Google can make you FLIP!

Google News adds 55 more newspapers and publications to its Fast Flip lineup. Take a look at this simply awesome application! May I say that I just LOVE it???? I heart you Google!

http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/

KINDLE is HOT HOT HOT

I own a Kindle and I want to make sure that it stays on top of the newly competitive E-readers.  See Article on Reuters.

Amazon says that the Kindle is the most wanted product across the company during the holiday gift season of December. And with good reason. Kindle is wonderful. It really has improved my reading experience as I can take as many books as I want in one small device. I can instantly download most books and many of the magazines that I like. I'm really happy that I was an early adopter and able to watch the market for e-readers take off and guess where it might be headed.

You may have also heard that Stephen Covey, the author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has signed an exlusive deal with Amazon to sell two of his most successful books on the Kindle Platform. This deal will open the door for a whole new slew of articles and legal opinions (probably) on who actually has the rights to sell the content. Is it the publisher? Or the author??? But I digress. The point of this blog is that Kindle is snuffing out the other e-readers for now. As the Doors like to say, "Come on baby, light my fire..."

The time to hesitate is through

No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire, yeah

I think the lyrics apply to Kindle. Don't you? For the full article without my personal opinion see: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1719909920091218?type=marketsNews

CR: Vote for the FWA Site of the Year

Here is a shortlist of the 12 best websites chosen by Creative Review. You are invited by CR to vote for your Favorite Website for 2009.

There is a Website for each month of the year. Take a look and vote for your favorite!

People's Choice Award: http://www.thefwa.com/pca2009/

Google's Barcode of Favorite Places

Anothe cool tool application by Google! It is something I never thought about although now that I have the information, I like it and I find it fascinating. Here you can explore the favorite places of local experts from cities around the world. And you can find out where they like to go, and why, from their own perspectives.

Favorite Places: Introducing a collection of favorite places around the world

Here are my favorite places. These are the places that shaped me into who I am today. Warning: Some of my comments might make you gag!

5 Top Publishers Plan Rival to Kindle Format

You know I love my Kindle!!! I love to read books on it. And books only!

I do confess to reading magazines on it but it really is not as much fun as reading books on the Kindle. One of the reasons is that the Magazine format is still clumsy and does not feel as if you are really reading a magazine.

And then forget newspapers. I won't even try and I'm not about to buy a Kindle DX. I'm not even interested in seeing a demo. I'm of the generation that wants to read her newspaper articles on the Web. If I want to catch up on the daily news in print form I'll quickly check the front page at work on the Web. It'll give me an idea of what's going on around the world and then I'm fairly happy. I can do this with newspapers from other countries as well. All in one setting.

Now five top publisher are looking to create digital newspapers to rival Amazon's Kindle DX as a joint venture. I found the following article on ABC. Will it work? Will this be profitable for the Newspapers? Will the cost of newspapers go up since it's being read on a digital device?

5 Top Publishers Plan Rival to Kindle Format
by: RYAN NAKASHIMA AP Business Writer

Mapping the Geographies of Wikipedia

This map displays the total number of Wikipedia articles tagged to each country. The country with the most articles is the United States (almost 90,000 articles). Anguilla has the fewest number of geotagged articles (4), and indeed most small island nations and city states have less than 100 articles. However, it is not just microstates that are characterised by extremely low levels of wiki representation. Almost all of Africa is poorly represented in Wikipedia. Remarkably there are more Wikipedia articles written about Antarctica than all but one of the fifty-three countries in Africa (or perhaps even more amazingly, there are more Wikipedia articles written about the fictional places of Middle Earth and Discworld than about many countries in Africa, the Americas and Asia).

For the full article and additional images go to: Mapping the Geographies of Wikipedia.

Program management meets Web 2.0

Dec 3, 2009 - By expanding the ways in which people share information and collaborate, Web 2.0 promises to open the workplace to a freer flow of ideas and spur innovation. But despite proponents’ enthusiasm, constant communication and crowd-based creativity don’t fit every situation.

