I had my first article published this week for The National Networker, giving a brief review the Game Developer's Conference (GDC), and the networking aspects to the event. I'll be posting a more detailed series of blogs over the next few days, but thought you might enjoy this high-level recap in the mean time.
The National Networker is a Monthly Publication that focuses on many different aspects of networking (geographic, profession, general interest, etc.) . It pretty much has something for everyone. The magazine tries to convey networking strategies beyond the usual tactics. I'm the Technology Editor for this magazine, and it gives me a chance to talk about Technology with a different crowd than my usual Geeks and Tech Heads!
(and yes, it's a little shameless self-promotion, but if you don't toot your own horn every now-and-then, others will use it as a spitoon! :) )
Let me know what you think, and what you might like to see in the column. Over the next few months I will be profiling certain technologies and uses for technology in the networking and online / Social Media / Social Computing space. Stay tuned...
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Open the pod bay doors, HAL!
I'm writing this blog entry using Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 9. Because I can.
I first purchased the NaturallySpeaking software about any 10 years ago and didn't like it. After putting together the content for an upcoming webinar, and having it take six hours of typing, I decided to try something different. Now that webinar would only take me about an hour or two.
I is still working out the nuances of the software (pun intended).for example, I am still learning all of the formatting commands, and I am finding that because my computer is slow. There is a very slight delay in the response of the software. However, I am noticing that the program is "learning" as I go. If you do a lot of typing out, you should definitely check it out.
I first purchased the NaturallySpeaking software about any 10 years ago and didn't like it. After putting together the content for an upcoming webinar, and having it take six hours of typing, I decided to try something different. Now that webinar would only take me about an hour or two.
I is still working out the nuances of the software (pun intended).for example, I am still learning all of the formatting commands, and I am finding that because my computer is slow. There is a very slight delay in the response of the software. However, I am noticing that the program is "learning" as I go. If you do a lot of typing out, you should definitely check it out.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Good Inspiration With Just Enough To Get You To MOVE!
At just under 300 pages, The Four-Hour Workweek is a surprisingly easy and engaging read. Tim quickly covers a number of topics. And yes, while there does seem to be some slight proselytizing to get people to take action, he makes it seem rather easy. That, coupled with him listing high-level action plans in the book & on his website, can get you motivated to take action today on architecting a different life for yourself – if that's what you want.
People will rationalize whatever behavior they want or need to. And while this book won't bring the death of any multi-national companies any time soon, it does provide structure for a lifestyle that many, many people (quite literally) day-dream about.
It's time to stop dreaming & get moving, if you're not already – get the book and apply it!
Found This Book Helpful To Create Functional System To Keep My Life Organized
First off, what I didn't like about Getting Things Done by David Allen:
too long; I felt he had about 30% too much content in there. Chapters 4 – 10 are “the meat”, with Chapters 11 -1 3 providing the next level of useful detail.
the first 3 chapters could either be significantly trimmed or eliminated
the margin quotes interspersed throughout the book were interesting to read, but I found them distracting and not really adding a lot to comprehension of the content (I like reading quotes from people, and gather that Robert Allen does as well...)
That said...
I strongly recommend this book for people who really want to get “their lives” under control. I've implemented his recommendations and have benefited from DRASTIC productivity increases – and less stress and more relaxed time with my family.
While reading it I found myself taking issue with some of his suggestions, and dropped my objection when I implemented his recommendations (my justification was that what I had been doing so far wasn't getting me the intended results, so...try something different).
I'm glad I did. My wife has noticed a difference and I feel a lot less stress (and this review is starting to sound like a fabulous new diet pill commercial! :P )
Anyway, I strongly recommend this and if you are trying to have a process or system to more effectively what you want to have in your life. It's cheap to implement and the benefits are immediate.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Shameless Self Promotion - GDC08 - Check It Out!!!
If you have ANYTHING to do w/the gaming industry, you've got to check out and attend GDC! it is THE place to be (E3 and it's ilk are SOOO over-rated).
Plus, as an added bonus...I've finally succumbed to all of the requests & peer pressure - I'll be speaking this year on Outsourcing in the gaming industry, with several of my colleagues. It'll be awesome and great fun, to be sure.
(I think this is the first time I've given a presentation that was BEFORE lunch, and not after...my, the natives will be restless. At least I'm not the last presentation before the bar opens...)
Come learn what to avoid in your next outsourcing situation. Trust me - these lessons can be learned and applied REGARDLESS of what industry in which you happen to find yourself.
