November 28, 2008 -- I recently finished redoing the website for a small non-profit Sierra Club program I work with – New York City Inner City Outings. The site is due to go live this Monday, but you can get a sneak peak here.  I have been working with the ICO program for about six years and was chair for two terms, ending last August.  For a long time, I wanted to update our very 1990’s-style site, but being chair didn’t leave me time to do that.  I am proud of the new site, but that’s not why I’m writing this post.  Rather I want to talk about the two tools that made a very sophisticated site very easy to put up.

November 19, 2008 -- I’m sure you have heard that Barack Obama is addicted to his Blackberry and email, but is going to have to go cold turkey on January 20^th for security issues.  You have also heard that the computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were hacked, probably by a foreign government trying to get an advance look at their policy views. So, does this make you want to think a little about how secure your computer system is?

November 13, 2008 -- I was at a trade show yesterday put on by the Long Island City Business Development Corporation.  I joined LICBDC because I have two clients in Long Island City and thought it would be a good way to expand my clientele.   This is the first year that I exhibited and while I didn't rack up any real prospects, I met some interesting people and I will definitely go again next year.

One of the more interesting was Mary Ellen McCarry of New York Waste Match.   Waste Match focuses on waste cycle reuse and reduction.  Their waste exchange program allows buyers and sellers to exchange information about products and materials they need or are willing to sell or donate.  This includes computers.

November 4, 2008 -- There’s an old joke about the first fully automated flight from Boston to New York.  The plane took off with passengers belted in.  Shortly after takeoff, an announcement over the plane’s PA system began:  “Ladies and gentlemen, we want to welcome you to the first fully automated shuttle flight between Boston and New York.  In fact, there is no pilot on board at all, but we want to assure you that nothing can go wrong . . . can go wrong . . . can go wrong . . .” Does this story tell us something about a path to better voting?

No, I don't mean that kind of cloud.  I mean cloud as in cloud computing, the currently hot buzzword in IT circles. Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect, placed Microsoft into the cloud computing hubbub Monday with the announcement of Azure, Microsoft's entry into the field. Cloud computing means lots of things to lots of people and can seem like nothing more than a marketing ploy. However, it is real and, in general, it refers to web-based ("webified") services, which can include programs, data storage, and other services.  Small businesses and non-profits should be interested because developing web-based services may improve access to and save money on critical applications in the not-too-distant future.

October 19, 2008 -- Last week I wrote about Patch Tuesday.  And, on Patch Tuesday, Microsoft disclosed a bogus Microsoft Patch. In short, the posting was about an email purporting to be a security notification but containing an attachment that, when opened, would install a Trojan horse on the unwary user's computer.   For those who don't know (or aren't sure), a Trojan is a program that installs malware that can, for one example, give someone else control of your computer.  So, you wouldn't be foolish enough to click on the attachment or even open the email, right?  What about an e-card that said, for example, you should get tested for herpes?

October 14, 2008 – Patch Tuesday – That’s how today is known in the IT world.  Microsoft releases patches – fixes to Windows or to MS Office programs – on the second Tuesday of every month.  This week they have released 11, a hefty number. Four of these are considered critical, meaning that they fix a flaw that would allow someone outside the system to do serious damage, e.g., remotely execute program code on a server or workstation.  Six others were rated "important" and one was rated "moderate." 

October 8, 2008 -- Sometimes disasters come all at once and overwhelm you.  Other times, they start small and just go on and on.  Now, I'm not talking about disasters on the magnitude of Katrina or Ike.  I'm talking about the kinds of small disasters that make us just pull our hair out in frustration as they continue day after day.  In the past week plus, I have gone through probably the single most frustrating vendor experience I have had in twenty-three years of IT consulting.  The thing is, like a train wreck in slow motion, it's hard to look away.  So, here is my log.  Names are withheld to protect the guilty, but hold your hats, this is a ride.