply, the game of games and it’s about to get really interesting to watch and participate in.

It’s why I’ve moved most of my content development into Google+. I’m playing the game of games and want a front-row look at how it’ll work out.

Join us on Google+ discussing this.

Reprinted, in part, from my post on Google+. (Lots of comments over there).

HP announced today that it is withdrawing the TouchPad from the market, which calls into question the future of webOS.

First, so far Dieter Bohn has the best article on how HP failed that I’ve seen so far.

The photo I put on this post is of Todd Bradley, HP executive vice president, and Jon Rubenstein, of Palm, at the announcement of HP’s tablet.

But, there is something else that I haven’t seen yet discussed.

This is a HUGE win for Windows 8.

Why?

Well, when I was listening to the HP announcement I thought that it was a huge snub in the eye from HP toward Microsoft. It was. HP clearly wanted to be free of the Microsoft ecosystem and wanted to have an OS it controlled and that it didn’t need to pay Microsoft $40 to $200 for.

Seemed like a bold move at the time. Today, though, it is clear that strategy did not work.

Now HP has to wimper back to Microsoft for meetings with Steven Sinofsky, who runs Windows, and say “we’re sorry, we’re back to help make Windows 8 rock.”

I don’t see HP having many other choices at this point.

But there’s another part to this story that I’ve been repeating all year. “No apps, no sales.”

If you want to be a leading platform today you MUST get third-party developers on your side. To rub that in a bit, today I was hanging out with Photobucket’s CEO, Tom Munro. I asked him what he thought about the HP news. You can listen in on that conversation here.

Don’t know why Photobucket is relevant? They have nine billion photos. Flickr only has five billion. They just made a deal with Twitter to become the photo sharing system underneath Twitter. Twitter made a deal with Apple to become the official social network for iOS. IE, he’s now the official photo sharing guy for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

Developers like him keep telling me “Apple is first in my mind, Google is second, and I don’t have time for #3, but if I do, looks like Microsoft has the best future.”

This is quite consistent around Silicon Valley. Even Tom told me that growth on RIM is “flat, going down.” Android, he says, is growing fastest.

This matches what most other CEOs who build apps tell me.

So, can anyone disrupt this? Can anyone sell a Tablet that doesn’t have an Apple logo?

Let’s look at who can:

1. Microsoft still is hot with Xbox, and is struggling with mobile, but Windows 8 at least looks freaking awesome. Yeah, the pundits will dig into Windows and find it isn’t as nice an experience once you dig in, but consumers who see this on TV will be wowed and Microsoft still has lots of fans.

2. Android tablet makers are struggling, except for Samsung, which has built a brand that consumers like. One question mark, though, is how Samsung will deal with Apple’s patent suits. But even Samsung hasn’t sold gobs of a 10-inch tablet, which is where the sweet spot is for tablets.

3. Amazon could change everything. Why? I can see Amazon subsidizing a tablet to lower its price to $200. I also keep hearing about a $99 Kindle coming soon. Having a “one-two-punch” is going to be interesting. Amazon, unlike other tablet makers, can build an ecosystem. Already I’m hearing from SIlicon Valley’s startup world that they are EXCITED by Amazon and are already working on apps for an Amazon tablet. I never heard that about the HP tablet.

The major problem for Microsoft is that its computing brands are starting to look old and crappy and Windows 8 won’t come out until next year. You better believe that Steve Ballmer will be at CES pulling out all stops. One problem for Ballmer, though. Steve Jobs is already planning iPad 3 and will probably announce that right on top of CES. If the iPad 3 really does have a killer screen, like my friends say they are working on, then it’ll be hard for Microsoft to deal with Apple.

Or, maybe, is that where HP comes in? Does HP have something in its research labs that will let it get back into bed with Microsoft? Could HP buy a company like Nanosys which makes a new screen technology that could help get me excited by a Microsoft tablet?

Well, yes, but it’s clear that for now Apple has no competition in the 10-inch tablet space.

No apps, no sale.

Which makes me wonder, what will the users do?

Will they all go iPad? Or will the market split into Apple vs Google, like it is today on smartphones? I can see that happening next year, but I wonder if Microsoft has the right stuff to disrupt Apple and Google?

What do you think?

For the past six weeks I’ve been totally engrossed in Google+. Addicted is the right word. It’s like those dinosaurs that fell into a pit of tar and couldn’t get out. Heck, I’m not the only one. Today blogger Louis Gray announced he is joining Google to work on Google+. Congrats Louis!

What have I learned there?

