Underground Web Designs Blog

The Hennessy Hammock is one of the coolest inventions I’ve seen in a long time, and HennessyHammock.com is a great example of the power of the internet for small businesses. What started out as a personal project to re-create an old army hammock has turned into a thriving, full time business.

Even thought the Hennessy Hammock website may not be have the most flashy design or the latest web technology, it does it’s job well — it provides lots of information about the product, and above all makes it easy to buy the hammock you want. Surprisingly, there are lots of business websites that are well designed and use all the latest technologies, but are hard to navigate and difficult to order from. If you do business online, it’s worth taking a few minutes to look at HennessyHammock.com and think about the order process of your own site; making sure it’s as simple an intuitive as possible.

As for the product itself, I must admit that I haven’t tried a Hennessy Hammock… yet. However I have done lots of traveling, camping, and hiking, and I can appreciate the benefits a Hennessy would provide: light weight, easy setup almost anywhere, and comfort. The fact that a Hennessy is built to provide a comfortable sleeping place almost anywhere with zero environmental impact is also a big plus. In fact, I’m already sold, and I’m planning on purchasing a Hennessy Hammock in time for camping season this summer.

I just found The Art of Nonconformity today, and though I haven’t explored the site extensively (yet) I can already see that it’s worth a post.

The site definitely is full of “unconventional ideas for remarkable people”. There are articles and ebooks on world travel, posts on changing the world (and world domination too), and even an article supporting “ass kicking”. Chris speaks his mind, doesn’t pull any punches, and actively questions things many people take for granted — his writing is exactly what you’d expect from a site with the title “The Art of Nonconformity”.

The site design is also very fresh, which drew me in immediately. A strong theme and unconventional layout make the site stand out from the HUGE number of blogs out there, and made me take a closer look. In fact, I really like how Chris has put products, signup boxes, latest posts, most popular posts, about the author, about the site, links to Twitter, links to media coverage, and much more all on the home page… without making anything seem crowded.

Like I said, I’ve just found this site myself, so I’ll be exploring it further over the next few days. Why don’t you join me? Just head over to The Art of Nonconformity, have a look around, and post your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to hear what you think!

You really should read the SanDisk story on Chris Brogan’s blog. Go ahead, I’ll wait. 

Back?

When I read that story, I was blown away by the power of social networking. A customer had complained about a product on Twitter, so hundreds would read the complaint and most companies would not have even noticed. Because Rachel was plugged in to the social web and acted quickly to address the complaint, thousands have heard the story, and thousands more will hear it in the days to come, because it is spreading.

The sad part (or maybe not) is that Rachel lost her job with SanDisk. However because of her willingness to help and social media savvy, she now has a public recommendation on a popular blog. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s been hired already.

If you do business in the online world, it’s important to make the first step when it comes to customer service. You can’t just deal with the people who contact you… you have to engage the discussion about your product or service where it matters: on the social web.

Sorry this is a day late. I’m visiting my family this week and was busy spending time with them yesterday.

Improv Everywhere’s stated goal is to ”cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places”; and they do that by organizing “missions” of all sizes where participants perform an organized prank. Some of these pranks have included “freezes”, where a crowd of a few hundred people freezes at exactly the same time in a public place, or their annual ”no pants” subway rides, where hundreds of people ride the New York Subway in their underwear… in January.

Why do they do it? They do it for fun, both for themselves and for those who witness the pranks. We’ve all had moments where we think “hey, wouldn’t it be funny to get a bunch of people together and …..”, Improv Everywhere has taken this natural creativity and given it an outlet. As long as it doesn’t break any laws or harm anyone, why not do it? With the power of the internet, finding a few hundred people willing to participate (especially in a city like NY), and then organizing the event, is really quite easy.

And Improve Everywhere is succeeding in their mission. Their pranks have drawn widespread attention, being featured on The Today Show, ABC’s Nightline, in the New York Times, and in other media, with almost zero negative publicity. In fact, Improv Everywhere is now part of the Urban Prankster Network, a network of sites, communities and individuals from around the world dedicated to bringing fun and a little bit of chaos into your everyday life through public pranks.

It all just goes to show what a website, a little creativity, a little bit of guts, and a LOT of volunteers, you can pull of just about anything, and have a great time doing it.

Is your confidential business information secure? Kevin Mitnick might not think so.

I’ve recently been re-reading one of Kevin’s two books, The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security. In The Art of Deception, Kevin talks about one of the most overlooked elements of any security system: the people who use it.

No matter how much technological security you may have, if the people who use the systems are not trained to recognize when they are being deceived a skilled social engineer can still easily infiltrate your company and steal anything he wishes… often without you even noticing that there’s been a security breach.

As an accomplished hacker and social engineer himself, Kevin Mitnick knows what he’s talking about. He’s broken into many companies and has used many of the techniques in the book time and time again (and done the jail time for it too!). Just by reading his book you’ll find yourself nodding as you realize that most of the stories he presents, though fiction, could just as well be real — with your business as the victim.

If you do any sort of business on the internet — even just buying something now and then — you should read Kevin’s books, especially The Art of Deception. The internet is now a huge part of our lives, and it pays to at least be aware of how computer hackers and social engineers think and work. Most of the attacks Kevin describes can be easily guarded against, but only if you know what to look out for.

