webdevmatt

Well I’ll tell you what, bing is more than just a fun word to say. I remember in 1997 (I think) when we first started to use google. Search was great, and it was fun to say, and no one knew what it was J. I remember the looks I would get when telling people I used google to find that, it was great. It’s 2009 and the same looks are there and you know what the search is good to.

An aside, I think people are better at searching these days. With tools like google, bing, etc. lots of people can find a lot of what they are looking for. That being said, we need to be aware that while these engines “give us answers,” be sure you qualify your “answers.”

BING, BING, BING.

http://bing.com check it out, it’s worth your time, especially if you like video.

I’ll tell you what bing is making me feel pretty good about Microsoft search. Of course this could always be, just a nice shiny new toy that you can’t help to love in the beginning, but bing does have a nice flow to it.

As mentioned yesterday, the searches come fast and relevant.I played a little with the video portion as well, since it was getting some hype, and it’s nice. The beauty is that the video plays as you put your mouse over it, nice feature.

With the busy day, I have not looked into any of the other features, but there’s always tomorrow.

Until then.

Bing is Microsoft’s replacement of Live search released to the public yesterday. I have committed to using it exclusively for search at least for the rest of the week to let you all know how it stacks up. If anyone wants to join this experiment, please do:

1. The url for the site is http://bing.com
2. If you would like to change your default search engine for live toolbar, as of yesterday you will have to add the provider using this url http://www.bing.com/search?q=TEST&form=QBLH

First brush with bing has been positive. The searches are coming quick and the search “categories” are easy to access. People who like videos, I think, will be very happy with the video search feature (click on video above the bing logo). That being said, be careful when using the alternate categories above the bing logo(shopping, local, travel). If you are not finding what you are looking for, revert back to “all results” which is displayed on the left hand side of the search results, to get your bearings.

Happy searching, and if you have a question about binging, post  a comment.

The laptop power supply, why is it that it always disappears? I thought it was a phenomenon native only to certain clients, but all of a sudden, they are disappearing everywhere. As I searched high and low, querying my fellow IT professionals and pulling my hair out obsessively a power supply conversation came up proceeded by the production of a P.O. for 2 new power supplies.

As an IT professional, a human with a laptop and one with entrepreneurial spirit, I propose one of the following solutions to IT’s equivalent of the lone sock in the dryer:

1. Get approval for and install POA (Power Over Air) in all office buildings
2. Install mandatory tethering devices from laptop to power supply
3. Raid the lost and found of every hotel, motel and convention center and provide a roaming service that replaces power supplies for a small profit

I’ve been using ZOHO for most of my ad hoc “cloud” document sharing, and I’ve been relatively happy. Today I had a document in an Office Live Workspace that needed to be shared so it was time to give single document sharing a go.

As posted previously in “Falling in Lust with Zoho”, Office Live does a wonderful job of defining and sharing workspaces. From a Sharer’s point of view individual sharing is, what the French call, a bit Clunky. Workspace specific documents were not meant to be shared, and Office Live makes you “feel” that, and maybe that’s a good thing.

Being organizationally humbled by my experience with sharing out a single document in Office Live, I would like to thank Microsoft for making it difficult to do this simple task, from a previously established Workspace. The process for sharing a single document from an existing workspace is 1. drag the document out of the workspace into the main Documents section of Office Live(the site documents this move in the activity section of the workspace, very nice. If you are subscribed for notification you will receive a message of this move as well) 2. share the document to the email address of the person you would like to share the document with 3. put your feet up (if you want to stop sharing or share with more people at any time just open the document, click view sharing details, and click the button “Share with More People” or  “Stop Sharing”)

As a recommendation, if you are going to share with more people, you may want to start thinking about creating a Workspace. When working with Workspaces, it is the goal of the user to group like work that might be interesting to a focused audience of at least 2 :). The Workspace is a place where one should attempt to organize these docs for specific use. If this fundamental idea is engrained into our brains, you will be able to deliver written thoughts and other documents with some context, in Office Live, even if it is just the context of the name of your Workspace.

If I want to share an individual written thought, maybe it belongs in a dump zone like Zoho or the Documents section of Office Live. That nasty place where all documents reside, which, by the way is how I have seen document Workspaces traditionally used to people who love trees, file trees that is(we are creatures of habit who are married to our document tree and while the tree is not truly compatible with effective knowledge collaboration, like a failing relationship, we continue to “try to make it work”). The key to this tool, an Office Live Workspace, is to commit to the context of the Workspace and use it to provide rich information to your co-collaborators.

I know what you are thinking, “yeah, Matt got a dog”. If that what you were thinking, so sorry to disappoint, this is a different type of post.

