Downsides of SaaS

Software-as-a-Service has its downsides, as one commenter notes: We’re beginning to see the pitfalls of software-as-a-service in general: loss of control for for the user, increased security risks, and being entirely at the mercy of the providers’ future business strategies. The context is Google discontinuing its RSS Reader. A small outfit has motivation that a… Continue reading Downsides of SaaS

Downsides of Collaboration

Here’s an outstanding video on how collaboration can not only kill creativity, but dupe our very perceptions. Steve Wozniak: Most inventors and engineers I have met are like me: they’re shy and they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone… Continue reading Downsides of Collaboration

Insidious Ad Award

Here’s a screen-shot of ClamWin.com’s main page, as of today. Notice the giant Download button on the right. That’s really an ad for who-knows-what. To download ClamWin, you want the much-smaller download menu item on the left. Caveat emptor.

Google Art Project

Google has just introduced its Google Art Project. It’s Google Street View inside the prominent museums of the world, with high-resolution images of each work. What a great concept! Hat’s off to them. I’ve been through Amsterdam three times (stop-overs to other destinations), and never got to see either the Rijksmuseum or the Van Gogh… Continue reading Google Art Project

LinkedIn broken?

As of right now, a couple LinkedIn connection requests I made, that were accepted, still aren’t showing up in my connections list. I received the e-mail that we’re connected. So it’s half-working, half-broken, even after 30 hours or so. (Surely the electrons can travel from one end of LinkedIn to the other in that time.)… Continue reading LinkedIn broken?

Developers in Short Supply

From today’s Chicago Tribune: Software engineers hard to find Shortage of trained IT talent challenges Chicago companies Good to know in these troubled times. And to keep in mind: “One good developer can do the work of three or four guys,” And this… … finding qualified job candidates is “the bane of my existence.”