Generated by All in One SEO v5.0.1.1, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

# The AppsLab

Stories about Emerging Technologies

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://theappslab.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Oracle Code Behind the Scenes](https://theappslab.com/2017/03/08/oracle-code-behind-the-scenes/) - The Oracle Code (@oracledevs) event series is going to 20 cities around the world, showcasing many Oracle Cloud Service offerings. Oracle Code coming to a city near you! The event at each city will have keynote sessions from various speakers, demo stations showing many of Oracle's Cloud services, a code lounge for developers to check out some "hardware" linked and
- [GDC 2017: A Push toward Ethical & Accessible Alternate Realities](https://theappslab.com/2017/03/21/gdc-2017-a-push-toward-ethical-accessible-alternate-realities/) - Raymond and I were fortunate to attend the Game Developers Conference this year. Compared to the previous year, the crowds were calmer and new sessions and summits were added to accommodate growing interests in VR and UX. This year there seemed to be more focus on delivering (a) Inclusive and Accessible experiences as well as (b)
- [Fun With Facebook](https://theappslab.com/2017/03/28/fun-with-facebook/) - I am often surprised by which of my Facebook posts are the most liked and by who likes what. I wondered: are there any interesting patterns there? Could I visualize them? My next question (as always) was: could I get the data? Thanks to the rise of the API economy I could. Companies have discovered
- [Who Likes Me?](https://theappslab.com/2017/03/29/who-likes-me/) - In my previous entry, Fun with Facebook, I described how to pull data from Facebook's Graph API Explorer, organize it using NodeBox, and turn it into representations of friends, posts, and the "likes" that connect them. Here is the final result: The final "Who Likes Me?" poster The above image is a snapshot of a
- [Developer Experience: What and Why](https://theappslab.com/2017/04/04/developer-experience-what-and-why/) - Introduction For the past 2 years I have been trying to raise awareness of the concept of Developer Experience (DX) both inside and outside Oracle. Over the next few days I will release a couple of blog posts delving deeper into this subject. This first post will concentrate on what DX is and why I feel it is
- [Maker Faire 2017](https://theappslab.com/2017/06/01/maker-faire-2017/) - Introduction Another Maker Faire has come and gone, the 12th one already. Unlike last year, Oracle had a booth again at the Maker Faire, staffed by my colleagues and myself throughout the weekend, where we showed of some fun demos. Here are some impressions, both from reactions in our booth and from the grounds. The
- [Developer Experience: How Do We Improve](https://theappslab.com/2017/04/05/developer-experience-how-do-we-improve/) - Introduction In the first part of this series I introduced the concept of Developer Experience and why I think it is important that we start investing more into improving the Developer Experience. In this part I will lay down some foundations on how this could be done. The pillars of DX Know your user (i.e. the developer)
- [It's Been 10 Years](https://theappslab.com/2017/06/01/its-been-10-years/) - Ten years ago, Paul posted a brief introduction to our team and our mission. He, Rich and I embarked on this journey in March 2007, soon to be joined by Anthony, and none of expected to be around as a team for more than 18 months max. Photo by Jeremiah Owyang But, here we are a
- [Kscope GO and IoT Workshop at Kscope17](https://theappslab.com/2017/06/15/kscope-go-and-iot-workshop-at-kscope17/) - Kscope17 is just around the corner and it is not a secret that we love ODTUG's Kscope since it is a conference geared towards Oracle Developers. This year as we have done in previous years, we worked closely with the conference organizers to bring a unique fun experience. We developed an Augmented Reality game called Kscope GO.
- [How do we build for the future?](https://theappslab.com/2017/06/24/how-do-we-build-for-the-future/) - How do we imagine and build a solution for the future that screams, I want to live in a future where this thing exists and is used by people. Recently, the Appslab Team attended the Future Summit SF where we learned how we could better design and build experiences for the future. We saw an
- [Heading ‘into the wild’ for guerilla research on emerging tech](https://theappslab.com/2017/08/07/heading-into-the-wild-for-guerilla-research-on-emerging-tech/) - The OAUX Emerging Technologies team, or The AppsLab, researches technical innovations coming down the pipeline. Part of our goal is to assess the potential of the technology – is it easy to adopt? Are there use cases that might make work easier for enterprise employees to complete their tasks? Our research on emerging technologies finds three ways to
- [Fun With Maps](https://theappslab.com/2017/08/09/fun-with-maps/) - Maps are one of the oldest and most powerful forms of visualization. Lately I've been learning how to make my own maps using open source data and public APIs. I started by simply plotting locations on a world map. World maps in svg format are readily available on the web. Wikimedia Commons, for example, has
- [Welcome NAO](https://theappslab.com/2017/08/14/welcome-nao/) - On a quiet Thursday morning, I went to our Gadget Lab at Oracle HQ and turned on the light. Inside the comfy egg shell chair sat an NAO robot, waiting for me. NAO inside of egg-shell chair Welcome NAO, our latest team member! NAO is a little adorable humanoid robot created by SoftBank Robotics. It
- [The Isle of Alameda](https://theappslab.com/2017/09/11/the-isle-of-alameda/) - The best way to learn how to make your own maps is to map someplace familiar. The place I live, Alameda, is an island in the San Francisco Bay, but existing maps don't do it justice. So as part of my Fun With Maps project I set out to disentangle Alameda from the urban sprawl
- [Oracle Code - Recap](https://theappslab.com/2017/09/14/oracle-code-recap/) - Oracle Code 2017 March 1, San Francisco, USA - August 30, Seoul, South Korea 183 days (exactly 6 months), 20 cities around the world thousands of speakers, OTN staff and local consultants hundreds of thousands of participants and coders That's the Oracle Code 2017 tour, presenting current and upcoming technologies in packed sessions, providing Oracle
- [IoT Cloud Brewed Beer @ OOW](https://theappslab.com/2017/09/25/iot-cloud-brewed-beer-oow/) - For the past few months we have worked together with the Oracle Developer Community and Alpha Acid Brewing on a secret IoT project. Come see (and taste!) it at the Developer Lounge in Moscone West during Oracle Open World. Hope to see you there! Cheers, Mark. Update: Want to learn more? Check out this video
- [Choropleths](https://theappslab.com/2017/09/27/choropleths/) - In this post I will simultaneously have Fun With Data and Fun With Maps. I will use public APIs to turn my Isle of Alameda into a "choropleth", a map which displays areas that are colored or patterned in relation to data. To do this I will need to find boundaries within Alameda that I
- [IoT Workshop and Robots](https://theappslab.com/2017/09/28/iot-workshop-and-robots/) - AppsLab has been offering the IoT Workshop since Oracle OpenWorld 2016. And over past one year we have hosted the workshop in 20 cities around world as part of Oracle Code events, plus at Kscope 2017 conference. And if you still managed to miss all the events, Oracle OpenWorld 2017 might be your last chance
- [IoT Cloud Brewed Beer @ OOW: The Details](https://theappslab.com/2017/10/10/iot-cloud-brewed-beer-oow-the-details/) - Now that Oracle Open World has come and gone, I have some time to go into the details of how this project was conceived and realized, and how it faired at OOW. Let's start with that last one. I guess to no one's surprise, the actual booth with (free!) beer was a crowdpleaser; we blew
- [Jeremy on the Role of Emerging Technology](https://theappslab.com/2017/10/16/jeremy-on-the-role-on-emerging-technology/) - Here's a video from our Group Vice President, Jeremy Ashely (@jrwashley) about Emerging Technology and how it should be helping people to use the system. This is a nice, concise description of what we do and why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sLV2JGQpFg
- [Alexa Push Notifications via Reminders](https://theappslab.com/2017/12/08/alexa-push-notifications-via-reminders/) - From the first day I got the Amazon Echo in December 2014 I looked for more interesting ways to interact with it. Before the Alexa team released an official API, I came up with a rather creative way to control things . It was not perfect since I had to add things to the "todo" list
- [Oracle x Girl Geek Dinner definitely does compute](https://theappslab.com/2017/12/12/oracle-x-girl-geek-dinner-definitely-does-compute/) - Oracle hosted its first Girl Geek Dinner last Thursday, December 7, 2017. The dinner was 18 months in the making. With at least 400 women and men in attendance, it is the largest Girl Geek Dinner of the year. https://twitter.com/KavalMaria/status/939160239479209986 The Bay Area chapter of Girl Geek Dinners have been hosted at 100+ Silicon Valley tech
- [Research on Emerging Tech Like AI, IoT Aims to Make Your Work More Efficient](https://theappslab.com/2018/03/13/research-on-emerging-tech-like-ai-iot-aims-to-make-your-work-more-efficient/) - Cross-posting this bit I wrote for the official Oracle Application User Experience blog, enjoy. Recently, at Oracle CloudWorld in New York, Oracle President Thomas Kurian talked about how emerging technologies can change the way you do your job for the better. Investigating this impact is the primary focus of the AppsLab, the Oracle Applications User Experience (OAUX) Emerging
- [Shoe Treads](https://theappslab.com/2018/02/01/shoe-treads/) - In December our team was allowed two weeks to pursue a "passion project". It didn't have be work-related, just something you truly wanted to work on. I chose to design tread patterns on the soles of shoes. I had never given a thought about shoe treads until, a week earlier, a woman on the NodeBox
- [Exploring AR](https://theappslab.com/2018/03/19/exploring-ar/) - Since back in 2014 when we got the Not-For-Sale developer model of Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition which only works with Samsung Note 4, we started to set our eyes on the development of immersive digital media experience of virtual reality. The original Gear VR in 2014. Feels so ancient :) Along the way, we
- [Epilogue](https://theappslab.com/2018/04/12/epilogue/) - The AppsLab experiment ended this week as nearly all of us were let go. Noel and I decided to keep this blog running, both as a historical resume of sorts and as a way for all of us who worked in 'Lab over the years to share our ongoing adventures and talk about technology. We
- [Emphasis on emerging technology shapes user experience strategy](https://theappslab.com/2018/05/25/emphasis-on-emerging-technology-shapes-user-experience-strategy/) - Editor's note: For posterity's sake, I'm reposting some content that we created during our time at Oracle. These statements and views are those of the author and do not reflect those of Oracle's current user experience organization. Emphasis on emerging technology shapes user experience strategy The AppsLab, the OAUX emerging technologies team, has a passion
- [Playing at work promotes discovery, opens door to innovation](https://theappslab.com/2018/05/28/playing-at-work-promotes-discovery-opens-door-to-innovation/) - Editor’s note: For posterity’s sake, I’m reposting some content that we created during our time at Oracle. These statements and views are those of the author and do not reflect those of Oracle’s current user experience organization. Playing at work promotes discovery, opens door to innovation What if work could also be play? It turns
- [User Research at the Forefront of Technology](https://theappslab.com/2018/05/29/user-research-at-the-forefront-of-technology/) - Editor’s note: For posterity’s sake, I’m reposting some content that we created during our time at Oracle. These statements and views are those of the author and do not reflect those of Oracle’s current user experience organization. What do you do when you don’t have users yet? Oracle’s approach to researching emerging technologies isn’t really
- [Designing for What’s Not Yet Here](https://theappslab.com/2018/05/30/designing-for-whats-not-yet-here/) - Editor’s note: For posterity’s sake, I’m reposting some content that we created during our time at Oracle. These statements and views are those of the author and do not reflect those of Oracle’s current user experience organization. Designing for What’s Not Yet Here Designing for emerging technologies means seeing how these technologies can help solve
- [Developing concept products that embrace emerging technologies](https://theappslab.com/2018/05/31/developing-concept-products-that-embrace-emerging-technologies/) - Editor’s note: For posterity’s sake, I’m reposting some content that we created during our time at Oracle. These statements and views are those of the author and do not reflect those of Oracle’s current user experience organization. Developing concept products that embrace emerging technologies Working with emerging technologies brings unique challenges for developers. There are
- [Making an IoT Badge - #badgelife going corporate](https://theappslab.com/2018/10/29/making-an-iot-badge-badgelife-going-corporate/) - Code Card 2018 Editor's note: Noel is the last man standing from the AppsLab to work at Oracle. He created this project while being part of the Oracle Groundbreakers Team. The rest of the original AppsLab team members are now scattered throughout different companies in the tech sector. For years I've been wanting to create something fun
- [Under the Radar Conference Report](https://theappslab.com/2007/03/23/under-the-radar-conference-report/) - I spent a great day today at the Under the Radar Conference on Office 2.0. These events are organized to provide a bit of exposure, networking, and critical guidance to start-ups at a very early stage. Typically the companies presenting had angel funding or less, and a beta, (or less) to match. The format of
- [Anonymity](https://theappslab.com/2007/03/27/anonymity/) - I was reading Scobelizer today and saw a post on some recent threats made against a female blogger. It's strange how something so wonderful like the Internet can be used in such terrible ways. I found it sad and dehumanizing. I certainly hope the individuals who are involved come to their senses and realize that
- [Twitter](https://theappslab.com/2007/04/09/twitter/) - As I mentioned, I was at the Under the Radar Conference a few weeks back. At that time, it became obvious that Twitter is a phenomenom. The real question is, why? Twitter is a simple app where you answer the question "what are you doing?". It ends up being a log of your life tracked
- [Welcome to AppsLab](https://theappslab.com/2007/03/01/welcome-to-appslab/) - It has become clear that the innovation being driven in the software marketplace, largely called Web 2.0, is undeniable. It not only causes a change in how people work, but obviously in how applications are built and used. Due to this reality, Oracle has formed a team to understand and drive innovation in Web 2.0
- [Simple: It's not about the UI](https://theappslab.com/2007/04/18/simple-its-not-about-the-ui/) - Having spent the last three days at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, I have seen a lot of companies. There are some great ideas and some rather foolish ones, but what has struck me is the power of simplicity. I am not talking about simplicity in the usual context of User Experience (UI).
- [Managing your team in a 2.0 world](https://theappslab.com/2007/04/26/managing-your-team-in-a-20-world/) - Our team spends quite a bit of time around plans, schedules and status. This is mainly a big company problem, but every organization I have worked in needs more rigor around their work. The typical lifecycle of project management is as follows: BIG BANG –> BEATINGS –> WHIMPERING DEATH Let me explain. Every project starts
- [McKinsey on 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/04/26/mckinsey-on-20/) - In a recent McKinsey study, most organizations (63%) are currently investing in Web Services. Interestingly enough, very few of these same companies (4%) saw Mashups as something they were investing in: I speculate there are two reasons for this disconnect: The name mashup is forever tied to consumer examples like Google Maps and Craig's List.
- [The Problem with Enteprise 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/03/the-problem-with-enteprise-20/) - Enterprise 2.0 is Web 2.0 for companies. Some have called it "Consumerprise", but whatever your term, you get the idea - applying successful concepts from the consumer web to companies. This type of thinking is the driving force behind any start-up that defines itself as "DIGG for the Enterprise" or similar. The more I see
- [Unfortunately, Even The Most Fun Business Software Doesn't Sound Very Fun](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/21/unfortunately-even-the-most-fun-business-software-doesnt-sound-very-fun/) - "The usability of most business software is notoriously poor, and because of this, it often goes unused within companies that have invested in it."
- [Enterprise RSS Feed Servers and RSS Readers - Attensa - Home](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/31/enterprise-rss-feed-servers-and-rss-readers-attensa-home/) - Enteprise RSS enablement service.
- [Inkling Markets Public Marketplace](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/24/inkling-markets-public-marketplace/) - These guys are a predicitive markets engine. Just like NewsFutures. It is a very cool idea to leverage the wisdom of the crowds. Lot's of applicability to game design and enterprise apps.
- [Enterprise RSS Feed Servers and RSS Readers - Attensa - Home](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/31/enterprise-rss-feed-servers-and-rss-readers-attensa-home-2/) - Enteprise RSS enablement service.
- [Inkling Markets Public Marketplace](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/24/inkling-markets-public-marketplace-2/) - These guys are a predicitive markets engine. Just like NewsFutures. It is a very cool idea to leverage the wisdom of the crowds. Lot's of applicability to game design and enterprise apps.
- [GeoCommons](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/30/geocommons/) - Explore, Create & Share Intelligent Maps and Geographic Data
- [SAP's Plan to Globalize Hits Cultural Barriers - WSJ.com](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/25/saps-plan-to-globalize-hits-cultural-barriers-wsjcom/) - Cultural change at SAP, internal discord
- [blog.lendingclub.com](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/25/bloglendingclubcom-who-we-are/) - P2P lending (see Prosper) through Facebook, TripleHop founders
- [Microsoft Surface](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/31/microsoft-surface/) - Table top computer from MS, new UI and interaction paradigms
- [Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy: The Greatest Generation Gap Since Rock and Roll -- New York Magazine](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/24/kids-the-internet-and-the-end-of-privacy-the-greatest-generation-gap-since-rock-and-roll-new-york-magazine/) - Fascinating comparison btw generations and internet behavior
- [blog.lendingclub.com » Who We Are](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/25/bloglendingclubcom-who-we-are-2/) - P2P lending (see Prosper) through Facebook, TripleHop founders
- [TED: Ideas worth spreading](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/01/ted-ideas-worth-spreading/) - Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers
- [Google Launches a Directions API](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/03/google-launches-a-directions-api/) - "This will allow third-party sites to offer directions directly on their site." Good feature to add to your enterprise app!
- [VentureBlog: The Web 2.0 List](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/31/ventureblog-the-web-2-0-list/) - Fantastic list of Web 2.0 Companies
- [VentureBlog: The Web 2.0 List](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/31/ventureblog-the-web-20-list-2/) - Fantastic list of Web 2.0 Companies
- [The Cathedral and the Bazaar](https://theappslab.com/2007/05/31/the-cathedral-and-the-bazaar/) - Software development principles
- [Googleforce.com Coming Soon?](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/02/googleforcecom-coming-soon/) - I can't keep quiet anymore, so I'm whispering into the blogosphere echo chamber. I think, wait for it . . . Google's acquisition frenzy isn't over yet. Nothing like going out on a limb, stunning prognostication. Which company you ask, assuming you're still reading? How about salesforce.com? How does that strike you? This isn't a
- [systematicHR - Human Resources Strategy and Technology](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/03/systematichr-human-resources-strategy-and-technology-web-20-networks-and-hr/) - HR as a Web 2.0 system
- [systematicHR - Human Resources Strategy and Technology » Web 2.0 Networks and HR](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/03/systematichr-human-resources-strategy-and-technology-web-20-networks-and-hr-2/) - HR as a Web 2.0 system
- [Why Ruby on Rails is the perfect framework for building next generation Enterprise Apps](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/04/why-ruby-on-rails-is-the-perfect-framework-for-building-next-generation-enterprise-apps/) - Despite what Joel has to say on this topic, I think Rails is ready for the enterprise. And companies who create enterprise apps should definitely be looking at Rails. Here's why... Having worked with PeopleSoft for over ten years, I've had the pleasure to experience the joy in building enterprise applications with a rapid and
- [By the Numbers: How I built a Web 2.0, User-Generated Content, Citizen Journalism, Long-Tail, Social Media Site for $12,107.09](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/04/by-the-numbers-how-i-built-a-web-20-user-generated-content-citizen-journalism-long-tail-social-media-site-for-1210709/) - The sad thing is that Truemors is worth a lot less than $12k. I hope that Guy is at least making money off ads.
- [Salesforce Is Acquisition Bait](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/04/salesforce-is-acquisition-bait/) - more evidence for Jake's theory
- [Why Enterprise 2.0 Won't Transform Organizations](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/05/why-enterprise-20-wont-transform-organizations/) - A contrarian view. I think he's wrong. Of course, enterprises won't change overnight, but it will eventually. A new generation of workers will transform how enterprises work, but it'll take a few years for it to happen. Companies like Oracle will help.
- [Rendale : A Better Way to Manage PeopleSoft Projects](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/06/rendale-a-better-way-to-manage-peoplesoft-projects/) - Will is extracting PeopleCode out of PSFT projects to files then using subversion for version control. Sounds like something the Grey Sparling guys are doing.
- [Rails'ifying a PeopleSoft database](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/06/railsifying-a-peoplesoft-database/) - Wil Bailey's trying to Rails'ify a PeopleSoft database... should be interesting
- [Exploring “JRuby on Rails” as an Alternative to Django Within a Java Environment.](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/08/exploring-jruby-on-rails-as-an-alternative-to-django-within-a-java-environment-2/) - "RoR and JRuby are still young, and I’m confident that performance and scalability will improve over time. With this choice, I am looking at Sun’s commitment to the development of JRuby and the widespread adoption of RoR, and I’m betting on the futu
- [Exploring ?JRuby on Rails? as an Alternative to Django Within a Java Environment.](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/08/exploring-jruby-on-rails-as-an-alternative-to-django-within-a-java-environment/) - "RoR and JRuby are still young, and I?m confident that performance and scalability will improve over time. With this choice, I am looking at Sun?s commitment to the development of JRuby and the widespread adoption of RoR, and I?m betting on the futu
- [Joyeur: Getting Started with JRuby](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/08/joyeur-getting-started-with-jruby/) - Joyent fully backs JRuby -- "We?re pleased to be the first infrastructure company to stand firmly behind JRuby, offering it as part of our standard Accelerator packages."
- [Getting Social with BEA](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/09/getting-social-with-bea/) - "Whoa, bringing RSS feeds, searching Technorati, what's up at BEA? We see BEA AquaLogic Pages, which lets enterprises get all the latest social stuff including wikis, blogs, and more."
- [Our Future Colleagues have MySpace Accounts](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/20/our-future-collegues-have-myspace-accounts/) - Jake's post on the Internet Generation Gap is relevant for me. I'm 33. The 20-something MySpace crowd would consider me a dinosaur. I'm sure each young generation criticizes its elders for being slow to adopt new and better ways of doing things. Proof point: I don't have a MySpace account, I don't text message much,
- [Tech talks at Google](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/18/tech-talks-at-google/) - "There are a large number of technical talks at Google. Many of these are videotaped, and some are made available for external viewing."
- [Oracle + Rails How-To's](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/19/oracle-rails-how-tos/) - "As promised, we have delivered a new salvo of Oracle + Ruby on Rails how-to's on the OTN Web site" Excellent!
- [Guerrilla Tactics, the iLife Effect and the Center of Gravity](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/12/guerrilla-tactics-the-ilife-effect-and-the-center-of-gravity/) - A common analogy used in business is that of war. Conceptually speaking war used to be easy. You had an enemy, they had a flag, a home base, troops huddled together, and clear lines of division. This was true during revolutionary times and remained true up through the major world wars. Enter Guerrilla Tactics: From
- [Chris Anderson and the 4 Stages of Technology](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/14/chris-anderson-and-the-4-stages-of-technology/) - If you're not watching TED, you should be. It is one of the real gems of the web. Visionaries from around the globe sharing their perspective in digestible chunks you can enjoy from your PC in your boxers. In this video, Chris Anderson of Wired has explains the 4 stages of technology. Briefly they are:
- [Who's the Bigger Big Brother, Amazon or Google?](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/14/whos-the-bigger-big-brother-amazon-or-google/) - I'm a paranoid guy, always have been. Last week's report by Privacy International that slammed Google as "hostile to privacy" got me thinking about Amazon vs. Google, which knows more about me and how I feel about them. I happened to be downloading Smokin' Aces (any good?) to my Tivo from Amazon Unbox, so I
- [A Brief History of MySpace (Video)](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/12/a-brief-history-of-myspace-video/) - John is not your friend.
- [Bigger Big Brother, Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/15/bigger-big-brother-part-2/) - Thanks to Eddie and Steve for weighing in on the discussion I started yesterday. I think fundamentally, we disagree about who has more damaging information. I say Amazon does. Eddie and Steve say Google. My argument is that purchase history (even without exposing credit cards) can be more damaging than search/email/feed reading/documents. I say that
- [Want Off Street View? Google Wants Your ID and a Sworn Statement -- UPDATE: Google Gives - Threat Level - Wired Blogs](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/15/want-off-street-view-google-wants-your-id-and-a-sworn-statement-update-google-gives-threat-level-wired-blogs/) - How to remove your image from Street View
- [Internet Generation Gap](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/20/internet-generation-gap/) - Dave Winer and Fred Wilson, along with some others (see Techmeme coverage), have been sparring about age and innovation (or lack thereof). I mentioned the age chasm with regard to privacy in my last two posts on Big Brother (1, 2), and actually had an entry in mind about the great divide between the Web
- [Is a bar chart really the best we can do?](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/30/is-a-bar-chart-really-the-best-we-can-do/) - I recently caught a demo of Hans Rosling's software which provides a pretty amazing visualization framework for understanding relationships between data. In this demo, Hans analyzes, by country, infant mortality vs GNP over the course of about 100 years. Like all great presentations, if forces you to re-think how you view something - in this
- ["Enterprise 2.0" is Weak](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/21/enterprise-20-is-weak/) - With apologies to Andrew McAfee, I hate the term Enterprise 2.0. Actually, I'm not crazy about Web 2.0 as a moniker either, but that's not why I think Enterprise 2.0 is lame. Remember when B2B was the next great Internet business model? B2C was so 1997. All the cool companies were in the B2B space
- [Google Spreadsheets Live Data](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/21/google-spreadsheets-live-data/) - Very cool, how to include live data in your Google Spreadsheet
- [Humor Break](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/22/humor-break/) - A couple funny items mined from yesterday's reading: The Onion releases latest round of iPhone specs From uncov: MizPee: Where's the poop go? Toilet metadata kills me. I'm reminded of a post by Terrance Wampler on metadata.
- [My Very Own Facebook Post](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/22/my-very-own-facebook-post/) - Since every post about Facebook's runaway success begins with "I've never been a MySpace guy . . . ", here goes: I can't stand MySpace; it gives me eye seizures. I love what Facebook is doing. They spend several years carefully building a niche network for college students that protected the target users from spam
- [Official Google Reader Blog: Doing the Shuffle](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/22/official-google-reader-blog-doing-the-shuffle/) - Use a Next bookmarklet to navigate your Reader feeds in context
- [Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/25/viewing-american-class-divisions-through-facebook-and-myspace/) - Comparing the class implications of MySpace and Facebook users
- [Google Docs to Integrate with Encyclopedia Britannica](https://theappslab.com/2007/06/27/google-docs-to-integrate-with-encyclopedia-britannica/) - More live integration from Google Docs to online information sources
- [Nod to Justin from OTN](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/02/nod-to-justin-from-otn/) - Thanks to Justin, editor of Oracle Technology Network (OTN), for his post on our internal Idea Factory. We hope the factory generates good feedback; we know some of the 70,000 people who work here have killer ideas. Now, we're trying to mine them. Justin has been building OTN into the largest online community of developers
- [Gadget/Humor Break](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/02/gadgethumor-break/) - Wind-powered phone charger Courtesy of Geeks are Sexy How to Crash Windows Vista in 10 Seconds or Less Courtesy of Information Week and the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
- [Plagiarism is for Chumps](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/05/plagiarism-is-for-chumps/) - Steve Chan, one of the most read and hardest working bloggers in the Oracle blogosphere, has been plagiarized by some chump. I won't give this loser any air time by pointing to his post, blog (comments turned off, what a surprise) or website. Note to chump: a quick whois and traceroute tell me who you
- [More Thoughts on Facebook](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/05/more-thoughts-on-facebook/) - I've been following Facebook closely since the platform launch in May, especially the enterprise aspects and Facebook as an alternative to LinkedIn for professionals. Rather than do a giant brain dump, I'll post a piece each day (or so) until I'm tapped. The best place to start is with the platform. I covered this briefly
- [Did You Buy an iPhone?](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/05/did-you-buy-an-iphone/) - I broke down and bought one for my wife, a longtime smartphone user, to replace her Treo 680, which isn't very old. Palm has already released a couple newer Treos, so even at less than a year old, that little guy was a relic. Leading up to June 29, I got more and more sick
- [Building a Social Enterprise Application in Under 24 Hours](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/06/building-a-social-enterprise-application-in-under-24-hours/) - Paul, Jake and I were chatting a few weeks ago wondering how we can establish an ongoing dialog with our peers in product strategy and capture the innovative ideas they have for our future products. We thought of several ways to do this: Having conference calls to exchange ideas on a regular basis Inviting our
- [Should we worry about the children?](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/06/should-we-worry-about-the-children/) - "I don?t fear a future where life is experienced from behind a screen but one where nobody is comfortable being alone with their thoughts."
