Surface computing from Microsoft, I guess they are thinking ahead

link to the video

Cradle to Cradle

This is one of the best videos I have seen in a long time and provides a lot of brain candy.

Google GWT = WOW

I highly recommend that any Web developer out there check out the
Google GWT (http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/) as it will change the
way online (front-end engineered) applications are written forever.
This has changed the javascript application and code-gen market
forever! OK, Google claims this in "beta" but if you look at the
version history, they are currently at 1.3 which is several versions
past the initial RC. Google typically eats their own dog food so, I
bet it is fairly stable by now.

Here are a few demos from the Google code site.
http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/documentation/examples/
http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/documentation/examples/desktopclone/
http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/documentation/examples/jsonrpc/

Bill Clinton on ideology v. philosophy

"We believe in a politics...dominated by evidence and argument. There is a big difference between a philosophy and an ideology on the right or the left. If you have a philosophy, it generally pushes you in a certain direction or another. But like all philosophers, you want to engage in discussion and argument. You are open to evidence, to new learning. And you are certainly open to debate the practical applications of your philosophy."

"The problem with ideology is if you got an ideology, you already got your mind made up, you know all the answers, and that makes evidence irrelevant and argument a waste of time, so you tend to govern by assertion and attack. The problem with that is that discourages thinking and gives you bad results."

— Bill Clinton


This was taken from a speech at his alma mater Georgetown University in 2006

OODA loop and employees

Some thoughts of a recent conversation with a close friend of mine relating to employees and business strategies.

 

- Dismissal of dissenting opinions causes disgruntle employees which then implies engaging in conversations (truly engaging in conversations and debates not just placating conversations) with dissenting employees enables a healthy employee and workplace.

 

- Now for the interesting part, using the OODA (Boyd's Circle) Loop, the more iterations (conversations, personal observations, actions...) performed empowers employees and managers at all levels to be successful. (I will discuss using OODA and the Art of War as it relates to strategic business planning later.)

 

- It is the job of the board, management team, leadership teams, and managers to enable the OODA loop within your organization.

 

Kintera presentation (5/20/2007)

I will be giving a presentation to the Kintera sales, marketing, and product team on the use of their product within the LAF for enterprise (donations) automation and a few engaging user experiences that we created using Web 2.0 techniques and their CMS. Here is a link to the presentation. Please let me know your thoughts. 
 

NING 2.0

In doing research into private label social networks, I ran across a company called NING. It looks like version 1 was a roll-your-own social network using PHP hacking skills and their PHP libs. Now they seem to have figured out Web 2.0 and created an open platform/SaaS/Application Service Provider version (they call is NING 2.0). I personally think this has a lot of potential with niche markets. Not everyone wants to be MySpaced or FaceBooked.

It also looks like there are two versions 1) Free (your-domain.ning.com with advertising) or 2) Premium (your-domain.com as a social network without their advertising...)

Check them out www.ning.com, their blog, and the architecture

the future of interactions

the official statement

I have recently left the Lance Armstrong Foundation to pursue new opportunities as a result of the change in the strategic direction at the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The rescued, re-engineered, automated business systems and infrastructure processes that I implemented at LAF are now in maintenance mode; I am now exploring other opportunities to apply my talents and experiences to another socially responsible organization that has more pressing needs.

One more thing, I now have time to train for the next racing season.

start of next chapter in my life

Well, today, It was an interesting day as I am no longer the CIO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation due to a restructuring of the org. This is both good news for me and bad news for the foundation as they are continuing to struggle to find their revenue footing after the revenue for the wristbands dropped. I will be consulting until I find the next gig or continuing to consult. Not sure what life has in order for me. Now it is time to research the practical things in life like health insurance...more on that later.