Blog
Archive for: July, 2009
Palm pre - the other linux mobile platform
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Software Development, Technology, Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm on July 28, 2009
Palm pre presents a very intriguing platform. All at once it opens mobile development to a broader audience - the web/css/ajax/javascript population of developers. However one could argue that it is more challenging to develop for webOS than a more mature platform such as Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, etc. In short, it is because the debugging tools are so rough and raw at present. Over time they will mature and then the development experience will be more palatable.
That said, from a user perspective - it rocks. I was in San Jose this week attending a mobile software conference and had the chance to go to dinner with a long time friend. He had an address of a restaurant that a friend had recommended. It was in his "SMS" application. He tapped and copied the address, though it didn't paste into Google Maps all that well. He went back and forth multiple times between the applications (messaging and maps). I had to laugh a bit because here he was on his sexy iPhone 3GS and it is a single tasking platform. On webOS, you would just swipe back and forth between the running applications. What iPhone needs to do is implement a "taskmanager" as a "cover flow". Then the iPhone would dominate. Maybe someone from Apple will read this. Probably not. I have written some more thoughts on palm pre on Linux Magazine.
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InsideMobile Conference (July 27, 2009) presentation materials
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Software Development, Technology, Android on July 27, 2009
Materials for Monday's presentation on Android topics can be found here.
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Having a problem accessing your server consoles via RDP?
Posted by: Matthew Nichols in Network Services, Tips and Tricks on July 26, 2009
Many of you may have noticed recently that when using the familiar "mstsc /console" to access the terminal server session 0 or console of a remote server that you no longer receive that session. Security vulnerabilities in Windows operating systems have caused Microsoft to change the way the RDP client interacts with the console session.
If you have Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, or if you have installed Microsoft KB952155, you are now using Remote Desktop Client 6.1. The /console switch has been depreciated in favor of the /admin switch. For remote connections to Windows 2003 servers using one of these clients, specify “mstsc /admin” and you will be connected to the console(session 0) as before. For remote connections to Windows Server 2008, the /admin switch has no function. In Server 2008, session 0 is now isolated to system processes and services. The first user session is session 1 regardless of whether you are logging in locally or remotely to the server. The only way to access a locally logged in session is to log into the server remotely using the same credentials as the local login. If another set of credentials is used, session 2 will be created regardless of whether the /admin switch is used.
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Networking by Pre-networking
Posted by: Jason Matyas in Education, Career Resources, General Business, Business Networking, Social Media, Social Networking on July 22, 2009
As you may know, I love social networking for many reasons. One of the most important reasons is that it opens up new opportunities that rarely or never existed before this technology became mainstream. I routinely read and get a lot of great ideas from Tony Karrer, an eLearning technology expert out of LA. His latest blog post is entitled Pre-network with Linkedin, and it has some great methodology and techniques for getting more out of your time spent networking, especially when it comes to attending networking events. Tony explains:
So, when I go to an event, I want to make sure that I get the most I can from the time. Generally, it's a commitment of 3-4 hours between driving, networking, program. I have to make sure that I get at least as much value from that 3-4 hours as I would from spending the same time using LinkedIn for Networking - and that's tough competition.
Over the years, I've somewhat changed what I'm looking for when I attend a local event. It used to be that I first looked for good content. A program that had interesting speakers and where I expected to learn a lot. Now, unless its someone really great, I don't go because of the program. Most often I can spend 30 minutes on my own to get a better result in terms of content than I get from 60 minutes at an event. And most in-person events do not give you a back-channel or much opportunity for Q&A.
He goes on to explain his technique of reviewing the attendee list and searching for a sample of attendees on Linkedin to see what the makeup of the group will be like. If there are 4-5 people that could be good people to talk to for your networking purposes, then you proceed on to pre-networking. Connecting to 2nd level connections via an introduction on Linkedin is a way to get a personal first impression with the person and build towards a warm (vs cold) in-person introduction and discussion.
Think about it: by the time you meet the person at the event, you have already reviewed their profile, had at least a brief email exchange with them (and perhaps a deeper back-and-forth), and feel like you know the basics about the person by the time you meet face to face. This can make the time spent talking in person much more focused and productive than a cold intro - in part because you otherwise probably waste time talking to people that aren't going to be mutually beneficial for a deeper discussion.
Though I have not taken this exact approach to strategically considering whether I attend an event or not, a related technique I have used is reaching out to people I have met previously at networking events that I'm now connected to on Linkedin and contacting them to see if they're attending and to invite them and pre-network with them before the event. This does two things: 1) even if the person is not attending the event, it is an opportunity to reach out and maintain contact with them, and 2) you can determine an agenda for discussion with that person for when you meet at the event, which leads to a much more focused and productive conversation.
After reading Tony's article, I thought that a combination of these would be quite powerful. You could use Tony's method to determine if the event is worth going to, and if there are a few, but not enough people to make attending worth it, you could invite a few contacts that you know to see if they would like to attend. This again takes advantage of a reason to contact someone, and if you consider the attendee list for the event in light of who else might benefit from meeting the attendees that you find, then you have the even more powerful driver of contacting someone else to offer them help in meeting people that may really benefit them. Like I always say - social networking is interactive and about helping people; creating a win-win by focusing on others first will usually net great returns over time.
