Posts tagged Review
The Pipeline: A Podcast Recommendation
Apr 9th
Today, I would like to bring to all Information Technology Professionals’ attention a new Podcast that looks to be a huge resource. It is called The Pipeline and it’s host is Dan Benjamin of the super site Hivelogic.
I often times get asked how I manage to keep up with all of the happenings in the Information Technology (IT) field. My recommendation to most is that you need to invest time in a range of media – magazines, websites, blogs, and podcasts – to really do it correctly. I have written before about my recommendations in this last category – podcasts that I recommend.
For those of you unfamiliar, Podcasts are downloadable audio files that you can play on your computer, iPod, or portable media player. Like blogs, they range in quality from amateur garage-bands to completely professional mass media productions.
The Pipeline sits firmly in the professionally produced, expertly moderated, and featuring superb guest choices camp. I have listened to two episodes already – one welcoming Merlin Mann and a second with Gina Trapani. Both were engaging interviews that stayed away from clichés and boring retreads and really allowed the guest to shine. The host was very well prepared and very engaging. The length of each was just over 30 minutes – just right for this format and most commutes! He also provides expert level show notes at his homepage.
This is how Dan describes his own production:
The Pipeline is an interview show hosted by Dan Benjamin, talking with people who create things. Guests include Zeldman, Kottke, Vaynerchuk, Coudal, Mann, Siracusa, and more.
You can check out The Pipeline:
- At its homepage
- On iTunes where it has a five star rating!
- Via his feedburner RSS feed
I cannot say enough good things about this show and recommend it enough to my readers. The host is talking about Information Age topics of interest, featuring guest who are luminaries in the Info-sphere, and producing it expertly. A real find. Please give it a listen and visit his web sites.
If you would like to read another post like this, here is a link to podcasts that I recommend.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for April 9, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: The Pipeline
Tools That I Use: Instapaper
Mar 29th
So let me ask you if this is a common scenario for you:
- Someone sends you a link to a long web article, or
- Your RSS Reader only gives you a synopsis or an article with a link to the full version, or
- You start reading a long web story, but you won’t hold your online connection long enough to finish it, or
- You wish there was some way to save a great web article that did not depend on the source to stay static, or
- You just wish that you could save some great, long web content for later reading on your laptop, smart phone, or Kindle
Well now you can! And, best of all, the service is free!
The service, that I use dozens of times a day, is called Instapaper. It is designed by By Marco Arment. They self describe themselves as, “A simple tool to save web pages for reading later.” But, I have to say that I believe they are being overly modest. You can read their own description via their Frequently Asked Questions page, here.
In a nutshell, you:
- Open a free account with them.
- Install a bookmark in your browser and/or a bookmarklet app on your tool bar. This works with all the major browsers including mobile safari on the iPhone.
- You surf to a page that you like or copy a link. You then go to their bookmark or hit their bookmarklet and Bam! It gets saved. You can also go to your Instapaper Account page and manually paste the link.
- To access the saved pages you can use their website, download an iPhone/Android/Blackberry application, or tie it to your Amazon Kindle Account.
That is it! What is really cool is that:
- It is smart enough to grab the story and not the page on a blog or news site.
- It is smart enough to grab the “for print view” rather than the web view, meaning that you get the whole article and not the first page!
- On the very very very few pages that don’t work, it is smart enough to self-detect the error and give you a clean link to go back to it.
I tell you, this is the way to read web pages, blog articles, and news stories later when you have time. Plus, the saved links last forever, giving you a clean way to reference them in the future.
I have to say, Bravo, to the developer. This is master level work that I whole heartedly recommend to my readers. If you are an Information Technology Professional, then you have to be using this service. It is a game changer!
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for March 29, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: instapaper.com
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Book Recommendation – Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do about It by Richard A. Clarke
Jun 11th
Posted by Scott Coughlin in Books
No comments
I have a book recommendation for all Information Professionals, military buffs, and historians. It is ‘Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do about It’ by Richard A Clarke and Robert K. Knake. The book is about exactly what
the title says. It is written at exactly the right technical and intellectual level to be relevant, accurate, and thought provoking. I highly recommend it to Information Technology Professionals everywhere.
It is available in print and kindle editions from major book sources, including Amazon.com. I appreciated it so much that I also added it to The Information Technology Thought of the Day Webstore, permanently.
I will try to get a full review up in the next couple of weeks, as I finish it. I can already tell though that it will be a modern day classic for the niche that it is targeted at as well as statisticians and current event geeks.
The opening chapter alone is worth the price of admission and really demonstrates well how much the world of warfare has changed in the past 20 years due to the Internet and Information Technology. I especially appreciated how the author makes the case that Cyber War is real whether you think that it is or not. I also valued the parallels that were drawn between the dawn of cyber war and the coming of naval aviation and nuclear weapons. Considering that the author is a leading expert on Nuclear War policy, I figure that he probably knows what he is talking about.
Image Credit: Tesco Books