Technology Made Clear

Join us at the La Quinta East for a unique workshop where we will discuss the following:

• What’s Inside The Box

The recent judgment in an Italian Court, finding three (3) Google executives guilty of wrong doing should be a wakeup call for all of us.  The essence of the case is that a video of a boy with a disability being harassed was posted on Google Video and even though Google took the video down after being requested by the Italian government, the three executives were still found guilty and could be facing jail time. Read More At: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/02/google-three-italys-personal-attack-intermediary-0

This type of thinking, where a social site is considered a publisher of media, and not a place where people gather has the potential of Killing the Internet.  We can expect to see more of this type of reaction when governments try to pigeon hole the Internet into old concepts of past mediums such as Television, and Periodicals.  The Internet by its very nature needs to be un-censored and let the users decide what’s inappropriate; in short: Crowd Sourcing.  Fortunately for us here in the United States we have “Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act”.  This basically states that the web site that allows comments can not be held liable for what a visitor to the site posts as a comment.  Here is the excerpt from Wikipedia:

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (a common name for Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996) is a landmark piece of Internet legislation in the United States, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 230. Section 230(c)(1) provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an “interactive computer service” who publish information provided by others:

No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

In analyzing the availability of the immunity offered by this provision, courts generally apply a three-prong test. A defendant must satisfy each of the three prongs to gain the benefit of the immunity:

1. The defendant must be a “provider or user” of an “interactive computer service.”
2. The cause of action asserted by the plaintiff must “treat” the defendant “as the publisher or speaker” of the harmful information at issue.
3. The information must be “provided by another information content provider,” i.e., the defendant must not be the “information content provider” of the harmful information at issue.

Geeks Are Isolationists

Generally speaking those of us who ‘Get It’ are not the most politically active, but tend to be more A-Political.  This needs to change.  If we do not start helping those who ‘Don’t Get It’ and continue on our merry way, we may find that the freedom of the Internet we currently enjoy may be a thing of the past.  Back in 1996, John Perry Barlow of Grateful Dead fame, authored a document called: A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.  Considering the document was written in 1996, it quite prophetic in its predictions.  Below is a small excerpt:

Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear…

You can read the full document at: http://www.ibiblio.org/netchange/hotstuff/barlow.html

Action Required

There are too many who are trying to control what they don’t understand.  The Internet needs to be open and un-censored.  As a first stop we would like to suggest the support of ‘Electronics Frontier Foundation (EFF) http://www.eff.org/.  This is a non-profit group dedicated to protecting our digital rights.

About EFF:

From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990 — well before the Internet was on most people’s radar — and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.

I am now off my soapbox, I hope you help by supporting the groups that are fighting this battle.

I have found that many of our clients at Truman Consulting Group (TCG) have little or no knowledge when it comes to using a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, or DotNetNuke.  But then, why should they?  The reason most small business owners decide to use a consulting firm is that they want to concentrate on their business and not learn web design.

We are working on setting up a new site to help people learn how to use WordPress.  We will be compiling materials from various sources that will include not only WordPress tutorials but basic HTML, and Javascript as well.  You can watch our progress at:

We of course would appreciate any sources or articles you may have created to include on our site.  Any articles, videos, or tutorials you provide will include a linkback to your site and a citation.

Perfect and Mobile is an Oxymoron!

First off as this is my rant, I want to define my frustration with mobile carriers:

• Early Termination Fees -  Why does a company feel that they need to hold me hostage to make sure I stay a customer?  Most companies do this with good products and customer service.
• Misleading Programs – The concept of unlimited data as long as you don’t go over a limit, somehow negates the term: Unlimited.
• Locked Down Devices – Devices that are restricted on what they can do, when the manufacturer has built these functionalities into the device.

I know I’m not alone in this, but these items are some of the reasons I am considering Cricket Mobile for my next venture into the mobile world.  From my research, they have no contracts and when they say unlimited, there is no limits.

My Device Philosophy

It’s a given that what may be perfect for me, is not going to be for someone else.  I have resolved that the term Smartphone is a misnomer.  These devices are really a pocket PC with phone capabilities.  The other thing that I have decided on is due to my dislike of mobile carriers and love of Voice Over IP.  So I am looking to have a multipurpose net-book.

Here is my thoughts on this matter:

1. An 8-10” Netbook.
2. Swivel Screen that will fold down over keyboard with screen up.
3. Capacitive Touch Screen.
4. Bluetooth
5. USB
6. WiFi

The Lenovo S10-3t seems to have much if not all of what I am looking for. A small device that is able to do VOIP, E-Book Reader and supports a Bluetooth headset.

