Where I Work In Plain English

Five months ago, almost  to the day, I started work at ScreenScape Networks a relatively young company that was in expansion mode. The previous several years of my working life had taken it's toll on me both mentally and physically and ScreenScape was an exciting new opportunity that I embraced with great enthusiasm. I was introduced to the company founder, Mark Hemphill, through a mutual friend and from the moment I began talking to Mark and the rest of the folks at ScreenScape I knew there was something special going on here.

I did my due diligence, played with a free Test Drive account, spoke to people working here, and to customers of the company around town. Mark, I'm sure, did his due diligence as well and the rest as they say is history. I have not for a moment regretted the move, and I embrace each and every day with the knowledge that something wonderful is happening here. The days fly by and our team is constantly improving upon an already incredible product, this is the most productive team that I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Don't get me wrong, I've worked with hundreds of good people, and a handful of great people, but talented people alone can not make up for bureaucracy, communication issues, questionable management policies, and other productivity zapping corporate practices... but I digress.

Recently ScreenScape had the following video produced and it does an incredible job of explaining what it is that we are so diligently working on. Check it out, and if you see the merits in what we are producing check us out... knowing that there is an extremely motivated, awesome team, behind every line of code.

ps. I write this entirely of my own volition.

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Google Instant - Exciting New Search Upgrade

Let me start by apologizing to you all in advance. I only have but a moment to post and I wanted to get this news out, in case you haven't already read it somewhere else. Google has made some great refinements to search in Google Instant. Check out the Official Google Blog for details or watch this quick video...

TrackDropper For Android - Putting The Booty Back Into Piracy

Think of how exciting it must have been back in the swash buckling days of yore when pirates sought riches and buried their treasure in chests, with maps marked with X's. arrrgh!

Today pirates are much less scary, mostly geeks who choose to acquire their audio files in less than acceptable ways, at least according to the real pirates who run the music industry. If the thrill of a potential lawsuit is not enough for ye thrill seekers there is a new way of looting your music. Trackdropper is an Android app that lets users "drop" songs in physical locations. Then, other users of the application can go on a treasure hunt to find and play the dropped songs. The goal is to make music piracy much more like old-fashioned nautical piracy. Here's how it works, courtesy of one of it's coders Yves Raimond:

TrackDropper from Yves Raimond on Vimeo.

Source: cnet

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Heart Attack Does Not Stop Twitter User From Tweeting - Addicted Maybe?

Tommy Christopher, a writer for mediate.com wasn't going to let a little thing like a heart attack stop his tweeting habit. "I gotta be me. Livetweeting my heart attack. Beat that!" he typed.  Followed by:

"Paramedics think I will live. Gonna get a cardiac cat. Jeez, I'm old. This is depressing,"

"This is not like the movies. Most deadpan heart attack evar," he wrote. 

"Still hurts even after the morphine."

I thought that I was a bit obsessed with twitter, my posts aren't that frequent but I check the site frequently. I will however curb my obsession in the event of pending doom.

No word on Christopher's current condition...

Source: couriermail.com.au 

Thanks to @ColinMaria for putting me onto this story.


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Perceived Security Threat Has Indian Government Concerned About RIM, Google, And Skype

With all of the concerns recently expressed by Middle Eastern nations about the Blackberry and it's use by spies and terrorists, India has added Google and Skype to the discussions by asking the companies to set up servers in India and allow access to web data, citing fears that the voip services could be misused by militants. Though Google has said it has not been contacted.

"India’s Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said RIM had begun giving India access to its secure data from Wednesday.

“Discussions for technical solutions for further access are continuing and the matter will be reviewed within 60 days,” Chidambaram said in a statement."

A Google spokeswoman based in India said: “We have not received any communication on this issue from the government. If and when we do, we will review and respond.”

According to The Globe and Mail.

Google TV Beta Tester's Leaked Video

Check it out, here's a quick peek at Google TV running on a  Logitech Revue. I like the idea that it is controllable with the Harmony remote or the Harmony Android app! 



Credit: Gizmodo

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My Name Is Earl... and I'm A Big Blow Hard!

We are in the middle of a visit from Hurricane Earl. Still a Hurricane (Level 1) as it passes through Nova Scotia but is expected to be Post Tropical when the eye of the storm passes over us on Prince Edward Island. Woke to no power this morning and that was before the winds even picked up, apparently Maritime Electric had equipment failure at our local substation and power is back for now. While we've endured such weather in the past, this is the first time in recent memory that it's come during the day, and so we can view the storm in all it's glory. I'll try to get some photo's / video if I can but our subdivision doesn't have a lot of mature trees, which is both a blessing and a curse. I'm not sure that any images I will be able to capture will be that impressive but then again, it's not likely that a tree will land on my house. I have to admit, I am fond of a good storm and have been ever since I was young, mother nature has always fascinated me. I hope the damage is minimal and that everyone stays safe, but I do enjoy being in the middle of the action. :)

NASA iPad App = Geek Eye Candy

It's no secret, I'm a huge fan of NASA and all of the technology they develop and use. When I heard that NASA had developed a free HD app I quickly fired up the iPad and made my way to the app store to download NASA App HD a fist full of interactive hi-definition goodness. Next to Flipboard this might be my new favorite app. I love the shots of and from space, and who isn't impressed by big toys these folks get to play with? Pictures from todays full-scale test firing of the DM-2, the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor designed for flight, are awesome. Incredible photos of hurricane action down here on earth from the ISS crew and tons of info about many NASA projects past and president. Very pretty!

Priority Inbox, Gmail - Now With Even More Awesomeness

I have virtually replaced all of my other email clients and accounts with Gmail, the transition has been gradual and was spurred largely by my acquisition of an Android phone over a year ago. Until that time my Gmail account was definitely used but not nearly to the extent that it has been since. Now Google has unveiled another reason to love Gmail with the release of Priority Inbox. Gmail was already good at sniffing out spam but with priority inbox Gmail learns, over time, what is important to you by analyzing which mail you open and beyond that what you reply to. It's more than just starring an email, it... well... prioritizes your mail to make it easy to find the really important stuff. If I haven't sold you then you must check out the dance of joy that this happy fella does!

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Source: The Official Google Blog

Facebook Places - Good For Location Based Services?

A recent report from Forrester Research suggests that only 4 percent of Americans have tried location-based services, and that 1 percent use them weekly. The numbers also indicate that users of the service generally live in urban areas and are very tech savvy. “Ever since mobile phones and location technology got started, there have been conversations about the potential for doing something really incredible with this for marketers,” said Melissa Parrish, an interactive marketing analyst at Forrester. “But clearly the question is whether it has reached the mainstream, and it looks like the answer is no.” I think that I would also add, a big... not yet!

“Clearly location is not yet mainstream — it’s still a younger-demographic phenomenon — but if anyone can change it, Facebook will,” said Sam Altman, chief executive of Loopt. I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Altman. Consider how many many of your elder family members and friends who might have ever tried video games, now think of how many Facebook messages you receive regarding Farmville, Mafia Wars, and the like... who are the people associated with these requests? If your Facebook timeline looks like mine, it's the older less than technical folk. Additionally, while this is a very small sampling, my 16 year old asked me about foursquare recently. He, as you can imagine is truly tuned into technology and while he and his friends have largely shunned Twitter, foursquare has caught there attention and they are after all the Facebook generation.

In my mind it is business, large and small, that have to take the lead and make location based services more than a game that is played between tech savvy friends, and they will, over time. I can't imagine that phone manufacturers will start abandoning location, nor do I imagine that location based services will give up and go away. It's but a matter of time before we see the real value that location holds and when we do, look out.   

Source: nytimes.com