 For those interested, both books can be found on Amazon.com:
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders & Deceivers

Full Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com. Should you decide to purchase any of the books mentioned by following a link in this article I will receive a small commission.

Hands on Disaster Response is a different kind of charity. As their website states: 

Hands On Disaster Response is a US-based, volunteer-driven, non-profit organization with 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, dedicated to timely disaster response and relief. We strive to provide hands-on relief to survivors of natural disasters with maximum speed and minimum bureaucracy. Our projects focus on applying volunteer resources and expertise to disaster-affected communities around the world.

To me this is a wonderful goal, and one that HODR is meeting well. I have been watching their website for many months now, and they do no focus on raising funds… they focus on raising volunteers. It’s easy to give money to charity, it’s much harder (but usually more rewarding) to actually go and do the work yourself.

At the same time, the world needs more volunteers. HODR fits an ideal niche by making it easy for volunteers to just go and work quickly. Each project has an extensive “Volunteer Info” page that lists location concerns, local weather, food, housing details, packing lists and much more. The only requirements are that you agree to a statement of volunteer understanding and that you notify HODR of your arrival date.

HODR is also unique in that it is a ‘response’ organization, not a ‘reconstruction’ organization. This means they’re focused on getting in quickly and meeting urgent needs. HODR supplies the manpower required to clean up after an earthquake, flood, earthquake or other disaster, and leaves reconstruction to government projects and larger disaster groups. Rather than a weakness I see this as a tremendous strength. Not only does this allow anyone to volunteer (no special skills required) it places volunteers where they can make the most difference: restoring houses, schools, roads and other necessary buildings and infrastructure as quickly as possible.

If you’re looking for a unique adventure and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, I’d strongly suggest checking out Hands On Disaster Response. Whether you can volunteer for a week or a few months they will be glad to have you, and you’ll be right on the front lines… literally changing lives.

This is the first of my “Link Love Sundays” articles. As I mentioned in my post National Day of Service, every Sunday I will take some time to go “off topic” and promote a small business, organization, or individual that is doing something good for the world. These posts are all 100% free… I’m not compensated in any way.

Couchsurfing.com -- Got Couch?

If you travel a lot, there is a chance you’ve already heard of Couchsurfing.com. If you haven’t, couchsurfing is essentially a social network that helps travelers find a place to stay while on the road by connecting them with other members of the site who are willing to host them. Hosting is not elaborate - accommodations range from a cozy spot on the floor to a spare room, though in most cases the traveler sleeps on the couch (hence the name). 

Couchsurfing is much more than just a free place to sleep, however. In fact, the official couchsurfing mission statement - “Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time” - has little to do with travel at all. Instead, the focus is to “networking people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding” (Couchsurfing Mission page). 

As a member of Couchsurfing.com for just over a year, I have seen that mission expressed in a huge variety of ways, both at home and abroad. During a 6 week backpacking trip in Europe in the Summer of 2008 I couchsurfed in the UK, France, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands, and was always welcomed not only by my host but also by the local couchsurfing group and often the host’s non-couchsurfing friends. No matter where I went, couchsurfers were more than willing to host me if they could, show me around when they had time, and help me out in any other way they could. One of the highlights of my trip was a 5 day camping trip on Naxos in Greece, with over 100 other couchsurfers. The entire trip was organized by volunteers, and attendees came from all over the world. 

Back at home in Canada, I have been experiencing another facet of couchsurfing… being part of a local group. Many medium / large cities around the world have a local couchsurfing group. This group takes the form of a dedicated forum on Couchsurfing.com where members can post and organize events, parties, or just about anything else. Besides a weekly meeting on Tuesday nights there is always 1 or 2 other events created on the spur of the moment and opened up to any couchsurfers who want to come.

Yet another example of the couchsurfing mission in action are groups for people who are all interested in a particular thing. As of this writing there are over 15,000 groups on the couchsurfing site focused on everything from marital arts, to vegan diets, to theater. Any member can join a group and participate!

Probably the most important part of Couchsurfing, and the part that makes everything else possible is the references system. Every couchsurfer can leave references about other couchsurfers he has interacted with, either positive, neutral, or negative. This produces a self-policing system similar to Ebay’s feedback. If you’re a jerk, everyone will quickly know about it, and nobody will invite you to anything — or host you. Couchsurfing is a very liberal, open place. You’re free to say just about anything you want (as long as it isn’t abusive, defamatory, etc) but you also have no anonymity. The site will tie everything back to your profile.

So, whether you’re a young backpacker, retired traveler, or are just looking to meet new people from around the world, Couchsurfing.com is - in my opinion - one of the best places to do it. If you’re open minded and willing to expand your horizons and step out of your comfort zone you’ll have a blast.

Just one quick tip: don’t use it as a dating site… that’s one of the fastest ways to get negative references!

Seth Godin’s blog should be required reading for every entrepreneur and small business owner, not because of his great business tips or amazing ideas, but because he makes you think. I was reminded yet again of why Seth is worth my reading time today, when he posted National Day Of Service. Go read it. It’s worth the 3 minutes.