- [Are you passionate about Ruby on Rails? We're hiring!](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/06/are-you-passionate-about-ruby-on-rails-were-hiring/) - If you love to build Web 2.0 style applications (preferably using Ruby on Rails), we're interested in you. We're a small team inside Oracle that's focused on applying "2.0" style concepts to our apps and possibly building new enterprise applications. We're looking for someone who has a strong background with Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, HTML,
- [Understanding the JVM JIT and helping it along](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/06/understanding-the-jvm-jit-and-helping-it-along/) - Some performance updates re: jRuby... more hope that jRuby is going to be the main RoR platform in the enterprise. Check out the perf numbers.
- [Too Many of Me](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/06/too-many-of-me/) - Jeff Nolan addresses an issue that many others (e.g. Robert Scoble, Anshu Sharma) have begun to complain about recently. Namely, there are too many social networks to use realistically, and no one has adequately addressed the requirement for a cross-network identity management tool. For people in a position to give advice on new technology (Which
- [Google's Backup Plan](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/07/googles-backup-plan/) - I read today that Google Apps will soon include the features acquired from JotSpot. Not that big a surprise, but adding wikis and web site building capabilities to Google Apps will make them even more compelling in comparison to Microsoft Office. I hope Docs and Spreadsheets will be graced with these features, too. Anyway, it
- [](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/07/jotspot-joining-google-apps-revolution-between-the-lines-zdnetcom/) - Not really a surprise, JotSpot to become part of Google Apps
- [A Security Gem](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/07/a-security-gem/) - Check out this gem from the online banking registration of a credit union, by way of Tom Kyte:
- [Too Many of Me, Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/08/too-many-of-me-part-2/) - Ionut Alex Chitu over at Google Operating System has a post about Socialstream, a new kind of social network, created by a project in the Master’s program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute and sponsored by Google. Don't the already have a orkut that's kind of a big deal in Brazil? Anyway, the feature
- [So Much for the Backup Plan](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/09/so-much-for-the-backup-plan/) - Maybe Eric Schmidt was reading this blog over the weekend. On Saturday, I observed that Eric was being coy when he called the enterprise an agreed that the enterprise was a backup plan for Google, just in case that whole advertising thing doesn't pan out as planned. Today, Google announced it is acquiring Postini to
- [We're Number 45!](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/10/were-number-45/) - Eddie Awad today posted a list of Oracle blogs ranked by Technorati Authority. AppsLab is 45 on his list. The list ranks all the blogs he aggregates using OraNA aggregator. I have embedded his Google Spreadsheet below; Eddie, I hope that's fine with you. Tom Kyte, no surprise, is number 1. Eddie, Justin and Steven
- [Odd News](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/10/odd-news/) - In case you've been wondering, I collect these stories, and when I get a few, I dump them. Like it, don't like it, tell me in Comments. Details on Taser's XREP electric shotgun shell emerge From Engadget, cool and frightening all at once. Chinese Youth Killed By Cell Phone Battery Blast It's supposed to be
- [» JotSpot joining Google Apps revolution | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/07/jotspot-joining-google-apps-revolution-between-the-lines-zdnetcom-2/) - Not really a surprise, JotSpot to become part of Google Apps
- [20 Ways To Aggregate Your Social Networking Profiles](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/17/20-ways-to-aggregate-your-social-networking-profiles/) - 20 competitors in the field! Who's going to aggregate all these aggregators?
- [Sales Builder AIR Application Update](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/17/sales-builder-air-application-update/) - "Salesbuilder is a Sales Force Automation application that demonstrates local persistence using the embedded SQLite database, data synchronization, native drag-and-drop, and other features such as direct chart manipulation."
- [TwitterCal Lets You Post to Google Calendars from Twitter](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/17/twittercal-lets-you-post-to-google-calendars-from-twitter/) - IM/SMS as an interface to traditional applications is hot stuff. Think how useful this could be inside the firewall... create/approve expense reports via IM/SMS, look up a contact through IM/SMS, etc.
- [PeopleSoft Search](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/14/peoplesoft-search/) - Hot on the heels of the MetaLink search
- [Tour de France - Live Tracker (Google Maps)](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/12/tour-de-france-live-tracker-google-maps/) - The Tour de France Live Tracker is a mashup between Google Maps and telmetric live data. Watch the exact position and additional data (heart rate, cadence, speed, power) of the racing cyclists on an interactive map. This is a great example of making data
- [Tour de France - Live Tracker (Google Maps)](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/12/tour-de-france-live-tracker-google-maps-2/) - The Tour de France Live Tracker is a mashup between Google Maps and telmetric live data. Watch the exact position and additional data (heart rate, cadence, speed, power) of the racing cyclists on an interactive map. This is a great example of making data
- [MetaLink (and More) in Your Browser Search Bar](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/10/metalink-and-more-in-your-browser-search-bar/) - Do you use the search box in your browser? If you're not familiar with it, here's what it looks like in Firefox 2: And in Internet Explorer 7: If you don't use these boxes, you should. They save loads of time. Surprisingly, both use a standard called OpenSearch that allows for quick and easy development
- [Firefox 2 Certified for E-Business Suite 11i and 12](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/11/firefox-2-certified-for-e-business-suite-11i-and-12/) - A timely announcement from our friends at the Oracle E-Business Suite Technology blog today says that Firefox 2 is certified for use with E-Business Suite versions 11.5.9, 11.5.10 and 12. Internet Explorer 7 was already certified for these flavors. For those EBS readers who have installed my MetaLink search plugin, you can use it to
- [Blast from the Past, Courtesy of DEC](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/12/blast-from-the-past-courtesy-of-dec/) - By way of John Battelle, Googleblogoscoped and Waxy. DEC gives us a great prediction of things to come. Remember the DEC Alpha? It wasn't forced to compete with unknown companies, unless you consider Intel a little company. I do like seeing the classic Mosaic browser in action. I'm reminded of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
- [Steve Ballmer is My Friend?](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/12/steve-ballmer-is-my-friend/) - Fellow AppsLabb'er Rich, just informed me via IM (which is so 1999, why aren't we Twittering?), that Steve Ballmer friended him on Facebook. Turns out that both Paul (AppsLab poobah) and I were also friended by Steve. Maybe the rumor is true, and Microsoft is digging out $6 billion for Facebook (Techmeme coverage). Or maybe
- [Using Search for Currency Conversion](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/14/using-search-for-currency-conversion/) - A friend of mine saw the MetaLink plugin post I did and asked about currency conversion with a plugin. Many people may already know that Google does conversions if you pass it a certain sequence of keywords. Both IE7 and FF2 ship with a Google OpenSearch plugin, and the FF one implements search suggestions. Typing
- [Plugins for Employees](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/16/plugins-for-employees/) - The reaction to the MetaLink plugin has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks to all who have linked, commented or downloaded. It seems we've tapped a reservoir of productivity tools that have existed for a while, but haven't been shared. I'm interested to know if you have browser plugins or add-ons that make you more productive. Let
- [Tune Your Browser with Custom Search and Plugins](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/16/tune-your-browser-with-custom-search-and-plugins/) - Lost over the weekend was a del.icio.us link from Rich to PeopleSoft Search. ChiliJoe has put together a sweet combination of a Google Custom Search Engine and OpenSearch plugins to make it easier to find PeopleSoft technical content. Eddie Awad has a custom search engine for his OraNA news aggregregator as well. A Google Custom
- [On Hiring a Web Developer](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/25/on-hiring-a-web-developer/) - While looking for a developer to hire into our team, I've been particularly focused on looking for someone who has a strong web development background. Just because a programmer has written complex c, c++, java code or knows how to hack linux kernels does not mean they can build a web application. A web developer/engineer
- [On JavaScripting](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/25/on-javascripting/) - Now a little something for our techie readers... we do have a few right? One aspect of Ruby on Rails that I don't like (surprising, I know) is the bundled Prototype JavaScript library. When Prototype came out, I loved it. The $() selector introduced a novel way of writing JS code. Then other libraries came
- [Cases2.0 and IdeaFactory](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/19/cases20-and-ideafactory/) - As many of you know, Rich built a cool site we have been using internally called IdeaFactory. Adoption internally has been astounding. We have tapped into a well of pent up expertise. It is proof that the 1:1 model of sharing (i.e. email your boss a good idea) just doesn't work. There are many reasons
- [Google Apps Suite Plows Ahead](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/18/166/) - Business Week has an article today about Google Apps. The suite looks more complete every day. Witness the Postini acquisition, the anticipated release of presentations (a combination of Zenter, Tonic Systems and probably some homegrown mojo too) this summer, the integration of JotSpot features and now, enterprise YouTube. This one jumped off the page for
- [New Tools for Lucky Oracle Users](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/20/new-tools-for-lucky-oracle-users/) - Yesterday, OTN released the Oracle DBA Toolbar (screenshot) for Firefox and IE. A great little tool for any Oracle DBA. Kudos to Justin and his OTN crew for delivering innovative, useful tools for our customers. Readers of this space may be sick of hearing about OpenSearch plugins, but like it or not, people find them
- [This Post Sponsored by the Letter "i"](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/22/this-post-sponsored-by-the-letter-i/) - Mashable reported yesterday that MySpace was blocking the letter "i" in all MySpace blogs and replacing all the i's with "..". Courtesy of I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?
- [Interesting . . .](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/22/interesting/) - By way of O'Reilly, this is cool, if you like data visualization. Internet Architects, a Japan-based design firm, maps "the 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective" to the Tokyo metro system, complete with placement symbolism for insiders. Another tidbit from last week, is this article from
- [More Interesting . . .](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/22/more-interesting/) - More maps for the data visualization junkies, I can't believe I forgot to share this social networking map of the world from Valleywag. Full-size original.
- [More High-Powered Friends?](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/22/more-high-powered-friends/) - First, it was Steve Ballmer. Now, Eric Schmidt? What is going on here? I'm surprised Eric would want to befriend me, since I called him coy in this space not once, but twice. Maybe he wants to hire me and doesn't know I have no PhD, or even masters. D'oh. Seriously, can anyone shed some
- [Good Old Email in its Twilight Years](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/22/good-old-email-in-its-twlight-years/) - I'm sure most of you will not agree, or you'll convince yourself otherwise. News.com has an interesting article with the catching headline, "Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead". This got me to thinking about dead letters, for some odd reason. Like it or not, email is dying. Just like face-time gave way to phone
- [Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead | CNET News.com](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/22/kids-say-e-mail-is-like-soooo-dead-cnet-newscom/) - Twilight years of email?
- [Humor for a Case of the Mondays](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/23/humor-for-a-case-of-the-mondays/) - This is classic Onion. I saw this weeks ago, but it took Lifehacker to remind me how funny it is. Enjoy the Internet Crash of 2007.
- [Search Plugins for AppsLab](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/24/search-plugins-for-appslab/) - Now that we've been around for a few months and have some posts in the archive, I decided it was time to roll out a search plugin for our blog. If you frequent this space, you'll know about search engine plugins. If you don't, here's a quick primer. So, I'm happy to announce that the
- [Jake is Blogging about Facebook.](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/25/jake-is-blogging-about-facebook/) - Yes, this is also my current Facebook status. By way of Nick O'Neill at All Facebook, I read a blog by Megan Berry today about the collision of her personal and professional lives on Facebook. It's an interesting read. Aside from the irony of blogging about things she did not want her co-workers to see
- [Joyeur: JRuby Hack Day: August 8, 2007](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/27/joyeur-jruby-hack-day-august-8-2007/) - "Joyent and Sun have announced the first in a series of "Hack Days" taking place in San Francisco. They'll be looking at JRuby and how to deploy a JRuby on Rails app on a Joyent Accelerator."
- [A New, Better Approach to RSS](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/25/a-new-better-approach-to-rss/) - This is a very interesting idea applied to RSS feeds. The same model should be applied to people within an enterprise. Is this the future of social applications?
- [A New, Better Approach to RSS](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/25/a-new-better-approach-to-rss-2/) - This is a very interesting idea applied to RSS feeds. The same model should be applied to people within an enterprise. Is this the future of social applications?
- [Death of an Inbox](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/26/death-of-an-inbox/) - In a comment on my first post about the slow death of email as a communication medium, Julie asked: I guess you are talking about email in the context of personal communication rather than business? What are your thoughts on IM for business use, as a replacement for email? My position is that email is
- [Is Google on Crack?](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/29/is-google-on-crack/) - "I am 100 percent behind Google's four conditions, but I see very little likelihood that they will be accepted by the full commission." -- Robert Cringley on Google's plan to bid on the 700mhz spectrum
- [Enterprise 2.0 Keynote: Ross Mayfield " SlideShare](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/30/enterprise-20-keynote-ross-mayfield-slideshare-2/) - Ross is one of the leaders in the Enterprise 2.0 Space. Smart guy.
- [Enterprise 2.0 Keynote: Ross Mayfield " SlideShare](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/30/enterprise-20-keynote-ross-mayfield-slideshare-3/) - Ross is one of the leaders in the Enterprise 2.0 Space. Smart guy.
- [My iPhone Review](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/27/my-iphone-review/) - After a month, the torrent of iPhone reviews has begun, so who am I to miss a chance to jump on the bandwagon. Actually, a reader suggested that I blog about the iPhone as a business tool, and I know that a lot of people out there either have one or are sorely tempted to
- [Thank You Readers!](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/28/thank-you-readers/) - We crossed a few milestones or recently, so I thought I'd share them with you. We launched this blog June 1. Today: Feedburner says we have 208 readers. That number fluctuates wildly, but we've held your attention better lately, getting from 100 to 200 in a fraction of the time it took to get to
- [Enterprise 2.0 Keynote: Ross Mayfield](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/30/enterprise-20-keynote-ross-mayfield-slideshare/) - Ross is one of the leaders in the Enterprise 2.0 Space. Smart guy.
- [Join Us at Oracle OpenWorld 2007](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/01/join-us-at-oracle-openworld-2007/) - Registration is now open for Oracle OpenWorld 2007. The conference will be held November 11-15 in San Francisco, CA. If you were there last year, you know hotels booked up fast, so get moving - I am not sharing a room. If you get a chance, join us at our session: Oracle and the New
- [Enterprise 2.0 Keynote: Ross Mayfield » SlideShare](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/30/enterprise-2-0-keynote-ross-mayfield-slideshare/) - Ross is one of the leaders in the Enterprise 2.0 Space. Smart guy.
- [More Oracle for Your Browser Search Bar](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/30/more-oracle-for-your-browser-search-bar/) - I promised more Oracle search plugins, and I'm happy to deliver 3 new ones today, Oracle Blogs, Oracle Documentation and Oracle Sites. You can install them here, along with the MetaLink plugin. If you've recently started reading, here's the MetaLink plugin post. Oracle Blogs Using this plugin, you can the search content of all the
- [VentureBeat](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/31/venturebeat-cisco-dives-into-web-20-buys-five-across/) - Cisco dives into Web 2.0, buys Five Across
- [Check out Oracle Events](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/31/check-out-oracle-events/) - As Justin pointed out yesterday, Oracle.com unveiled a very cool 2.0 (or dare I say, 2.0+) application called Oracle Events. This is a very useful mashup of the Oracle events calendar, Google Maps (surprise!) and a combination of Siderean Seamark and Oracle's own Secure Enterprise Search. Many of you will recognize the semantic features that
- [VentureBeat » Cisco dives into Web 2.0, buys Five Across](https://theappslab.com/2007/07/31/venturebeat-cisco-dives-into-web-20-buys-five-across-2/) - Cisco dives into Web 2.0, buys Five Across
- [Oracle, delivered...](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/02/oracle-delivered/) - Need your daily dose of Oracle? I ran across some cool RSS feeds to keep track of what's going on. I personally read the Corporate News and the Application News. Of course you can always add our feed as well if you're feeling lucky. If you have other cool Oracle feeds I haven't seen, post
- [Oracle's Spin on Lunch 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/01/oracles-spin-on-lunch-20/) - Tim Bonnemann and Marius Ciorea, two guys at Oracle corporate HQ, have started a Lunch 2.0 series with an Oracle spin. It's modeled on Lunch 2.0, offering up discussion topics on new technologies, starting conversations around them and educating anyone who has an interest. The lunches have been a big hit so far, even though
- [Big Ideas, Bigger Participation](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/02/big-ideas-bigger-participation/) - We debuted the IdeaFactory roughly a month ago, with Justin launching it for us. In that time, we've had: More than 9,000 page views. About 2,000 visits from over 1,000 unique visitors. An average time spent of 12 minutes per visit. An average of more than 4.5 pages viewed per visit. 45% of our visitors
- [IPhone Roundup](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/04/iphone-roundup/) - I'm just now catching up on my feeds. FYI, it looks like Plaxo is set for a big announcement Monday, addressing social network profile aggregation and network segmentation. Must be true, Om Malik, Mike Arrington and Robert Scoble, the triad of truth have all covered it. Actually, Om didn't cover it, but 2/3 works for
- [Bigger Ideas, Superbig Participation Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/04/bigger-ideas-superbig-participation-part-2/) - It's been a hectic couple of days. Thursday, I wrote about IdeaFactory, our internal new web think tank idea collector. At the end, I teased the introduction of a new project of ours. Shortly after my post we launched it in alpha, and suffice to say, we opened the floodgates. For now, the project will
- [Fake Steve Jobs Outed](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/06/fake-steve-jobs-outed/) - I was so sad to hear the news that FSJ had been outed by Brad Stone of the NYT. Apparently, Daniel Lyons, a writer for Forbes, no less, has been moonlighting as FSJ. Why does this make me sad? Let me count the ways: I have to assume you read FSJ. If you don't, you
- [Oracle Gets Social](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/07/oracle-gets-social/) - Here on the AppsLab team we have always been big believers in the power of people as a design point in applications. My personal background is in the portal space, and for years we preached people-centric. In those days, it meant a user had a configurable homepage with all the content they cared about in
- [](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/10/will-ibm-compete-with-facebookweb-20-irregular-enterprise-zdnetcom/) - Interesting view on the enterprise and social networking.
- [» Will IBM compete with Facebook/Web 2.0? | Irregular Enterprise | ZDNet.com](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/10/will-ibm-compete-with-facebookweb-2-0-irregular-enterprise-zdnet-com/) - Interesting view on the enterprise and social networking.
- [" Will IBM compete with Facebook/Web 2.0? | Irregular Enterprise | ZDNet.com](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/10/will-ibm-compete-with-facebookweb-20-irregular-enterprise-zdnetcom-2/) - Interesting view on the enterprise and social networking.
- [" Will IBM compete with Facebook/Web 2.0? | Irregular Enterprise | ZDNet.com](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/10/will-ibm-compete-with-facebookweb-20-irregular-enterprise-zdnetcom-3/) - Interesting view on the enterprise and social networking.
- [People Everthing Starts With](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/08/people-everthing-starts-with/) - 155,000 pageviews later, I'm finally able to blog about our little social network experiment, whose name is still in flux. When we started the band, we all agreed that new web was not about a list of technologies (blogs, wikis, forums, tags, foo), but instead that new web was about people. We agreed that a
- [Spot the Hoax](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/12/spot-the-hoax/) - After slogging through a full week's worth of feeds and fighting the urge to use the Mark All as Read button several times, I have a fun idea. Despite this being a no-fun zone for a while, I want to play a round of spot the hoax. The game is simple. I've listed a handful
- [Connect is Just the Beginning](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/12/connect-is-just-the-beginning/) - Paul and I have blogged about our newly (alpha) launched social network within Oracle, and we have settled on a name, Connect. Anne Truitt Zelenka, who also blogs for Web Worker Daily, wrote about our experiment in her personal blog, although Tim got most of the airtime for his comment turned post. It's OK, he
- [A New Day](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/13/a-new-day/) - I woke today to a wave of coverage on our little Connect project from ZDNet, namely Dennis Howlett, Michael Krigsman and Larry Dignan. I will spend today riding this wave, hoping not to eat it. Interlude After we went alpha, we needed a name for our little project. In true new web fashion, we offered
- [Tuesday Humor: "Faceball: your face, our balls"](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/14/tuesday-humor-faceball-your-face-our-balls/) - Too bad I work from home. I'd love to play faceball with my co-workers.
- [Review: RailsSpace hits the Ruby on Rails learning sweet spot](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/17/review-railsspace-hits-the-ruby-on-rails-learning-sweet-spot/) - Book on how to build social networking sites with Ruby on Rails
- [Tuesday Humor: "Faceball: your face, our balls"](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/14/tuesday-humor-faceball-your-face-our-balls-2/) - Too bad I work from home. I'd love to play faceball with my co-workers.
- [Search Tools Updated for 11g](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/14/search-tools-updated-for-11g/) - Eddie Awad has a post today that some of you will find useful. His Oracle Bookmarklets and search plugins now support the brand new 11g R1 documentation. The Oracle Documentation search plugin I posted also includes 11g R1 now, too. For those uninitiated, bookmarklets allow you to do some pretty sweet productivity tweaks using Javascript
- [11g Doc Gets a New Web Makeover](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/15/11g-doc-gets-a-new-web-makeover/) - Yesterday, I blogged about 11g updates to documentation tools that Eddie and I have written. I just noticed that Justin has a post about the 11g documentation as well. Apparently, each page now features comments at the bottom. I had to check this out for myself, and sure enough, here it is. Don't believe it?
- [Applications User Experience Wants You . . .](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/15/applications-user-experience-wants-you/) - For a "new web" focus group. Apps UX as we fondly call them internally, is a team shepherded by Jeremy Ashley, focused on making our Applications better. They are looking for Oracle employees and non-employees with experience and zest for new web. From the blurb they sent me: "The Applications User Experience Group at Oracle
- [We Were Connect First!](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/15/we-were-connect-first/) - I was excited to see that Dow Chemical launched a social network today. It sounds like a great project, joining Dow's current and former employees, targeted at different demographics. I especially like targeting alumnae who left for family-related reasons. Great stuff all around, excellent case study of a brick/mortar company embracing new web. What's the
- [No iPhone, No Service](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/16/no-iphone-no-service/) - More iPhone goodness lately as the cool kids (namely me) get to have a sweet version of Facebook (iphone.facebook.com), which is way better than the generic mobile version, and Meebo (point your iPhone at meebo.com) for chat. Mashable has both Facebook and Meebo pictures. I would have taken my own, but that seems like work.
- [My QuickConnect Card for OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/18/my-quickconnect-card-for-openworld/) - Jumping on the bandwagon, I've created my very own QuickConnect Card for OOW this year. Eddie and Carl have cards as well. I think this is the first time we've had something like this for OOW, and it seems like a good way to "schedule" ad hoc meetings with people that will be at Moscone.
- [Free Ruby Lessons](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/22/free-ruby-lessons/) - not sure how good the content is, but sounds like a good idea for new rubyists
- [jQuery Live](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/22/jquery-live/) - nice event observer for jQuery... might be added to jQuery 1.2 core!!!
- [Why Facebook Is the Future](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/27/why-facebook-is-the-future/) - "Whereas Google is a brilliant technological hack, Facebook is primarily a feat of social engineering. Facebook's appeal is both obvious and rather subtle..."
- [Cage Match: Google vs. Facebook](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/20/cage-match-google-vs-facebook/) - While Yahoo has spent time and energy over the past year and a half trying several times to talk Facebook into a merger, Google has been curiously silent. Until, they recently snagged Brad Fitzpatrick from Six Apart. Fitzpatrick, known for founding LiveJournal and selling it to Six Apart, wasted no time laying down the gauntlet
- [Nuts to Humor-Free!](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/21/nuts-to-humor-free/) - This has been a humor-free zone for way too long. Aside from a lackluster Spot the Hoax, I haven't posted anything intentionally funny lately. But today, I ran into two gems that I think will make you smile or laugh. First is this hilarious collection of Windows errors, courtesy of 365questions.org. My personal favorite: And
- [From the "Don't Be Evil" Department](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/21/from-the-dont-be-evil-department/) - As we all know, Google's unofficial motto is "Don't be evil". I'm a huge fan of the ideals behind the statement, but I'm also a huge cynic. IMHO, by going public, Google essentially changed the motto to "Let's not be poor." Not that all the hardworking Googlers don't deserve to be rewarded for their efforts.
- ["For Your iPhone Only"](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/22/for-your-iphone-only/) - For those Oracle people who come here to read iPhone fodder, I've started an internal wiki to collect all the tips and tricks that have surfaced from Oracletes with iPhones. Drop me a note to get the 411. Rich is still jealous. However, he may be in luck. Paul may be taking AppsLab on the
- [Brake for Geeks](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/22/brake-for-geeks/) - Wow, I read this blog post (via FSJ, with whom I have yet to break up) about a woman's iPhone-Genius Bar experience and found myself experiencing wide range of emoticons. I mean emotions. It's off-topic, but then again, what topic do I usually follow? Read the summary FSJ gives or the full post, then come
- [Mmm, bacn](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/23/mmm-bacn/) - We all know what spam is by now, the digital variety, not the gelatin-coated mystery meat in a tin. The attendees of PodCamp2 in Pittsburgh have coined the term bacn to describe "email you want, but not right now". Examples of bacn: Social network alerts Electronic bill pay alerts Basically anything you solicited by providing
- [How to Search Your Reader Feeds](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/27/how-to-search-your-reader-feeds/) - I have returned from the land of home improvement projects to bring you this tasty Monday nugget. We at AppsLab are all big fans of Google Reader. You can find our OPML files on the About page, if you're interested. They're nothing like Scoble's 600+ feeds, but each of us has a pretty hefty list
- [New Features for Connect Beta](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/27/new-features-for-connect-beta/) - Since we launched Connect alpha about three weeks ago, Rich has been adding new features in stealth mode leading up to our beta release, which should be finished sometime this week. We weren't promoting the new features, just to see how people adopted them. This gave us a nice viral study, and it pointed out
- [Why Social Networks Don't Work for Business](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/28/people-trust-and-content/) - Web 2.0 seems to get all the press these days. I kinda feel sorry for its less popular stepchild known as Enterprise 2.0. It smacks of some suit trying so hard to be cool and hip, but alas, we all know that enterprise software will never be the coolest thing around. I have yet to
- [Our First Podcast](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/27/our-first-podcast/) - I was recently asked by Justin Kestlyn of OTN fame to participate in a techcast. It's a short conversation around AppsLab, our charter and gives some insight into our projects and what we are all about. Take a listen if interested. -Paul
- [Oracle Open World Session Update](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/27/oracle-open-world-session-update/) - Looks like the illustrious events team has locked down session times. If you are interested in our sessions, they are both on Monday. Feel free to include them in your personalized agenda. Here are the details: Mon. Nov. 12 - 3:15-4:15pm S292186 Oracle and Web 2.0: Applying the Principles of Social Networks, Collaboration, and the
- [Find Me at the Office 2.0 Conference](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/31/find-me-at-the-office-20-conference/) - Next week is the Office 2.0 Conference made immortal by their offer of free iphones to all participants. The conference looks to have a good mix of participation and as luck would have it, I'll be speaking on a panel covering Enterprise 2.0 Collaboration. That session is Friday afternoon, but you can see the entire
- [AppsLab on Oracle Techcasts](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/27/appslab-on-oracle-techcasts/) - Justin recently published an interview podcast he did with Paul to the Oracle Techcasts. Have a listen if you want to know where we came from, what we're doing, or just want to hear what Paul and Justin sound like. Paul already blogged about it, so I'm not adding any value, just boosting Justin's trackbacks.
