Tuesday evening thoughts - 11.26.08 - Happy Thanksgiving

New blog feature:

I'm a voracious reader and from time to time I stumble upon a article that I think might be of interest to you. Google reader has made it very easy to share these article with you. I've added a box to the top of the box where I'm sharing links to articles that I'm reading. These articles from the cloud are full of knowledge and insight. Let me know what you think.

Columbus Tech Life Meetup:

We're close to 400 members and have 10 events on the December calendar. Invest in yourself and your community by joining the meetup - http://www.meetup.com/columbustech/ . Help us build a culture of innovation in Columbus.

Kudos:

• Stan Ahalt ( Ohio Supercomputer Center executive director) appointed chair of Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation
• Brand Thunder for winning Society for New Communications Research Honors Award
• Columbus Crew for winning the Major Soccer League Championship
• Herb Smaltz and the OSU team for putting on the Consumerism and Healthcare IT Innovations Summit
• Ron Frissora and the CIO program committee for putting on CIOhio
• Tom Augustine and the rest of the Ohio Web Leaders for putting on Integrating Online and Traditional Marketing
• Dan Harris for putting on the Columbus Tweetup Tour of Ohio Stadium
• Angela Siefer for organizing the Monday's Columbus Tech Life Mixer at the Black Creek Bistro

Have a happy Thanksgiving,

Peace out,
Ben

3X Systems featured in Central Ohio Java Users Group podcast

About 3X Systems

• Located in Tech Columbus incubator
• 3X Systems provides Small and Mid-Sized Businesses (SMBs) with data management solutions that are designed to meet their unique business requirements. Our extensive experience with SMBs and their IT Providers has helped us design high value products that deliver a keen blend of technical capability, reliability, and simplicity.
  
  The company's marquee product is the 3X Backup system. This solution delivers the benefits of a costly, online backup service in a portable, all-in-one device that can be purchased by the end customer or their IT services provider.

• Link to their flash demo - http://www.3x.com/flash/
• Link to podcast -

  http://www.cojug.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=

  It’s 18 minutes in length 3x talks about TechColumbus, startup life, and technology in Columbus.

TEDTalks - Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness - (embedded video - visible on blog site)

About this talk

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says we can train our minds in habits of well-being, to generate a true sense of serenity and fulfillment.
About Matthieu Ricard

Sometimes called the "happiest man in the world," Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, author and photographer.

Open Positions - Columbus Tech Life

To see go to: http://techlife.pbwiki.com/Jobs

Dawson - Financial Business Specialist.doc - 11/13

Dawson - Interactive Multimedia and Web Technology Engineer.doc 11/13

Fast Switch - Multiple positions - link to our site's Career page

Ray and Barney - Check out our career site for the latest jobs.

Ray and Barney - Intern for the 2008.doc Web Design and Development

Columbus Chamber of Commerce - ColumbusInternships.com

Now Software, Inc. - Freelance Icon & Graphic Designer - 11/21/08

Progressive Medical - DBA posting.doc - 11/24/08

Progressive Medical - PA 2 posting.doc - 11/24/08

Tribes: We Need You to Lead US - (embedded slideshare presentation - visible on blog site)

Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: tribes socialmedia)

Harvard Business Podcast - Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators

Harvard Business IdeaCast 121: Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators - (click on this title to go to the podcast)

via hbsp2's Podcast on 11/20/08

Featured Guest: Jeffrey Cohn, coauthor of the Harvard Business Review article "Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators." Copyright 2008 Harvard Business School Publishing

Obama administration announces technology policy working group from VentureBeat by Eric Eldon Technology policy may not be dominating president-elect

Technology policy may not be dominating president-elect Barack Obama’s agenda so far, but it’s moving forward along with the rest of his transition. Today, Change.gov, the site his campaign uses to announce transition moves, has posted an update on who will be shaping his administration’s plans for action once he assumes power.

The three people in charge of “Technology, Innovation & Government Reform” — the catch-all tech category — are listed below. We’ve mentioned Sonal Shah and Julius Genachowski as possible candidates for Obama’s planned “Chief Technology Officer” position, a job that would apparently be charged with implementing the plans these three come up with. Note, for what it’s worth: The other six working groups have either one or two people in them.

From the site:

Blair Levin is a Managing Director of Stifel Nicolaus and serves as the firm’s principal telecom, media and tech regulatory and strategy analyst. Prior to his work as an analyst, Mr. Levin served as Chief of Staff to Chairman Reed Hundt at the Federal Communications Commission from 1993 through 1997. Before joining the FCC, Levin was a partner in the North Carolina law firm of Parker Poe, Poe, Adams and Bernstein.

Sonal Shah heads Google.org’s global development efforts. Prior to joining Google, she was Vice President at Goldman, Sachs and Co. developing and implementing the firm’s environmental policy. She is also the co-founder ofIndicorps , a U.S.-based non-profit organization offering one-year fellowships Indian-Americans to work on development projects in India. Sonal also worked at the Center for American Progress on trade, outsourcing and post conflict issues and the Center for Global Development on development policy issues. Sonal worked at the Department of Treasury from 1995-2002 on various economic issues and regions of the world, including Bosnia, Kosovo, the Asian crisis and sub-Saharan Africa. During that time she also worked at the National Security Council from 1998-1999. Sonal received her BA in economics from the University of Chicago and her MA in economics from Duke University. She is on the Obama-Biden Transition Project Advisory Board.

