The folks at Ubergizmo are offering a literal thumb drive for those of us that like to take geek humor all the way to the props level. This is hands down, a great gag gift for the nerds in your life. And it won’t cost you an arm and a leg! Thumbs up!
Google’s Barrel Roll and other Hidden Tricks – not necessarily productive but definitely fun! http://ow.ly/7jwvP #barrelroll #askew #geek
Kickin' it old skool
Big browser news today in a post on Mashable – Internet Explorer, the long-standing behemoth of browsers can no longer claim their long and tightly held 50% of browser share:
“Safari’s hold on 62.17% of mobile traffic has reduced IE’s overall share of web browsing, despite still claiming 52.63% of desktop traffic, according to Netmarketshare.com.
The Microsoft browser’s diminishing share (49.6%) reflects its near absence from the realms of mobile and tablet, which now make up 6% of web traffic. However, chances are, you gave up on IE long enough ago that this milestone makes you more curious as to who actually still uses the browser.”
Good point. I gave up IE many, many moons ago. Back in the olden times, I was all about Netscape. Please understand I was a die-hard Machead so anything I could do to escape the clutches of the evil MS empire I would take. I have since mellowed a bit and now realize that there is a time and place for MS…not so sure about IE though. I went straight from Netscape to Firefox on my old home Mac cause they stopped upgrading IE anyway and I was quite smitten with FireFox. FireFox still holds the number two spot of browser share, at 21.20%.
Nowadays, I am all about Chrome on my PCs and Macs. My mobile devices are all Safari. I was happy to see that Chrome’s 16.60% of the pie continues to grow. Safari on the desktop lags behind at 8.72% because…well, it kinda stinks, doesn’t it? (Did I just hear the sounds of a thousand simultaneous Machead machinations begin to formulate my painful demise?)
But the bigger question is why does IE still hold the largest market share? Why do we still use it? It’s still the Windows default and I suppose it does its job for the casual surfer. Ah well…hamburgers and steaks…chocolate and vanilla…the world is full of choices. Choose wisely friends! If you are an IE fan OR a Safari on-the-desktop fan, please tell me why…what am I missing?
The NYS Forum, a cross-boundary collaboration forum in New York state, launched a “starter kit” this week that is designed to help government IT officials build Communities of Practice around topics in their particular area of interest. According to an article in Government Technology, the kit (a 40-page email-able PDF or Word doc) “should help those in the IT field create a network with other IT professionals to discuss issues, policies and best practices.”
Although the kit was designed as a tool for those IT professionals in New York at the local, state and federal level, the tools can be used to start a community of practice anywhere.
It sounds like a great idea to formalize the concepts in such a package, but I wonder if that can actually be a the detriment to the collaborative spirit? Most of the networks to which I belong relish in the idea of being outside of a bureaucracy. They focus on personal relationships, quick engagements and responses and the free sharing of ideas and professional opinions. It will be interesting to see how the Kit compares to or meshes with the more well-established, albeit less formal, collaboration tools offered today in government via things like LinkedIn and GovLoop.
Just in time for frightful festivities, CIO.com has collected the Geekiest Halloween Costumes around the web http://ow.ly/77uNV #IT #geek
Can't Search This...at Least Not Yet...
Not content as one of those Renaissance Rappers who simply moved on from music into television (Ice-T) and movies (Will Smith, Ice Cube, Eminem, etc.), MC Hammer announced at the Web2.0 Summit this week that he has been hard at work on WireDoo – a “deep search” engine that he claims will outperform the big boys like Google and Bing.Them’s big words! But I suppose we should expect only big words from the Master of the Big Pants!
Stay tuned – according to the article from CNN, WireDoo is still in pre-beta. But you log on to the website now if you want to sign up in advance to be a beta tester when the engine is ready for prime time.
The heart, mind and soul of a company I have loved and relied on for my entertainment and livelihood for nearly two decades has passed. I don’t have the words to express as eloquently as others the sadness his passing brings to the lives of millions. So I will simply state the obvious but indisputable truth: his indelible mark on technology and humanity will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace, sir.
Last week I had the honor of representing Roanoke County in receiving the Governor’s Technology Award for our newly redesigned website at the annual Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium (CoVITS) in Richmond, Virginia. Although I was the only one who stepped up on the stage when they called our name, I was representing the hard work of dozens of employees across nearly every department in the County. The project was truly a team effort in every sense of the word.
(From Left) Virginia Secretary of Technology, Jim Duffey, Me and Sam Nixon, Virginia's Chief Information Officer
The new site was a dramatic improvement over our old site. In addition to strong visual appeal with clean, soft lines, the new site also infuses the latest trends in technology, including social media integration, full mobile access and dozens of online resources to help our citizens and businesses get online, not inline!
We partnered with CivicPlus to design and development the new site from the ground up. For any localities interested in a site redesign, I highly recommend you talk to Civic Plus. They had a methodical and effective project management process, but took our ideas into consideration. They came in on time and on budget, despite mid-course changes we threw at them.
If you’re looking for inspiration for your government technology efforts, check out the full list of the 2011 winners for some great ideas and innovation!
Congrats to all of the 2010 Virginia Governor’s Technology Award winners, recognized earlier this week at CoVITS! http://ow.ly/6IT2f
Consumerizing IT – Guidance for bringing personal devices into the workplace – http://ow.ly/6IpKK #CIO #IT