Plus, there's lots of weird people here and they're a BLAST to hang out with!
CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!
Plus, as an added bonus...I've finally succumbed to all of the requests & peer pressure - I'll be speaking this year on Outsourcing in the gaming industry, with several of my colleagues. It'll be awesome and great fun, to be sure.
(I think this is the first time I've given a presentation that was BEFORE lunch, and not after...my, the natives will be restless. At least I'm not the last presentation before the bar opens...)
Come learn what to avoid in your next outsourcing situation. Trust me - these lessons can be learned and applied REGARDLESS of what industry in which you happen to find yourself.
Plus, there's lots of weird people here and they're a BLAST to hang out with!
CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Vacation
I'm wrapping up "a week of vacation" w/my wife and two youngest children, out in North Carolina (technically, I did do some work this week, so it wasn't a "real" vacation...). We stayed in Charlotte for a little bit, and then went down to Oak Island to check out the Atlantic for a few days. It's still there. And I forget how warm it was (I'm used to the colder Pacific)...
The more connected we become, as individuals and as a society, the harder it seems to be to have true down time. I make it worse b/c I travel a lot for my job, so it's very easy to let work bleed into any down time I would otherwise have if I were at home and spending it with my wife and children.
So, what to do about this?
I'm picking up my guitar again. Literally.
About 7 years ago I bought a Martin Backpacker Travel Guitar. It sounds great and after about 5 minutes of playing you get used to the size and feel of the guitar. It's a great way to decompress and get out of the left-side of my head, and back over to the right. I also found this page, which is a nice little homage' to this fine instrument.
Which means I'm also always looking for great tab sites. If you know of any, please share.
And also pass along your thoughts on what you do to decompress and get away from the things that stress you out. These are always great to share!
The more connected we become, as individuals and as a society, the harder it seems to be to have true down time. I make it worse b/c I travel a lot for my job, so it's very easy to let work bleed into any down time I would otherwise have if I were at home and spending it with my wife and children.
So, what to do about this?
I'm picking up my guitar again. Literally.
About 7 years ago I bought a Martin Backpacker Travel Guitar. It sounds great and after about 5 minutes of playing you get used to the size and feel of the guitar. It's a great way to decompress and get out of the left-side of my head, and back over to the right. I also found this page, which is a nice little homage' to this fine instrument.
Which means I'm also always looking for great tab sites. If you know of any, please share.
And also pass along your thoughts on what you do to decompress and get away from the things that stress you out. These are always great to share!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Technology's Unintended Consequences
I recently had a conversation with a consultant the other day, who (about 6 weeks ago) had to immediately drop everything he was working on and temporarily relocate from New York to San Diego. to take care of his sick mother. Her condition required her to have constant care and family attention. Because of how he used technology, not only was he able to do this, but he began to look at his current approach to work in a different light.
The technologies he took advantage of were:
* laptop computer
* wireless Internet connection
* cell phone
* Skype
* office productivity suite
When I spoke w/him, he was sitting on the deck of his mother's house, over looking the pacific ocean. And he sounded pretty happy.
Other than Skype, everything I listed above has been available and people have been using them for a number of years. Technology becomes interesting to me when I look at how people and process interact w/technology. You start to see new possibilities that didn't exist before. Take my friend from above, for example, and let's go back 10 - 20 years:
20 years ago:
* laptop computers were concepts and the 386 desktop was leading edge
* wireless Internet connections did not exist for the mass market; Internet connectivity was still largely limited to academics, Geeks posting on a cryptic BBS somewhere...and then there was DARPA and the Department of Defense...