Julius Genachowski is co-founder of Rock Creek Ventures and LaunchBox Digital, a special advisor at General Atlantic, and a member of various boards of directors and advisors. From 1997 to 2005, he was a senior executive at IAC/InterActiveCorp, where his roles included Chief of Business Operations, General Counsel, and a member of the Office of the Chairman. Genachowski served at the Federal Communications Commission from 1994 to 1997, including as Chief Counsel to the Chairman. From 1991 to 1994 he served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. (ret.), and to Chief Judge Abner J. Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He worked in Congress from 1985 to 1988, for Sen. Charles E. Schumer (then a U.S. Representative), and for the joint select committe on the Iran-Contra Affair. He is a on the Obama-Biden Transition Project Advisory Board.

How 10 Famous Technology Products Got Their Names

From iPod and BlackBerry to Twitter and Wikipedia, we take a look at the processes and people who came up with the names for these iconic tech products.

Media Tour Focuses National Attention on Central Ohio’s Tech Community

TechColumbus and the Columbus Chamber of Commerce played hosts last week to a slate of national tech writers and editors who came to town to learn more about why the region was recently recognized by Forbes as the #1 Up and Coming Tech City. Great stories, such as the one posted by David Strom, a regular contributor to E-Week, Info World and the NY Times, are beginning to emerge as a result.

Strom posted a story on his Web Informant site that focuses on the City of Dublin and its efforts to narrowly target and attract a certain type of startup company, namely the kind that starts out as one or two people in a garage and ends up staying within the city while growing to a much larger entity. Dana McDaniel, Dublin’s deputy city manager, says that the city is betting on the “long-tail,” a term most often associated with very narrow segmentation and targeting. Strom cites the many things Dublin has going for it in achieving this goal. These include quality of life considerations such as a thriving downtown district with multiple eateries, congestion-free travel and mixed residential-business zones to enable people to still have their offices close by their homes once they’ve grown out of the garage. Strom further cites Dublin’s proximity to Columbus and the ability to “piggy-back” off of all the business resources and talent pool the region has to offer. Strom praises Dublin for really getting what the next decade of employment opportunities is going to be all about.

Strom had great things to say about Columbus as an IT destination as well.

Click here to read his complete post

OCLC Teams with Syracuse University and University of Washington to Build a Better Search Engine

OCLC, along with the information schools of Syracuse University and the University of Washington, have joined together in an international effort to create a more credible Web search engine based on the input of librarians around the globe. Funded through a $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the program is known as Reference Extract. When used to search for a key word or phrase, Reference Extract returns results that are weighted towards those sites most often used by librarians to retrieve data. The objective of the project, which is currently in the planning phase, is to provide maximum credibility of search results.

“We look forward to developing this credibility focused search capability which holds the promise of providing powerful new access to information based on professionally delivered library reference services,” said Jay Jordon, president and CEO of OCLC. “We are hopeful that this effort will lay the necessary groundwork for implementing a large-scale, general user service.”

Anyone wishing to provide input for the program, or in learning more, can visit the project Web site at http://digref.org

Brand Thunder Wins Society for New Communications Research Award

Brand Thunder wins awards in the New Media Creation/Social Media Production/Corporate Division....

Society for New Communications Research Honors Award Winners

Winning Social Media Case Studies Now Published on NewCommReview.com

Palo Alto, Calif. – November 17, 2008 – The Society for New Communications Research (http://www.sncr.org), a global nonprofit think tank focused on the latest developments in new media and communications, announced the winners of the 2008 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards at the 3rd Annual SNCR Research Symposium & Awards Gala held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge Mass. on Friday, November 14th.

The Society’s prestigious awards program honors individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and media outlets that are pioneering the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities, virtual worlds, and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media, journalism and professional communications, entertainment, education, social initiatives, government and politics. This year the Society’s Fellows reviewed nearly 100 case study submissions....

click here for more

Long Tail of Social Entrepreneurship - (embedded slideshare presentation - visible on blog site)

Long tail of social entrepreneurship

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: corporate business)

CallCopy Signs Strategic Alliance with NACR

Leading Avaya BusinessPartner to distribute CallCopy’s suite of contact center solutions

COLUMBUS, Ohio – November 18, 2008 – CallCopy, Inc., a leading provider of call recording and quality monitoring software, today announced that it entered into a strategic alliance with NACR, a value added solutions provider and Avaya’s largest BusinessPartner worldwide. NACR will market and distribute cc: Discover, CallCopy’s suite of contact center solutions, using its network of more than 400 employees and sales offices located across the country. The strategic alliance strengthens NACR’s contact center solutions offerings with CallCopy’s easy-to-use, flexible call recording, quality monitoring, hosted customer satisfaction survey and screen capture utilities

click here for more

Ohio Supercomputer Center executive director appointed chair of Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation

Congratulations to Stan Ahalt !!



Austin, Texas - Nov. 18, 2008 - Today, the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC) appointed Stan Ahalt, Ph.D. and executive director of the Ohio Supercomputer Center, to serve as Chair of the organization for the next year.
With 60 member institutions, CASC represents many of the nation’s top research universities and computing centers; it is an advocate for advanced computing technology to accelerate scientific discovery critical to national competitiveness, global security and economic success. CASC also promotes advanced technology as an essential tool in developing a skilled and diverse workforce.
As Chair, Ahalt will be responsible for all general business meetings and serve as an official representative of CASC. When called upon, he will work as an expert resource for Congress and various federal agencies, as well as for state and local government bodies.
“CASC is an organization that has a long and proud history of advocacy for advanced academic scientific computing. CASC not only provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and best practices, but also has a role in shaping our nation’s technological outcomes,” Ahalt said. “I am deeply appreciative of the intelligent, diverse and impassioned individuals and organizations that comprise CASC, and I believe that we can harness our collective voice to support the national cyberinfrastructure agenda.”
Since Ahalt joined OSC in 2003, OSC has launched several model programs, including Blue Collar Computing, a national program to bring high performance computing to a wide spectrum of industries and applications, and the Ralph Regula School of Computational Science. He also serves as co-chair of the Ohio Broadband Council, the coordinating body for the state's initiative to extend the reach of Ohio’s nationally recognized research and education network and to further Ohio's leadership in network research and innovation.
Ahalt’s research expertise involves neural networks, high performance computing, signal/image/video processing and object identification. He collaborates with a variety of organizations in his active research programs. Ahalt has been a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University since 1987, and co-founded the Information Processing Systems Laboratory there. He received the OSU Lumley Research Award in 1997 and the OSU College of Engineering Research Award in 1999.
CASC officials announced the appointment as part of its annual luncheon during SC08, the international conference on high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis, held this year in Austin, Texas.
Celebrating over 20 years of service, the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) is a catalytic partner of Ohio universities and industries that provides reliable cyberinfrastructure for a diverse statewide/regional community including education, academic research, industry, and state government. Funded by the Ohio Board of Regents, OSC promotes and stimulates computational research and education in order to act as a key enabler for the state's aspirations in advanced technology, information systems, and advanced industries. For additional information, visit http://www.osc.edu.

