'Net (surfin') / Tech (playin') / Jobs (lookin')

A Google Valentine

2012-02-14T12:18:00.002-06:00

Republic, Lost

2012-01-19T00:30:00.000-06:00

Simply the most important video on YouTube regarding the American condition. As we watch our country drift farther and farther from the intent of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, it behooves all of us to spend less than an hour watching this talk by Lawrence Lessig. I'm ashamed ... as an American ... that it only has 24,000 views, at the moment.

Bob Sutton: Listening for the Truth

2011-12-15T08:20:00.000-06:00

This clip of Bob Sutton (@work_matters) speaks not only to human foibles, but to managerial hubris (such as contributed to NASA's Challenger disaster). I'm still angry about Morton-Thiokol's (the company that built the Shuttle's solid propellant boosters) mismanagement and lack of honesty that, to my mind, resulted in willful manslaughter.

Re-post-worthy

2011-11-30T09:32:00.001-06:00

I'm sure you've seen it, but I like the message. Yeah.

Poem written and performed by David Bowden
www.davidbowdenpoetry.com
This poem was inspired by the new book, Start Something that Matters, by TOMS Founder & Chief Shoe Giver Blake Mycoskie. To learn more about the book go to startsomethingthatmatters.com
With every book you purchase, a new children's book will be provided to a child in need, One for One.
Music by The Non
www.thenonband.com
Video Production by Emanate Media
www.emanatemedia.com
Inspiration to re-post: @WhoisBraxton

My little bit of Halloween fun and post-fun

2011-11-02T12:04:00.002-05:00

I think I like the guy in the last pic the best.

Game over, Johann Gutenberg

2011-09-28T10:11:00.000-05:00

It's happening ... we're getting very close to the end of books. But, that's a mis-statement, really. For book lovers, we now have to let go of the form ... paper ... while we continue to love the content. With the announcement of a $79 Kindle, I'm convinced that we've reached the tipping point where it no longer even makes sense to produce paper books (even as Amazon's digital books were already outselling their bound, paper siblings). I think it makes even less sense to produce text books for schools or for libraries to purchase paper versions of most books. As I've written here about my personal experience with the Kindle software on the iPad, the economic advantages of books in an electronic form now firmly outweigh paper. Game over, Johann. It's been a good 570-year run and we thank you for the blessing that you brought. (yes I know printed books will continue to be around for a long time and printing, as an industry, is anything but dead ... but paper books are).

Ooooops

2011-09-28T07:59:00.000-05:00

I'd say my local fire department got into just a little bit of a hurry the other night.

re: My Footprint

2011-07-07T20:47:00.000-05:00

<a href='http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/10x10x10-cube-house/20c5vjam?rel=msn&cpkey=11b163ac-0bd7-4d0b-86bb-84f02f0107d6%7Cstupid%20videos%7Cmsn%7C%7C&src=v5:embed::' target='_new' title='10'x10'x10' Cube House'>Video: 10'x10'x10' Cube House</a>

In the vein of my earlier post on small-scale housing, I stumbled across this interesting video of a very compact (and low impact) solution to the issue of one's living space. The cube in the video is certainly not remotely suited for "aging-in-place" although it's perfect for someone who hasn't got any friends. It made me think about the next step where you occupy a space that is -6x6x2 (about) or maybe an urn or a coffee can acquired at Ralph's. Maybe that's more efficient, yet. It starts to beg the question of "how little is wretched excess?"

"We have someone who does that."

2011-06-28T09:33:00.006-05:00

Noooo … you don’t.

But, it’s a line I hear from businesses all the time. It’s a way of putting off a query from a salesperson or consultant or freelancer or maybe just an enthusiastic, do-gooder customer. In fact, the business may have someone who has “that” on their list of responsibilities … but, “that” is way down the list. Or, perhaps that “someone” is just incompetent at “that.”

A case in point, whether I’m selling or not, is when a business hasn’t taken advantage of (or even simply claimed) their free Google Places listing. I can point out the problem … maybe write some simple instructions on the back of a business card or in an email and then attempt to pass it along to the key parties. Months later the listing is still unclaimed, and, perhaps the location of the business is still wrong or perhaps the information about the business is still coming from third parties and not the business owners themselves. In any case, it’s an opportunity that’s gone begging for want of a simple fix by the person who does “that.” And it may be a windfall of opportunities missed.

So, if we’re to ask for accuracy and candor from a potential client, perhaps we should be hearing:

“We have someone who doesn’t do that.”

Do you have “someone who does that”? Are you sure?