See: Program management meets Web 2.0

Article by Federal Computer Week

Glossary of Project Management Terms in French, Spanish & English

Here is a URL to a great site with Project Mange,emt Terms in three languages. They are all basic terms but still very useful.

Here are some terms you are to learn:

English: Project Management, French: Gestion de Projects, Spanish: Gerencia de Proyectos
English: Planning, French: Planification, Spanish: Planeamiento
English: Activity, French: Tâche, Spanish: Actividade

And a lot more terms... Enjoy!

'Ink And Paper' Technology

Since I've had my Kindle, I've been asked if I don't miss reading a book, holding it in my hands, flipping through actual paper pages. And I've honestly said no. My goal in reading books is not holding bound paper but reading the content. The only thing that I do miss from time to time is the way a paper book may fit into your hands.

I did, however, wonder why the Kindle feels so good? I love the contrast of the ink against the creamy white background. And here may be the answer. It's in the Ink!

E Ink is responsible for the Kindle display and their goal was to make the text on the Kindle look more like a real book and I'd say they've come pretty darn close! Here is more on "Ink and Paper Technology" an article from NPR.

Plagiarism-detection software settles centuries-old mystery?

How Plagiarism Software Found a New Shakespeare Play

Plagiarism-detection software was created with lazy, sneaky college students in mind - not the likes of William Shakespeare. Yet the software may have settled a centuries-old mystery over the authorship of an unattributed play from the late 1500s called The Reign of Edward III. Literature scholars have long debated whether the play was written by Shakespeare - some bits are incredibly Bard-like, but others don't resemble his style at all. The verdict, according to one expert: the play is likely a collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd, another popular playwright of his time.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1883770,00.html

Pigeons give the Internet Superhighway a whole new meaning...

Talk about old fashioned methods of communication. Today my husband faxed a document to another company and I realized I don't even remember the last time I needed to use the fax machine. It just seems like an old technology to use compared to my email and all the other things I can do via the Web.

Then I hear this incredible story about pigeons in South Africa who were able to transport information faster than the Internet. Yes, pigeons who were faster the the Internet Superhighway... What a laugh. What is going on in South Africa?

The race started by a frustrated South African business which decided to use a pigeon to demonstrate the slowness of their Internet connection. They needed to transfer 4 gigabytes of data from their business to another office which was just 50 miles away. So they had the little pigeon (Winston) fly to the destination. Guess who got their faster? Can you believe it was Winston?

At the same time that Winston took off the button on the computer was pushed to send the document throught the Net. The pigeon made it before the 4 gigabytes of data did. It took Winston over two hours to make the trek. By the time he was there only 4% of the computer data had made it's way to the other business.

I'm simply baffled by the irony of this whole thing. What is even more surprising is that South Africa, a relatively developed country, pays some of the highest fees for Internet connectivity. Unfortunately for them they also experience the lowest reliability. Maybe at this point it would be cheaper to invest in more pigeons???

Slate Magazine: Seeking

Seeking

How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that's dangerous.

By Emily Yoffe

Seeking. You can't stop doing it. Sometimes it feels as if the basic drives for food, sex, and sleep have been overridden by a new need for endless nuggets of electronic information. We are so insatiably curious that we gather data even if it gets us in trouble. Google searches are becoming a cause of mistrials as jurors, after hearing testimony, ignore judges' instructions and go look up facts for themselves. We search for information we don't even care about. Nina Shen Rastogi confessed in Double X, "My boyfriend has threatened to break up with me if I keep whipping out my iPhone to look up random facts about celebrities when we're out to dinner." We reach the point that we wonder about our sanity. Virginia Heffernan in the New York Times said she became so obsessed with Twitter posts about the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest that she spent days "refreshing my search like a drugged monkey."

We actually resemble nothing so much as those legendary lab rats that endlessly pressed a lever to give themselves a little electrical jolt to the brain. While we tap, tap away at our search engines, it appears we are stimulating the same system in our brains that scientists accidentally discovered more than 50 years ago when probing rat skulls.

