Today I’m remembering my friend Greg Malone.
Author Archive for Mark Lesswing
I started a project to install a file backup system for my home systems. I have Windows, Linux and Mac systems on my home network with file types ranging from small text files to huge recording sessions. I didn’t want to spend a lot (or any) money on a solution but I recognized the value of the information on my network. If you are operating a business, these same thoughts and motivations should be crossing your mind.
Have you ever been surfing the net and found a site that just blew you away? Sure you have.
When I find myself that position, the next question I ask is “How did they do that?”. I have been doing alot of DOM programming lately which sparked my interest in AJAX-based frameworks. Sure, you could “view source” and inspect the script tags, but as you all know, technical types are lazy.
I thought you might appreciate the WTFramework because it inspects and identifies the underlying framework with a single click. The project is actively supported and the list of libraries it can detect is impressive. Here are a few:
Now I can spend more time learning from the expert users of these frameworks!
This is a shameless plug for the blog operated by NAR’s Information Central who publishes field guides intended to address business issues. Some of the guides are technology related and some are not.
A field guide is a topic specific collection of links designed to help you come up to speed on issues quickly. Examples of recent guides are GPS, properties with dubious history and the impact of wind farms on property value. You can develop informed opinion by using the links to relevant articles from the general media as well as trade publications.
I forgot to mention that field guides are a free benefit provided by Information Central. Feel free to suggest new topics for future field guides.
Follow-up – 1/20/09:
Here are two links in the RE.NET that reference the Field Guides: Agent Genius and CV Escrow.
We had some guests at NAR today.
Hey, keep away from that server!
After doing some productive work, we showed another how to find the local Apple store.
I thought that other guy was negotiating these days.
I have been reading about privacy concerns related to Flash-based Local Shared Objects (LSO). If you are interested privacy matters, I recommend you follow the above link or this one from Slashdot and read up.
LSO has been around for a while, and is intended to:
- be used by Flash objects only
- store structured data as an improvement to Cookies
- store up to 100K of data
- be controlled by end-users
You should also be aware of the new API for HTML5 because it will probably be used to achieve the same affect as LSO. I should also mention Google Gears too.
LSO are not Cookies, so clearing Cookies from the browser does not get rid of them. This sounds scary, but LSO has not been reported as a privacy exploit (I apologize for the sensational title of this post). If you are concerned because of your private nature, here are some things you can do:
I saw this headline over the weekend on the Washington Post:
Va. Ban On Spam Is Ruled Unlawful
E-Mail Restriction Called Violation of First Amendment
[Note: I would have provided a link, but registration (free) is required. After registering, use the keywords "spam court" or something similar to find the headline. The article appeared on 9/13]
The sensational title worked and I read the article. The facts were not as dramatic as the title implied. An excellent analysis of the situation is available on Groklaw.
Whew, I feel better.
I spent some time with Marc Gould this week and he reminded me that NAR now has a green designation. Since I can’t ride a mechanical bull as well as Marc, I thought I would make two contributions to the effort.
First, I wanted to let folks know that REBAC is offering a Green Designation course, taught by Terry Watson, during the Annual meeting in Orlando this year.
I also thought I would pass along some tips related to reducing the energy consumption of computers. Yes, I know the designation is about housing, but my contribution should be considered tangentially related. Although each computer uses a relatively small amount of energy, it is amazing how quickly it can add up. Remember, even “wall wart” (hideous, I know) power supplies use energy if the are plugged into the wall and not attached to a cell phone, laptop or other device.
Maybe we are all Treehuggers to some degree!
Just remembering my friend Greg Malone.
I was very excited last month to spend some time with my Neo FreeRunner last month. I purchased the US (850/1800/1900) version. This is the first Open Handset I have played with. According to Open Handset theory, you buy your phone and then choose your carrier. Also applications that run on the device do not have to come from the carrier. I can see a whole vendor community springing up for real estate. Yep, we love our mobility!
Of course, the first thing I did was pop my T-Mobile SIM card into the phone to see just how open the Freerunner was. To my delight, I was able to make a call to a co-worker. I wonder if the folks I call when testing things ever get bothered? Next was to receive a call. This I did from from land line (preserving the patience of my brethren). I can tell you that the ringtone of the FreeRunner is very “retro”, sounding like a landline in the UK.
The next order of business was to look at the applications. The preloaded applications are based on the QTopia platform. Phone … check. Contacts … check. Browser … check. Good. Now to hook up my various e-mail accounts. Hey, not e-mail client (grrrrrr). An e-mail client is a Google Summer of Code project, but the fact that it is missing keeps me from trying to use the phone daily.
