Technology & Business
Crowdsourcing design work with 99designs.com (a review)
If you are planning to start a new small business or have a small business that requires some design services, you may be tempted to try out one of the newer crowdsourcing websites. The first time a customer asked for my advice about these sites, I had no idea. As a manager in a larger organization, I have never used these types of services but decided to check them out. I asked my network of contacts and found a handful of individuals that provided their real-world experiences.
Smartphone activations don't matter (iphone or android)
Whether you’re in the Apple or Android smartphone camp, at one time or another, your side used creative statistics interpretation to justify why you are the market favorite. The numbers used most often are total activations or total devices sold. But how important are these numbers? Until a platform reaches critical mass, it is very important for the manufacturer to keep pushing the platform forward. With critical user mass come the apps which in turn will drive additional growth. So a platform needs enough users to make the platform interesting to developers but after that point, who cares!
Outsourcing ITO/BPO best practices
As mentioned in my post on November 7 2011, I was a guest speaker at a breakfast meeting for the Montreal Association of Information Security. My presentation was about best practices, tips and tricks about outsourcing. As promised, I am making my presentation available here in PDF format. It can be freely distributed as long as it is left intact. You can download it for free from my Evernote account by following this link : file.
Discussion about Outsourcing Best Practices Nov 15 in Montreal
I wanted to let you know that I will be discussing Outsourcing best practices at an ASIMM event on November 15 in Montreal. This event will cater to new and experienced professionals alike. We will also have a Q&A session at the end where I will answer your questions (using my 15 years of international Outsourcing experience). Update on 2011-11-09 15:04 by Edward N Kiledjian I am currently building the presentation but will post it on my blog (post event) in PDF format for you guys to see.
Weather Trends 360 predicts weather 1 year out
My local news station weatherman seems to have a 50/50 success rating predicting the 5 day forecast. Imagine my surprise when I learned about a company called Weather Trends International that claims to provide weather prediction for up to 365 days into the future. At first I thought this was another fly by nights hocus pocus type website, then I checked out their client list. It includes names like Walmart, Loblaws, Target, Coca Cola, Heinz and many more. The prediction
Review of the Zagg InvisibleShield for Iphone 4/4s
Years ago, I learned the importance of protecting my devices to keep them looking newer longer. Even after a couple of years of use, most of my electronics look fairly new. One of my secrets is the InvisibleShield product from Zagg. What is the Zagg InvisibleShield? It is a specially designed thin and transparent film that you install on your phone to protect it from scratches and minor bumps. I bought the Maximum Coverage product which has all of the required pieces to protect the front, back and sides.
Forrester says companies should support Apple Computers
When we thing of Apple computers, we usually think graphic arts departments or young hipsters but what would you say if a major research organization endorsed it as a productivity tool? Could it be? Has that day come. Oh yes my friends it has… Forrester Research calls Apple users within corporations “Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives”. They claim that this 17% of the corporate population is the one that pushes the most innovation. For non subscribers, the report costs $500 but you can read the most important snippets on this blog.
Good shows iPad's dominating the enterprise environment
A recent activation report by Good Techbologies showed that the iPad and iPad 2 continue to dominate the tablet in the enterprise market (96% of all activations on Q3 2011 compared to just 4% for Andoird). On the handset front, the iphone commanded 28%. The most popular Android phone was the Evo 4G at 1.6%. “This quarter, we saw Android smartphones gain in percentage of total activations,” Good Technology senior vice president of corporate strategy John Herrema said. “This is likely due to the consumers holding back purchases of new iPhones in anticipation of Apple’s latest release (the iPhone 4S) — as our reports indiciate, consumers are setting the agenda for enterprise mobility.
Apple's SIRI comes from a 10 year military research project
When talking about Apple’s new iPhone 4s, most users immediately think about the Apple Siri Assitant and the new 8 megapixel camera. Siri is a cool feature but did you know it comes from a DARPA military project called COLO? The lineage Although we only heard about Siri a couple of years ago (as a stand-alone iphone app), it is actually research that started 10 years ago in a DARPA funded project called Personalized Assistant that Learns. DARPA awarded the contract to a company called SRI, who dubbed their internal project Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes (CALO).
Susquehanna claims iPad 3 in production
With the iPhone 4s now released, tech pundits have turned their attention to the next product in line for a refresh the Ipad 3. Susquehanna Financial Group’s Jeffrey Fidacaro now claims the Ipad 3 is already in production preparing for a release in early 2012. Let the specification rumors start. Source: Barrons