Afraid of being cataloged online? You’ve just lost.

Feb 11, 2009 | blog

Sorry, but that’s the truth.  If you’re afraid of sharing your opinion and letting the online world catalog and categorize you, then you’ve already lost the edge.  The realities of future (read: today) is that you need to be an active part of your industry or genre, or you lose out.  Want that corner office? Then get out there and prove to folks that you’re the person for it.

To be an active participant and be considered for advancement as we move into the future, folks are going to be looking to find out about you.  If they perform several searches online for you and find nothing… well, what does that speak of your accomplishments?  Yes, references and a call to previous employers is important, and prudent.  However, if folks just can’t find out about you outside of work, or what your passions are, or what your opinions are – it does allow them to form an opinion about you.

Good things, good habits, in moderation

Sep 26, 2008 | blog

So it’s been a great day here in Minneapolis this Friday. Got a chance to know a few folks from the office better – that’s a good thing. Got to spend a nice evening as a family this evening – that’s a good thing. Made myself write a little bit – and that too is a good thing.

What will be more interesting is if I can continue to write a bit this weekend. That’s my plan, and I think it’ll be worth the time invested to get back to blogging, which I really do enjoy. It’s bothersome that I ever let myself get off track and worried that I wasn’t writing what people wanted to read. Wrong thing to worry about, I know.

What is or was wrong was to allow myself to get sidetracked by too many side-shows on the social web. It’s a great time-sink to explore the latest & greatest. Fun too! However, it really is a delicate balance of habits, and knowing when you’re spending too much time on any one tool, network or site is key to gaining the strengths of those sites and leaving the weaknesses behind.

What’s the answer to it all? Moderation. Just like enjoying a nice adult beverage, it’s only enjoyable in moderation. Also, you get the chance to explore and learn things more in-depth and find how they can augment your life positively rather than simply taking up time just to update statuses and read walls.

So take a break from Facebook, lighten up on your twittering, take a walk and bring only your thoughts with you. You’ll learn a lot more than what folks are doing right that moment if you can let yourself take a breather.

Google’s Missing Sync: Contacts

May 29, 2008 | blog

Google Calendar Sync Ok, I’m quite happy that Google released a Google Calendar Sync tool for Microsoft Outlook.  Really happy.

Sure, I’m a Microsoft guy and have been for quite awhile.  Because of that I’ve got significant investments in money & time in the mainline business products, namely Windows, Office, and Windows Mobile.

On the flip side, I’ve moved a number of tasks and work that I do to web based systems.  GMail is obviously one of those, and earlier this year moved my calendar to GCal.

Since late March it’s been great to sync GCal with Outlook – works darn well.  Now, since I use GMail (and Google Hosted Domains), I need to have all my contacts there & up to date as well.  Also, there are dozens of contacts in GMail that I would like to sync to my Windows Mobile phone via ActiveSync.  Currently, there is no easy way to do that.

Nearly the same time that Google released it’s GCal-Outlook sync tool, it announced a Google Contacts Sync API.  I’m sure there are good things coming for everyone on nearly every platform for syncing Google Contacts with the major mail clients – at least I hope there is!

So Google, can you drop a few hints, or some info on plans to release a Google Contact Sync tool?  We’d be very grateful.

Moving into the cloud – an update

Mar 19, 2008 | blog

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 coverage by T-Mobile, albeit EDGE only, plentiful free WiFi and T-Mobile HotSpots available to me as I go through each day. So I’m always able to be connected, most all the time.

The first step has been dropping Microsoft Outlook. This was a the biggest step of all, as it’s been my email client for over a decade, and a damn good one at that. Just a quick note on usability – much nicer to not have to wait for all the IMAP folders to sync! GMail is… well GMail, and has it’s own peculiarities to adapt to.

Now that I’ve got that one figured out, and completed, it’s on to the next steps. I’ve got hundreds of Microsoft Office documents that I need to review and move into the cloud. Reviewing them will not be the problem, and getting them into whatever service won’t either.

But… which service to move these to? Google Docs & Spreadsheets because it’s tied to all my Google account stuff? Or should I go for Zoho Office? I’ve used both for almost the same amount of time (~2 years) and find pros/cons to both. There’s also ThinkFree, which may be most like the native Microsoft Office environment.

That’s going to take some thinking… in the meantime I’m going to sort through several hundred megabytes of documents, some quite dated to be quite honest. It’ll be nice to trim down to what’s actually valuable and relevant.

Probably the biggest Microsoft Office app besides Outlook that’ll be hard for me to replace is OneNote. Since the release of Office 2003, this application has been a staple of my note taking. For all sorts of things, like projects, seminars, meetings, online research, etc… It’s become indispensable and its really hard to find a replacement, but I think I may have it. Zoho Notebook is the closest I’ve seen of anything, so I’ll be working with that for the next few weeks to see how viable it is as a replacement.

So there you have it, an update on where I’m at. I still have more questions than answers, but I’m finding many more online solutions than a year or so ago when I last really considered doing this. It’s now actually feasible to migrate online. With the critical components of connectivity and software services, I’m well on my way to reducing my dependence on legacy software.

Have you bit the bullet? What’s worked for you? Heck, what headaches have you had that may have pointed you back to locally installed software?

Photo credit: Amit Upadhyay

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