by gregoryheller | Oct 6, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>[via <a href="http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3553371" target="_blank">Next Up: Google Office?</a>]:</p> <p><cite>Google already offers Gmail users plenty of storage for their e-mail archives. If it extended that storage to other kinds of documents that were generated in conformance with the OpenDocument standard, and then combined that with a Web-based productivity suite to connect users to their stored information via any browser, the result would be a platform that could transform business collaboration as well as consumer communications.</cite> </p><p>Not sure how i feel about this. Sort of like "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." M$ is my enemy, google is M$ enemy… so i guess i like google now? I was not a google hater, I am just concerned about the growing dominance of google. Seems like the concentration of so much data and power could have serious reprocussions for us all down the line, but until then, godspeed google!</p> <p><cite>Google and Sun Microsystems (Quote, Chart) will hold a press conference on Tuesday at which they're expected to announce a collaboration to bring StarOffice productivity applications to Google users.</cite></p> <p>I am all for standards compliant software, and i love Open Office (sort of) and open office is really star office…. so this is so cool!</p> <p>Computers will become nothing more than appliances, all the data and applications will really live on the internet! That is so cool and so scary at the same time!</p> <p><cite>There's a Chinese curse: May you live in interesting...
by gregoryheller | Oct 5, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>[via <a href="http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/corporate_socia.shtml">Hit and Run</a>]:</p> <p><cite>In our October ish, we had Whole Foods CEO John Mackey duking it out with Milton Friedman and Cypress Semiconductor CEO (and Blessed Nun Basher) TJ Rodgers about the social responsibility of business. In today's Wash Post, columnist Steve Perlstein namechecks that "spirited debate" and then weighing into the fray thus:</cite> </p><p> <cite>And consumers say they prefer tuna caught in dolphin-proof nets, coffee grown by fairly paid farmers and products made from recycled materials — but retailers find that most are unwilling to pay extra for it….</cite></p> <p>This little blog entry is interesting, I am going to track down the [l:http://www.reason.com/0510/fe.mf.rethinking.shtml|original article from Reason magazine] and read it to see if there are any implications for the Hightower Project I am working on, and the broader corporate sopcial responsibility conversation that i feel like i joined at [lk:webofchange.org|Web of Change].</p> <p>Coming soon, my thoughts on a CSR data interchange...
by gregoryheller | Oct 3, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>[l:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/fashion/sundaystyles/02conserve.html|This article] ran in the Sunday Style Section of the NYT. Just another subtle way that conservation is almost mocked as a means to alleviate our environmental and energy woes– it is not a real news story, rather a story about how conservation needs to be made sexy. An interesting article none the less, makes some good points, particularly that not everyone needs to conserve in the same way for conservation to work.</p> <p>What made it all the more interesting was the conversation I had over the weekend about just this very thing. We talked about bio fuel, composting, photo voltaics (solar) and HVAC. I think that the author mentions all those things (except maybe HVAC).</p> <p>BTW, I think that interior temperature (air conditioning and heating) adjustments could probably be the easiest and single largest way for is to reduce energy consumption in america. Office buildings should not be cooled to less that 72 degrees or heated to more than 70. Why those two temeratures? because i like them. I have no science behind their selection only that they seem reasonable.</p> <p>[l:http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2005-09-06T060053Z_01_FOR621179_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-MARKETS-JAPAN-WARMBIZ-DC.XML|Japan recently launched "Warm Biz" and "Cool Biz" campaigns aimed and reducing energy consumption by adjusting office thermostats and asking workers to dress accordingly.] It Japan the winter threshold is 68 degrees and the summer is something like 81. I could not work in 81...
by gregoryheller | Oct 3, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p><cite>[l:http://www.commarts.com/ca/coldesign/johE_289.html|Why form a cooperative? One argument is that organizations owned by the communities they serve are more accountable, and can emphasize service over profit. When employees govern their own workplace, they can design a happier, stable and more equitable work environment.]</cite></p> <p><cite>[l:http://www.commarts.com/ca/coldesign/johE_289.html|But there’s also the value of organizing according to one’s ideals. Though we are supposedly living in a democracy, most of us spend our days working for private tyrannies. Living and participating in a democracy should consist of more than just voting once a year. We should be able to participate in the decisions that affect our lives.]</cite></p> <p>I just started reading [l:http://www.commarts.com/ca/coldesign/johE_289.html|this article] (a snipit posted on the [l:http://backspace.com/notes/2005/09/08/x.html|author's blog], actually) and wanted to share even before i finished it. At web of change, i helped facilitate a discussion about business models for technology consulting with Eric Magnuson. This article is a good resource about collectives and cooperatives. </p> <p><cite>Eggplant is a Limited Liability Corporation. Technically, the corporation does not have employees, only associates. Each of the four associates are paid as contract laborers in the form of “advanced dividends,†sharing the profits equally and giving a percentage into the collective’s endowment to enable pro-bono work. The associates are responsible for their own income taxes because the corporation does not technically make money.</cite><br /> This appears to be an interesting model for a technology consulting firm, and is, in some ways, similar to the way that CivicActions is organized.</p> <p><cite>The Tech Underground (<a href="http://www.techunderground.org" title="www.techunderground.org">www.techunderground.org</a>) is a collective of fourteen in the San Francisco Bay Area. The team offers Web development, networking and tech support and have...
by gregoryheller | Oct 3, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>I recently spent an afternoon in Baltimore MD. I was near the [l:http://www.aqua.org|aquarium], and looking around, I commented that with an ESPN Zone, Barnes & Noble, Chipotle a "national attraction" like the aquarium, and a waterfront view…. I could have been anywhere: South Street Sea Port in NY, Navy Pier in Chicago, Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco… I am sure the list goes on.</p> <p>But I couldn't have been happier to be in Baltimore. My trip proved that company is...
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