Latest News from Web 2.0 Journal

Social Media: Marketing Marvel or Annoying Distraction?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST

Financial social media marketing goes under the microscope as mutual fund researcher Neil Bathon asks, "What is social media really?"

The Next Frontier in the Cloud: Legacy Apps

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

Although cloud computing momentum continues to build and scarcely a day goes by without a new cloud announcement or study, there’s been little real enterprise adoption and almost no meaningful case studies. In part, that’s because early cloud providers and vendors were focused on developers and technology start-ups when they designed their offerings, and larger, more established organizations were rarely on their radar screen. While start-ups can easily embrace new technologies and architectures, enterprises have far more constraints and have been largely limited to “tire kicking” the cloud with small applications that aren’t particularly meaningful for the business.

Pantech Makes an Impact at AT&T

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:15:00 EST

Beginning Sunday, Pantech Wireless, Inc., – the U.S.-based subsidiary of Pantech Group, one of Korea’s largest mobile phone manufacturers – will bring “Impact” to AT&T customers. The second Pantech handset to hit shelves this holiday season debuts in two cool colors – bright blue and soft pink – and delivers a brand new form factor to AT&T’s line of quick messaging phones. Impact features a high-gloss faceplate with a haptic response touchpad, two screens and a full hidden keyboard, along with a host of the latest social and multimedia options, to make managing your mobile life startlingly fun.

Take Your Elevator Speech to a Higher Level

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST

As he put it, "Understand that the Elevator Pitch is Dead. You remember the elevator pitch. The notion that you should be able to describe what your company does in the length of time consumed by the average elevator ride. I’m here to tell you, that’s way too long these days. Elevator rides seem interminable." I am in absolute agreement that brevity is essential. But, brevity is just the beginning. In fact, the ideal elevator speech should be exactly that–a beginning. Don’t think of your short statement as a traditional speech designed to get a big round of applause at the end. Instead, it serves as an opening gambit that engages your listener so effectively that it begins a dialogue of indefinite length. It can become the welcoming door to your compelling content.

Using Tech, Other Channels to Market Your Message

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST

First, we have spent an enormous amount of time and money developing our Web site. These days, a Web site is all-consuming. It includes positioning, branding, support, infrastructure, training materials, community development, sales operations, bug reporting. The list goes on. There is not a single facet of our business that doesn't touch the Web site. This past weekend, we wanted to test our message of "empowerment" on a focus group. We sent one of our team members to a BarCamp in Philadelphia. At a Bar Camp, organizers prepare the location, set times and administrate a few other functions, but members largely determine the topics they want to speak about and hear about. We diligently noted reactions, questions and responses -- just like a focus group.

Salesforce To Let Companies Chatter Away

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST

Salesforce.com is going the way of Facebook and Twitter with a reportedly secure private social networking application called Chatter that companies are supposed to use internally so their people can “collaborate” in real-time, but potentially the techzoid equivalent of the old-fashioned water cooler. In a statement trying to explain Chatter’s aetiology, CEO Marc Benioff said, “Why do I know more about strangers on Facebook than my own employees? Now, through Salesforce Chatter, my business is tweeting me.”

Berlin Is The Place To Be in February - at iStrategy 2010

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

With ever-changing media consumption patterns and the rapid growth of mobile web, social networking, behavioral targeting, vodcasting, email marketing, and viral marketing it can be tough for any company to stay ahead of the competition. Which is why the organizers of iStrategy 2010, to be held 9-10th February 2010 in Berlin, have created the event as an annual gathering for Business, Marketing, Business Development, IT and Creative professionals involved in all aspects of online media and strategic management positions.

Getting Big Things Done In Government

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:15:00 EST

I found: If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Governmentto be a book I couldn’t put down. This great read is about results and how to get them. And, as the title implies, it focuses on big results in government. The government is doing many things to the [...] Related posts:

WARNING: Security Device Enclosed

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

How many times have you seen an employee wave on by a customer when the “security device enclosed” in some item – be it DVD, CD, or clothing – sets off the alarm at the doors? Just a few weeks ago I heard one young lady explain the alarm away with “it must have be the CD I bought at the last place I was at…” This apparently satisfied the young man at the doors who nodded and turned back to whatever he’d been doing.