Living with the iPad: Reading

2011-06-20T10:40:00.003-05:00

Ten months ago, I purchased an iPad as a tool for my mobile marketing business. And, it is just that: "mobile." I take it along on customer calls when a notebook computer would be slow and cumbersome to use. While I am no fan of how Apple and Steve Jobs do business (I detest iTunes), I've got admire the mindset that created this tablet. Plus, owning it allows me to have a foot, so to speak, in both the iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android (my Motorola Droid) camps.

When it comes to business reading, with only two exceptions, all of the books I've acquired over the last year have been electronically downloaded. I've purchased a couple books from SitePoint in PDF (Adobe Reader) format, but all of the rest have been accumulated in Amazon's Kindle software running on the iPad. While reading on the iPad doesn't have the comfortable intimacy of reading something with real pages, there's no difference between carrying around one book or a hundred. It's been a blessing at conserving shelf space in my home. And, yes, you can curl up with an iPad.

What the Kindle app does not do well is reproduce the visual layout of books. Book designers and authors go to great lengths to enhance the readability of their products, but the Kindle software cannot take advantage of that. This isn't a problem with books in PDF format. (Try downloading the sample chapters from HTML5 and CSS3 for the Real World then try the sample chapters for the same book on Kindle ... no iPad? just install the Kindle software on your PC ... to see what I mean). On the other hand, downloading individual PDFs lacks the ease of purchasing from Amazon and being able to access your books on multiple devices.

For years I have used Google Reader and iGoogle as a way of tracking the most recent posts in a number of blogs on marketing, entrepreneurship, web design, etc. In fact, there are so many good blogs out there that it's easy to forget some of the best. While it's impossible to read everything, the Flipboard app is a great way to scan across the latest blog updates and links to content from the people I follow on Twitter. For me, the most remarkable aspect of the iPad, thanks to Flipboard, is as a content discovery tool. If any app justifies the price of the iPad, it has to be Flipboard and what it can do as an information funnel.

One last mention here. OK, make that two. It's very common for me to come across something I want to read, but don't want to stop what I'm already doing. I highly recommend Instapaper and Read It Later as quick ways to set aside articles for later reading. Both also have the advantage of stripping away extraneous content. I've got buttons for both set up in my Chrome desktop/notebook browser so that I can later read the articles on my iPad or my phone.

The perversity of our times

2011-06-02T00:20:00.000-05:00

Time Magazine Case Study: Jobless Discrimination? When Firms Won't Even Consider Hiring Anyone Unemployed

This somehow seems ... "un-American" ... and troubling beyond belief. Companies should hire on qualifications ... employment or unemployment is as irrelevant as age or race or gender or religion or disability if BFOQ's (bona fide occupational qualifications) are met.

One of those rare moments where I think, "There oughta be a law." Companies that take this approach to hiring, even if it is legal, should be censured by ... someone. Life ain't fair ... but there's no point piling on.

I should have listened sooner

2011-04-26T15:39:00.000-05:00

CEO of Shell Oil, sometime around 2000: "The 21st Century will be about Energy."

And I remember when cheap, $10-a-barrel oil made me think there was no future in it.

Welcome, visitors to Grapevine

2011-03-27T22:28:00.005-05:00

Thanks to the need to update our old Main Street bridge over Highways 114 and 121, we might have made you tour our service roads this weekend rather than just pass us by. All part of updating "The Funnel" that runs through Grapevine.

Check it out at DFWConnector.com. It's Tarrant County's biggest road project ever.

Hope you enjoyed your stay.

All images Copyright Richard Posey 2011 all rights reserved

A little perspective about expectations on VDay and online dating

2011-02-14T10:53:00.003-06:00

I've posted TED talks by Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational) before and stumbled upon this Valentine's Day message from him via @SusanAWalsh.

A couple more from Dan on the Valentine's Day topic, just for fun: HappyVday1 and HappyVday2

Rives raps on TED 2006

2011-01-31T15:42:00.000-06:00

I had never seen this before today ... you may need to listen to it more than once, but what a great way to loosen up your brain.

And now for something completely different ...

2011-01-13T22:51:00.001-06:00

I've long been troubled by how strongly many Americans will characterize people they've never met. I think democracy works best if you try to see the point of view of the people you regard as being "on the other side." Yet, I hear people speak with anger and hatred .... sometimes of people who are remarkably nice, but who don't meet a litmus test of exact thought matching the person doing the speaking. I think that sort of attitude is slowly poisoning the national psyche as well as the hearts and lives of those burdened with that kind of anger.

So, as a way of speaking out for "kinder, gentler" (not necessarily "agreeing"), I created the Campaign for Sanity website. I really don't know what the end goal is in that I haven't asked people to pledge to be nice or anything of the sort. But, if we start thinking about those who we disagree with as fellow Americans, real people, with sincere concerns, then perhaps we can move forward toward a civil discourse on the tough issues facing this country.

