Stories

I just did some investigation into some verisoning issues with a system we are developing. Something I do regularly. As I was waiting for the SVN repository to update I was reading some Cloud Computing articles. It made me think how I would really like some sort of version control for all my cloud activities. I would like it to remember every instance I launch, setting, data manipulation, sync, transfer. Basically anything i do regarding my cloud architecture I would like it t...

Users are quickly moving into the drivers seat when it comes to determining how a web application should look, feel and function. Take the recent Facebook revolt where users banded together and made it clear that they do not like the new Facebook layout. I don't think this was a single case where you have such a passionate base of users that they made their voice heard. I think this is the beginning of a trend. I feel that application and cloud developers need to start...

I just setup My Documents folder on my computer to automatically backup to Amazon S3 every night. I have kind of been half way doing this as I can, but with a recent laptop failure it became much more of an issue. I had bought a new el cheapo laptop from Best Buy...and 3 months later the harddrive failed. They were able to recover my data, but there were things that could have been lost forever. So I am not automatically backing up this data using my secure backup monitor I ha...

Been reading several high quality posts about a new social service that allows you to check the availability of your username across many social networks. This is a great way to protect your "brand" in the social media space. Sounds like a great application. Too bad I can't see it.....get a big phat service unavailable when trying to view it. Obviously they didn't develop their application with a serious IT plan and not built on the cloud. If they had deployed on an Am...

Hey Google! Can you guys please cross reference my Google Alert for blog searches with my Google Reader. I do not need to get alerts for items I already have in my Google Reader. Just a thought! Thanks so much for adding this new Google Alert and Google Reader feature.

So I have signed up for the Cloud Slam 09 Virtual Technology Conference. Looks like some greate speakers and sessions on the topic of Cloud Computing. I am interesting in the topic as well as how well a virtual conference will go. How many users, involvement level, etc. What I want to note in this blog post is that the conference is a week long, which is fine. But on each session I want to be able to click on link and have it automatically added to my Google Calendar with a re...

With this current administration we have a great opportunity to really address the availability of broadband across the United States. We are lagging behind the rest of the world in broadband availability. This is such a yesterday issue...we need to get on with it and move on. I understand our growth has been stunted by the previous administration. However its no excuse. Let's make broadband a priority and get it available at a low cost through America and move on to o...

People are always looking for proof that you can find work or business through social media marketing. Just like with traditional search engine marketing people are looking for the instant gratification. A click through conversion, etc. It takes a lot more work than that, it is a constant build and constant presence. I build relationships and connections each day hoping one of them will lead to my next big opportunity. And it has....but never in real direct ways. Today...

I have been doing a lot of development lately using the EXTJS framework. I have been setting it up to consume JSON from Web Services I have been setting up. At first it was cumbersome to even get some basic administrative tools setup and working. The more I setup the fast it gets though. I am creating various basic controls that are pre-configured to just ping a CFC and get their data. It works pretty smooth. And I must say I am really enjoying not screwing around with...

Cloud computing is unleashing some serious power at our finger tips. If carefully planned you can scale ad deploy just about any technology scenario you wish. It takes time to put together the configuration and test out to make sure it scales properly. Once done you can tackle many tasks that used to take days or weeks. Such as: Mass Document Creation Mass Emailing Bulk Image and File Manipulation Data...

Facebook is in the process of launching a new way for people to become fans of Facebook Pages using SMS text messaging. Now events, conferences and tradeshows will be able to get more Facebook fans by asking fans to text fan [your Facebook ID here] to FBOOK (32665). This is going to be a big deal for event marketers who've been looking for ways to accelerate their pages' growth. You can have people in a keynote, attending a session or visiting a booth become fans via t...

I work real hard to read and learn more each day about emerging trends and technologies. There is a lot of information in my head about all this. However putting it down for others to use and understand is extremely difficult for me. It is a constant challenge. Then I come across post by Dion Hinchliffe's blog postings. He constantly amazes me in his ability to articulate this stuff. Through words and his wonderful, distinct visuals. I came across 3 postings of his today that ...