Domain Provider Makes Its Move Into Social Media

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:45:00 EST

Internetters, one of the UKs leading providers of domain names, web hosting and email services, has announced its step into the social arena with the introduction of a new blog to run alongside it's recently opened Twitter account.

Why Social Media Marketing is an ETF Start-Up’s Best Friend

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:45:00 EST

Four years later, Erik co-authored with Financial Research Corporation, the landmark study “The Future of Exchange Traded Funds,” a prescient analysis of the challenges and opportunities confronted by ETFs. That document uncannily projected almost to the penny the asset growth that ETFs would experience from 2000 to the present. Erik’s passion for the ETF concept took a giant leap in 2008 when he and a small group of investment colleagues began building the groundwork for another, unique foray into ETF world. This time around Erik and company are setting out to build a first-of-a-kind, patented, principal-protected ETF target date series called FocusShares.

What is HARO?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:45:00 EST

Chances are, if you're not a journalist, you haven't heard of HARO. It stands for Help A Reporter Out, and it's a site that was created to help journalists connect with experts or sources to interview for articles that they're writing. Chances are, you're thinking: OK, but I'm still not a journalist, so why is HARO useful to me? Well, if you're blogging or creating content regularly, you are similar to a journalist in some ways. You're trying to come up with interesting ideas, connect with an audience, and potentially find interesting sources to interview.

Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs Oh My!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

The morning of December 4th is a breakfast not to be missed with the Utah Technology Council (UTC), (www.utahtech.org) Utah’s premier professional organization. This year’s PR event focuses on social media marketing tips for growing a business. “It’s not enough anymore to simply know about Facebook or blogging,” stated Richard R. Nelson, president and CEO of UTC. “For too long leaders thought that social networking was something young people used exclusively. The time has come for us all to look forward to the future of business and PR marketing, and that future relies heavily on social networking.”

Salesforce.com Unveils Salesforce Chatter

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:15:00 EST

Salesforce.com unveiled Salesforce Chatter, a new secure enterprise collaboration application and social development platform. Salesforce Chatter will revolutionize the workplace by leveraging the social networking models made popular by the consumer Web, allowing any company to collaborate in real time with a secure, private social network for their business. Content, applications and people will now have profiles, feeds and groups, enabling them to be deeply connected. In addition, developers will now be able to use theSalesforce Chatter platform to build social enterprise applications, and all 135,000 native Force.com applications will instantly become social. Salesforce.com is the only company uniquely positioned to deliver a social, enterprise-scale application and platform like Chatter because of its world-class security, trusted sharing model and the critical business information stored in salesforce.com's cloud apps. Salesforce Chatter will be salesforce.com's first enterprise-wide app, bringing the power of cloud computing to every employee.

Marketing Exec Bruce Johnston Says Social Media Will Revive Mutual Fund Sales

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

Last year, as imploding credit markets roiled the economy, mutual fund organizations throughout the country took stock of their revenue prospects. It was clear that a change or two was in the wind at Denver’s Old Mutual Investment Partners, too. For Chief Executive Officer, D. Bruce Johnston, one more change was clear: He wanted to do something different.

Business Blogging: the Value of Adding a Blog to Your B2B Mix

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

Of course it is now a prerequisite to have a professional web presence for your business. More than likely, you spend time and treasure on this critical resource. But what about a blog? Blogging may just seem like a fad for techies (www.Gizmodo.com) or people that seem to have plenty of time on their hands, or people who have plenty to say, like researchers (www.researchbuzz.org). By now, having a companion blog site has become part of a comprehensive marketing program for many. Blogging, and other forms of social media, has become a de facto means of engagement for B2B companies. It's simply essential. Just as you would view in-person networking events as necessary to engaging with customers and partners, your blog site should be this as well. And while it may seem that a blog will cost you additional time (and that treasure), there are resources available to streamline blog publishing. More than this, your blog site can be well-positioned to feed visitors to your existing company web presence.

RIA Steege Turned to Social Media “To Do opposite of What Everyone Else Was Doing”

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:15:00 EST

Mr. Steege’s sense of experimentation, in fact, flew in the face of a recently released report from Equation Research that stated that ”not knowing enough about social media” was given as the #1 reason for not trying it. Mr. Steege readily admitted he knew little about keywords and third party blogging when he started and yet he continues to hold his own today on Google page 1 for keywords AMT+credit+refund, a business emphasis of Mr. Steege’s, as recently as November 11.