To read the rest of the article, see: http://www.slate.com/id/2224932/pagenum/all/#p2

MIT Technology Review: A Deeper Look at Iranian Filtering

Thursday, August 06, 2009

A researcher finds telltale signs that the Iranian government has become more efficient at filtering.
Looking into Iran's portion of the Internet is not an easy task.
But the network security firm Arbor Networks recently released traffic data for both internal and external-facing Internet service providers in the country. This data shows that the country continues to filter Internet traffic and that its ISPs can filter larger quantities of data than before.
Arbor Networks uses data gathered from distributed network sensors to monitor the data going to Iran from the global Internet.
In a post on Sunday, the firm showed that the overall trend for the first three weeks of July was an increasing amount of traffic headed into Iran. The country has a single national provider that handles Internet traffic, but a handful of internal providers. The picture painted by the data is of an ISP that is becoming increasingly skilled in filtering, says Craig Labovitz, chief scientist for Arbor Networks.
"It was speculated early on that they lacked capacity," Labovitz says. "It wasn't that traffic was being filtered, it was that it was being dropped because they lacked capacity. Now, it looks like they are navigating 5 gig of traffic again, and I don't think they have turned off filtering."

For more see: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/unsafebits/23946/

Launching Your Career?

As Special Report by BusinessWeek and Technology is still HOT!

The Best Places to Launch a Career

To lure and keep young talent when cash is tight, companies of all stripes are appealing to Gen Yers' ambitions for speedy advancement—and their desire to do good while doing well

by Lindsey Gerdes

As career choices go, the hotel business isn't one that will put new college grads on the path to riches. With few exceptions, new employees can expect an annual salary of less than $40,000, a figure that has barely budged in recent years. So when Marriott International (MAR) visited the University of Delaware campus on a recruiting trip, it didn't wave a big wad of cash in front of Claire Pignataro. It didn't have to. It had already hooked her with something she considered far more valuable: a chance to help run a hotel.

More

Amazon's '1984' Deletion From Kindle Examined

From National Public Radio:

After Amazon learned that it was selling George Orwell's novel 1984 to Kindle owners though it had no right to do so, Amazon deleted the novel and others from the devices of the people who had bought the works.

Amazon founder and CEO apologized for the move, calling the solution "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."

Jonathan Zittrain, professor of law at Harvard Law School and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, says devices such as the Kindle check in frequently with the mother ship.

"To be really useful you'd want to leave that wireless connection on," Zittrain, the author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, tells Robert Siegel. "An unanticipated feature of that though is that you can have Amazon or the vendor that runs the device be able to reach into the device and make changes to the way it works."

Bill Gates Weighs in on Education and Global Competitiveness

Bill Gates has been a longtime critic of American public schools and has used philanthropy to advocate for a better educational system. This is a great article by eSchool News.

The U.S. must improve its educational standing in the world by rewarding effective teaching and by developing better, universal measures of performance for students and teachers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said on July 21.

Speaking at the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual legislative summit, Gates told hundreds of lawmakers how federal stimulus money should be used to spark educational innovation, spread best practices, and improve accountability.

USA Ranks 3rd in The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009

The Report stresses the importance of ICT as a catalyst for growth in the current global turmoil

See the Full Report

See the Presentation (44 min 22 sec)

Denmark and Sweden once again lead the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009, released for the eighth consecutive year by the World Economic Forum. The United States follows suit, up one position from last year, thus confirming its pre-eminence in networked readiness in the current times of economic slowdown. Singapore (4), Switzerland (5) and the other Nordic countries together with the Netherlands and Canada complete the top 10.

The Report underlines that good education fundamentals and high levels of technological readiness and innovation are essential engines of growth needed to overcome the current economic crisis. Under the theme “Mobility in a Networked World”, this year’s Report places a particular focus on the relationship and interrelations between mobility and ICT.

With record coverage of 134 economies worldwide, the Report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations.