* cell phone technology existed, but only for a limited market and it was very expensive to use
* IP telephony was not available for the mass market
* office productivity suites largely didn't exist. Apple had some word processing and graphics capabilities available; Lotus Notes was the standard spreadsheet program for PCs, and Word Perfect (remember that one???) was one of the larger players int eh word processing space
Bottom line: he would not have been able to support his mother and maintain / increase his business; one or both would have had to materially suffer
10 years ago:
* laptop computers were becoming more widely available, but they were pretty homogeneous offerings, with a small set of features relative to desktop PCs; most laptops did not have the same "horsepower" (in terms of graphics acceleration, chip speeds, hard drive capacity, monitor visual acuity, etc.). Laptops were for "road warriors" who couldn't afford to be away from their computers
* the Internet was starting to move into the mainstream. America Online (now known a "AOL"
* see Trout & Ries' work on Positioning for some thoughts on that name change...). Netscape was a fledgling browser and not an Alliance w/anyone. America Online was going to bring the Internet to the masses
* cell phone technology became more wide spread; car phones (phones actually built into the arm rests or dashboards of cars) were a status symbol available only in high-end vehicles,m and as an expensive option. In my view, pagers were still more ubiquitous & cheaper than cell phones. So, your boss could push a button on your "electronic leash" but you still had to find a phone to respond back
* IP telephony was experimental technology, and only among the Geek inner-sanctum. Most of the people I knew who were using it were Chinese and Indian ex-pats who wanted to call their loved ones back in their home country
* office productivity suites were really starting to come into their own, as was the notion of bundling different software packages together in general. Microsoft Office had really established itself at this point, and along with some of their other products (do you remember Microsoft Works?), started defining the space and what the market would eventually demand / accept as "the Standard".
Bottom line: he probably could have made it work, it would have been very expensive, and he would have increased mobility relative to his predecessor of 10 years earlier.
Today, all of these technologies are taken for granted. Here's an interesting thought:
One of the next 5 presidents of the United States will most likely have played a Nintendo or Atari game system.
But that's for another blog...
The technologies he took advantage of were:
* laptop computer
* wireless Internet connection
* cell phone
* Skype
* office productivity suite
When I spoke w/him, he was sitting on the deck of his mother's house, over looking the pacific ocean. And he sounded pretty happy.
Other than Skype, everything I listed above has been available and people have been using them for a number of years. Technology becomes interesting to me when I look at how people and process interact w/technology. You start to see new possibilities that didn't exist before. Take my friend from above, for example, and let's go back 10 - 20 years:
20 years ago:
* laptop computers were concepts and the 386 desktop was leading edge
* wireless Internet connections did not exist for the mass market; Internet connectivity was still largely limited to academics, Geeks posting on a cryptic BBS somewhere...and then there was DARPA and the Department of Defense...
* cell phone technology existed, but only for a limited market and it was very expensive to use
* IP telephony was not available for the mass market
* office productivity suites largely didn't exist. Apple had some word processing and graphics capabilities available; Lotus Notes was the standard spreadsheet program for PCs, and Word Perfect (remember that one???) was one of the larger players int eh word processing space
Bottom line: he would not have been able to support his mother and maintain / increase his business; one or both would have had to materially suffer
10 years ago:
* laptop computers were becoming more widely available, but they were pretty homogeneous offerings, with a small set of features relative to desktop PCs; most laptops did not have the same "horsepower" (in terms of graphics acceleration, chip speeds, hard drive capacity, monitor visual acuity, etc.). Laptops were for "road warriors" who couldn't afford to be away from their computers
* the Internet was starting to move into the mainstream. America Online (now known a "AOL"
* see Trout & Ries' work on Positioning for some thoughts on that name change...). Netscape was a fledgling browser and not an Alliance w/anyone. America Online was going to bring the Internet to the masses
* cell phone technology became more wide spread; car phones (phones actually built into the arm rests or dashboards of cars) were a status symbol available only in high-end vehicles,m and as an expensive option. In my view, pagers were still more ubiquitous & cheaper than cell phones. So, your boss could push a button on your "electronic leash" but you still had to find a phone to respond back
* IP telephony was experimental technology, and only among the Geek inner-sanctum. Most of the people I knew who were using it were Chinese and Indian ex-pats who wanted to call their loved ones back in their home country
* office productivity suites were really starting to come into their own, as was the notion of bundling different software packages together in general. Microsoft Office had really established itself at this point, and along with some of their other products (do you remember Microsoft Works?), started defining the space and what the market would eventually demand / accept as "the Standard".
Bottom line: he probably could have made it work, it would have been very expensive, and he would have increased mobility relative to his predecessor of 10 years earlier.
Today, all of these technologies are taken for granted. Here's an interesting thought:
One of the next 5 presidents of the United States will most likely have played a Nintendo or Atari game system.
But that's for another blog...
Monday, November 13, 2006
New Blogger
I converted to the new version of Blogger yesterday and lost my latest post. I will have to re-type it next weekend, as I'll be on the road this week and I don't expect to have email access until the last half of the week, at the earliest.
Considering that means I won't have to lug around an extra 8 lbs. or so in laptop and gear, this is a good thing...
Considering that means I won't have to lug around an extra 8 lbs. or so in laptop and gear, this is a good thing...
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