Another Powerful Use of Social Media and Twitter

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Another powerful use of social media and Twitter. LeapFish has teamed up with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to empower Twitter users with the ability to grant an ill child’s dream to go to Disneyland. A Tweet-A-Cause that just hit the wires and is beginning to climb through the Twitosphere. Jacob, who is four years of age, has a rare and life-threatening disease that has affected him since birth. He has one big wish in life — to go to Disneyland with his family. LeapFish is donating 5 cents per Tweet to the Make-A-Wish Foundation until $10,000 has been raised and Jacob and his family can go to Disneyland.

Windows Azure Facebook SDK

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:30:00 EST

OK, OK … maybe not (just) for Windows Azure, but Microsoft just released a Facebook client library to help make it easier for everyone to create some interesting applications. Clarity Consulting Inc. developed the original Facebook Developer Toolkit for the Microsoft Visual Studio Express Team. They worked with Microsoft on an idea to keep the code [...] Related posts:

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TypePad Makes Blogging Easier and More Connected Than Ever With New Social Features and Free Microblogging

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:30:00 EST

A new form of blogging is emerging -- somewhere between the status updates of Facebook and Twitter and the full-length posts of classic blogs -- focused on being easy, fun, and connected. TypePad Micro is built for this growing form of blogging, making it easy for people to curate compelling content from the web -- be it text, photos, or videos -- and share it in real time with people on their blog and by automatically cross posting to Facebook and Twitter. TypePad Micro members can reach beyond their existing networks by taking advantage of TypePad's social media optimization features to tap into TypePad's large community of bloggers and readers, and build new connections with people who share their interests.

Enterprise Virtualization From Red Hat is GA'd

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:20:00 EST

Red Hat recently announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers, the newest product set in the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization portfolio. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers is designed to enable pervasive adoption of virtualization, with a comprehensive end-to-end solution combining a standalone hypervisor and powerful virtualization management.

Virtualization & Consolidation: Leveraging Dynamic Infrastructure

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:06:00 EST

View our educational webcast, “Virtualization & Consolidation: Leveraging Dynamic Infrastructure for Cost Savings, Ease of Management & Security,” lead by Steve Dowling, Architect and Level 10 Systems Engineer at Mainline Information Systems.

Diffusing Technology into Generation Z

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST

Us “Baby Boomers” tend to believe we have accomplished a lot in the years ranging from our roots of hard rock, to the birth of basic internet technologies in the early 1970s. We started our generation with black and white television, experiencing everything from the assassination of President Kennedy to absorbing the wonders of man walking on the moon.

Latest Social Media Trends in PR and Marketing

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:45:00 EST

"PR Camp New York aims to be different from traditional conferences, which rely on power point presentations and panels," said Dan Greenfield, PR Camp New York organizer and principal of Bernaise Source Media, a communications consulting practice. "We are not the first to use an interactive format, and we are not the only PR event in town. But to get a group of hard working, over scheduled New York area professionals to take one day to engage with one another, we have to offer something special. We think we do that."

An American in Manila: Watching Pacquiao-Cotto from the Philippines

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:06:00 EST

Quit when you're on top, kid. Manny Pacquiao, the Pambansang Kamao ("National Fist") of the Philippines, beat the living tar out of the very tough amigo Miguel Cotto on Sunday afternoon, November 15, 2009, keeping a skein of big victories intact and once again upholding the pride of an entire nation of more than 90 million people.

Five Days with a Droid

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:15:00 EST

I got my Droid about five days ago, and immediately took it on the road with me, which meant I didn't have the quality time I wanted to settle into a nook and read Persian love poetry to it. But, I did get a sense of how it looks to ...

Cisco Takes on Microsoft Exchange

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST

Cisco’s behaving a little like the Lord High Executioner in the Mikado. It’s got a little list and apparently figures nobody on it will be missed if it sent them to an early grave starting with Microsoft Exchange. See, as of Monday Cisco is in the hosted e-mail business up against Microsoft Exchange Online, Google Gmail, IBM iNotes, heck, even Zoho Mail, but especially Microsoft, because it claims it can save users the price of Exchange Server and still leave them with the same experience.

