Now that the suggest a session for OpenWorld campaign has ended, it’s time to reflect on what we learned.
First off, thanks to everyone who submitted a session idea. There were 281 submitted before the deadline, and someone even figured out how to create a session after we closed the nomination form. Bonus points for ingenuity.
Now that it’s over, what worked? Read More
I spent the day today with my AppsLab brethren sequestered like a jury in the Thunderball conference room in sunny Pleasanton, CA. Or maybe it’s Dublin.
Anyway, Paul called us all together to hunker down on some design work. Well, some new design and some redesign.
If you’re interested in the future of the Connect and eventually Mix versions of our as yet unamed platform read on, and by all means, add your two cents.
We have two big projects right now.
Doesn’t seem like a lot, but there are a lot of moving parts. Anthony has had the OpenSocial 0.8 Shindig container implemented for a while, but we’ve been lagging on packaging up the UI pieces. Here are some of the pieces we need to design and build specifically for OpenSocial:
It’s finally official.
The winning sessions have been announced over at the OpenWorld blog. Congrats to the winners. The
Events team selected the top 25 vote-getters, and Lisa Stuart has already begun notifying the submitters via Mix.
Here are the winners ordered by number of votes. I’ve included links to the bloggers I know.
I learned a new word today, nerdcore. Here’s how the Urban Dictionary defines it:
Any form of music that is made by nerds, for nerds, or about nerdly things. Nerdcore can be made in any style of music, but most people identify it in either its pop-punk or hip-hop forms.
With the important caveat:
Nerdcore should not be confused with bands that are simply stereotypically popular with nerds such as They Might Be Giants, DEVO, Ween, etc.
I came about this word in an interesting manner. I heard Optimus Rhyme on the radio (regular, boring radio, not awesome Pandora intertubes radio). This was on the local music segment, and I guess they qualify, being somewhat local, out of Seattle.
I liked their sound (and name, being a huge Transformers geek too) and found them on MySpace (natch), and my new favorite song is “Obey the Moderator“. Even if you don’t like their sound, the words are hilarious, if you’re of a certain geeky persuasion, which I am.
My wife did not find them as funny, not being of the geeky persuasion, not even when I explained why their name was cool. Actually, that made it worse because of course, she already knew and isn’t a fan of Transformers either. Not like I am anyway. She made the “Batman or Superman?” face. Read More
Disclaimer: Honestly, I love my iPhone. It still rules, and I wouldn’t own another smartphone. However, the cynical misanthrope in me loves to deconstruct the hype that surrounds the “God phone”.
On today’s agenda, two items: 1) the “Best phone for business. Ever.” claim and 2) more 3G nonsense.
For Business? Not yet. Maybe, Updates Follow
Beyond the brazen, marketing claims of “twice the speed” and “half the price”, you have the hyperbolic claim that the iPhone is the best phone for business, ever!
I knew a guy in college who would attach an empathic “Ever!” to any best _____ claim, e.g. “That was the best movie. Ever!”. Anyway, moving on, this is laughable claim right now.
The internal mailing list and the group I created on Connect are choked with frenzied requests for help with:
Leave the first one for now because that’s a technology discussion more than anything at this point. The second one is nutty. Here’s a scenario someone called me about today. Read More
Maybe you missed it, but Apple released a bunch of new iPhone stuff last week. Who knew?
The 7.7 release of iTunes added the App Store, and the 2.0 firmware now allows me to run the first apps on my iPhone, w00t!
Reviews have begun to arrive, and apparently, the most popular price point has risen from free to $0.99. Not a big surprise there, since that’s what songs cost on iTunes. I agree with the sentiment that some app developers have way overpriced their offerings.
Personally, I’m sticking to free (as in freedom, at least from my perspective) until something really kickass comes along.
I’ve tested out quite a few apps, and now, gentle reader, I’ll share some thoughts. First off, the top of the heap so far has to be Pandora. I’m not alone in this opinion, although crowing it the killer app is a bit odd to me this early in the game. Read More
Since we started down this road last year launching Connect to go with the IdeaFactory, one common ask has been blogs.
Blogs are a cornerstone of Web 2.0, allowing anyone to publish content and anyone to participate. We discussed very early on whether we should provide a blogging platform, like multi-user WordPress or MoveableType, for internal people to use.
Ultimately, we decided against this because: 1) there were already a few instances of blogging software hosted inside the firewall and 2) our efforts were focused on people as the platform, making the social network more applicable.
But we did get lots of requests to add blogs, and we even added a Blogs tab to original Connect as a teaser.
