Utah Tech Spotlight

Utah Tech Spotlight Events

Teaching useful skills to our kids

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 28

Those of you who know me know that I am very outspoken in regards to how and what we educate our children.  Richard, I, and a few other folks fromt he UTC were very pleased to be able to speak before the Utah Board of Education onthe topic last year.  Basically, we as the technology community need to do what we can to make sure that our kids are not only happy and healthy, but also have the skills to contribute and succeed.  We need to help schools turn out well adjust people who will be functiona members of the community and workforce.  (As a side note: being part of a group that has the ear of legislators, and schools on issues like this hsa been a huge value of UTC to me)

Anyway…. I read a post today by Janet, who I met at a blogger’s dinner.  The jist of it is: teching sixth graders to blog.  But the part that really hit me was “These kids are totally into it! They want to make money online.”  One of my real hot buttons has been: we are teching kids math, and science, and how to determine the fluid volume of a 5 foot dodecahedron.. but are we really teching them any skills that will help them succeed?  We need to take “teaching” and turn it into “mentoring.”  If kids understand the application, and the world, then they turn into “people” rahter than just a vessel that bears a plethora of facts. 

Anyway, I wanted to applaud Janet and her friend Paul.  I would love to see more of us provide this type of mentoring.  Not only to help our children and our community, but also to ensure that in the years to come that the workforce, the people, and the companies in Utah are thinking new thoughts and doing new things.

Review: Blogger’s Dinner

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 26

Thursday night I was pleased to be included in a local Blogger get together.  Very informal, frienly, and informative.  Among other topics, everyone was buzzing about Twitter.  For those who have not seen my opinion on Twitter, you can see one of my recent posts here.  Rather you like twitter or hate twitter, one thing cannot be denied: if those who are really getting visibility, and being read ont he internet are psyched about it, it cannot be ignored.  If you view Twitter as a way to distribute digital data, and allow people to consume it in whatever form they want (IM, SMS, etc), without any cost to you, and even allow this through an API, so that literally any application or eent can feed the content, then it is a pretty powerful concept.

But this is not a Twitter post… so back to the dinner.

My take: good social event if you really want to blog, and see who is blogging.  Really nice people.  They were very accepting of those of us that were there for the first time.  Definitely worthwhile in making connections with people who can teach an awful lot on the subject.  My thanks to them for including me.

To see a few other posts on the subject checkout the blogs of some of the other folks there that night:

Robert Merrill
Phil Burns
Janet Meiners
Thom Allen
Ash Buckles

Twitterpated?

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 22

Skype, IM, Blogs, Youtube… ready for the next big thing?  Well, a definite contender seems to be twitter.  Basically, twitter is an “I am here” sort of application… the next step beyond you IM or facebook status.  You can update your twitter status from their website, through their easy to use API, or from your cell phone.  It lets your friends (or the world, if you feel so inclined) see what you’re up to. 

So my personal experience?  Mixed.  It’s neat to be able to keep in touch with people… (dang, I use … a lot, dont’ I :) ) but how really candid can you be with something like this?  A message taken out of context, or that seemed funny at the time, can be dangerous.  Especially since Twitter will clearly be adopted by a market even younger than myspace (although the rest of us get a kick out of it too :) ). 

Another word of adive: don’t have it send updates to your phone unless you REALLY are that interested in knowing when your buddy is thinking about weird stuff.  Having a movie or conference call interrupted to find out that Bob is “Looking at ducks” can be annoying.  Unfortunately their IM integration is currently down (read that: overwhelmed) which is sad, as I think that could be worth while.   Speaking of overwhelmed… the site positively crawls right now.

So my conclusion: Out the gate, a “cute” social tool.  With a bit of API integration an some creative thought it can be a very valuable way to push content (snow alerts to cell phones, news info to IM clients, etc).  I certainly will not be giving my “buddies” a way to send their status real-time to my cell phone again any time soon :).  Once the growing pains get resolved Twitter, as a gateway to distribute content through a variety of consumer-chosen mediums is a tool that will be more and more widely used.

So what’s your take?  Are you using it, and if so how? 

The Smartest things I ever did…

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 22

Yesterday was a CEO Peer to Peer Session put on by the UTC. The Topic being “The smartest things I ever did.” One of the things that I really like about the sessions is that they allow executives to air their successes, failures, fears, and hopes, but what they say is held in strict confidence by the others (and if not… we’ll send Tonya Harding by for a visit :) ).

So on to my review (bearing in mind that I will not be sharing any specifics, due to the confidence factor of such a meeting): UTC always does a heck of a job at these meetings (and I’m not just saying that because they are a sponsor). Started timely, ended timely, professional location, good advanced notice of, and reminders for the event. Kudos to Mark, Judy, and whoever else over there is responsible for such nitty gritty details. The information was very valuable (I think I can list a few readin selections at the end here without violating any confidences).

I would guess that my only real complaints would be that these events have become popular enough that it’s tough to get that many people into a conference room comfortably… Someone is always stuck sitting away from the table, and I think feeling a bit excluded due to that (although they definitely did their best to remedy this). Not sure how to resolve this though, as the event would not be nearly as functional in a really big location. Maybe a bigger room next time? It would be a shame to have to split the group on some criteria.