- [All Your (Oracle) Blogs are Belong to Us](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/27/all-your-oracle-blogs-are-belong-to-us/) - So, about a month ago when I released the Oracle Blogs search engine plugins, Carl asked a very valid question. Why can't I search all the blogs listed at blogs.oracle.com, regardless of whether they are hosted by Oracle or not? I thought about this, contemplating creating a Custom Google Search Engine and a plugin against
- [Driving Innovation, Get It?](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/29/driving-innovation-get-it/) - Recently, Paul was telling me about a conversation he had with an internal product team about Connect. The conversation went something like this: Product Manager: We love what you're doing with Connect, and we want to learn more about it. Are your design documents online? Paul: We don't have any design documents. PM: How did
- [Why Bans Don't Work](https://theappslab.com/2007/08/30/why-bans-dont-work/) - Effectively immediately, nothing will be banned. The Summer of Facebook has brought a new list of social network (sorry Mark, social utility) bans, as well as some fuzzy research on the cost of social networking. Some interesting points: Does anyone really believe that Facebook alone costs the Australian economy $5 billion? The Sophos study says
- [Exclusive: Screen Shots And Feature Overview of Delicious 2.0 Preview](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/06/exclusive-screen-shots-and-feature-overview-of-delicious-20-preview/) - nice screenshots of what's to come
- [Enterprise 2.0 Is Different, Wan't to Know Why?](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/05/enterprise-20-is-different-want-to-know-why/) - Like most people interested in 2.0, I have been at this web thing for a while. From the days of dialing into BBS systems, to Mosaic, all the way to the beautiful Interfest we have today of Facebook, Flickr, and much more. As I talk to people looking to take some of this digital goodness
- [Yahoo! The Sleeping Giant](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/04/yahoo-the-sleeping-giant/) - Last week, screenshots of Kickstart, Yahoo's lastest foray into social networks surfaced. Not surprisingly, Kickstart is targeted at recruiting, helping college student find an "in" at companies where they want to work and helping companies recruit students. I like this approach, as long as they can keep it clean by ensuring the students are really
- [Time for Questions](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/04/time-for-questions/) - So, I noticed tonight that Google Reader was displaying a more accurate number of unread items for each feed and folder. To be exact, it was a factor of ten more accurate, showing 1000+ and true counts for everything less than 1000. Then, while writing this entry, it went back to the old style, 100+
- [Google Reader Updates](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/06/google-reader-updates/) - Mashable has a nice nexus post for me. They note (as I did) that: 1) Google Reader can now count up to 1000 and 2) That Reader now has search, which I also blogged about recently. Comparing the searches (i.e. the built-in one and the hacked together one), the integrated one is very nice. It
- [Too Busy to Innovate](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/06/too-busy-to-innovate/) - I had a conversation with a product manager over IM today that got thinking big thoughts about stuff, you know, like Paul does. I've known this PM dude for years and worked with him while I was in development. Great guy, with massive doses of cynicism and negativity, at least when it comes to work.
- [New SaaS Features? Easter Egg or Spam Blast?](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/07/new-saas-features-easter-egg-or-spam-blast/) - I've spent the majority of my Life 2.0 using SaaS (Software as a Service), not producing it, but now that Connect is live and has users, I'm getting a taste for the production side of the house. Ask anyone savvy, like Anshu, about the benefits of SaaS, and dollars to donuts says "seamless new feature
- [Social Networks And Group Formation - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/07/social-networks-and-group-formation-boxes-and-arrows-the-design-behind-the-design/) - Interesting research on social networks forwared by an AppsLab reader
- [Dilbert: The Powerful Anti-Meeting Spell](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/09/dilbert-the-powerful-anti-meeting-spell/) - I need to share this right before I sit on the couch watching NFL goodness for the rest of the day. You'll probably have 10 or so other references to this by the end of next week. Click through for the answer(s). Enjoy. Update: By way of O'Reilly Radar, I realized that the T&C prohibit
- [Then You Get the Power](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/10/then-you-get-the-power/) - I guess the Office 2.0 Conference made this relevant last week, but I noticed several articles that kicked IT in the teeth for holding back the inevitable advance of new web into the enterprise, i.e. Web 2.0 transforming into Enterprise 2.0. Chris Anderson of "the long tail" fame and Computer World each had pieces on
- [getsatisfaction/oracle](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/13/getsatisfactionoracle/) - Got innocently naive questions about Oracle? Ask some members of the community at getsatisfaction/oracle.
- [getsatisfaction/oracle](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/13/getsatisfactionoracle-2/) - Got innocently naive questions about Oracle? Ask some members of the community at getsatisfaction/oracle.
- [Office 2.0 Conference Review](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/11/office-20-conference-review/) - Last Thursday and Friday I was at the Office 2.0 Conference in SF held at the St. Regis hotel. The event came off as a success and I enjoyed the venue, meeting new people and sharing my thoughts on the Enterprise Collaboration panel. I especially thought Dan Farber did a nice job keeping us on
- [Everything New is a Swimming Pool](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/11/everything-new-is-a-swimming-pool/) - Yesterday, I was having one of my usual days. Trying to convince people that we need to do something different and getting blocked at every turn. It's incredible that no matter how good the idea, it will always be met with a challenge. It got me thinking...Are there any ideas that are SO good, that
- [The Wisdom of Eight Year Olds](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/12/the-wisdom-of-nine-year-olds/) - Last weekend I was at my nephew's 8th birthday party. As luck would have it, my sister had placed out a few jars of candy with a pen and paper so the kids could guess the number of items in each jar. The usual suspects of jelly bellies, gum, and mints were all there, with
- [Trust No/Every One](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/11/trust-no-one/) - A couple recent nuggets reminded me of Paul's post on trust and underlined the reasons why Web 2.0 can never be Enterprise 2.0. With Connect, we've come upon a new (at least to us) dimension of the social network, i.e. the explicit trust created by working together. Paul says: When we inject trust into the
- [Gimme Your Lunch Money 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/11/gimme-your-lunch-money-20/) - Justin rightfully broke this story, and kudos to him for making it happen. Justin gets a lot of flack from bloggers and 2.0 types because he's one of the voices of Oracle in the blogosphere. To his credit, he's done more to turn the ship than any of us, while simultaneously get beat up internally
- [Video of Paul at Office 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/12/video-of-paul-at-office-20/) - ZDNet has posted a short snippet of Paul's commentary about Connect, after Dan Farber quizzed (and needled) him. I lol'd when Paul said he had a team of developers who are web savvy. Rich apparently has cloned himself. Woo-hoo! Either that or I am now a web developer . . . bah?
- [How Do You Feel about Your Workspace?](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/12/how-do-you-feel-about-your-workspace/) - I've come across some interesting thoughts on productivity, creativity and physical space lately. First, there's this bit from Lifehacker about how ceiling height affects your thinking. The central finding of the research is that higher ceilings tend to foster abstract thought, whereas lower ceilings tend to encourage detailed thinking. Pretty cool. Then today, there's another
- [Web Strategy (Advanced): Applying a Social Computing Strategy to the entire Product Lifecycle](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/13/web-strategy-advanced-applying-a-social-computing-strategy-to-the-entire-product-lifecycle/) - New web applied to product lifecycle
- [You Can Get Satisfaction](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/13/you-can-get-satisfaction/) - Rich created an Oracle space over at satisfaction, a startup focused on crowdsourcing customer service. Their site allows companies to give customers "people-power customer service". I know for a fact we already have real-live people in support, but the aim here is to facilitate an open conversational approach, centered around more general issues and questions,
- [Salesforce.com Application for Facebook](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/13/salesforcecom-application-for-facebook/) - It should be noted that the application is not officially affiliated with either company.
- [Halloween is upon us!](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/14/halloween-is-upon-us/) - All this talk about social software and swimming pools is making me crazy. We need more stupid pet postings on this blog. It's been a while since I've posted anything, but today is Friday and it's time to lighten it up a bit. I was looking through the numerous junk mail catalogs we got yesterday
- [AppsLab Events Widget](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/13/appslab-events-widget/) - Maybe you noticed our newest widget, it's right down there on the right, just under the Archives. If you're too lazy to look, here's the shot. This widget shows events that have been posted to our upcoming group, aptly called appslab. Anyone can join and use upcoming, and anyone can join and post events to
- [11g Doc Makeover: Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/14/11g-doc-makeover-part-2/) - About a month ago, I blogged about the 11g R1 documentation's Easter Egg feature, comments. At the time, I recall thinking this was a great, easy way to engage people, but wondered if anyone would a) comment or b) reply to comments. Color me surprised. Today, Steeve Bisson blogged about comments he made to the
- [I Have Firehose A.D.D.](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/17/i-have-firehose-add/) - Rich pinged me over IM this morning with some interesting articles comparing hedge funds to software companies. See here and here, really interesting stuff, possibly worth a blog post later, but not the focus here. I got through O'Reilly blog post pretty fast; it's about 400 words. I started the NYT article, but once I
- [What's in a Name?](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/18/whats-in-a-name/) - As many know already, I'm not a fan of the term Enterprise 2.0. I think it's derivative and boring, all at once. And yet, now people are building on it and advancing the version to 3.0. I'm also not a fan of Web 2.0, but that one is livable. An email thread with Paul coined
- [Salesforce to Launch Community Platform for Clients](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/18/salesforce-to-launch-community-platform-for-clients/) - This wisdom-of-the-crowds tool is now being extended to all Salesforce clients, and will be fully available early next year.
- [Oracle OpenWorld Unconference: Wow!](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/oracle-openworld-unconference-wow/) - This year an unconference will be running in parallel to the official show agenda.
- [Oracle OpenWorld 2007 - Social Networking, Twittering, Flickring and Unconferencing < Eddie Awad’s Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/oracle-openworld-2007-social-networking-twittering-flickring-and-unconferencing-eddie-awads-blog-4/) - Many ways to follow and contribute to OOW 2007.
- [Oracle OpenWorld 2007 - Social Networking, Twittering, Flickring and Unconferencing < Eddie Awad’s Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/oracle-openworld-2007-social-networking-twittering-flickring-and-unconferencing-eddie-awads-blog-2-2/) - Many ways to follow and contribute to OOW 2007.
- [Oracle OpenWorld 2007 - Social Networking, Twittering, Flickring and Unconferencing < Eddie Awad's Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/oracle-openworld-2007-social-networking-twittering-flickring-and-unconferencing-eddie-awads-blog-2/) - Many ways to follow and contribute to OOW 2007.
- [Oracle OpenWorld 2007 - Social Networking, Twittering, Flickring and Unconferencing < Eddie Awad's Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/oracle-openworld-2007-social-networking-twittering-flickring-and-unconferencing-eddie-awads-blog-3/) - Many ways to follow and contribute to OOW 2007.
- [Oracle OpenWorld Unconference: Wow!](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/oracle-openworld-unconference-wow-2/) - This year an unconference will be running in parallel to the official show agenda.
- [Salesforce to Launch Community Platform for Clients](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/18/salesforce-to-launch-community-platform-for-clients-2/) - This wisdom-of-the-crowds tool is now being extended to all Salesforce clients, and will be fully available early next year.
- [Rails and the Enterprise](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/rails-and-the-enterprise/) - "Most enterprise developers believe that Rails is a toy framework, or have a religious devotion to the familiar and tend to fear change."
- [Sun surprises at RailsConf Europe 2007](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/sun-surprises-at-railsconf-europe-2007/) - "He even went as far as to say that developing web applications in Java after working with Rails would probably not be a particularly pleasant experience for him. Wow."
- [Top 10 Reasons Why Java Sucks Ass](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/20/top-10-reasons-why-java-sucks-ass-2/) - Longer title: Top 10 Reasons Why Anything and Everything Related to Java Programming and Open-Source Frameworks Sucks Major Ass in Comparison to Anything and Everything Related to Ruby and Rails
- [Sun surprises at RailsConf Europe 2007](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/sun-surprises-at-railsconf-europe-2007-2/) - "He even went as far as to say that developing web applications in Java after working with Rails would probably not be a particularly pleasant experience for him. Wow."
- [Rails and the Enterprise](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/rails-and-the-enterprise-2/) - "Most enterprise developers believe that Rails is a toy framework, or have a religious devotion to the familiar and tend to fear change."
- [McAfee's Own 9x Problem](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/mcafees-own-9x-problem/) - As I sat this week at the Gartner conference, I had the opportunity to hear Andrew McAfee speak about Enterprise 2.0. One of the things I enjoyed hearing live was the 9x problem. He has written about it before, but the phenomenon is that we tend to overestimate the value of current solutions by 3x
- [Faceforce = Creepiness + Spam](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/faceforce-creepiness-spam/) - I'll start by saying what I like about Faceforce, the unofficial mashup between Salesforce.com and Facebook. It's a great example of ad hoc collaboration between two companies in what seems to be an unofficial way. Clara Shih, an AppExchange Product Manager at Salesforce.com and Todd Perry, a software engineer at Facebook, built this integration. It's
- [Oracle OpenWorld 2007 - Social Networking, Twittering, Flickring and Unconferencing < Eddie Awad?s Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/oracle-openworld-2007-social-networking-twittering-flickring-and-unconferencing-eddie-awads-blog/) - Many ways to follow and contribute to OOW 2007.
- [New Applications Strategy Blogs](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/19/new-applications-strategy-blogs/) - It's my pleasure to welcome a couple new(ish), Applications Strategy blogs to the Oracle blogosphere. Financials Strategy, written by the Financials Strategy team Project Directions, written by the Projects Strategy team In case you didn't know (read the About), we (AppsLab) are part of the Applications Strategy organization, so these are teams we work with
- [Top 10 Reasons Why Ruby Sucks Ass](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/20/top-10-reasons-why-ruby-sucks-ass/) - a counterpoint to the previous post
- [Top 10 Reasons Why Java Sucks Ass](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/20/top-10-reasons-why-java-sucks-ass/) - Longer title: Top 10 Reasons Why Anything and Everything Related to Java Programming and Open-Source Frameworks Sucks Major Ass in Comparison to Anything and Everything Related to Ruby and Rails
- ["Enterprise software" is a social, not technical, phenomenon](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/21/enterprise-software-is-a-social-not-technical-phenomenon-2/)
- ["Enterprise software" is a social, not technical, phenomenon](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/21/enterprise-software-is-a-social-not-technical-phenomenon-3/)
- [Top 10 Reasons Why Ruby Sucks Ass](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/20/top-10-reasons-why-ruby-sucks-ass-2/) - a counterpoint to the previous post
- [Six Apart - News and Events: We Are Opening the Social Graph](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/20/six-apart-news-and-events-we-are-opening-the-social-graph/)
- [Power to the People 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/20/power-to-the-people-20/) - Billy Cripe, of the Fusion ECM (Enterprise Content Management) team threw us a trackback today for my bit on social apps. Billy came Oracle in the Stellent acquisition, and he's 2.0 savvy. His status in Connect is DONT TASE ME BRO, alluding to the latest meme floating around the Interwebs. I started to write a
- [Six Apart - News and Events: We Are Opening the Social Graph](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/20/six-apart-news-and-events-we-are-opening-the-social-graph-2/)
- ["Enterprise software" is a social, not technical, phenomenon](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/21/enterprise-software-is-a-social-not-technical-phenomenon/)
- [RailsConf Europe 2007 presentations are online!](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/23/railsconf-europe-2007-presentations-are-online/)
- [RailsConf Europe 2007 presentations are online!](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/23/railsconf-europe-2007-presentations-are-online-2/)
- [Google To ?Out Open? Facebook On November 5](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/21/google-to-out-open-facebook-on-november-5/) - Google will announce a new set of APIs on November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google?s social graph data.
- [Moar Power!](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/24/moar-power/) - Because it's been a slow day, topic-wise, I figured why not blog my response to Billy's response to my post on his post. This is how the blogosphere stays alive, feeding on itself. Plus, I don't trust the comments. Billy's making nice, saying the right things, e.g. "This misses the point or maybe my point
- [Google To “Out Open” Facebook On November 5](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/21/google-to-out-open-facebook-on-november-5-4/) - Google will announce a new set of APIs on November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google’s social graph data.
- [You're So Money.](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/26/youre-so-money/) - I've been shaking my head since reading yesterday that Microsoft is in talks with Facebook to take a stake in the "social utility" darling, not because it doesn't make sense for both parties (albeit in much different measures), but because the valuation is ludicrous. Microsoft is reported to be seeking a 5% stake in Facebook,
- [TheStar.com | News | Facebook used to trace woman who rescued bat](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/26/thestar-com-news-facebook-used-to-trace-woman-who-rescued-bat/) - Ironically, employees of the City of Toronto are barred from using Facebook at work so Crapper had to get special dispensation.
- [Are You a Keyboard Wizard?](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/26/are-you-a-keyboard-wizard/) - Oracle Financials is 20 this year. Joe managed to dig up a screen capture. I found a higher resolution HR one. He refers to the cult of users who loved character mode because it was optimized for data entry and keystrokes, a totally lost art in applications today. Of course, Financials users at the time
- [ASU Pilots ERP Implementation 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/26/asu-pilots-erp-implementation-20/) - The WSJ ran a story yesterday about Arizona State University's Oracle ERP implementation and the unique approach they've taken. The university's head technology dude, Dr. Adrian Sannier (his blog), decided to take a New Web approach to the implementation. From the WSJ: In order to avoid the cost overruns that are typical with projects like
- [Google To "Out Open" Facebook On November 5](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/21/google-to-out-open-facebook-on-november-5-2/) - Google will announce a new set of APIs on November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google's social graph data.
- [TheStar.com | News | Facebook used to trace woman who rescued bat](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/26/thestarcom-news-facebook-used-to-trace-woman-who-rescued-bat-2/) - Ironically, employees of the City of Toronto are barred from using Facebook at work so Crapper had to get special dispensation.
- [Google To "Out Open" Facebook On November 5](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/21/google-to-out-open-facebook-on-november-5-3/) - Google will announce a new set of APIs on November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google's social graph data.
- [On Social Apps, Trying Again](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/28/on-social-apps-trying-again/) - So, Billy and I had a whimsical dust-up over the differences (or lack thereof) between our approaches to the enterprise-ification of New Web. A few other voices chimed in too. Right, wrong, indifferent, it's been a slow week. Mr. Long Tail, Chris Anderson, posted an entry yesterday that hits the core of the differences between
- [More from the ASU ERP Implementation](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/30/more-from-the-asu-erp-implementation/) - Following last week's coverage of the Arizona State ERP implementation, the Dr. Adrian Sannier, the University Technology Officer, has responded in his blog. It's an interesting read. He points out that the mainstream coverage has focused primarily on the Payroll problems the new system had, which is understandable; it's human interest, and yeah, it totally
- [A is for Audacity](https://theappslab.com/2007/09/30/a-is-for-audacity/) - Apple is killing me lately. I'm no fanboy by any means, but over the past few years, I've been pleased to see their rise from the ashes. A decade ago, I graduated from a Mac college into a world of Windows 3.11 and 95. What a shock. The business world ran Windows, not Apple. The
- [What Do You Want from Us?](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/02/what-do-you-want-from-us/) - Over the past month or so, I've watched our traffic decline, our subscirptions fall, and our comments slow to a trickle. This being New Web, I thought I'd throw a question out there: What do you want to read about here? Paul's post on trust got loads of comments and trackbacks. The MetaLink search plugin
- [Eddie's MetaLink Search Plus](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/03/eddies-metalink-search-plus/) - We probably have a pretty high overlap percentage with Eddie so many of you have already seen this. Still, I want to point out a sweet Greasemonkey script he published yesterday. The script expands your keyword search on MetaLink to a host of other engines: Oracle documentation, blogs, public forums and mailing lists, AskTom, search.oracle.com
- [A River of Information Runs Through It](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/03/a-river-of-information-runs-through-it/) - Recent coverage (NYT, Mashable) of FriendFeed reminded me of discussions we've had about Connect features. Basically, FriendFeed applies the Facebook News Feed feature to the entire Interwebs, or at the 23 services they integrate with today. You have a(nother) network of friends. Everyone posts stuff to the FriendFeed, which aggregates the posts into a river
- [On Ties](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/04/on-ties/) - The term social networking, like blog, has a fluffy connotation. Because its adoption began with young people through MySpace, many people assume that social networks are toys and time-sinks. Actually, they are correct on both accounts. However, as working stiffs like yours truly and people who understand us immerse ourselves in social networks, new uses
- [Remember Rockwell?](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/08/remember-rockwell/) - Some of you may remember Rockwell, a.k.a. Kenneth William Gordy, the son of Motown Records head Berry Gordy, and his only hit, "Somebody's Watching Me". Released in 1984, the song featured Michael and Jermaine Jackson singing chorus. I always liked that song, and thanks to the Long Tail of music, this one-hit wonder gem lives
- [More on Workspace Design](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/04/more-on-workspace-design/) - So, I'm sitting in our divisional all-hands meeting, virtually of course, and one of the questions is about a remodel that's going on currently in Building 300 on the Redwood Shores campus. For those not in the know, 300 is the tallest silo with the big old "ORACLE" across the top floor. I used to
- [TiVo Gets 2.0 Makeover](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/06/tivo-gets-20-makeover/) - I love my TiVo. The Fall 2007 Service Update that loaded the other day gave the grand old UI a New Web makeover, which I really appreciated. In typical New Web style, there are shadows and gradients, softer and darker colors, etc. As with the NFL, TiVo is embracing the stylings of Web 2.0, which
- [Not My Space](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/07/not-my-space/) - I have a MySpace profile that I use occasionally for comparison purposes. I use the account when I read about some new feature they have or to see how they handle a specific social network feature. Last week, I got bacn from MySpace saying that "Cathy" wanted to be my friend. Although I know MySpace
- [PHP/RoR Sessions at Oracle OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/11/phpror-sessions-at-oracle-openworld/) - Come check out what Oracle is doing with open source scripting languages!
- [JRuby on Rails Application on an Oracle AppServer](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/18/jruby-on-rails-application-on-an-oracle-appserver/) - Finally, something to blog about! Progress is being made. More to come later...
- [Revolution On Rails: Advanced Rails Caching.. on the Edge](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/18/revolution-on-rails-advanced-rails-caching-on-the-edge/) - Interesting techniques for caching rails fragments using Oracle Web Cache or other ESI based caching applications
- [Revolution On Rails: Advanced Rails Caching.. on the Edge](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/18/revolution-on-rails-advanced-rails-caching-on-the-edge-2/) - Interesting techniques for caching rails fragments using Oracle Web Cache or other ESI based caching applications
- [PHP/RoR Sessions at Oracle OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/11/phpror-sessions-at-oracle-openworld-2/) - Come check out what Oracle is doing with open source scripting languages!
- [Why 2.0 Didn't Start in the Enterprise](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/15/why-20-didnt-start-in-the-enterprise/) - As I was sitting down with the family enjoying some Baskin Robbins (Peanut Butter Chocolate rules!) last night I began to wonder why all this cool new "2.0" stuff didn't originate in the existing companies providing software to enterprises? Since the new web is a lot about enabling people to share information, it seems likely
- [Life in the Bullpen](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/09/life-in-the-bullpen/) - After the divisional all-hands meeting last week and my post, I called out for anyone close to the Building 300 remodel to weigh in with comments. Someone answered the call, on an internal blog. His name is Puneet, and he's a developer who sits in the bullpen on the 16th floor of 300, way at
- [Orkut, Jaiku, Google . . . Gesundheit](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/10/orkut-jaiku-google-gesundheit/) - All the good names may be gone. Reading this piece in Business Week on Google's orkut and their plans for social domination, I figured it was finally time to give orkut a test drive to see what all the excitamento or halachala (I hope these are close) was all about. Orkut is wildly popular in
- [Street View Makes Immortals](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/11/street-view-makes-immortals/) - Google Maps rolled out the infamous Street View for six new cities this week: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland and Tucson. In typical Google fashion, they are touting this as more cities to explore, ignoring the creepy factor. Having lived in and knowing people who currently live in several of these cities, I spent some
- [Does Web 2.0 Lead to Laziness?](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/12/does-web-20-lead-to-laziness/) - Not a day after Puneet commented that I am "able to churn out so many high quality posts so often" (his words, unsolicited), I am having writer's block. I blame the Interwebs and Life in general for not being interesting enough today. So, in lieu of real content, I'm going to riff (tongue in cheek)
- [Bloggers at OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/12/bloggers-at-openworld/) - I'm happy to announce that Oracle OpenWorld this year will be open to bloggers for the first time. Oracle has extended an invitation to leaders in the blogging community, who can come experience the pageantry of an entire city block covered by a huge tent (oh and the conference). Qualified bloggers can register for OpenWorld
- [Decision 07: (more...) vs. More](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/13/decision-07-more-vs-more/) - Funny thing, Rich has a draft in WP called "Time to Give Jake a Break". You'll notice it hasn't been published yet. We are really buried preparing for OpenWorld, so keeping this blog going has been tough. The title put me in mind of the trucking term Jake Brake. Signs like this one have puzzled
- [A Can of Worms](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/15/a-can-of-worms/) - If there was any remaining doubt that this blog has slipped into Seinfeld territory, I am sealing the deal by blogging about the comments on a seemingly innocent post from Friday called "Bloggers at OpenWorld". The issue at hand is about providing recompense for time lost/expenses incurred for attendees. Here are the arguments in no
- [Review Recap](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/17/review-recap/) - Will you be in the San Francisco Bay Area next week, namely Monday between 11 and 2? If so, stop by Lunch 2.0, which will be at Oracle for the first time, to mingle with AppsLab and other new web interested people. You can find details here. This should be a great chance to network,
- [Web 2.0 Summit on blip.tv](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/21/web-2-0-summit-on-blip-tv/)
- [JRuby on Rails: Fast Enough](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/24/jruby-on-rails-fast-enough/) - Nice numbers from Nick Sieger at Sun. jRuby actually out performs MRI... this is great news for us!
- [JRuby on Rails: Fast Enough](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/24/jruby-on-rails-fast-enough-2/) - Nice numbers from Nick Sieger at Sun. jRuby actually out performs MRI... this is great news for us!
