Stories

Popularity of Internet and Social Media

Jun 17, 2009

Listening to Morning Edition on PBS right now and they are talking about the post election in Iran. All the public dissent and open revolts are largely organized by SMS and Facebook. With this kind of usage even in Iran, it really shows the importance of SMS and Social Media as a tool in our society.

Freemium Hostage Business Model

Jun 9, 2009

I am a big fan of the Fremium Business Model. Where you offer a base account that is free to get users in the door. Then you can upsell them on premium features. It just makes sense. I am also a big fan of the Free Trial for web based software as well. I think this is crucial to allow people to test drive your application and see if it will work for them. However nothing makes me more mad then the Free trial that really isn't Free. They make you put in a credit card then start...

Internet and Network at Technology Conference

Jun 3, 2009

I'm not being to formal about my posts coming together from the Google I/O conference. A lot of work this week so I haven't had time to pull together. So I am just going to rant about a few items randomly. One of them is the network and Internet connectivity at conference centers and events. First put the Registration, Information, Session Speakers, Exhibitors and all non-attend...

Google Wave Federation Protocol

Jun 3, 2009

Excited to have started playing with the Google Wave Federation Protocol this evening. I got my sandbox account today and played with the client available there enough....then after going through the Google Wave API docs and Google Wave Federation Protocol Draft Specs again I am eager start playing with some code. Going to play wi...

End of High Price Software and Old School ISP Models

Jun 3, 2009

This month we are done with a hostage internet service provider (ISP) at WebEvents Global where I work. When I started we were already under contract with this ISP. We weren't using the T1 connection, however we were still using the rack hosting. After working my way through the sales and tech support I made it to what I guess is the top of the ladder. He expressed no interest in negotiating or even providing the services they had promised. He just reminded we were under contr...

Google Cloud Platform - Spreadsheets as Data Stores

Jun 2, 2009

I attended many great sessions while at Google I/O. I really started to see the where they are going with using Google Spreadsheets as data stores. I have used as data stores for quite a while, but they are really pushing for them to store enterprise data, Read more →

Google IO Wrapup

May 31, 2009

I am still processing my notes and information from the Google I/O conference in San Francisco last week. I will be making some individual posts on different sessions I attended. I wanted to speak to my overall experience at the conference. I had a little insight behind the scenese because even though I went as an attendee the company I work for WebEvents global handled the regi...

Google IO Keynote - Day One

May 31, 2009

I am not blogging to among the A list bloggers or drive large amounts of traffic to my blog. I do this primarily for myself and as a result I tend to have some readers and followers. At conferences I tend to take notes and when I find time and get in the blogging spirit I will blog about these topics. So here are some thoughts form the

IPhone Application Directory in a Magazine

May 30, 2009

I was browsing the magazine rack at borders books this morning as I often do. I notice an IPhone Application directory magazine. Besides the fact that Mac and I everything seems to dominate the technology section of the magazine rack, Apple really is on it when it comes to publishing. I would like to see a Blackberry, Android, and other smart phone application directory or overview publication. I think this would be one more step towards the other handheld platforms competing against ...

Open Data and Transparency for the Government

May 25, 2009

I am excited about the recent launch of Data.gov. I am very passionate about what API and open data access can do for companies and belive the same is true about Government. Now that the site is launched....we need some data. Doesn't look like much is available quite yet. I queried all categories and all agencies and got eight results. Its a start. I will be watching on a regular basis to see what data sets show up. Hopefully many more agencies see the value in posting t...

Making Web Application Portable Using Adobe Air

May 19, 2009

I am enjoying taking a current web application and making it run in Adobe Air. So far I have quickly ported an existing ColdFusion web application over to run within a downloadable Adobe

End of a Busy Week at SAP SAPPHIRE 2009

May 15, 2009

Finished up a very busy week yesterday at the SAP SAPPHIRE 2009 conference in Orlando, FL. Haven't had much time on my hands to do any blogging or much of anything beyond just managing registration at SAPPHIRE. The show was a success. I feel good about it. It was my first on-site with the company and it is our largest event of the year. We had several technology successes including Airport Registration at the Orlando Airport and Self Check-In Kiosks. Both were ...

