About Me

I think I can provide a very unique insight into Blogger and Google product integration. I am an experienced technical project manager/developer, who relied on Google products during a 5+ year remote sailing trip. Then I spent an entire year trying to develop an integrated solution using these products and APIs. During the architecture of BlurbBits I interviewed many potential users, reviewed/analyzed hundreds of blogger sites (see BlurbBits Examples), and analyzed support requests and helped customers in the various forums.

Google Products used: Google maps (Api and site), Google Earth, Blogger, Picasa, YouTube, Google Docs, Feedburner, Analytics, Adsense, Gmail, Google Reader, NoteBook, Google PageCreator, Sites, Calendar, Webmaster Tools, Google Base, Google Friend Connect, CSE, Translation, and of course Google Search!!

Successful developer, project and group manager (LinkedIn profile)

For thirteen years I worked in start-up or advanced development environments to develop world class, industry leading solutions (adopted by Intel, HP, EMC, Ford etc) . I managed small teams (8 PhD level) responsible for complete product life-cycle from design analysis through development, including documentation, QA, support, consulting and training as both a project/group manager and individual contributor. $8 million in group revenues, $75-$150K per license seat plus an additional 10% maintenance per year.. i.e. the product and it's support and training had to be first class!

Five+ Year Sailing Trip
Blurbbits was envisioned/developed during this trip


5.5 years, 32,800+ Miles, 24 Countries, 160 Nights and 5500 hours at sea

I've always been a fully responsible, self-sufficient individual. At sea, the decisions you make are 100% your responsibility and success/failure can often be measured by life/death, for both you and those that depend on you.

BlurbBits was actually my first javascript, web based development project and represents almost a full year of effort. I figured if I was going to return to the "real world" and find a job, I had to be a little more up to date in my knowledge.

Developing BlurbBits required the knowledge of many Google products, APIs and lot's of patience. It is already hard enough to battle the browser differences and proper product documentation/ support as a individual developer. Resting your reputation and efforts on a set of critical path products and APIs without proper support, feedback or timing is almost impossible (and almost certainly insane). In some cases, I could tell I was the first person to EVER use a function or try to tie the separate Google products and pieces together.

Blogger user and developer

I've developed the following blogs.. and have helped many new users, both privately and within the Blogger help Forums.

svbillabong.blogspot.com via Mail-to-Blogger with geo-blogs and interactive maps
mylescrew.blogspot.com
snaps360.blogspot.com
fromthegalley.blogspot.com

blurbbits.blogspot.com: BlurbBits is a FREE set of utilities designed to help make blogging easier, especially from remote location via low bandwidth communications. Integrates maps, images, video, dynamic popup maps, gadgets into websites and blogs. This blog is a complete set of documentation (30 posts) including interactive examples using Blogger.

In addition to my own blogs, I have talked with plenty of novice bloggers and reviewed hundreds of blogs. A full write up of other blogs and Picasa photos can be found in our Examples Post.

creative-cruising.com A site to help other cruisers prepare for remote life at sea (was planning to move to blogger.. currently re-thinking!!)

All of these sites and utilities represent a substantial amount of my effort. To date we have made $500, which doesn't even cover our hosting costs let alone the 1000's of hours of effort (i.e. I'm not doing it for the money!!).