1. A LOT of people have showed up and tried it in the first six weeks. I have 114,000 followers there. It took me more than three years to get that many on Twitter. That’s more followers than I have on FriendFeed, Facebook, and Google Buzz, combined!

2. A usage pattern has evolved. One that involves beautiful photos and large videos. Just my kind of style.

3. The feature set is maddening. It’s well enough done to make you think it’s competitive (and make other systems, like Twitter, seem boring, even as their streams have not slowed down a bit, which tells me that Google+ hasn’t gotten anyone off of other systems) but you can’t search. Discovery sucks. There’s no noise controls. Notifications suck. Etc etc.

But I’m wondering what that all means for tech blogging?

This morning I saw Read Write Web’s Richard MacManus write that tech media is obsessed with deals and rumors.

I’ve found that too, which is why Google+ has been so fun for me lately. There are a ton of great photographers over there, plus folks who run the music business, and there are tons of others, from artists to web developers. Yesterday I linked to 249 tech journalists and bloggers who are active there. Someone made a place where you can list the best folks, even.

Tonight things head into the scientific realm, with a live streamed hangout with a physicist from CERN.

But I’m finding it very addictive. Why? Because it’s not about the original post, it’s about the comments you get. The +1s you get. There’s a community forming and so far it has been mostly a positive experience, although there are some downsides. What are they?

I say mostly the problems are noise related. Or, another way to say it is they are the chat room problem. Things are fun when people you like are talking with you. But then come spammers and bad actors. Yesterday Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin said she was leaving because she had something unpleasant happen. I assume a commenter got her down, but not sure really what happened. But look at the 269 comments she got in support of her content. That’s the Google+ that has addicted me.

What does it mean for blogging?

1. Bloggers have to add even more value than before. Otherwise they won’t get the engagement that others will.
2. Bloggers have to find ways to get attention, both from their own audiences, existing places they look to get traffic from, as well as from those on Google+. Already lots of my blogger friends say that a lot of traffic is coming from Google+.
3. Lots of “pros” will say I’m stupid to not keep posting on my blog. They are right. You can’t monetize traffic on Google+ unless you have a model like mine (Rackspace pays me to be its chief learning officer, which is why I meet with so many entrepreneurs and others). That means you’ve gotta get off of Google+ and back onto your blog to get those precious page views.
4. Kevin Marks tells me he can’t do the style of blogging he wants to do on Google+. What does he mean by that? He can’t use multiple images. They don’t let you link (you’ve gotta paste out ugly URLs into your posts there) and typographical controls are few (you can bold, italicize, or strike out, but can’t do other things). So, if you need to have more “pro tools” to tell a story, you gotta come out to blogs. Most, however, won’t need those.

If you want to join me on Google+, the first 150 people to hit this link are in!

Is Google+ really ready for mass market? No.

Why not? It needs noise controls. Already for high flow users, like me, notifications are useless there and finding the good stuff, and good people, is very difficult (getting rid of people who don’t add value is also too difficult). I am missing private messages sent to me. Building circles is hard work (I know, just spent most of the weekend on rebuilding mine). The mobile clients are inadequate (you can’t share from them, can’t add those cool + links on people’s names, and on my iPhone the thing keeps freezing up). They also need to solve the real name debate, lots of users keep getting kicked off the system and the policies there aren’t very well thought out (even though I really like real names too). There are tons of other things they need to solve, too, but that’s really another post for another day.

Anyway, you can go through my feed and see the kinds of things I’ve been sharing and talking about. Looking through this selection it’s interesting to see what got engagement and for what reasons. But look at the engagement! It’s more than most people get on even popular pro blogs.

One other thing, I’ve hired Kat Armstrong and she’ll be helping me write up my videos and post those here in the future. If she posts, she’ll mark those posts with “From Kat Armstrong.” Same thing if I ever have guest posters here.

Before we get into the list of old posts, there’s already a post about this post, which is already getting lots of comments and +1s.

Link to SXSW 2012 data plot. 58 +1s. 31 shares. 16 comments.

Behind the videoconferencing technology of Google+ Hangouts (Video interview). +209. 158 shares. 58 comments.

SimpleGeo’s cool location-based iPhone app (Video interview). +123. 65 shares. 59 comments.

Audio interview of Geekli.st founders. +61. 19 shares. 69 comments.

A share of a very cool bicycle video. +371. 450 shares. 86 comments.

Video interview of Bob Summers, founder of Friendeo, a new way to get Facebook videos to Android and cool video discovery site. +64. 45 shares. 29 comments.

