Virtual Earth gets closer to Everyman. At the September Vermont .NET User's Group meeting Mark Merchant of Microsoft's Virtual Earth Business Unit gave a great presentation on Virtual Earth. I was impressed. Yet when it comes to reasons to investigate a robust mapping application, sometimes it's not the high-end do-everything apps that inspire, but simple examples like this Virtual Earth replacement for the blogger's old-time friend, the FeedMap sidebar widget demo'd by John Pollard that tell you it's time to play with Virtual Earth.
Because Searls Search Feeds Rule. While I'd like to imagine it's true, I'm not presumptuous enough to say that I'm becoming more like the wizened Doc Searls as I move past the 50-year demarcation line into real adulthood. Yet search RSS feeds are becoming more an everyday reading staple for me as Doc has said they are for him. In adhering to Doc's value assessment of search feeds, it's good to stay fresh with Blog Search Engines. Here's a short but useful list. There may be engines of benefit for you, otherwise I wouldn't be linking to this post at all. I have very little respect for a site calling itself "Search Engine Journal" that doesn't provide simple bookmarking capability with its posts.
Circuit City Store Closing List. The alternative title of this Everyman Link is Circuit City, R.I.P. I used to buy all of my electronics at Circuit City, but the Chase Rewards program was too lame and the last time I shopped for computers at the local Circuit City the selection was pathetic. Here's the upcoming Circuit City Store Closing List. My local CC is not on the list, in fact, according to this Craigslist post, they're hiring! Rots of Ruck to applicants. The remaining Circuit City stores probably won't be open much longer either.
Social Networks will continue to grow in hard times, so says Shel. Here's an excerpt from a Shel Israel post titled "Social Media and the Road to Ruin" that reminds us that social networks will continue to grow in hard times because of their efficiency. "In that last economic depression, certain items flourished. Movies, radio, theater and the arts, books and so on. They cost little and they allowed people to spend some time escaping. When people were not doing that, they were talking to each other, over backyard fences, on street corners and in parks. Times have changed but people don't. Business still needs to talk with customers, prospects, partners etc. They will look for a faster, better, cheaper way and that will bring them to social media. There simply is no more efficient way to talk with customers."
Barcode Scanner Apps for Android Reviewed. Barcode scanning in what may possibly become a ubiquitous hand-held device. To me, that's an exciting and revolutionary technology to be coding for a living! I continue to believe there will be opportunities for hard-working and continuous-learning developers, regardless the economic conditions.
Social Media and Blogging Tips from Chris Brogan. Somehow I got several weeks behind on a number of my feeds. Chris Brogan's was one of them. I found myself spending a lot of time going through his posts of recent weeks, reading many of them in their entirety as indicated by this screenpic. Great stuff here, including "Reach Outside Your Fishbowl to Build Community," "25 Excuses You Can Have During the Recession," and "25 Ways Social Media Prepares You For the Downturn."
The West Wing Seasons 6 and 7 revisted. For a guy who has watched the complete West Wing TV Series at least 4 times, I can't believe I missed this comparison between the current Presidential Campaign and the plot of the last two seasons of The West Wing. This New York Times article makes the comparison unmistakably clear.
A few missed PDC Links. I knew I missed some of the highlights from PDC 2008 in my recent Live from Vermont PDC post. There's a very cool Silverlight Toolkit now available at Silverlight.Net, and Visual Studio 2010 will be built on WPF (that's huge). I'm sure I am still missing interesting PDC Links, but as compensation, check out the listing on Channel 9 for PDC Session Videos.
Scott on Billing. I've admired Scott Mitchell for a LONG time. As a freelancer I am definitely taking Scott's billing advice to heart, particularly "billing terms are Net 15" until trust is established. Other good advice for freelancers here as well.
Blu-Ray envy may not be all it's cracked up to be. I loved this ZDNet article title, "Blu-ray is dead - heckuva job, Sony!" Considering that a Blu-ray disc can hold up to 50GBs, or 9 hours of high-definition video, you have to wonder why it isn't sweeping the market. Good article explaining why it hasn't and will most likely never be a success. ZDNet sidebar: The ZDNET comment structure is SO fricking lame. Worthless, and what should be an embarrassment for a supposed technology site.