N-Viro International Launches of Social Media-Driven Platform

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:31:00 EST

N-Viro International Corporation is pleased to report its ongoing commitment to the recently launched social media-driven shareholder communications platform in conjunction with netgenPR, a full service digital PR and communications agency specializing in public companies. The Company has launched a new and improved web site at www.nviro.com where interested shareholders, investors and all others who wish to, can follow the progress of the Company. Additionally, links are available to the new CEO Live Interviews that will be conducted by Chief Executive Officer Timothy R. Kasmoch on a regular basis. Interested participants need only click on the link provided on the web site to view the interviews. The Company expects to update information on a weekly basis and encourages viewers to monitor the web site and their progress.

Mobile Healthcare in Developing Countries

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:27:00 EST

I attended the mHealth Summit organized by the NIH in DC on October 29-30 to get a sense of the progress in the use of mobile technologies to improve health care. It is a fascinating area where mobile technology can make a real difference in the lives of many people, especially in developing countries (see a paper I wrote recently on behalf of Cisco and Intel here).

It was an interesting meeting for someone like me working on the m side of the mHealth, as most of the attendees were from the health care community. This allowed me to get a better understanding of the perspective and requirements of the health care providers.

It turns out that for most of the applications presented the requirements are very easy to meet. Most of the applications are still based on SMS, the only mobile data service that is truly ubiquitous. For SMS-based applications the requirements in terms of network infrastructure, devices, or user training are very limited, but the functionality that these applications offer is also limited. Increasingly rural areas in developing countries have access to wireline and wireless broadband. This will open more exciting opportunities to deliver improved healthcare through richer applications built on more intensive data exchanges and real-time video. An increasing number of trials are focusing on such technologies, but few were represented at the mHealth Summit.

Despite the promise, mobile health care applications appear to be moving slowly from the trial stage to full deployments. The Summit showcased a large number of promising applications, but in all cases they were still in early trial stage: available to few users, or still in development, and with very limited information on how effectively they improve care (compared to alternative, non-mobile solutions) and on what’s their ROI proposition to governments, health care providers and NGOs.

Given that SMS have been around for decades now and that cellular coverage is good in most developing countries, we should be ready to move beyond trials to wide programs that use mobile technologies, available to wide areas and covering more than just a single condition or patient group.

Applications alone are not enough; they need to rely on an ecosystem that includes patients, health care workers, health care agencies, governments, NGOs, and cellular other wireless providers. Patricia Mecheal, from the Earth Institute, insisted that we need to work in concert towards a common target, just like musicians do when they play in a symphony. This is a great challenge. As Vodafone’s Paul Davey remarked, “We need to find a common language”. Mobile and broadband operators, governments and health care agencies have only started to work together and still they have a very different view of the value chain, said Davey. The development of an ecosystem with a common language is a prerequisite to move beyond trials to full, nationwide deployments.

Within such an ecosystem, it is crucial to ensure that applications work across networks, devices, languages. While solutions are available, proprietary solutions still seem to dominate efforts to ensure wide scalability and interoperability, although the trend is clearly for open source, standards-based solutions. Joel Selanikio, from DataDyne and developer of EpiSurveyor, gave the most compelling presentation arguing that most applications for emerging countries fail to take advantage of open-source software approaches that can leverage tools already existing and can scale to large deployments.

Attempts at quantifying the economic and health benefits of mobile healthcare applications seem to be very sparse and uneven. Suzanne Clough from WellDoc presented an application for diabetes treatment with a well-thought evaluation process, but most presenters did not seem to have given much thought to the topic. The prevailing approach seemed to get a grant from an NGO, develop an application and showcase it in a trail; when done move on to the next trial. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was a representative of the pharma industry, Scott C. Ratzan, Johnson & Johnson, to remind the audience that we should not even get involved in a trial without developing a solid business model. NGOs and their research partners often make the case that a competitive market approach does not work in health care, and especially not in emerging markets. But why should it be the case? Health care systems in emerging market are subject to even tighter budget constraints than in developed markets and have an even greater need to deploy effective solutions. How could we get this approach to change to speed up effective, scalable deployments?

