How to Remove the Google Blogger Navigation Bar from Your Blog

Do you find the Blogspot navigation bar annoying? If you blog on Google's Blogger platform, chances are, you have asked yourself how you could get rid of that. It's actually as simple as dropping some short code to your style-sheets.

Here's a detailed video I put-together with step by step instructions to remove the navbar from Blogspot:




posted by Ky Ekinci
Co-Founder, Office Divvy ™
Monday, May 31, 2010

Connect? Ky on Twitter | Office Divvy on Twitter | On Facebook

Office Divvy Daily Twitter from Palm Coast & Flagler County

• 14:45 How to Hide Friends' Annoying Farmville Updates from Facebook in Two Easy Steps: bit.ly/bZMWNn #
• 14:46 @myapptsetter ..interesting service! Let's connect, would like to understand how what your service offering packages are. #
• 14:50 @ormondseafood @EPSFoamPro @FLNativeMom ..hello neighbors, nice to connect with you: bit.ly/twttrfollow #
• 14:52 "Palm Coast with Julie" introduced: bit.ly/a1MAyy | ...did you connect with her on facebook yet? facebook.com/PalmCoastJulie #
• 17:20 From WhiteNoise to LinkedIn, Top 10 iPhone (and iPad) apps for the busy, work-at-home moms: ow.ly/1RRuo | #Mompreneur #
• 17:38 Good find Steve! disq.us/do86x #
• 21:34 "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one." ~ Bill Gates .... ow.ly/1RTz5 #
• 23:46 13 Truths About Social Media Measurement: ow.ly/1RVeu by @AmberCadabra #

Connect with Office Divvy on twitter @OfficeDivvy, or "like" us on facebook, @OfficeDivvy... Much thanks for listening...

How to Hide Friends' Annoying Farmville Updates from Facebook

If you are a Farmville lover, this post is probably not for you...

But if you are one of the 6 Million+ fans on the "I dont care about your farm, or your fish, or your park, or your mafia!!!" facebook page, you'll probably be interested in this "facebook how to tips" to hide your friends' annoying game and application feeds from appearing on your facebook timeline.

Did you know that you actually are only two clicks away to have a peace of mind, and to stop the annoying application updates? Here's how:

Step 1
Hover your cursor over the upper right corner of your friend's farmville accomplishment (sorry to be sarcastic), and a "Hide" button will appear. It will look like this:




Step 2
Click on the "Hide" button, and two more buttons will appear. First one is to hide the actual friend (and his or her entire status updates from your timeline), and the second one is hide the application's automatic updates from your news feed / facebook timeline. It will look like this:



Click on the latter, and it will prevent all stories from that particular application from appearing on your home page regardless of which friend the update is coming from.

Now take a deep breath, exhale, and relax. You're freed from the annoying application updates!

Remember, Farmville is a very common one, but others are into Mafia Wars, Country Life, Family Feud, Fishville (I made that up, is there a fishville?). You will need to repeat the process for each additional application as the updates appear.

Now what do you do if you change your mind and want to get back the updates? That's a whole another blog post, and I will save it until I actually see people commenting on and requesting tips for how to unhide and get back the Farmville updates. :)

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Related Posts:

• Is Farmville Responsible for Facebook beating Google's Traffic?

posted by Ky Ekinci
Co-Founder, Office Divvy ™
Sunday, May 30, 2010

Connect? Ky on Twitter | Office Divvy on Twitter | On Facebook

Entrepreneur advice by Kauffman Foundation's Bo Fishback

"Find a foothold and go for it" says Bo Fishback of the Kauffman Foundation in this quick interview with Wall Street Journal Small Business Editor, Colleen DeBaise:

Palm Coast featured in Fortune Magazine: 5 Great Places to Retire

Story on CNNmoney.com and Fortune Magazine features Palm Coast among the "5 Great Places to Retire." The story mentions the average home price at about $144,000, and says that there are 230 Blue Skys per year...

Here's the 5 Great Places to Retire:

1. Napa, California
2. Ann Arbor, MI
3. San Antonio, TX
4. Greenville, SC
5. Palm Coast, FL

Hurray for PalmCoast!

Though not near retirement, we at Office Divvy love living and doing business here...

To read the original story, click here.


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PS: Are you on the Palm Coast, FL Facebook page? You should be!

