In my recent web travels I have ran across some sites that I wanted to share. Here they are, enjoy. Patrick Norton - Formerly of the Screensavers, frequent TWIT Panelist, now on DL.TV A someone working on a house, with a really big ladder My Favorite, the Google Van gets pulled over. Make sure you follow the post's directions to see it.
I was listening to "Twit Episode 84: Hahn, I'm Home!" and I will have to say that I was very impressed with some of the things that one of the guests, Cory Doctorow said. TWIT has had many guests, and although all of them are likable, I will have to say that I don't think I have ever been as impressed with any of them as much as I was with Cory.
One of the first things that made me kind of sit up and take notice was when the group was talking about viewing media on various screens, like the ones on IPods and cell phones, and John C. Dvorak didn't think that there was much of a future for smaller screens, and that he would never watch a movie on a smaller screen like the one on an IPod.
Cory was talking about how the computer, being as much of a multi-function device as it is, really demands media that doesn't require much of an attention span. This was mentioned as kind of a backup to what many people had said about E-Books, that no one would sit in front of their computers long enough to read a book, which really isn't true, as he points out.
Of course, partly because of my job, and partly because of my love of computers, I spend at least 8 hours a day in front of a computer, which is more than long enough to read a book.
Of course, what I am doing is looking at or reading things which don't require large blocks of time. Web page snippets and other items related to what it takes to do my job. I'm not even going to talk about some other things that people spend an ungodly amount of time doing on a computer, such as World of Warcraft, or blogging :-)
When it comes to all of these screens that we are seeing in cell phones and IPods, it isn't Screen size and resolution that is important, and this is also something that Cory pointed out, what is important is the context that the screen is being used in.
If I am waiting in line at a DMV, then I would be extremely happy with a screen the size of an IPod's screen, of course if I am in my living room, then I probably will not pull out that smaller screen in order to watch a different show. Leo backs it up with saying that what we as consumers are really after is a wide selection of screens, we want the screen that fits where we are, and what we are doing.
After listening to the Podcast, I decided to go ahead and look Cory up. They had mentioned on the air that he just released a new book of short science fiction stories called "Overclocked", but I was really surprised to learn that you can download the entire book online, either in print or in podcast form for free. He also has a whole slew of other stories available for download in print or podcast form, for free.
So I went ahead and subscribed to the site, and I plan on checking out his writing. You should too.
Related Links:
Cory's Website - CrapHound.com
Twit.tv - The Twit Netcast Network
Twit Netcast - The Week in Tech
TWIT makes Time Magazine's Top 10 Podcasts
The TechTV Crew
Believe it or not, I happen to read a good deal of material about personal productivity. Thrive! has a newsletter that they put out every Friday, and not only is it valuable and insightful, but it is also very entertaining. Matthew Poepsel has a style of writing that I find very enjoyable.
Don't believe me, try reading the current newsletter. I really liked the following line:
"Many of us are very caught up in what our boss thinks, what our mom thinks,Of course, as with anything, some issues are funnier than others, but I can't say that I have read a single newsletter that didn't offer something worthwhile. (If only I could say the same thing for my blog)
what our neighbor thinks, and what the
guy-in-line-next-to-you-at-the-supermarket-who-you'll-probably-never-see-again-but-who-you-still-don't-want-to-see-you-buying-Vogue
thinks."
ITtoolbox Blogs
Ok, this is kind of funny. I took a look at my own blog, and in the adsense link at the top, there was a linkt o IT Toolbox blogs. It looked interesting, so I followed it.
I just recently gutted my bloglines subscriptions so that I could start adding ones that I read, and it has been kind of hard to find some good IT related blogs. I don't have a whole lot of time to scour the internet looking for blogs.
If I find any really useful or interesting blogs on this site, I will let you know. I will warn you though, don't think that if I haven't posted anything about ITtoolbox Blogs by next week that I don't think there is anything interesting, it may just be that I haven't had a chance to read anything.
A friend sent me a link to an article where Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible, and it is a really good read. It looks like the meat of the article comes from Mike Danseglio, program manager in the Security Solutions group at Microsoft. He was giving a presentation at an Infosec conference.
Page 2 has a terrific quote on it, "Phishing is a major problem because there really is no patch for human stupidity." They also say that Microsoft is getting 2000 attacks an hour. That was pretty amazing too.
I saw this little blurb about how the US Plans to build a Moonbase, and it struck me a couple of ways. First off, let me admit that I don’t get a whole lot of news; I just don’t have the time. So maybe I missed it, but shouldn’t this have been a bigger story? One of the obstacles listed in the 5th paragraph is how to reacquire our “culture of exploration”. How little press this topic received helps to illustrate how big of a problem that is.
I know that when I was a kid, we actually watched shuttle lift offs in class. It was something that was supposed to help kids get motivated, and make them want to study math and science. These days, I don’t think that I can tell you when the last shuttle lift-off was. I don’t know if it hits the news unless there is some disaster.
I read a interesting article on LXer stating that Microsoft Has Stopped Competing with Linux. I wasn't really sure about it to start with, but it made a whole lot of sense.
It does seem that on the Desktop front, Linux is really just trying to catch up with windows, rather than innovate. Linux still has a number of strengths, but it isn't on the desktop.
One other thing that the article points out is that Microsoft is changing their push, and moving more into markets like Enterprise Solutions for collaboration and resource management. This is something that I have noticed with a release of a whole slew of new products, like BizTalk Server, Commerce Server, and Small Business Accounting, just to name a few.
For some reason, I woke up this morning thinking about some of the advantages of getting to specialize in one aspect of technology. Specifically, being the "Exchange Admin" for a company, or the IIS guy, or anything along those lines, being able to learn a product or technology inside and out. You see, I am a Network Manager / Admin for a small company, about 60 employees. I have worked here since it was less than 20 employees, and basically whenever there is a problem, I am the one who gets called.
Don't get me wrong, there are some really neat things about working for a company of this size. Primarily, I get to do a little of everything, I run Server 2003, SQL, IIS, DNS, WINS, AD, SharePoint, and basically fix anything in the building that runs on electricity. Yesterday I was writing scripts to pull values from our "insert company name here" accounting system, and dump them into excel, today I was installing a demo copy of SharePoint portal server, and tomorrow I will be installing a couple of Windows machines, and loading Oracle on them.
I started thinking about specialization because the last few days have been a little rough. I basically was given more work than I can possibly do, and the method of delivery was a series of meeting which ate up half my already overbooked day. Of course, everything needs to be done ASAP, and I already have a “to do” list a mile long.
To me, this is the biggest disadvantage of working for a small company. There really isn’t anyone else to do all of the jobs. I was finally able to get the company to hire someone that I can dump most of the smaller stuff, like desktop support, etc. He is overloaded with work too, so it is a case of the amount of work expanding to consume all available manpower.
Generally I don’t sweat this too much, I mean, I am only human. I make sure that I spend plenty of time with my family, even if I have to get back on my machine after the kids go to bed. Thank goodness for remote desktop, and the power of scripting. I don’t have any idea how I would keep up, or at least as close to “up” as I am, without them.
Really, I just wanted a chance to vent a little bit, so if you are still with me, and can sympathize with my pain, post a comment and let me know. On the flip side of that, if you get to specialize, and want to list off all of the downfalls there, let me know.
One of my new favorite internet authors has this post about being a generalist. It is a good read, and may I suggest checking his blog daily, as well as his terrific project, DIY Planner.
If you really want to do some reading, then let me suggest FindArticles.com. They index so many articles, magazines, and web sites, it isn't even funny.
I know by now, we can all find whatever we want with Google, but if you just want to browse, this is the place.