Monica Paolini

monica.paolini@senzafiliconsulting.com

Not Just Words: Enforce Your Email and Web Acceptable Usage Policies

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:15:00 EST

Unmanaged employee use of email and the web can subject any organization to costly risks including litigation, regulatory investigations and public embarrassment. Responsible organizations should deploy clearly written Acceptable Usage Policies (AUPs) for email and web usage, supported by employee training and enforced by proven technology solutions. This whitepaper can serve as business guide on how to develop and enforce Email and Web AUPs. All employers need to understand that unmanaged personal email and web usage has a negative effect on productivity and heightens the organization’s risk. Download this guide and learn how to quickly implement an effective AUP in your workplace.

Understanding Messaging and Web Activity Threats

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST

Business users can easily fall victim to malicious links in e-mail, instant messages, and rogue or compromised Web sites. In a single click of the mouse, a user can unwittingly access a Web page that installs malware and other unwanted software on the user’s PC, leading to possible system damage, information or identity theft and all kinds of potential compliance violations. Your users need a reliable computing environment; you need failsafe network protection. In this white paper, discover how state-of-the-art scanning technologies used in MessageLabs’ leading security solutions guard your users and network from such threats.

Email Archiving: a Business-Critical Application

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST

Today’s businesses are especially vulnerable to accidental email loss, compliance demands, and the threat of e-discovery. Yet these same companies often have the fewest resources for combating these risks on their own. Many businesses today are turning to email archiving services to eliminate losses. Additional benefits of professional email archiving services include greater employee productivity, less need to rely on company storage servers, and increased protection. Email archiving also protects email 24X7 with enterprise-level backup and support. Data is secured at multiple sites and restoring archived email happens quickly and does not require IT professionals. For most businesses, costs are significantly lower and data is more secure compared to companies that choose to run and maintain in-house archiving software solutions.

A Catalyst for Entrepreneurs in Santa Barbara

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:15:00 EST

Over the past couple of years we have visited small business and entrepreneur support organizations in LA (the Convergence Technology Council/CTC), OCTANe in Orange County, the San Diego Software Industry Council/SDSIC in San Diego, and the Silicon Valley Product Management Association (SVPMA). Last night I visited the Catalyst for Thought in Santa Barbara, and their November program “Building a Thriving Business: How to avoid the common pitfalls.”

The Emergence of the Universal Appliance

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST

In 1956, Malcolm McLean invented a shipping system that revolutionized cargo shipping forever, namely the container. The shipping container provides a standard, universal packing solution that can be used for transporting whatever you need to ship. Containers can be transported on trucks, trains or on ships, because they are of standard size. Containers are an example of a universal solution - one that revolutionized the shipping industry. Can the emergence of the standard PC server platform as a universal computing platform herald the proliferation of even more innovative dedicated network appliances in IP networks?

YOU Can't Handle The Truth About Personal Branding

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:45:00 EST

For me the video below is a well thought out and put together dig at what I have been seeing an explosion of this year and what is concerning me most about personal branding. Lack of depth and authenticity. It is what is causing so many online commentators to rant about it's shallowness, lack of substance, affront to the word branding, an attack on the profession of marketing etc etc.

Digging Deeper in Microfinance with Kiva.org

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

I have been a long time donor to Kiva.org, a peer microfinance lending site that has been around for several years. When I first heard about it I thought it was an interesting idea and donated some money to fund a few different third-world start up businesses.

TechTarget Reports Estimated 3Q 2009 Financials

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:00:00 EST

TechTarget, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTGT) announced today that it is delaying its earnings release, but is releasing estimated third quarter results, its prepared remarks regarding the current period ended September 30, 2009 and financial guidance for the fourth quarter of 2009. The Company recently identified an improper accounting practice relating to certain customer credits that were improperly eliminated as liabilities on the Company's balance sheet. The Company believes that the result of this practice was that expenses were understated (overstated) by approximately $353,000 in 2007, $426,000 in 2008 and ($15,000) in 2009. As a result, TechTarget is delaying the filing of its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the third quarter of 2009, and the Audit Committee of TechTarget’s Board of Directors is currently conducting an investigation into this matter. The Company currently believes that the improper accounting practice was limited to a single individual. The Company's expectations concerning the nature and materiality of these or any other improper accounting activity that may be discovered in the course of its investigation are subject to change based on the final outcome of the investigation.

Building a Social Site with Ruby and Rails

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

Over the past year or so I’ve been working on an application that serves as a framework for building a feature rich social networking site. I’ve called this project EngineY. EngineY is a Ruby application that uses the Ruby on Rails framework as its base. As I was building EngineY, I used a real community [...]

