A Blog About Accessibility, Digital, Marketing, and AI
Michael Hyatt envisions the death of traditional book publishing:
I am convinced that we are only one device away from a digital publishing tsunami. Consider what happened when Apple launched the iPod in October of 2001. They provided an end-to-end solution that made downloading music easy, portable, and fun. Now,
30-plus million iPods later, iPods are everywhere.
Read more: From Where I Sit: The Death of Traditional Book Publishing
Google outlines how they deal with their most valuable asset -- people.
At google, we think business guru Peter Drucker well understood how to manage the new breed of "knowledge workers." After all, Drucker invented the term in 1959. He says knowledge workers believe they are paid to be effective, not to work 9 to 5, and that smart businesses will "strip away everything that gets in their knowledge workers' way." Those that succeed will attract the best performers, securing "the single biggest factor for competitive advantage in the next 25 years."
Read more at MSNBC.com
Interesting development from IBM are help make SOA something both standardized and achievable:
The software landscape is filled with standards for Web services, but few exist for the more broad distributed computing models such as service-oriented architectures (SOA).
That changed today as IBM, BEA Systems, Oracle, SAP AG and others vowed to create the SOA Programming Model, which includes specifications and open technologies to make it easier for companies to create applications in an SOA (define).
SOAs, which often use Web services (define) as the method for exchanging applications, are all the rage because they allow software to communicate regardless of its different code bases. If done correctly, SOAs allow developers to reuse assets, such as code or services, to cut down on manual coding labor.
For example, a Java-based smartphone might be used to tap into information from a consumer's or employees Windows-based PC, providing the necessary interoperability and security clearance.
For consumers, Web services and SOAs might enable something as simple as ordering merchandise through their televisions. But corporate employees should be able to leverage SOAs to exchange information across disparate computing gear.
No wonder then that leading enterprise infrastructure software makers such as IBM, BEA and Oracle want to open up the SOA pipeline. To this point, the companies have created their own proprietary strategies to work with their own products.
The SOA Programming Model is a break from this closed approach.
What is it specifically? This:
SCA and SDO include: a Service Component Architecture for business services; a Java spec for implementing SCA services; a C++ specification for implementing SCA services; a Java Service Data Objects spec; and a C++ Language Service Data Objects spec.
SCA and SDO will be available royalty free, and the authors are soliciting industry feedback. Iona, Siebel Systems, Sybase and Xcalia are also founding members of the SOA Programming Model.
Read full article: IBM Devises SOA Programming Model
Better update your Real software!:
Digital media delivery firm RealNetworks Inc. late Thursday shipped a major security update for its RealPlayer software to patch a pair of remote code execution vulnerabilities.
Affected software include RealPlayer 8, RealPlayer 10, RealOne Player v1, RealOne Player v2, RealPlayer Enterprise (Windows): RealPlayer 10 (Mac); RealPlayer 10 and Helix Player (Linux).
Read more: 'High Risk' RealPlayer Flaws Patched
J. Mark Bertrand has something brewing:
"You'll have to supply the soundtrack yourself. Imagine the Gorillaz doing "Clint Eastwood" -- The future is coming on -- or maybe Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting" -- I just know that something good is going to happen. Something good is going to happen, but I can't tell you about it yet. All I can do is flash the logo up and let you wonder. I can't tell you what "LiT" is or what the name signifies. I can't tell you what it means for you. All I can say is that it's coming. And it's gonna be cool.
Stay tuned...."
It apparently involves espionage, stealth dialog . . . and Ninjas. Or something.
Hmmm. What is it? Stay tuned at www.jmarkbertrand.com
Google launched a controversial digital book site:
The Internet search giant said the initial collection will include "public domain" works -- those without current copyright protection -- in an apparent effort to ease concerns that have led to legal challenges.
"Because they're out of copyright, these cultural artifacts can be read in their entirety online at http://print.google.com, where anyone can search and browse every page," Google said in a statement.
"They are fully searchable and users can save individual page images."
---
Google launched its controversial effort to digitize millions of books for online viewing -- but said it would limit access to any copyrighted material for now.
I imagine in a few years no one will give this a second thought, and will be amazed there was ever a world without this feature. There has been quite a furor over this, but I can't see this as anything but a good thing.
Read more at Yahoo! News
Following in the trail of the highly successful Google AdSense network and the recent Chitika, Feedburner has Launched their own ad network.
Today we formally announced the FeedBurner Ad Network, another addition to our expanding suite of services for publishers.The ad network was developed to help publishers monetize content and is backed by the trustworthy subscriber statistics we've been providing for years (well, almost years....18 months...well, a little more than 18 months). A handful of early participants are called out in today's press release, including CIO, SmartMoney, BuzzMachine, PC World, Computerworld and the Gawker network to name a few (naming only a few is better because naming the many would result in a list that would leave you thinking "couldn't they have just named a few?")
Read more at The Official FeedBurner Weblog
Have you heard about Blooks? If not, check this out.
Recent stats show Firefox use has soared to 11 per cent while
Internet Explorer slips to 85 per cent. Safari is the third most popular browser after Internet Explorer and
Firefox with 1.75 per cent of users, followed by Opera at 0.77 per cent
and Netscape at 0.26 per cent.
Safari is also in growth mode on the Mac as IE usage on Mac tumbles.
It also looks like users of Internet Explorer on Mac computers are switching to Apple's Safari because the global usage share is still growing.
Why the continued growth for FireFox? A robust feature set that is growing at a rapid clip is a primary driver. Innovation is alive and well in the FireFox product, and consumers are taking notice.
Read more at vnunet.com
This weekend I installed Ubuntu Linux on an old PC in an effort to create a new platform for my kids to safely access the internet and play Java and Flash based games. I've installed dozens of different Linux distributions over the years. Nothing I've ever used compares to the usability and simplicity of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu includes more than 16,000 pieces of software, but the core desktop installation fits on a single CD. Ubuntu covers every standard desktop application from word processing and spreadsheet applications to internet access applications, web server software, email software, programming languages and tools and of course several games.
I used Ubuntu's standard distribution, but there is also a specialized variant called Edubuntu tailored specifically for the young user. (Too bad I didn't see that when I first did my install!).
Looking for educational software for Linux? Tux4Kids serves up typing tutorials, math games, and other helpful software. For free, of course.
My only gripe in setting up Ubuntu was that it didn't enable 'proprietary' plugins for the FireFox browser such as Java and Flash. After quite a bit of poking around I discovered that installing these plugins is easy through using the Ubuntu's software installer (the Synaptic Package Manager). The trick is enabling proprietary software. Here's how:
After install, open ‘System » Administration » Synaptic Package Manager’. Under ‘Settings » Repositories’ click yet another ‘Settings’ button, and you will see an option to Check ‘Show disabled software updates.’
Click the ‘Add’ button, and check all the checkboxes, especially the ‘Non-Free (Multiverse).’
Check all the binary updates
No you’ll see options to install important Firefox plugins such as Java and Flash. Simply right mouse click on the software to select it component for installation, and click 'Apply.' The rest is magic!
Read more about this amazing software at Ubuntu - Linux for Human Beings.