As internet businessmen, we have so much potential to change the world. We spend every day using the most advanced form of communication in existence to network, promote ourselves, and make money. What if we took just a fraction of that knowledge, a fraction of that time and devoted it to helping those less fortunate than us? What a difference we could make!

Starting Sunday, I’ll be taking up Seth’s challenge. Every Sunday I will post about and promote an organization that is making a difference, a cool new startup, an artist without a web presence… whoever most needs the help.

Will you join me?

Adobe produces all kinds of great applications to help web developers, from Photoshop to Flash. However, they also offer several smaller apps that can be equally useful. My favorite of these is Kuler. Located at http://kuler.adobe.com, Adobe Kuler is a simple, free tool for creating and sharing color themes (groups of 5 colors that go together) easily.

To me kuler is invaluable whenever I’m starting a new project, as each color theme is named and tagged, and a quick search will usually bring up several color themes that could work well with the project I’m doing. Kuler also has a download feature (as long as you have logged in with a valid Adobe ID, something many designers will already have from registering any Adobe product). Downloaded kuler themes can be imported into Photoshop or Illustrator, allowing you to quickly reference them as you work.

Users can also create their own color themes in Kuler as well, so if you like playing with colors and seeing how they look together, why don’t you give it a try? When you’re done you can save your theme to the library for anyone to see, or make it private for your own personal use.

Kuler is certainly a simple program, not near as complicated as Photoshop or Dreamweaver, but it is still incredibly useful. Next time you find yourself stuck for what colors to use in your latest project, try a quick search on Kuler, the results will surprise you.

As promised in my post “The End of Twitter“, I’m going to talk a bit about what OpenID is, and how you can use it.

Open ID was designed because someone, somewhere, got tired of the bother and security hassles of signing up for yet another website or web service. I’m sure you know the feeling. You read an article or maybe even click an interesting add, and there in your face is the dreaded sign in box. Often times, if you’re not really interested you just click away. Making another account on another site just isn’t worth the bother. OpenID can make the whole process much simpler.

OpenID works by storing your information (username, password, full name, e-mail address etc) in one place, on one site (called an OpenID provider). If you want to log in to a different site that supports open ID, all you have to provide is your OpenID. The rest is handled automatically. The site you want to log in will check with your OpenID provider to see if you are authorized (and your open ID provider will ask you to log in with your password if you’re not). Then, if needed the site you’re logging in to can ask your OpenID provider for extra information, such as your name, e-mail address, etc and can pre-populate sign up fields with it! As you can imagine, this makes signing up for new sites a snap… just input your OpenID, confirm your information, and you’re done! The best part is that the site you just signed up for NEVER sees your password. All the authentication work is handled by your secure OpenID provider.

To use an OpenID, you first have to create it at an OpenID provider. I use myopenid.com because it is simple, direct, and powerful. I’ve tried several and MyOpenID has worked the best. To get started, just click on the big “Sign Up For An Open Id” button the myopenid.com home page.

As usual, you will be asked for a username (shorter and simpler the better), password, e-mail address. Once that information is filled out click “sign up” and your OpenID will be created. When picking your password, choose something that you can remember, but that is also secure (try to include capitals, numbers, and symbols if possible). This password will allow you access to many sites, so it pays to make sure it is a good one.

Once you’ve created your account and logged in for the first time to MyOpenID, you can start making your life easier by adding some extra information to your account. First, in the right hand menu bar, click “My Account” and then “Authentication Settings”. Here you can set up several advanced security measures to ensure that you and only you can access your OpenID. You can even have the site telephone you for authorization to sign in!

Next, click on the “Registration Personas” link. This page allows you to provide basic information about yourself (name, e-mail, avatar, etc) to sites that ask for it. As mentioned above, this can make signing up for new websites or web services a snap! It’s even possible to create different personas, if you want to provide different information to different types of sites.

The last page that’s worth taking a look at is the “Visited Sites” page. This page tracks which sites you’ve used your OpenID to access, which Persona they are using, and whether or not your should be asked to approve each and every time you want to access the site (usually this can be left on always approve).

Now it’s time to test things out! A great place to try out your new OpenID is right here on this blog. Just head down to the bottom of this post and leave a comment. Instead of filling in your name and e-mail, just put YourOpenIdUserName.myopenid.com in the Website box. You will be re-directed to OpenID briefly while it asks whether you want to authorize UndergroundWebDesign to access your information, and if you authorize it, you will automatically be directed back to this blog, where you’ll see your comment added.

Unfortunately, many sites do not yet support OpenID fully, but the number that do is growing quite quickly. You can help encourage more sites to support OpenID by getting an OpenID and using it everywhere you can. If you have your own Wordpress blog, you can get the OpenID plugin to allow yourself and others to log in to your site or leave comments using OpenID.

The internet is still developing at a very rapid pace, and one of the things that needs re-thinking is how we log-in and sign-up to the hundreds of new websites and web-services out there. OpenID is an answer to this problem that works and works well. If you’re fed up with all the hassle of siginig up on yet another site, why don’t you give it a try?

P.S. Merry Christmas!