web 2.0

Enabling Trust in the Organization

We’ve all been there.  You’ve got a great idea that you wish you could find a way to share with the appropriate team at your company.  You’re not able to, because you’re not part of that team. Or that department.  Heck, it’s not even a field you’ve specialized in or worked in much, but [...]


True Tools

True Tools. That’s how I think of software & utilities that end up being indispensible. From Microsoft Windows & Office to Google & Expedia, to Gmail to Twitter. These are solutions that simple do what they were supposed to do without any fuss or muss.
We all have our favorite tools that end up work [...]


How Do Companies Find Their Community Managers?

It’s a new field where there are no experts; no real training for classification or certification, and it’s difficult for folks participating in it to explain how it works. It’s not a lawless field where anything goes, but the cowboys still roam the prairie where social media grazes. Christopher S. Penn describes the problem [...]


What’s in your social web?

With all the talk of “social” in the web today, I started getting really tired of the references to social networking or social media and so on. After all, isn’t networking social by its very nature? What I eventually came to recognize though is that all these tools online are just another means to [...]


10 Minute Review: Acrobat.com

Just a quick weekend look at Adobe’s new "online office" product – Acrobat.com.  At least, that’s how I found it referred to in some of the news bits today.  Overall I was impressed with the first release of Adobe’s Acrobat.com efforts.  With a slick, Flash based interface, it has good performance and is visually [...]


Do we realize how fortunate we are?

We live in age when anything is possible, at the touch of a button, or simply for the asking. The modern world is filled with tools and technologies that allow us to do amazing things. From communicating around the world in the blink of an eye, to reporting breaking news by the average person, [...]


Is technology a crutch?

It’s something that I’ve been thinking about recently. For how much all these nifty tools have helped us become more productive, I think there is a percentage of creativity or inspiration that we give up. All productivity tools are things that can do harm to our work habits as much as they simplify a [...]


Moving into the cloud – an update

It’s contract renewal season for me, and I’m kind of “heads down” working on what comes next. So I’ve been kinda distracted from sharing ideas and discussions with everyone.
I’m continuing my evolution into cloud computing, shedding local software as I figure out my approach. I’m lucky enough to have access to excellent [...]


Social Media Breakfast – Twin Cities, Now With Ning Goodness!!

It’s up, it’s live, and it’s waiting for you!  Come on over to the new SMB-TC social network hosted on Ning:
http://smbmsp.ning.com
I’ve got a few forum topics I’d love feedback on, things like location ideas, topic ideas, and a shout-out for someone to create a logo for the site.
This’ll be the official site for news, [...]


Bye, Bye Microsoft Outlook

It’s time has come, or passed rather… at least for me.  I’m sure I’ll cross paths with my favorite email client and PIM in the future.  I’ll either have a change of heart (unlikely) or a future client will insist that I use it for internal email at their location (very likely).
For all those [...]


f