All I'm really asking right now is for a "like" if you're a Facebook user. Join us. Thanks.

CampaignforSanity.org

My footprint

2011-01-05T09:37:00.000-06:00

I have been an apartment-dweller for a long time now. The lifestyle suits me as I can spend more time on ideas and less time on lifestyle maintenance. However, there may come a day that I will have had enough ... maybe a noisy neighbor, perhaps "city fatigue," perhaps other reasons.

I don't need or want "big." If absolutely necessary, my core lifestyle (beyond the basics of clothing, bedding, kitchen goods, some furniture, etc) could be reduced to a backpack containing a digital camera, notebook computer, and a smartphone. Things like my bicycles, desktop computer, books, iPad are all relatively "luxury goods." A decent Honda Civic makes me far happier than a Rolls Royce ever could. (I am not without automotive lust, however ... see the Ariel Atom here and here)

It's a small footprint, physically, even though the ideas I pursue are much larger. And it's a much different way of looking at things than say, the lifestyle of many residents of nearby Southlake, Texas where there is actually a neighborhood named "Castleton Manor." (Are you kidding? ARE YOU KIDDING?!!! No.)

Eventually, I may want more than one place to live, too. And, it's quite likely that one of those places would be a semi-remote small town. Or possibly, not in a town at all, but near one. (I will always need high-speed Internet, so that is a limiting factor). Places like Alpine, Texas are on my current short-list.

As small town housing is often of limited selection, I'd need to come up with another solution ... the equivalent of a stand-alone apartment. I have found answers to that problem ...

In the post-Katrina reconstruction, some architects came up with living solutions beyond FEMA's formaldehyde-saturated travel trailers. Perhaps hurricane-resistant house designs like the Cusato Cottage started what has become a small-housing trend.

It's an idea that works for me. Now, I've just got to explore the possible choices and how to go about it. I know that I'm far from alone in this vision of how to live.

What do you think? Could you see yourself purchasing/building and living happily in this kind of home?

(Thanks to Cusato Cottages for permission to use their photo.)

Some of the best lyrics ever written

2011-01-02T09:52:00.002-06:00

Three videos on how we think

2010-10-10T10:28:00.000-05:00

I love this way of getting a story across. The first video illustrates some of the ideas of Philip Zimbardo and the second illustrates the core ideas of Where Good Ideas Come From, an upcoming book by Steven Johnson. And, finally, Steven Johnson speaks at one of the TED conferences.

The ties that bind ...

2010-09-11T22:33:00.008-05:00

I’m sure you can guess. I’m a bona fide, ADHD-driven techno-geek. For evidence of the last part of that statement, I give you my watching The Sopranos on my notebook computer while inside a sleeping bag inside a tent in a psuedo-remote state park in 32f weather on Christmas Eve, cellphone and digital camera at my side.

(I rest my case.)

As for the “ADHD-driven” part, I overreach and come up with and pursue waaaaay too many “good ideas.” I use what seems like waaaaay too many tools to communicate and to manage my life. There’s the phone ... no, not a “phone” ... an Android platform “smartphone.” There’s the tablet computer, aka iPad. There’s the old-school stuff ... notebook computer ... desktop computers. And then there are the notes I sometimes write on index cards ... you know, practically pleistocene-era “paper.” Ah, and there’s that spiral notebook, too ... gridded paper, of course.

Actually, life was pretty stable ... well, as stable as possible for me, technologically-speaking ... until the appearance of the Android phone and the Apple iPad this year. My business revolves around “mobility” and these two devices brought it in spades. Prior to the acquisition of the two newest amazing pieces of broadband radiowave spewing/sniffing gear, “mobility” for electronic communications meant finding a public wi-fi hotspot and having the time and patience to boot up my notebook computer or just talking or text-messaging via an old-fashioned cellphone.

And, my information used to be balkanized ... it was “at home on my computer” or “crud, I left my notes on my desk” or “it’s on the USB drive in my pocket” or “it’s on the network (or internet) ... I just have to get to a computer that’s connected.” Services like webmail (Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Gmail, etc) and newer cloud-based document and data resources like Google Docs and Salesforce have gone a long way to making information less dependent on getting back to a specific machine or storage device. That’s pretty much old news.

What’s a bit newer is the extension of some of those cloud-based services onto mobile devices through multi-platform apps ... programs that have been written to run and share information on competing systems. For instance, I can use Evernote to take some notes on my Android-based smartphone ... review them later later on my Apple iPad or even later at home on an internet-connected Windows computer, all without having to synchronize or download data. Using Springpad, I can create and access and manipulate lists almost anywhere on any of these devices. Amazon’s Kindle apps for the PC, for the iPad and iPhone and for the Android phones will let me pick up and read the same book without carrying a book at all, independent of my hauling along a specific device in my collection. Amazing stuff. Old hat to a few, a completely new concept to many.

