I just stumbled across this and I had to share with my Web Worker friends: Alex Kac of WebIS, developer of the outstanding Windows Mobile PIM Pocket Informant, is getting into the holiday spirit with a giveaway…
These are good only until Christmas!
I am giving away – for FREE – 100 copies of the following WebIS Software from now until Dec 25. I don’t think it’ll last that long, but
FlexWallet 2006
WebIS Toolbox
This was posted earlier this evening, and I just grabbed my licenses (just follow the links above to check out for $0). I have no idea how many are left, so there’s a chance for you. Apologies if you’re reading this too late…check out the applications anyway. They’re worth it.
Happy Holidays, all!
Could 2007 be the year of the web worker? I came across Sharon Gaudin’s report on a recent study from the Wall Street Journal and The Society for Human Resource Management, stating that 75% of US workers will look for new jobs in 2007. With nearly 12% of the workforce voluntarily resigning in 2006. That does seem like an extremely large number, and there is a good chance many of them might just become webworkers. Perhaps, not in the traditional sense, but webworkers nevertheless.
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The Washington Post ran an article about a new internet-enabled social space — Buzz in Washington, D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. Besides offering hot coffee, drinks, desserts which sound decidedly scrumptious, what was really intriguing was the mention of a toy-stocked play area for kids.
“I can already picture it as a parking lot for strollers,” writes a reviewer on Yelp. Imagine if they offered short-term supervised daycare, similar to what IKEA shoppers enjoy! While there are lots of wifi cafes here in San Francisco, it’s hard to think of any that could be described as “kid friendly” — though that could be said of The City, generally.
Does one really want kids around while trying to get some work done?
I can’t imagine I’m the only person who’s ever spilled a drink on my laptop. And if you’re hauling your deck from dining table to cafe to conference, then you might want to think about getting something a bit more rugged. To be released in January, NEC’s “ShieldPro” FC-N21S is a ruggedized tablet PC weighing 2.5lbs with an Intel processor clocking in at 1.2ghz.
More importantly, as the video above demonstrates, you can lean this machine against a tree at a dog park without a care in the world. It even promises to withstand drops of nearly three feet. Consider the estimated $2,600 price tag as paying an insurance premium on your data.
A new article in The Economist details a transition by Arizona State University IT director Adrian Sannier from the school’s application infrastructure to Google’s “Apps for your domain:”
For Mr Sannier, however, a bigger reason than money for switching from traditional software to web-based alternatives has to do with the pace and trajectory of technological change. Using the new Google service, for instance, students can share calendars, which they could not easily do before. Soon Google will integrate its online word processor and spreadsheet software into the service, so that students and teachers can share coursework. Eventually, Google may add blogs and wikis—it has bought firms with these technologies. Mr Sannier says it is “absolutely inconceivable” that he and his staff could roll out improvements at this speed in the traditional way—by buying software and installing it on the university’s own computers.
This is a great example of how even larger organizations can take advantage of the consumer-facing online tools that independent contractors, startups and small businesses have embraced.
[via Broadstuff]
CNN is reporting that Emirates Airlines is planning to allow cell phone usage on its planes, beginning in January.
Fliers have long been able to keep in touch with those on the ground by using phones built into the backs of airplane seats. But the costs of those seatback phones can be upwards of $10 a minute, plus a connection fee.
In contrast, the cost of calls made in-flight on Emirates will be in line with international roaming rates, the airline said. Those rates vary by mobile carrier and by location but can be as low as $1 to $2 a minute.
The reporter doesn’t seem to think the idea will go over well with U.S. travelers, even if the FAA lifted the ban on cell phones on planes:
A majority of business travelers (61 percent) oppose the idea of being able to use their phones in the sky, according to a global survey conducted by travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel early this year.
The obvious reason is because we all enjoy listening to each other’s cell phone conversations in tight places, don’t we? But isn’t it the truth that two colleagues sitting next to each other having an animated conversation or a crying baby is a far worse distraction on a long trip? Common cell phone courtesy goes a long way whether you are sitting in a restaurant on the ground or seat 14D in the air.
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Many companies have moved to a single sign-on approach for their employees within the last few years, so that workers only need to login once to access online systems like time and expense reporting, travel planning, and HR portals. The web worker who uses multiple web apps on the open Internet is left to her own devices to manage multiple user IDs and passwords, as the Web itself offers no single sign-on. This is both a security and a productivity problem, as web workers need to make passwords easy to manage and hard to crack. What’s a web worker to do in absence of Internet-wide single sign-on?
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
