As you can tell from the photo Smibs is pretty excited about something…

Today we are happy to announce that our first online business tool Doorbell is in full production and ready for formal launch. We took the time in beta to listen to the suggestions of our users, and we have optimized our interface and workflow to meet their needs. Our software is elegant and powerful, but we also made sure it is easy and fun to use.

Smibs Founder and CEO Peter Urban has prepared a short video message for you:

First time visiting us?

Our Products

Doorbell – Described as “Sales software for non-sales people,” Doorbell is a simple CRM system, contact list manager and sales tool that helps you and your team win more business while you’re busy with work that pays the bills. You can share contacts, leads and tasks with your team and always be better prepared for your next call by keeping a history of who said what to whom. Doorbell gives you access to the vital information you need in an intuitive and efficient interface, so you can focus on what matters: your business.

Smibs Network – A truly collaborative business network. Use it to promote yourself and your company and to connect with potential new talent, clients and friends. You can also use the Smibs Network to find and build a team for your upcoming project. The Network acts as the launching pad for all of our business software, so you can find the tools you need to collaborate and get started.

Ready to get started?

Doorbell is offered through a Freemium subscription model – you can sign up and use the basic account completely free, or select one of our low priced packages to fit the usage and resource needs of your company. All Smibs Network activities are always free.

We look forward to meeting you on the Smibs Network!

The Smibs Team

Paul Steier of Smibs talks to Poet Laureate and performing artist Cadence Weapon (Roland Pemberton) at the artsScene launch event. They discuss corporate involvement in the arts, how the arts scene in Western Canada is perceived and how he found success as an internationally recognized recording artist.

Peter Urban talks to the Chair, Ken Bautista and Co-Chair, Michael Brechtel of artsScene, they discuss how artsScene came to Edmonton and why the arts is such an important element of society. artsScene is all about bringing the arts and business together and providing support to local artists. They organize many events throughout the year, with this event at Planet Z, their launch event, they had a huge success with over 100 people in attendance.

Loktah – portfolios, boxes, cases
Loktah produces beautiful, simple and natural looking products based on waxed organic paper. I thought I would diverge this week from my usual tech solutions to something more tangible for all of you artists, photographers and crafty people. They have elegant products at a reasonable price.

Website: www.loktah.com
Cost: $10-$35US

Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

I wanted to talk about design and colors today and point out a few good resources online. I myself am not a graphic designer or web designer but I am a photographer. Although, as a photographer, I am not able to select the color I want in a frame all the time, it is still important to learn about complementary colors and color theory in general.

The above screen shot is a free online tool called Peter Piper’s Palette Picker This tool allows you to quickly and easily select color and then apply them with one click to the space on the right of the image above. For myself, working with this tool helps me learn to see what colors work better together, for a designer, it is a quick tool to use when approaching a new project rather than firing up illustrator when you’re still in the brainstorming stage. The hex codes are also displayed when you’ve chosen a color. The website offering this tool www.worqx.com also offers a host of information on color such as color theory, color and contrast, shades and tints – to name a few topics. The piece on contrast and dominance and tinting is particularly interesting on a post-production side in regards to photography.

The first and most obvious is the wallpaper. The internet is full of useful sources. Two places I like are http://digitalblasphemy.com/ which is a pay site, but has some pretty sweet free options, and http://www.deviantart.com/ which contains a wide range of art, but with a little cropping most images will fit. Also for all you proud Apple users out there, you can check out http://www.usingmac.com/2008/5/18/50-nice-apple-wallpapers.

The second biggest thing you can do to alter your experience is changing your icons. This is a two step process. First you have to find icons you like. They’re all over the Internet, but http://iconfactory.com has both free and pay icon sets available. Some of the themes are pretty ugly, but there are some real gems hidden away. Once you have icons you like there are two ways of customizing your computer. The first is by copying and pasting the icons into the folder’s Info screen, as explained at http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/how-to-change-mac-os-x-leopard-icons/. The second method is to purchase a tool called Candybar. It seems like a waste of money, but it is really addictive. It makes changing your default icons really fun and easy. It also allows for changing your dock, and entire themes from IconFactory can be applied with a single click. Plus it stores all your themes so mixing and matching icons from different sets is a breeze. It comes as a free demo, so I recommend giving it a try.

Once you’ve chosen your background and set up your icons, you’ll want to get the details to match your theme. In system preferences, you can choose the highlight colours for lists, and some dock features. I like browsing in column mode, but if you prefer the “Icon View” you can set colours and background images for finder windows. There is an explanation of this trick at http://www.thinkmac.net/blog/archives/mac-tips-daily-218-folder-backgrounds.html. You can even modify your login screen with the tutorial found at http://osxdaily.com/2007/02/22/customize-the-mac-os-x-login-screen/. My point is that if there is something you want to change, you should perform a google search, because you would be amazed at your options.