IPv6 and the End of the World

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST

There’s always been a certain amount of conspiracy theories when security type events happen or instances where there is secrecy. There are those who don’t buy the ‘reported’ reason a security event (like a breach) occurred, those who claim to have inside information or just those who see a story and draw their own conclusions. [...]

Los Angeles Telecommunications: Wiring LA

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:58:00 EST

With more than 500 networks and carriers operating within the LA city center, one company stands out from the crowd as a leader in bringing the global telecommunications and Internet community together. Eric Bender is president of Wilshire Connection, a facility-based carrier focusing on providing neutral, high capacity fiber optic cable interconnecting the most important buildings in Los Angeles.

Get HD Videos to FLV with Fancy Player for Online Sharing

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:45:00 EST

Do you have digital camera? Do you record special events around you? Publish them on your website with the fast conversion without duration limit. Flash Video MX Std has been updated with better support to HD videos like AVCHD (MTS, M2TS), MOD, TOD formats.

Mobile Smart Phones for Work & Play

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:45:00 EST

I am consulting now days and my iPhone is used for both personal and professional purposes. Several weeks ago I complained in an article about having to use my personal phone number and voice mail for business. A kind reader suggested that I try the new Google Voice service. I did and am still learning it but it has some interesting feature that I find handy for mobile workers.

Navy CIO Discusses Cloud Computing

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:00:00 EST

During this week's Federal Executive Forum taping, Navy CIO Robert Carey discussed his views on cloud computing. Stating that the NGEN and CANES (Navy Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services) programs will both leverage cloud computing, he also describes a future of "grey clouds" on each ship.

Joining him on the program was:

Mike Krieger- Army Deputy Chief Information Officer, Office of the Secretary of the Army
Henry Sienkiewcz- Technical Program Director, Computer Services, Defense Information Systems Agency

The panel discussed the progress of Cloud Computing in the Federal Government, best practices including the DISA RACE program, challenges still ahead, lessons learned, and the vision for the future.

The complete show will be webcast on November 10, 2009 at 2:00 pm.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

SCA, Java EE, Spring, Web 2.0 and Cloud Come Together

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:15:00 EST

ApacheCon US 2009 has started and I'm done with my first Apache Tuscany session.

SCA, Java EE, Spring, Web 2.0 and Cloud Come Together - Service assembly with Apache Tuscany SCA
Wed, 04 November 2009 11:00, by Luciano Resende

Slides are now available

Tuscany cloud tutorial source code is available in Tuscany SVN at sca-cloud-tutorial sandbox.

The application integration sample (a.k.a Travel Sample) is available in Tuscany SVN at travel-sample sandbox.

Rules of Engagement

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

Most CPA firms have yet to establish a social media policy, as they are likely considering the best approach to bring social media into the marketing mix. Truth be told, there is no hard and fast rule on how companies should approach this. The accounting industry is no exception, and faces particular challenges in creating social media plans, such as whether to include client references, and giving tax or other consulting advice in a public forum and later being held responsible for it.

Moyea Video4Web Converter V2.1 Released

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:15:00 EST

The new Moyea Video4Web Converter V2.1 with optimized menu display pattern, fast video codec encoding speed and perfect bug-fixings, makes video to flash video conversion the easiest and quickest ever.

Long Lines, No Parking: A Good Sign?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:15:00 EST

Day One of the Cloud Computing Conference and Expo is in full swing. First off, it took me nearly 30 minutes to find parking. For some reason the top level of the parking structure of the Santa Clara Convention Center was closed off. Not sure why. Then I walked through the San Jose Hyatt. At that point, I ran into the lines. The lines for registration were 50-100 people deep. And there was no special “press” registration. I waited 42 minutes to get my badge, and so did everybody else.

Control Your Brand and Reputation, Even When You’re Not Around

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:04:00 EST

In his October 2009 Newsletter, James Bowles, Washington DC’s leading Executive Business Coach and career transition consultant, outlines the facets of your personal “brand” and reputation – that stand to scrutiny when you’re not around. What do people say about you when you aren't around? Or more importantly, what does your boss, current (or future) client, or other key stakeholders and partners say about you when you aren't around? For example, in a compensation review meeting (when promotions to key positions are being discussed) or simply when your work and additional opportunities to hire (or fire) you are being considered?