The Report is produced by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with INSEAD, the leading international business school, and is sponsored by Cisco Systems.

The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009

The United States tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden and Singapore. European economies continue to prevail in the top 10 with Finland, Germany and the Netherlands following suit.

The United Kingdom, while remaining very competitive, has dropped by three places and out of the top 10, mainly attributable to a weakening of its financial markets.

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a compre-hensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report.

Handshakes and their messages

Handshakes have always fascinated me. I was about 11 or 12 when my mom's friend told me that I need to have a firmer handshake and to not shake hands like a dead fish. She practiced a few handshakes with me and ever since then I've had a good firm handshake and forever grateful to her for caring and showing me early in my life how to approach people with a confident smile, look in their eyes and shake hands.

I had a personal incident happen to me see Tuesday June 9 entry. Which made me want to go and explore the types of handshakes that are out there.

Here is an interesting entry that explains the top ten types of handshakes. Very interesting. My incident was with a bone crusher. Had my mom's friend not said anything I may have still been the dead fish type. Hand Wrestler and Teacup are pretty funny but they do exist. I'm amazed at how many different ways people can express themselves through a simple handshake. Too bad we are not all Vulcans.

Remember to be professional in your handshake. Make yourself memorable in a positive way. :-) Peace and out...

A "OH" L

AOL is dominating the Tech news today. After a 9 year old marriage. Some of it good but mostly bumpy the two will be going their own ways by the end of the year. -- Oh I wish I was back there to witness the separation and continue to be a part of that history.

Things are still not looking good for AOL - However, the separation from what I hear will give AOL a better chance to survive.

For more go to: Time Warner, AOL to Split by Year-End

SCORM! Sounds scary but it's not!

In all the years that I've done training or have been part of the training world I had not heard of SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model.)

SCORM is a tool for anyone involved in online training. "Content can be created one time and used in many different systems and situations without modification. This plug-and-play functionality can be powerful within an organization but even more so across organizations. Content can be sold and delivered to the user more quickly, more robustly, and at a lower price." Wow! I could have used this in a previous position when we were planning to have online security awareness. Sounds awesome.

In December 2004, the US Department of Defense mandated that all its e-learning purchases must comply with SCORM standards.

When is SCORM a Good Fit?

• You want to integrate with other vendors
• You are creating a large library of learning objects
• You are using an LMS to deliver and manage learning content
• You are designing learning content that might be reused in other contexts
• You are designing learning content that tracks learner performance
• You are designing learning content that will monitor the learner and adapt according to the learner’s needs

Trip to Mars! Check Expedia

Expedia now has flights to Mars available! Check:

http://www.expedia.com/daily/mars/flights-to-mars/?mcicid=Mars_home_us

The Net is abuzz with all sorts of special deals today! Why? Happy April Fool's day! Check out more fun stuff at Techcrunch:

April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I.

Apple's Developer's Conference in June

Apple is busy getting it's June Conference together. The high point will be the much anticipated Snow Leopard OS. At Learning Tree International, my Mac course on Integrating Mac OS into a Windows Environment will closely coincide with the new developments.

In addition, Apple released iPhone 3.0 Software last week and the anticipation for the Dev conference is a new model of the iPhone. Now that is exciting...

To learn more go to:

Apple World Wide Developers Conference or check the Washington Post article wire by Reuters.

NYT's 10 Rules for Blogging

The New York Times's 10 Rules For Blogging

by Nicholas Carlson|Mar. 21, 2009, 6:00 AM

This week, the New York Times standards editor Craig Whitney wrote a memo on style for bloggers.

It's cranky and pompous. But our main gripe is that it's just packaged wrong.

13 paragraphs? 4 pages?

Any decent blogger knows that a how-to memo has to be presented in bullet-pointed, listicle format.

