Still around...

...but nothing to say. I'll be back once the new semester starts. Until then, weep. Weep softly and often.

ITEC 610 Learning - Team Assignments

There's always much to learn from doing team assignments during graduate courses. Below are some of the highlights from this week's Case Analysis project:

• Make sure that you start early, review often, and submit on time.
• Have an awareness of who is on your team, and when they drop the class!
• Designate several layers of review, so that more than one person sees the final product.
• When necessary, take the lead.
• When necessary, step back and let people do their work.
• Have large measures of patience on hand.
• Appreciate the contributions of others.
• Celebrate when it's done!
  

Vista's Bad Press Never Ends

So we all know that Windows Vista has, um, had a rough introduction. Most people are sticking with XP, Mac fans have ammunition for years, and enterprises are hesitant to subject their systems to the very real possibility of meltdown. But does Vista really deserve a spot on CNET's recent list of top terrible tech products? As IT professionals, what have your experiences with Vista been like?

I know that I'm running it on my home machine, and have had very few problems after the initial (albeit large-scale) hiccups. *fingers crossed*

New RFID Standard - Is This the Answer?

Retailers and supply-chain partners the world over have been waiting for a convincing argument for RFID. Yes, its tracking capabilities are known and yes, they can streamline logistics processes. But they're so expensive, slow, and expensive! Well, the price hasn't really changed (sorry, Wal-Mart), but the speed and efficiency of RFID systems is set to improve dramatically - from 2.5-6 times! Check out the full article for details. And next time you see Wal-Mart, say you feel their pain (even if you don't - just be nice).

Laptops Are Just Plain Naughty

Found an excellent article recently on why IT departments despise laptops. Is yours the same? Check out the article from Computerworld and let me know!

ITEC610 Learning Highlight - Midterm

So we just had our midterm in ITEC 610, and it was a really interesting concept: we had to take our research papers and create an executive presentation. Pretty cool idea, and it was surprisingly difficult (see the summary slide above). Did I learn something? Absolutely:

• Brevity is difficult when discussing the contents of a 20+ page paper
• Brevity is critical when presenting information to executives and leaders
• One should never, ever overdo a presentation. At some point, animation is lame
• Cramming empirical data into easy-to-understand charts is, in a word, frustrating
• Globalization and the role that IT and communication played in its facilitation is a topic far better served by a lecture series, 100-page presentation, and several follow-up debates.
  

Your PC is terminal (pun totally intended)...

So it seems that despite the impressive progress being made in the PC market (who had dual or quad-core chips 3 years ago?), many believe that home computers will ultimately go the way of the cassette player. The reason? We're all so accustomed to using our cell phones, PDAs, and iPods that we forget about the lil' ol' computer sitting in our house, unloved and full of spyware. Read the full article for more information. And give your PC a hug, for goodness sake.