David Radcliffe » Technology

QUOTE – googling

David — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:56:17 +0000

A little googling with Bing

I hope you find this as funny as I did.

From Scott Hanselman’s blog

If they can do it in Paris…

David — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:49:00 +0000

…why can’t we do it here in the United States?

Daily Paper for Children Defies the Craze for Digital

Every time I read something like this I’m embarrassed and depressed about the state of our education system. Do your kids read the newspaper? Maybe they should…

You should follow me on twitter @dwradcliffe.

Microsoft PivotViewer

David — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:25:19 +0000

It’s not often that I’m impressed by something from Microsoft. I use Microsoft tools and software all the time but I’m usually not too excited about it. However… The Silverlight PivotViewer is awesome. But don’t take my word for it – take a look yourself. Basically this control allows you to visualize and sort thousands of items at once. I won’t go into detail…if you want to read more you can read Scott Guthrie’s blog post about it.

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/06/29/silverlight-pivotviewer-now-available.aspx

The sample app they built works against Netflix’s database of instant watch movies. It works well and it’s pretty neat – something I might actually use! Take a look: http://netflixpivot.cloudapp.net/

Outlook 2010: Ignore Conversation

David — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:37:46 +0000

Here is a really neat new feature of Outlook 2010! In addition to the threading features built into this version, outlook now has a tiny little “Ignore” button at the top left of the ribbon.

This button will delete the selected email and also delete any future emails in the same conversation! This could be extremely useful in situations where reply all is overused. This happens in corporate environments all the time. Someone replies to everyone and soon there are 15 other emails replying to everyone. If you don’t want to see them, now you don’t have to!

You should follow me on twitter @dwradcliffe.

Nominate Fishers for Google Fiber

David — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:05:56 +0000

Earlier this week I blogged about how Google announced their Fiber internet access experiment. Later this year Google will pick one or more communities to build an experimental ultra-high-speed fiber network. This will deliver internet to residents at over 100 times faster than the current high-speed internet providers.

Since this post I have received amazing feedback from my local community and I have started working with the help of a few others to push this initiative along.

We want Google Fiber to come to Fishers, Indiana.
And we can do it.

This is a two-fold plan. First the residents and anyone else that cares. And second, the town and it’s official representatives.

Residents

Nominate Fishers – This is the most important. Google has a quick form for you to fill out to nominate Fishers and explain why Fishers would be a good choice. http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/user/launch_exhibit_b

Join our Facebook Group – We created a Facebook Group to show Google and the town of Fishers just how much we want this. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=462275585022

Share – this post, the Facebook group, and the Google form with all your friends and neighbors.

Contact – anyone you know in the Fishers town government and tell them you want this.

Officials

Google has specifically asked for an official response from the community. Google wants an authoritative voice to ask for this and tell Google about our community. The online forms can be found here: https://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/user/list_applications. Many other cities and communities have already begun this process and we want Fishers to have a chance. This will be a huge benefit to the community. It will be great for Fishers’ publicity and image. It will probably bring jobs to Fishers. If you have any questions about what this is all about please contact me and I will be happy to explain it.

UPDATE

The IndyStar ran and article about this! http://www.indystar.com/article/20100211/LOCAL0102/2110496/
Indy.com ran the same article here: http://www.indy.com/posts/fishers-man-leads-effort-to-attract-google-project

Google Fiber

David — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:21:27 +0000

Google recently announced that they are planning an experiment to make Internet access “better and faster for everyone.” Google will pick one or more communities to build and test a high-speed fiber network. This network will feature speeds of up to and over 1 gigabit. This is much faster than most household internet connections, which typically range from 1 megabit to 15 megabits.

Why does this matter?

The average person doesn’t really notice the difference between fiber or DSL or cable internet connection. Browsing websites, reading email, or using social networks like Facebook don’t require a super high speed connection. On the other hand, there are a few uses that will make a difference. One of those is streaming video. Services like Hulu or Netflix require a high speed connection, and yet even with a high speed connection sometimes we have to wait for the video to buffer, or load. With a super connection like Google’s new fiber service, there would not be a need to wait for these streaming video services. This is the direction the TV and movie industry is headed – It’s been months since I’ve rented a movie from somewhere like Blockbuster and soon I believe that all of our television and movies will be delivered over the internet. There’s no reason to rely on traditional sources like cable or over-the-air broadcast. We want content now, we want content in HD, and we want choices. The internet provides a delivery channel for those exact needs. A fiber network provides the framework for this to be possible.

Watch this quick video about Google’s plan:

What can I do?

From now until March 26th Google is accepting nominations for your city. After this, Google will decide where they will place this test network. From there all we can do is wait and see how it goes! You can read more about this and nominate your city here:

http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/

You should follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my blog for the latest information.

On Apple’s iPad

David — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:03:30 +0000

Apple recently announced their newest product, the iPad. Every blog now has a review, and either loves it or hates it. I’m going to take a different approach and just link to a few really good reviews and points of view. I hope you enjoy these, as they are hopefully a little different than most of the common reviews.

I’ll try to update this list as I find new ones.

You should follow me on twitter.