So, because we care, here are the New York Times's 10 rules for blogging (in a format people will actually read):

• What should be avoided in all of them is any hint of racist, sexist or religious bias, or any suggestion of nasty, snide, sarcastic, or condescending tone — “snark.”
• If something could easily fit in a satirical Web site for young adults, it probably shouldn’t go into the news pages of nytimes.com.
• Contractions, colloquialisms and even slang are, generally speaking, more allowable in blogs than in print.
• Obscenity and vulgarity are not.
• Unverified assertions of fact, blind pejorative quotes, and other lapses in journalistic standards don’t ever belong in blogs.
• Writers and editors of blogs must also distinguish between personal tone and voice and unqualified personal opinion.
• A blog or news column has to give readers the arguments and factual information that led to the writer’s conclusion — enough argument and fact on both or all sides of the issue to enable the reader to decide whether to agree or disagree
• That does not apply to editorials or Op-Ed columns, which “are not intended to give a balanced look at both sides of a debate,” as the Readers’ Guide says.
  
• Headlines on analysis should try to capture the debate rather than taking sides in it.
• If the comments contain vulgarity, obscenity, offensive personal attacks, say that somebody “sucks,” or are incoherent, moderators are advised just to chuck them out.

IE 8 is out!

Here is a snippet from C|Net on the new IE 8.

It's no secret that when judged by several popular Web browser speed tests, Internet Explorer 8 doesn't hold up well. Beta versions of IE 8 have been available to the general public for more than a year, and today's release of the stable build didn't include anything revolutionary.

In addition to the browser being slow it seems they got a lot of their ideas from Firefox. I thirst for innovative products and was very curious to see what IE would come up with. I was hoping it would just blow my mind away. Oh well

9 Websites for Book Lovers

I've been a Shelfari user for about two years now and I like creating a list of my books as I go along and share it with my friends on Shelfari and other members of the site. One of my favorite features is when members ask if they should reading a particular title and whether it's worth their time. Books are so subjective that I don't know if someone would want to ask this question from strangers.
I found an article on iLibrarian which lists popular online social cataloging websites. These are sites outside of Shelfari and the well known LibraryThing. The popular sites mentioned in the article are:

1. BookSprouts
You can join and create book clubs.

2. Blippr
You can add short reviews of books, movies, music, games, and applications.

3. 22 Books
The primary goal of this site is to collect book lists.

4. Book Cover Archive
The site has a collection of over 1,000 book covers.

5. BookJetty
You can use the site to organize your book.

6. Book Glutton
The name is unappealing but I like the idea of a site where you can read public domain books and discuss them with others.

7. Listal
Based around entertainment including Movies, TV shows, games, DVDs, Music and books

8. GoodReads
Members can create lists, write reviews, form groups, create trivia questions which is fun.

9. Paperback Swap
This site is a community hub for trading all formats of books.

Branding My Strengths

I took the StrengthFinder2.0 online quiz and I was nicely surprised by the strengths I found. Not bad! And I can't disagree.

They are:

• Adaptability: Prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people.
  
• Input: Have a craving to know more.
  
• Ideation: Are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
  
• Communication: Find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.
  
• Context: Enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.
  

I'll be working to make these strengths work for me as I'll be thinking about these strengths. The site has provided an action plan on how to improve on these areas. I wish they also provided another sub-set of 5 or so. That would be nice to know.

StrengthFinder 2.0

Last year about this time I wrote an entry on my other blog regarding the book: Now Discover Your Strengths. The book really didn't grab me and I soon put it aside.

Then when I was going through the list of the Personal MBA reading list, I saw StrengthFinder 2.0. So, it made me groan - just because the other book was so boring to me . Am I going to read another book that may or may not be worth reading... But guess what I'm reading it now. Part 1 is short. All I need to do now is take the online test. Then once my strengths are discovered I consult part 2 for more information.

So, I've put down what I think my strengths are and once I take the test, I'll check it against StrengthFinder 2.0.

I think it'll be fun to follow-up this post with what I'll find. Unless, I really don't like what I find. :-)

"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?"-- Benjamin Franklin

Inbox Zero

As I was reading more on GTD (see book cover on the left) and doing online searches, I came across the following presentation called "Inbox Zero."



