Archive for November, 2006

Newer Entries »

I can actually finish stuff! (sort of)

Sunday, November 5th, 2006

My Thinkpad is full of random bits and pieces of unfinished code. Typically, I’ll have an idea for something, and do enough of it to convince myself that I’d be able to do it. Something like a coding magpie, I then get distracted by something else and never get round to going back and finishing it. Given that, I’m all the more impressed that I got round to finishing the Windows Mobile wiki-based notetaking app that I started last Sunday.

I know about a few little kinks in the code, and I’m sure there are many more. So maybe not completely finished, but it’s in a state where I can start using it, and have made it available to a few other people to use it as well.

(more…)

Posted in code | 1 Comment »

Guinness now brewed only in Dublin

Sunday, November 5th, 2006

Went for a drink last night and the barman mentioned that Guinness is now brewed only in Dublin. Not sure I could really taste a difference, but I suppose it’s cute from a brand identity point of view?

Posted in misc | Comments Closed

We have educational videos on WebSphere MQ

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

The IBM Education Assistant now has some WebSphere MQ content.

If you’ve not seen the ‘Education Assistant’ before…

IBM Education Assistant integrates narrated presentations, Show Me Demonstrations, tutorials, and resource links to help you successfully use IBM products.

The range of topics that are covered by the new WebSphere MQ materials is a little narrow (some XA stuff, security topics, and a bit on the new accounting and statistics features we added in version 6), but they’re a nice start. It’s great to see WMQ included, and I hope to see us add more soon.

Posted in ibm | Comments Closed

Collaboration is the key

Friday, November 3rd, 2006

I was reading a book in bed tonight. My wife was curious about it, and asked questions about what I was reading. We talked about it for a bit, and it got her interest.

As with most of the books that I read at the moment, I read it as an e-book on my phone. So, I was able to go into ‘File Explorer’, select the book file, click on ‘Beam File…’, and choose my wife’s Treo from the list of nearby Bluetooth devices. After a brief pause, a prompt showed up on the Treo screen asking if she wanted to install it. She clicked ‘yes’ and a copy of the book opened on her phone.

I’m impressed – how cool is that? We have different OS’s (I use Windows Mobile 5, and my wife uses Palm OS), no cables, no need for having to get out of bed and connect our phones to a PC to swap files, no need to convert file formats, no setup… nothing. Just choose a file on one phone and send it, then receive it and open it on the other. This is how all our devices should work.

(more…)

Posted in tech | 1 Comment »

Local authorities will have to find stuff for kids to do

Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

How many times do you hear the argument that young people “get up to no good” because they’re bored, and there’s “nothing to do”?

The “Education and Inspections Bill” hopes to change that. From January, education authorities will have a duty to make sure that young people in their area have sufficient “positive leisure-time activities”.

It includes provisions not only to make sure that enough activities are available, but that young people’s views are taken into account. A pot of money has been set aside to help pay for the creation and promotion of activities and facilities.

I like the idea – I wonder if we’ll see a difference?

There is some mention of getting help to develop and deliver activities:

… a local education authority may assist others in the provision of such facilities … [and] organisation of such activities; [and] the assistance … may include the provision of financial assistance; (ref)

It will be interesting to see if local authorities work with youth charities on this. A holistic approach for young people where education and activities to contribute to their local community are developed together sounds like a good thing to me.

Posted in charity | Comments Closed

We can do more than just technology

Wednesday, November 1st, 2006

Today was a fun day – and not just because I didn’t go anywhere near my desk all day! Hursley House was the home to a workshop for staff from a variety of local charities. I’ve been organising this for the last month or so now, and today was the big day.

The idea of the day was to try and provide some of IBM’s business and consulting expertise to local charities and voluntary organisations, by providing a day’s training on evaluating the effectiveness and impact of their projects. Through work with SYA, I know that this is something that is really important for charities – not only to be able to improve and develop, but in order to justify and compete for funding. The approaches we covered today produce the data that is needed to attract funders, staff, and clients.

(more…)

Posted in charity, ibm | 2 Comments »

Newer Entries »