TechCrunch, the Startup & Technology News blog we all love, organized a free screening of StarTrek tonight in Tel Aviv, Israel.



The event was a huge success! We had a full-house and yet everything was perfectly organized, movie started right on time and we had a blast.

Attending the screening were lots of local webcelebrities.

We spotted -

* Orli Yakuel, Web 2.0 expert
* Ayelet Noff, Blonde 2.0
* Jonas Weil, Serial Investor
* Felix Leshno, Super affiliate
* Andrey Shirben, Partner Kenshoo
* Itay Paz, Founder Affilicon
* Liran Brenner, CTO WhiteSmoke
* Yosi Taguri & Lior Zoref, Microsoft

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A big thank you also goes out to the sponsors of the event - our friends at Kenshoo, MetaCafe and Conduit.

We'd love to sponsor the next one!

Ok, I admit it. I'm a CrackBerry!

I feel the BlackBerry is the absolute best consumer handheld device and can't imagine my life without one. (Yeah I did try the iPhone. Trust me, it doesn't even come close)

Funny thing is I rarely use the BlackBerry for voice calls. 95% of the time I use it as a portable handheld.

People always ask me "What's the best app for this and that", so I've decided to write it all here. Then I can easily refer people to this post.

Following Adrian's 10 Must-have applications that will improve your work flow, here's a list of my top 10 BlackBerry applications. I use all of these on a daily basis.

== Communication

1. BOLT browser

Much better than the built-in browser, Bolt offers native support for SSL, Javascript, Frames, IFrames and Ajax. Opera Mini is another great bb browser, but I like BOLT better.

2. JiveTalk

Tried just about every instant-messenger for the BlackBerry.
supports GTalk, Yahoo, MSN and ICQ. Great user interface and very stable

3. UberTwitter

Best full-featured twitter client for the BlackBerry

== Search

4. Google Mobile Apps

Adds a slick blue "G" button, that allows you to quickly search Google.com without having to launch a browser. Also comes with a fast GMail interface

== Staying up to date

5. Google Sync

Google Calendar is my primary way of managing all meetings, calls, firm deadlines etc. Google Sync automatically syncs with Google Calendar on the air.

6. Viigo

Hands down the best RSS reader. Fast, efficient and supports offline mode (read stories offline and they will be marked as 'read' when you go back online)

== Software Development

7. MidPSSH

Light-weight SSH client. Free and good enough to handle most tasks. User interface takes a while getting used to

== Travel

8. Garmin Mobile

If you travel as much as I do, shell out $99 and spoil yourself with Garmin Mobile. The best GPS navigation system for the BlackBerry. Beats my car navigator.

9. CryptMagic

When on the go, I always used to forget an important password or two. CryptMagic is a password vault with powerful 128-bit encryption

10. Beyond411

Everything you get when calling 411 and more, totally free. Built-in GPS support for local search, directions and weather.



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Got any additional recommendations? Let me know!

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Having worked with hundreds of software engineers, with different skill sets, character, origin and drive, I constantly find myself having to evaluate whether I'm dealing with a GREAT Software Engineer or wasting my time.

There are lots of common practices to evaluate how good of a software engineer you're dealing with.

You can check references, use tests, ask the candidate to write some sample code or grill him/her with questions about past projects they were involved with.

Most of the time, companies still end up hiring the wrong person. And that's because they completely miss what I believe are the three most important traits of a great software developer.

It's the stuff between the lines. The little details, that make all the difference in the world.

It took a while to come up with this list...

Three traits that would clearly isolate great coders from the rest of the bunch.

I now use it exclusively to evaluate (and frequently re-evaluate) all software engineers.

Here goes:

#1. Be a Great Problem Solver (50% towards overall score)

Nothing is impossible!

This is key.

Acknowledge that not only does -every- problem has a solution, but rather that there are always going to be at least two solutions to every problem.

Your job is to find the clean, simple and elegant one.

Einstein once said "A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it."

KISS or die.

#2. Passionate (30% towards overall score)

Love what you do and pass that love to everyone you deal with.

Always be positive, energetic and make progress, no matter what.

What do you do in your spare time? If you're not writing code, installing a virtual machine, reading TechCrunch/Slashdot/DZone or testing out the latest version of Windows 7, you are not passionate about technology.

#3. Can quickly pick up new skills (20% towards overall score)

What you know now doesn't matter. Experience is important, but it's the skill-set that counts, not your ability to write code adhering to a specific syntax or operating system.

When was the last time you picked up a new programming language? A new API to interface with? New operating system your code needs to run on?

You must posses an ability to quickly adapt and evolve with time.

Adapt or die.

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Ever wonder what are all the common email nomenclatures companies use?

I was working on a project that posed this exact question.

