All posts by Richard

Of Bippolo Seeds and Zinniga-Zannigas!

Android | iPad | Kindle Fire, Northern Life

Working as a corporate software project manager for a Fortune 100 company can be intense, which is why I just purchased the Bippolo Seed app by Dr. Seuss.  This app both restores my sanity when work is stressful, and brings together several lost stories by that famous author. Each story was published over 50 years ago in various magazines, and have not since seen the light of day.

Now … when I need a moment away from web analytics, SEO or Yammer, I can break out into brand new Seussian rhyme and impress my cube farm mates! Better yet, I can use the app's extras and provide entertainment for the aerospace guidance engineers who sit near me. What could be a better interlude from work than listening to the tale of the Zinniga-Zanniga?

Seriously, the app is an amazingly better experience than the book, and cheaper! I forked out $6.99 via iTunes for the app instead of purchasing the book for $13 via Amazon (includes shipping charges). The app extras make this option a slam-dunk! To learn more for listen to this commentary from NPR (National Public Radio). Geeks may prefer this story from Wired Magazine!

Regardless, I just read the first story via the app … no wait … after a few pages I stopped reading to myself and let the narrator take over with his sound effects. This 55 year old had a great time … laughing out loud by myself. Now that I've finished the Bippolo Seed, I'm on to "The Rabbit, The Bear, and the Zinniga-Zanniga! I can't wait to experience this app with my grandson, Ben!

Click on any image to view full sized (screenshots from my iPad)

Bippolo-Seed-Cover Bippolo-Seed-River Zinniga-Zanniga

Marvin the Martian Deserves More Respect!

Uncategorized

What's a nerd to do? Just linked my Google webmaster and analytics accounts (better SEO). Learned that I was ranked 120th for Marvin the Martian.

Dismay! Shock! Horror! How can I make it through the day? 

Thus, I now start my campaign to raise the status of my dear friend (and my blog!)

Seriously, spend a few moment and configure Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. This allows you to gain a much better understanding of how and why people are visiting your site … hugely important for any serious web site. You must be using the new version of Google Analytics to access the new SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools. If you have a Google Analytics account, you have access to the new version of Google (see image shown below). If you configure the linkage, you gain access to the new SEO tools.

Here is some background data:

Oh yes … my blog post from 2008 … ranked 120th for Marvin the Martian. With this post I hope to raise my Martian SEO rating.

Click upon either image to view full sized.

 Marvin-The-Martian  Google-Analytics-SEO

Do you Grok the direction of web?!

Economy 2.0

Understanding the thoughts and plans of young software developers  / entrepreneurs can be a HUGE assist in terms of "grokking" where the web and apps software development is headed. Over the past few years I have attended many unconferences and barcamps. Surprisingly, Minnesota has one of the largest and most active barcamp communities in the USA (in terms of active events and overall attendance). Our organization is named minnebar.

Thursday night (October 6th) at 7pm Minnesota time (CDT), for the first time one of our minnedemos will be streamed live via the web. The only rules for giving a demo is the presenters must have working code (not Powerpoint). They are allotted ten minutes to show their idea for a product to the audience. Thus, at 7pm tomorrow night, link to TECHdotMN and you will be able to attend via the web at no charge.

The schedule for tomorrow night includes:

  • zyngram: mail real postcards from your mobile phone!
  • Naiku: helps students learn more
  • Aeris: the world's most flexible and powerful mobile weather API from its most entrepreneurial metrologist, Paul Douglas.
  • 8thBridge: social commerce
  • myON Reader: personalized literacy environment that  customized to a student's individual interests and reading level.
  • Rocware: create a beautiful B2B product catalog
  • OptiMine Bid Management: keyword-level modeling to automatically determine and set paid search bids in order to improve performance.
  • Exosite: get your sensor data online with connected devices
  • Hyier: helps companies qualify their job candidates by using video.

I have found these events fascinating in the past. I will be attending. Even if your involvement with the web does not involve products which integrate these areas, you can learn a lot from a better understanding of how people are trying out new ideas.

Grok

Learn Klingon!

Uncategorized

While most of you thought the really big news was yesterday’s Amazon’s Kindle Fire announcement (see my post), or the expected new iPhone from Apple … we’re all wrong! Tomorrow you will finally be able to learn Klingon. Now that is BIG news. Trekkies unite to boldly go where no man has gone before!

If you want access to more mundate eLearning, link to my learning portal. You will find great engineering and general web based learning resources (all free), including custom Google search engines which I built to aide finding content.

Don’t let yourself get caught in this situation! from Star Trek!

Klingon

Amazon Kindle … Now Live at your Library

Android | iPad | Kindle Fire, Economy 2.0

The hoped for program between public libraries and Amazon to deliver books free to your Kindle device or app is now live in beta (read more via mashable). Apparently there are 11,000 libraries across the USA already participating!

I just downloaded a book Acts of Malice by Perri O'Shaughnessy for a 21 day check out at no charge from the Hennepin County Library (Minneapolis)! The book was actually delivered via my Amazon account. A purchase would have cost me $7.99 from Amazon.

To check if your library is partcipating do the following.

  1. Google your library and "Overdrive" 
  2. Visit your library's Overdrive site
  3. Log in with your local library card
  4. If you're lucky, Kindle books will be listed

If you're library is participating, install Overdrive on your Kindle device (iPad, etc). Here is the iTunes link. For instance, here is the Hennepin County Library Overdrive Service. I guess libraries are truly entering the digital age! Here are some images from my checkout process. My library has over 17,000 digital books available.

Click to maximize any image. The first image is my local library's digital library page.

Kindle-Library-1

Kindle-Library-2 Kindle-Library-3