techSOAP

Location based services are going to explode

I can't wait to see how the new iPhone app store from Apple is going to revolutionize location based services. I write this after having just updated my Twitter profile with my current latitude and longitude with a tap in the twitterific iphone app. Stay tuned this is going to get interesting.

Summer Blog Break is Over....

I took the summer off from blogging in an effort to refocus myself both professionally and personally as well to just have some good old fun! 

Welcome back to the faithful followers if there are any left.

What was the best thing you did this summer?

Whats a wiki? In plain English...

Watch this video from the commoncraft show for a plain English explanantion of what a wiki is.

Click To Play

Technorati tags: wiki, web 2.0, collaboration, explanation

What is RSS? In plain English...

I frequently get asked what blogs are and why should someone start reading them.  Followed promptly by, how do you know the author isn't a nutjob just making stuff up? 

I won't go into my full monologue about blogs, rss, etc.  Rather, let me say that reading blogs through an Reader like NewsGator/FeedDemon, Google Reader, Bloglines is like building your own personal newspaper.

Watch this video from the commoncraft show for a plain English explanantion of RSS.

 

 

Click To Play

 

 

Technorati tags: rss, blogs, readers, mass collaboration

Drobo makes RAID simple....

Ok, so explaining RAID is almost as fun as explaining the OSI model, however so many people, especially designers, photographers, videographers, etc, are forced into learning how RAID will protect their prescious data.   The explaining is certain to lessen if Drobo has its way.

 

 

 Drobo attempts to simplify data management and protection by automating RAID configurations. To start it isn't happy and all green until you have some redundancy (min 2 drives), and then automatically upgrades your configuration as you add drives.

From drobo.com

Drobo upgrades capacity on-the-fly.

Add drives to Drobo at any time. Mix 'n match capacities, brands or speeds. No downtime, data migration, or waiting to access new capacity. Drobo works the way you do.

Drobo lets you "pay as you grow"

Hard drives get bigger and cheaper all the time. Don't buy storage capacity until you need it. Buy capacity "just-in-time" possibly saving you hundreds of dollars.

Drobo manages storage, so you don't have to

Just connect Drobo to your Mac or PC. No software required. No RAID levels. No management or configuration. Drobo does everything for you.

Get rid of multiple external drives. Avoid the complexity of RAID. Attach a Drobo storage robot to your system and let it manage your storage so you don't have to.

Technorati tags: RAID, drives, data, redundancy, drobo, OSI, tech, storage, simple

WebsitesForHeroes.com

Here is a great site that just recently got some press.

 

Tech2point0: WebsitesForHeroes.com Makes Love Connection for Soldier in Iraq

 

Here's a link direct to WebsitesForHeroes.com if you want to sponor a site for a military family.

Amazonunboxed to be on TIVO!!!

So just announced today is that Amazon Unbox Video Download service will be on TiVo boxes.  This comes just 24 hours after  WalMart's annoucement of a video download service.

With 4 of the 6 major studios onboard this represents a huge offereing that certainly will get noticed by the likes of Steve Jobs.  In fact it will be interesting to see how the services compare, especially with AppleTV shipping later this month.  I love my TiVo and am sooooo happy to see the folks over at TiVo starting to leverage their platform. 

iPhone from Apple ANNOUNCED today....

Some details from TUAW.com

• Single front button.
• 3.5 inch widescreen display featuring the highest pixel density ever shipped in a portable device.
• 2 megapixel camera.
• iPod dock.
• Proximity sensor which switches between modes and screen orientation based on how a user holds it.
• 11.6 mm thick.
• Syncs with iTunes
• GSM/EDGE
• Wifi
• Bluetooth
• Cinglar only.
• Visual voicemail - shows a list of your voicemails like you see a list of emails.
• Error correcting on-screen keyboard.
• Gestural interface
• Mail.
• Safari.
• Google Maps.
• Widgets.
• Switches seamlessly between EDGE and WiFi.
• Free Yahoo! IMAP email to all iPhone customs.
• GPS
• 5 hour video battery life.
• 16 hour audio battery life.

The 4GB costs $499 and the 8GB $599 (includes a 2 year contract). It is shipping in June.

Increasing Productivity in 88 simple steps....

I am smack dab in the middle of a book that has begun to change my entire workday.  The book is from Gina Trapani,  one of the writers of lifehacker.com.  the book contains 88 lifehacks to improve your life as it relates to the technology that so many of us have come to rely on day in and day out.

I must say that using this as a follow up book to Getting Things Done has systematically begun to change my every day work life.  Chad over at tech2point0 has joined me in this search for sanity in our daily lives that are flooded with information from so many different streams.

click here to purchase the book from Amazon.com.

some holiday cheer .....

The guy on the rigt is the author of Tech2point0.