Another facebook-style improvement from LinkedIn -- The "Like" Button

Uh-huh, LinkedIn continues to improve and make moves towards engagement right on LinkedIn!

Recently Linked In allowed user-comments for status updates, which was a good move. Now the web2.0 features continue: LinkedIn now added a "like" button for a connection's status update.

So what if facebook coined the "like" terminology, it's okay! This is all in the right direction...

It's nice to increase engagement right on LinkedIn's own platform!



We "like" the new Linkedin "Like" button addition... Do you?




_________________________
Other LinkedIn Related Blog Posts:

• Why Colliding Worlds in Social Media is a "No, No"
• LinkedIn is figuring it out; introduces Facebook-like updates
  

Orlando Company CEO is the SBA National Small Business Person of the Year!

A wholehearted congratulations to Waymon Armstrong and Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) from the Office Divvy Team in Palm Coast, FL! Kudos! Well Done!..

* * *

Waymon Armstrong, the owner of a small business that uses computer simulations to help government and private sector clients prepare for and respond to natural disasters, medical emergencies and combat, was today named National Small Business Person of the Year by Karen Mills, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

SBA Administrator Mills made the announcement during ceremonies at SBA’s celebration of National Small Business Week 2010:

“ Waymon Armstrong is a perfect example of the innovation, inspiration and determination that exemplify America’s most successful entrepreneurs. He believed in his brainchild to the point where he deferred his own salary for three years to keep it afloat. When layoffs loomed for his staff after 9/11, their loyalty and belief in the company was so great that they were willing to work without pay for four months. Waymon’s commitment to his employees and to his business – Engineering & Computer Simulations, Inc. – demonstrates the qualities that make small businesses such a powerful force for job creation in the American economy and in their local communities. It’s the same qualities that will lead us to economic recovery. We are especially proud that his company benefited from two grants under SBA’s Small Business Innovation and Research Program. I applaud Waymon, and all of the state small business persons of the year who are here today. We are all grateful for their contributions to our economy.”

Armstrong, the top winner, started Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) in 1997. Today it is one of Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing private companies in America. Armstrong and ECS use cutting edge technology to help government and private clients prepare for natural disasters, medical emergencies, and times of war.

ECS is a provider of game-based simulation systems and interactive performance assessment tools that train emergency medical personnel and emergency management teams from different jurisdictions to cooperate in the event of a natural disaster, and simulation training programs that teach unmanned vehicle operational personnel procedures to launch and operate unmanned vehicles.

The ECS engineering team brings together an experienced staff that values innovation and creativity while focusing on customers’ needs. Today, ECS employs 45 people, and recruits from the central Florida talent pool. ECS doubled its revenues in 2008. The company has seen a 640 percent sales growth over the past three years. The loyalty of his staff was rewarded with generous benefits: full insurance, personal time off, every other Friday off, monthly catered appreciation lunches, bonus and profit-sharing plans, and on-site massage therapy.

Again, kudos to Waymon and the ECS team, well done!

Overnight Success Does Exist! .... Not!

"Nobody is an overnight success," says David Heinemeier Hansson, partner at 37signals and developer of the Web platform Ruby on Rails, during his lecture at the Stanford's Technology Venture Program.

Whenever a product or company suddenly seems to have popped up out of nowhere, it usually arrives out of 10 years worth of work. He points out that 37signals and Basecamp took just this length of time to become a success.

"Accelerated growth is a charade," Heinemeier Hansson further stresses. It takes time to develop a sustainable, profitable company.

In the heart of Heinemeier Hansson's statement is the choice (or the principle) of whether or not to turn to venture capital for accelerated growth, or to grow organically and fund through bootstrapping, family funds, Angel Investors, or other funding options.

I enjoyed this video from Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner, and hope you will enjoy it, too.



As we are considering some ideas to further expand Office Divvy services with a formula to provide funding to tech startups in Palm Coast and Daytona Beach (and elsewhere in Flagler and Volusia County landscape) --i.e. Angel Investing, Startup Incubation Program etc.; I will make sure that our network of Angel Investors as well as those startup founders seeking funding and angel investment will be reminded of Heinemeier Hansson's thoughts.


posted by Ky Ekinci
Co-Founder, Office Divvy ™
Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Connect? Ky on Twitter | Office Divvy on Twitter | On Facebook

Why does Microsoft Outlook still ignore Social Media Contacts?