If you have been a home owner who has lived there in the fall or spring, there is another thing a man cannot be without. It comes in the form of a square or rectangle in many sizes and colors ranging from plain grey to tri-color. For me, my best friend at home is my $10 Blue Tarp. You can put anything on this large piece of plastic; it won’t bark at you, beg or whine. It embraces the leaves you rake over it, and lays there as you overload it with pounds of brush, logs and twigs. As you drag it across cement and it gets a new hole every other trip, it grins and provides you with a sense of accomplishment as the lawn “trash” piles up to impressive piles on the curb.

Dogs are great, though I am a cat owner (they’re cool as well), but there is nothing like a blue tarp. It comes out 2 times a year, and hangs out quietly in the garage the rest of the year. No feeding, no soiling of the floor, no vet bills, just pure, unadulterated servitude making life that much better for its owner.

I LOVE YOU BLUE TARP.

I will need to confirm with sources, but it appears that this morning Apple’s .mac smtp server is using a self signed certificate. This was discovered when a client’s .mac account would not work due to the un-trusted nature of the certificate that was securing her outgoing connection. Maybe their signed cert expired or maybe they will be come an Authority in the next couple hours, who knows. We will be looking for answers.

I woke u p Thursday morning as if it were any other. The sun was out with a few fluffy clouds in the sky and it appeared that we got a dusting of snow. With rain the past 3 days, who would have thought the sun’s rays would carry history from the heavens to our humble Turkey Bowl Game. With perfect weather, and the competitors assembling, there where a few things not so right about the game. The first notable was the absence of some of the founders of the game:

Gil “the accordion” Steele

Mike “pantelones ” Varre

Robert “cleats” O’Leary( the old turkey bowl write-ups seem to be missing so no links to reference the understanding of nicknames. Speak to writer or other veterans for descriptions)

Another notable SNAFU was MVP hopeful Ryan” the axe” Gilmore was once again cleat-les on a field destine for muddiness. Said size 10.5 cleats were promised to Ryan weeks before by Chris Tuite, but they found the feet of Jimmy “old saint” Nichols. (Investigation ensuing). To round of the field, double threats, crafty veterans and former MVP’s Chris “Riley’s Daddy” Tuite and Ben “the fudge packer” Evens were present. Me, Matt “The writer cause he can only run ” Holt, Robi “I ‘m on 690″ Bannerjee, Sean “I’ll be there in an hour” Brown, and Mark “the Old Man” Dobrzynski, and finally the virgins to the game besides Old Saint Nichols were “Sorry I can’t remember your name, short arms” and Tyler ” you can’t teach tall or young”.

With teams picked, and there being an odd number of players, number one pick and quality QB, Ryan was called upon to play all time quarter back for the first fifth (that’s right we model our breaks on measurements of liquor as apposed to a more rigid quarter system). With Ryan at the helm for the Tuitie clan, it appeared there was some foreshadowing about to occur. On the first play from scrimmage a perfect pass just beyond my short arms into the outstretched hands of CT. As if a bolt of lightning from a top Mt Olympus was put in the welcoming arms of the new father. This was not the last time we would see this connection, it would occur 5 or 6 more times in the course of the game, but oh, there was more.

We had flashes of brilliance and moments of despair peppering the 1.5hr game with both highlight reels and out takes. At the end of the first 5th, I believe Ryan had thrown for 6 touchdowns providing Ben’s team with a comfortable lead, 4-2. Notable performances were riding the golden arm of “the axe” by both CT and Tyler. Tyler pulled down 2 interceptions, and 2 td’s while the sole touchdowns came from CT on his team. Believe it or not, in this first part of the game, there was no real hard hitting, but the field was softening up and the air was thick with anticipation, something big was on the horizon. (BEER BREAK!!)

All being fair, and with Sean Brown still “an hour away” I became all time QB as the first pick on Ben’s team. Much like the rest of my play, the passing game was a bit subpar. And then “short arms” put a little bug in my ear, “how about we run it”. After that both teams had no clue what was coming. There was a bit of diminished joy from CT as the ball was not being delivered like a baby from the stork into his gloved hands, “short arms” had some nice carries and somehow we were able to complete some short passes, but with no fruit.

As the ball turned over on downs, there was a much different air of team work and maybe thanksgiving spirit on Ben’s team. Everyone was calling for the ball, and everyone was contributing. Whether it is a bad pass or a hardnosed run, the Ben team was digging the Miller Lite offence. Finally, with the first reverse call in turkey bowl history, Ben showed MVP form by taking the ball nearly the entire length of the field for the longest running play since “Tie Die” in the second annual game. On that note, another 5th came to an end, and the final player, Sean Brown, swaggered onto the field. “Where’s the Grande Marnier!!”

