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Getting The Most out of Your Cell Phones
Mobile phones are going to be here for a while. At the risk of writing a post that will be useless in a few years, here are some thoughts on helping you stay in control. Make the phone act like a tool that is invisible unless you need to use it. Immediately after installing a…
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Signal To Noise: Managing what comes at you
In telecommunications, the concept of Signal To Noise Ratio has been around for a long time. The basic concept is the signal (what you are trying to communicate) and the noise (all the crap that isn’t the signal) are related. The higher the ratio of signal to noise, the better. High ratio: more signal, less…
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Inbox: friend or foe
If your job doesn’t fundamentally depend on your email*, then ask yourself if you control your email or if email controls you. Our Email Is A Monster (Oatmeal). Some ideas to consider: No matter how focused you are, when that little window flashes up in the corner of your screen or your phone beeps, you…
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Marginal Revolution: Is the generalist returning?
This Marginal Revolution article, based off the article “At Work, Expertise Is Falling Out of Favor” from The Atlantic, brings up a good point about specialization and generalizing: our current economy may be diverging from the standard theory that bigger and more complex economies and industries require more specialists. Or in other words, you may…
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Creepiness–Convenience Tradeoff
A good article from the Nielsen Norman Group, a group that focuses on technology (generally software) user experiences. The site itself is a good resource for those developing technology for larger groups of people such as companies or the general public. Summary: As people consider whether to use the new “creepy” technologies, they do a type…
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Hiring Interns
If you are fortunate enough to work at a company that has an intern program, make sure you take advantage of it. Having interns in an IT department is a great way to find new talent, extend the skills of existing staff, and bring young energy into the department. Requirements for interns are not high.…
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The Route of a Text Message
An excellent writeup by Scott B. Weingart of what happens when you send a text message. Written in a way that you can easily read it as deep or as superficial as you want.
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What’s that down there?
Ever looked out a window while in an airplane and wondered what you were looking at? Yeah, there an app for that. Also works for driving. Unsurprisingly, Loeffler got the idea for the app on a plane. “I realized that most people don’t have my geology background, and that they might be missing out on…
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Invisible Technology: Disney edition
An interesting article about Disney and how they made tech invisible.
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McDonald’s Theory of…
I’ve used this technique before but haven’t heard it called this. The key is getting people to start throwing out stuff. No one wants to be the first. I believe it is also easier for some to respond to something than it is to come up with a blank sheet idea. Even if their reaction…
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The first step doesn’t matter
Businesses are littered with first steps. Attempts to change or improve that never get followed up on. A first release of a newsletter with no second. Look at your intranet to see what is stale. See what hasn’t been update. These are failures. You don’t get points for starting something. The first step is not…
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IT Help Desk: What’s the Point?
There is an expectation in any non-small business that the IT department has a Help Desk. A phone number, email, location that is the central place to report IT problems. An expectation that the problems will get resolved quickly and efficiently. A place for IT questions, requests, and issues to go…ideally not to die, but…
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David Allen: Getting Things Done (GTD)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo7vUdKTlhk%5D
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Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines
Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines This is an excellent article on writing email subject lines, article titles, etc. Anyone who sends emails or writes should internalize the message from the article.
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The Top 3 Mistakes Corporations Make With Their IT Security Program
The Top 3 Mistakes Corporations Make With Their IT Security Program via The Top 3 Mistakes Corporations Make With Their IT Security Program.
