NASA Employee Suspended Over Blog Posts - Emails

NASA has suspended an employee who solicited donations, wrote politically partisan blog posts and sent e-mail messages while at work. Doing so has put the employee in violation of the US gov't Hatch Act and means a suspension of 180 days without pay. “Today, modern office technology multiplies the opportunities for employees to abuse their positions and — as in this serious case — to be penalized, even removed from their job, with just a few clicks of a mouse,” said Special Counsel Scott Bloch. Federal Computer Week article here.

An Interesting Read - Insight Into Phoenix Mission

As the Phoenix Mars Lander readies for the final approach and "7 minutes of terror" the geek in me needs to know more... surfed on over to NASA and the mission website to find some great images and a video walk through of the seven minutes, it's easy to see why the engineers are so concerned. A great find however is the Phoenix landing blog that started May 19th and has been updated by mission specialists ever since. The blog is a first had account of what is going on inside the project team and what's been happening with the vehicle as it approaches Mars and readies for landing. Consider this, it takes a signal from Mars 10 minutes to reach earth, the landing is over in 7 minutes, therefore the vehicle must be able to make all of it's own decisions regarding it's decent... it's on it's own. Good luck Phoenix!

Cubans Finding Voice Online

The Globe and Mail has an interesting article about bloggers in Cuba and how they are finding a voice online only a month after the government of Raul Castro lifted bans on Cubans buying, computers, consumer electronics, having cell phones and staying in luxury tourist hotels. With salaries averaging $20 a month it's amazing how the ingenuity of the people of Cuba is being displayed in their attempts to get online and be heard. "It's about how I live," Yoani Sanchez tells the Associated Press "I think that technically, there are no limits. I have talked about things like Fidel Castro, and you know how taboo that can be."

Yahoo Launches Site Aimed At Women

Yahoo! has announced a new site, Shine, that is aimed at the female demographic. Unlike other Yahoo! sites, Shine will be presented in blog format, with the newest items on top and commentary from an editor. The company is taking queues from advertisers who are looking for more ways to reach out to women between ages 25 and 54. “These women were sort of caretakers for everybody in their lives,” said Amy Iorio, vice president for Yahoo Lifestyles. “They didn't feel like there was a place that was looking at the whole them — as a parent, as a spouse, as a daughter. They were looking for one place that gave them everything.” Whether this is true or not is yet to be seen, as Yahoo! follows Glam Media Inc. and iVillage into the market. The success of the blog format will be interesting to follow, at least from a blogger's standpoint.

Google Takes Aim at Microsoft's Proposed Yahoo! Acquisition

A post yesterday on The Official Google Blog calls on legislators and policy makers around the globe to question the impact a Microsoft - Yahoo! takeover would have on "openess and innovation". "Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets." writes David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer at Google. The New York Times has additional news about Google's efforts over the weekend to mount an offense against the hostile bid. The moves apparently included Eric E. Schmidt, placing a call to Yahoo’s chief, Jerry Yang, offering the Google’s help to fend off Microsoft and “back-channel” calls to AOL and Time Warner execs. Looks like it's on now!

Universities utilizing social sites

It's time to start the recruitment drive for next year and Canadian Universities are finding the social networking sites to be a good place to start. “We are on Facebook because our incoming students kept asking us, ‘Why are you not on Facebook?' ” explained Bailey Daniels, assistant director of MBA recruitment and admissions at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, in this Globe and Mail story. Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick has existing students who work closely with the school's admissions staff and besides operating a Facebook group, there are student-produced YouTube videos and blogs, all commissioned and paid for by the university.

This is quite possibly the best quote from the article: “The ongoing challenge for any university is that there is a massive generation gap between the people that do recruiting and the people you are recruiting,” said Rob Steiner, assistant vice-president of strategic communications at the University of Toronto. “Every recruiting team and every marketing team is trying to find a way to stay on top of this stuff.”

Lonely girl 95?

This is a great story... a 95 year old Spanish grandmother who's grandson presented her with a blog for her birthday was less than impressed, "Today it's my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog." However, she now receives comments from web surfers all over the world and of all ages. With 60,000 regular readers Maria Amelia Lopez has become somewhat of an Internet celebrity and has embraced the technology. "The Internet has given me life," she told Reuters. You go girl!