Last week, Rich deployed a WYSIWYG editor to Connect, very similar to the one Wordpress offers. We had one before on the original Connect, but the Mix code line has never had one. I’ve wanted this for a while for Mix; since we don’t do file management (yet), a stopgap way to support video and other media is through embeds.
It occurred to me today that Connect is now a viable alternative as a blogging platform, with each group being a separate blog, capable of supporting multiple authors. Read More
Here comes another installment in my FAQ series. This one isn’t a question I get asked, but rather one I ask.
Inevitably, when you start a community or release an application to customers, you’ll need to make sure you’ve got the blessing of three groups within your company.
In any size company, you’ll need to do this, and failure to do so always ends in tears or worse for you. My advice is to engage these groups as soon as possible and plan for a very long approval process.
I don’t mention IT in this list because IT isn’t always in charge of security. When they are, then Security means IT, and by security, I mean network, not physical security. But you knew that already.
The first meeting of our (now dormant) Working Group covered how to approach Legal and Security with advice from members of our Legal and Security teams. We’ve been very fortunate to have allies in Legal and Security that have helped us understand what needed to be done to complete our projects and helped us get there as quickly as possible.
However, a lot of teams I speak to have only a vague sense that they need to work with these teams (and sometimes HR) before they can launch, and often, they haven’t allocated enough time in their plans. And they don’t know where to begin. Luckily for them, our work with Connect and Mix has acquainted us with the right people in these groups, so I can recommend a starting point. Read More
The OpenWorld content catalog has been released, and even though the session schedule hasn’t been finalized yet, you can search and browse for sessions to begin planning your time.
Even though it looks like none of our suggested sessions will make the cut, you can still find AppsLab at OpenWorld. Just to clarify, this session is one that was allocated to us by the Applications track and not a suggested session.
| Session Details | |
 Session ID: |
S299162 |
| Session Title: |
Web 2.0 Technologies In the Enterprise: Lessons Learned, Tips, and Tricks from Oracle AppsLab |
| Session Abstract: |
Web 2.0 has matured, and enterprises are coming to the realization that the new Web can help their employees be more productive and happier at work. So now what? Where do you begin? What’s your Web 2.0 strategy? What about external communications? Do you need a blog? Come get answers to these and other questions from Oracle AppsLab. Hear about firsthand experience with what works, what doesn’t, and how you can get started with Web 2.0 technologies. |
| Track: |
APPLICATIONS, All Applications |
| Focus Areas: |
Not Applicable |
| Session Type: |
Conference Session |
| Product Area: |
Applications Strategy |
| Duration: |
60 minutes |
| Speaker(s)/Company: |
Paul Pedrazzi, Oracle |
Also, if you’re anxiously awaiting the results of the session voting and want details on what happens next, you’re not alone. I am too.
Rest assured, I will blog the details when I know them. Until them, sit tight.
About a year ago, I bought my wife an iPhone and then soon broke down and bought myself one. Since then, I’ve blogged several times about the little gadget, including a few posts on how it works for me as a work tool.
A large percentage of the traffic on this blog is due to iPhone content. Several of my posts on the iPhone are in the top ten posts, ranked by traffic. Many of the referrals from search engines include “iphone” as a keyword.
In fact searching for oracle iphone returns two of my posts above the fold in Google, which is humorous to me, since just last week, Oracle released the iPhone Business Indicators app. I guess Wordpress has pretty good SEO-fu.
I routinely get inquiries from employees about the link to the iPhone wiki I started last August, and that post now has a hefty 61 comments on it.
So, when we launched the upgraded version of Connect, it made sense to create an iPhone group. The timing couldn’t have been better, just a few weeks before the 3G iPhone, the iPhone App Store and the 2.0 firmware all hit.
Anyway, if you’re an employee and you want find or share information about your iPhone (brand new or otherwise), hit me up, and I’ll point you to the group. The wiki page is linked there too, which is great because I never could find the URL fast enough.
The “Have an iPhone?” group is also a great place to sound off about what you like or don’t like about the gadget, e.g. maybe you were one of the many affected by iPocalypse Friday.
Want the 411? Drop a comment.
Voting for suggested sessions for OpenWorld in September ends today over on Mix.
I can’t tell you exactly what time it will end. Being Sunday and all, Rich is probably busy having a weekend, but it will end today.
If you haven’t voted yet, head over and browse the list of sessions. Participation has been outstanding; we’ve had nearly 300 session ideas proposed and several thousand votes cast.
If you proposed a session, this is your final chance to promote before the voting ends. Several people were doing that last week, and their efforts have paid off, moving some sessions up the list, e.g. there’s a new number one.