Long Tail Business Models - (embedded slideshare presentation - visible on blog site)

Long Tail Business Models

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: innovation design)

TEDTalks Malcolm Gladwell: What we can learn from spaghetti sauce

About this talk

Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.
About Malcolm Gladwell

Detective of fads and emerging subcultures, chronicler of jobs-you-never-knew-existed, Malcolm Gladwell's work is toppling the popular understanding of bias, crime, food, marketing, race,…

Monday Morning Muses - Nov 17, 2008

What a week on the Columbus Tech Scene...here's a roll call of happenings

- Congrats to Ray Bohac and the team at CallCopy for winning a "Best Place to Work Award" - very cool that one of CBus' kick butt startups is recognized for talking care of its people

- The inaugural Ignite Columbus event rocked - we even made the front page of Slide Share

- From Tech Strategy 8.5 - Companies you should know

• KidsLinked - makes line easier for those of us that have kids 0-12
  
• Clearwish - online wishbook
• Xcelerate Media - customized elearning courseware - a blue ribbon list of customer like Southwest airlines
• Great Migrations - software translation technologies
• Brand Thunder - Brand extension through your browser

- Got a chance to talk to some out of town reporters regarding good things happening in CBus - check out this article - props to Dana McDaniel - there's power in the long tail!!

- Launched a our new customer portal at Progressive Medical - lots of web 2.0 functionality - IFX v8.0 - very cool

- Columbus Tech Life - 372 members and growing - check out the calendar - 12 events in the next three weeks - lots of opportunities to connect, learn, and grow

- Had lunch with Matt Carbonara from Reservoir Venture Funds - relocated to CBus from San Francisco and is now working to invest in local companies - smart guy - thinking about doing something to educate local biz leaders on trends

- Check out future blogs for postings from the TEDTalks -Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers

- Check out future blog posts for selected slideshare presentations - this week we talk about the long tail

The prop list:

- props to Pawan Murthy at BMW Financial Services for his work on the "PEP" program - designed to help local colelge students find their passion

- props to Luke Barbara and the Business Builders club at OSU for helping to homegrow entrepreneurs

- props to Tom Williams and Ray Bohac for helping to judge this weekend Business Pitch Competition - helping to shape the next gen of entrepreneurs

- props to Duvall Wireless for winning the Business Pitch Competition - check out this story in the Dispatch

Peace out,
Ben

Ignite Columbus Rocked!!

This was originally posted on http://ignitecbus.com/

Here is link to the presentations from Ignite Columbus - http://www.slideshare.net/tag/ignitecolumbus


Well we did it. We pulled off our first Ignite Columbus event this evening at the Columbus Robotics Society in Grandview. To say it was awesome would be an understatement. We had about 45 folks show, 15 presenters present a wide range of exciting ideas intermixed between pizza, robots, the chumby, spiked cider and cold drinks. Conversation and chatter ran wild as people met for the first time twitter or no twitter. I saw a lot of new faces, new to social media, new to this evolving scene and a few old friendly faces from Startup Weekend.

The rules of Ignite are pretty simple, there are none- other than 20 slides, 15 seconds a slide, 5 minutes for your skinny, your big idea. Get up, present!

After each presentation we had quick Q&A and then rolled onward to the next presenter.

The venue was PERFECT! Scott Preston aka @scottpreston on twitter, owner and organizer of the Columbus Robotics Society has what is essentially a really big garage, filled with hardware and supplies to teach anyone and everyone how to make robots.

How fitting would it be to have our first Ignite in a garage I thought. Its perfect. Not too big, not too small, underground, sure, risky, yep, love it. I loved the large garage door being open the whole event.. (personally I tend to run pretty hot, cool air is always nice) I did see @jodyNcolumbus and a few other gals feel a bit chilly- sorry about that ladies. Even still the garage atmosphere really lent our first Ignite that vibe of, wham bam DIY love. It was natural, cool and chill. No assumptions, come as you are. That was perfect. Its you, some people you don’t know, and maybe a sip or two of spiked cider provided by @serota.

A few people asked me tonight, why Ignite?

After coming off the incredible high of Startup Weekend back in July I was more hopeful than ever that a unconference event like Ignite could occur, but I also didn’t want all the red tape of organizing an event so large, so big, so massive that the process of creating it sort of snuffed the will to do so. And for those of you wondering “what the hell is an unconference“, an unconference is a new term for a kind of impromptu event. Not all unconferences are alike, Ignite has a bit of structure to it, but it also doesn’t take it so seriously yet it can still draw a crowd, manifest some magic and get it going. Unconferences are born out of gatherings and meetings where people just came together to share ideas, or do code-a-thons where programmers meet in an evening just make stuff. The un- pun is all about the fact there is no set agenda, no lecture to be had, you will not get told x, y, z, before the event. The event unfolds live as you experience it. What matters most surfaces to the top and people express it. Some day I’ll do one of those unconferences where its just a big blank white board, and the first day people just go up to it and write down what they want give a talk on, the conference with no theme finds a theme in the first few hours of the event and so on.