Heaven help me if the batteries in these things die.

Vuvuzela-ed out. Enough, folks ...

2010-07-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

I don't consider myself a hardcore soccer fan, except when my kid is playing. Still, I've taken the time to watch some of the World Cup games from South Africa. The soccer action was pretty good but it was diminished a bit by the constant racket of thousands of vuvuzelas, or, as I used to know them, pep rally horns. To me, it's sufficient for a crowd to cheer when the action is intense and quiet down when it's boring ... ebb and flow ... not constant racket.

Image published under Creative Commons License. Source: South African Tourism on Flickr

Questionable relevance

2010-05-25T07:37:00.003-05:00

This is meaningful for some people, meaningless for others. In-n-Out Burger is opening its first Texas location in Garland. I've got the t-shirt, never had the burger. To me, In-n-Out is at it's zenith as a reference in The Big Lewbowski. I'll have to actually try one of their burgers when I get a chance.

I got more excited when the quality standard of convenience stores, QuikTrip, finally opened a store in Grapevine a month ago. They could school 7-Eleven on how to run a business.

I've got Congress in the palm of my hand

2010-05-18T23:07:00.009-05:00

I'm cynical enough to believe that Congress can always be bought. Mark Twain described Congress as "the only distinctly native American criminal class." But, leave it to the bright people at Sunlight Labs to put Congress in the palm of my hand, legally and for free.

They were able to do that by creating an app (software application), named "Congress," compatible with my Motorola Droid cellphone. The app displays some of the doings of the legislative branch of our federal government and information about the legislators themselves. The program's feature list isn't static, either. They've recently added links to the full text of bills on THOMAS and the ability to scroll through all bills. The developers are promising voting records next.

Maybe this is the beginning of a new era of government transparency. Indeed, it's the purpose of the Sunlight Foundation to make it so. Sunlight Labs is a project of the foundation. They've also produced a similar application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. With this kind of information in our hands, mobile applications like Congress could signal the beginning of a new era of citizen interest and participation in government, too. I hope so.

Thanks, Sunlight Labs, for producing this.

Now, can we please have apps for the executive and judicial branches next? And, if the Sunlight Foundation could do something to shed light on the Texas legislature and governor, I'd surely appreciate that, too. That's a lot to ask. The Texas part of my request would be particularly daunting, if not impossible.

OH, WOW! I thought of something else that could use a little "sunlight": governance in publicly-held corporations. Staff up, Sunlight Labs! There's a lot of work to do!

Dear Facebook: Have you no shame?

2010-04-28T09:19:00.011-05:00

Dear FACEBOOOK:

Why did you attempt to force me to link to pages regarding my university and my current town? In the process, you said, "By linking to these pages, you will be making your connections public."

When I refused, you cleared those fields in my profile.

Is there anything Facebook will not do to sell out its customers by attempting to monetize their private information? Does Facebook have any ethical boundaries or does Facebook only have them when they (Facebook's lawyers) sense legal trouble? Have you no shame, Mr. Zuckerberg? Have you no shame?

When does it stop?

Richard Posey

oh, and here's my information:

Grapevine, Texas
BA Advertising / Mass Communication, Texas Tech University

I'm even LESS of a Facebook fan now.

2010-04-27T17:36:00.002-05:00

This from the New York Times about another, less noticed, change:

Facebook also began altering users’ profiles by asking them if they wanted to link information like current city, hometown, school and workplace history, and likes and interests to related Facebook Pages. The move could to push many Facebook users away from stricter privacy settings selected previously, since Facebook considers “connections” to Pages public information. Many Pages are operated by businesses and other organizations, while others are Facebook’s newly created “Community Pages.”

Since this is a Times story, I'll give you the link here.

I never thought that a corporation could have ethical boundaries, but its people might. In the case of Facebook, maybe not. It just goes on and on.

When it comes to Facebook, just say "no."

Why I'm not a Facebook fan

2010-04-22T09:17:00.010-05:00

Take a minute and read this article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the subject of Facebook and its information sharing policies.

Facebook, with its 400 million users, is hard to ignore. As a business, it's a place you have to be. But, I've got damn little data in my personal information on Facebook. My name, the town I live in, where I went to college and my major (but not my graduation date), that I'm single ... and I think that's about it. I don't display my birthday and the birthdate I gave them is a slightly modified date and not the real thing. (my real birthdate and yours is sometimes used as personal identification information) All the rest of the profile fields are empty. Only my name and picture are shared with everyone. The rest is "friends only."

It's not as though you couldn't find plenty of information about me on the web. I'm fairly visible. I'm deliberately public. And you could gather a lot of information on LinkedIn (I've not posted my graduation date to minimize possible age discrimination) and on some of the public records sites.

