Yahoo! started as a simple directory of webpages, a listing that was created manually. Now, there are thousands if not millions of directories on the Internet. How are we to utilize them? And, can we?

My personal favorite online business directory is iamVermont. Although it is not complete, it has a tremendous amount of easily-accessible information regarding local businesses in Vermont. On top of that, the website offers feeds from a few of the state’s leading news sources. The news stories appear to be updated on hourly, which is refreshing to say the least since some newspapers throughout the state hardly update their content.

Using an online business directory can be tricky. For instance, many offer search options, but asking in too-much detail may disqualify some of the companies you actually may be looking for. The best approach is to start broad with your search terms and narrow down the field accordingly.

One of the features that iamVermont.com offers is a Most Popular page, in addition to a rating the listings feature. This web page highlights the most popular companies in the state of Vermont on iamVermont.com. If you are a company, you can post your listing for FREE using their submit tool ## that’s very cool for businesses without websites but looking for web exposure.

Aside from the basic search tool, the directory is organized by category and alphabetically to make browsing simple and quick. I think you’ll find the website to be very useful and hopefully it will continue to grow and assist visitors in getting in contact with merchants. To contact merchants, users are given the phone number and addresses of these companies. There is a map button that dynamically creates a link to a map & directions to the company’s location.

For some listings, there’s even web links that bring you to their website, or you can click the email button and fill out a form that goes directly to the vendor ## Best feature, yes?

In any event, online directories can be extremely useful when the need is more broad than a Google or Yahoo! search. I like the idea of going to iamVermont.com and typing the word “bank” and not getting millions of webpages found.

It might surprise many in urban areas that not everyone in this country has a cell phone. Shocking, isn’t it? To think that you see so many people on there flashy Nokia or Motorolla wireless phone chatting away to some other person on their Blackberry or T-Mobile funky gizmo. The brands are endless, the toys and accessories are infinite. But, not everyone has a cell phone. In fact, should everyone have a cell phone.

Here are my arguments to having a cell phone:

1. If you travel a lot, you already have one. If you don’t, you best be ordering one soon.

2. If you are an adventurer or explorer of any sort (that includes geo-caching and any later trends currently exploding across the globe), you best be ordering up a Sprint or Nextel plan ASAP, the walkie-talkies could be very resourceful, but check the coverage for sure.

3. And to make this a short list, if you ever need convenience and have the few dollars to spare a month, might as well replace your home phone with whatever Verizon or AT &T have to offer in the cellular phone service plans.

They’ve been around now for sometime. However, their penetration in the market is still very limited. More businesses, and especially blogs, are doing more of them. I’m talking about podcasts and podcasting.

As often is the case, either myself or someone I know have an idea on how to use some form of one of the latest technologies to hit the street. I wouldn’t sure if podcasting would count as one of the latest technologies being that it’s some months old now, but it’s definitely an interesting medium, and one that we will explore.

All that said, I am hoping to build and launch iamRadio which will feature mildly sponsored podcasts and potentially stream audio from a website. Look for more news on the endeavor in the coming weeks…

Google Inc. announced it’s latest and greatest web tool to hit the market, Google Analytics. After purchasing Urchin months ago, Google may have stunned “business as usual” again. Marketers will love the new offering from Google for a variety of reasons, but the main one being that it’s free if you use AdWords (Google’s CPC network).

Google Analytics will allow customers of its AdWords service to see exactly how visitors interact with their website and how their advertising campaigns are faring.

What does it all mean? It means having access to a very powerful web-stats program that once cost you $199 a month. It means using AdWords should produce better ROI. It means webstat software providers are a little ticked off that they now will seriously need to reconsider their pricing points in order to compete. It might just mean more advertisers fro AdWords, u think

With the announcement from the man’s mouth himself, Bill Gates has launched Microsoft Corporation into the intensive war of online software offerings.

Gates announced the web software offerings of Office Live and Windows Live, the quality and/or need for one’s specific use of a Microsoft product on this front remains to be seen. Both environments appear to be in BETA, but so do many of Microsoft’s offerings just without the initial tag.

Microsoft fights more of an uphill battle in the online application offerings market, as they don’t have quite the corner on it as they do with licensing of their OS. When it comes to web applications, a user is essentially platform independent. Of course, it wouldn’t surprise me if Microsoft starts throwing in IE required features, since they already have a disdain for Firefox.

But, all-in-all, there is some very neat AJAX stuff going on with the websites. And, it will be interesting to watch Microsoft move into a new and competitive field. I wouldn’t look for Microsoft to dominate this market. Those people intelligent enough to realize the value of web applications, should be smart enough to figure out that there are better offerings out there and that one is limited to Microsoft anymore.

Help Wanted: Burlington Telecom

Tim Nulty from Burlington Telecom contacted Cathy Resmer and asked her to spread the word that he’s looking to hire a part-time, after-hours help desk person. Pay is negotiable. It may be possible to do some work from home.

* Evening and Weekend shift coverage. Three nights a week from 5pm until 9pm plus Sat & Sun 11am to 9pm
* Does basic trouble shooting with end user and determines whether the trouble is inside or outside using BT equipment tools (ie, OSI Platform to determine if fiber point is lit)
* Able to answer general product questions or check on status of an order after hours if needed
* Strong knowledge of Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP and Mac OS
* Knowledge of Ethernet, TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, and FTP protocols
* Knowledge of network troubleshooting utilities such as ping, ipconfig, and nslookup

Interested? Contact Tim at tnulty@ci.Burlington.vt.us. If you get hired, ask him if you can blog from work about what it’s like to work at a municipally owned internet/cable/phone company.

Apparently there is quite an interest in video on iPods, contrary to many people’s opinion. First it was a quality issue. Then a screen size issue. Then, and then, and then… and then after a short period of time the iTunes online store had surpassed the 1 million video downloads mark. And all this, from a library barely passing the 2,000 choices mark.

Have we finally reached the video age on the web, or via the web? Although I don’t think we’re necessarily at an optimal point in the evolution of the web and its medias, I think with the penetration of broadband connection, we are seeing that people want choices. The quality is not necessarily poor, but it’s far from good on most video deliverables over the web. However, if content is there, many can endure less than perfect quality ## think CONTENT is KING with websites, and your realize that many of the web’s premiere traffic hogs don’t necessarily have the prettiest sites.

Are we seeing the video penetration in small states like Vermont? Well, look no further than the weekly newspaper the County Courier and you will find that an area business has already uploaded a video commercial to the Courier’s Franklin County business directory.

My question, how long until we see more companies investing in video commercials that won’t air on TV but strictly on the web?