A Blog About Accessibility, Digital, Marketing, and AI
Looking for inexpensive airfare, especially to the UK? Monarch gives you low cost, convenient flights that you can book directly on their website, by telephone, or by travel agent.
Monarch's scheduled services account for more than 60% of the Monarch operation and we were awarded 'Best Airline to Mediterranean and Islands' in the Short Breaks and Holidays Travel Awards 2005.
Read more about Cheap Flights 
Last time I had voice recordings transcribe it ran $120/hr for the audio transcription. This new service has the following rates -- making it less than $26/hr for podcast transcriptions!
The transcribing is done by people, not machines. Read more about CastingWords web service.
On the other hand, if you want to transcribe your recordings yourself, here are some nice free software tools to help you with the job: http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/
If you are involved in non-profit groups, you know how important fundraising is to your success.
Here are several free fundraising ideas for group large and small.
Check out all the other options at http://www.fundraising.com.
I like it that it organizes the fundraisers by industry type (e.g. Churches, School, Sports, etc.), and that it has options like online fundraisers. This is the best site I've seen with this sort of information.
Any site designer knows that testing your web site across multiple browsers is key. But not only has the market become very fragmented regarding the number of browser, but there are also several popular VERSIONS of browsers running around as well -- each with their own quirks. Here are some current browser stats:
According to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp (January 2007)
According to http://www.webreference.com/stats/browser.html (January 2007)
Based on this, IE6 & 7, and Firefox should be in your testing regimen. If you further break down the Firefox users you'll see that you should probably also test Firefox 1.5 & 2.0 since both have a strong following. On the other hand, the differences in standards support between Firefox 1.5 & 2.0 is not that great.
What do you think should be tested?
I'm using my second Razr mobile phone. I was disappointed when my first Razr had technical issues (I'd only had it for a year and a half) but I liked the form factor of the phone so much I decided to pay the premium fee to replace it with another Razr.
The Razr continues to be a best seller:
"Given the continuing popularity of that iconic, slim Motorola phone month after month, it should come as no surprise that the top selling cell phone in 2006 was once again the Motorola RAZR," said Wirefly's President Brian Westrick. (from Wirefly announces the Top 10 cell phones of 2006 )
Wirefly predicted 5 cell trends expected to become even more popular in 2006:
1. Music and mobile TV phones
2. Bigger selection of smartphones with more robust operating systems
3. Cell phones designed for children
4. Expanded GPS services
Of these features I have seen too many people watching video on their cell phones (maybe if I rode on a subway? Nah -- the signal is too bad when you go underground). Smartphones? More robust operating systems? Sure the Blackberry has it's following in business, but in the consumer space, the Razr (which is not a feature rich as a Blackberry by a long shot) is still the hands-down winner.
Why? The form factor. For guys, you've got a slim phone that fits nicely in your pocket with no antennae to jab you in the hip. For gals, you have slick looking phone that are appealing and colored for anyone's taste.
Bottom line -- most people just want to make a phone call, and don't want a bulky device to do it. The Razr will continue to focus on design and aesthetics, and make the device easy to use.
Project plans lay out a defined series of steps to accomplish a goal. Most software development methodologies produce an undesirable goal—failure. The 60% failure rate is not just dumb luck, it is the natural consequence of the methodology. To change the outcome, we must change our methodology!
I’ve witnessed failed projects which did not achieve business results. Despite experience and planning, many times the best efforts still turned into the worst results. Developers typically lack a good road map to navigate their project to a successful end. This lack of direction dooms the project before the first line of code is even written.
Don’t become another victim of project failure—adopt a proven software development methodology!
Productivity guru Franklin Covey often talks about 'sharpening the saw' -- taking time to get training, focus, and get inspired to achieve new levels of greatness. Landmark Education Business Development offers business services dedicated to creating new levels of business results. Their services and technology allows them to partner with clients to design and implement organizational initiatives that produce significant, sustainable change in a surprisingly short period of time.
Particularly interesting are their landmark courses to aid in this endevour.
Landmark education empowers an organization to generate extraordinary business results while creating an exceptional quality of life for its people. Landmark seminars aligns business operations with business strategy to ensure agility and performance. Having the environment of a landmark forum allows an organization immediate clarity. Learn more:
And of course I highly recommend Google's tools such as Gmail and Google Documents and Spreadsheets.
The new Apple iPhone debuted with a splash. While it will not be available until June, this revolutionary new device marks the beginning of a new electronics 'arms race' not seen since the iPod debuted. The iPhone features a touch-screen interface and a slim profile, merging the iPod's hallmark sleek Apple design with next-generation cell phone functionality. The iPhone doubles as a wide-screen iPod with 8 GB of storage space for music and video, and includes productivity tools, along with location-based features.
The first model will be expensive, but recall the first generation iPod. This is but the start of many new devices, and ergonomically designed to please customers in a way only Apple can do.
Read more about the Apple iPhone at Wirefly.com.
Consider a less-than-successful project in which you’ve participated. Did the project run aground because the developers didn’t know how to program?
Projects can be technical successes but business disasters. Ask any end user who patently rejects the software IT has labored to produce for them, and they’ll quickly say—"This software isn’t what we needed!"
Thus the problem. Typically, at project kick off end users are asked what they need. Then IT goes off for a few months, and after the rigors of quality assurance testing, the end users finally get their hands on the software.
Now, the user gives real feedback, but it’s too late. You’ve already exhausted the budget and timeline for the project. More time and funding are needed to add the features end users really need, but it is too late to recover. The abacus ticks off another failed IT project. The only thing saving you from losing favor is IT’s pre-existing perception as a fickle monster, fed often but only intermittently able to deliver high-impact, successful systems.
This highlights the need for Agile project management techniques.