Ignite’s format was simple, and really geared just to foster a fun quick evening of ideas. I love ideas. I love quick bursts of oh thats cool, next. I knew that @wyliemac had organized Startup Weekend, and I mentioned to him this idea of doing an Ignite. I also wanted to do an event that was nationally recognized even if it was a bit underground in concept. Nationally recognized because Columbus deserved it- Seattle, Boston, Silicon Valley.. ya ya ya, well hey gang, here comes Columbus, scoot over.

Some folks suggested I just work with Pecha Kucha folks (another event much like Ignite), and that was ok, but didn’t stick in that I wanted to work with the passionate people I had met at Startup Weekend.

Our concept began to take steam where else but on twitter. We tweeted the concept and others joined in to help pull it off: @810harris, @fusefactory, @_arvind all chimed in. Feeling that we had some goodness here, we tapped O’Reilly Ignite organizational team, they said sure and gave us a zip file with signage and basic logos to use for the event.

Next we kicked off a few free conference calls in Calliflower, rallying the team whatever way we could. No need to meet in person, lets just chat and talk about it in a collaborative space. It worked and we even recorded the calls for anyone following our event prep to tune and catch up on what we were planning.

Then @wyliemac setup a wordpress blog, and he and I began loading it up with content. I pulled down some general background from Ignite Phoenix’s event, gave them props, modified it slightly for what we wanted to do and put it into our guidelines. As an extra bit I created a quick and dirty fun little video to help promote the event with Animoto.

By now we were essentially set on course to have Ignite. As presentations arrived from our presenters we conducted very basic PR to get the word out via twitter, cbus-techlife, meetup, majelly and on our own personal blogs or workplaces.

Coming to a close, our first Ignite was a smashing success. Presentations are on Slideshare here, and we have some pictures and video of the event that will be posted as soon as they are processed. All the people involved in the making, presenting and attending of this event need to take a bow and get ready because Ignite Columbus 2 is on the way for late January 2009! Thanks again everyone, more to come- @floozyspeak

New job posts on Columbus Tech Life

Check it out at - http://techlife.pbwiki.com/Jobs

TEDTalks Nicholas Negroponte: One Laptop per Child, two years on

About this talk

Nicholas Negroponte talks about how One Laptop per Child is doing, two years in. Speaking at the EG conference while the first XO laptops roll off the production line, he recaps the controversies and recommits to the goals of this far-reaching project.
About Nicholas Negroponte

The founder of the MIT Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte pushed the edge of the information revolution as an inventor, thinker and angel investor. Now he's the driving force behind One Laptop per…

Columbustech meetup group

Stay connected - check out the columbustech meetup group - A few hundred Cbus Tech members and growing - http://newtech.meetup.com/136/

The focus of this meetup group to accelerate the pace of getting to know really cool tech people in town. Join now and get the insider invites to our get togethers. Some are impromptu and some are planned. Either you'll never know if you don't sign up

This is the face to face version of what we're doing on columbustech.blogspot.com - Our mission is to create dynamic connections between individuals and companies, ultimately establishing strong coalitions that build awareness and grow our technology economy. We encourage dialogue, sharing, and learning.

Peace out,
Ben

Understanding Gen Y :The Transformer Generation

Transformer Generation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: boomers y)

The MIT 2nd annual Elevator Pitch Contest

The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition recognizes that every great company starts with a vision and a great team. With the Elevator Pitch Contest, the brand-new addition to the $100K competition series, you can test your idea with a 60-second pitch and win one of several cash prizes, totaling $10,000.....click here to see the finals pitches on Oct 18

TechColumbus Provides Backup for Serial Entrepreneur

Even a serial entrepreneur can sometimes use a little extra help when launching a product in a new space. Such was the case with Alan Arman, founder and CEO of 3X Systems, a Columbus-based developer of remote backup appliance (3X RBA) for small to medium sized businesses (SMBs).

Arman first conceived of the 3X system while engaged in one of his previously launched businesses, a technology services firm that provided managed IT support to SMBs. IT operations in SMBs traditionally called for data backup and disaster recovery protocols that were predominantly dependent on manual processes that were highly susceptible to both human error and technical failures. While online backup provider solutions were becoming more available, Arman soon realized that these options were both expensive and impractical for his SMB clients. With a business’ critical information residing in a remote data center sometimes thousands of miles away, data updates and restoration could be cumbersome and time consuming depending on the amount of data involved. Plus, subscription fees for such services represented fixed costs the SMB had to incur monthly....click here for more

Dublin is Repeat Winner As A Smart21 Community

(Dublin, Ohio) – For the second year in a row, the City of Dublin has been named a Smart21 Community by the Intelligent Community Forum. Dublin shares the honor with Stockholm, Sweden; Malta; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Talinn, Estonia; Westchester County, N.Y.; and 15 other cities around the globe.

The Intelligent Community Forum announced the finalists today in South Korea during the e-Government Gangnam Conference, hosted by ICF’s 2008 Intelligent Community of the Year, the Gangnam District of Seoul.

“We strive to give our residents and businesses the most innovative services to keep Dublin globally competitive,” said Deputy City Manager/Director of Economic Development Dana McDaniel. “It is an incredible honor to be recognized by the Intelligent Community Forum, and to be included in the same company as these leading communities from around the world.”

