If you own a Palm Treo 680, or any other model, you may want to check the CD that came with your device and make sure that it works. If so, make a backup copy of your CD and keep it in a safe place, as you won’t be able to get a replacement copy.

Every year I completely rebuild my PC – stripping off all files and reinstalling Windows and all software individually. I do this because I need to, as my machine starts chugging to a crawl and this complete refresh allows me to use a clean and fast running PC. One of the first programs I installed was the Palm Desktop and sync software, necessary for moving files from my Treo to my PC and synchronizing all calendar and contact information. When I put in the CD for the Palm Desktop that came with my Treo, my PC couldn’t read it. Shocked, I tried it on a number of other PCs at the office, and none could read it. I then went to the Palm Web site and downloaded a copy of the Palm Desktop and installed it, synced and had all of my data in place, or so I thought.

The version of the Palm Desktop that came on the CD is a more advanced version that what I could get online, and upon further check I could not even download this advanced version from their Web site! I first discovered this as media files – photos and videos – that I took with the camera function of the Treo were not on my PC after a sync.

I then went back to Palm’s Web site and submitted a help request to have them send me a new CD, and they responded that they do not have replacement CDs, told me to download and install the less advanced version and acknowledged that it would not sync media files. The message concluded that they wanted to be sure this issue was resolved, they would be sending me a satisfaction survey, and that I was not allowed to post their response on any public forum.

So I responded that this was unacceptable, and that I am awaiting a replacement CD. I am being courteous and not posting their verbatim message, and of course I have yet to receive the survey. In the meantime, does anyone out there have a Treo 680 and may have a CD for it that they could copy from me? Of course, I would be willing to bet that doing so violates the license of the software, but this violation is nothing compared to what Palm has done to me.

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Just when I think I have caught up with what I need to accomplish in a day, I find I have to go to Google and learn about something new they have released, whether it’s a beta version or an enhancement to a beta or... well, you get the picture. As much as it’s nice to see what is new from the search giant, there’s a service they offer that I feel some may have forgotten about – Google Alerts.

A Google Alert is an email sent with new search results based on selected keywords. If there are search results from Web sites, news, groups or blogs that day for whatever keywords you select, you will get a digest email with links to those Web sites. If not, you don’t get an email. Emails can be sent as links are found, daily or weekly. This service is free, and you can have multiple alerts for different keywords.

I have Google Alerts setup for my name and the names of my business, my wife and some clients. It is good for monitoring your brand, domain names as well as your competitors, favorite sports team, type of food – the options are unlimited. It is another tool in my toolbox of services I use regularly to manage my business. It may not be the latest and greatest from Google, but it is a core service that should not be forgotten.

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Do you own the domain name for your name? For example, I own mikemaddaloni.com and own a few names with just my last name, Maddaloni, as the dot-com name is owned by someone else.

Owning the domain name may seem vain, but it is an important component of your personal brand. What you say – personal brand? Yes, just as a company brands itself and its products and services, individuals should do the same. If you think about it, if you are a jobseeker or have your own business, you are doing this to a certain extent. By developing a personal brand you are making a constant and consistent effort to market and promote yourself.

Recently I have seen several references to personal branding, including this article on a brand trainer in Forbes as well as Chicago networking guru Jason Jacobsohn who has been writing and speaking about it. A service from a Chicago company called Naymz allows you to develop an online profile and a link to it will appear as a Google text ad – try Googling me and you will see it.

So what do you with your personal domain name? You can create a personal Web site and use it for your email. If you are not ready for a Web site yet, you could forward Web traffic to another Web page, such as your blog or LinkedIn profile.

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Recently I received an email survey from an organization from whom I have purchased their product before, and upon completing the survey I purchased more from them. However I would bet that was not their intention with sending the survey.

Thousand Hills Coffee is a brand of Rwandan coffee where part of the proceeds benefit school projects in the land where the coffee originates. I know the president of the company, and I like coffee, so I have been a customer. When I received a marketing survey from them, I completed it and then realized I hadn’t ordered from them in a while. That issue was remedied with another order placed and I was enjoying the coffee a few days later.

This got me thinking – as I market my company, maybe I should be thinking about reminding my existing customers rather than selling to them?

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This morning I participated in a dynamic discussion for the first meeting of likemind.chi. What is likemind you ask? I asked myself the same question when I heard about it, and this video by the founders of likemind explains it well.

And as I am the closest one to the meeting spot at Intelligencia Coffee on Randolph and Wabash, I was there late, however I was one of the last to leave. I met some interesting people and as we sipped our coffee, we exchanged ideas on branding, blogging and swag.

How I heard about this event is almost as interesting. The blog of one of my clients was mentioned on the PSFK blog. After finding this blog interesting, I started reading its feed and heard about Likemind, as it was started by one of the people of PSFK. A sequence of events that had a fantastic result.

And to think that people were meeting today all over the world with the same common goal.

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