- [Web 2.0 Summit on blip.tv](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/21/web-20-summit-on-bliptv-2/)
- [FriendFeed Crosses the Streams](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/19/friendfeed-cross-the-streams/) - Recently, I blogged about FriendFeed, a new app that aggregates all your friend's 2.0 activity into a single river of goodness, a la the Connect Activity Log or the Facebook News Feed. In typical new web fashion, FriendFeed is in invite only beta now, and earlier in the week, I got my beta invite. The
- [Debrief of Lunch 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/22/debrief-of-lunch-20/) - For those who haven't caught the dozen or so self-promotional references, Oracle hosted Lunch 2.0 this afternoon at the silos in Redwood Shores. I struggled to explain to people what Lunch 2.0 is before the event, not having attended one myself, but now I have a better idea. If you're interested, the San Francisco Chronicle
- [SoCal Fires: Why New Web isn't Trivial](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/24/socal-fires-why-new-web-isnt-trivial/) - One of our readers pointed me to this mashup created by KPBS in San Diego that combines critical evacuation information like neighborhoods affected, closed roads, nearest evacuation center, etc. Yahoo News has a story on the mashup too. This post has two points: 1) To spread the word about the mashup to anyone affected by
- [OpenWorld Blogger Update](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/27/openworld-blogger-update/) - So, a few updates for those interested in attending OpenWorld as a blogger. The registration process is now working, and we have a few confirmed attendees, including Vinnie and Jeff, who have also graciously offered to help plan the agenda for bloggers, which I think is still in the works. Because of the sheer number
- [The OpenLab](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/29/the-openlab/) - When we started our Connect experiment in August, one goal we had for the project was to engage the tens of thousands of technical folks at Oracle in something new. We call it OpenLab, and it's run like an Open Source project within Oracle. The only thing we ask participants to do is use free
- [Oracle OpenWorld Agenda and Show Guide](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/29/oracle-openworld-agenda-and-show-guide/) - Attending OpenWorld? Here's the agenda and show guide in digital form
- [Eight Cell Phones in Ten Years Part 1](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/29/eight-cell-phones-in-ten-years-part-1/) - On the flight back home from SFO last Friday, I got to thinking about cell phones. I was fiddling with my iPhone, listening to music, wondering if it would get a signal if I took it out of Airplane Mode, then paranoid that it might crash the plane. Luckily, I didn't have an Airplane mode
- [Eight Cell Phones in Ten Years Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/30/eight-cell-phones-in-ten-years-part-2/) - Yesterday, I started a nostalgic trip down cell phone lane, recounting my first four cell phones. I think that took me from 1997 to 2003. By that time the Zoolander Nokia had a cracked screen, and phones were starting to get really cool. The Off Brand Freebie Phone The carrier I had at the time
- [Seriously, We Want Bloggers at OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/30/seriously-we-want-bloggers-at-openworld/) - I hate to beat a dead horse, but frankly, I've had precious few topics lately. To clarify: We want bloggers to attend and cover OpenWorld, November 11-15, in San Francisco. My PR guru and I had a call with Jeff and Vinnie this morning to discuss their thoughts on a blogger program and talk about
- [Oracle OpenWorld Agenda and Show Guide](https://theappslab.com/2007/10/29/oracle-openworld-agenda-and-show-guide-2/) - Attending OpenWorld? Here's the agenda and show guide in digital form
- [Yet Another OpenWorld Blogger Update](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/01/yet-another-openworld-blogger-update/) - This week has been a feverish rush to put the finishing touches on all things OpenWorld. Next week will be more of the same. Rich needs a hug, poor guy. Make sure you give him one when you see him at OOW. There's a good chance I may consume the entire budget we have a
- [More OpenWorld Blogger Updates](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/02/more-openworld-blogger-updates/) - Dennis pinged me over Twitter asking for keynote details for OpenWorld. So, I figured rather than talk about the elephant in the room, i.e. OpenSocial about which I know nothing, honestly, I would avoid the subject. First, the official OpenWorld Agenda and Show Guide is available here. This is exactly the same one you'll get
- [The Easy Way to Share Oracle OpenWorld Photos < Eddie Awad’s Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/06/the-easy-way-to-share-oracle-openworld-photos-eddie-awads-blog-3/) - Eddie has compiled a bunch of ways to share OOW 2007 pictures.
- [Sharing OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/06/sharing-openworld/) - Heading into OpenWorld next week, there are a few tools that you can use to broadcast your experiences and consume updates from the conference. Eddie has a great post today, detailing how to send pictures to the Oracle OpenWorld 2007 Flickr group. Just send an email to future09ideas at photos dot flickr dot com. You
- [Salesforce.com Acknowledges Data Loss - Security Fix](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/06/salesforce-com-acknowledges-data-loss-security-fix/) - Uh-oh, not good
- [AppsLab Meetup](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/07/appslab-meetup/) - As we roll towards OpenWorld next week, it's key to have each evening planned as well as the days. After all, conferences are a great chance to catch up with old friends, make new ones and put a real world face to a digital voice. In that spirit, join us at the AppsLab meetup, which
- [Cool Stuff is Happening](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/08/cool-stuff-is-happening/) - If you read this blog, you'll know I use Twitter, as do many of the people I interact with virtually. Recently, Twitter and its use created a strange alliance that is a powerful case study for new web collaboration. This alliance made up of a person from SAP, a person from Oracle, an Oracle customer,
- [Twitter + OpenWorld and More](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/08/twitter-openworld-and-more/) - It seems like Twitter will be part of OpenWorld, if Eddie and I have anything to do with it. Floyd says he's making his first foray into Twiterville at OpenWorld. He's soliciting questions OAUG Fusion Council Panel on Sunday afternoon. So, tweet away with your questions. Tim, on the other hand, doesn't get Twitter and
- [The Easy Way to Share Oracle OpenWorld Photos < Eddie Awad’s Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/06/the-easy-way-to-share-oracle-openworld-photos-eddie-awads-blog-2-2/) - Eddie has compiled a bunch of ways to share OOW 2007 pictures.
- [The Easy Way to Share Oracle OpenWorld Photos < Eddie Awad's Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/06/the-easy-way-to-share-oracle-openworld-photos-eddie-awads-blog/) - Eddie has compiled a bunch of ways to share OOW 2007 pictures.
- [Salesforce.com Acknowledges Data Loss - Security Fix](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/06/salesforcecom-acknowledges-data-loss-security-fix-2/) - Uh-oh, not good
- [The Easy Way to Share Oracle OpenWorld Photos < Eddie Awad's Blog](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/06/the-easy-way-to-share-oracle-openworld-photos-eddie-awads-blog-2/) - Eddie has compiled a bunch of ways to share OOW 2007 pictures.
- [Let's Mix](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/12/lets-mix/) - Hi all. Remember me? I used to blog here until of course Paul and Jake buried me with a crazy project that seemed impossible. Anyway, now that it's out, I can talk about what I've been working on since all the fun we had with Connect this Summer. So, far the buzz on Oracle Mix
- [Mix is Live](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/11/mix-is-live/) - Today is a big day for Oracle and our team. We have been cranking pretty hard for the last 6 weeks to get here. Where are we you ask? We'll, I like to think of it as camp. Y'know in those everest trips how the teams have to reach a series of camps before their
- [Off to OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/10/off-to-openworld/) - I'm headed out to San Francisco early tomorrow morning and will be around the event all day, probably on Twitter. I'm debating whether to take both the Macbook and PC. The Macbook's battery life is a huge plus, whereas the PC can barely get booted on a full charge, which is annoying at best. The
- [Oracle Doing the Web 2.0 Thing at e-Literate](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/16/oracle-doing-the-web-2-0-thing-at-e-literate/) - O'Reilly is interested in Mix
- [Back from OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/19/back-from-openworld/) - Sure, I got back from OpenWorld last Thursday, but I'm only now willing to get back in the saddle and blog about it. As I mentioned to a few of the Enterprise Irregulars who attended, OpenWorld is a marathon. Imagine a full day sessions, quietly sitting and listening, tons of walking around San Francisco, meeting
- [Oracle Doing the Web 2.0 Thing at e-Literate](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/16/oracle-doing-the-web-20-thing-at-e-literate-2/) - O'Reilly is interested in Mix
- [Mix, JRuby on Rails, Small Teams, Agile, and it's Effects on the World](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/21/mix-jruby-on-rails-small-teams-agile-and-its-effects-on-the-world/) - A week after going live with Oracle Mix, we've gotten a considerable amount of buzz and interest from every aspect of Mix. Most everyone we've talked with are really happy to see Oracle becoming more transparent. Mix is a huge part of that. There are a lot of tool heads out there who are really
- [Product pages: so much suck, so easy to fix](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/26/product-pages-so-much-suck-so-easy-to-fix/) - we need to apply these concepts to Mix' front page
- [Mix Rake Stats](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/27/mix-rake-stats/) - Artem Vasiliev asked for the Mix rake stats... here they are: +----------------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+-----+-------+ | Name | Lines | LOC | Classes | Methods | M/C | LOC/M | +----------------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+-----+-------+ | Controllers | 1825 | 1504 | 22 | 145 | 6 | 8 | | Helpers | 248 | 217 | 0 | 28 | 0
- [Product pages: so much suck, so easy to fix](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/26/product-pages-so-much-suck-so-easy-to-fix-2/) - we need to apply these concepts to Mix' front page
- [Something Cool from OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/19/something-cool-from-openworld/) - I forgot to mention this in my OpenWorld recap post, but it's probably just as well. It might have been lost with the rest of the content. Dan Norris was talking about what he does, apparently he works, and he mentioned the Fall Saver. I guess Dan works with Piocon, and Piocon won a Titan
- [Welcome Two (Now Four) More Bloggers](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/26/welcome-two-more-bloggers/) - OpenWorld followed by Thanksgiving have really put a damper on my blogging, but today, my plan is to get back on track. First off, I want to welcome two new bloggers to the blogosphere. Part of my job is getting Oracle people comfortable with blogging and encouraging them to start blogs. It's a tough cultural
- [Mix is for Everyone](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/26/mix-is-for-everyone/) - Paul announced our new community, Oracle Mix, during OpenWorld. Rich blogged about the experience he and ThoughtWorks had building Mix in 4-ish weeks. Depending on whom you ask, Mix took anywhere from 6-3 weeks to execute, so it was a classic agile project. Oh yeah, in case you didn't know already, Mix is built in
- [Help Populate the AppsLab Event Widget](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/26/help-populate-the-appslab-event-widget/) - A few months ago, I blogged about the events widget that appears directly under the Archives section in the left-hand column of this blog. The list of events posted to the Upcoming appslab group is getting a little short, so I went through and posted a bunch more, including Web 2.0 Expo in April, which
- [Dilbert Comic Strip Archive - Dilbert.com - The Official Dilbert Website by Scott Adams - Dilbert, Dogbert and Coworkers!](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/27/dilbert-comic-strip-archive-dilbert-com-the-official-dilbert-website-by-scott-adams-dilbert-dogbert-and-coworkers/) - Dilbert on Agile (Extreme!!!!) Programming
- [Hug a Developer](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/27/hug-a-developer/) - First off, sorry for sending spam and bacn, the other inbox meat, all over the place. I'm trying to build a community here, so mind the dust. Remember Puneet from Life in the Bullpen? His comment on an idea of mine got me thinking of another reason why you should use Mix. The network humanizes
- [Dilbert Comic Strip Archive - Dilbert.com - The Official Dilbert Website by Scott Adams - Dilbert, Dogbert and Coworkers!](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/27/dilbert-comic-strip-archive-dilbertcom-the-official-dilbert-website-by-scott-adams-dilbert-dogbert-and-coworkers-2/) - Dilbert on Agile (Extreme!!!!) Programming
- [Great Customer Service](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/28/great-customer-service/) - Ok, this post may not be what you expect from our blog, but I had to share two great examples of excellent customer service that I experienced recently. It is my opinion that excellent service is ever important in this time of low switching costs and doing it right has approximately zero marginal cost. Example
- [What Do You Really Want from a Social Network?](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/29/what-do-you-really-want-from-a-social-network/) - Eddie's Oracle People Map got me thinking about what I like about social networks and why some are more valuable to me than others. Data visualization is cool, and seeing where people are geographically is a trip. I had coffee with Rick Turoczy, the Silicon Florist, today to talk about the tech scene in Portland,
- [In Defense of Gen Y Workers - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/28/in-defense-of-gen-y-workers-cio-com-business-technology-leadership/) - Wow, the comments are even more interesting than the article, but why won't anyone comment as themselves
- [Talk the Talk](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/29/talk-the-talk/) - This post from Mashable got me thinking about something that's eaten at me ever since I got into tech many moons ago. Watch the clip from "CSI", observe the Twitter plug, chuckle at the pithy dialog. Some people just don’t value privacy. They don’t expect privacy; they value openness. Whatever. The best part, aside from
- [Human Computation](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/29/human-computation-2/) - Very cool stuff: Paul put me on to this, David mentioned it too, video lecture from the creator of the ESP game, image labeling keyword game
- [In Defense of Gen Y Workers - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/28/in-defense-of-gen-y-workers-ciocom-business-technology-leadership-2/) - Wow, the comments are even more interesting than the article, but why won't anyone comment as themselves
- [Human Computation](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/29/human-computation/) - Very cool stuff: Paul put me on to this, David mentioned it too, video lecture from the creator of the ESP game, image labeling keyword game
- [Mix So Far](https://theappslab.com/2007/11/30/mix-so-far/) - We just got site analytics installed on Mix. It would have been nice to see the traffic patterns the week of OpenWorld. Sometimes duh stuff like that takes longer than anticipated, but oh well. We're about three weeks in, give or take a holiday, so I figured I'd check out the ideas and share some
- [The Great Ruby Shootout | Zen and the Art of Ruby Programming](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/03/the-great-ruby-shootout-zen-and-the-art-of-ruby-programming/) - JRuby following behind Ruby 1.9. I can't wait until JRuby uptakes 1.9!
- [The Great Ruby Shootout | Zen and the Art of Ruby Programming](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/03/the-great-ruby-shootout-zen-and-the-art-of-ruby-programming-2/) - JRuby following behind Ruby 1.9. I can't wait until JRuby uptakes 1.9!
- [Remember the "Information Superhighway"?](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/01/remember-the-information-superhighway/) - This piece in CIO.com, "In Defense of Gen Y Workers" is the most interesting read I've had in a while. I highly recommend having a read, regardless of your generational affiliation, if only to experience the emotions it elicits. Setting the content aside, the author has definitely found a way to get her audience in
- [AppsLab Interviewed by The Feature](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/07/appslab-interviewed-by-the-feature/) - Marian Crkon writes The Feature, an E-Business Suite focused blog that also sometimes features the written styling of our pal, Floyd. You can find The Feature at the always entertaining URL, itsafeature.com, which alludes to its authors backgrounds as consultants. Coincidentally, another guest writer for The Feature is Nancy Chung, who wrote a piece on
- [More Apps Blogs](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/07/more-apps-blogs/) - By way of Justin, it seems that Jeremy Ashley and his team are now blogging about Applications user experience at usableapps. They've launched a full site around user experience, including design and research articles. I expect they'll get a lot of comments and traffic, since everyone has an opinion about UI. It leaves a lasting
- [2.0 Support Groups: Blog Council](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/07/20-support-groups-blog-council/) - So, thanks to Twitter, I found out that a bunch of big companies started the Blog Council, this week. As background, some of the people I follow on Twitter work for or are linked by relationship to SAP, and SAP is one of the member companies of the Council. As noted previously on this blog,
- [Admit it, we're all free agents!](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/14/admit-it-were-all-free-agents/) - Google recently launched Knol. It is essentially a Wikipedia where authors can build up a personal brand. In addition, they can even monetize pages they author via, surprise surprise, Google Ads. Personally, I think the concept is brilliant. It plays on everyone's need to feel special and that can't hurt participation. As I dove deeper
- [The Working Group](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/07/the-working-group/) - I teased this in my last post on the Blogging Council, which struck me as similar in purpose, but different in execution, to Paul's latest brain child, The Working Group. The Working Group isn't an Oracle thing or an AppsLab thing. If you've read here for more than a few weeks, you'll know we encounter
- [More on the Blog Council](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/10/more-on-the-blog-council/) - Following my post Friday on the newly minted Blog Council, I got a response in comments from Andy Sernovitz, who runs the overseeing authority of the council, GasPedal. Apparently, they reached out to Oracle and Sun when the council was formed. Anyway, joining the council falls under Justin's jurisdiction, not mine. I'm just a blogger.
- [Shout Out from Sweden](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/11/shout-out-from-sweden/) - Johan "The Killer App" Myrberger has a nice post on AppsLab today. He says some nice things about AppsLab and how we've influenced his views of Oracle. This line is classic: I must admit I don't know much about Oracle as a company. I know they have a database product, but apparently they do much
- [TwitterWhere?](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/11/twitterwhere/) - Want to discover Twitterers in a geographic area?
- [Publish Your Blog to Twitter](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/11/publish-your-blog-to-twitter/) - I've noticed that a lot of people use Twitter to promote their blogs and the blogs of their colleagues and friends. Twitter is a social network, so this is expected behavior. I find myself clicking on the TinyURLs in tweets out of curiosity more often than not. A tweet like this one from James Governor
- [Imitation as Flattery](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/11/imitation-as-flattery/) - Steve Chan sent me a note today asking me if I'd seen this blog, called Oracle Applications DBA APPSLab. Apparently, the blog's owner, Famy Rasheed, was asking Steve to list his new blog on Steve's blogroll. Steve is a very conscientious (and popular) blogger, who has been plagiarized in the past, so he was doing
- [How Do You Do Enterprise 2.0?](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/12/how-do-you-do-enterprise-20/) - Craig Cmehil, Ethan Jewett and I had an interesting conversation (over Twitter, natch) earlier today about demand for New Web tools like Twitter, social networking, social bookmarking inside the firewall. Twitter's 140 character limitation sometimes leads to convolution, but I think the core question was how do you approach internal demand for these tools? From
- [First Meeting of the Working Group](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/12/first-meeting-of-the-working-group/) - I've mentioned the group a couple times, and today, Paul announced the meeting details for the inaugural meeting of the Working Group our support group for new web practitioners. Bounce over and check it out, if you've not already. The call will be held at 0900 PST on Wednesday, December 19, and the plan is
- [Geeky Distractions](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/13/geeky-distractions/) - For some reason, every day this week has felt like Friday. Did anyone notice the either of the following articles? Merriam-Webster names w00t word of the year for 2007. Facebook came in second, which does not bode well as the Year of Facebook winds to a close. I wonder if the Project Beacon fiasco had
- [Welcome Anthony](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/14/welcome-anthony/) - I should have done this months ago. AppsLab added a new family member back in September, Anthony Lai. If you've read here for long, you know we are a small team: Paul drives the bus, Rich writes the code, and I . . . blog? We realized over the summer after IdeaFactory and Connect we
- [TwitterWhere?](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/11/twitterwhere-2/) - Want to discover Twitterers in a geographic area?
- [Rails Is A Ghetto](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/03/rails-is-a-ghetto/) - I've been following Zed's rant since he posted it... it's an absolutely entertaining read. Good thing he's got nothing against the JRuby team. I'm glad that he's refreshingly honest about the way he feels.
- [Rails Is A Ghetto](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/03/rails-is-a-ghetto-2/) - I've been following Zed's rant since he posted it... it's an absolutely entertaining read. Good thing he's got nothing against the JRuby team. I'm glad that he's refreshingly honest about the way he feels.
- [New Web, New World](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/16/new-web-new-world/) - In the past, I've blogged about Twitter exchanges I've had with Craig Cmehil who works over at SAP. Yesterday, he, Ethan Jewett, who is an SAP BI consultant at an SAP and Oracle partner, and I had an interesting discussion about how to drive new web innovation internally. That conversation begot my post and one
- [AppsLab Elves](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/21/appslab-elves/) - Matt Topper, a friend of the AppsLab, apparently has way too much free time. He has elfed us using the Office Max ElfYourself doodad. My wife was messing around with this application a few weeks ago, and it took her about half an hour to do one elf. So, kudos to Matt for his patience
- [It's That Time of Year](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/31/its-that-time-of-year/) - To usher out 2007, it's time to do the retrospective. Cue the music. Looking back on this past year elicits "wow" moments for me. This time last year, I worked in a different team, Fusion Financials Strategy; I was neck-deep in the requirements for Secure Enterprise Search integration into Apps. I lived in a different
- [2008 in the Crosshairs](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/31/2008-in-the-crosshairs/) - Now that I've sang "Auld Lang Syne", waxed sentimentally on 2007 and wiped a tear, here comes the companion piece, 2008 predictions. I'm not a huge fan of predictions, unless I happen to be right. I still think Google will acquire Salesforce.com; that's my story, and I sticking to it. But, in the spirit of
- [New Oracle Digg Clone](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/01/new-oracle-digg-clone/) - Matt Topper, a friend of the 'Lab, launched an Oracle Digg clone on Friday at ora-click.com. He's using Pligg, an Open Source Digg clone, as the backend, with a nice 2.0-style front end. I could live without the ads, but I know power/ping/pipe aren't free. We toyed with Pligg a while back when we were
- [RIP Netscape Navigator](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/02/rip-netscape-navigator/) - News came out over the weekend that AOL was killing Netscape Navigator. This one hits home for a certain age group, i.e. mine, since for many people, Netscape Navigator was the first window into the Interwebs. Navigator had all the important firsts in browsers, cookies, Javascript (obviously), frames, etc. It was the de facto browser,
- [Recap of the Working Group's First Call](https://theappslab.com/2007/12/31/recap-of-the-working-groups-first-call/) - I'm tardy with this recap of our first Working Group call, which happened on December 19. Seems like a lot more time has passed, and most of you, like me, are just coming out of a holiday non-work cocoon. Anyway, the Working Group network currently has 236 members, thanks mostly to a nice post by
- [Fixes and New Stuff for Mix](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/01/fixes-and-new-stuff-for-mix/) - Mix has been live for over a month now, and just before Christmas, Rich and Anthony dumped a bunch of bug fixes and new stuff. Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't. Many of these are ideas that people submitted, so this is the part where I say the system works. This is also the part
- [Tagged!](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/08/tagged/) - I'm it -- Floyd tagged me. So, here are my 8 things (for context on what this is, read this): January 6th marked my 11th year at Oracle (8 w/PeopleSoft and 3 w/Oracle). Seems like a long time to be in a company. The cool thing is that I've managed to wear many different hats
- [PeopleSoft Tech Blog](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/09/peoplesoft-tech-blog/) - This must have slipped our radar -- Jeff Robbins and his crew of PeopleTools experts started a blog back in October last year. However, looks like they need some traffic sent their way. There are a few other PeopleSoft related blogs out there. Here are some that pop into mind: Jim's PeopleSoft Journal -- Jim
- [The iPhone Still Rules](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/03/the-iphone-still-rules/) - I'm sure many of you out there got iPhones over the Holidays, just like David did. Rich finally joined the iranks, but he went the iPod touch route, an interesting choice, all the cool features, minus the uncool AT&T and the molasses-in- January slow Edge network. This blog has become an iPhone resource for Oracle
- [Examples of Good New Web Marketing](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/04/examples-of-good-new-web-marketing/) - So, I've been invited to huddle with some Oracle people in the Bay Area later this month to discuss Marketing 2.0. The topics are generally around opportunities that New Web provides to reach customers, influencers, etc. I'm flattered to be invited, so thanks to those responsible who read here. I hope to add some value,
- [Don't SaaS Me Bro!](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/04/dont-saas-me-bro/) - I just love the acronym SaaS. The puns never end. Anyway, as Justin also reported, Phil Wainewright is coming to Oracle on January 18 to talk about you guessed it "Software as a Service". The event is free as in beer, so register immediately if you're going to be around Redwood Shore that day between
- [Oracle Tweeters](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/05/oracle-tweeters/) - Inspired by a post from Rick Turoczy, the Silicon Florist, in which he spread Twitter goodness across the Portland area and beyond, I've decided to attempt something similar for Oracle Tweeters. Rick's post yesterday accounted for about 25 new Twitter friends in the Portland/Washington area. We were sharing storm news last night as the wind
- [Orablog Tag or 8 Things](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/07/orablog-tag/) - The Oracle blogosphere has been around for a while, and recently, with Twitter and Facebook usage on the rise, we are becoming a more tight-knit community. As a follow up to my Oracle Tweeters post, I'm proposing a good, old-fashioned game of blog tag. I'm not sure if this has already been done in the
- [On Acquiring Innovation](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/08/on-acquiring-innovation/) - I've been mulling a post on acquired innovation since OpenWorld. Marian asked about it during our interview. Dennis and some of the other Enterprise Irregulars have been critical of the term as Charles uses it, and I'm not planning to defend the term or the concept per se. I can speak from my own experience
- [I'm it.](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/09/im-it/) - Ok, per Rich's post. Here goes: 1. I like lots of things, but nothing as much as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I run Norcal BJJ Academy and it consumes me. I had my first introduction by being soundly beaten by someone I outweighted by 50lbs over 9years ago. After that rather humiliating experience, I knew I had
- [What makes a blogger?](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/10/what-makes-a-blogger/) - Blogging is tough. Some do it well (like Jake) and others don't spend the time to make it happen (like me). I have found very few that keep it up. It is just another thing that takes up time. Here is what I think makes it work for a person: 1. They have a passion
- [Amazon SimpleDB and the Lazyweb](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/11/amazon-simpledb-and-the-lazyweb/) - We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. Amazon released the latest offering in their AWS suite last month, SimpleDB. I tagged this and subsequent analysis posts for later consumption, and I'm just now getting back to it; a post from Web Worker Daily yesterday on LongJump and their new Database-as-a-Service offering jolted my
- [So Very Tired](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/11/so-very-tired/) - Anyone interested in the reasons why I started the blog tag game should read this. Anyone who has permanently judged me should skip it. The game is a tried-and-true meme that's been around for years. I didn't invent it. Justin alluded to this in his response; his last go-round was in a tag from Jeff
- [More Fixes for Mix](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/14/more-fixes-for-mix/) - We've had some growing pains lately here at the 'Lab. As more people use Mix, Anthony and Rich have more to fix and tweak, which forces us to balance the enhancements we want to make with bug fixes and critical changes. The people use Mix and Connect, the more they want these apps to do.
- [MacWorld Brings Twitter to its Knees](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/15/macworld-brings-twitter-to-its-knees/) - So much for scaling. Steve Jobs' keynote at MacWorld today brought Twitter to its virtual knees. The little guy's web app is only just beginning to recover, while Twitter clients seem to be confused still about the number of requests I've made, meaning the Twitter API is borked too. For those who care about Twitter,
- [Meeting Marian](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/17/meeting-marian/) - Yesterday, I had the pleasure of lunching with Marian Crkon of The Feature, as in "it's not a bug, it's a feature". Marian interviewed Paul and me over IM month ago, and he recently interviewed David "IC Unbalanced Journals" Haimes. Marian is in Portland on a project, so we decided to have bite to eat.
