31 Aug 2006

Geotag anything ...almost ..or why BlockRocker Rocks !


I came across the link to BlockRocker earlier today mentioned on Tom Raftery's Blog and just had to mention it. Why ? Well I thought my fellow Irish bloggers may be interested in the distinct lack of markers on our fair island and like to fill in the green!



BlockRocker generates geotags suitable for inclusion on your blog posts, your YouTube videos, Flickr photos and more besides. Think of the possibilities ...if blogging while travelling you can include the tags to show where you posted from or tag where your next video upload to YouTube was shot. I really like the latter idea. It again illustrates the trends of today's web users to do more and share more of what they love to do. A real bonus too is the fact that it makes use of Google Maps, I can even find Mountmellick on there (where I grew up!). I love it and hope others will too.

So what are ya waiting for? Go ahead, give it a go and show the world where you've been!







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Blogged with Flock

Posted by Jim at 8/31/2006 11:44:00 p.m. | | Comments

30 Aug 2006

FBI getting IT right again!


I like to know and present all relevant sides of a story, so when I came across this today I thought it would make good reading for anyone who saw the recent story about the FBI getting it all wrong when it comes to software systems. It seems they're back on track with the recent unveiling of an investigative intelligence system that looks very impressive indeed.

In an effort to restore confidence in the agency as the 9/11 anniversary comes round again, they demoed the Investigative Data Warehouse which brings together data from 50 previously disparate systems, no mean feat.

Quote:

"Grigg said that before 2002, it would take 32,222 hours to run 1,000names and birth dates across 50 databases. Now agents can make such asearch in 30 minutes or less, he said."

Read the full article here, courtesy of the Washington Post.

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Blogged with Flock

Posted by Jim at 8/30/2006 11:45:00 p.m. | | Comments

Over 1.2 Million Flickr files Geotagged in First 24 Hours!




Wow that's a huge number! It marks a huge success for the Flickr team. I was astonished to read this figure this morning given such a short timeframe, but it just goes to show the popularity of geotagging. It seems the hottest thing on the web this week then is not YouTube then, nor anything to do with video, and the emergence of a new trend. People are no longer content to just share photos but they want to share where they took them too!

I havent actually tried out the tagging just yet but I notice some complaints about the quality / accuracy of maps outside the US and Canada. The good news is Flickr have already taken notice and released the Geo API so you can map on Google, MSN and others. Lets hope Yahoo also take note as quickly.

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Blogged with Flock

Posted by Jim at 8/30/2006 08:53:00 a.m. | | Comments

29 Aug 2006

Flock - The best social network friendly browser and blogging tool ?

Join my Flock

Hey all!

As promised, a few more words on the Flock browser. It's been around in beta for almost a year but apparently is really maturing now and I've been trying it out for the past 2 days.

So far, almost every aspect of it seems excellent, though I find it a little slower to launch than Opera. That said , I dont have any extensions / plugins installed on Opera so maybe thats the delay in loading Flock.Once it's up and running it hums along at pace.



With direct links for posting to Flickr and PhotoBucket ,the ability to post to almost every blogging API out there (WordPress, Moveable Type, Blogger etc) and a speedy browser window and feed reader it really has it all. If thats not enough there's already loads of extensions for interests like geotagging to be downloaded too !

I suggest everyone go get Flocked right now !

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Blogged with Flock

Posted by Jim at 8/29/2006 09:35:00 p.m. | | Comments

28 Aug 2006

Test - Direct post to Blogger using Flock Browser!

Flock: The web browser for you and your friends.

I "drag n dropped" this image from the Flock homepage just to test posting to Blogger!

Flock Browser beta 0.7.4 + Performancing extension!


Blogged with Flock

Posted by Jim at 8/28/2006 10:01:00 p.m. | | Comments

We've almost got a Google Office.... the rumoured OS cant be far away!



Courtesy of TechCrunch :

"Google has deployed the first pieces of its upcoming Office suite. They’ve launched Google Apps for your Domain, a set of Google services targeted to small and mid sized companies. With the new service, companies can use Gmail, Talk, Calendar and Page Creator under a single control panel. Applications and data will be hosted by Google, for free, with ad support.

