The New Big » Technology

Oh, the Humanity 2.0

stumax — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:19:59 +0000

Here’s something to look forward to after Gnomedex: an interactive workshop titled, “Humanity 2.0 -where the tech are we going and do we want to go there?” The workshop takes place on Orcas Island on September 9th. The description on the host’s site, Spark Northwest, says: #

As technology permeates our daily lives, it helps, and it hurts. How does our increasing use and dependence on tools such as email, cell phones, iPods, or social networking sites effect our desire for human fulfillment and spiritual transformation? We don’t knowâ€¦ Seriously, we don’t. Do you? #
In an age of dizzying technological innovation, one rarely has the time to stop and reflect on these changes. It’s clear that our technologies are getting faster, more powerful and more ubiquitous. However, what’s not so clear is: Does the added value outweigh the often unnoticed costs? Isn’t that an important question?

It is an important question, I think, and one that isn’t explored nearly enough. I’m glad to see someone giving a forum to this issue that promises to be both fun and productive. #

My buddy Leif Hansen is the owner of Spark Northwest and the workshop’s co-organizer. I’ve found Leif to be passionate, smart, and thoughtful, so I’m sure there will be some stimulating and thought-provoking discussion at Humanity 2.0. At the very least, it’s an excuse to visit Orcas Island for the weekend. That’s never bad. #

Check out all the details at Spark Northwest. #

More Big Things

RSS made EZ

stumax — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:28:25 +0000

My friends Lee and Sachi LeFever over at CommonCraft made this awesome video explaining what RSS is and how and why to use it in a scant 3 1/2 minutes. Nicely done, guys! #

Click To Play

More Big Things

Google Apps: A tough sell for a medium-sized office

stumax — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:12:16 +0000

My friend Galen from ShackPrices.com wondered whether the 120-person office where I work now (and he used to) will switch over to Google Apps. Now, I’m a real fan of the Google apps. Gmail would be a huge boost to productivity, I’m sure, as would the real-time collaboration features in Google Docs and Spreadsheets. However, as much as I’d love to break the cycle of outrageously expensive upgrades to Microsoft Office, I don’t have much hope that we’ll be able to move to any online application provider anytime soon, because there are two major objections that I don’t know how to counter: 1) Google keeps all our data; and 2) we would be absolutely dependent on our ISP to maintain a persistent connection (or we’d have to spend more for redundant connections). #

The security of our data is the real killer. For my personal work, I’m happy to take the risk of keeping my email and documents on Google’s servers. For my company, though, it’s just irresponsible to chance a lapse in security that could expose our data to the world. I’m well aware that there are numerous ways we’re vulnerable even with our traditional secure network, but that vulnerability is a different thing entirely from voluntarily releasing responsibility for the safety of our company’s most vital asset to a third party. At least we can take appropriate measures to safeguard our intellectual property when it’s in-house. If that data was on Google’s servers, we’d have no ability to assess its safety. #

Even if that issue were resolved, we’d have the problem of relying on our local ISP to keep our connection live 100% of the time. Internet outages would just be absolutely unacceptable if we needed to open all our documents through the browser. At least if our net connection goes down now, our staff can still work. #

I wish things were different. If I felt better about the security issue, I could definitely see a scenario where most of the company would use Google Apps, and we would only end up buying the MS Office suite for the word processors. In that case, MS Office would be a professional tool, like Photoshop is for graphic artists. However, for the moment, I don’t thing Google Apps is an appropriate choice for an office of our size and with the kind of responsibilities we have to our clients. #

How about you? Is your company planning a move to Google Apps? Or have you already? How have you faced these issues? #