- [Acquisition Wednesday](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/16/acquisition-wednesday/) - I woke this morning to news that Oracle had agreed to acquire BEA (press release by friend of the 'Lab Karen Tillman), Sun had agreed to acquire MySQL AB, and that Wednesday, after a struggle to remain relevant despite its "Happy Humpday" campaign had agreed to a merger of equals with Tuesday. Oh and Twitter's
- [Last Week's Mix Updates](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/22/last-weeks-mix-updates/) - As Rich and Anthony follow a weekly deployment schedule, I'm still finding myself challenged to report the updates they've made. Throw in a holiday yesterday, and we're almost on the eve of this week's fixes. Anyway, here are the most recent updates to Mix. Thanks to everyone who has reported bugs to us with the
- [The Working Group January Call](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/22/the-working-group-january-call/) - Since Ning doesn't have RSS and you may not have paid attention to the email notifications it generates, here's a reminder. Tomorrow, January 23 is the monthly call of the Working Group, the Enterprise 2.0 support group Paul formed back in December. This month's guest speaker, Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet, comes to us via
- [Oracle-Related Facebook Apps and Twitter Updates](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/24/oracle-related-facebook-apps-and-twitter-updates/) - Yesterday, Aaron from Profit told me about his new Facebook application which provides in his words "a daily feed of non-technical content related to Oracle applications"; incidentally, Paul was in Profit a few months ago here and here. I had forgotten, since at the time these were published, we were up to our necks getting
- [Super Tuesday](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/05/super-tuesday/) - Today is a big day. Not only because it's Super Tuesday in the U.S., but also because it's Super Tuesday here at the AppsLab. Last night, Anthony and I rolled out some major changes to Mix that many people have been clamoring for. The main feature we rolled out is RSS feed support. Now you
- [More Mix Fixes](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/25/more-mix-fixes/) - Not many fixes to report this week, but stay tuned because Rich and Anthony are cooking up a big update for next week. Since the beginning of the year, Mix usage has slowed to between 7,000 and 10,000 visits each week, which isn't bad but could improve. With any luck, next week's changes will re-energize
- [I Need Your Help](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/28/i-need-your-help/) - I wrote about the Marketing 2.0 Leader Summit earlier this month, and Justin provided a more in depth description. I found out Friday that I am to be a facilitator for the two-day event, which means working with a team of 11 others on an idea that will be judged against the ideas of the
- [Marketing 2.0 Leader Summit Recap](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/04/marketing-20-leader-summit-recap/) - So, I'm back from San Francisco and the summit. Justin blogged several times already about the summit, and he even has video of yours truly, which I won't embed here because I hate the sound of my voice. Click over to his post to viddie it. This post is a collection of my thoughts and
- [OracleCommunity.net Arrives](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/06/oraclecommunitynet-arrives/) - Lost in the frenzy of last week's travel to the Bay Area and the Marketing 2.0 Leader Summit, I neglected to mention Eddie's brand-spanking new OracleCommunity.net, a "social network for Oracle people" hosted on Ning. I know I'm late to the party, since OraNA tells me it's been covered here, here, here, here sort of
- [David's Excellent Adventure](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/06/davids-excellent-adventure/) - Another blog-worthy happening from last week was a long chat I had with David. He, and our friends over at TalentedApps and Financials Strategy are a few of the people who have taken the blogging plunge to share the knowledge locked away in their heads. David and I talked about some of the cool side-effects
- [Puneet Strikes Again](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/06/puneet-strikes-again/) - The final installment in my "cool stuff from last week that I forgot to blog" series comes from our pal Puneet. He used our Google Reader OPML files (published on the About page) and his own to demonstrate three ways to view the subscriptions without a messy import into Reader or another feed reader. Behold
- [Thoughts on Microsoft-Yahoo](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/07/thoughts-on-microsoft-yahoo/) - I've been thinking about the proposed Yahoo-Microsoft merger since the news broke on Friday. As a closeted economist and enterprise apologist, the offer's value really jumped off the page. Microsoft is offering $44.5 billion in cash and stock for a business that generated just under $7 billion in revenue in its fiscal 2007. Microsoft's Office
- [The Long Tail of Meetings](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/08/the-long-tail-of-meetings/) - This tweet from friend of the 'Lab Michael Krigsman triggered my inner economist. Even though I'm essentially a geek, I studied economics in college and have always been fascinated by supply, demand, utility and especially modeling that stuff with a nice tidy graph. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of Chris Anderson and his
- [Because We Care](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/07/because-we-care/) - Here at the 'Lab, we listen to you. When you wanted more, we gave you more. So, when I got a suggestion from Jim, I listened. Jim wanted us to provide email subscriptions to this blog, like Steven Chan does, so that he could stay informed when new content is available, on his terms. This
- [Anthony got tagged!](https://theappslab.com/2008/01/24/anthony-got-tagged/) - Got tagged by Rich Manalang and David Haimes, better write my 8 things. Yes, it is a bit late, hope people consider late is better than never. 1. I have joined Oracle over 7 years, reaching my 8th year anniversary. Studied in UC Berkeley for my Bachelor and Stanford for my Master degree. 2. I
- [Mix President's Day Release: JRuby 1.1RC2 and a bunch of other stuff!](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/17/mix-presidents-day-release-jruby-11rc2-and-a-bunch-of-other-stuff/) - Since U.S. based Oracle employees don't get President's Day off, Anthony and I decided to deploy some new changes while everyone is off enjoying their day off. Actually, that's not true, we deployed the new Mix changes early Sunday morning. What should have taken 10 minutes lasted 2 hours -- it was a big release.
- [JRuby RC2 Released; What's Next?](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/17/jruby-rc2-released-whats-next-2/) - If you're curious about RC2's performance, log onto https://mix.oracle.com. As of this morning, Mix is running on RC2!
- [JRuby on Rails: Oracle SSO Integration](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/27/jruby-on-rails-oracle-sso-integration/) - Laurent reminded me that I promised a write up of how we accomplished the Oracle SSO integration for Mix. So, I've created an Oracle Wiki page that has details on how it works. If you have any experience with Oracle SSO and Rails (or is working on a project that requires this), please add your
- [JRuby RC2 Released; What's Next?](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/17/jruby-rc2-released-whats-next/) - If you're curious about RC2's performance, log onto https://mix.oracle.com. As of this morning, Mix is running on RC2!
- [My Interwebs is Wireless](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/08/my-interwebs-is-wireless/) - I'm fascinated by the ongoing soap opera about the mysteriously severed undersea telecomm cables. If you haven't been following, here's a good recap. Maybe we've been preoccupied with Super Tuesday, but I haven't seen too much mainstream coverage. Or maybe it's another reminder that the Interwebs isn't as important as we think it is. Nah,
- [I Heart TripIt](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/11/i-heart-tripit/) - So, I'm going on vacation tomorrow for a week. Keep reading if you care. Coincidentally, I've been messing with two travel-targeted social networks lately, so it's fitting that my last post before a trip would be about TripIt and Dopplr, less so. These are niche networks, an ever-more common phenomenon; as horizontal social networks like
- [Notes and New Blogs](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/20/notes-and-new-blogs/) - So, I have returned from vacation on Hawai'i, a.k.a. da Big Island. Yes, it ruled, and yes, I'm suffering from post-vacation hangover. If you're ever there and want an absolute thrill, take a doors-off helicopter ride up to the molten lava flowing at Kilauea. When the helicopter turns to your side, there's only a shoulder
- [Is Mix a Beautiful Object?](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/21/is-mix-a-beautiful-object/) - I guess we'll see. Steve Jobs joined Mix on Wednesday. No kidding, here's his profile. Is it the man himself? Or perhaps Dan Lyons in character? Maybe some dude named Steve Jobs who is neither the founder and CEO of Apple nor the editor guy at Forbes who used to be funny and currently is
- [The Wall Comes Down and Other Mix Changes](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/22/the-wall-comes-down-and-other-mix-changes/) - It's a busy week for Mix. Monday, Rich and Anthony upgraded to JRuby 1.1RC2 and made a bunch of UI changes. Has anyone else noticed that Mix is faster? Last night, Anthony (Rich took some well-deserved time off) deployed a new set of changes, including one that has been requested quite frequently. We took down
- [Perspective, FriendFried and the Scoble Effect](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/27/perspective-friendfried-and-the-scoble-effect/) - I'm having trouble getting back into the swing of blogging after taking a nice relaxing vacation. When you spend all day eating and breathing technology, it's always good to step back and realize what else is out there. Here at the 'Lab, we consume New Web all day long, and spend a whole lot of
- [Is Your Job Next?](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/06/is-your-job-next/) - I am not sure why the power (or danger) of the global economy never really hit me before, but I was checking out elance.com as it was mentioned in a recent book I read. If you don't know, elance is a services marketplace. Anyway, I searched on there for design providers. Guess what, 11,144 companies
- [Why Product Development Should Blog](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/28/why-product-development-should-blog/) - David has an interesting, multi-post series going over at his blog about his experiences blogging. These are part of an ongoing case study that I hope will become an argument for why all product teams should blog. It's unlikely that there will ever be an end to this collection, unless he shutters the blog, so
- [Do You Know Robert?](https://theappslab.com/2008/02/29/do-you-know-robert/) - It's funny how micro-focused I can get. I am continually reminded of how much I live in a bubble world, and it's always nice to have that bubble popped. Working in technology, I tend to assume that other people are geeky like me. They have Tivo, broadband, Macs, iPhones, blogs, hundreds of "friends" on Facebook/Twitter/network
- [Mix Gets a Plug at Google](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/03/mix-gets-a-plug-at-google/) - Ola Bini of ThoughtWorks, who worked with Rich on the initial development of Mix last Fall, gave a tech talk at Google last week on "JRuby: The power of Java and Ruby". He mentions Mix at about minute 61 and talks briefly about the project, built on the "red stack", i.e. JRuby running on Oracle
- [Find AppsLab at Collaborate 08](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/05/find-appslab-at-collaborate-08/) - The IOUC, OAUG and Quest Oracle Applications user groups will be co-hosting their annual conference, Collaborate, April 13-17 in Denver at the Colorado Convention Center. Thanks to Floyd for creating an Upcoming event for Collaborate.Half of the 'Lab, Paul and I, will be in Denver for the beginning of the conference. Paul is hosting a
- [Another Reason Product Development Should Blog](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/04/another-reason-product-development-should-blog/) - Tim's blog crossed the one million hits mark recently. This is a great milestone for Tim and his team, congrats. It also reminded me of another reason to add to David's series on why product development should blog. Blog as support resource. Back in early 2006, I was an applications architect working in E-Business Suite
- [Fun with Numbers, Mix Edition](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/07/fun-with-numbers-mix-edition/) - Still feeling gravity's pull lately, and Rich and Anthony gave me access to the Mix database this week. So, rather than review some new service (like Orgoo, for which I just got my beta invite) or wax philosophically about a New Web topic, I figured I'd dust off the SQL and crunch some numbers. Side
- [DIY Development](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/08/diy-development/) - The WSJ Business Technology blog has a post about "Where the Next Generation of Techies Won’t Come from". Aside from offending my grammatical sensibilities, you know, ending a sentence with a preposition, the post interests me for a couple reasons. The crux of the post refers to statistics published by the Computer Research Association that
- [Polishing Mix Groups](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/10/polishing-mix-groups/) - Rich and Anthony deployed a boat load of fixes and enhancements to Mix on Friday night. I might have mentioned before the Mix is going to be used more by internal teams, so we addressed groups with this deployment for the most part. Some of these are bug fixes that have been needed for a
- [Does Spam Still Work?](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/09/does-spam-still-work/) - I got a 419 email today in my work inbox. This is pretty rare, since I guess Global IT does a great job catching spam, especially compared to my webmail accounts. Normally, in my webmail, I'd just delete an move on, but since this is so rare in my work inbox, I read the mail,
- [JRuby Meetup!](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/10/jruby-meetup/) - For those of you who are live in the Bay Area (East Bay in particular), I'll be speaking at the East Bay Ruby Meetup next Tuesday. Here's the talk abstract: JRuby is fast becoming a solid (and possibly preferred choice) for deploying Rails apps. Rich Manalang from Oracle will talk about how he and a
- [Musings on UTR 2008](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/24/musings-on-utr-2008/) - Every year I attend the Under The Radar conference held at the Microsoft Silicon Valley location. The organization is flawless, the companies interesting, and the facilities are wonderful. If you don't know, UTR is a showcase for start-ups that are not (yet) in the limelight. In fact, this is where many launch to the world.
- [Twitter as Customer Support](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/11/twitter-as-customer-support/) - I've blogged in the past about the good new web marketing, i.e. how many startups follow mentions of their companies on blogs, respond in those blogs and engage the bloggers. I really like the personal touch, even if I don't care much for the application or don't even use it. Twitter has added a new
- [Going around, Coming around](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/13/going-around-coming-around/) - The 'Lab is quickly approaching its one-year anniversary. I plan to blog something more formal closer to the date, but this post about Salesforce.com integrating with Google Apps reminded me of why I am on the team at all. Back in late 2006, I had just moved into Jesper's strategy organization from development, and I
- [More Fun with Numbers](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/17/more-fun-with-numbers/) - Rich and Anthony deployed a few key fixes last week, nothing too bloggable. They were focused on securing private group activity and caching, which was causing some weird behavior. So, rather than blog those, my periodic Mix post this week is more metrics. As a follow up to my first Fun with Numbers post, I
- [FriendFeed is for Lurkers too](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/18/friendfeed-is-for-lurkers-too/) - If you missed it, over the weekend, there was quite a testy blog war between Louis Gray and Duncan Riley, ostensibly started by FriendFeed or rather differing opinions of it. Short version: Duncan doesn't find value, Louis disagrees, obscenities ensue. Makes for a good read. FriendFeed has been all the rage lately among the usual
- [We Are Expensive and Expendable](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/19/we-are-expensive-and-expendable/) - Rich and I were bemoaning the current state of the economy yesterday, and eventually, the conversation turned to outsourcing, not jobs, but storage, computing power, databases, applications, etc. You know, cloud computing. Remember after the Bubble burst in 2001 how people were in a tizzy, some rightfully so, about the exodus of tech jobs overseas?
- [Does Spam Irritate You?](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/20/does-spam-irritate-you/) - Mix is reaching more people now, especially through groups. This is great because we always thought groups would be the best way to draw people into the network and conversation. Implied levels of trust within a group make it easier to engage and provide value to people who ordinarily have no use for social networks
- [Spring Conferences](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/24/spring-conferences/) - We've been pretty busy with conferences lately, and that looks to continue into the Summer. Paul attended Under the Radar The Business of Web Apps: Where the Web Goes to Work last week, and I think he's working on a post summarizing his thoughts. Rich spoke at the JRuby Meetup a few weeks ago, and
- [The Greatest Idea Moves Closer to Fruition](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/25/the-greatest-idea-moves-closer-to-fruition/) - I haven't done post on the most popular ideas on Mix since November. Back then, they were: 1. We need the Oracle clients (OCI, JDBC) for the Apple Intel OSX platform 2. Compile Oracle XE for Intel OS X Well, guess what? Since November, the same two ideas have stayed at 1 and 2. If
- [Had Good Search Lately?](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/27/had-good-search-lately/) - I'm a neat person, but I've always had a cluttered desk. Growing up, my mother would frequently remind me to make it neat and tidy. Not much has changed, except now my desk has less room for paper clutter as much of it is taken up by dual monitors and various gadgets. My clutter has
- [Customer Service that Works](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/26/customer-service-that-works/) - I've covered this topic twice before, but it really deserves more airtime. Paul's summary of Under the Radar on Monday received comments from two of the companies he mentioned, from the CEOs of those companies. You read that right. Similarly, my most recent post on FriendFeed got a comment from one of the founders. This
- [The Future is iPhone-tastic](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/26/the-future-is-iphonetastic/) - Lately, I've been bummed that the SDK announcement underwhelmed, handcuffing would-be developers with restrictions that make apps significantly less functional than expected. As a user, I want more apps that do more. And then a couple nights ago, I got a reminder of how sweet the iPhone really is. I was at Nicholas Restaurant, a
- [Save the Developers from the Users](https://theappslab.com/2008/03/31/save-the-developers-from-the-users/) - TechCrunch posted a plea to Save the Developers last week imploring users to upgrade their Internet Explorer 6 browsers to Internet Explorer 7. According to W3 Schools, more than 30% of people browsing the Interwebs use IE6, even though it is more than 6 years old. The gist of the plea is that IE6 is
- [Virtual Adventures](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/01/virtual-adventures/) - As I teased yesterday, I've been mucking around with virtual machines to extend my ability to test Mix. Due to the varied nature of our users' environments, I need to find ways to install more browsers, more versions on more operating systems. Everyone knows reproducing an issue is really the best way to begin fixing
- [The Emotional Nature of Software](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/03/the-emotional-nature-of-software/) - We've all felt the extreme frustration that using a computer can cause. Maybe you spent several hours updating a Word document, assuming it was autosaving, only to have Word collapse in a heap, erasing all your changes. Maybe your IT department has an antivirus scan scheduled to run weekly that mysteriously starts in the morning.
- [April Fools' on Mix?](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/01/april-fools-on-mix/) - The Mix traffic stats from today show more than double the pageviews (8,200) and visits (1,000) we normally get. These numbers are as of an hour ago, so they will continue to climb slightly as the day comes to a close. They are the highest that I can recall since we launched at OpenWorld in
- [Running Water or Cell Service?](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/08/running-water-or-cell-service/) - Puneet has a great post called "Cell Phones Leapfrog Drinking Water" over on his personal blog. The juxaposition in this picture sums it up nicely. Great stuff. Check out his blog. I enjoy what he has to say and would like to keep him blogging.
- [Back to the Desktop](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/07/back-to-the-desktop/) - Taking the web out of the browser has been a common theme lately. As web apps become more a part of everyday productivity, accessing them outside the typical browser is more attractive. The iPhone has a great example of this in its Maps app. The beauty of taking apps out of the browser is you
- [What Superhero Are You?](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/05/what-superhero-are-you/) - If you don't use Twitter or find it trivial and annoying, stop reading. This post will only cement what you already think. I can't be sure, since Twitter happens to be down for scheduled maintenance right now, but I first heard from Dennis Howlett that this week was superhero week on Twitter. Later in the
- [Facebook Launches Chat](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/08/facebook-launches-chat/) - Over the weekend, I noticed Facebook had enabled chat for my account. Apparently, they're rolling it out slowly to specific networks, so finding someone online to chat with is a bit challenging. I did manage to have a quick coversation with my college buddy Paul who also works at Oracle in the WebCenter development team.
- [AppsLab: Year One](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/09/appslab-year-one/) - A year ago was my first day at AppsLab. Paul and I huddled (virtually) to talk about plans for the team. It was exciting stuff. We had a unique opportunity to operate like a startup within the bowels of a huge corporation. We had simple plans that I used a mnemonic device to remember, the
- [Tracking The Competition, Socially](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/15/tracking-the-competition-socially/) - Yesterday in Denver, Jake and I had lunch with a few nice folks from NewsGator, one of which was Jeff Nolan. As you may know, Jeff writes Venture Cronicles. In friendfeed, I noticed that Jeff had posted to his blog, so I went to have a read and ended up reading several posts. This one
- [Friend Feed Scripts: Unsubscribe, Who Are You and Better By Service " // Internet Duct Tape](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/11/friend-feed-scripts-unsubscribe-who-are-you-and-better-by-service-internet-duct-tape-2/) - If you use FriendFeed, these Greasemonkey scripts are awesome. If you don't use FriendFeed, check it out, then apply the scripts for a better experience
- [Mix Messaging](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/16/mix-messaging/) - Some of you have already noticed that we released a brand new feature to Mix on Monday, direct messaging. To use direct messaging, either click the inbox icon in the top right navigation, or click the link in the inbox widget on the front page. You can only message people in your network of contacts,
- [Yahoo-Microsoft Endgame?](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/10/yahoo-microsoft-endgame/) - I blogged about the Yahoo-Microsoft soap opera when it first began. I expected it to end pretty quickly, with Yahoo realizing they couldn't go it alone anymore. Since then, rumors have swirled and now the plot is as thick as mud. News Corp has gone from savior to Microsoft conspirator, and Google is still lurking,
- [Rocky Mountain, Hi](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/11/rocky-mountain-hi/) - Tomorrow, I'm headed to Denver for Collaborate 08. My schedule is pretty sparse, so if you want to hang out, tweet at me during the conference. Or if you prefer email, that works too. I started to collect all the blogs about all the sessions people are holding, attending, recommending at Collaborate, but I soon
- [Friend Feed Scripts: Unsubscribe, Who Are You and Better By Service « // Internet Duct Tape](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/11/friend-feed-scripts-unsubscribe-who-are-you-and-better-by-service-internet-duct-tape-3/) - If you use FriendFeed, these Greasemonkey scripts are awesome. If you don't use FriendFeed, check it out, then apply the scripts for a better experience
- [Collaborate Days 0 and 1](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/13/collaborate-days-0-and-1/) - Collaborate 08 officially begins today, but I flew in yesterday and got to hang out with Dan and Matt, who were in town early to set up for sessions today. Thanks to Twitter, I shared a cab from the Denver airport to downtown. The cabbie negotiated $25 each, then tried to change it to $30
- [Collaborate Days 1 and 2](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/15/collaborate-days-1-and-2/) - So, I blogged Sunday's events up to the ACE Dinner, organized by Vikki Lira and held at Panzano in downtown Denver. Paul and I were graciously invited to mix and mingle with the ACEs and ACE Directors. Dan, Matt, Ameed and Floyd were all there. Plus, I got to meet Bex, Linda, Steven, John, George,
- [Friend Feed Scripts: Unsubscribe, Who Are You and Better By Service " // Internet Duct Tape](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/11/friend-feed-scripts-unsubscribe-who-are-you-and-better-by-service-internet-duct-tape/) - If you use FriendFeed, these Greasemonkey scripts are awesome. If you don't use FriendFeed, check it out, then apply the scripts for a better experience
- [OpenSocial'izing Our Apps](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/17/opensocializing-our-apps/) - Now that Jake has exposed our next venture, I thought I'd flesh out some more details on what we hope to accomplish by building our own OpenSocial container. When OpenSocial came out, it all took us AppsLab'ers by surprise that Oracle was a founding member. It wasn't really a surprise that Google was building something
- [CommunityOne 2008](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/30/communityone-2008/) - Those of you looking to beat the Monday blues (this coming Monday) should come out to CommunityOne 2008 in San Francisco. I'll be part of the Ruby panel that's being chaired by Tim Bray. Should be a good event. Best part... IT'S FREE!!! The Ruby panel I'm on will be joined by Mark Driver, Gartner,
- [What's Next?](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/17/whats-next/) - Lately, our plans have started coming into focus. If you read here, you probably know we built Mix with ThoughtWorks back in November. Since January, Marketing has been making plans to use Mix a lot more heavily, starting with this year's Openworld. Yesterday, I told you about the project and the new direct messaging feature
- [Good UI or New Web Hubris?](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/18/good-ui-or-new-web-hubris/) - One of the changes we deployed this week to Mix was new icons on profile pages. We replaced the links that used to tell you "Edit your profile", "Add to network", "Remove from network" with snazzy, Web 2.0 style icons which showed a pen (for edit), a green plus sign (for add), a red x
- [Find AppsLab at Web 2.0 Expo Next Week](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/19/find-appslab-at-web-20-expo-next-week/) - The whole 'Lab will be at Web 2.0 Expo next week, April 22-25 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. That's the same venue as OpenWorld and pretty every other tech conference. In Denver, Paul riffed that he was sick of going to Moscone for conferences, something to the effect of "it's getting old". It
- [Data Visualizations](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/21/data-visualizations/) - After a slow Twitter weekend, I stumbled across a new Twitter tool, TwittEarth, via Mashable. This is a beautiful representation of Twitter's public timeline, similar to twittervision, but with goofy avatars in 3D. It reminds me a lot of the work stamen design has done with Digg, e.g. arc. The visualization shows how many people
- [Web 2.0 Expo Review](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/28/web-20-expo-review/) - The whole 'Lab gathered in San Francisco last week to attend the Web 2.0 Expo, which explains why the content here has been stale for a week. After a Monday huddle with Rich to plan the upgrade of Connect, our internal version social network and idea site to the Mix code line, we headed to
- [OpenWorld 2008 Registration Opens](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/29/openworld-2008-registration-opens/) - W00t! Registration for Oracle OpenWorld 2008 is officially open. The massive conference is back in its Fall timeslot, September 21-25, 2008 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This year's shindig will include large doses of Mix, as previously teased. We're planning to deploy some new features built by our friends at ENTP later this
- [En Fuego: Location Aware Services](https://theappslab.com/2008/04/30/en-fuego-location-aware-services/) - I blogged about TripIt and Dopplr a while back; both services collect your travel plans, allow you to share them with people, and alert you when people in your network are nearby your stated location. Until recently, you had to tell them both where you were. Then Yahoo released Fire Eagle into private beta in
- [More Web 2.0 Expo: Worth the Time Investment](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/01/more-web-20-expo-worth-the-time-investment/) - So, two keynotes from last week's Web 2.0 Expo are worth watching, if you have a block of time. One is Clay Shirky's keynote from Wednesday afternoon. His observations are keen, and his presentation is both funny and interesting, well worth the 16 odd minutes. The other is Dan Lyons' keynote from Friday, which I
- [Suggest a Session Topic for OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/02/suggest-a-session-topic-for-openworld/) - Last night, as promised, Rich deployed some new stuff built by ENTP, right before they headed to a midnight Iron Man showing. On a side note, is he really a superhero? The shiny new feature is Suggest a Session. If you have an idea for a session you'd like to attend or present, bounce over
- [My First BarCamp](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/05/my-first-barcamp/) - I spent portions of this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday attending my very first BarCamp, held here in Portland at CubeSpace. The origins of BarCamp are interesting; back in 2005, O'Reilly held a user-generated conference called Foo Camp that was invite only. Lots of people wanted an invite (kind of like Web 2.0 Summit, ahem),
- [Suggest a Session is a Hit](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/06/suggest-a-session-is-a-hit/) - Less than a week since we deployed it, the Suggest a Session for OpenWorld 2008 offer made by the Events team on Mix has been a big hit. Traffic was up over 250% over the weekend, and the voting page is already among the top pages on Mix in terms of pageviews over the past
- [Kick People out of Your Groups](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/07/kick-people-out-of-your-groups/) - I missed this in last week's broohaha about Suggest a Session, but you can finally remove members from a group. It's been a long time coming and requested by many people. Insert your favorite excuse here. If you are the group owner or an admin, you will now see a "Remove from group" link next
- [Pour Some Gas on the Fire (Eagle)](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/08/pour-some-gas-on-the-fire-eagle/) - I blogged about Fire Eagle last week. Remember? The service that stores and brokers your location and provides a host of APIs for anyone wanting to integrate location data into their web apps. That post got 0 comments, which was a bit surprising. I thought Eddie or Dan or Matt would be geeked to check
- [Just Add Enterprise](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/12/just-add-enterprise/) - If you read here, you'll know I'm not a fan of the term Enterprise 2.0, at least not when it's used to refer to Web 2.0 practiced behind the firewall. I know why people feel the need to differentiate Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0; Web 2.0 suffers from an image problem, i.e. it's associated with
- [Mix Updates](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/13/mix-updates/) - Rich, ENTP and I spent last week fixing some issues in Mix that you may have seen. Suggest a session for OpenWorld has driven steady traffic into Mix, and we're rushing to fix bugs that people have encountered. Virtually all of the recent fixes have been around suggest a session, which makes sense because that'
- [Random Twitter Effects](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/14/random-twitter-effects/) - Hard to believe I haven't blogged about Twitter in a while. Like New Web in general, Twitter has reached that cusp where early adopters are calling it "established" and new people are kicking the tires. Lots of them. The recent departure of Blaine Cook, Twitter's former chief architect, could mean any number of things. Many
- [Work Could be More Funner](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/15/work-could-be-more-funner/) - At Web 2.0 Expo about a month ago, Rich, Paul and I all attended a fascinating session called "Children of Flickr: Making the Massively Multiplayer Social Web". Aside from being interesting, it reenergized me on my quest to make work more fun. Then, daily operational stuff intervened. I managed to rush some thoughts onto virtual
- [Stuff That Just Works](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/16/stuff-that-just-works/) - I've been so very busy lately, but not with bloggable activity. This week has been slow on Mix news; ENTP is putting the finishing touches on a big feature, and we did deploy a few bug fixes. I did finally catch up on feed reading from a month ago, and a post from friend of