What does a Solopreneur, Solo-practitioner, Freelancer, or Small Business Owner use nowadays to handle their Contact Management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) needs?

It's safe to say that once predominant desktop applications, such as Sage's ACT Software, are leaving the scene and Cloud CRM (such as SalesForce, ZOHO, LongJump and others) are now dominating the marketplace.

Microsoft's Outlook however remains a reliable player for many folks as a convenient tool for consolidating emails, tasks management, scheduling (calendar), and contact management.

I have to admit that I use Outlook, and I actually like it. Having it on my laptop makes it pretty mobile, and I can easily sync my calendar, tasks, and contacts to my blackberry; or vice versa. Though I wonder how long can Outlook hang in there still allowing only one single web-address field per contact, and without proper fields allocated for the various web addresses of contacts (such as blogs, and social media links including twitter, facebook, linkedin etc).



In an ideal world, Outlook should be able to allow for twitter, facebook, linkedin, and blog fields for contacts; and they can even take it one step further such as building-in a blog's most recent RSS feeds or a contact's most recent tweets and linkedin status updates.

How wonderful would it be to have that kind of visibility/snapshot to what my contact is up to that I'm about call!

PS: Even though I'm picking on Microsoft Outlook here, I have to be honest, and add that the other rising player in the market, Google Mail is not doing that much better when it comes to its address book, though google at least allows for additional "web addresses" per contact. | Even the CRM software I tried out there (SalesForce, Longjump, or ZOHO) is not that much better, they do not allow pre-configured fields for a blog, twitter feed, linkedin or facebook URL for contacts. Obviously you can configure some fields depending on your subscription. | Interestingly, it appears 37 Signals (the makers of Basecamp) gave more consideration for this kind of stuff in their new "Highrise" Cloud CRM, but based on the intro video that doesn't seem to exactly have all that I want, though certainly has the room to grow and scale to that kind of environment.

posted by Ky Ekinci
Co-Founder, Office Divvy ™
Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Connect? Ky on Twitter | Office Divvy on Twitter | On Facebook

Cracking Up a Few Laughs with Office Divvy Member Ron Thompson

Palm Coast based Financial Advisor Ron Thompson and our own LeTeeshia were cracking up a few laughs today at Office Divvy. We're working with Ron on his new website.

Palm Coast with Julie Introduced

A new Palm Coast personality is the new talk in Flagler County: "Palm Coast with Julie" and you will love her! Julie is on a journey to share the hidden gems in Palm Coast, with you. Here is her welcome video:




On here facebook page, Julie says:

" Hair, Shopping, Exercise, Restaurants, Night Life, with great friends in and around Palm Coast is what I love. I'll do my best to share what I know about the area and the hidden gems I find all the time. We live the good life here in Palm Coast."

You can connect with Julie, on facebook at facebook.com/PalmCoastJulie or on twitter at twitter.com/PalmCoastJulie.

Focal Group | Group Therapy | Palm Coast, FL

Dr. Emilio Yonta, licensed therapist, life coach, and personal trainer, with offices in Palm Coast and Port Orange, Florida is offering a series of Focal Groups in Palm Coast. These are hands on Group Sessions, in a workshop format, with limited space.

For 5 topics, each in two 90-minute sessions, on two Saturdays, Dr. Emilio Yonta will facilitate a fast paced interactive psycho-educational group process designed to assist you in making tough choices toward movement and change in your life.

Here's Dr. Yonta's introduction to the series:



First in the series, is: "Leaving The Land of the Lost: Adult Children of Alcoholics, Codependency and Recovery." They will take place on two Saturdays, June 5 and June 19, from 10AM to 11:30AM.

Other sessions, respectively from July through October will include the following topics:

• Men, are you about to "Ship-Wreck" your lives?
  
• Leaving "Captain-Crunch" Women.
• Life-Style Change--The New Resistance Training.
• Small Business--Problem Solving Toward Change.

The above sessions may be for you, or someone in your life. Please consider, and share with them. For more information, visit Dr. Yonta's Website: It's All About Focus.

"The Entrepreneur's Pledge" by Kauffman Foundation

Interesting move by the Kauffman Foundation with the "Entrepreneur's Pledge."

Kauffman Foundation is championing 'Entrepreneurship' for Economic Recovery, and encouring people to sign the "Entrepreneur's Pledge" to join the Entrepreneurs' Movement “Build a Stronger America."