Now here’s where it gets a little sketchy. The beers coupled with it being over a month since the game, the details are a bit fuzzy, but here’s the call. The teams became true. Ben’s team got Robi and Tuite got the fresh Sean Brown. With this “Suring up,” Chris’s formula for MVP, which started with the initial draft, started materializing before everyone’s eyes. Behind the arms of Old St. Nichols and Ryan the Ben team seemed to have no coverage that could handle the aerial assault. Slants, Posts, east coast, west coast, it didn’t matter; the balls were place where only CT could catch them. A combination of golden arms and pure concentration on the ball, it was as if it was any pro team vs. the Lyons.

When this new found offense was compounded by 3 straight possessions of downs resulting in turnovers, the Tuite team started to roll the Bens. While the Bens started the game strong with touchdowns, interceptions and record breaking runs, the Tuities had the staying power of a true finishing team. The final 5th turned into a first team to 3 wins, and what appeared to be immediately after we finished our beers the game was over. The lethal combo of Gilmore to Tuitie put the Bens to bed, and with perfect pass only inches above the defender, Tuitie laid out for the final touchdown of the game. A suitable end to another great Turkey bowl.

Hit of the Game - Ben on CT; while his offense was tailing off at the end of the game Ben sure was able to put some nice licks on CT before we finished up. Both of them felt it the next day.

Bone Head of the Game - Me; 3 perfect passes to my hands no catches, sorry Ben. Subpar defense, at least I was able to drink beer without spilling it on my teammates.

Surprise - 2nd drive of the game a pass from Ryan to Mark. In his younger years Mark would have risen up for the catch, but the pass soared just a bit too high and ended up in the hands of much younger Tyler as he was laying out in the end zone. This type of concentration is usually only found with an athlete with pure concentration or excellent luck, we’ll see next year which one it was. We’ve got another player, we’ll see next year if he can sustain the brilliance he had early in this game.

Non-Factor – Robi; There are always the players that are their just for distraction. Robi played the role like a champ. Robi was there in flesh, but not so sure he was “really there”. Let’s see the “A” game next year, and make your namesake proud (BB ;)).

Thanks for Comin
Out - Mark, it’s becoming apparent that the whole crew is getting to know what it’s like to get older, so we tip our hats to you buddy. We know you are getting on in years, and just getting out of bed is tough. Nice game and keep on coming :).

MVP - While I’m torn on not giving the a shared MVP to the QB’s that made this guy look so good, he keeps reminding me of playing the “whole game”. From the first whistle, offenses, defense, to the end whistle. Even with the stresses of fatherhood “Rieley’s Daddy” CT came through again with a great game. The crushing blows on defense were not so prominent this year, but he was in on every play. There’s no disputing that CT was able to muster that extra effort to go get every ball that was thrown, only where he could get it. Hats off to your History Making performance and our first BACK TO BACK TURKEY BOWL MVP, Christian Tuite

This year’s game showed us some new talent and crafty veterans. The question is, will the MVP trophy ever leave the clutches of CT. Young guys, I expect some commitment to training during the year / off season. Ryan, I will make sure you have cleats next year, Tyler work on your mental game, Jimmy keep doing what you are doing and maybe you can catch the Benjamin Buttons Disease. Until next year.

Working more with Zoho I am really loving it . The tool set is so rich. Where it appears to be lacking is it’s capability to share a "workspace". I never really knew what Microsoft’s hard on for "Workspaces" was in SharePoint etc., but I’m starting to get it.

The ability to share single things without context isn’t really great with Microsoft, on the other hand they do a very nice job in presenting the notion of workspace which I have not seen in Zoho. If these two tools were merged, we would have a sweet package. Zoho Share shares documents  well alone, but I don’t see it incorporating anything else (tasks, Calendar, Contacts …). I like the organization for individuals, but for groups it does not seem to be there.
Check back, maybe I’m missing something.

Those of us who don’t have children or don’t believe in some of the eastern philosophies, might not be able to understand this statement completely, but "it’s not about me." While philosophically we may try to live with this mantra in the back of our heads, since most of us only have to answer to other adults and maybe domesticated animals, one can easily slip up and be selfish without much consequence.

I stayed with my brother for 5 days last week. My sister-in-law and he had a baby girl 6 weeks prematurely last month, so they have a new member of the family. The attention, sacrifice, and "it’s about you" attitude shown to their newest family member, and everyone else in the house, was amazing.

We childless people should learn from these special people called good parents. Next time we’re out and about, perform a selfless act. If you normally talk over your friends or spouse, let them express themselves, unadulterated. If you normally text while someone is telling you a story, hold off until they are finished, you might learn something. If someone shares a story of a tough time in their life with you, don’t try to one up the story, listen and give them, if not your understanding and sympathy, your ear. In our fast paced, “me” centric world, it’s easy to lose sight of how important the people we interact with every day are.

Thank you family for putting this simple idea into the forefront of my mind. It’s so easy to lose track of what is truly important.