The things that people say about you when you are not around is usually called your reputation. A better way to think about it is that it's your personal "brand" – and this is one of the biggest factors in your ultimate success on the job, with clients and around your community. Here's the good news: for the most part, YOU completely control it! Here’s the challenge – to control it appropriately, you may need some essential business coaching, to learn some essential facets of personal brand marketing, reputation management and talent management (a.k.a. “human resource management”).

Three things make up your brand – your skills (i.e. what you know), your experience (i.e. what you’ve done well), and your attitude (i.e. how you act). These are the things that others remember and discuss when the conversation becomes about you, without you. However, having a great brand may not be enough by itself – like any developing brand, marketing yourself is required. Key stakeholders need to know your skills, experiences, and attitudes…so check around. Who needs to know, who do you need to influence? It's wise to make your brand known to everyone, but it's crucial to know who will be making the decisions you care about. Also, it's important to know who influences the decision makers.

Once you know them make a list - then determine the following:

Have they heard of you?
Do they know you?
Have they seen your work?
Have they been positively impacted by your work?
Do they know what you want to do?

Work through this list, thinking of how you can have an impact on the decision makers. Turn the answer to these questions to “yes, absolutely!”. Find ways to work on projects that they care about, or be on teams that work on their projects. The key thing here is that the relationship needs to be give-and-take. Do something positive for them to establish your brand, and maybe they will respond by helping you down the road. Quite literally, the most powerful force for successful career change and accomplishment for executives and business leaders is active personal marketing and partnership with stakeholders to obtain feedback, reflect, and act upon it.

This sort of internal “reputation brand marketing and management” is essential in your career, especially if you’re seeking a career change or in fact re-entering the workforce from a layoff, as a Mom returning to work, or establishing new independent career goals. If in fact your career change results, like so many of these do actually do, in reliance on decision makers and stakeholders you don’t actually know (for example future clients or employers learning about you on the Internet), your personal brand and reputation management actions require a degree of Internet Information Marketing and Management skills (and some social media coaching). This is to ensure you come across the way you desire when people search for you, or your services, on the Internet, in social media channels, or through business and information directories.

For more information regarding DC Business Coaching, Executive Leadership Training, and HR Talent Management, contact James Bowles, Washington DC Executive Coach and HR Consulting. For more information regarding Personal Online Marketing and Reputation Management, contact KME Internet Marketing.

Continue reading about “The Word on the Street (About You)”...

Social Media Simulation and Training Environments by an Internet Media Coach

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EDT

All well-known systems engineering methodologies and enterprise system development programs leverage testing environments. Testing environments can be built and operated for very different purposes, ranging from prototyping and simulation, to pre-production load testing and usability or “Section 508 Accessibility” checks. Specialized SOA testing frameworks are sometimes required, for difficult infrastructure integration challenges. Most major systems that get deployed to large numbers of users also feature a training environment. This working copy of the “real” or “production” environment affords the user and company a lot of protection against mistakes, mis-operation of system functions, and basically allows you to test-drive a system, but reset and try again if something doesn’t work right or mistakes are made. Play around, learn and mess up - no harm, no foul, and the system assets, data and reputation of you, the system owner and others are all protected.

That’s one very difficult challenge to learning social media, for commercial or government employees. It’s nearly impossible to learn how to use social media tools and techniques in an environment that forgives all missteps, can be wholly reset and leaves no incriminating traces of your mistakes or potentially embarrassing, compromising communication skills after you’re done. The best way to learn how to post to Flickr, to learn the nuances of Twitter and engage in the myriad of online dialogue environments is to actually do it “in production”, as they say, which comes along with a lot of actual or perceived personal and organizational risk. That’s the reason most social media programs and users representing significant companies or governments are usually associated with the “Public Relations” or “Internet Marketing and Social Media” department – these folks are trained and expected to know how to engage in public dialogue, within the bounds of legal, regulatory and policy controls (when available).

Much is being written and discussed online currently regarding the state of Government 2.0, and how we’re quickly reaching an impasse where the ability to become a social media practitioner is simply neither supported nor available to employees working behind government firewalls and Internet usage policies. Social media simply isn’t very social or usable at all, to those for whom it would most benefit. As well, the public forum is missing out on a lot of really good insight and dialogue, because so many employers and employees simply can’t afford the risk, or don’t have the capability to learn, understand and test the risks, that come with posting material online.

