Posts tagged Internet
Poll: Adobe Flash vs. Apple Feud!
May 21st
There be a feud in these parts! Obviously Apple and Adobe have been fighting it out over Flash on Apple’s mobile devices. There are thousands of stories on Google News about it.
The question is: What do you make of all this as an Information Technology Professional?
Today, our Information Thought of the Day (ITTOD) is a poll subject.
I would like your answers to the following poll today.
I will be sure to share the results. Feel free to add a comment below to add other thoughts that should have shown up on the list.
Do you like polls as a daily topic? Do you have a recommended one for another week? Please let me know.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for May 21, 2010 ©Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: philsherry.com

News Commentary: The Bit.ly Challenge
Jun 7th
Posted by Scott Coughlin in Business of IT
No comments
As an active twitterer, I can certainly appreciate the value of a URL shortener – that is a service that takes a thousand character web link and shrinks it down to 10 or so for Twitter. However, I also am concerned that it violates one of the
fundamental value propositions of the world wide web – that of linking plain text, man readable, and enduring hyperlinks.
On Mondays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.
Today’s comments were generated after I read a CNN story. It is all about the rise of Bit.ly as the greatest URL shortener of them all. I recommend it to you. Give it a read below.
CNN.com – Clicking small links on bit.ly keeps getting bigger
There are many many hyperlinks that items that I have posted online that are still good links after 15 years. I know that they are good because I made them, I own them, and I pay to keep them live. The problem with URL shortener is that they are simply spreadsheets and look-up tables linking real hyperlinks to a shortened version that is in no way related to the original. They are great for ease of use, saving space on Twitter, and replacing overly cumbersome URLs with easy to remember ones. What they are not good at is being enduring, reliable, or permanent. If the URL shortener service goes away, so go the links. That is why, as a web author, I love to hate them.
I am resigned that they are a necessary evil for the time being, but I still am uneasy with how fragile the link to so much of what I have created really is on today’s web.
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for June 7, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: VEED.in – Tech News