Since one of my (many) current activities involves providing career guidance to job seekers, and I always advocate networking as a critical part of a job search, and the heavy use of social networking as a foundation of that, I would be remiss if I didn't mention a great way of leveraging this method for job seekers. While job seekers may have some additional "free" time compared to those that are employed, optimizing one's use of their time is still an important goal to strive for. Attending a networking event every night of the week may not be a very good use of time, but using Tony's methodology to screen and pre-network events is a great way to help preclude attending an event that wastes time (and in many cases, money). Using tools like Meetup, Linkedin Events, Facebook Events, and local networking events, including those posted on Ning networks, since most of these list attendees, you can effectively use this methodology to find and seize opportunities to meet people and potentially find a job that otherwise would fly below your radar.
As more and more events are being published and coordinated online (often in multiple places), Tony's great methodology can be a wonderful time saver and a way to create opportunities to contact people that you otherwise would not have the impetus or reason to. Happy pre-networking!
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Writing mobile applications for iPhone, BlackBerry, and yes, even Android with web tools
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Software Development, Technology, Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm on July 22, 2009
It seems the whole world has gone web crazy - write your applications in HTML/CSS and Javascript. It just might work, though the die-hards will probably always want to write in the native tongue of the device. I explored this topic a bit on this week's Upwardly Mobile column @ Linux Magazine. In particular, the article introduces a technology project called PhoneGap, created during an Apple World Wide Developer Conference by some attendees.
Of course, this is the "native" approach to developing applications for Palm's webOS, so we need to give it some credence. Happy programming...
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Nervous? These tips should help your confidence for an interview.
Posted by: Jason Matyas in Education, Career Resources on July 18, 2009
Sweaty palms. Butterflies in your stomach. Heart pounding in your chest. Regardless of your form of nervousness, a job interview can bring out anxiety in anyone, especially if you're just starting a job search or it's your first one in many years. There are a few simple things to keep in mind as you mentally prepare for interviews that can help tremendously in helping you ensure you're ready when the interview starts.
Consider these (abbreviated) Six Tips for the Ultimate Job Interview by Liz Handlin of Ultimate Resumes:
1. Be friendly.
Making eye contact and being courteous and friendly to everyone you meet during the interview process will help your candidacy.
2. Listen before you speak.
One thing that recruiters almost always assess is your ability to listen carefully and think before you speak.
3. Be positive.
Find a way to answer honestly but describe situations in a positive light.
4. Be prepared.
Before you interview do your homework on the company.
5. Mind your handshake.
A handshake should be firm but not so firm that it crushes the other person’s hand.
6. Wear appropriate clothing that fits you.
Whatever you choose to wear to an interview, it’s important to make sure that it is fairly conservative and that it fits you.
There will always be a certain degree of nervousness and stress before an interview. Proper preparation will go along way to helping you turn that stress into a great performance during your interview.
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Palm webOS is now officially available to software developers
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Software Development, Technology, Palm on July 16, 2009
After what seemed like forever (but not really all that bad in the bigger picture), Palm's new operating system Software Development Kit (SDK) has been released to the developmer community. The SDK, Sample code and tools are available to registered developers from http://developer.palm.com.
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Frank Ableson to speak at the O’Reilly/360conferences InsideMobile Conference in San Jose
Posted by: Frank Ableson in General Business, Software Development, Technology, Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm on July 14, 2009
Frank Ableson is joining a packed speaker line-up at the eBay conference center July 26 and 27 to participate in the O'Reilly/360conferences InsideMobile Conference in San Jose, California. The conference will cover a range of mobile software topics including development HowTo's, mobile software and service marketing, as well as the latest tools of the trade. On Sunday there will be hands-on training for Palm's webOS as well as the innovative PhoneGap open source project. Frank will be speaking on Monday afternoon covering mobile software developement for Android using as a case study the Field Service Application highlighted in the Unlocking Android book published by Manning. To learn more about the conference please visit O'Reilly's website.
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Ever swallow a bug? If you have ever written software you have certainly encountered them…
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Software Development, Technology, Blackberry on July 13, 2009
Writing code can sometimes be a bit like riding a motorcycle without a windscreen. Lots of bugs coming at you. With some planning, they can be quite manageable, but you have to start right from the start. Otherwise, go get some water to wash them down. Here are my thoughts in this week's Linux Magazine installment.
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Finding Jobs Using Social Media, by way of SimplyHired
Posted by: Jason Matyas in Education, Career Resources, Social Media on July 10, 2009
The SimplyHired blog had a good short post on Finding Jobs Using Social Media. The first three items in the list are all something that I talk about in my presentation called Supercharge your Job Search Using Linkedin:
1. Create LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts
2. Start mining and working your connections
3. Get referrals from your LinkedIn connections
The fourth items is a reference to a neat feature the SimplyHired has:
Use the Who Do I Know feature on SimplyHired.com – If you find a job on SimplyHired.com that you are interested in, by using this feature, you can see if you know anyone who currently works at that company, and recruit their help to get you an interview. For more info about using the In feature, check out the blog post Birthdays, LinkedIn and Dancing Bees.
Linkedin also has the ability to do this because it uses the SimplyHired search engine for searching for jobs, then displays the search results with a column called the JobsInsider that will allow you to search the company to see if you know anyone that works there that is in your Linkedin network. This is the kind of information that only social networking can easily uncover, and the ability to find it is what makes utilizing social media and social networking a MUST for a successful job search today.
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