I’ve written before on the need for “social media governance automation” – social media governance (and Internet media governance in general) is already a hot topic, as a style of content management and workflow decision-making. Before allowing employees to post a blog entry, tweeting or sending a photo through a series of RSS pipes, most larger organizations can certainly set up and enforce all kinds of content management procedures and controls to protect loss of sensitive information or damage to reputation and credibility. But there’s typically no standard method of enabling any and all employees to test this out…and by doing so, understanding better the risks to the organization and exposing the actual talents and capabilities of the employees. Harnessing the latent power of employee social media participation can’t be done, without an effective social media simulation and training environment.

Plenty of companies and consultants are available to provide “social media 101” training, and there’s no end to the social media tips and techniques available through self-style Social Media Evangelists. However, what’s a small business owner, a government employee looking to self-educate or a professional seeking to change careers to do, when faced with the task of learning social media but not having it impact their job, organization, personal or family reputation? I see all the time examples of “learning by doing”, from the very tentative “LinkedIn lurkers” and “Twitter Testers” (who’ve posted a profile, but don’t participate much) – to the “Facebook Flamers” and “Blogging Blowhards” who’ve simply crashed the party and left a trail of privacy exposure and digital embarrassment in their wake (to be forever indexed online).

We can’t all get it right the first time, and as business owners, managers or others entrusted with corporate or government information management and protection, we simply can’t just let everyone under our management or guidance loose to “play” with social media – without a reasonable degree of guidance, coaching, reputation management, training and possibly, social media simulation. It’s not much different than raising your own children – we shouldn’t let them open email accounts, use search engines and social media sites, and in general use the Internet at all (whether via computer, cellphone or gaming console), without methodical and consistent parental guidance in such things as Internet Safety, online etiquette and computer/digital asset protection. My own children are on the Internet, but walled off, anonymized and protected against the typical dangers of online activity – to the degree they’ve proven they need it, and to the degree I think our family and friends need it.

Establishing social media simulation and “real-world” training is achievable, but not yet widely available or possible across all social media tools. Some applications, like Facebook, are already evolving their ability to manage test accounts for developers. Some social media tools, like Twitter and Wordpress, currently allow a large degree of anonymity for user accounts, and no explicit policy for “test accounts” - though like most social media sites, you remain bound by user policies and simple good sense which include removing accounts when you’re done and no longer using them. On the other hand, most social media policies and terms of service are inherently vague and require practical experience to interpret – for example, Wordpress says that your blog should not be “named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company”. “Misleads” is the key term – I may create a Blog named “Green Flies”, but most rational folks wouldn’t come to the conclusion I’m actually the Human Fly, or work for “Green Flies Inc.” – so anonymity is preserved, with no explicit misleading going on. Basically, no harm - no foul.

You can effectively set up and manage simulation environment tools and processes, while making sure risks are minimized and participant activities remain clearly within the proper bounds (from the very loose to the legally explicit) of personal, professional, corporate or third-party policies. Since there do not exist common standards, practices or tools for end-user social media simulation and testing, it will be necessary to leverage knowledgeable Internet media consultants or firms (like those I work with) to help manage risks, apply common sense and practical experience, and basically provide the right set of “training wheels”.

What’s key to know, is that there are methods to get online, test and “try before you buy” in the social media environment…working with a new breed of trainers I’ll term “Internet Media Coaches”. An Internet Media Coach is similar to the rapidly developing profile of “Social Media Coaches” – but adds the experience in traditional Information and Content Management, Digital Asset Protection, and Computer Security and Privacy to the base knowledge of Public Discourse and Collaboration using social media tools.

Contact me for more information regarding hiring an Internet Media Coach, or setting up a Social Media Simulation and Training program or framework.

When to Automate the Order Management Process

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:16:00 EDT

Order entry and management is a particularly tricky automation challenge because it intersects and connects many different departments and cultures. Properly done, an order is generated directly from a quote, which was created with a tie to inventory. The order is then passed to a staging area or a work ticket is automatically generated. At any point, when a customer wants to know the status of his or her order, a customer-service representative needs to be able to access this information directly.