And that’s just the first move. According to Aaron Ricadela at InformationWeek, Google will soon add their Writely and Spreadsheet products to the suite, add collaboration tools that will work across platforms, and even provide technical support.

And when Gmail users send office documents, Google will prompt them to open the documents in Google’s new suite, allowing for collaboration and, presumably, making money from advertising."

With this launch from Google, can the web based OS be nearer than we might think. They've been readying their own suites or packs of apps for a while and once enough users have latched onto these services goodies they may just strike with the biggest sharpest tool in their arsenal.

Ongoing efforts from others to get a web based OS off the ground are also worth a look. Check out YouOS to see how things could shape up in the very near future!

* Posted while testing the Flock browser with Performancing extension, more on this to follow!

Posted by Jim at 8/28/2006 02:59:00 p.m. | | Comments

26 Aug 2006

How NOT to implement software systems, BlipTV and Xcelsius!

Well folks, after a hiatus of a couple of weeks due to dental pain I'm back, and with a question.


If I gave you a million to implement a new software system that gave me a paperless office how would you do? How about €10m or even €50? Well for all those out there in project management, systems design and related fields this may make interesting reading. Read how the FBI, yes the FBI tried to implement the mother of all filing systems at a cost of millions and continually got it wrong while bleeding money all the time.
I see crazy mistakes throughout the industry on an almost daily basis. Dont repeat the mistake of the FBI and others, wise up to proper project management methodologies and do it now!

The FBI's Upgrade That Wasn't from the Washington Post.

You can catch great coverage of state-side technology news, again from the Post here.


Next I have to mention BlipTV. I dont get what all the fuss is about with this lot. Personally I think the homepage is bloody annoying and obtrusive and the window you're expected to scroll through when choosing clips to watch ...WTF ? Someone there obviously thinks it's design is cool and cutting edge but they've apparently never heard of the "keep it simple" approach. Give me YouTube any day of the week. It's clear , easy and quick to search and enough community type content to keep you coming back without the intrusion of a limiting browsing method. That's my two cents on the debate. I know one langer who fancies himself as a new media expert who would disagree.



Finally, if you checked out Dashboard Spy from my last post, you'll like this.
I spent 4 days this week getting some training in Crystal Reports, Business Objects and Crystal Xcelsius and I advise everyone to learn Xcelsius now! Directors, especially state-side, have gone enterprise dashboards mad recently so if you cant design them now you're web based portal application that you thought was cutting edge is already way behind. You have been warned!


Technorati

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Blogged with Flock

Posted by Jim at 8/26/2006 11:25:00 p.m. | | Comments

8 Aug 2006

MS Death Blows to Performance Management market space ?

Hi all!

Not content with having incarnations of Windows, Office and Xbox in almost every home and office, over the years Microsoft have stuck their fingers in many pies, including some success with CRM. Now they've made a grab at what is still the infant market space that is Performance Management software systems.


With the release of Office 2007 versions will come the inclusion of Business Intelligence, available right from your new version of Excel. Will it be more than improved charting and ease of data manipulation (no more struggling with the black art of pivot tables) and will the buying public be able to distinguish between it's abilities and those of the "from the ground up" systems that cost 10 times the price? I wonder which option many businesses will go for and what the cost difference will really be when you factor in the need to implement Sharepoint and Business Intelligence servers needed to deliver these new all singing and dancing reports and metrics ....mmmmmmm.

Read all about it from these links:

MS Office 2007 BI

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007


Staying with business scorecards, dashboards, enterprise applications and the likes, check out DashboadSpy for some inspiration on how to design an information dashboard for your next portal based application. It's got plenty of sample screenshots to inspire how to do dashboards right, and the odd one that gets it very wrong.


On a lighter note, check out the latest from the labs at Digg.com. They've been busy giving us a visual representation of all the breaking technology news and how they link and move up the popularity ranks to the Digg front page with the Stack and Swarm apps. Very cool !!

Finally, an apology for the recent lack of postings. I'm going through a process of getting my wisdom teeth out. My newly discovered dentist is a genius. I felt absolutely nothing when I had my first ever tooth out last week after almost a forthnight of agony, but I'm not saying where cos I'll never get an appointment if half of Dublin decides to visit!!

Bye for now.

Posted by Jim at 8/08/2006 09:58:00 p.m. | | Comments

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