The Smart21 announcement is the first stage of ICF's annual Intelligent Community of the Year awards cycle. It will be followed by the naming of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year, selected from among the Smart21, on Jan. 21, 2009 during the Pacific Telecommunications Council annual conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. The cycle concludes in New York City on May 15, 2009 during ICF’s annual Building the Broadband Economy Summit, where one of the Top Seven will succeed Gangnam as Intelligent Community of the Year.

The awards program also is an ongoing research project. Each community submitted detailed nomination forms to ICF, which analyzed the information to identify and document best practices in broadband deployment, knowledge workforce development, digital inclusion, innovation and marketing and advocacy. The information is shared with communities around the world, in order to help them benchmark themselves against their global competition and better meet the challenges of the Broadband Economy.

The Smart21 of 2009
The Smart21 of 2009 includes communities from 12 nations on four continents with populations ranging from 17,000 to 2.5 million.

* Albany, New York, USA; population 94,000
* Ashland, Oregon, USA; population 22,000
* Bristol, Virginia, USA; population 17,500
* Dublin, Ohio, USA; population 40,000
* Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; population 1,035,000
* Eindhoven, Netherlands; population 297,000
* Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; population 50,535
* Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia; population 509,000
* Issy-les-Moulineaux, France; population 61,000
* Kenora, Ontario, Canada; population 17,000
* Malta; population 405,000
* Manchester, England, UK; population 2,500,000
* Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada; population 125,000
* Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa; population 1,200,000
* Porto Alegre, Brazil; population 1,400,000
* Riverside, California, USA; population 291,000
* Stockholm, Sweden; population 795,000
* Tallinn, Estonia; population 400,000
* Taoyuan County, Taiwan; population 1,950,000
* Trikala, Greece; population 52,000
* Westchester County, New York, USA; population 950,000

Eight of the communities were on the 2008 Smart21 list and three were named to the 2008 Top Seven. Ten of the 2009 Smart21 are North American communities, seven are from Europe, two from Asia-Pacific, one from South America, and one from Africa. In addition to individual cities and towns, the 2009 Smart21 includes two counties and two multi-city metropolitan areas.

"Each of these communities has demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities through innovative broadband applications," said Louis Zacharilla, ICF Co-founder. "The ingenuity of these communities is exemplified in their investments in the future of the young, the growth and progress of job-creating businesses and economic security. An overarching theme of the 2009 honorees has been the dedication to putting people first and building a 'talent inventory' that will thrive with technology and innovation."

More information on each community is available at ICF's Web site (www.intelligentcommunity.org/smart21). The Smart21 were selected from hundreds of candidates and submissions from communities large and small with submissions received from every continent.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 29, 2008
Contact: Nancy Richison
Economic Development
614-410-4643

NBC4 Needs Your Help Assisting Central Ohioans

Originally posted on Central Ohio Network Blog

Ryan Squire of our local NBC affiliate at channel 4 sent a series of messages on Twitter today talking about the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. The numbers of people who are served by the Mid-Ohio Food Bank are staggering. Some of the information Ryan Squire shared on Twitter:

• The Mid-Ohio Food Bank has had a 14% increase in demand from local pantries right here in Columbus.
• 1 in 8 people in Central Ohio need help from a local food pantry in order to be able to eat.
• If there are 1.3 Million people in Franklin County, 162,000 people need help to eat. That is enough people to fill Ohio Stadium, Crew Stadium, Nationwide and Value Center Arena!

• One third of the people served by the Mid-Ohio Food Bank have to choose between food and shelter and half are forced to choose between eating and utility bills.

As Ryan then stated simply, these are our neighbors. The odds that you know someone accessing benefits in Central Ohio are pretty good. So what can you do? NBC has activated 4’s Army to do a food drive for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. On Saturday, November 15th from 8am to 2pm at the NBC 4 Studios, 3165 Olentangy River Road. You can drop off non-perishable food items or a cash donation. Too busy? You can go to the NBC4 web site to make a donation on line.

Please share this story with your social network. Thousands of Central Ohioans need your help. Maybe even someone you know.

Peace out,
Ben

Columbus Tech Life Meetup Community Update

Hello everyone,

It's been a busy week for the Columbus Tech Life community. We've been adding new meetup members at a fast clip (we're up to almost 350 members). Take moment to check out the site and virtually meet our new members. I guess the secret is getting out ....

We've got some great opportunities coming up to connect, learn, and grow.


Nov 13 - Ignite Columbus
Nov 19 - Columbus Tweetup Tour of Ohio Stadium
Nov 19 - Central OH Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America Mixer
Nov 24 - Columbus Tech Life Mixer
Dec 2 - Columbus Social Media Cafe - December Meeting
Dec 4 - IT Unconference
Dec 5 - Capital Crash Course 2009
Dec 11 - IT Martini Hour 3: Festivus for the TECH in Us

click here to see the full calendar

Here's some new links on the CBusTechLife.com site to presentations and videos from last weeks Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco - click here - look in the files and material sections.

Look for upcoming meetups in your local area..We've got hosts that have agreed to host events in Westerville (Tony DiSanza), Clintonville (Dave Ungar), Worthington (Andrew Graf), New Albany (Tom Guy) and Dublin (Brian Zuercher).

Keep spreading the word about Columbus Tech Life and let's cocreate a world that helps us connect, learn, and grow (forward this note out to a friend and encourage them to sign up).

Peace out,
Ben

P.S. - If you haven't already done so check out out our community website at www.cbustechlife.com and contribute to building something great - we can do it!

P.P.S - Check out the pics from the CbusTechLife Joe

Nine Web 2.0 Startups Beating The Odds in Down Economy

Nine Web 2.0 Startups Beating The Odds in Down Economy
Funded with $50,000 or less, here's how nine Web 2.0 companies are making their products work in the worst of times....click here to see

Thoughts from Tim O Reilly at the Web2.0 Summit in San Francisco this week

Tweets from Tim O'Reilly...

