Collaboration Technologies Conference

I’m at the Collaboration Technologies Conference in Boston this week listening to people talk about Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, 2.0, and generally how blogging and wikis should and will change the enterprise. Call me a skeptic, but so far I haven’t heard too many speakers that appear to understand the reality that is the corporate enterprise today. However, as usual, the questions from the audience are pretty good.

Mashup is definitely the vogue term these days, and of course if you are not using the term in the context of SOA then you don’t know what you are talking about.

The reality is that, yes, indeed the world and economy is changing and business must adapt to survive and thrive in this new world. It is also true that technology will play a big role in that transformation, but I don’t believe technology is the real obstacle to change here. It’s culture, compliance, governance, HR policies, politics, networks, a 1.0 workforce, and a bunch of other reasons.

Very nice talk given by Linda Stone, formerly of Microsoft, who really alluded to a coming backlash against the “always on” world where people are “live nodes” on the network. Her term is “continuous partial attention” which I think accurately describes the world most of us knowledge workers live in.

More later.

Has the Internet really changed things?

Here is a prime example of how the Internet is being used creatively to change convention and empower people. If you haven’t heard of Brave New Films, they have already released a few engaging films, and their latest, Iraq for Sale is being made in part from contributions of people contributing via the Internet. They raised over 200k in 8 days to exceed their goal and are proceeding to deliver a film which will reveal how people and companies are reaping insane profits and benefiting from the war and chaos in Iraq.

Every person who donates $50 or more will get their name in the credits. Not only a fun incentive, but pretty powerful statement at the end of your movie to show tons of names sybolizing endorsement of the film.

switching blog technology

Alright, I’ve finally decided I’m gonna switch my blogging tool to something else now. I’ve been on an older version of MovableType, but there are a number of good tools out there now, so I think it’s time to look into them.
I’m hoping that which ever one I got with will be able to import the archive over.

hard drivin’

The 80 gig hard drive in my system finally filled up and was no longer cutting it. My photographer wife quickly took any available space left, as well as a few games like Half Life and Battlefield 2. Thinking about all of the variety of ways to expand space as well as think about getting into an archiving routine, I decided I simply needed to add some space first and worry about the archiving later.
So today I got a 200 gig wester digital hard drive for $79 after rebate. That’s right, you can now get 200 gigs, 7200 rpm eide for $79. I’m not sure you can buy 200 gigs worth of cds or dvds for that price.

New TV

Broke down and decided to set up the entertainment room in the house. Of course a critical component of the room will be this new TV which is now officially on order. Sony WEGA KDF-55WF655 / 55-Inch / 1386 x 788 / LCD Rear Projection HDTV.
I looked around at all the big screen options and felt that for the money, this was the best value. These LCD projection units are getting so good now, it’s difficult to tell the difference between them and much more expensive tv’s.

I know, boring post about buying a new tech gadget thing. But it’s been a while since I’ve posted so I’ve got to have something that get’s me back into it.