I still don’t have an official word on the number of sessions that will make the cut, but I’ve heard the number will be somewhere between 25-35. The numbers are fuzzy because the Events team is expecting that not all the top vote getters will respond and be able to present.
So, if you have an idea in or near the top 20, get your agenda and content ready for the big dog and pony show because you’ll want to be prepared and polished when you get the call, figuratively speaking. In reality, it’ll probably be an email.
Anyway, brush off your A game. Everyone else, head over to Mix and join this unique opportunity. Have a voice in what sessions make the cut for OpenWorld.
If you wondering, OpenWorld is September 21-25 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Register here, early bird rates end on July 18, or if you’re a blogger and you want to attend cover this huge conference, follow the process listed here.
Update: Voting has ended. Head over to Mix to view the greatest session ideas.
Update 7/14/08: The official word is here.
Sessions are now being carefully evaluated and winners will be announced on July 21.
Update: This post could easily have been all about the failday (or iPocalypse as Gizmodo is calling it) Apple and AT&T had. Not since Firefox 3 download day have we seen a fail of these proportions.
No one was exempt: those waiting in line, those updating a 2G iPhone, those trying to activate iPhones for hours. Except for those of us who installed the leaked update yesterday (thanks Eddie!). I think that is still working, if you have a 2G and can’t get the firmware to update through iTunes.
This has been bothering me all week, and I can’t believe I forgot to include it my last post about the iPhone 2.0 firmware.
It’s the corporate discount. You know, the iPhone is for business now, so corporate discounts are supposed to apply.
This is confusing, and I don’t claim to have all the information. Here’s what I know:
So, this means that either 3G iPhones are treated differently that 2G ones are or we’re all in the same boat. Either way, I’m screwed. Honestly, I really hope I’m not paying the early adopter tax again for buying a 2G iPhone too soon. Read More
Earlier today, Gizmodo leaked the iPhone 2.0 firmware. This update, in conjunction with the iTunes 7.7 release that revealed the long anticipated App Store have allowed me to install apps on my lowly, outmoded iPhone 2G.
I’m now reveling in the geeky pleasure of controlling my iTunes library from my iPhone, using the free Remote app. Look kids, a $500 remote control.
Anyway, I saw the leak earlier today, but I’m both really sick and hesitant to mess with stuff that’s working, especially critical stuff like my cell phone. So, I rested instead.
After rest and medication, I crawled over to Twitter and saw that Eddie had successfully installed the 2.0 firmware. Sweet, a success story. This was all the motivation I needed. Eddie showed off a few screen captures, a new feature in 2.0, to prove it.
One of my favorite memes is LOLcats. I never get tired of them. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.
I had hoped to find a hilarious “ur doin it rong” to go with blogging, but alas, you’ll have to be amused by these representative samples.
Anyway, I have a few pet (pun intended) peeves related to blogging, or rather to commenting on blogs. The assumption here is that the blog has comments turned on; if not, it’s not really a blog, is it?
Peeve 1: Moderated Comments
This gets to why someone starts a blog in the first place. If the goal was to open topics up to discussion, moderated comments throw a wet blanket over that. I’m by no means a serial commenter, but when I’m motivated enough by a post to comment, I like to see my comment immediately.
It’s the instant gratification, not dissimilar to what Twitter provides. Moderating comments also lengthens the feedback loop. So not only do I wait for my comment to appear, I also wait for the blogger to respond.
People don’t comment without expecting or at least hoping for a response (more on that later).
Most arguments I’ve heard for moderation are pretty thin, IMHO.
Connect has been live for several weeks now. We spent only a few days running it concurrently with original Connect, and then Rich slapped redirects in place for the old URLs. It didn’t make much sense to maintain two instances
Traffic, which had dwindled significantly has ramped back up to between 13-15,000 pageviews each week. This isn’t super heavy volume for Connect, which is a good thing as we work out the kinks.
The early analytics show that groups are a big hit. From our experience with Connect a year ago, we’ve always know that groups is the killer feature. That’s why we added them to Mix. People have been asking for Groups since we launched Mix, and now, they’re joining Groups like crazy.
One interesting effect I’ve noticed with groups is that the early ones have been based on affinity, e.g. Apple technology or iPhone or Linux. I noticed a couple of these pop up, so I added a few myself. It’s always interesting to see what your colleagues are interested in, whether technology or hobby or both. Read More
As Justin blogged yesterday, Oracle is hosting an Enterprise 2.0 Bootcamp on July 28 at the big blue disk drives in Redwood Shores.