That’s about it for the OS theme. There are a few applications which I like because they really add to the experience and the look. Instead of using iChat for interoffice communication I like to use Adium. It is very flexible for the look and feel, but doesn’t handle video as well. I also really like using CoverSutra to play my music. I’m one of those people who loves listening to music while I work, but flipping back and forth to iTunes is annoying and can slow me down. CoverSutra lets me hot-key all of my music, provides a SpotLight like quick search and most importantly, places the icon of the album on my screen. This is particularly good for a well organized music library. One thing to note is the bright pink icon that CoverSutra comes with. If you decide to purchase this application, you should use one of the tricks above to change the icon.

I’d love to hear what tricks you have for customizing you desktop experience.

If you are a graphic designer looking for some spare cash or you are a small business with a limited marketing budget, crowdSPRING may be the site for you. Sure, the name is a little unclear and the capitalizing the last word may annoy you a little bit but this website is a great graphic orientated marketplace. Essentially, how it works is that businesses post a project with a specific request for some creative work (logos, website, etc.), add a monetary value and post it. Graphic designers can then search the projects and submit a corresponding design in an attempt to win the account. 

While no one is going to get rich winning these accounts (varying in the range of $150-$1000 generally), it is a great way for graphic designers to both add to their portfolio and earn a little additional income at the same time. The real benefit is for the small business owners that may have an extremely limited marketing budget but still want a professional result. The traditional approach would involve hiring an ad agency or design firm, which could cost thousands.

People concerned with security of their intellectual property have nothing to worry about as crowdSPRING has intergraded several measures designed to protect both the buyer and the seller. The site even has integrated a ‘Pro Project’ feature for clients who required a high degree of discretion, even as far as to implement non-disclosure agreements with the graphic designers. The result is a completely secure site that serves as a valuable service to independent graphic designers and small businesses.

(Editors note: crowdSPRING is currently competing in the Wired Small Business Program, check out their online video and if you like you can give them your vote.)

I want to contrast this with the recent purchase of an Acer (A150 Aspire One) netbook my fiancée made. While she loves Apple computers and owns a MacBook, she needed a small, portable computer to carry around.

The Acer didn’t have terrible packaging, but then again it was no Apple packaging either. Anna hit the power button with excitement all ready to use the computer. The Acer responded by putting form after form in front of her. The laptop had to install a ridiculous amount of applications and tools, and after 3 restarts and 29 minutes of staring at progress bars, the computer was finally ready to be used. Suddenly, we both got the feeling of “I miss my Apple.”

This feeling is termed “post decision” or “cognitive dissonance” and it essentially equates to buyers remorse. Most companies are hyper aware of this phenomenon, as it is far more expensive to reach new consumers with marketing dollars then it is to keep existing repeat consumers. When you see a message with the product thanking you for the purchase or calling you a loyal customer, this is the company trying to battle your feelings of cognitive dissonance.

So many companies are focused on making the sale, they forget about making the person happy once they have purchased the computer. That’s how you get repeat business. Those details are why Anna and I have bought four Apple computers in the last 3 years. “You don’t get a second chance for a first impression” and I won’t be buying or recommending Acer to anybody. Instead, I suggest you go buy an Apple.

(Side note: Two days after purchase, we had to return the computer because of a flickering screen.)

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Comment starter: What great purchasing experiences have you had? When was your biggest buyer’s remorse?

I recently discovered an amazing web-based application called Evernote. The application is compatible for both Mac and PCs, in addition there is a great mobile app. Basically, this tool helps you to keep track of ideas, lists, notes, thoughts, phone numbers – any detail in your life that just suddenly comes up that you want to remember.

Currently, I have Evernote on my computer and my iPhone as an app. When I’m connected to the web both applications automatically sync to my online account so I never have to worry about plugging in my iPhone to sync my apps. I find this feature extremely useful. 

I used the photo functionality to take pictures and store them as notes. Afterwards, I can tag these pictures so that they are searchable. Evernote can also read the text in your picture (such as a sign or handwritten note) which it then uses as a searching reference. To date, I have used Evernote for Christmas shopping, maps to the dog park, stealing a recipe from a overpriced book (evil grin) and for storing business cards.

Evernote is an example of a great web-based application with loads of real world practicality. For start-ups especially, it is essential to find an underserved market, find a solution to their problem and properly execute the solution.  Evernote has definitely capitalized on this notion and has produced one of my favorite web-based applications available.

For more information check out www.evernote.com or their tutorial at http://www.evernote.com/about/what_is_en/tour/