As far as I'm concerned, my main use of Facebook is as a place for me to create fan pages for my business activities. And a FEW friend connections. (Equivocating just a bit now) I think I will add my cousins to the group, though.

Still, I see Facebook as an organization run by people who have dollar signs in their eyes and are willing to adjust their policies, to give up your personal information, to get that money. In business, and government, that's not really a new concept.

$$$ DING! You've been monetized! $$$

Just my opinion. You do with it what you choose.

What they didn't want you to see

2010-04-15T18:50:00.001-05:00

After I had resigned my job at the Arlington (TX) Public Library and completed the two weeks beyond giving my notice, I put up one last blog post. Apparently, my former boss had a crisis about having it removed from the blog as it existed then. I guess she had to make sure that no one read it. Here's what I said that so upset her:

Every so often, one should move on to new things. It's a healthy thing if one is to grow in experience, character and wisdom, not to mention skills. After five years at the Arlington Public Library that time has come. This is my last post on this blog.

Five years brought a lot of changes to the Library's web presence. When I arrived, there were two sites ... www.pub-lib.ci.arlington.tx.us and answerzone.org. Now there are three sites, ArlingtonLibrary.org, ArlingtonReads.org and InformationLive.org, three blogs (if you're still counting this one) and their RSS feeds, three Twitter feeds, a presence on Facebook, YouTube and MySpace, and the Library's own book clubs are now online as well. In the last 30 days, ArlingtonLibrary.org had over 123,000 visits from people in 63 countries and almost 1,500 cities of which almost 1,300 are in the U.S.

The Library's web team has done a wonderful job in keeping the content and ideas flowing. I'd like to give special credit to Krista Robisheaux for doing most of the work in getting Twitter feeds and the Facebook page out on the web and for being my right-hand coworker and friend since she arrived almost five years ago. It would have been a lot less fun for me without her valuable and skilled help.

Among what I considered our biggest successes, I have to note the Ninja blog and its principal creators, Jenny Ethington and Amy Stafford. Given the opportunity to run the teen blog, they made the most of it with a visually appealing layout and plenty of interesting content updates. Sarah Biggerstaff will build a strong community with APL Book Clubs as the initial participation among other library staff has been good. Now all she needs is you, our patrons, to dive in and share your thoughts about what you're reading.

As for me, I'm moving back to self-employment and, possibly, the creation of a non-profit organization centered on eldercare issues. The challenges are huge, but so are the opportunities to do some good out there. Like we once did with our public computer classes at the Library, my goal is to make a difference in people's lives. And my blogging, which reanimated a need to write killed off long ago by various academic institutions, will continue at blog.richardposey.com.

To my coworkers at the Library, especially John, Jason, Jim and Krista on the Electronic Services team of which I was a part, I thank you. I will not be forgetting the friendships that grew out of my time working with you all.

There! Now, that didn't seem so bad, did it?

I guess in their minds it was and the post had to be expunged immediately (along with the rest of the blog, shortly thereafter). It was the growing pervasiveness of that kind of upside-down, twisted, illogical thinking at that place that encouraged me to depart. I cannot thank them enough for providing additional impetus for getting back out on my own. Life for me has been so much better since.

Now THAT's market dominance

2010-04-01T04:54:00.004-05:00

Be sure to check out Google.com today. Google has such strong recognition, that it can even change its name at will. This is an absolute coup. In fact, it's right up there with the coop (sic) of several years ago when they initiated their pigeon technology initiative. Google ... er ... Topeka, never ceases to amaze.

Check out the Official Google Blog: A different kind of company name to read the story behind the company's decision to change.

People at Google have fun. Check out this post from the Latitude/Longitude blog, too.

The computer in your hand ...

2010-03-24T19:33:00.015-05:00

It was less than two weeks ago that I joined the legions of smartphone users. Until then, I'd been quite pleased with my Motorola RAZR V3xx. It was reasonably compact, being a clamshell design. It could look at my gmail, it could text, it could look at Google maps and, within limits, it could even navigate the web. Plus, it was rugged. I know that because I had dropped it many times, usually on hard surfaces. Thank you, Motorola.

But, my RAZR wasn't a "smartphone." That's what I needed. I was even willing to switch from AT&T after 17 years to get what I wanted.

Smartphone design has continued to escalate since the early Blackberrys and Palm phones. The real landmark in smartphone design was the introduction of the first iPhone design in June of 2007. With the iPhone, smartphones became accessible to more than the corporate users and avid texters. And the uses of the smartphone grew exponentially with the availability of apps (software applications), many of them free, particularly those that Apple made available for followers to install on their iPhones.

