I haven’t had much to say about work lately, but Rich provided a nice nugget today. He integrated OraTweet, Noel‘s internal, micro-blogging app with Connect’s Activity Log. So, now in addition to all the social activity and HR information we surface in the Log, you can also see the (Ora)tweets of your network, your groups… Read More
Author: Jake
a.k.a.:jkuramot
What We’re Reading
Based on the response to my poll question last week about more content, no one seems very psyched about interspersing our Reader Shared Items into posts. That’s fine, and like I said in the comments, I get bored with blogs that post more links/links posts than original content, even I think the content rules. I… Read More
Who Does Your Support?
So, I had an eventful morning. Automatic updates on my Macbook kindly let me know that there was a security update available for Tiger (yes, I’m still on Tiger). As I’ve done many times in the past, I agreed to take the update, entered my credentials and went about my morning email checking. The update… Read More
Google Friend Connect Adds Twitter
Hard to believe, but not everyone seems excited about Google Friend Connect or Facebook Connect or MySpaceID for that matter. Must be the time of year. Anyway, I remain excited about GFC because if nothing else, it adds social to any web site, which is something I think appeals to the vast majority of users.… Read More
GMail is a Platform, Have You Noticed?
I can remember back in 2004 how geeked I was when I got my invite to Google’s brand-spanking new web mail, GMail. As promised, it was a) different (email threads), b) fast (AJAX-fu) and c) big (unlimited quota). You’re all familiar with GMail, right? If not, why not? Anyway, GMail has been my primary personal… Read More
Running Linux on Everything
This absolute gem from Thomas Roach, who apparently lives in Tampa, Oraclenerd territory, popped up in my OraNA feed today. Is it for reals? A funny little bit of coincidence is I was planning to blog about another post I saw earlier in the week: Five Reasons Apple Should Open Source the iPhone. Hot on… Read More
Semantic Series of Tubes
The semantic web as a concept has been around for quite some time. It pre-dates, Web 2.0 in fact, even though people sometimes refer to it as Web 3.0 or some other term that denotes its place as the next-next evolution of “teh Intertubes”. Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the Internet (I know it’s funnier to… Read More
Contact Fail
Today, Rich alerted me to the fact that the Contact form (linked up there to the right) has been forwarding to the distribution list we use internally. This would be fine, except that list isn’t accessible from external addresses, meaning we never got your mail. Sorry about that; we weren’t really ignoring you. We really… Read More
Poll: Do You Want Moar Content?
A couple people have noted lately that my posting output has increased. This isn’t entirely by accident; lately there are more interesting bits of news than normal. Usually, I have an opinion about them, and I want to poll you all to start up a discussion. Or I’m just feeding the iPhone lurkers. I’ve talked… Read More
“Keep Your Barcode Scanner off My Merchandise”
Update: I added quotation marks to the title, thinking that they might help convey the right impression, i.e. I do not support the heavy-handed approach to barcode scanners. I think that’s clear when you get through the post. From my, “this will get really interesting” file, comes a story from ReadWriteWeb about retail stores and consumers… Read More
Visual Dial Looks Sweet
Lately, I’ve got lots of thoughts about design swirling in my head, but while I collect them, here’s another homage to the iPhone crowd that likes to read here. Visual Dial is an iPhone app that “lets you create custom Home Screen speed dial icons right from your iPhone photo album with a few, simple… Read More
Now We’re a Social Network
You may have noticed yesterday that Rich embedded Google Friend Connect gadgets here on the ‘Lab. So now, we’re a social network. Thanks to Dan for the snarky, “what was it before it became a social network?” comment, erm wall post. More on that later. I wrote yesterday about the ongoing battle for a single… Read More
What Makes UI Good?
Thanks to a comment from Terry on my post about locking your smart phone, I’ve been digging around looking for ways to make my beloved iPhone more secure. Surprisingly or not, Apple has made it maddeningly difficult to even the simplest precautions. Terry’s comment, which I read a bit hastily, mentions changing the root password… Read More
I Got ID
Ever since the WWW came online, the consumer web has pwned the enterprise web. The consumer web is the ‘tubes at large, with all its content, bells and whistles, networking, gradients, rounded corners and flashing lights. The enterprise web is the intratubes, erm intranet, inside the corporate firewall, hidden from outsiders and often from insiders.… Read More
Poll: Do You Lock Your Smart Phones?
Every IT department has this policy. If you have a work computer, you’re expected to password lock it when you leave it unattended. This makes sense, and I’ve followed this practice for many years, for work and personal machines, including desktops. My wife switched to locking her desktop after our cats created a few random… Read More
Amazon iPhone App is Sweet
Last week, I told you about SnapTell Explorer and mentioned that it would be a great app for collecting and pricing your holiday gift and wish lists. I also wondered why Amazon wasn’t doing this already. Today, Amazon released an iPhone app that included Amazon Remembers, a feature close to what SnapTell Explorer does. Use… Read More
Email: A Love/Hate Relationship
We all use email, like it or not. Even Gen Y uses email to communicate with “old people“, despite their preference for SMS, IM, and social networks. How many accounts do you have? Probably at least two, one for work communication, one for personal mail. Boston College has recognized this trend, announcing that incoming freshmen… Read More
De-Friend Sounds Better than Remove
Mashable had a highly entertaining post earlier in the week called “12 Great Tales of De-Friending“. As social networking eases into the mainstream consciousness, awkward situations will arise, and since there’s no playbook, conventional wisdom or Miss Manners for social network interactions, stories of de-friending will continue to entertain us. Or not, depending on your… Read More
Thanks
It’s Thanksgiving here in the States. So, if you’re celebrating, have a good one. If you’re not, be glad we’re not at work today and enjoy the silence. I debated whether to do a thank you post, since it’s cliché and done to death. Well, add another thank you post to the torrent. Here goes:… Read More
Do You Have Cyberchondria?
Do you, or someone you love, suffer from that rare form of prostate cancer that only affects women? Or from that flesh-eating fungus that has jumped species and a plane from the Amazon to afflict you in the US? Finally, there’s a word for this behavior. Cyberchondria I guess that word was coined a while… Read More