Here is a brief description:
Merlin Mann, a well known productivity guru and creator of the popular 43 folders website will talk about Getting Things Done, the importance of getting your inbox to zero, and strategies for dealing with high volume email.

This is a relatively short video and it amazed me at how in a very small amount of time I was able to manage my Inbox. He has used a lot of the processing recommendations from David Allen's book.

Getting Things Done

A few days ago, I wrote about reading a series of book to see if getting an MBA is for me. I referenced the following site:

• Personal MBA

The site recommends 77 best business books to read. I've started with Getting Things Done. I had heard a lot about GTD and it intrigued me. Now I have a real reason to read it. Besides, I'm trying to layoff the fiction. :-) Balance is good!

Here is a video on this concept. The author made a great presentation at Google and Google has put the video for everyone to benefit from this talk:

• David Allen: Getting Things Done
  
  
  

Obama faces Technical Challenges in the White House

About a few weeks ago I heard through IT friends that the White House is in need of a technical overhaul. So I was not surprised to see the following article in The Washington Post.

• Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps

Issues of Technology, Security and Privacy Slow the New Administration's Effort to Foster Instant Communication

Getting an MBA

I've been toying a lot with the idea of getting an MBA lately. But with the economy being what it is, I am not sure this is the right time. To get a start and to see if it is even for me. I'm exploring this reading list by: Personalmba.com's 77 Best Business Books. It is the Personal MBA Recommended Reading List:

http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/

There are so many books on that list that I've wanted to read. The categories are:

• Quick Start
• Productivity & Effectiveness
• Psychology & Communication
• Design & Production
• Marketing, Sales, & Negotiation
• Entrepreneurship
• Management & Leadership
• Strategy & Innovation
• Finance & Analysis
• Personal Finance

Scrum Testing: Lessons Learned from Scrum Implementation at Google

This is a long video but definitely worth your time if you would like to learn further on Agile Software Development's Scrum Methodology. I've done this at only one company and it was overall very successful. I liked how it set clear roles, I think there was less confusion. I loved having access to all the different people in the different roles. I love love the fact that anyone can contribute. At least that's what we did. On a side note: I truly enjoyed the sometimes silly banter on who is the "Pig" and who is the "Chicken." :-)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8795214308797356840

The New Kindle 2.0 is out

You may recall that I purchase Kindle 1.0 back in October when Oprah Winfrey had that special. What I didn't say and I should have said is how I justified the purchase. Most kindle books are sold for $9.99 so after a while I'll make up the price of Kindle! Instead of paying $25 for hardcovers, etc. I know not all the books I'd purchase are that high in price but not all of them would be around $9.99 either.

Anyhow. Here is an article, I'd like to share:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10159955-1.html?tag=txt

Updating your Resume

I love these tips. Take a look at:
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/01/how-to-write-resume-that-will-land.html

I think I'll go back and rework mine. My favorite tip is delete the objective statement. I never had one up until a few years ago when I was told I need to have it. I know think it pigeon holes you. So I agree with the advice that you can find here.

I don't agree with taking out your mailing address. Specially if you are looking for a job near your home. It indicates to the employer that you have a good commute. When I interviewed this was one of the top things I looked for in a candidate. I wanted the person to come into work fresh and stress free from traffic. One less stress in the candidate's life means that that person can do a better job for me.

Alright, I'll let you be and enjoy the post!

What a Good Resume might look like

I love these tips. Take a look at:

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/01/how-to-write-resume-that-will-land.html

I think I'll go back and rework on mine.

-- Sepi

Change has come

What a glorious day. Tears were shed and joy has been shared. After tonight's dancing and celebration the new administration has to look at all the work that needs to be done. This Administration will have to work hard to pull us out of all the much and misfortune caused by the previous Administrator.

An item that is high on Barack's list is Education. I checked the White house today and I have been reading the Education Agenda.

See: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/education/

I want to be a part of this change. I will be a part of it!