Three years after the introduction of the iPhone, I've finally caught up. Last year, there were 47 million smartphones shipped in North America alone. This year, the analysts are expecting the number will rise to 65 million. RIM (Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry) is still the market leader, but the iPhone and the new Google Android-powered phones are slowly eating away at its market share.

My phone of choice is the Motorola Droid. It's a bit newer in design than the iPhone and uses the Android operating system, as do a number of other new smartphones. Even though one of its primary duties is as a phone ("Hello." "Hello! How are you." "I'm fine thank you." Remember that?), I really view it more as a "mobile computing platform."

Nevermind. Its usage as a phone is almost secondary.

Now, "mobile computing platform" is the heart of the smartphone story. These little devices are taking that concept to a higher and higher level.

My phone is GPS-equipped, so it can locate me, as precisely as within a couple meters, almost anywhere on Earth. It can act exactly like a dedicated in-car GPS complete with turn-by-turn navigation and voice directions.
It connects to the Internet, so it has access to almost boundless information. It displays websites with good fidelity and will soon have a Flash player, unlike the iPhone.
It has voice translation, so I can have my spoken English converted to a number of other languages, even that of the Droid itself (or vice-versa).
Through many of the available software applications, it can "mash up" data to give me information about the restaurant I'm standing in front of or tell me the names of the constellations I'm looking at in the sky.
It can scan the barcodes of food products and tell me their nutritional value or scan the barcodes of electronics products and tell me where I can find the cheapest price.
It can take pictures and post the images to the web or shoot video and stream what it sees to another user.
And that's just getting around to its use as an entertainment machine. It can play music from MP3 files on the phone or from Internet websites that stream music. It can play video from YouTube and networks like CBS and even play movies from Blockbuster (coming soon).
Sorry, I have to add two more: flashlight and compass. Canteen? NO!

I don't think I'm done, but I will stop. You get the idea. The smartphones can do everything but production work, like running Photoshop or Excel or web development or writing (like this) requiring the speed and relative ease of a real keyboard.

I'll be darned. Eric Schmidt was right. Watch the video I posted of his speech, if you haven't already. Computing doesn't mean just desktops and notebooks anymore. More and more, it's mobile computing taking the center stage.

If you run a business, you really have to think about how this affects you. Can you be found? What's your reputation? Millions of buying decisions are going to be made by people with smartphones in their hands.

The END of Publishing ... or not?

2010-03-17T15:01:00.002-05:00

No comment needed.

Sea Change ...

2010-03-16T23:49:00.001-05:00

According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, mobile is where it's at ... not so much the desktop computer, anymore. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMjtOSvMDs Well worth watching. The core of the video is about 22 minutes or so ...

Test post

2010-03-16T09:41:00.002-05:00

test post ... having a little trouble with the feed

New feed location - this feed is ending

2010-03-15T23:37:00.002-05:00

RSS feed users: If you want to continue to follow this now-independent blog, please resubscribe HERE. If not, "happy trails ..."

Thanks,
Richard

If you have successfully resubscribed, you should see the "Test Post" (above) in your feed.

Charting a new course

2010-03-13T19:06:00.003-06:00

Not only has the location for this blog changed, but I'm making some personal changes, too. I'm no longer affiliated with the Arlington Public Library and am back out on my own ... captain and navigator of my own leaky vessel as I have been in the past and am again. One big advantage to all this is that I don't have to be quite so circumspect in what I have to say. As an employee of a municipality, I had to be careful to not embarrass the city. Now I can be a bit more opinionated and take more risks. I'm hoping that will mean I write more and better posts.

Dying of boredom?

2010-03-04T11:14:00.000-06:00

Yes, evidently you can. Take a look at this Psychology Today article: Science Shows You Can Die of Boredom, Literally

Found via Jonathan Fields' Twitter feed.

Quakin', Shakin' Planet

2010-02-27T17:41:00.000-06:00

Earthquakes are, once again, in the headlines. Today's big shakeup occurred along the Chilean coast ... and in Argentina ... and in Oklahoma (a 4.4 to the east of Oklahoma City within an hour of my writing this). According to one scientist quoted by MSNBC.com, the Earth has become a busier place, lately. Even though the article makes a newsy story comparing the last 15 years to the previous 20 years, it's a fairly meaningless comparison when viewed against the Holocene Epoch.

Holocene? That's the epoch you and I dwell in. And as epochs go, at 12,000 years, it's barely a blip in the geological history of this planet. While earthquakes have tragic consequences for the people upon whom they're visited, geologically speaking, "stuff happens." (see the library's site for new links on how to help the earthquake victims in Chile, as well as Haiti)

These images are from Google Earth using the U.S. Geological Survey Real Time Earthquakes Layer. Red dots indicate quakes within an hour, orange within 24 hours and yellow within the last 7 days. The still images were clipped slightly after 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27. To see larger scale images, click the images in this post.