I have been working real hard for the last couple of months to design a solid base for my companies architecture. I was seeing a new theme to my architecture planning, and as a typical geek I have to give this some name and / or achronym. So I came up with Ubiquitous Oriented Architecture (UOA). I want one platform for delivering our data using web services to any platform possible. I want to deliver event management and marketing tools through whatever channel the user wants ...

The integration of 3rd party services in our event management platform is a key part of our development strategy. I evaluate new tools I find as well as constantly evaluate existing tools for new ways of using them as part of an event. I was checking out slideshare more becuase I see it used all over the place. I noticed they have an event & conferences section to market your event. You ...

I just spent the last hour talking with a gentleman in Brazil about cloud computing. He is the IT director of a company owned by a friend of my boss. He was facing the same questions everyone is facing about what is the cloud? and should my small business consider moving into the cloud? First we covered the basics about what is the cloud? Differences between applications and infrastructure that runs in the cloud. He has a pretty standard small business infrastructure...

There are two Amazon EC service features I am eagerly waiting for. 1) Multiple IP Addresses Per Instance 2) Load-Balancing in the Management Consol Please, please Amazon....

I've learned a lot working in the clouds. One of the most important things I've learned is the need for backups. And not just one backup. Lots of them. You need to backup operating systems and configurations using Amazon bundling to AMI. Also in addition to backing up everything to Amazon S3 every night I have adopted a plan B as well. I am now backing up to the Rackspace cloud as well. This provides me with not only the latest backup and previous versions, it gives me...

My boss passed on a compliment today she received from our customer. We have a legacy CRM / Customer Care Tool that we launch every year. This system uses a large amount of data and is very web server and data server intensive. Historically I guess it had been pretty slow, and a chore to use somewhat. We are completely migrated to Amazon EC2 and S3 as our technology platform. Things have been stable and I'm working hard on other new code and application related initiatives. ...

Just thought I'd post that I can another "please continue holding" response from Worldmark. I sent my original email on 03/04/2009...got an intial ticket response immdiately saying someone would response. I got another reponses saying they will respond: Please include the following line in all replies. Tracking number: UT20090316_0000000911 Thank you for taking the time to contact WorldMark. Due to extraordinarily high volumes, please allow up to 10 business ...

It came up in a conversation today so I thought I would discuss it more. I know I've talked about a Universal Presence before, I'll provide some links later. What I mean by a universal presence is moving beyond an obsession with just your web site and google search results. In short you need to pay attention your Facebook profile just as much as you do your web site. All I am saying is a healthy Social Network and Social Media presense will soon deliver a better quality realat...

I was driving home tonight from Eugene....it was a real quiet drive. About half way home I decided to turn on the radio. At first it all sounded like clutter and noise, not music. Then once my senses adjusted I was able to tell it was music. I was about to shut it off. I wonder how much else I shut off before I recognize its music.

I think I lost my digital camera somewhere. :(

I am playing around with different formulas for exploring and quantifying an event or conferences social media footprint. Definition of event social media footprint: A way of determining the social network and social media reach of an event before, during and after the event. This is an important area that I believe needs to be evaluated for determining the success of an event. The presence of an event of top social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedI...

I am spending time evaluating and understanding the social footprint of conferences and events. One event I am monitoring right now is the SXSW 2009 event. It is a great candidate because there is a alot of online and social activity around this show. I came across a blog post by Download Squad called unbagging of the Schwag. It really shows how your schwag and materials will get viewed or NOT viewed.... Read more →

I was watching the recent Reid Hoffman interview on Charlie Rose and they discussed the topic of which handheld he uses. He uses a Blackberry an IPhone as well as regular cell phone. Then Charlie Rose also said he uses the exact same configuration. They said they use: IPhone for web surfing Blackberry for Calendar, Contacts and Office functionality. Cell Phone for calls. Its a funny balance of gadgets....and that ...