Here they are - 21 email address combinations:

Firstname.Lastname@domain
Firstname@domain
FLastname@domain
FirstnameL@domain
FirstnameLastname@domain
FirstnameL@domain
Firstname_Lastname@domain
LastnameF@domain
F.Lastname@domain
Firstname.L@domain
Lastname@domain
FL@domain
LF@domain
Lastname.Firstname@domain
LastnameFirstname@domain
Lastname_Firstname@domain
Lastname-F@domain
F-Lastname@domain
L.Firstname@domain
LFirstname@domain
Lastname.F@domain

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The most popular ones appear to be:

Firstname.Lastname@domain
Firstname@domain
FLastname@domain
FirstnameL@domain
Lastname@domain

I was listening to a great podcast on DuctTapeMarketing, with Wendy Vinson of E-Myth Worldwide.

For those of you not familiar with the E-Myth book, it's all about growing from being self-employed to becoming a business owner.

Wendy goes on to describe the 5 core principles of growing your business:

#1. Life

Your business should be built to serve your life, not the other way around.

It's a vehicle to have impact on the world that serves you on a soulful level

#2. Leadership

Instead of focusing on doing the work, focus on leading the business in terms of the vision and direction of the business.

#3. Working on it (not in it)

Work on your business, versus inside the business doing the work of the business.

The business is a separate entity from the business owner.

In order to build a business that works, you need to make sure you spend time doing the strategic work and not just filling up your time with day to day stuff (the tactical work)

#4. Systemization

Understand how to produce results consistently. Consistency is key.

What exactly do you have to do to take your business from a new lead to a happy paying customer.

Build systems to automate this process and measure results every step of the way.

The system is your proprietary way of doing things. It's your IP if you ever choose to sell, or grow your business beyond a single location.

#5. Business development cycle

Understand, document and replicate the steps to build your business

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Listen to the full interview here

Helping so many companies design a new website or redesign an existing one, we're always amazed how most people approach the task of web design, all wrong.

Done right, the process of designing a website can be Fun, completed On Time and deliver the exact Results you are looking for. Over the years, SPI developed a unique process-flow that ensures the websites we develop, fit that profile.

It wasn't easy.

We tried a lot of different models, suffered our share of missed deadlines and pulled more "all-nighters" than we care to remember...

But it was all worth it.

We finally came up with a process flow, that works like a charm. Have been using it for the past two years and with this model, we can design/redesign the look & feel for any website, in two to four weeks guaranteed.

Here's how it works:

Step 1: Find another website you like

I cannot over-emphasize how important this step is.

Never sit down and simply start jotting your design ideas on paper. Take advantage of the time other companies have spent, testing and perfecting their design.

Look at as many websites as necessary, find the one you like the best and find 2-3 other websites you'd like to borrow design elements from.

This is not about copying or cloning another site. This is about selecting the style and design elements you like best.



Step 2: Sketch layout

Create a rough sketch of the first page, using the style and elements you liked most.

We are only going to design a single page. Stay focused!

You can sketch the layout with a pen of paper, or use your favorite paint program. It doesn't need to be pretty. All you want to do is clearly convey your target layout to a graphic designer.

Example of a sketch layout:



Step 3: Write web copy

Write the web copy to be included on the page. (Remember we're focusing on a single page right now)

You can always clean the web copy later, but the closer you can get to the final version (at least in terms of navigation items), the more time you'll save in the long run.

Stay away from Lorem Ipsum.

Step 4: Let a graphic designer draw a finished mockup

This is where the fun starts!

Send over your sketch, along with notes describing the site you liked best, web copy and the design elements you'd like to use from 2-3 other sites, to a professional graphic designer.

Don't get cheap. Done right, you should expect to pay around $1,000 per page. If you're a client of SPI, you'll end up paying a lot less, thanks to our economics of scale (Translation: We design LOTS of websites).

Example of a graphic design mockup:



Step 5: Cut images

Once you're happy with the mockup your graphic designer put together, it's time to begin the implementation.

You actually want buttons to work when users click on them, right? :-)

Before the work is handed over to the engineers, another designer has to go through the single image mockup and cut all unique graphic elements to individual images.

Buttons have to be cut to [left] [middle] [right]
Boxes have to be cut to [top left] [top] [top right] [left] [middle] [right] [bottom left] [bottom] [bottom right], etc.

Every image should be saved separately with a name that will make it easy for the engineers to understand what image it is.

Cutting images:



Step 6: Implement HTML + CSS

It's go time! As part of this step, the huge mockup image along with the individual images is handed over to the engineers for implementation.

Proper web design involves using CSS (Stylesheets) to render the look of the page, using the HTML for the sales copy and keeping it clean from any design elements (Translation: Don't use tables, Font tags, Image backgrounds in the html code).

Step 7: Rinse and Repeat 3-5

Not happy with the page look & fell? Go back to step 3 and repeat as necessary until you're happy with how the page works.

Step 8: Move to page #2

Congratulations! You've successfully completed designing a single page and can now move to page #2.

Since most sites share the same design elements across all pages, following our process to a tee, will help you save a lot of time.

Designing the remaining pages only involves using a graphic designer for the unique graphic elements of each page. The rest can be shared among all pages using templates (PHP / ASP / JSP)