Kauffman Foundation states that once you sign the pledge, you will:

• Acknowledge the important role entrepreneurs play in society;
• Support and encourage your fellow entrepreneurs;
• Share your success story with others; and
• Strive to give back to your community.

Here's the Entrepreneur's Pledge:

I am an Entrepreneur.

I am following a dream, pursuing an opportunity, taking charge of my own destiny.

I am bringing something of value to society, making a job for myself and for others, and creating wealth that benefits my family, my community, my country, my world.

I am one of a movement of millions of entrepreneurs and innovators who made America great, and who will continue to keep our economy going...and growing.

I am what I am because many people have helped me along on this journey.

Therefore...

I will tell my story, sharing my successes and failures, so that others taking the entrepreneurial path can learn.

I will strive to mentor an aspiring entrepreneur.

I will make my voice heard by those who make policy decisions that affect me and my business.

I will appreciate and celebrate my accomplishments, and the accomplishments of all my fellow entrepreneurs.

I will give back to the society that helped me to be successful.

I will Build A Stronger America.

You can watch the Entrepreneur's Pledge Video, or click to visit the "Build A Stronger America" website.

Social Media Workshops in Palm Coast | Facebook & Twitter

Office Divvy is offering "TWITTER and FACEBOOK for Your Business and Professional Brand" -- two exciting workshops, four available dates in June 2010. These are hand-on, small-class workshops with limited space availability.




Twitter 101
An ideal workshop for those of you who are not yet on twitter, or those who started a twitter account but don’t know which way to go. This is a 90-minute hands-on workshop. You will gain a general understanding of twitter, and learn how to add an avatar and a background image, how to 'talk' to others on twitter, how to find people to connect to, how to 'listen' for keywords, as well as exposure to popular twitter productivity tools such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, and how to connect your facebook posts to twitter. Fee: $49

Two Dates to Chose From:

• Saturday, June 5th from 1 PM to to 2:30 PM
• Monday, June 14th 5:30 PM to 7 PM
  

Facebook for Business
An ideal workshop for those who have yet not setup a professional or business page on facebook, or those who started one but not sure which way to go. This is a 90-minute hands-on workshop, from which you will walk away with a general understanding of facebook business pages, how to add an optimized avatar, how to post content to your page, how to add favorite pages to your page, how to link your facebook page updates to twitter, how to create a vanity URL for your page, and how to promote your facebook page including an overview of facebook ads. Fee: $49

Two Dates to Chose from:

• Saturday, June 12th from 1 PM to to 2:30 PM
• Monday, June 21st 5:30 PM to 7 PM
  

Workshops takes place at Office Divvy, 389 Palm Coast Pkwy SW, Palm Coast, Florida. These workshops are small-class, hands-on format with limited space availability. If you live in Flagler, Volusia, or St. John's County, you don't want to miss this opportunity!

For more information call 1.888.533.4889 or visit the Palm Coast Social Media Workshops page.

Palm Coast FiberNET Co-Lo Facility Introduced

Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts, Vice Mayor and Council Member Mary DiStefano, Council Members Bill Lewis, Holsey Moorman, and Frank Meeker used their golden scissors to 'cut the fiber' the morning of May 11, 2010:



The 'fiber cutting' ceremony marks the opening of the colocation facility housing the Palm Coast FiberNET and providers' equipment.

Also in attendance were:

• City Manager Jim Landon
  
• Chamber President Doug Baxter
  
• City's IT Director Courtney Violette
  
• CEO of Florida Hospital Flagler, David Ottati
  
• President of Design Nine, Dr. Andrew M. Cohill
  
• President of Lux Communications, Rob Beach
• and Office Divvy co-founders Lisa and Ky Ekinci
  

FiberNET is an open access, multi-provider telecommunications network that has been developed by the City of Palm Coast in response to requests from the business community to use City-owned fiber infrastructure to help spur business and jobs growth. Over the next two years, the plan is to get fiber connections to most businesses in the City. FiberNET will be operated as a digital road system, the City will build and maintain the digital road system, but private businesses (providers) will use the digital road to deliver goods and services to customers.