- [What a Difference a Year Makes](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/19/what-a-difference-a-year-makes/) - This year is not last year. Last year, I spent hours talking Web 2.0 to teams in development. Collectively, we probably held 20 or so educational sessions and then a similar number of follow up roundtables to discuss ideas spawned by the first session. This year, I've been spending days collecting requirements of teams that
- [Bugs in the Matrix](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/20/bugs-in-the-matrix/) - My wife introduced a theory to me years ago. She observed that certain odd themes tend to repeat themselves in high frequency over the course of about a week, then disappear back into obscurity. Her theory was that if you apply numerology to these coincidences, you could translate chance into good fortune, e.g. using the
- [U Can Has Beta Invites](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/20/u-can-has-beta-invites/) - Last week, I alluded to Twitter as a place to get and barter for invitations to beta services. It may surprise you to know that Twitter has been up and down more than normal lately. Well, turns out blogs are often a good place to get beta invites too. I have invitations to several services
- [AppsLab FAQ: What if Someone Posts Porn?](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/21/appslab-faq-what-if-someone-posts-porn/) - I've decided to start a periodic feature I call AppsLab FAQ, which serves several purposes. First, it gives me topics to blog when I'm short on ideas, which happens frequently. Second, it gives me a permanent place to store experiences and lessons learned in a given subject area. So, the next time I get asked
- [Bandwidth Policing](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/22/bandwidth-policing/) - I'm attending WebVisions here in Portland Thursday and Friday. Good stuff so far, and very different than those mega-conferences I'm used to at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Rather than let you pine for content, here's a taste of something new. Some of you may know that I made a guest apperance on Web Worker
- [I'm Ready for Preso 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/24/im-ready-for-preso-20/) - I spent Thursday and Friday attending WebVisions here in beautiful Portland at the Oregon Convention Center. I really enjoyed the event; it was a nice change of pace from the massive events I usually attend at Moscone Center in San Francisco. The content was just as good, but it had a more cozy feel. Very
- [Blogging is Hard](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/24/blogging-is-hard/) - I just realized that I'm nearly at the one year anniversary of my very first post. Interestingly, at least to me, I've blogged about 350 times since then. That's nearly one per day. Blogging is harder than it looks. What do you think of our last year of blogging? Anything you'd like to see done
- [Implementing Oracle SSO in a generic java container?  It is not as easy as you think.](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/24/implementing-oracle-sso-in-a-generic-java-container-it-is-not-as-easy-as-you-think/) - Recently Rich and I got a chance to implement the mod_osso for any generic java container. The current mod_osso module only works in Oracle iAS, but we would like to use Oracle single sign-on in virtually everywhere. We can then use it for development, testing, or even production when we don't need a relatively heavy
- [Friending in Real Life is Easier](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/27/friending-in-real-life-is-easier/) - I wanted to share funny story from Friday. After WebVisions, I headed over to Beer and Blog, a weekly Friday gathering of local bloggers at a local brew pub here in Portland. The brainchild of Justin Kistner, these working sessions are as much social gatherings as they are instructional workshops, and that's how we like
- [AppsLab FAQ: How Do I Start a Blog?](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/28/appslab-faq-how-do-i-start-a-blog/) - Here's the second installment in my AppsLab FAQ series. The first was a huge success, 0 comments. This installment focuses on another question I get asked a lot, "How do I start a blog?" or some variant. Typically, I answer with a question like "Why do you need a blog?" to get into the motivation
- [Blogging Success and --deleted--](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/29/blogging-success-and-deleted/) - Ironically, as I wrote my FAQ post on starting a blog, ORACLENERD was blogging his termination. The reason, his blog. The coincidence is multi-fold: The 'NERD underlines why enterprise people are generally wary of blogs--writing blogs, having blogs written about their company, having people who work at their company write blogs. The only reason I
- [Opensocial with SSO for corporate users](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/30/opensocial-with-sso-for-corporate-users/) - We work in Oracle, and we "eat our dog food" to use the Oracle Single Sign On. As we work towards providing Opensocial capabilities to our internal networking site (Connect), we find that Opensocial fits very well with SSO within the corporate domain. So, how does SSO help opensocial apps? Well, if the backend of
- [Collaboration with real ROI (finally)](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/02/collaboration-with-real-roi-finally/) - The family and I decided last Friday that we all deserved cheeseburgers for dinner (ok, my 4 year old daughter decided, but let's pretend I had some say in the matter. We decide on Chili's and commence to enjoy a fantastic heaping helping of saturated fat and salt. On the bright side, the kids had
- [Data Visualization Eye Candy](https://theappslab.com/2008/05/31/data-visualization-eye-candy/) - By way of Mashable, I give you another stunning and addictive data visualization, Tag Galaxy. Based on the Flickr API, this Germany-based tool is simple to use. Start out by entering a tag, and you get a "galaxy" of related tags. Here's the "oracle" galaxy: Clicking on any planet drills further into the galaxy, refining
- [Maybe Email Isn't Dead After All](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/03/maybe-email-isnt-dead-after-all/) - I was wrong. You were right. I'm ugly. You're pretty. I'm dumb. You're smart. I fail. You rule. Almost a year ago, I riffed on the death of email. Apparently, email didn't get the message, and rumors of its demise were exaggerated. While Generation Y thinks email is for old farts, it still serves as
- [Scariest Ride Ever?](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/04/scariest-ride-ever/) - The annual Portland Rose Festival is going on now, although Summer didn't get the memo. You can see the carnival and rides along the western bank of the Willamette. Chief among the rides is this monster, which looks even more sinister in this picture (courtesy of joshualane on Flickr), than in real life. It's basically
- [Twitter is Like the Weather](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/05/twitter-is-like-the-weather/) - Warning: This post is about Twitter, so if you don't care about Twitter, stop reading here. Proceed at your own risk of boredom. Last week, friends of the 'Lab David Haimes and Michael Krigsman were exchanging some jabs over Twitter, about Twitter. Michael argues that Twitter's frequent outages make it appear suspect if/when a business
- [Topper's Voting Widget](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/04/toppers-voting-widget/) - Matt has provided the community with a sweet widget to track all the sessions that have been suggested for OpenWorld. Since we deployed the session suggestion feature in early May, we've had 129 suggestions. You can view the full list on Mix, Latest and Greatest. One reason Matt built the widget, which pulls the Latest
- [Play Name the Platform](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/09/play-name-the-platform/) - If you read here, you'll know the 'Lab's history. If you don't or you're a new reader, here's the quick skinny: In June, we launched IdeaFactory to collect ideas inside the firewall. In August, we added social networking to ideas inside the firewall and called it Connect. In November, we added groups and questions to
- [Ruby on Rails and BEA AquaLogic](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/ruby-on-rails-and-bea-aqualogic/) - About 40 minutes ago, Chris Bucchere posted a OpenWorld session proposal on Mix. His session is called "Building Web 2.0 Social Applications in Ruby on Rails using BEA AquaLogic Interaction." The session will also cover optimizing your application for the iPhone (or iPod Touch). Anyone who is interested in Ruby on Rails on enterprise scale
- [Respect My Authority!](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/09/respect-my-authority/) - Apparently, someone thinks this blog is an authorative source for Twitter information. While browsing through our referrers for the past month, I noticed the Wikipedia listed, which struck me as odd, to say the least. At first I thought someone had created an entry for AppsLab, which weirded me out, but it turns out that
- [Even More Fun with Numbers](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/10/even-more-fun-with-numbers/) - Enterprise 2.0 2008 is going on now in Boston, and Oracle is a Diamond level sponsor. So, there are loads of Oracle people attending. I got a request for Mix metrics on Friday for someone's session today, so I spent several hours yesterday hacking together SQL queries. Protip: when you scope your next web app,
- [Discussing Disqus](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/on-disqus/) - If you've read and commented here in the past, you'll have noticed we switched to Disqus to handle comments about two months ago. Rich made the change, and I was initially skeptical because frankly I had no real idea of what switching would get us. Disqus has a few distinct advantages over the built-in Wordpress
- [Suggest an OpenWorld Session Extended](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/suggest-an-openworld-session-extended/) - The submission and voting deadlines for OpenWorld 2008 sessions have been extended. Submissions must now be received by June 30, and voting now ends July 13. The Events team decided that due to the popularity of the offer, it should be open longer. So, you have more time to get your session idea submitted and
- [Facebook is for Quitters](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/facebook-is-for-quitters/) - Digg pointed me to this gem today, Lack of Facebook Access Makes You Want to Quit? Grow up, Punks, penned by Ann All last week. I love the generation gap. It makes for the best (and worst) kinds of "teamism", reminding me of a bit George Carlin does about nationalism. The crux is why do
- [Blogger Program Renewed for OpenWorld 2008](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/13/blogger-program-renewed-for-openworld-2008/) - I'm pleased to announce that Oracle is renewing the blogger program for OpenWorld 2008, which will be held at the Moscone Center in beautiful San Francisco, September 21 through 25, 2008. Most of the operational details are the same as last year: Oracle provides the conference pass to qualified bloggers. Oracle does not cover travel
- [Find Paul at the Churchill Club on Tuesday, June 17](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/15/find-paul-at-the-churchill-club-on-tuesday-june-17/) - Paul told me about this a while back, and Google just reminded me. He will be speaking at the Churchill Club on Tuesday, June 17 at 7 PM. The session is called From Dilbert to Dude: Succeeding with Web 2.0 Within the Enterprise. Moderating the panel is Forrester analyst and Groundswell co-author Charlene Li. Also
- [Making Your Blog Faster and Greener](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/16/making-your-blog-faster-and-greener/) - I've been meaning to blog this for a while now. On June 6 at Beer and Blog here in Portland, Jason Grigsby gave an informal talk about how to make your website/blog faster and therefore greener. Sounds a bit like voodoo, but the logic is sound. Cheap and plentiful broadband and iron have made website
- [Twitter is Your Friend](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/17/twitter-is-your-friend/) - Insert Twitter post disclaimer here. I've noticed a humorous trend that you can use for a laugh. People like to rant at Twitter, just check out twistori's hate feed for samples. The beauty part of Twitter and its many clients is that it provides easy outlet for your frustration. Can't get a piece of software
- [AppsLab FAQ: What Do You Do at Oracle?](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/18/appslab-faq-what-do-you-do-at-oracle/) - Here's another installment in my FAQ series. I've always had trouble explaining what I do to non-technical people. It's gotten better over the years, but it's still a struggle to explain my job. Usually, the conversation goes like this: Q: What do you do for work? A: I work for a big software company. Q:
- [Connect V2 is Live](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/20/connect-v2-is-live/) - I'm stoked to announce that we've opened our latest version of Connect, the internal community for employees, for beta testing. If you're an employee, find me through email or otherwise, and I'll get you the URL. We'll be redirecting all traffic from the old version of Connect very soon, in case you're not in a
- [Do You Zombie Reply to All?](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/24/do-you-zombie-reply-to-all/) - I've mused in the past about whether spam is really a problem or not. I find it a minor annoyance that I can easily ignore, like ads, but I can see how it would be both annoying in some situations and in others, a major problem. Spam in my work inbox is limited mostly to
- [Now Featuring the FriendFeed Plugin](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/19/now-featuring-the-friendfeed-plugin/) - I've been using FriendFeed off and on since last Fall. I go through phases with it, using it intently for a couple days, then forgetting to check it. Very much like my Twitter use. One thing I like about FriendFeed is that it exposes content to a much wider audience, via network effects, e.g. people
- [AppsLab FAQ: How Do You Keep Track of All This Stuff?](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/26/appslab-faq-how-do-you-keep-track-of-all-this-stuff/) - This is meant to be an open thread, even though I'm adding it to the FAQ series. We're all learning this Intertubes thing as we go along, so how do you keep track of it all? More accurately, how can you possibly listen in on all the relevant conversations and filter out noise? Conversation topics
- [We Heart Hackers](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/25/we-heart-hackers/) - I love this type of story. About a week ago, I get an email from Noel Portugal, a guy who works at Oracle and likes to hack around with APEX, Web 2.0 stuff, technology in general. In one line that stuck out, Noel mentioned that he was recently "bitten" by the Web 2.0 bug and
- [Taking the Plunge](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/28/taking-the-plunge/) - It's ironic to me that D-Day for good old Windows XP is coming up on Monday, since for several months, I've been trying to motivate myself to dump it in favor of Ubuntu as the O/S on my work laptop. Tracking Dan's recent jump into the Mac pond chronicled over Twitter and in his blog
- [Suggest a Session Ends on Monday](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/28/suggest-a-session-ends-on-monday/) - Just a quick reminder that the deadline to suggest a session for Oracle OpenWorld 2008 is Monday, June 30. We will be turning off the submissions end of day Pacific time. So, get your idea entered before then. Voting will continue until July 15 13. If all goes well, we're hoping to deploy a filtering
- [Podcast from Paul's Panel at the Churchill Club](https://theappslab.com/2008/06/30/podcast-from-pauls-panel-at-the-churchill-club/) - Say that five times fast. The podcast of Paul's panel at the Churchill Club is available here, just in case you didn't make it out to see him in person. Thanks to Larry Dignan at Between the Lines and ZDNet for recording the panel discussion and posting the podcast. Note, the recording seems to be
- [Green is the New Black](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/01/green-is-the-new-black/) - I'm sure that phrase has been used somewhere else, hopefully under Creative Commons. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the green movement has gone from non-existent to a hot-button topic seemingly overnight? The recent Tesla factory announcement has me thinking green lately. I know it's been around for decades; I've been
- [Taking the Plunge: Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/01/taking-the-plunge-part-2/) - Over the weekend, I finally made the decision to reimage my laptop, which currently runs XP, to Ubuntu 8.04, fondly known as Hardy Heron. Well, I dragged my feet, and the weekend ended; XP must not have got the memo because it's being more temperamental than normal. It's complaining about disk space on C; it's
- [AppsLab FAQ: How Do I Start a Community?](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/02/appslab-faq-how-do-i-start-a-community/) - I'm sure Justin has tips on this one to add. Maybe he'll chime in now that the Oracle blogs migration has ended; by the way, I'm really peeved that OraNA.info is clogged with reposts from Oracle blogs. Not really, but it's funny to me. Won't someone please think of the children? But I digress. People
- [Bring the Lightning](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/03/bring-the-lightning/) - You may have noticed my irritation at ZDNet this week due to their borked podcast of Paul's appearance at the Churchill Club a few weeks ago. Everything is cool now, thanks to one Dennis Howlett. A few things were wrong about this whole thing. First, I left a comment Monday about the podcast being borked;
- [Are you the only one who "gets it" at your company?](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/08/are-you-the-only-one-who-gets-it-at-your-company/) - 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
- [Groups are Grrrreat](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/09/groups-are-grrrreat/) - 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.
- [Taking the Plunge: Part 3](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/04/taking-the-plunge-part-3/) - 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
- [Taking the Plunge: Part 4](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/05/taking-the-plunge-part-4/) - 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
- [Why Is Calendar So Hard?](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/07/why-is-calendar-so-hard/) - 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
- [Enterprise 2.0 Bootcamp on July 28](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/09/enterprise-20-bootcamp-on-july-28/) - 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
- [Blogggin: Ur Doin It Rong](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/10/blogggin-ur-doin-it-rong/) - 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
- [IPhone 2.0 Lands](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/10/iphone-20-lands/) - 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
- [Hurry up and Vote!](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/13/hurry-up-and-vote/) - 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
- [Halp! I Can't Figure out the iPhone Contract.](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/11/halp-i-cant-figure-out-the-iphone-contract/) - 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
- [New Home for Oracle iPhone Stuff](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/13/new-home-for-oracle-iphone-stuff/) - 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
- [AppsLab Session at OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/14/appslab-session-at-openworld/) - 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
- [AppsLab FAQ: Have You Spoken to HR, Legal and Security?](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/14/appslab-faq-have-you-spoken-to-hr-legal-and-security/) - 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. Human Resources Legal Security In any size
- [Connect as a Blogging Tool](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/15/connect-as-a-blogging-tool/) - 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
- [Some Thoughts on iPhone Apps](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/16/some-thoughts-on-iphone-apps/) - 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
- [Word of the Day](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/18/word-of-the-day/) - 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
- [More iPwnage](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/17/more-ipwnage/) - 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
- [Congratulations to the OpenWorld Session Winners](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/21/congratulations-to-the-openworld-session-winners/) - 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. Security:
- [Big Changes are Afoot](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/21/big-changes-are-afoot/) - 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
- [Voting Lessons Learned](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/23/voting-lessons-learned/) - 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
- [On OraTweet and OpenSocial](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/24/on-oratweet-and-opensocial/) - So, Noel Portugal is at it again. He has expanded his pet project, OraTweet, to include OraTweetBot, which he says is: . . . an XMPP/Jabber bot built with Java that will listen for tweets and post them to Twitter or to a database. I never use the XMPP/IM Twitter integration, but I know it's
- [OS X, Ubuntu and Other Fun Stuff... My Perspective](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/30/os-x-ubuntu-and-other-fun-stuff-my-perspective/) - Instead of adding a comment to Jake's post on his Ubuntu experience to-date, I thought I'd just blog my perspective. Here's my backstory with Apple, MSFT, Linux, and others: Mid to late 80s: Timex Sinclair 1000... loved writing programs on cassette tapes! How many of you Web 2.0 kiddies can say that? Early to mid
- [Brick Walls Are There For A Reason](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/29/brick-walls-are-there-for-a-reason/) - There is a common thread in driving change. No matter what you are working towards, or where you are doing it - change is hard. You'll run into challenges on time, budget, resources, personalities, vision, objectives, and more. Sometimes you'll want to throw in the towel. We have all had those days. I recently watched
- [Mix Updates and New Features](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/25/mix-updates-and-new-features/) - Recently, even though we've been focusing on Connect and OpenSocial, but Mix hasn't been standing still. ENTP has been working to fix bugs and build features for Marketing that will be showcased heading into OpenWorld. Last night, a slew of bug fixes and a new feature or two were deployed to Mix. If you're a
- [Transparent Development? We Has It.](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/25/transparent-development-we-has-it/) - You may have noticed more talk about what we're doing and why lately. Comments are down, so either this is exceedingly dull to you, or you completely agree and have nothing to add. Either way, as we move forward with our plan to deploy Connect as an OpenSocial container and update the UI to support
- [What OpenSocial Apps Do You Want?](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/28/what-opensocial-apps-do-you-want/) - So, as I mentioned last week, we're putting the finishing touches on the OpenSocial work for Connect. The OpenSocial container is finished and ready for app development right now. We just need to add an app directory and tweak the profile and home pages to accept OpenSocial apps. One line item on our development plan
- [OS X, Ubuntu and Other Fun Stuff](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/29/os-x-ubuntu-and-other-fun-stuff/) - Comments have been awfully quiet lately. I'm guilty of talking too much about work-related stuff and not enough about iPhones and Twitter. My bad. Let's remedy that. Rich asked me recently how my move to Ubuntu was going. It's been almost a month, and he says he has a vested interest in keeping me happy
- [!$title$! É um bug](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/29/title-e-um-bug/) - Or at least that's what Google Translate says "it's a bug" means in Portuguese. So, maybe you noticed recently that this blog and others produced a feed item or a couple called "!$title$!". I believe this is a bug associated with WordPress 2.6 because the timing coincided with our upgrade to 2.6. Plus, several blogs
- [Light the App Bar or Not?](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/30/light-the-app-bar-or-not/) - So, I promised to blog Rich's UI mockups for the OpenSocial UI changes we're planning, and even though posts about what we actually do here at the 'Lab get way less traffic and comments than fun posts about which O/S would win in a fight, I'm keeping that promise. Rich has made a lot of
- [delicious blog " Oh happy day — the new Delicious is here](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/31/delicious-blog-oh-happy-day-the-new-delicious-is-here/) - The best and most effective redesign I've ever seen
- [delicious blog " Oh happy day — the new Delicious is here](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/31/delicious-blog-oh-happy-day-the-new-delicious-is-here-2/) - The best and most effective redesign I've ever seen
- [delicious blog » Oh happy day — the new Delicious is here](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/31/delicious-blog-oh-happy-day-the-new-delicious-is-here-3/) - The best and most effective redesign I've ever seen
- [Your First Computer?](https://theappslab.com/2008/07/31/your-first-computer/) - Rich's semi-nostalgic post yesterday has some of our readers reminiscing about their first computers, ones they owned or ones they first used for geeking out, ahem, I mean programming. For example: Sounds like Floyd had a Radio Shack/Tandy TRS-80, but he says he worked with card batches in college. Raimonds used a real classic, the
- [Good and Bad iPhone News](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/04/good-and-bad-iphone-news/) - A few items from last week caught my iPhone-centric eye. I figured you were all jonesing for iPhone stuff, so here they come. Push Notification I think by now, everyone with an iPhone running 2.0 firmware and a few apps understands why apps should run in the background. Seriously, how useful is AIM if you
- [Friday Lulz](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/01/friday-lulz/) - I read xkcd and actually get about 75% of the jokes, I think. Anyway, this one popped up in Reader this morning, and it made me laugh, especially in light of our recent discussions about O/S, a.k.a. the "which O/S would win in a fight" thread. Enjoy, and read xkcd if you don't already, and
- [Session Didn't Make the Cut? No Worries](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/01/session-didnt-make-the-cut-no-worries/) - Seems that the dust from suggest a session has settled and the winners are frantically preparing their sessions. Maybe your session didn't make the cut, but don't be sad or disheartened. There is another way to present your session topic at OpenWorld. Sign up for the Unconference. Justin announced today that signups for this year's
- [More Connect UI Mockups, Do You Care?](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/04/more-connect-ui-mockups-do-you-care/) - If you've been away, welcome back, and by the way, I've been blogging our design process for the changes we need to make to support OpenSocial in Connect. Today, Rich posted a few new mockups today of his vision for our Connect (and ultimately, Mix) OpenSocial UI. The first mockup shows Rich's vision for the
- [Another Call for OpenSocial App Thoughts](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/05/another-call-for-opensocial-app-thoughts/) - Last week, I asked you what OpenSocial apps you'd like to see in the Connect (and eventually Mix) app directory. Which seeded apps? Any apps you'd like to build or see built? And generally, are you stoked about OpenSocial apps? Not much in the comments, but somehow, I think there's interest out there. OpenSocial is
- [AppsLab FAQ: How Do I Get People to Adopt?](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/07/appslab-faq-how-do-i-get-people-to-adopt/) - It's been a while since I posted an FAQ entry. All the recent activity around iPhone information has reminded me of another one. Adoption. So, this FAQ installment is targeted at enterprise communities. Now that Connect has groups, people are using it more frequently for centralized collaboration, which is exactly what we hoped. Generally, the
- [Measuring the Cost of a Computer](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/06/measuring-the-cost-of-a-computer/) - I was all ready to crank out a heavy work post when this item in my Reader caught my eye. Should You Pay Twice as Much for a Mac? I love this type of title because it captures attention by being potentially controversial, and of course, it references Apple. Good tech news writing always drives
- [Oracle iPhone Resources](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/06/oracle-iphone-resources/) - The SEO of blogs is so good. The post I did a year ago about the wiki I started inside the firewall to collect iPhone tips and tricks still comes up in the top few results for the keywords "oracle iphone". That post is in the top five all time for us, based on traffic
- [Garfield Minus Garfield = Win](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/07/garfield-minus-garfield-win/) - I'll be stepping away for a few days to reboot my sanity (fingers crossed). I'll leave you with this sweet nugget. I added Garfield Minus Garfield to my Reader way back in January due to someone's tweet. If you're not familiar, here's the about: Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from
- [I Am (Not) Rich](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/07/i-am-not-rich/) - First off, everyone knows I'm not Rich. I wonder if Rich (and people who share his name) get this app for free or at least for a discount. I'll back up; so by now, you've probably heard about the "I Am Rich" iPhone app that popped up briefly a couple days ago in the App
- [More iPhone Nuggets](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/13/more-iphone-nuggets/) - I'm embracing this blog's role as a source of iPhone things. So, I figured I'd share some tips and tricks, a.k.a. stuff that might be in the manual you and I didn't read. If you have an iPhone, bookmark this post immediately. Rather than regurgitate them as my own, I'll run the headline versions: Tap
- [Do You Take Workcations?](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/12/do-you-take-workcations/) - So, I took a long weekend with my wife up in Seattle, and as I normally do, I took my personal laptop. Before you laugh, it actually does make sense to take it on vacation. I can watch movies on it, look up local attractions, get directions, etc. Plus, I keep up with news and
- [More Connect Mockups](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/14/more-connect-mockups/) - Rich has finished a few more mockups of the changes we're making to support OpenSocial. Since our last episode, he's finished the Profile page. Take a look. One thing (other than location data, which will return soon, promise) people have been missing since we upgraded Connect to the Mix JRuby code line is status. More
- [What Are Your Five Feeds?](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/15/what-are-your-five-feeds/) - Paul asked me a while back which feeds I would keep if I could only have five. Or something like that, the exercise was basically, pick five and only five. If you're like me, you cull your feeds every so often. Every three to six months, I get overwhelmed with unread items and cut out
- [3 x Location](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/18/3-x-location/) - A couple news items from last week have me thinking about location-based services again. First, a location-based social networking tool called Shizzow launched a private beta. Similarly to other services (Brightkite, most notably), Shizzow helps you stay in touch with people IRL, but the secret sauce is that you don't have to know the address
- [What's Your GPS Do?](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/19/whats-your-gps-do/) - Yesterday, I quipped: Processing “I’m at the Green Dragon” is far easier than processing “I’m at 928 SE 9th Avenue, Portland, OR”. Unless you’re a GPS device. In which case, you and your friends should have no trouble finding each other. And lo, today via Mashable, I read about Garmin and uLocate teaming up to
- [Why OpenSocial Matters and How it's Good for You](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/20/why-opensocial-matters-and-how-its-good-for-you/) - I've been drilling OpenSocial for most of the year, talking about why our platforms (Mix and Connect) will be containers, explaining how it's good for users and even better for developers. Now, I have a couple examples that should stick. Ed commented on my last mockups post: OpenSocial is now officially my new latest favourite
- [Mix Gets a Makeover](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/20/mix-gets-a-makeover/) - If you use Mix, you probably noticed something new today. Lost weight? Tan? Haircut? Yes to all of the above, applied to a web app. Mix got a branding makeover last night, among other things, to reflect more closely its siblings in the *.oracle.com family. You may have noticed less chatter on this channel about
- [Want to Help Socialize OpenWorld?](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/21/want-to-help-socialize-openworld/) - OpenWorld is quickly approaching; it's September 21-25, in case you don't already know that. You'll recall that last year, we used Twitter quite a lot to socialize, meetup and broadcast the sessions. We used Craig Cmehil's eventtrack side project to consolidate the tweets and other social clutter (videos, photos, etc.) into a single stream of
- [Copy and Paste for the iPhone? Sort of . . .](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/22/copy-and-paste-for-the-iphone-sort-of/) - This feed item on Techmeme got me all excited earlier in the week. Copy and Paste for iPhone Digging more deeply, it turns out not to be copy and paste, but rather an open source solution called OpenClip that iPhone app developers can use to accomplish copy and paste. Because Apple forbids third party apps
- [Unconference is for You](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/23/unconference-is-for-you/) - I took a look at the Unconference schedule yesterday, apropos of Ontario Emperor's post on his own foray into Unconference territory. Have you looked lately? There are a lot of interesting sessions. These stuck out for me: Monday at 1 PM: Enterprise 2.0: What is is, and how you'll fail. (by Brian "Bex" Huff) Tuesday
- [Deploy OpenSocial Locally with a Sample Network](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/25/deploy-opensocial-locally-with-a-sample-network/) - Browsing through Rich's Google Reader Shared Items, I found we had both shared this post from the OpenSocial API Blog: Let's get this Partuza started! Recently, as people have started to realize the utility of Connect as an OpenSocial container, we've been getting more requests for access to our development sandboxes. Developer rockstars inside the
- [Social Observations, OraTweet Edition](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/26/social-observations-oratweet-edition/) - I've spent a bit of quality time with Noel's OraTweet this week, mostly because of Ed's OpenSocial app development adventures. Noel really has done a lot with OraTweet since June, when he first showed it to me. It's got all the Twitter features you'd expect, and it has "groups". Don't get too excited, it's more
- [Something Cool](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/26/something-cool/) - I wanted to share some eyecandy from my Ubuntu box. I found this phenomenal desktop image (hat tip Lifehacker), and when combined with the terminal app's transparency setting, it creates a pretty cool effect, especially when you drag the terminal window around the desktop and the background changes. Another cool effect is opening the terminal
- [Geeking out with Ubiquity](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/27/geeking-out-with-ubiquity/) - Big news today was the very-early (0.1!) release of Mozilla Labs' Ubiquity. What is it? That's a really good question. It took me several passes to fix on the awesomesauce that is Ubiquity. I scanned the Techmeme coverage, thinking it was some translation tool, then speed read Scoble's post on it. Sounded more interesting, but
- [The Art of Estimation](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/28/the-art-of-estimation/) - If you've worked in product management or consulting for any amount of time, you're familiar with the estimation gremlin. I've always hated managing projects. For me, it's too much whip-cracking and tattletaling, but it's an unfortunate chore that I've been unable to avoid. If you worked on a project I managed, I'm really sorry. I
- [Taking a Staycation](https://theappslab.com/2008/08/29/taking-a-staycation/) - I'm off on a staycation for a while. Since I'll be at home, there's a good chance it may turn into a workcation. I know it sounds weird, but the temptation to work is always there when you work from home. Sounds even crazier out loud. I'm sure the wife will box my ears if
- [What's Left to Murder-Death-Kill?](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/02/whats-left-to-murder-death-kill/) - You know it's a good day when you can drop a Demolition Man reference. It's a weird time right now. Intertubes-based communication is crowding older, established methods, and as digital natives (i.e. Millenials) enter the workforce, their preferred means for communicating are at odds with what we're all used to using to, you know, do
- [Jumping into the Unconference](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/03/jumping-into-the-unconference/) - The Unconference at OpenWorld continues to fill up; Tuesdays advance slot are all full, and Wednesday is quickly filling up too. I noticed Raimonds added a session last week called "Using Ruby on Rails with legacy Oracle databases" on Thursday at 10 AM. If you're still at the conference on Thursday, I highly recommend checking
- [OpenSocial Update](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/04/opensocial-update/) - I haven't blogged about our OpenSocial progress since Rich finished up his last mockup revisions a few weeks ago. Not a whole lot to report, Rich got pulled away to work on a Mix hardware upgrade for a week, then he took a well-deserved break. My guess is he's refreshed and back cranking out the
- [The Wordle According to AppsLab](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/05/the-wordle-according-to-appslab/) - Earlier this year, a friend of the 'Lab, let's call him Jim, asked me to open up email subscriptions for this little blog so he could consume his AppsLab goodness by email. Through Jim's crusading, we now have 17 subscribers by email. I think each of you should thank Jim with flowers or chocolates. Anyway,
- [Why Flickr Rules Even if You Don't Share Photos](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/01/why-flickr-rules-even-if-you-dont-share-photos/) - I love Flickr. It's one of the original Web 2.0 poster-children for good reason. Beyond the API and the tagging and the sharing of images, Flickr has become my go-to resource for awesome pictures. Everyone knows that images make boring, more interesting. You know, that whole picture is worth a 1,000 word aphorism? When you
- [Back to Work](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/08/back-to-work/) - So, I've returned from my staycation officially, and thanks to scheduled posts, it was almost like I never left. Everyone wins. I've made it through several hundred emails; incidentally, would you take a job that had in its description of responsibilities: To send and receive thousands of emails each month. Just wondering, since we all
- [Thoughts on Chrome](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/09/thoughts-on-chrome/) - So, I decided to read the Chrome comic book, which was sent out to a select few influencers prior to the launch last week. I wanted to see what all the fuss is about, and a couple things intrigued me. First, since Chrome is Windows only, it must be pretty good to stay relevant in
- [Separated at Birth?](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/10/separated-at-birth/) - While answering comments today, a separated at birth popped into my head for Google Chrome, the HAL 9000. The Chrome logo is also very reminiscent of eyes the CG Transformers have in last year's live-action movie. I don't recall that Skynet had a logo, but I'm sure it would be the type of shiny eye
- [Rise of the Machines?](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/11/rise-of-the-machines/) - Ironically, the same day as my tongue-in-cheek post about Chrome and HAL, news that United Airlines' stock was pummeled thanks to algorithms broke. After trying to write a short version of the story, I'm realizing it's too complex. Here are the events in the sequence they've been reported by the Wall Street Journal: Late on
- [Unconference News and Preparation](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/12/unconference-news-and-preparation/) - So, I just finished my first cut at my slides for my OpenWorld Unconference session, which I'm tentatively calling, "Are you insulting me? Essential geek-speak, FTW!". If you're interested, check them out and give me feedback, comments, keeping in mind my goal is to educate by example, not give a comprehensive history. And to have
- [Yet Another Unconference Session](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/15/yet-another-unconference-session/) - Late last week, we decided to do another session at the Unconference next week. Egad, is it that soon? If you read here, you know we've been plugging away with OpenSocial for several months. Since we're not a product, we've been able to do all our work on the Connect+OpenSocial project in the open. So,
- [Dropbox is Sweet](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/16/dropbox-is-sweet/) - Rich pointed me at this nugget yesterday. Dropbox is a small utility that solves a major pain point you're familiar with if you have more than one computer or you've ever needed to transfer files between computers. At least once a week, I have to transfer files between my machines; this is an old problem
- [Air Sharing Gives You iPhone File Sharing Goodness](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/16/air-sharing-gives-you-iphone-file-sharing-goodness/) - The theme for today is file sharing apps that just work. While browsing The Silicon Florist in my feeds today, I saw a post from Rick about Air Sharing, an iPhone app built by Avatron Software a company based in Vancouver (WA not BC). As of yesterday, Air Sharing had 700,000 odd downloads in about
- [Help Me Plan My Week](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/16/help-me-plan-my-week/) - Inspired by Eddie, who blogged his schedule for next week, and others, I decided to wade into the OpenWorld show guide to set up my week. I had planned to use the Schedule Builder, but I guess that's not for employees. So, I started combing the Content Catalog and soon got a headache trying to
- [Good Old Fashioned Vote Storm](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/17/good-old-fashioned-vote-storm/) - Not much is happening this week unrelated to OpenWorld, but Rich pointed me at something fun. By now, you're probably familiar with OraTweet, Noel's side-project turned enterprise communication tool. I've blogged about it several times because I dig the garage innovation and it's a perfect OpenSocial app tie-in to Connect. Most recently, coverage of TC50
- [AppsLab Stickers!!!](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/19/appslab-stickers/) - Another last minute update... at 10:56am PDT today, Jake suggested we get stickers for next week. I thought it was a fabulous idea. So, I immediately went to work at creating a sticker design. In a few minutes I cranked this out: AppsLab sticker v1 This design was set at 1" x 2.5" -- a
- [Vi Rules!](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/30/vi-rules/) - ... and you know it. I'm sure we have enough geeky readers here that know what I'm talking about. For those that don't (you suck) -- Vi, simply put, is the best damn text editor ever created. A couple of weeks ago a poll was started on OraTweet regarding Vi vs. Emacs: How could there
- [Email Pain Point Solved by Social Network](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/18/email-pain-point-solved-by-social-network/) - Stop me if you've heard this one. Someone sends an email to a distribution list. Someone replies to all, and people start asking for removal, also replying to all. Snarky comments ensue. Inbox is stuffed with replies to all. You know the drill. So, yesterday morning, someone sent an innocuous request to a sales distribution
- [Collok.com Manages Your OpenWorld Schedule](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/18/collokcom-manages-your-openworld-schedule/) - A few weeks ago, I huddled with Matt and Eddie to chat about how we could do some whizzy-social-2.0 stuff for OpenWorld this year. The outcome was a lot of "this would be cool" and "just don't have the time". Well, Matt made some time anyway, and he's soft-released Collok.com to help you manage your
- [Oracle Listens Launches](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/19/oracle-listens-launches/) - Justin teased this earlier in the month, and today, Oracle Listens took over oracle.com. I'm glad they overcame the hiccups that initially postponed its launch, and I'm nervously waiting for a flood of email to hit our support distribution list. If you read here, you'll remember that we've shifted our focus to Connect, our internal
- [AppsLab Hackathon](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/19/appslab-hackathon/) - So, yet another last-minute OpenWorld announcement, but that's how we roll. We're going to host an informal hackathon at the OTN Lounge during the conference. The OTN Lounge will be in Moscone West, Third Floor, coincidentally right near the Unconference sessions, which should work out well. So, we're calling it informal because Rich, Anthony and
- [Geek-Speak Observations](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/20/geek-speak-observations/) - By this time tomorrow, I'll be winging my way to the Bay Area for OpenWorld. One of the first things I need to do tomorrow is race to the Unconference onsite signups in Moscone West and move my Essential Geek-Speak session to a better time, like say one that doesn't overlap with Larry's keynote. You
- [Mix to the Rescue](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/21/mix-to-the-rescue/) - On my way to PDX, I caught this tweet from the OCP Advisor (aka Mohan Dutt): Naturally intrigued, I clicked through on the link to find an "idea" from Debra Lilley called simply: Get me out of this lift, please , stuck in lift #11 at the Marriott Eagle-eyed users of Mix, namely John Bedford,
- [Essential Geek-Speak Session Rescheduled](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/21/essential-geek-speak-session-rescheduled/) - To avoid overlapping with Larry's keynote on Wednesday afternoon, as promised, I have rescheduled my Unconference session, "Are you insulting me? Essential geek-speak, FTW!" to Tuesday morning at 10 AM in Moscone West, 3rd floor, Overlook C. If you're interested, check out the slides on SlideShare. If you make it, stop by and say hello.
- [OpenWorld Begins](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/22/openworld-begins/) - Rather than blog the events of an entire day, I've decided to dump my thoughts periodically. This is more effective for me anyway, since to remember anything lately, I feel like I need to forget something else. So, a memory dump will happen eventually, better (or worse, depending) to get it recorded before the inevitable
- [OpenWorld Continues](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/23/openworld-continues/) - As is typical for me, the Monday of OpenWorld was the busiest. Now that it's over, I can relax a bit. Yesterday was an action-packed day, so let's hit the highlights. Roll the tape. Our official session "Web 2.0 Technologies In the Enterprise: Lessons Learned, Tips, and Tricks from Oracle AppsLab" went pretty well. I'm
- [And More OpenWorld](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/24/and-more-openworld/) - Tuesday was a lighter schedule for me, but not without its drama. My geek-speak Unconference session, which continues to bounce around Indian blogs, was at 10 AM, and I arrived in the room 40 minutes in advance, JIC. Good thing because I had forgotten the Mini DVI-VGA adapter for my Macbook. For those who haven't
- [Final Observations from OpenWorld 2008](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/26/final-observations-from-openworld-2008/) - So now OpenWorld 2008 is over, and San Franciscans rejoice as Howard Street reopens between 3rd and 4th, or at least it will soon. I missed my Wednesday recap, since we spent Thursday sequestered in that same old conference room in Pleasanton. Not a lot happened for me on Wednesday. Rich and I trolled the
- [Why Stickers are My New Business Card](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/29/why-stickers-are-my-new-business-card/) - With the memory of OpenWorld fading, I wanted to riff on one thing I noticed and found interesting last week. Stickers, or rather the lack of them. Rich and and I whipped up a last-minute plan to produce some stickers right before OpenWorld, and many of you were the beneficiaries last week. I added the
- [Facebook Hits the Mainstream](https://theappslab.com/2008/09/30/facebook-hits-the-mainstream/) - If you read here, you're probably on the leading, if not bleeding, edge of the early adoption curve. Bit of a mixed metaphor, so let's say early adopter scythe. Anyway, Facebook is old news. For about the last year or so, I've rarely logged into Facebook; I guess the sheep-throwing and incessant poking and super-poking
- [While we're talking about design...](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/01/while-were-talking-about-design/) - I'm a code geek that likes to tinker with design and illustration. My weapon of choice is Xara Xtreme. Most people in this arena choose Adobe Illustrator, but Xara works for me. It's also faster, easier to use, lighter and cheaper. The only drawback is that it's Windoze-ware only. Actually, there is a Linux version
- [Adventures in Bad Design](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/01/adventures-in-bad-design/) - I am a bit of a closet designer. No I don't have the funky glasses, but I appreciate great design and get a good laugh at poor design. Sometimes I run across designs that I just don't understand. Here are two of my recent gems: The first is this novel coffee mug from Delmonico's Steakhouse
- [Why Flickr Rules, Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/02/why-flickr-rules-part-2/) - Wow, after a slew of posts from other people, it's back to just me. I've documented my affection for Flickr in the past. Recently, Rich put me on to another reason to love Flickr. Groups. While I was at OpenWorld, I was chatting with Rich about a little iPhone hobby I have. I like to
- [ORA-01403:no data found](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/06/ora-01403no-data-found/) - Curious? That seemed like a clever title, given the subject, and my lack of pithy title for the post. I'll back up a bit. I'm still slogging through feeds from before OpenWorld, which is pretty tough considering Paul's got me cranking hardcore on a new project. I plowed through Slashdot today and found an item
- [Is Simple the New Black?](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/08/is-simple-the-new-black/) - Thanks to Matt for covering Geode. I have to agree with his assessment of location as awesomesauce when mixed with Intertubes. Continuing my mission to slog through all the unread feeds I have left over from the week of OpenWorld, I noticed an item from Mashable about the simple and elegant Umbrella Today? The concept
- [Find Paul at the Communities Exchange Summit](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/08/find-paul-at-the-communities-exchange-summit/) - Paul will be one of the featured presenters at the 2008 Communities Exchange Summit, next week. His presentation is called "It's Not About the Tools: How Oracle Builds Customer Communities". There's a teaser Q&A session posted, if you want more incentive. If you're in San Jose next week and want to check it out, here's
- [Why Social Networking is Good, Reason 61](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/09/why-social-networking-is-good-reason-61/) - For a few months now, I've been planning to write a post on how to get involved in your local tech scene. I caught a tweet from Matt earlier today. He was on his way to Startup Rockstars DC#3. Sounds like fun. If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen me tweet about any
- [20% of My iPhone Apps Are Worthless](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/01/20-of-my-iphone-apps-are-worthless/) - Our guest blogger, Matt Topper, is a friend of the Lab, an ex-Oracle Ace, turned Oracle employee who always has something to say. He's currently running the identity management team for Oracle's National Security group, playing with Collok in his free time to fix the conference experience. The other day Eddie tweeted that he was
- [Location, location, location.  It's all about location..](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/07/location-location-location-its-all-about-location/) - While Jake is busy working on his super secret project he's asked me to fill the rambling spot for him. Hopefully, I can make this a regular place to spout my technolutionary thoughts. In a previous life I did a lot of work with Oracle's Location and Spatial products. There really is nothing like putting
- [Low Tech Wins](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/14/low-tech-wins/) - So, I'm speaking at the Communities Exchange conference in San Jose today, filling in for Paul. It's been a bit of a whirlwind since he announced last week that he couldn't make it. Hence the lack of content here. Anyway, looks to be an interesting conference, only 45 attendees, small on purpose. I hope to
- [Communities Exchange Recap](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/15/communities-exchange-recap/) - The Communities Exchange conference wraps up today. I spoke yesterday and then bailed to meet a previous commitment today. This was an interesting conference, unlike any I've attended. For starters, there were only 45 attendees, small by design. Also a surprise to me, most of the 45 attending were from out-of-state, including several from overseas,
- [The Complicator's Gloves](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/16/the-complicators-gloves/) - Thanks to Chet "for great" Justice, a.k.a. ORACLENERD, for passing along this gem from the Daily WTF. Alex Papadimoulis lists three types of developers attacking good software development, the Amateurs, the Career Amateurs and the Complicators. The Complicators are the focus of the post; I love the description: They've acquired a sort of sixth-sense: the
- [Thoughts on the OpenWorld Blogger Program?](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/16/thoughts-on-the-openworld-blogger-program/) - Now that the dust has fully settled on OpenWorld 2008, it's probably time to start planning next year's iteration. Justin and I spoke recently with the people who manage the Blogger Program to debrief about the event, how the program was received and ways to improve it for next year. If you read that sentence
- [Another Reason to Network](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/17/another-reason-to-network/) - The layoff parade continued this week with cuts announced by several companies. I won't call out all the names; you can find them listed on Techmeme pretty quickly. Having been riffed twice during the dot-com era, I cringe whenever I hear about layoffs. For me, getting laid off was a lasting lesson that forever changed
- [WhereCamp PDX Roundup](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/20/wherecamp-pdx-roundup/) - This weekend was WhereCamp PDX here in Portland. WhereCamp is another Bay Area-born unconference imported here by the great folks at Legion of Tech As you can probably guess, WhereCamp focuses on geo-geeking. It began in 2007 as a way to extend and build on conversations and topics presented at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 conference. There's
- [Does Blogging Matter Anymore?](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/21/does-blogging-matter-anymore/) - Or is it just a matter of perspective? This piece in Wired today seems like flamebait, and several bloggers have gladly obliged. The title alone begs you to clickthrough, i.e. "Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004". It reminded me of a conversation Paul and I had months ago; the short version was "does
- [Macs in the Enterprise](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/22/macs-in-the-enterprise/) - I noticed that the Cult of Mac converted another member this weekend. Floyd bought an iMac. He'd been pondering the jump for a while, and now, his love for Mac has leeched over into his work. Full disclosure here, I'm a convert too. So is Dan. So are Paul, Rich and I assume Anthony, too.
- [Firefox Still Pwns the Field](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/22/firefox-still-pwns-the-field/) - Generally, I prefer choice in software. Intertubes browser is no different. However, in this particular category, I am an unabashed Firefox fanboy. I've been using it since 0.8, and it hasn't let me down yet. I've tried the field, both for personal and professional purposes: Chrome, Opera, Flock, Safari, IE (all versions, 3-8), Netscape/Mosaic, even
- [Qwitter Points out How Boring You Are](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/24/qwitter-points-out-how-boring-you-are/) - If you don't use Twitter, proceed at your own risk of boredom. If you've used Twitter for a while, specifically the web interface, you may have noticed you followers count fluctuates without any rhyme or reason. Well wonder no more. I read about Qwitter in Mashable last week; it's a very simple service that notifies
- [As Goes the Economy, So Goes Open Source?](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/24/as-goes-the-economy-so-goes-open-source/) - I've heard the future of Open Source during a recession debated quite a few times recently. It's a pretty hot topic now, what with the downturn in full effect. Andrew Keen, the author of "The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture", blogged (irony noted) his thoughts earlier in the week.
- [AppsLab FAQ: What if Someone Says Something Negative?](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/27/appslab-faq-what-if-someone-says-something-negative/) - It's been a few months since I did an FAQ post. This one has been on my list of to dos for months, and since I'm not doing as much community management as I did in the past, I wanted to crank out a post before I forgot all the content. The focus of this
- [Geolocation: Cool or Creepy?](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/28/geolocation-cool-or-creepy/) - Location aware services and apps are white hot right now. Cases in point, two new iPhone apps: Google Earth and Brightkite. I can't seem to find any use for Google Earth beyond the obvious eye-candy, cool factor. This has always been my complaint with Google Earth. It's nice to look at, but not very useful.
- [We Miss You Carl](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/27/we-miss-you-carl/) - Carl Backstrom died in a single car accident early Sunday morning. He was 35. Earlier today, the news trickled through several of our Twitter feeds, as a nurse involved attempted to find and notify Carl's friends. Carl was an avid APEX evangelist and blogger, snowboarder and generally well-liked, nice guy. Carl read this blog and
- [Remember Music Videos?](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/29/remember-music-videos/) - My latest Intertubes distraction comes courteousy of MTV. Hard to believe, considering how far out of their core demographic I am, and yet here we are. Anyway, the network rolled out MTV Music earlier this week. It's an archive of music videos, remember those? MTV infamously strayed away from playing videos in favor of reality
- [No, We're AppsLab, You Have the Wrong Number](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/29/no-were-appslab-you-have-the-wrong-number/) - Yesterday, Google announced Labs for Google Apps: Google is making it easier for business customers and schools using Google Apps to also take advantage of our innovations and ideas that aren't quite ready for prime time. We encourage your organization to experiment with the Google Labs features listed below to improve how you communicate and
- [Google Web Search RSS, Finally](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/31/google-web-search-rss-finally/) - Previously, I've listed the methods I use to keep track of all the information floating out in the 'tubes. One method I didn't cover is using search, duh. I didn't cover it because one glaring omission from Google's web search has been RSS feeds for keywords. If you've ever tried to monitor a keyword search
- [LinkedIn Launches OpenSocial Apps](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/30/linkedin-launches-opensocial-apps/) - Did you notice that LinkedIn debuted their applications platform and some very serious business apps yesterday? LinkedIn continues to chug along as the business social network, and their launch on OpenSocial is of interest to us because of our own work to do this on Connect and their business focus. So, I did a pretty
- [A Posse, I Has One](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/31/a-posse-i-has-one/) - The sadly unfortunate and untimely death of one of our own has me waxing philosophically about our "community". Those of us who blog about Oracle (or even just blog in general) form a loosely-coupled community of like-minded individuals, i.e. we don't agree on everything, but we can all agree that blogging is important. I'm impressed
- [Defrag08 Presentation](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/04/defrag08-presentation/) - Defrag 08: Is that Good? View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social_networking oracle) I presented the above at Defrag 08' in Denver yesterday. The idea was to take some known concepts around understanding networks and apply them to how we manage a community. This is new ground for us at the lab, but
- [I Am Now Intrepid](https://theappslab.com/2008/10/31/i-am-now-intrepid/) - I dumped Windows for good back in July and have been running Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on my Dell since then. I love Open Source, and for the most part, I've enjoyed running Ubuntu. I've found it to be on par with XP for stability and superior in usability. Before you quibble with the stability
- [Celebrating Carl's Life](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/02/celebrating-carls-life/) - As Joel announced yesterday, Carl's family will be holding a memorial service to celebrate his life Thursday, November 6 in Riverside, California. In lieu of flowers the family has set up a Memorial Fund in behalf of Carl's daughter, Destany. Donations to Carl's Memorial Fund can be by domestic or international wire transfer or by
- [An Interesting Week Ahead](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/03/an-interesting-week-ahead/) - No, I'm not talking about the US election, which I will be so happy to see in the rear view mirror. I'm talking about conferences. Paul and I are at Defrag in Denver Monday and Tuesday. Paul is giving a session this afternoon, and though I haven't seen the slides yet, it's going to be
- [Defrag Debrief: Monday](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/05/defrag-debrief-monday/) - Looks like I got out of Denver right before a cold front came through, dropping the temperature significantly. Not that the weather is all that great here in Portland. So, Paul and I were at Defrag Monday and Tuesday, as was Bob, who has done a good job of recapping in near real time. Overall,
- [Defrag Debrief: Tuesday](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/06/defrag-debrief-tuesday/) - I had planned to do the Defrag recap in a single post, but it got really long. I guess my memory isn't totally shot yet. So, this is part two of my Defrag recap. Part one is here, if you're a glutton. Tuesday Tuesday was shorter for both Paul and me, as we had planes
- [FriendFeed Brings the Firehose to IM](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/10/friendfeed-brings-the-firehose-to-im/) - Last week, FriendFeed added an IM feature, allowing you bring the information firehose into your favorite IM client. I'm a fan of FriendFeed, but it's very hard to control the noise level. Typically, each person you subscribe to has several streams of information, e.g. a blog, Twitter, Google Reader, etc., making the amount of noise
- [Get Satisfaction's Ads](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/10/get-satisfactions-ads/) - I found this nugget in Paul's Google Reader Shared Items feed: "Get Satisfaction Launches Socialized Ad Policy". As previously documented here, we like what Get Satisfaction does, and even though ads usually put me right into a coma, my curiosity about how ads could be "smart" (from Paul's note in Reader) overcame me. Turns out
- [Mix: Year One](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/11/mix-year-one/) - Mix is one year old today. Seems like it's been around forever, at least to me, but you'll recall we launched it to very little fanfare at the beginning of OpenWorld 2007. Mix didn't really get much promotion at all until Marketing decided to solicit session ideas from the community for OpenWorld 2008 back in
- [Two New (to Me) iPhone Apps](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/12/two-new-to-me-iphone-apps/) - This blog continues to draw iPhone traffic, so here comes an iPhone post to keep you interested. I installed two new iPhone apps today. I Can Has Cheezburger As I probably mentioned in the past, I tend to install apps, test them for a while, then remove them. Very few stick with me for very
- [Hear Me Now, Read it Later](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/13/here-me-now-read-it-later/) - I saw this post on RWW about Read It Later several weeks ago. I guess Read It Later has been around for a while; it's a nifty little Firefox add-on that allows you to mark links to read later. Simple enough. Plus it syncs between multiple browser instances, allowing you to have a consolidated reading
- [Panels Experiment](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/13/panels-experiment/) - I'm going to try an experiment on all of you. Don't worry, it won't hurt, much. I've just installed Panels, which is a newly launched beta service, on this blog. Panels adds, well, panels to your blog links. From their blog: With the addition of panels to your site/blog your readers are given all the
- [Two More iPhone Apps](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/14/two-more-iphone-apps/) - Another pair of iPhone apps came to my attention today, making it four for the week, and it just so happens one is brought to you by Oracle. Oracle Business Approvals for Managers Steven Chan put me on to this one, which looks like an iPhone app that surfaces a lot of the worklist notifications
- ["Looks Good, Works Well"](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/19/looks-good-works-well/) - Last night, I was lucky enough to see Bill Scott (of Yahoo Design Pattern Library, YUI, OpenRico, Netflix fame) present at my local Ruby user group. He shared his thoughts about the successful design patterns that have defined today's web. As someone who enjoys brilliantly designed "things" including web apps and sites, I found his
- [How to Do a Set-Top Box](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/17/how-to-do-a-set-top-box/) - I love my TiVo. Like pretty much anyone who currently has a DVR, I was interested, but skeptical before I had one. Skeptical not so much about the value-add from a DVR, but because of the rabid fan-ism exhibited by those who owned them. Now, I'm happily one of those rabid fans. I've had TiVo
- [Best Invention of the Last 20 Years?](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/18/best-invention-of-the-last-20-years/) - Meg's comment on my post about TiVo (note to self, add TiVo to iPhone as a topic that gets lots of comments) got me thinking about the best of the last 20. She said: I have said often that Tivo is the best invention of the last 20 years, in my life it is equal
- [Who Owns Your Address Book?](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/18/who-owns-your-address-book/) - Friend of the 'Lab Dan McCall sent this post my way last week. The issue in question is whether your LinkedIn contacts could be considered the property of your employer, should you decide to part ways. This is an intriguing question, considering: LinkedIn's self-described purpose as a "professional network". People use LinkedIn to keep track
- [More iPhone Apps](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/19/more-iphone-apps/) - Here's some more iPhone goodness, and a teaser to whet your appetite. Fake Calls Thanks to Floyd for this tip. I started out to review three fake call apps, but quickly realized there are a lot more than three. Eleven apps matched the keyword search "fake caller" in the App Store, and only one didn't
- [Found: Cool Stuff in Your Shared Items](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/19/found-cool-stuff-in-your-shared-items/) - So, I now have about five or six people sharing their Google Reader shared items with me, which is good. These feeds function a lot like Twitter for me, i.e. the items in there are sometimes interesting and tend to tell me a bit about each person. For example, Paul shares a lot of gadget
- [Shizzow Expands Beyond the Rose City](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/20/shizzow-expands-beyond-the-rose-city/) - I've mentioned Portland-based Shizzow a few times in the past in posts about geo-aware services and networking. Shizzow has been open to Portlanders only until this week, but Tuesday they added the Bay Area. And now today, Seattle is also supported. Full disclosure: I know all the principles that make up the little Shizzow operation.
