VaultPress — Blog — Ryan Spoon

After yesterday's post (2011 as the year of The Cloud and The Mobile Office), I was moved to list the apps and tools that I use on a daily basis (... at least as of January 2011!). I am trying to capture those utilities that I use most often. This is in no way comprehensive and is not presented in no particular order. What does your's look like?

- Wordpress: ryanspoon.com and dogpatchlabs.com run on it.

- Vaultpress: backs everything up. simple, great product.

- Evernote: committing to diligently using this in 2011.

- Highrise: committed to using it in Q4 2010... and love it.

- Xobni: makes Outlook better. And I live in Outlook.

- Google Apps: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Chat.

- Skype: solely on the iPhone for international calls.

- Google Chrome extensions: I live on them. These are ones I use regularly: - Evernote - Quora - Goo.gl - Gmail Checker - Google Calendar - Web Clipboard - Google Voice - Google Screen Capture

- Google TV: I might be alone, but I love it.

- Tripit: the more I travel, the more I rely on it.

This of course does not include the list of websites and apps that I use daily... like Facebook, Quora, Netflix Twitter, Pandora, etc.

If you're an active blogger and WordPress user, you should be excited about the new launch of VaultPress - a backup and monitoring service for your sites. Vaultpress launched this week as a Beta and has the best looking "Beta Applications" I have seen... and in the world of optimizing funnels (registration paths, purchase flows, etc), this is a great lesson in thinking about how to apply that knowledge and analysis to fuzzier aspects of the business (like the Beta launch). What can be learned?

1. It is simple and clever... all within the VaultPress brand and look 2. It cleverly captures all of the information typically requested (name, URL, etc) 3. It captures directional information that will help inform usage, customer type, etc: as examples, "How much would you pay?" and "Why would you pay?" 4. VaultPress understands the Beta applicant and therefore can intelligently invite / control the invitation process (such that they can have early users of whatever type / pattern they prefer)

Note: Polaris is an investor in Automattic (parent company of WordPress).