FiberNET is an exciting project for Palm Coast, primarily benefiting select business locations along the Palm Coast Parkway and Town Center. Office Divvy headquarters at the West Pointe Plaza were in the phase-1 of the project, with all infrastructure already underground. We expect to have fully up and running at Office Divvy in early June.

Upcoming Palm Coast Events & Announcements

Palm Coast FiberNET Ribbon Cutting The City of Palm Coast will introduce its new open access FiberNET network at an official 'fiber-cutting' ceremony on Tuesday, May 11th, at 8:15 a.m. The ceremony will take place at the FiberNET collocation facility adjacent to Heroes Park, located approximately 1/2 mile west of the Flagler County Library on Palm Coast and Belle Terre Parkways. Palm Coast 'Fiber Cutting' Ceremony Tuesday, May 11 at 8:15 AM | more info

Palm Coast Chamber Breakfast Join the Palm Coast Chamber for the quarterly Meet & Greet Breakfast at Florida Hospital Flagler... Palm Coast Chamber's quarterly Meet & Greet Breakfast at Florida Hospital Flagler, 60 Memorial Medical Parkway, Palm Coast. Palm Coast Chamber Breakfast Wednesday, May 12 from 7:30 am to 9:30 AM At Florida Hospital Flagler | Cost $10

Coworking Jelly Office Divvy ™ "Jelly Coworking" will continue monthly, every second Wednesday through June. Office Divvy's Jelly Coworking attracted entrepreneurs, technical and creative folks in Flagler County landscape. Good way to do solo-work side-by-side with other professionals. Grab your laptop and drop in. May's Jelly Coworking Wednesday, May 12 from 11 am to 7 pm (drop-in any time) Office Divvy, 389 Palm Coast Pkwy SW, Palm Coast For more info: CLICK HERE

Flagler Chamber Business After Hours Monthly networking event of Flagler Chamber of Commerce, "Business After Hours" will take place on Thursday, May 20th... Business After Hours at Brookhaven at Town Center Condominiums, 101 Brookhaven Court North in Town Center. This event is open to all business professionals. Chamber Business After Hours Thursday, May 20 from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM At Brookhaven Condos Town Center | Cost $5

Facebook & Twitter Workshops Office Divvy is offering "TWITTER and FACEBOOK for Your Business and Professional Brand" -- two exciting workshops, four available dates in June 2010. These are hands-on, small-class workshops with limited space availability. Fee: $49 per session Twitter 101 Saturday, June 5th from 1 PM to to 2:30 PM Monday, June 14th 5:30 PM to 7 PM Facebook for Business Saturday, June 12th from 1 PM to to 2:30 PM Monday, June 21st 5:30 PM to 7 PM For more information click here.

City of Palm Coast FiberNET Co-Location Facility Ceremony

The City of Palm Coast will introduce its new open access FiberNET network at an official 'fiber-cutting' ceremony on Tuesday, May 11th, at 8:15 a.m.

The ceremony will take place at the FiberNET collocation facility adjacent to Heroes Park, located approximately 1/2 mile west of the Flagler County Library on Palm Coast and Belle Terre Parkways. Brief facility tours will also be available from 9:00-11:00 a.m.



Palm Coast's FiberNET is Florida's first municipally owned open-access network, planned to serve select local business locations. City itself does not play the provider role, but rather charges for their infrastructure at wholesale rates to providers.

Office Divvy ™ already signed up for Palm Coast FiberNET through Lux Communications, one of the Palm Coast Fiber Net providers. At Office Divvy ™ we expect to be up and running with our fiber connection by late May, with speeds up to 10 times our current broadband connection.

Office Divvy intern takes down Palm Coast Fire Chief!

Office Divvy ™ intern Alex took down the Palm Coast Fire Chief Mike Beadle, literally...

Chief Beadle was one of the generous people who volunteered to be "dunked" at the Dunking Booth during the Arbor Day Festivities in Town Center, sponsored by the City of Palm Coast. Just before Alex got him, he was also dunked by Office Divvy ™ co-founder Ky Ekinci; and prior to that, by his own staff at the Flagler County's Fire Department. He was cracking jokes and had his usual great sense of humor even as he was hitting the water.




Rotary Club of Flagler County in Palm Coast sponsored the Dunking Booth, with the money raised going to Homeless to Homeward.

Social Media Revolution | Take 2

...just a wonderful updated version of the Social Media Revolution video. Words beyond that are not necessary, just watch and enjoy: