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Back in January, a healthy comment discussion followed a post in which we looked at the topic of “spec work,” or freelance work done for a client before an agreement of compensation is formed. One of the most vocal opponents to spec work is Andrew Hyde of TechStars and StartupWeekend fame, whose blunt opinions sparked a debate over how a marketplace for freelance work should properly function. Today, Hyde and a few friends are launching Pick , a marketplace and directory that connects clients with freelancers. Sponsor Freelancers in fields like design, development, photography, copywriting, marketing and management can sign into Pick and create a profile to share their portfolio and contact information. More importantly, however, Pick asks freelancers to list their work availability and a price range. This allows clients to narrow their search to find freelancers in the specialty they need based on location, availability and price. “The [freelance] process is a mess. There are a ton of freelancer sites out there, but freelancers never promote them because they largely exploit the community. I thought there had to be a better way,” Hyde told ReadWriteWeb. “I wrote my solution and said someone should build it, and nobody did, so here we are.” Through the creation of Pick and the growth of its community, Hyde hopes to put a dent in other marketplaces which he says are providing platforms for what he calls ” exploitsourcing .” With a 2008 post titled “Spec Work Is Evil / Why I Hate CrowdSpring ,” and in 2009’s ” An Open Letter to 99designs ,” Hyde has become a leading voice in the movement against spec work and the services he believes promote it. “It is a major ethical flaw of both parties,” said Hyde of spec work in 2008. “Some designers I have talked to have escalated this lack of ethics to be on par with some very serious crimes, while other see it as dumping oil down a rain drain. A lot of people don’t take this lightly at all.” On the bright side of the negativity surrounding spec work, Hyde has channeled his passion against the practice into a new place for clients and freelancers to meet without the worry of exploitation. For startups that need design, copywriting or other freelance services, Pick could soon become an excellent alternative to the more common marketplaces. Having just launched, the service is a bit of a ghost town and is currently invite-only, but Hyde hopes to see around 1,000 users by week’s end. Freelancers can request an invite and clients can currently visit the site and browse the available profiles. Discuss

Half the story when conveying information lies in how you are going to transmit it. There is data that can be put across only by way of charts, graphs and diagrams . It is the kind of data that is only assimilated if we have a spatial reference for comparison. Read more Learn more about PrettyGraph.com in Dataopedia.com Find out how much PrettyGraph.com is worth with Stimator.com

It’s been nearly a year since China first shutdown access to Twitter in preparation for the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre , but today Google has opened up the doors again, in a way. According to an article this morning in the Los Angeles Times, Google has added Twitter search results to its search engine there, “in effect, lifting a nine-month blackout of the microblogging service in China.” Sponsor Earlier this week, Google announced that it would stop censoring search results and would redirect visitors from mainland China to Google.com.hk from Google.cn. Already, China has worked to censor search results provided on Google.com.hk. This latest move by Google is sure to further aggravate an already tense situation, but we have to wonder, as we have before , if it really matters or if we’re looking at it from an ethnocentric point of view. Twitter may have been blocked, but China has several of its own Chinese Twitter clones . So now China can see tweets, which are predominantly not in Mandarin, in Google search results. Then again, the Los Angeles Times points out that the search results are already bringing sensitive topics into view of Chinese citizens: “The tweets do not show up for all searches, but only for terms that appear to be popular on Twitter. On Thursday morning, that included discussions on such taboo subjects as how to circumvent China’s Internet firewall, why Google decided to exit China and a vaccine scandal unfolding in central China.” The move seems more like a principled slap in the face than anything else. But then again, so does much of this situation. Discuss