Too tired to Blog...

May 9, 2009

Haven't had much time lately to blog. Currently getting ready for the SAP SAPPHIRE event in Orlando.

Amazon EC2 Recovery

May 6, 2009

I just finished a recovery of an amazon EC2 instance that failed. It failed not due to anything related to the Amazon EC2 instance. It was something Java related in the ColdFusion environment, and still trying to figure out. Anwyays, as soon as I saw I couldn't recover the services necessary to run the application I quickly deployed a new instance from the AMI I had created of the production isntance a couple weeks ago. Once up I copied all web site files. This frustrated me a...

Google Sites Indexing

May 5, 2009

I started doing some research on cloud computing a couple weeks ago. I have been watching the Google search results for my name to see how long it took for this research to float up in my profile. It showed up at #28 now. I have seen other pages too show up below that. I am interested in seeing how quickly you can launch a site using

Stimulus Money Tracking

May 3, 2009

I have seen a lot of press about how the stimulus money is being spend and tracked. I have come across many ideas for how this should be tracked. I have gone through all 50 states recovery web sites as well as many of the federal agency web sites. There is definitely no rhyme or reason to how thiis money and projects are being tracked. I see several organizations such as the Sunlight Foundation, Read more →

Small Business Content Chain

May 3, 2009

I am spending an hour or two each week and working with my mother and her business partner on growing their small business. Last weekend I spend some time in Ashland coming back from California and helped them talk through their business. We identified some problems in their supply chain, however they are making great strides in documenting and streamlining this process. Wher...

Recovery Money Investment Data Feeds

May 3, 2009

I am seeing more and more data available at the Recovery.org web site. The site provides some great overview of money distributed, but it takes forever to really dive into specific aspects of where the money is being spent at the local, state or federal level. What I would like to see is on this Investments by Agency page, in addition to available and paid out amounts by agency is...

Mobile Application Development

May 3, 2009

Watching the recent explosion in growth around IPhone applications and seeing the potential for other mobile application development on Blackberry, Android and other platforms...I can't help but think how this is the future of computing. I see many useful business and fun applications on the I...

Education of Politicians Around Cloud Computing

May 3, 2009

I am a big advocate for educating politicians and our leaders on cloud computing and what it can do to save money and open up our government for more involvement by the public at large. I am amazed at how many leaders are already in the know about cloud computi...

Security in the Cloud vs. ISP

May 1, 2009

I have had several talks with small businesses about their comapnies infrastructure and what the next steps are. When I bring up cloud computing, the first question I get is in regards to security. How secure is our data, our apps? Valid questions and cloud service providers have a lot of proving to do here in alleviating the concerns of small and medium sized busin...

My Google Profile

May 1, 2009

I was waiting for my Google Profile to float up in my listings. I watch the top 20 Google search results for my name fairly often. It is important to me what shows there.

Google Cloud Enterprise Integregation

May 1, 2009

Google continued maturing their cloud offerings for the enterprise world yesterday with a Google Apps LDAP integration tool. Google Apps Directory Sync now lets businesses and schools with an LDAP user directory system transiti...

Best Flash Image Slideshows

Apr 30, 2009

I am always looking for quality flash slidehows and image galleries to display products, people and nature pictures. There are some gr eat paid solutions out there. I just stumbled across what I would consider the best assortment of FREE flash image galleries. Take a look: http://www.paulvanroekel.nl/picasa/

Recomendations for Government Transparency

Apr 29, 2009

I used up all my mojo on my last post, and really can't write much on this topic right now, but I have to at least share this posting I found tonight: Recovery Recommendations From I School Faculty Sent to the US Government It is the best recommendation I have read regarding how to change the Government and spend some recovery / stimulus money. I will write more about it later, ...