Lenovo describes the device as:

Mini Tablet

Take notes, share and present on a mini laptop that converts to a tablet netbook. Multi-function tablet features a touch-sensitive panel and a durable steel hinge with a 180 degree rotation.

The Final Piece

As with all things the final piece is software.  Getting calls on your computer is no big deal using Skype or Gizmo5.  The deal is to provide cell phone type functionality on the netbook.  I have experimented with this on my full size notebook.  What is needed is a way to be able to answer incoming calls using the Bluetooth headset, which is probably the easiest to do.  The big one is to be able to make calls via the headset.  This should be workable with Windows Voice Recognition and integration into Gizmo5 and Google Voice or Skype.

Final

Many have said that a Netbook is not very portable, but it will fit into a small bag, or maybe, I will bring back Fanny Packs .  Of course there is always a ScotteVest.

ScotteVest.Com

But for me this should not be a huge issue, as I don’t make that many calls when I am out, and let most of my calls go through Google Voice and let them get transcribed to voice mail.

If any one knows of any software that I should look at, I would appreciate hearing about it.  Im sure I am not the first person who has been down this path.

Whats All The Buzz With WordPress?

Many of us who use and love WordPress realize that WordPress is not so much a Blogging platform, but has evolved into a Content Management System, much like Joomla or DotNetNuke.  As a Technology Consultant, I have opted for WordPress for many of my clients due to its ease of use and shorter learning curve.

Many of my clients are small business owners, or non-profit organizations here in Tucson Arizona.  They are not overly geekish and have a limited background when it comes to web technology.  I have found that after the site is installed and layed out it takes about an hour of training on the admin section and they are pretty much up and running and able to modify or create new content for their site.

Out Of The Box

Out of the box, WordPress doesnt have a wide range of CMS type functionality and may resemble any other blogging platform with one exception;  WordPress allows you to make static pages along with posts.  This is a major plus in that you can create static pages like with any other HTML editor, along with dynamic posts for blogging purposes.

The Power

The real power of WordPress is in the WordPress Community and the developers who support it.  It’s this community and the hundreds of plugin’s that are available that really provide the site owner the ability to turn their site into what ever they are trying to accomplish.

Keep in mind that less is always better when it comes to any type of plugin’s, but the functionality that can be added is impressive.  This can be setting up private sections for clients or employees, social media integration, podcasting, and e-commerce.

WP.TekPedia.Net

We are setting up a site: http://wp.tekpedia.net for our clients to not only help them learn to use WordPress but to act as a resource clearinghouse for when they have questions on their site.  This site will be open to the public and will cover some of the following topics:

• WP Administration
• Plugins
• Pages and Posts
• Video and Audio
• Graphics
• Basic HTML
• SEO
• more

WordPress is definitely worth considering for your next web project.

It seems for some if we can’t touch it, see it or hold it in our hands, then we fear it.

I have recently heard many well-known tech journalists bringing up the topic of The Cloud is doomed due to the downtime and hacks.  This of course has come up again with the recent incident of Google and China.

Cloud Computing offers some real advantages when It comes to accessing our information from multiple locations and making us hopefully more productive.  Here are some things that I believe to be true and some tips when using Cloud Computing:

• Nothing is Secure.

• If you are looking for security, then you may want to stay away from the Internet and keep your information in a lock box.  Anytime you let your information out whether its by electronic means or via snail mail you run the risk of other people getting a hold of it.  But there are ways that you can decrease your exposure.

• Email -  Consider using encryption technology

• Backups -  Rule of thumb: “If you don’t have 3 copies of a document, then it doesn’t exist”. Use offline backups such as Mozy and Carbonite.

• Use well-known companies.

• • One of the biggest and well founded fears, became apparent when we saw these URL Shorten services hit the net.  The immediate question that hit is what happens to my content when the service goes belly up.  Even though picking the right service to use are similar to playing Russian roulette, it is a very important step.

• Plan on Down-Time.

• • Nothing made by man is perfect!  Expect failures and plan for them.  We come back to backups again.  When it comes to web mail, consider having more than one way to access your important email addresses.  Many will set up an extra email account on their own web server or with another company and have your email forwarded to this account.  You can also set up a desktop client, but this seems like it’s defeating the purpose of using an online email service.

Cloud applications have a lot to offer and this really holds true when it comes to small businesses.  Having your data available from any place can make the difference between success or failure.  But as with any form of technology; know your risks.