You might assume that pitching to a VC is the only way to raise a huge amount of fast action capital for your innovative new startup. Yet there is an alternative strategy. And it involves pitching to foreigners.

A new company based in Alabama caught my attention yesterday as I read about their efforts to raise $1 billion of startup capital. It wasn't this lofty target that caught my attention, but rather, it was their strategy to make it happen.

The strategy involves taking advantage of the EB-5 Visa immigration program.

First there was a keyboard.
Then came the mouse.
And now... the pen !

Today ADAPX released their newest product, Capturx for Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 v2.0, a digital pen solution that records what you write on physical paper.

With the benefit of an early sneak peek - I've had the opportunity to try out the device, integrate it into my workflow, and publish this in-depth review. As an avid OneNote user myself, the premise of being able to import anything & everything you write with a traditional pen & paper into OneNote got me really excited.

It works like this. Use the digital pen to take notes or sketch as you normally would. The data is automatically digitized and stored in the pen as you write. And when you're ready to upload the data to OneNote you simply insert the pen into its USB dock (the pen can also do it wirelessly if you have Bluetooth).

From there, the software takes over to facilitate the transfer of data from the pen to OneNote. Enabling you to see your hand written notes within only a few short moments.

For keeping track of what you plan to accomplish on a day to day basis, nothing beats a good old notebook. Specifically: a Microsoft OneNote notebook :)

There are several good agenda related programs available. Including Outlook, Sunbird, or even Google Calendar. These are especially good at reminding you of important dates for such things as upcoming meetings, events, or deadlines. Where they are lacking however, is in the context of your daily schedule.

Above: screenshot of my daily notes from OneNote

Nikola Tesla said that, "If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the universe."

I am about to share with you a simple time management strategy. One that has had a tremendous impact on my efficiency since the day I first innovated & implemented it. This is not the key to the universe and not every day goes perfect, but more often than not - at the end of every day - you will feel satisfied with the work accomplished. That every client, project, and task is getting just the right amount of time. And be excited to begin the next day.

Microsoft has killed the Classic Start Bar in the new Windows 7.
Its gone and it doesn't seem to be coming back, much to the disarray of Classic Start Bar lovers worldwide. Yet there is hope...

The Case for a Classic Start Menu

Its a common assumption that people who want the Classic Start menu back in Windows 7 are just refusing to embrace the "new superior start menu". Or that we are Windows 98 fanboys or something. This is plain wrong. For Nerds like me, the real reason we want the Classic Start Menu back is this: efficiency. Specifically pertaining to the use of expanding custom folder trees for organizing program shortcuts. Sure, the new Windows 7 Start Menu is good - but they omitted the ability to add custom shortcut menus.

In a quest to create the ultimate font reference, I have made an exhaustive search of the only the most highest quality fonts in the world.

This week the focus was on fonts starting with the letter D. Some fonts do a good job of portraying the essence of the font's emotional impact, but others do not - so what I have been doing in this series is giving you my own unique 'emotional reaction' to each of the fonts. Making for some good entertainment. And giving you a better idea of the type of context the font can be used in.

...dear lord there are a lot of fonts out there. If I survive long enough to finish this compilations from A to Z know this: there will be a master collection and my Nerd Newsletter subscribers will be the first to know about it.

 

D3 Archism

D3 Egoistism

D3 Euronism

D3 Mouldism Alphabet

You've got a brand new design concept for your big important website. You think it looks awesome... and you're ready to unveil it to the world. Yet, something in the back of your mind says that in order to really make this design perfect: you're going to want to test it first. After all, a lot of people are going to see this new design.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could get feedback from some other professionals before you release it to the world ? Hell yes!

No, it isn't Sesame Street - it's the ultimate font showdown, and this week the fonts of letter C duke it out.

Each font was carefully selected among countless others to draw only upon those fonts which are truly exceptional. In addition, I've contextualized each font for you by writing the first phrase that came to my mind after reacting to each unique look & style.

 

C Web Small

Cabaret ICG

CAC One Seventy