This week we’ve got a book hot off the presses for your weekly dose of entrepreneurial reading as 37signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson are back with their second book. Released earlier this month, Rework , a no-nonsense rethinking of how to successfully start and run a business, is the second book from Fried and Heinemeier who earlier authored Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application . Sponsor This time Fried and Hansson take a more general approach to business by examining the ways that new companies are disrupting traditional business practices and making a big splash. They cover their entrepreneurial bases by reminding us that “no time is no excuse” and that “a business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby,” but then also elaborate on less traditional practices that have helped them succeed. The main theme of the book is to trim the fat and do fewer things better; simplifying every aspect of your business and doing a smaller number of things at a higher quality is far better than trying to do too much and a mediocre level. There were times when customers of their products wanted more features and they refused to comply because it would slow them down and decrease efficiency. They decry time-stealing meetings, lengthy contracts, childish office politics and bloated inventories because they weigh down companies from reaching their full potential. Rework is a great read for entrepreneurs because it is very focused and doesn’t waste any time with lengthy use cases. The book itself is an example of the principals it teaches; the quality of a written work is not based on it’s length, so why should company be judged by how many features it offers? Fried and Hansson admit that the book, which comes in at a dense but brief 288 pages, was originally drafted to be nearly twice as long, but why say in 600 pages what you can say under 300? Another reason the book is a great read is because of the authors’ open and honest tone. “Ever seen those weapons prisoners make out of soap, or a spoon? They make do with what they’ve got,” one passage humorously points out. “Now we’re not saying you should go out and shank somebody, but get creative, and you’ll amazed with what you can make with just a little.” Other useful and easily digestible analogies for their unique business ideas include comparing your company to a hot dog stand. They advise that the best way to trim down an inflated company is to find the “epicenter” by asking yourself, “If I took this away, would what I’m selling still exist?” The best hot dog stand doesn’t worry about the decorations on the stand, or the condiments – it worries about the hot dogs. There are dozens of other valuable pieces of advice in Rework that are sure to inspire any entrepreneur or small business owner. But as LeVar Burton famously said at the end of each episode of Reading Rainbow, you don’t have to take my word for it. Seth Godin, who has authored several books on business and entrepreneurship including The Dip which we profiled earlier this year, had nothing but high praise for Rework . “Jason and David have broken all the rules and won. Again and again they’ve demonstrated that the regular way isn’t necessarily the right way,” says Godin. “They just don’t say it, they do it. And they do it better than just about anyone has any right to expect.” This book is an obvious buy not only because the of the expert advice dispensed by the successful founders of 37signals, but also because the book is an easy, quick and inexpensive read. Personally, in a few short hours I was able to breeze through the audio version, which can be found online for less than $10. But if you prefer reading words on a page, the Kindle version is also $10, or a hardback copy is just $3 more at some online retailers . Discuss

Despite the proverbial “the customer is always right,” the relationship between the customer and the company has long been organized for the benefit of the latter. But the ability for companies to completely control this relationship has disappeared. Social CRM: The New Rules of Relationship Management , a report from the Altimeter Group released earlier this month, serves to help companies and organizations understand the changing territory. The report offers a thorough framework with which companies can strategize their adoption of social CRM projects. Sponsor Based on research with companies who have pioneered an embrace of social technologies for relationship management, the report lists 18 use cases that serve as entry points for social CRM efforts. These include social customer insights (tracking customers’ preferences via social media sites like Facebook), rapid social marketing response (defending the brand in real-time), and crowdsourced R&D (eliciting real-time feedback to enhance innovation). The report rates each use case by its market demand and tech maturity, indiced to help organizations see which might be the most expedient and appropriate entry points for their social CRM endeavors. It also lists vendors to watch, pointing out that there is currently no single tool to help organizations track customer data and customer conversations in a world of rapidly changing social technologies. The report has six recommendations for organizations: Breathe social. Complement existing CRM processes. Measure social CRM projects on business goals rather than solely on engagement. Be prepared for rapid change. Find other social CRM pioneers. The most important, perhaps: Act now. The report cautions companies against falling even further out of step with customers by not engaging with social technologies to expand their CRM processes. Well-researched and with clear definitions, the report could also help companies avoid undertaking social CRM projects merely for the buzz. Discuss