The TV wars. An editorial about what Google’s acquistion of Motorola mobile means. +169. 86 shares. 121 comments.

A link to a TED video that uses iPhones to perform some magic. +272. 325 shares. 51 comments.

A link to the top Google+ conversations about Google buying Motorola Mobile. +149. 78 shares. 80 comments.

Video interview of Luidia. The coolest whiteboard, er, surface computing gadget I’ve seen this year. +358. 379 shares. 96 comments.

Kick ass sports video camera (video interview with founder of Contour sports camera). +104. 66 shares. 37 comments.

Video interview with CEO of Healthline about healthcare info. +32. 21 shares. 11 comments.

Video interview with founder of SceneChat, which lets video producers add interactivity to their videos. +68. 46 shares. 39 comments.

Video interview with founder of Buckaroo, which helps local businesses with promotions. +42. 24 shares. 20 comments.

Video interview with founders of Tout, which brings productivity to email through useful templating system. +60. 42 shares. 43 comments.

Photo of guy behind AOL’s new Editions iPad app. +60. 23 shares. 86 comments.

Link to ShowYou video, cool way to discover videos on iPad. +76. 44 shares. 35 comments.

Audio interview with founder of 6dotinnovations, a braille printer for blind people. +110. 30 shares. 44 comments.

Video interview with Extole’s CEO which helps big brands convert people into brand advocates on social networks. +54. 26 shares. 21 comments.

Video interview with SteelHouse’s CEO, talking about eCommerce tracking. +62. 41 shares. 43 comments.

Video look at Toodo, a social to-do list. +70. 35 shares. 116 comments.

Video interview of founder of the OpenPhoto Project. +78. 15 shares. 54 comments.

Video interview with founder of RentCycle, which helps stores rent things. +38. 10 shares. 32 comments.

Video interview with founder of Alltiera’s Rodeo App Maker, which lets you do “bookmarks on steroids” or apps of websites. +77. 40 shares. 53 comments.

Video with Pioneer, the audio/consumer electronics folks, who are developing an API for controlling your favorite web services with your voice.

Video interview with Scoop.it’s CEO, talking about curation and social media. +42. 25 shares. 15 comments.

Video interview with NewMe Accelerator startups. I hope these startups kick some Silicon Valley ass. +189. 111 shares. 88 comments.

Video interview with CEO of Oyster.com, a new way to search for hotels. +39. 27 shares. 23 comments.

Video interview with GLMPS, cool photo/video app on iPhone. +94. 58 shares. 93 comments.

Video interview of CEO of Wildfire Interactive. One of the best Silicon Valley CEOs I’ve met. +200. 130 shares. 66 comments.

Video interview of Jimdo’s founder. They help small businesses make really great websites. +87. 60 shares. 34 comments.

A tour of Rackspace’s headquarters (my employer) with President of Rackspace Cloud. +98. 48 shares. 101 comments.

A rant about why I can’t wait for brand pages on Google+. +351. 222 shares. 130 comments.

A rant about my “noisiness” on Google+. +282. 26 shares. 356 comments.

An interview with Teens in Tech founders and startups. +83. 31 shares. 55 comments.

Video interview with founders of NowJS, toolset for developers who want to build real-time apps. +100. 91 shares. 60 comments.

A rant about why MG Siegler at Techcrunch is wrong and a bunch of insight into how I am more productive with email. +167. 62 shares. 110 comments.

My answer to Chris White, who asked why he should use Rackspace for his VPS. +43. 3 shares. 56 comments.

My rant on how to recruit the best talent. +253. 206 shares. 103 comments.

Link to a cool video from astrophotographer Tom Lowe. +517. 458 shares. 88 comments.

A post about what my first month on Google+ was like. +315. 167 shares. 161 comments.

Video interview with CEO of Orb.com, which is bringing a new way to watch online TV to your TV. +71. 50 shares. 49 comments.

Video interview with CEO of Twilio.com, which is enabling developers to build a new kind of phone system. +50. 41 shares. 10 comments.

Interview with CEO of Tackable, puts your local newspaper online and on a map. +68. 62 shares. 26 comments.

Report on why Google is asking people to use their real names on Google+. +1146. 1103 shares. 414 comments.

Video interview with CEO of Fwix, which is making an API of geotagged info from around the net. +118. 74 shares. 37 comments.

Video interview with CEO of Cleversense, which is an iPhone app that helps you find good things near you. +43. 22 shares. 26 comments.

Audio interview with Bert Monroy, who made the world’s largest photoshop file (he’s a digital artist who worked on this for four years). +80. 21 shares. 53 comments.