One of the very valuable things you can do on twitter is follow thought leaders on a day to day basis and get a sense for some of the BIG PICTURE things happening in the world.

Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. O'Reilly Media also hosts conferences on technology topics, including the Web 2.0 Summit, the Web 2.0 Expo, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, and the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference.

Following are some his latest tweets from the Web 2.0Summit this week in San Francisco - (there is also some great content available from the conference available on line - click here for a sampling)




RT @WebwareWebSum: media & broadcasting companies using Qik, which is compatible with ~75 mobile handsets, for breaking news #web2summit about 10 hours ago from twhirl


Retweeting @jonl: New Worldchanging.com initiative: http://inauguratechange.com/ about 10 hours ago from twhirl


Retweeting @WebwareWebSum: Sungevity wants to help other companies cut 15-40 percent of costs with its platform #web2summit about 10 hours ago from twhirl


Retweeting @ravenme: GoodGuide wins the audience vote in the Web 2.0 Summit LaunchPad. #web2summit about 10 hours ago from twhirl


Post by @monkchips The Hard Work Starts Now http://tinyurl.com/64wuyq is very good. Perspective on the challenges ahead. about 10 hours ago from twhirl


RT @gcolony: The newspaper industry in the U.S. had a market cap of $85 billion five years ago. The cap is now down to less than $5 billion. about 11 hours ago from twhirl


RT @dhinchcliffe: Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook's daily activities are not centered around trying to justify a $15 billion valuation #web2summit about 11 hours ago from twhirl


@tobybot Yep, the Wattzon data is indeed alarming. To really solve the climate problem, we need to replace 80% of our current energy mix. about 11 hours ago from twhirl in reply to tobybot


@enricopulatzo Watts are a constant measure of energy use. Translate our lifestyle into watt equivalents. Gets everything on the same basis. about 15 hours ago from twhirl in reply to enricopulatzo


Saul Griffith: govt uses more energy on our behalf than the average person in the world uses in total. #web2summit about 15 hours ago from twhirl


Saul Griffith: measuring the "embodied energy" in our stuff - wattzon uses wiki style db to build tools to uunderstand this. about 15 hours ago from twhirl


Saul Griffith: land area required for renewables at scale to power current lifestyle would be 7th largest country in the world. #web2summit about 15 hours ago from twhirl


Saul Griffith at #web2summit: Galileo: wattzon.com, how much power do I use in my life? Reducing all our power usage to constant wattage. about 15 hours ago from twhirl


Sorenson: "If we don't have a network, our army won't be able to fight." Asks industry for help in bringing Army up to speed. #web2summit about 16 hours ago from twhirl


Sorenson - botnet attacks in Georgia before the "kinetic attacks" - this is our future. #web2summit about 16 hours ago from twhirl


Sorenson - malware problems as soldiers use facebook etc. on military systems #web2summit about 16 hours ago from twhirl


Sorenson - real time communication/training between 7 Stryker divisions worldwide, use of real-time video, chat #websummit about 16 hours ago from twhirl


Sorenson: "tactical internet" lags commercial internet. Now building Army applications that "get better as people use them." #web2summit about 16 hours ago from twhirl


General Sorenson, CIO of US Army on stage at #web2summit Talking about the challenge of keeping up w new tech capabilities. about 16 hours ago from twhirl

Retweeting @vascellari: @timoreilly on Poor Quality Startups http://www.andreavascellari... #w2e about 19 hours ago from twhirl


Andy Oram's counterargument to the idea that the Internet has changed elections http://tinyurl.com/65ettg Worth keeping in mind. about 19 hours ago from twhirl


What would an energy "moon shot" look like. Compares moon investment to energy. http://snurl.com/56a8h But this is bigger than a moon shot. about 19 hours ago from twhirl


The presidency and the climate challenge. http://snurl.com/56a63 Good image: balloon popping, not bathtub overflowing. about 19 hours ago from twhirl


Meet me and authors of Twitter report at tweetup tonight 6:30-8 House of Shields, 39 Montgomery St, SF, open to all, not just #web2summit about 20 hours ago from twhirl


New O'Reilly Radar report: "Twitter and the Micro-Messaging Revolution http://snurl.com/569ed about 20 hours ago from twhirl


@dahowlett It's actually a different story than the one you're covering. Both important, but not the same. 8:59 PM Nov 5th from twhirl in reply to dahowlett


@dahowlett I'll also point out that I did a talk w/ about 15 Fortune 500 CIOs this AM; they are starting to understand my vision of Web 2.0. 8:58 PM Nov 5th from twhirl in reply to dahowlett


@dahowlett Point here is to get the Web 2.0 crowd to realize there's great demand/opportunity for their skills in other areas. 8:57 PM Nov 5th from twhirl in reply to dahowlett


Retweeting @dhinchcliffe: @techcrunch has a detailed summary of Yang/Battelle's 12 rounds just now. http://bit.ly/tc_yahoo_w2s #web2summit 8:55 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Retweeting @christine: #web2summit John Doerr's 11 tips for surviving the downturn: http://bit.ly/LWlPp 8:52 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


RT @christine: doerr at #web2summit: staple a green card to the diploma foreign nationals graduating with US physical science/eng degrees 8:51 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


RT @precipice: I'm feeling positive about Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff: http://snurl.com/55phf Need a good bad cop. 8:49 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Summary of my opening remarks at #web2summit: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/... Also see great SJ Merc intvw this AM (looking for link) 8:45 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


RT @pahlkadot: to my friends at #web2summit, please come to the charity auction tonight, get tipsy, and blow your bonus on one of the lots. 8:44 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Mary Meeker slides about economy at #web2summit -- available at http://bit.ly/1dRGC (via @albertwenger) 8:27 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


