I have been using a custom proposal generator over the last year and the guy who made it for me decided to make a commercial version. The new proposal generator is called www.phpProposal.com. It works like wordpress. You have to install it on your own server. It is very easy to install. They have a simple script to install on your web server that will tell you if your server is comparable. It works on most LAMP servers. If you have a “linux” web hosting account there is a very good chance this will work on it.
It was originally designed specifically for my needs. The new version is designed for everybody. You can make your own templates and change the wording to whatever you want. It still has built in features for SEO.
Some of the stats for potential clients
- Ranking in Google, Yahoo, and Bing for keywords
- How many .edu, .gov links
- Alexa ranking
It has several pre built proposal templates or you can create one from scratch. It saves your proposals so you can print them out later. I always have to send out proposals and this program makes it real easy.
I was just reading over at Googleblog that the Google toolbar 3 is out of Beta. The big feature they mentioned is that you can open your documents and spreadsheets directly in Google Docs & Spreadsheets. They also mention that it is available in 12 new languages.
They released the new firefox tool bar and Google Docs & Spreadsheets in 12 new languages.
French, Italian, German, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil)
If you don’t have Firefox yet you can get here.
I just read that Trillian has been taken out of Google Pack. I thought this was kind of amusing. It reminds me of how Google runs its search engine. They just randomly remove relevant sites from the top of the SERPS for no reason at all. Next week I’m sure they will announce that they have replaced it with a loan calculator that installs spy ware on your computer. 
I was reading over at Amr Awadallah Blog that Google’s earnings were supposed to grow by 30% and they only grew by 22%. What caught my eye was
“Google also increased and plans to increase its spending significantly. They hired 700 more folks in Q4, they doubled their sales and marketing spend (over 2004-Q4), and they said their expenses are likely to rise significantly as they invest in long term projects.”.
Now that Google has so much money and pressure to do something big, they feel that they need to spend it. They don’t think like they used to. People will one day realize that Google is not going to be a Microsoft, ever. They have a nice little niche and that is search. They are by no means a power house like Microsoft. You can only go so far with search and their current way of generating revenue.
What they are doing now is trying to figure out how to make more money outside of what they know. The chance of Google hitting some new break-out way of making money and growing is no bigger than any other company with lots of money. They only have success in one area and that is search and ppc advertising. Anything else they do is a stab in the dark. Sure maybe Del Monte could come up with there own brand of computer but that is not what they know. They make green beans.
The people investing in Google have no idea what the company really does or is capable of. It is the 90’s all over again. It will be ugly when it all falls down. They are spending tons of money on all kinds of projects and they have no idea if those projects will generate revenue. Everything they make they offer for free. When has that ever been a successful business model? They will always be known for search and will always be the most searched website but that is a company with one product. They give things away for free and put advertising on it. That is all they do.
Big Daddy Data Centers (bigdaddy)
Update:
I found 4 more data centers that have converted to big daddy.
216.239.37.99, 216.239.39.104, 66.102.7.99, 66.102.7.104 66.102.7.104
I was just looking at the Big Daddy Data center at 66.249.93.104 and noticed that there are some big changes from the last time I looked at it. I am also seeing the same results at 216.239.51.104, 66.249.93.99, 64.233.179.99, 64.233.179.104, 64.233.171.99, 64.233.171.104, 64.233.185.99, 64.233.185.104. There are several other data centers that had the Big Daddy results but I am not seeing them as of now. I will make a new post if I see it showing up at more data centers. Also from what I have read there are 2 differnt types of Big Daddy data centers. One set called reseller’s DCs. (64.233.179.99, 64.233.179.104) I have no idea what they call it this.
One sad thing is I see a site that redirects using a java script that is hidden from bots ranking very well.
If you don’t know what “Big Daddy” is go here.
bigdaddy
During a comercial GM said “Don’t take our word for it, google pontiac and discover for yourself”. GM seems to think that associating with such a trusted and generally unbiased brand that some of that might rub off on GM/Pontiac. Article
I was just reading that Google would consider outsourcing it’s grid. John Loiacono, Sun’s software chief said “Google is thinking about whether it wants to be running its own data centers and developing its own software.” This is very interesting since Google prides themselves in doing their own thing. They also pride themselves in doing it cheaply so if this is cheaper and just as good or better it makes since.
I read that Google says they won’t pay broadband extortion from www.networkingpipeline.com. I remember reading that this could come up in the future on www.webmasterworld.com but I don’t remember the URL. We talked about how silly that was and it just seemed like rumor. I had no idea they were serious. I hope nobody paid this extortion.
I read an article about Google working on a nav system for cars. This would be nice. It would require internet access to the car because Google Earth takes 12 Terrabytes of disk space.
If you go to 
www.pack.google.com
you will find a software bundle to download. At first I thought it was stupid who would want all these things. I then noticed that they have a remove button under each item. You can pick and choose what is in your download bundle. That makes it nice. Especially if you are setting up a new computer.packgoogle
packgoogle.com
pack.google.com
www.pack.google.com
www.packgoogle.com
SEO Inc. banned from Google!
This is a very good thread.
