Birth is a messy operation. The creative process is messy. A software application that is gonna scale better not be messy.

Giving birth to a new software application puts you in the very zen-like place of being both messy / not messy.

Does anyone hear the sound of one hand clapping?

ArcStone is in the final pangs of the Wonderfile birth process. We have our first paying Wonderfile customers – yeah! We have a number of consulting projects that leverage Wonderfile’s SOA (Service Oriented Architecture – in plain English: using web services to access Wonderfile functionality from any web site). And we find ourselves in the unique position of having developed a really useful tool – a fantastic, shiny Swiss army knife for tagging and file management.

We love it, we understand it – the tool works for us – but we’re finding that those who jump into Wonderfile just don’t get it.

I have come to realize, that most of our clients aren’t ready for Wonderfile as a general tool. They just don’t have the time or inclination to fully grok it – there’s no way there gonna buy it.

I know that our customers (and people in general) will buy a solution to a specific problem. People will visit Google and look for solutions to ease their pain / scratch that itch.

What is more likely to happen? Xavier has to manage leases for his company – keeping track of all the docs, expirations, etc. He goes to Google – does he search on “file management keyword search tagging reminders” or “lease management systems”? My money is on “lease management systems” – he has an itch that needs scratching in specific terms, not general. The more specific we can be with Wonderfile driven apps and Wonderfile marketing – the more successful we’ll be.

That’s our charter and the next round of work for us – tailoring Wonderfile and marketing it to solve specific problems in specific markets.

The product development folks call this “development to commercialization” – I call it ArcStone’s biggest marketing challenge for 2008.

Wonderfile driven apps – coming soon to a web site near you.

When you leave software to make up its own mind, like which ads to show a user, sometimes strange things happen, or worse. I have been noticing this more and more, especially in high profile sites, like Gmail, CNN, CNET, and other sites you would think sport top-of-the-line advertising engines.

Here is CNET’s media player, currently sponsored by T-Mobile, playing a Sprint phone review. Before the review you get to enjoy a short T-Mobile spot professing the superiority of their phones.

Here is Google attempting to peek my interest in purchasing a heavily armored vehicle. I have also been served ads for body armor and night-vision goggles. Just how dangerous does Google think Minneapolis is?

There have been a few nerds who have attained prominent positions in politics, but you rarely hear about the flip side of the coin: the nerd vote.

Chris Knight of North Carolina is clearly vying for the nerd vote with his campaign commercial.

It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, tries to capture the nerd vote in the 2008 presidential race. Without Al Gore running I fear this growing and misunderstood voter group will once again be ignored. [Gizmodo]

I am not even sure what this is. Gizmodo rarely breaks away from their usual fare of programmable toasters and Apple news. So when they blog about a mysterious, non-English shopping site you have to look.

Take note: if you are on psychedelic drugs when viewing the site you may not notice anything special.

Finally. The New York Times Online will no longer require readers to subscribe to most of its content.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve googled for some news story and clicked on a promising result from the NYT Online, only to have to have my way barred by “you must be registered to view this article” or some such similar nonsense.

Under the old system, readers had to pay roughly 50 bucks a year to get their dose of the NYT online. Now they will only charge for a selection of archives between 1923 and 1986.

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A week ago I was strolling through my local shopping complex with the kids in tow. The weather was rotten, and I was desperately searching for something to keep them occupied for a few minutes so I could rest my weary bones.

To my surprise it wasn’t a toy store, candy machine, or fountain that provided my rug rats with the sensory distraction they so desperately needed. It was an advertisement. More specifically, an interactive advertisement platform from a company called Reatrix.

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