@rafe can you use #web2summit hashtag with @webawaresum? 8:26 PM Nov 5th from twhirl in reply to Rafe


Retweeting @isaac: rt @niubi: "What Obama Means to America's 'Info Ops' | Danger Room from Wired.com" ( http://tinyurl.com/5tq8o7 ) 8:25 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


RT @albertwenger: Larry Brilliant at #web2summit: we need modern equiv of The WELL that supports constructive conversation on impt topics 7:51 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Retweeting @Rafe: Larry Brilliant: Software (and Google) lags the "search for meaning" we have in our lives. #web2summit 7:50 PM Nov 5th from twhirl

Doerr backstage at #web2summit: "Eric Schmidt is moving from being the best technology executive in America to being the best executive. 7:49 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Doerr at #web2summit: Underfunded areas in energy: energy storage, & geothermal. Enough thermal in US to power entire country; 0 investment 7:28 PM Nov 5th from twhirl

@monkchips Thanks for the best wishes on #web2summit. Sorry we'll miss you but so glad that you're hard at work on paying gigs. 7:25 PM Nov 5th from twhirl in reply to monkchips


Doerr at #web2summit: Energy market 6x size of current tech market. Huge opportunities in smart systems for managing energy. 7:23 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


@chrisabad Yes, Obama did successfully transfer "Yes we can" to all of us. Found myself invoking it in new, broader context at #web2summit 7:19 PM Nov 5th from twhirl in reply to chrisabad


Doerr at #web2summit: 80,000 segways on order by USPS; postal union didn't want the productivity improvement!!!! And that was that... 7:16 PM Nov 5th from twhirl

Doerr at #web2summit: why iPhone matters: Device knows who you are, broadband, in your pocket. Ultimately a bigger oppty than the PC. 7:16 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Doerr at #web2summit: Digital and Green each about 30% of total Kleiner investments. 7:14 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Doerr at #web2summit: Forbes is wrong in saying Kleiner no longer doing internet. Just added 2 more partners in that area in fact. 7:14 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Doerr at #web2summit: Advice to startups is really good. Ten great lessons. Will have online tomorrow, I hope. 7:12 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


RT @make: Mini-me Nautilus: This delightfully crazy bugger built a mini-sub 1/10th replica ofNemo's Nautilus http://tinyurl.com/6hqcbr 7:07 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Doerr at #web2summit: At height of dotcom boom, VC funds raised $100B; peak in 2007 only $37B; new commitments in 08, $15-16B, 2009: $10-12B 7:05 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Retweeting @rabble: Really amazing, Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com managed to get obama's % exactly & was 2 tenths of a % off for McCain 7:03 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Doerr at #web2summit: Govt should reinvigorate the original vision of DARPA, funding basic R&D. 7:00 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


John Doerr at #web2summit: Tech advice for Obama: 1) invest way more in clean energy; 2) invest way more in science & tech education! 6:58 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Meeker at #web2summit: Lessons from 2001 tell us that there will be a dip, but the trends are still with us, and growth resumes. 6:38 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


@lukamarinko I think the FCC whitespace win by Google is a huge opportunity for developers and innovators. 6:37 PM Nov 5th from twhirl in reply to lukamarinko


Meeker at #web2summit: Top 10 emerging markets will pass the top 10 developed markets in internet users this year. 6:35 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Meeker at #web2summit: I've never seen such big industry realignment as the moves in mobile after the launch of android. 6:33 PM Nov 5th from twhirl


Mary Meeker at #web2summit: Skype poised to have more users than China Mobile, the largest telco in the world. 6:31 PM Nov 5th from twhirl

Getting ready for opening remarks at Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Why we're still just at the beginning of using the network as platform 4:57 PM Nov 5th from twhirl

The State of Ohio launches OhioMeansJobs.com website

If you're a employer looking for Ohio talent in a cost effective manner this is exciting news....


The State of Ohio launches  OhioMeansJobs.com website.  This new website will replace the existing Workforce system and allow employers to post jobs and search millions of Ohio resumes for free.  OhioMeansJobs has partnered with OBG to efficiently manage your registration account information.  Additional partners of OhioMeansJobs include Indeed.com and nationally-known Monster.com.   Following the launch of the OhioMeansJobs website, you will be able to use your OBG Username and Password to access services requiring authentication at OhioMeansJobs.com in addition to the existing services available through OBG (business.ohio.gov).

For more information please visit OhioMeansJobs.com.  Assistance available by calling the OBG Help Desk (1-866-OHIO-GOV or 1-866-644-6468) and following the prompts for the OhioMeansJobs program and the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.

It’s No Time to Forget About Innovation

Thanks to Hugh Cathey for letting me know about this article in the NYT. Judy Estrin was recently in town for 2.Ohio and is featured in this article on innovation.

BY its very nature, innovation is inefficient. While blockbusters do emerge, few of the new products or processes that evolve from innovative thinking ultimately survive the test of time. During periods of economic growth, such inefficiencies are chalked up as part of the price of forging into the future.

But these aren’t such times. ....for more click here

On this historic day...Obama and McCain speeches

On this historic day ...

Obama acceptance speech - part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrXkBuWNx88




Obama acceptance speech - part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02BV5Zah1Tw



McCain concession speech - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bss6lTP8BJ8

Emotional Intelligence

In today's tech world the most important  ingredient is people. A big part of our makeup is our emotions. Here's  a great article from my friend Maureen on improving emotional intelligence skills. 
Peace out,
Ben

http://www.metcalf-associates.com/

As leaders, one of the best ways to manage the uncertainty of today's marketplace, is to proactively seek ways to enhance our leadership skills. Developing emotional intelligence is one way to increase our resilience and ability to navigate uncertainty and complexity. 