The USGS data displayed as a sequence in Google Earth. The series runs from before the initial magnitude 8.8 event at 12:34 a.m. CST on Feb. 27 to the final magnitude 4.8 "red dot" which occurred at 6:34 a.m. CST on the 28th. You might notice that there's no "warning" earthquake, it just starts with the big one. (Sequence recorded with Jing Pro and edited with Adobe Premiere Elements 8)

Didn't believe me about Oklahoma? The epicenter was 5.6 miles to the south of Davenport, Oklahoma.

I need to say that the mention of any product here is not to imply an endorsement by the City of Arlington, but is merely to explain which tools I used. This post was updated on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 28.

Don't Come Around Here No More ...

2010-02-23T18:52:00.000-06:00

... Give it up! That was the advice Tom Petty's Mad Hatter gave Alice in his 1985 music video. As a web designer, I've lived with the hassle and inconsistencies that plagued designers trying to make sites work for visitors using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. In fact, the City of Arlington stuck with IE6 as the city's official browser for a long time. Fortunately, they have since moved on to Internet Explorer 7, a browser somewhat more consistent with web standards.

Companies with a big web presence are telling their visitors, "no more." Google is ending support for IE6 on YouTube, Google Docs, and Google Sites. IE6 is an unstable, insecure browser which isn't capable of moving forward with the web.

So, for those of you Internet Explorer 6 users who made up 2.7% of the total visits to ArlingtonLibrary.org in the last month, it's time to move on. Upgrade to a better, safer browsing experience with Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.6, Safari 4 or Google Chrome. All are free and each has at least a few unique features. Google Chrome is my personal favorite because of its speed and add-ons, but I frequently have Firefox running at the same time so I can take advantage of some of its features.

References:

Mashable: YouTube to Drop Support for IE6 Starting Next Month

Mashable: IE6 Must Die for the Web to Move On

MSNBC/Reuters: Pope says "blog!"

2010-01-23T14:43:00.000-06:00

Somewhat like my post on the Vatican's YouTube channel almost a year ago, the Pope has urged priests to get into social media, too. Even the oldest institution in our society has gotten aboard with the 21st Century way of communicating.

Pope to priests: For God's sake, blog!

Haiti Earthquake Imagery for Google Earth

2010-01-15T15:38:00.000-06:00

Google, with one of its partners, Geo-Eye has provided an updated post-earthquake imagery layer for the areas of Haiti hardest hit by this disaster.

Google LatLong: Haiti imagery layer now available

Another useful layer is the USGS Real Time Earthquakes Layer for Google Earth

The Official Google Blog has direct links to donate to Care and UNICEF as well as links to other organizations working on Haitian relief.

Official Google Blog: Helping Haiti respond to the earthquake

USGS Shake Map data displayed in Google Earth. Port-au-Prince is the unmarked area near the center of this image. The epicenter of the earthquake is about 23km WSW of Port-au-Prince. Click on the image for a larger version.

More for Small Business from Google

2010-01-15T14:30:00.001-06:00

I blogged about Google Local Business Center last summer. It's a particularly good way for a small business with or without a website to get additional internet visibility. Now they've made it even easier to post to your "place page" and also made it possible to offer coupons via mobile phones. Check out the links below.

Google LatLong: Make Google Place Pages your business' megaphone

Google LatLong: With coupons on your phone, it doesn't matter where you left the scissors

Re-Tweeting

2010-01-10T22:59:00.000-06:00

Plato: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." (We never see more than the tip of the iceberg when it comes to others.) - management consultant Tom Peters (@tompeters)

Yes, I know we're not on Twitter, but @richardposey thought it was worth sharing.

Want one! Want one! Want one!

2010-01-09T14:13:00.000-06:00

From this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Parrot AR.Drone Quadricopter. No adult male child needs ANY further explanation.

But, you might want some more links:

The story where I found the above video
The AR.Drone on the Parrot.com website Watch the videos.

Pay attention small businesses!!!

2010-01-09T13:16:00.001-06:00

Google is at it, again. The search giant made available its "Near Me Now" service for iPhones and Android-powered smartphones on January 7th. Near Me Now integrates internet-based search with the GPS capabilities of the new generation of phones. It allows the phone's owner to search within his/her immediate vicinity and get information about a business without even going inside.

Last summer, I wrote about the half of small businesses without an internet presence and one thing they should be doing about it. The development of services like Near Me Now makes it all the more critical for local businesses to follow through and stop being invisible on the web.

Game ON for 2010

2010-01-01T12:47:00.000-06:00

Don't fake it ... please?