Also, the magic, but also a possible point of frustration for a very open forum meeting like this can be the lack of structure. I think things flowed okay yesterday… I give it a 7 out of 10 (as opposed to the last train wrecks meeting, which I would give an 8 out of 10). But I think that Eric from Tomax does a really good job of keeping things on a productive path.

All in all, I’m really glad I went. I am always really impressed at how much can be learned at UTC or EO events. It’s funny but we all see so many resumes come across our desks with various educational experience… based on what I have found, I think I would take an applicant who had spent significant time in UTC P2P events, and EO forums over a degree any day of the week.

Feedback on the format?

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 19

I would like to put a call out for feedback on the planned format for our events.  So let me start by telling you what we are planing, and a bit about why:

The event will start with 20 minutes of free food and networking.

This is followed by a 15-20 minute presentation, spotlighting a utah technology.

Then another 20 minutes of networking.

As you can see, it is a fairly short event format, with a fairly short presentation.  Additionally, it is from 3-4 on a friday, as opposed to being in the morning, evening, or on a weekend.  The thought was that this time, and length is less of an impact on work, and on family life.  As to the event being so short… we wanted to really give people some condensed details tolet them know what we are really talking about, and then let them listen to the podcast online, and comment online about the technology after the fact if it resonates with them.  That way they can get involved if they want to, but they don’t have to sit through a long presentation on a subject they don’t find interesting.

So what are your thoughts on the format?  Please let us know, so that we can ensure that we make these events into something valuable for you.

Like a scene from Poltergeist… right at home

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 14

Okay, so while I intend this Blog to stay focussed on local technologies and growing the local community, you’ll forgive me but I just couldn’t resist passing this one along.  Just go check this out.  When it asks you to look at you hand, be sure to do it about two feet away from your face… not right in front of your nose.  You’ll have better results.  Anyone got a real application for this one?  I imagine it could make video games or laser shows interesting, but It hink a few minutes of mind-warping graphics would have me doing the technicolor yawn.

Now this makes my brain hurt

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 14

Have a look at this post on the Mozy blog (another really cool local tech company).  I understand the logic… but regardless, my brain just rebelled against it.  A couple of diet Dr. Pepper Berries and Cream later (trying to give up those evil blue Moster drinks) and I think all is right… but I hope you will find this little number crunch as fun as I did.

Last Week’s Expo: a pleasant surprize

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 13

Last week I attended the Big Business and Technology Expo in Provo, and I have to say that I was pleasantly suprized.  Turnout was more than I had expected, and there was a pretty good diversity of companies.  Not only that, but spirits were high… business is definitely starting to recover from the lull after the bubble and 9/11.  The folks I spoke to were upbeat, creative, and open to all sorts of busines opportunities.  That is what really excited me.  I go to an expo to find synergies: exciting creative people I can build long lasting friendships or partnerships with… not to have some smarmy sales rep hit me with his favorite pitch.  This expo delivered.  It is good to see so much diversity, energy, and creativity in the tech sector really beginning to flourish here again.

As a side note, I have to say that I happened past the booth for “the Secret”.  I have heard good things about the video and book, and even have a borrowed copy of the video in my bag.  But I have never made it past the first fifteen minutes, because the tone of the main annoucer makes me keep waiting for him to tell me how my friends and I are going to get rich selling soap.  I guess I have to muscle my way past the delviery, and try to ferret out the message :).  Let me know if you have watched it, and what your take is.

Count me in for next year’s expo.  Very worth while.  Not to mention the amazing food (I am always a sucker for Rumbi).

Local Vista Experts?

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 13

So forgive me yet another post about Vista today :)

 With the changes needed to support Vista, and the knowledge about Vista needed to make those changes, or quite frankly even to understand the underlying security model enough to ensure that applications are properly tested, it seems that many local companies may need some guidance.  I would love to hear if anyone has worked with companies who can help with such guidance in developement and testing on Vista. What has your experience with them been like?  Would you recommend them?  If so, let us know.

Vista: A bitter pill, but the right path?

  • Posted by Steve Spencer

Article posted on Mar 13

Some of you may already have read my review of the latest UTC Peer to Peer.  That event really got me thinking about Vista, and I wanted to put down some of my thoughts, and open it up for discussion.  For those of you who don’t know, Vista has drastically changed (or perhaps a better word is enforced, since it had previously been “suggested”, but was not mandatory) how application interact with the OS.  Among other things it has forced users to log in as “users” as opposed to administrators, and then has the user perform something akin to what us linux geeks might refer to as an “su” in order to temporarily get a higher level of access to perform certain tasks.  It also has all sorts of safeguards (manifest files in binaries, abstration of the “real” file system and registry, etc) in place to protect you and your environment.  For those who have always coded to Microsoft’s suggested security model, this transition may not be too tough.  But for the other 99% of the world, get ready to roll your sleeves up. 

 I have to say though, that I am torn on this issue.  I think most of the steps Microsoft is taking are logical, and will lead to a more secure OS.  In the meantime however, since almost everything will throw security alerts, people will get so used to clicking “allow” that the security becomes almost moot.  This, combined with the fact that they are strong-arming new computer buyers into Vista, means that the world is goignt o be scrambling to rewrite applications quickly, and in the meantime everyone (providers and customers) are going to be very frustrated.

But what would have been a better approach?  If Microsoft made Vista merely an option would anoyone have bought it?  If not, abviously software writers would not have written to it.  In the short run this is really going to suck… but will we be better off for it in a year (or maybe two :) )?

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