I won’t be able to make it, but Paul will be in attendance, along with Justin and the usual suspects. This should be an interesting event where attendees get a chance to interact with Oracle folks and other interested parties in a predominantly unconference format.
Oh, and it’s free as in beer.
Here’s the agenda:
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Opening Remarks
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Lightning Talks
9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Format Overview and Session Signups
10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Unconference Session 1
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Unconference Session 2
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Unconference Session 3
2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Unconference Session 4
3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Unconference Session 5
4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Closing Remarks
5:00 p.m. Networking
If you’re going to be in the Bay Area on July 28 and want to talk Enterprise 2.0 and such, come out to Oracle.
Do you have a vision for how technology can transform what your company or department does, but no one will listen? Do you spend your day “evangelizing” the merits of social networking behind the firewall but finding it fall on deaf ears? Do you find yourself explaining how a wiki works to everyone who emails you the 8meg ppt deck (that you already received 3 times)? You are not alone.
In our capacity as an innovation team inside a big organization, we end up talking to quite a few individiuals who live and breath this whole Web 2.0 thing, feel it has great import to their business, and yet, can’t get the ball moving. This article is for you.
My recent move to Ubuntu over the long weekend has reminded me of a pet rant of mine, calendars. You’d think something so basic for every cross-section of users, from personal to every size business, would have an easy solution.
But no.
I’m a long time Palm Desktop user, long meaning I had one of the second generation Palm IIs back in the day, one of the first 3Com-branded ones. I have over 10,000 entries in my Palm calendar dating back to 1997. My address book is pretty big too, but not as vital to me.
For about a year, I’ve been trying to move to a more modern calendar, either online or installed. This process has caused me nothing but frustration with the state of calendar applications.
My requirements are pretty simple:
That’s all. I’ve stayed with Palm Desktop for years, even after I stopped carrying a Palm handheld. Why? Because it’s fast and dependable.
Seems pretty simple. I don’t care that it’s 10,000 odd records and over a 1 MB of entries. This shouldn’t be hard. Apparently, I’m asking too much though.
First off, I know Palm stores data in a proprietary format, which is a bummer. So, I bought an extension that dumps to iCal format for this. So, armed with my 1.8 MG ics file, off I went. Let’s examine my quest. Read More
In case you haven’t had enough of my epic dumping of Windows for Ubuntu odyssey, here’s another installment. This is likely to be the last one, but no promises.
This is my fist blog post from Ubuntu, not a huge deal, but still.
I’m probably 75-80% of the way done, with a few holes yet to fill, notably the dual monitors/docking station issue, which will probably require me to edit xorg.conf. If you have any insight, please share it in comments.
Today’s big hurdle was getting Cisco VPN client installed and connected to our VPN servers, a show-stopper for work. A quick search of Google tells you what a pain that is, and again, Rich warned me in advance.
I finally did get it working though, after a few hours, including a chunk of Rich’s time over IM (thanks pal), and a lot of blind command execution. Then I got Thunderbird up and running, including my archived Inbox of 30,000 odd messages and 20,000 sent messages. Like I said before, I’m a pack rat. I also imported my old Pidgin chat logs, so I’m feeling pretty good.
The big remaining pieces aside from monitors are a GUI for Cisco VPN and testing out OpenOffice as a Microsoft Office replacement. Even if it works, I’ll probably install MS Office in the XP VM I have, just in case.
So, time for impressions. Read More
I decided earlier in the week that the long Fourth of July would be a great time to reimage my work laptop from XP to Ubuntu.
A couple reasons for this: 1) I’m supposed to be off today, so I can muck around with my laptop without worrying about work stuff and 2) it’s a bit fitting to declare my independence from Windows on the 4th.
Not that I’m fully abandoning Windows, since as I write this, I’m installing a virtual image of XP, but rather, I’m opening up my options to include Linux. Like I said before, choice is good.
Rich told me yesterday over IM that it would take about 30 minutes to install Ubuntu and a bit longer to get it running. He also assured me that dual monitors and docking stations were supported. I think he said something similar to out-of-the-box, but I can’t check my chat log just now.
He’s partially right. It was a quick install, unless you try to take out the install CD when the restart is happening, and then you have to reburn another image. User error on my part.
Ubuntu did auto-configure my hardware, USB, sound, video, monitor, wireless card, all very impressively. I got the updates downloaded and installed and had Firefox 3 configured to my liking with all my favorite add-ons and bookmarks in a couple hours.
Then I spent the rest of the day fighting dual monitors. Read More