Top 100 blogs to read

The good people at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science have completed a study and compiled a top 100 list of the blogs to read in order to stay informed. The study asked "Which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?" Topping the list was Instapundit and rounding out was Scoble, also making an appearance are a number of the blogs that I frequent but I was surprised by the number of blogs I'd never heard of. In hindsight I guess not all blogs are technology related and I shouldn't have assumed the tech blogs would necessarily be the most popular, just goes to show their are many forms of geek! Check out the list here.

5 simple rules to blogging your employer

I have been at this for a couple of months now and I have made a conscious decision to keep my blog and my work life separate, that is to say I don't discuss my company or its clients. It's a personal choice, and while I do work in the IT industry and some of the work we do might be relevant material, it's a line I have chosen not to cross. Many bloggers take a more personal approach to blogging and sometimes forget that they are putting things out there that their superiors or clients might not like aired in public or may take offense to. Steve Rubel has 5 short pieces of advice on how to run a corporate blog, posted at Wired's How to Wiki. A quick read and some good common sense advice.

How ironic... CBC memo regarding employee blogging leaked to blog

The Globe and Mail is running a story of an internal CBC memo to employees regarding their blogging policy that has been leaked through, what else, a blog. The corporation claims the document is only a draft but employees are getting a bit fired up over it. A little common sense goes a long way folks!

Web jumps to life in wake of disaster

In the wake of the Minnesota 35W bridge collapse, the Internet is a wash in stories, photos and video of the disaster. The personal accounts of hundreds of individuals who's lives have been some how touched by the tragedy are being told through blogs, video, and photographs uploaded to flickr and other sharing sites. Wired blogger Joe Brown has a round up on his Autopia blog. A terrible tragedy that unfortunately is not without precedent, this calls into question the state of an aging North American highway infrastructure.

Do you Tweet?

For some, blogging is a chore. A lot of people try it and quickly tire of it, or they want to try it but can't find the time in their busy schedule. There are however a number of new services such as Twitter or Jaiku that offer a quick solution to those wanting to keep their friends and followers informed but don't want to invest the time in blogging. Twitter for instance simply asks "What are you doing?" and provides 140 characters in which to respond. The site can be updated through a traditional web interface, via Instant Messenger (IM), or by texting a message on your cell phone (sms). I've had a Twitter account since March of this year, but have not been very good at keeping it up to date. Thankfully there are a number of Twitter applications that enhance the Twitter experience. As of today, thanks to Twitterfeed, my Twitter account will be updated daily with posts to this blog. Even if I don't tweet regularly, my Twitter followers will be able to see my recent blog posts, and to complete the circle if I tweet you'll be able to see it on this blog... scroll down the page, just above my links. I've found blogging a little easier to get into, but I also know of many people who have abandoned their blogs in favor of tweeting. Big media and celebrities alike are utilizing both, so if you've been debating the merits of blogging why not give tweeting a try?

Not so much free speech

Some Canadian bloggers are finding out the hard way that you can't just publish whatever you want! The Globe and Mail has an interesting tale of bloggers being sued for liable because of comments that they have made and in some cases comments that others have made on their sites. We are perhaps a bit ignorant of our own laws here in the great white north and maybe a little guilty of assuming that what we see on television, mostly American content, applies to us. While I have always believed in the credo, "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all", this article was an eye opener. If you blog, and are subject to Canadian law, it is worth having a read.

Blog Watch

As reported earlier this week, we are the proud new owners of a PlayStation Portable (PSP)... well actually my son is but I sneak a little game play in when the PSP is not tightly clenched in his little hands. In my quest for all things PSP, I've come across a site that I thought I'd share. Sony has recently open the doors on an official company PlayStation blog. The site is the official word on PlayStation rumours and contains sections dedicated to game titles, developers, hardware, etc. The jury is out on whether or not they will be an open (transparent) forum for all things PlayStation or if we will only be fed what Sony wants us to believe. I'll be keeping an eye on the site for release dates and upcoming titles.