2009-12-27T23:18:00.000-06:00

In the late 90's and early years of this decade, prior to working here, I owned and ran a number of employment websites. Their main content was, essentially, classified job listings.

Even though I wasn't a recruiter, I received a lot of resumes. Normally, I would pass them along to people more likely to make use of them. I often scanned people's credentials and was struck, one day, by one of the schools mentioned in a resume. It read, "Trinity Southern University, Plano, Texas." I looked up the school and found it was on Park Boulevard in Plano. Except, I knew there was no such university. I had done a lot of consulting work in Plano and often driven back and forth on Park Boulevard. Had I looked closer, I might have found an office or a PO Box, but I knew there was no such university.

Out of curiosity, I called the resume's author. I asked a few general questions and then asked about Trinity Southern. "Oh, I was just finishing up a few course hours there." I didn't challenge the young man, but wondered about the psychology of faking academic credentials and the risk of being found out.

In an era when people feel a strong need to jazz up and embellish resumes, lying about one's academic background is a high-risk game. There are well-known fake schools and lots of obscure fakes ... Trinity Southern University was a pure diploma mill, i.e. a place to literally purchase a diploma. Try a search on Classmates.com for Trinity Southern University and you'll find 45 people who claim to be alumni.

There are also (unaccredited) schools whose admission standards are non-existent and whose coursework isn't seriously challenging that will issue a degree of dubious value. Even claims about graduation from a bona-fide accredited school are sometimes stretched ... all the way into scandal. The story of Texas Railroad Commissioner Lena Guerrero was one that stood out in Texas politics.

A few days ago, Wired.com posted a story on one man's obsession with pursuing a diploma mill to ground. It makes a great tale, but it also makes you wonder ... who around you, in government, in medicine, in academia, is "real" ... and who isn't? It's a scary thought.

Postscript ... Then, I found this:www.phonydiploma.com/ As I post this edit, it is after midnight. I am just going to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head.

Inside information ...

2009-12-27T15:53:00.000-06:00

100 Job Search Tips from Recruiters free from EMC Corporation.

Found via a tweet from Me 2.0 author and personal branding expert, Dan Schawbel.

This just sleighs me ...

2009-12-23T13:58:00.000-06:00

I am so glad someone keeps an eye on these things. Tracking Santa has gotten progressively more high-tech. Check out NORADSanta.org. Santa's even "gone social" with a Facebook page (194,794 fans), a Twitter feed (9,879 followers) and even a Picasa web album with pics of some of Santa's briefing at NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command). They want to make sure that nothing interferes with Santa's mission, of course.

Scoot over ...

2009-12-23T11:21:00.000-06:00

Looking for a job? You can thank Texas's growth for extra competition ... and for more jobs. According to CNN/Money, Texas has added more people in the last year than any other state and is third in growth behind a couple states with much smaller populations: Wyoming and Utah. During the 2000s, Texas grew by nearly four million residents. Even with all those "extra" people, our unemployment rate, at 8%, is two points below the nation as a whole. Read all about it on CNNMoney.com

What Matters Now - free ebook from Seth Godin

2009-12-14T20:37:00.000-06:00

Marketing guru Seth Godin has released a new ebook ...

Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up.

Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I've organized will get you started on that path. It took months, but I think you'll find it worth the effort. (Download here).

Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O'Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber.

Every now and then we all need a good think piece. This one's yours for free ... deep thoughts and big thinkers. (pdf format, requires Adobe Reader)

Web to the rescue for the kitchenalogically challenged

2009-11-23T15:03:00.000-06:00

While many of the world's great chefs seem to be male, gender is one of the few things I have in common with them. For all the things I've been called, "gastronome," "epicure" and "connoisseur" are not among them. I have an almost adversarial relationship with food. Anything past spaghetti made with Prego or tortilla soup made from a mix and I'm in trouble. When Thanksgiving comes around, I assume my "poor, pitiful me" posture and someone offers to feed me.

The web's long been a great repository of online recipes, but those recipes have never fit my needs. Basically, when it comes to food, I don't have the foresight to go purchase, in advance, all the items in a recipe. Hunger tends to come to me late in the evening and by then I'm loathe to venture beyond my front door in search of food. Simply put, I eat what's in the kitchen. The variety is a bit limited.

I'm tired of eating everything "plain." Fortunately, I've stumbled into SuperCook.com and now I have hope that my life won't always be gastronomically drab. SuperCook searches thousands of recipes based on the ingredients you have at hand. Hallelujah! Salvation for the single guy. I'll leave it to the SuperCook video tour to explain how it works.

Maybe, with a little practice, I can someday advance to RachaelRay.com or Epicurious.com. For a little more adventure, here's a list of cooking sites I found while scouting the web.

I'm feeling a bit hungry now, as a matter of fact.