Emotional Intelligence

According to Daniel Goleman, "Emotional competence made the crucial difference between mediocre leaders and the best.  On average, close to 90 percent of their success in leadership was attributable to emotional intelligence.  

Emotional intelligence is often defined as, "the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions"  by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer (1990).

• To enhance your emotional intelligence you may consider investing time doing the following:
• Quiet reflection  which can range from traditional meditation, prayer, chanting through a walk in the woods.
• Self care including being mindful of healthy eating and getting sufficient sleep as often as possible.
• Exercising regularly is a great way to maintain our energy level and also "burn off" the negative chemicals that are released into our bodies when we feel stressed.
• Cultivating friendships with people who offer support and kindness and give us an opportunity to give back.  Friendship with pets counts - walk a dog or pet a cat until it purrs.
• Being grateful  Remember 5 things we are grateful for every day.  This seems so simple yet this simple act can shift our perspective.  When we feel bad - remember those who have less.
• Taking the perspective of the other  when in conflict with another person, imagine what they may feel.  I find that when I look through their eyes, the world may look different than I imagined from my vantage point.
• Serving others often makes us feel our best - even if very small for someone else.  Some days I may only have time to give a smile and that may be enough to improve my day and theirs.

While this list is not comprehensive, it does reflect activities everyone can do and that will provide relatively quick benefits.




Sincerely,

Maureen Metcalf
 http://www.metcalf-associates.com/
Metcalf & Associates, Inc.
Creating Strategic Value with Level 5 Leaders

TechColumbus CIOhio 2008 Conference - An incredible line up of industry leaders and informative track sessions

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2008
The NEW Hilton Polaris, Columbus, Ohio

TechColumbus CIOhio 2008 Conference ~ Leading at the Speed of Global Business
presenting sponsor: HITACHI

The premier annual conference for CIO's, business executives and IT leaders.

TechColumbus and the Planning Committee for CIOhio 2008, sponsored by Hitachi, are pleased to announce an incredible line up of industry leaders and informative track sessions. The sessions provide an excellent opportunity to interact in small group settings with thought leaders in the field of technology who will address the challenges and opportunities of leading at the speed of global business.

Innovation Track

TRACK SESSION 1: Innovation Case Studies
Brian Deas, Manley, Deas & Korcharski
David Bourke, Bostech
Jeff Clouse, Ohio Dept. Public Safety
Al Pappas, Adobe Systems

TRACK SESSION 2: Innovation Drivers – What it takes to Innovate
Mike Teets, OCLC
Dr. Dinesh Dhamija, TDCI
Rattan D’Souza, Worthington Industries
Dr. Rajiv Ramnath, CETI

Maximizing the Business Value of IT
TRACK SESSION 1: IT Does Matter
David Lawrence, Cardinal Health
Gary Beach, CIO Magazine

TRACK SESSION 2: If IT Matters, How do you know?
Catherine J. Bruno, FACHE, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems
Daniel Weisleder CIO Executive Board

Evolving Human Capital Models - Investing in your only sustainable competitive advantage
TRACK SESSION 1: Organizational DNA, Recruiting and retention, diversity
Jeff Haskett, BMW Financial Services
Chasity Kuttrus, Ray & Barney Group
Tim Ringo, IBM Global Business Services
David Segura, VisionIT
Mike Sullivan

TRACK SESSION 2: Managing distributed workforces
Jeff Calvert, Exel
Paul Moorman, NewPage Corporation
Becky Woodrow, GE Consumer & Industrial
Richard Bird, Limited Brands, Inc.
S. Debra Plousha Moore, Ohio Health
Nick Timmerman, Midmark Group

IT Leadership in Challenging Economic Times
TRACK SESSION 1: IT Leadership - PEOPLE
Mike Gutman, Miller Valentine Group
Kelly L. Allan, Kelly Allan Associates, Ltd

TRACK SESSION 2: IT Leadership - BUSINESS
Mike Rulli, The Drees Company
George Mehok, Revol Wireless
Steve Hangen, WinWholesale Inc.

Sponsorship Opportunities Available.
For more information, please contact Cindy Groeniger at 614.340.1697 /cgroeniger@techcolumbus.org

Visit the website to register today!
http://www.ciohio.com

Mark your calendars - November events - Compiled courtesy of CBusTechLife

Good morning CBus,

The leaves are falling and we're starting to head into the busy holiday season. Don't wait until January to get that New Year's resolution started of investing in yourself and the community. Start today by attending a November event.

Mark your November calendars....... connect, learn, grow

For the insider scoop on the Columbus Technology Scene check out:
http://www.cbustechlife.com
http://www.meetup.com/columbustech/

11/06 CBTS - 2008 Business Technology Forum

11/06 CBusTechLife Joe

11/11 XLN Presents - Proven “Next Generation” Network Infrastructure

11/11 ONHIA - Quarterly Meeting

11/12 AFCOM presents 'Green DataCenters'Blogger in draft: Columbus Tech Life - Create Post

11/13 Ignite Columbus

11/13 TechSource Seminar: Taste of IT

11/14 TechColumbus e-Track Luncheon - "VC Math" What do the Numbers Mean?"

11/17 OSUMC Center for IT Innovations in Healthcare

11/18 Ohio Web Leaders -
"Integrating Online and Traditional Marketing" Panel Discussion

11/20 Microsoft - Dogfood Developer’s Conference

11/21 CIOhio 2008 - Coming November 21st, 2008

11/21 Central Ohio SharePoint User Group - Monthly Meeting

11/30 TechColumbus Innovation Awards - Coming February 2009

Happy Monday.

Peace out,
Ben