Over the falls

Your days are numbered. Now that computers can automatically generate slogans, and pick up free imagery via tags from Flickr , there's a whole lot more pressure on you guys to actually do something REALLY impressive... Check it out : The Ad Generator, at http://www.cogandsprocket.com/adgen/adgen.html

As previously mentioned , I have something of a tendency to procrastinate. I really hate that I do this. The absolute worst thing about procrastination is that there is no reward. It's kind of like you say "I'll show me! I just won't start anything until it is due..." And then you end up working like crazy at the last minute. Ha. Take that... So, naturally, I'm always out to find a way to trick myself into more productivity. My current tool this week is the Ship's Bell - based on the sailor's system of watches . Once you learn to tell the time by counting the watches, it becomes a lot more apparent how much time you're wasting. And just by associating the sound of the bells with the fact that you should be working, I've found myself focusing on single tasks for the whole 'watch' - often more. If you'd like to try it out, you can download a little system utility for windows that will sound the bells for you from fredsplace.org . Or...

Hey - this is neat - the new version of blogger supports custom domains - so this blog now lives at goodgord.com instead of goodgord.blogspot.com (but old links will still redirect. So don't panic or anything.Phew!) That's really nice of google to offer such a service, which I'm sure took them considerable effort to build, just so I can have eight less letters in my blog address...

Dean made an interesting point on the TOWER Blog today about the future of ECM , and its relationship to Knowledge Management. Having the information at your disposal becomes a lot more valuable when you can use contextual information from other related content to analyse exactly what you have. It's just like Simon was saying about Pandora - real value comes from analysing multiple classification axes - not just one. As always, somewhere there's an academic at work on the problem - the article on Faceted Classification has some good starting points... It reminded me of an article that I wrote for KMWorld , a publication that deals extensively with knowledge management, about robots, and how you need to empower decision makers with information.Funnily enough, when I tried to find my paper, there were a bunch of third party vendors who were charging money for me to read it. So I thought that I'd just post it here for free: What a Robot Really wants…Knowledge at the point of...

Big Headed Simon explains why he thinks that Pandora is better than Last.FM . Oddly enough, This week, I too was thinking about Pandora, and what a good example it is of how taxonomy doesn't have to be boring. In fact, the article that I just wrote over on the TOWER Software Blog, explains it. It's like we're spontaneously having a conversation about the same topic, on different sides of the planet by talking to different people... The Internet is strange sometimes...

If you've ever wondered what the best way to present information for maximum impact, or if you've ever sat and stared at a blank Visio Canvas trying to figure out how to get your concept across, then this is for you. The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods provides an interactive guide to all kinds of great ways to present information - from concepts and metaphors through to timelines and cluster diagrams. How's that for inspiration? Neat...

Just in case you've been living on another planet, Apple announced the iPhone today. I tried not to be impressed and excited, but I just couldn't help it. I want one. It's kind of interesting that the iPhone is still designed to be a two handed experience - one of the great things about RIM 's Blackberry devices are that they can be operated with only one hand - at least for checking and reading mail. The iPhone looks to me like it might be a bit of a hassle to check your email while driving. (not that that's a good idea, or I EVER do it...) And, in a nice piece of bleeding-obvious litigation, Cisco has already decided to sue over a trademark infringement. Still, whatever you call it - it's surely a very lustworthy piece of tech-kit....

I just noticed (after what looks like nearly 170 days) that Stephen's Blog is alive and functional. And to top it off, he's made his applescript application for handling TRIM Context reference files available to all and sundry. If you're using the Mac with ICE, you really need to go and download this thing -it pretty much ensured that Stephen never had to leave his beloved iBook for that hateful windows machine! Anyways, (a very belated) welcome :)

I really liked this post from Chris Fralic, which points us to all the awesome predictions of things that were supposed to happen in the Internet in 1995: " Gopher. The lower-profile poor cousin from outta town, the media has been so absorbed in the publishing potential of Mosaic that it hasn't noticed the continued, and dramatic, growth of this easier-to-use; albeit less visually sexy; alternative. One key difference: I can always find what I want in Gopherspace with only a step or two." Yeah - that Mosaic thing was really a flash in the pan... Still, one other prediction caught my eye: "The first intelligent agent software packages will emerge, allowing Net users to ask for a specific piece of information like "What is the population of Fiji?" or "How far is Saturn from the Sun?" An agent will go out on the Net , find the information, and return it without the user knowing the source." Hey! - I remember all that 'Agent ' talk - (...

Some random shots taken over the holiday :)

Happy New Year! For my family back home in Congo, it's traditional to spend the New Year on the Beach. It usually rains a bit, but if you drink enough, nobody minds. And if you drink enough (like say - Fuzzy has been valiantly doing ), then there's usually a midnight swim in the ocean, often complete with phosphorescent plankton that mirror the stars. 9903 miles away here in Virginia, things were a little different. But, not to be outdone, my excellent family and I headed for the sea anyway - to Ocean City, Maryland. Of course, as Australia lives in the future, The New Year rolled around down under at about 8 AM New Years Eve, our time. I was a little late, but thanks to the awesome guys down at Malibu's Surf Shop , I managed to get all kitted out and ready to get into the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of winter: The swell was small - maybe 2-3 feet. Feeling pretty gosh darn confident with all my fancy protection, I sauntered out into the water. Then I heard this strange n...