- [Google Does and Knows a Lot](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/20/google-does-and-knows-a-lot/) - It's pretty hard to keep up with all the stuff Google does. There are several blogs I know of whose only purpose in life is to cover Google. Anyway, a couple noteworthy Google announcements recently caught my attention. So, I figured I share them and collect your thoughts. Google Flu Trends Google.org announced Google Flu
- [Connect for Your iPhone](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/21/connect-for-your-iphone/) - As I teased earlier in the week, Rich has been cooking up Connect People Search for your iPhone. Last night, it went live. This isn't an iPhone app because, as we all know, there are a few issues preventing an app that requires behind the firewall access: 1) we can't yet connect to VPN using
- [Is the Venture Funding Model Broken?](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/22/is-the-venture-funding-model-broken/) - Jerry Yang's ignominious resignation as CEO of Yahoo this week further underlined for me what's broken about the venture capital model. I'm not referring to the slidedeck presented by Adeo Ressi to Harvard Business School faculty earlier this month, i.e. I don't really care to cover what's wrong with the investments made by VCs or
- [Google SearchWiki](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/24/google-searchwiki/) - Shortly after I finished a post about a couple cool things Google has done recently, they announced that Google SearchWiki would be going public. Back in the Summer, Google teased the addition of Digg-style social features into search, and it looks like these became SearchWiki. So, what does it give you? When you're logged into
- [Let's Take a Legal Break](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/23/lets-take-a-legal-break/) - Something has been bothering me for years about our (American) legal system. Pause for snarky comments. Drawing by Austin Kleon used under Creative Commons As a longtime reader of Slashdot, I've followed the legal aspects of technical lawsuits passively for years, especially court decisions that affect overall precedent, e.g. RIAA and MPIAA decisions as they
- [An iPhone App Your Holiday Shopping and Wishlist](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/24/an-iphone-app-your-holiday-shopping-and-wishlist/) - Last week, I found a perfect iPhone app for the year-end holidays, thanks to Paul's Google Reader Shared Items feed. SnapTell Explorer (by way of Lifehacker) is a free app that works with the iPhone's camera. Open the app and snap a picture of any DVD, CD, game or book cover. SnapTell processes the image
- [I Still Heart Data Visualizations](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/25/i-still-heart-data-visualizations/) - If you haven't seen this already, it's worth a look. If you have, it's worth another look. Thanks to Mashable for the YouTube version of the video. A group of developers at Facebook have created this fantastic data visualization of Facebook network data overlaid on a globe. They're calling it Project Palantir, (an LOTR reference),
- [All a Twitter](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/25/all-a-twitter/) - Hot on the heals of news that Facebook and Twitter couldn't agree on an acquisition deal, news broke yesterday that Twitter had purchased Values of n. So what? Values of n produces Stikkit and Sandy, two very useful and artfully designed products. According to Rael Dornfest, these services will become Twitter's IP and will go
- [Do You Have Cyberchondria?](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/26/do-you-have-cyberchondria/) - Photo by Julie70 used under Creative Commons Do you, or someone you love, suffer from that rare form of prostate cancer that only affects women? Or from that flesh-eating fungus that has jumped species and a plane from the Amazon to afflict you in the US? Finally, there's a word for this behavior. Cyberchondria I
- [De-Friend Sounds Better than Remove](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/28/de-friend-sounds-better-than-remove/) - Photo by signalstation used under Creative Commons Mashable had a highly entertaining post earlier in the week called "12 Great Tales of De-Friending". As social networking eases into the mainstream consciousness, awkward situations will arise, and since there's no playbook, conventional wisdom or Miss Manners for social network interactions, stories of de-friending will continue to
- [Thanks](https://theappslab.com/2008/11/27/thanks/) - It's Thanksgiving here in the States. So, if you're celebrating, have a good one. If you're not, be glad we're not at work today and enjoy the silence. I debated whether to do a thank you post, since it's cliché and done to death. Well, add another thank you post to the torrent. Here goes:
- [Email: A Love/Hate Relationship](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/02/email-a-lovehate-relationship/) - Photo by I am I.A.M. used under Creative CommonsWe all use email, like it or not. Even Gen Y uses email to communicate with "old people", despite their preference for SMS, IM, and social networks. How many accounts do you have? Probably at least two, one for work communication, one for personal mail. Boston College
- [Amazon iPhone App is Sweet](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/03/amazon-iphone-app-is-sweet/) - Last week, I told you about SnapTell Explorer and mentioned that it would be a great app for collecting and pricing your holiday gift and wish lists. I also wondered why Amazon wasn't doing this already. Today, Amazon released an iPhone app that included Amazon Remembers, a feature close to what SnapTell Explorer does. Use
- [Poll: Do You Lock Your Smart Phones?](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/03/poll-do-you-lock-your-smart-phones/) - Every IT department has this policy. If you have a work computer, you're expected to password lock it when you leave it unattended. This makes sense, and I've followed this practice for many years, for work and personal machines, including desktops. My wife switched to locking her desktop after our cats created a few random
- [I Got ID](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/04/i-got-id/) - Ever since the WWW came online, the consumer web has pwned the enterprise web. The consumer web is the 'tubes at large, with all its content, bells and whistles, networking, gradients, rounded corners and flashing lights. The enterprise web is the intratubes, erm intranet, inside the corporate firewall, hidden from outsiders and often from insiders.
- [What Makes UI Good?](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/04/what-makes-ui-good/) - Thanks to a comment from Terry on my post about locking your smart phone, I've been digging around looking for ways to make my beloved iPhone more secure. Surprisingly or not, Apple has made it maddeningly difficult to even the simplest precautions. Terry's comment, which I read a bit hastily, mentions changing the root password
- [Now We're a Social Network](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/05/now-were-a-social-network/) - You may have noticed yesterday that Rich embedded Google Friend Connect gadgets here on the 'Lab. So now, we're a social network. Thanks to Dan for the snarky, "what was it before it became a social network?" comment, erm wall post. More on that later. I wrote yesterday about the ongoing battle for a single
- [Visual Dial Looks Sweet](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/08/visual-dial-looks-sweet/) - Lately, I've got lots of thoughts about design swirling in my head, but while I collect them, here's another homage to the iPhone crowd that likes to read here. Visual Dial is an iPhone app that "lets you create custom Home Screen speed dial icons right from your iPhone photo album with a few, simple
- ["Keep Your Barcode Scanner off My Merchandise"](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/09/keep-your-barcode-scanner-off-my-merchandise/) - Photo by dinglemunch used under Creative Commons Update: I added quotation marks to the title, thinking that they might help convey the right impression, i.e. I do not support the heavy-handed approach to barcode scanners. I think that's clear when you get through the post. From my, "this will get really interesting" file, comes a story
- [Poll: Do You Want Moar Content?](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/10/poll-do-you-want-moar-content/) - Photo by Margaret Anne Clarke used under Creative Commons A couple people have noted lately that my posting output has increased. This isn't entirely by accident; lately there are more interesting bits of news than normal. Usually, I have an opinion about them, and I want to poll you all to start up a discussion.
- [Contact Fail](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/10/contact-fail/) - Photo by rbieber on Flickr used under Creative Commons Today, Rich alerted me to the fact that the Contact form (linked up there to the right) has been forwarding to the distribution list we use internally. This would be fine, except that list isn't accessible from external addresses, meaning we never got your mail. Sorry
- [Contact Fail](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/10/contact-fail/) - Photo by rbieber on Flickr used under Creative Commons Today, Rich alerted me to the fact that the Contact form (linked up there to the right) has been forwarding to the distribution list we use internally. This would be fine, except that list isn't accessible from external addresses, meaning we never got your mail. Sorry
- [Semantic Series of Tubes](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/11/semantic-series-of-tubes/) - The semantic web as a concept has been around for quite some time. It pre-dates, Web 2.0 in fact, even though people sometimes refer to it as Web 3.0 or some other term that denotes its place as the next-next evolution of "teh Intertubes". It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. Tim
- [Running Linux on Everything](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/11/running-linux-on-everything/) - This absolute gem from Thomas Roach, who apparently lives in Tampa, Oraclenerd territory, popped up in my OraNA feed today. Is it for reals? Image from BBSpot A funny little bit of coincidence is I was planning to blog about another post I saw earlier in the week: Five Reasons Apple Should Open Source the
- [GMail is a Platform, Have You Noticed?](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/12/gmail-is-a-platform-have-you-noticed/) - I can remember back in 2004 how geeked I was when I got my invite to Google's brand-spanking new web mail, GMail. As promised, it was a) different (email threads), b) fast (AJAX-fu) and c) big (unlimited quota). You're all familiar with GMail, right? If not, why not? Anyway, GMail has been my primary personal
- [Google Friend Connect Adds Twitter](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/15/google-friend-connect-adds-twitter/) - Hard to believe, but not everyone seems excited about Google Friend Connect or Facebook Connect or MySpaceID for that matter. Must be the time of year. Anyway, I remain excited about GFC because if nothing else, it adds social to any web site, which is something I think appeals to the vast majority of users.
- [Who Does Your Support?](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/16/who-does-your-support/) - So, I had an eventful morning. Automatic updates on my Macbook kindly let me know that there was a security update available for Tiger (yes, I'm still on Tiger). As I've done many times in the past, I agreed to take the update, entered my credentials and went about my morning email checking. The update
- [What We're Reading](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/16/what-were-reading/) - Based on the response to my poll question last week about more content, no one seems very psyched about interspersing our Reader Shared Items into posts. That's fine, and like I said in the comments, I get bored with blogs that post more links/links posts than original content, even I think the content rules. I
- [Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/17/two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together/) - I haven't had much to say about work lately, but Rich provided a nice nugget today. He integrated OraTweet, Noel's internal, micro-blogging app with Connect's Activity Log. So, now in addition to all the social activity and HR information we surface in the Log, you can also see the (Ora)tweets of your network, your groups
- [Nostalgia Break: Oracle PowerBrowser](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/18/nostalgia-break-oracle-powerbrowser/) - I've been thinking about this off and on for a while, and yesterday, while geeking out with VMWare Fusion, I decided to get it done. I'll back up a bit. I've been working to install VMWare to get an Oracle image up and running; I've used Virtual Box predominantly in the past because it's free
- [Oracle People and Alumni: Share Your Memories](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/18/oracle-people-and-alumni-share-your-memories/) - Scotty gave me an idea with his comment on my nostalgic post on Oracle PowerBrowser. So many people in tech have come through Oracle in the past 30+ years, and there are more than 70,000 here now. That makes for a lot of nostalgia and memories that we can share among ourselves and with anyone
- [Ads Make Me Laugh](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/19/ads-make-me-laugh/) - While we wait for the semantic web to serve up really targeted and useful ads, I, for one, continue to ignore 99% of the ads presented to me. But sometimes, they slip through, twice today in fact. Although they work pretty much all the time, Google Ads have turned up many failures in the past.
- [RTFM, Winter Edition](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/22/rtfm-winter-edition/) - As Eddie mentioned, Portland, and most of the Pacific Northwest, is in the grasp of an epic chain of winter storms. It started a week ago with a storm that dumped about 4 inches here in Portland, pretty heavy snowfall, at least for this area. Snow can be a hoot, especially if it comes: a)
- [Mix Listed on Ruby on Rails.org](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/22/mix-listed-on-ruby-on-railsorg/) - Over the weekend, David Heinemeier Hansson, affectionately know as DHH, creator of Rails, made updates to rubyonrails.org. One change was the addition of Oracle Mix to the list of production apps running Rails. Check out the list; you'll probably recognize several of the apps there, and about the middle of the page, below the fold,
- [It's That Time of Year, Again](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/29/its-that-time-of-year-again/) - I hope everyone had an enjoyable week of holiday fun. As promised, here's the first of those obligatory year-end posts, and as is customary, let's look back at 2008 before we peer ahead into 2009. Photo by duplamox on Flickr used under Creative Commons I would have done this anyway, but friend of the 'Lab
- [Happy Festivus](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/happy-festivus/) - What? You've never heard of Festivus? It's the holiday for the rest of us. As a pop culture nut and an old school fan of Seinfeld, I couldn't let December 23 slip by without wishing you all a Happy Festivus. I suppose while we're here, I might as well wish you a happy holiday, whichever
- [IPhone Apps for Units of Work](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/iphone-apps-for-units-of-work/) - I found myself reading Floyd's story about the Call a Cab iPhone app and nodding my head. That was embarrassing, like when you find yourself silently agreeing with a presenter like a bobblehead, except there was no one around to agree with my agreement with Floyd. Like I said, a bit embarrassing. Anyway, Floyd's experience
- [Show Me Yours . . .](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/24/show-me-yours/) - And I'll show you mine, workspace that is. Because that won't work, I'll just show you mine, and we can go from there. Many of us work from home almost exclusively, including both Rich and me, and it seems ever more common for people to have a home office, even if they also go into
- [Happy Holidays](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/25/happy-holidays/) - It's Christmas. So, if you celebrate that one, Merry Christmas. If not, Happy Holidays, and either way, have a restful and happy time. I'm not much of holiday card sender, but for some reason, people still send cards to me. I know; it's rude of me, but every few years I actually do remember in
- [Time for 2009 Predictions](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/31/time-for-2009-predictions/) - Photo by dee gee on Flickr used under Creative Commons Now that the 2008 recap is in the can, it's time for 2009 predictions. Everybody loves predictions because it's either a chance to crow about how prescient you are or make excuses about how you were partially right and would have been totally right if
- [Show off Your Powers of Prognostication](https://theappslab.com/2008/12/30/show-off-your-powers-of-prognostication/) - Photo by David Reece on Flickr used under Creative Commons I got midway through my predictions post, when I decided that I might like some help. So, taking a page out of Rick's book, let's see how smart you are. Sound off in the comments with your predictions for 2009. I don't think there needs
- [The Oracle Mix Blog](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/03/the-oracle-mix-blog/) - So, a couple days ago, Tim started The Oracle Mix Blog, which will be the official home for all things related to Mix. That's not to say we won't talk about Mix here, but if you want to hear news from the source or want to get the attention of those guys, that will be
- [And We're Back](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/05/and-were-back/) - In case you're wondering, our domain expired over the weekend, which is why this blog was wiped from the 'tubes for the last couple days. At least it was if you use theappslab.com. Oracleappslab.com was working, but it had no CSS applied. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
- [Did Someone You Know Get Facebook for Christmas?](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/05/did-someone-you-know-get-facebook-for-christmas/) - Or maybe you did? I polled Twitter to see if anyone else noticed an influx of activity and friend requests from Facebook over the holidays, loosely interpreted as the end of December. Meg agreed, and everyone else wisely continued enjoying their seasonal free time. According to Hitwise, Facebook saw its highest ever daily traffic number
- [What Gadgets Did You Get over the Holidays?](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/06/what-gadgets-did-you-get-over-the-holidays/) - I've noticed a trend lately in my posts. I'm asking more questions. This wasn't intentional before, but from here on out, it will be. Aside from creating more content and engaging you all as much as possible, I'm hoping to get real information, similar to the way I frequently use Twitter, i.e. I poll for
- [Interesting Promotion from Hyundai](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/07/interesting-promotion-from-hyundai/) - I spent last weekend vegetating in front of the NFL Playoffs, watching them in HD. I asked you yesterday what gadgets you got for the Holidays, and I mentioned the LCD photo frame I bought my wife. Well, she bought me a TV, an LCD-DVD player combo, and she upgraded (ahem, let me upgrade) the
- [Mix Adds Account Merge](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/08/mix-adds-account-merge/) - Just saw a post from Tim over at the Mix blog, and it looks like they've rolled out some new stuff to Mix. Nothing terribly noteworthy, except for the long-anticipated ability to merge accounts. In the past, we had several requests to merge the accounts of people who had left jobs and wanted to bring
- [What's Your Next Project?](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/08/whats-your-next-project/) - Initially, the title was "What's Your Next Geeky Project?", but I'm interested to know other projects too. I'm a DIY guy. I like messing around with stuff, figuring out how to do things and learning new (ahem) skills. Most of my projects involve computers because that's where most of my skills are. I tinker around
- [kthxbai, I just deleted 99 of your twitter friends](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/07/kthxbai-i-just-deleted-99-of-your-twitter-friends/) - No really, I just did it. 99 of your closest friends, if you have that many, are gone. Go ahead and check...I can wait. Well, not really, if you are logged in to your twitter account through your browser right now I could have. Ajaxian had an interesting article on everyone's favorite microblogging site today.
- [Which Operating System Would You Have Your Child Use?](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/11/which-operating-system-would-you-have-your-child-use/) - Herewith a post about parenting... This morning's NYTimes has an article about Mark Shuttleworth and Ubuntu. For those of you who follow Ubuntu and Shuttleworth, the article is nothing new... just talks about Shuttleworth's desire to displace Microsoft in the OS war. However, it did get me thinking about my history with OSes. When I
- [My Favorite Reply-All Storm Yet](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/13/my-favorite-reply-all-storm-yet/) - Not much content here, but I had to share this story because it's one I've discussed in the past. The headline from the AP: "Reply-all e-mail storm hits State Department" If you don't feel like clicking through, this is one you've probably experienced. Someone sends an email (in this case, a blank one) to a
- [Add TweetSuite to Your Blog](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/14/add-tweetsuite-to-your-blog/) - By way of Mashable, comes a nifty Twitter+blog integration widget from Dan Zaralla for WordPress blogs, TweetSuite. You should stop reading at this point if you're sick of hearing about Twitter. OK then. TweetSuite allows you to track tweets about your blog posts. How you ask, since most links on Twitter use a shortening service
- [Connect API Goodness](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/13/connect-api-goodness/) - As you probably know already, Connect is our internal social network. It's been around a while, and we'll soon be launching a UI redesign, as teased late last Summer. In the 18 months since we launched Connect, we've accumulated quite a bit of social data about people: their profiles, avatars, work experience, personal interests, and
- [Use SMS to Set Your TiVo with Kwiry](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/14/use-sms-to-set-your-tivo-with-kwiry/) - But I'm a bit scared to try it out just yet, since I've no idea how many text messages my iPhone plan has. I'll back up; I read (and shared) this post from my pal Rick Turoczy (@turoczy if you're into Twitter), about Kwiry, an SMS service that allows you to program your TiVo using
- [Washing Machine Hack!](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/15/washing-machine-hack/) - As mentioned recently, I love geeking out and have a list of projects I'd like to work on, given the time. In comments, Matt threw out a bunch of his own to-do projects, and professed his affinity for "mating the physical world with the interwebs". You've probably heard about the plants that tweet by now.
- [More Ubuntu Adventures](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/16/more-ubuntu-adventures/) - I've been following a story that came out of WKOW 27 the ABC affiliate in Madison, WI. The headline WKOW uses, "Woman blames Dell for missing online classes", doesn't accurately reflect the crux of the issue. Slashdot boiled it down as "Woman Claims Ubuntu Kept Her From Online Classes", and story is called "Ubuntu Causes
- [Posting to Twitter Now](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/19/posting-to-twitter-now/) - Twitter isn't for everyone. So, if it's not for you, stop reading now. Recently, I created an account for this blog; if you want to follow, it's theappslab, natch. Not sure why it took me so long to do that, but it's there now. So, the obvious follow up question was what should we do
- [Volunteering Geeky Skills](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/20/volunteering-geeky-skills/) - Yesterday was "a day on, not a day off" for many of us; then, President-elect (today, President) Obama called on Americans to serve their communities on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. A friend of mine here in Portland, Nate Angell, organized a geeky volunteer day, called Day On about a week ago. The twist, this
- [Tweet with Care](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/20/tweet-with-care/) - Shot by Janis Krums (jkrums), this photo was all over the 'tubes and the TV, and it crippled TwitPic This post features 95% more obvious than your average post, and as usual, insert Twitter disclaimer here. Obvious Point 1: Twitter is growing fast. According to Mashable (data from Compete), Twitter grew 752% in 2008 in
- [Social Hacking is Primetime](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/22/social-hacking-is-primetime/) - No sooner had the ink dried on my post about tweeting with care, than my feeds yielded this post from TechCrunch. The short version is that a phisher hacked into some poor dude's Facebook account, then whipped up a friend-in-need story and tried to sucker one of his friends into sending money using FB chat.
- [Welcome to White House 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/23/welcome-to-white-house-20/) - The shelf-life of this post is rapidly fading. I would have blogged it sooner, but Paul wanted real work out of me this week. So, hey we have a new president here in the US of A. I loathe politics. So for the most part, I've tried to stay clear of all that ruckus since,
- [Connect's Third Version Launches](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/25/connects-third-version-launches/) - On Friday, Rich and Anthony updated Connect to what we're calling 3.0, or that's what I'm calling it. The UI has changed from blue back to white, and the main navigation is now on the left, versus on the top. Maybe you recognize the UI; remember when we showed off some mockups back in August?
- [Posting to Twitter, Take 2](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/26/posting-to-twitter-take-2/) - Last week, I started posting tweets to theappslab Twitter account. That didn't last very long. The plugin I used stopped working shortly thereafter; initially, I thought it might be a conflict with TweetSuite, which I've found to be disappointing so far (and have turned off, for now anyway). But even with TweetSuite out of the
- [Now We're on FriendFeed](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/27/now-were-on-friendfeed/) - Disqus announced an integration with FriendFeed today. We've used Disqus for a while here and were early FriendFeed adopters. I like both services but have struggled to keep up with comments on FriendFeed that apply to posts made here. The FriendFeed plugin was great, but that stopped working a few months ago. So, the news
- [Things about Me Meme Comes to Facebook](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/29/things-about-me-meme-comes-to-facebook/) - Photo by willnorris on Flickr, used under Creative Commons My wife and several of my Facebook compadres have engaged in the latest version of the "things about me" meme. Only this time, it's 25 things and 25 people. You may recall about a year ago, I started up a version of this meme, a.k.a. blog
- [Random Connect Observations](https://theappslab.com/2009/01/30/random-connect-observations/) - It's been a slow news week. Usually, I have a few topics on deck that I can fall back on, but the well is really dry for me this week. Anyway, I'm waiting to blog about Clayton's Oracle People iPhone app, which is ever-so close to getting approved for mass distribution. Drop a comment with
- [Optimized for iPhone](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/02/optimized-for-iphone/) - Did you know that for quite some time now (months), this blog has been optimized for iPhone/iPod Touch and Android phone viewing? Rich installed the WPtouch plugin what seems like years ago. I know, time has lost its meaning for me. In the past, I rarely came here on my iPhone, forgetting we had this
- [Want to Help with Mobile Usability?](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/02/want-to-help-with-mobile-usability/) - Continuing today's theme, which is, at least for me, mobile apps, a team within our usability group contacted me about a survey they're running. If you own one of those fancy-pants cellular telephones that does more than make phone calls, like an iPhone, an Android phone, or one of those BlackBerrys (or is it Berries)
- [Reply-All RIFF'ed](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/02/reply-all-riffed/) - When I read this one, I had to wonder if April 1 had come early. "Nielsen Deletes Reply-To-All Button" But it's true. Nielsen's CIO sent a memo alerting all Nielsen employees that that they "Reply to All" feature from Microsoft Outlook, their corporate email client. Oh, the irony if the memo had been an email.
- [Zombies Attack Austin](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/03/zombies-attack-austin/) - With SXSW looming, Austin may need to clean up its zombie problem. I'm in a local news mood for some reason, maybe because I rewatched Anchorman last night and just ran through the video from KXAN's coverage of a roadside sign hack from last week. Here's the video: This made the local news here last
- [Embedding in Mix](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/03/embedding-in-mix/) - I promise not to cross-post every single Mix blog post, only the ones that I think you'd like. If you use Mix and want to keep up with where it's going, you really should add the Mix blog to your feed reader if you haven't already. Or if you're not into RSS or don't know
- [The Oracle People iPhone App is Here](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/04/the-oracle-people-iphone-app-is-here/) - Update: There is a new version of this app, Oracle People2. It supports iOS 4 and 3.x. See the details here. As before, drop a comment here or on the newer post to get the details from me. With many thanks to Clayton Donley who built the app with help from Rich, Anthony and Noel,
- [Going rogue inside a big company](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/11/going-rogue-inside-a-big-company/) - Going rogue inside a big company (a la Best Buy) - (37signals) How can you apply Getting Real-ish ideas inside a big company? Here’s an idea: Go rogue. Pick something and do it under the radar. Create something in a few weeks that normally takes a few months. Do something in a way that works
- [On Avatars](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/06/on-avatars/) - I found this interesting post from Hivelogic about avatars in Rich's shared items this week. Turns out it's both timely and exactly in-line with my own experiences and thoughts about avatars. Dan's post is definitely worth a read, and to encourage a click-through on your part, I'll only cite him when we happen to agree.
- [Weekend Project: Macbook Surgery](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/09/weekend-project-macbook-surgery/) - Back in 2006, I bought my wife and me identical Macbooks, the white ones. When I buy computers, I always factor in the aftermarket enhancements I can make. This is one case where I'm not worried about maxing out memory or storage later down the road because I'm comfortable cracking open a laptop or desktop
- [Data Visualization Shows Patterns IRL](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/10/data-visualization-shows-patterns-irl/) - This post from O'Reilly Radar fascinates me. It's about network operations data pr0n. If you know someone who works in network operations, you're probably familiar with the usage and traffic graphs, the alerting and monitoring and the abrupt nature of the job. One minute you're having a conversation, then the phone goes off, the laptop
- [Who Benefits from Blog Comment Spam?](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/) - Photo by chotda used under Creative Commons Over the last month or so, blog comment spam has surged here. You may have noticed, or not. I try to mark the ones that Disqus doesn't trap, but some inevitably leak through into the wild. Not a big deal to me really because they're more annoying than
- [Like the Social Bar?](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/like-the-social-bar/) - Image by (Not So Frenchy) Ross on Flickr Back in December, we added the Google Friend Connect widgets. Since then, our little blog social network has grown to over 100 members. It's still not entirely clear to me what you'd want to do with Google Friend Connect, other than affiliate yourself with a blog or
- [We're in a Book](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/13/were-in-a-book/) - I just found out this morning from a new friend of the 'Lab, Emanuele, that our work has been mentioned in print. W00t! Specifically, Niall Cook mentions the IdeaFactory and Mix, in his book, Enterprise 2.0: How Social Software Will Change the Future of Work. Rich is mentioned by name, and his post on building
- [Social Search Wins](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/16/social-search-wins/) - When you start talking to an enterprise crowd about social networking, inevitably someone asks for real business benefits, a.k.a. ROI. I know, hard to believe. When we first started the 'Lab, Paul used to ask how many people have a Facebook/MySpace/LinkedIn account. Usually less than half the room would raise hands, and that number went
- [Toy Blocks that Think?](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/13/toy-blocks-that-think/) - I shared this in my reader feed as well, but it's so damn cool, I thought it would be worth sharing the video too. In this TED talk, MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables, blocks that think. You read that right. They think. I really loved Legos, Lincoln Logs, and all manner of construction
- [More on Social Search](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/17/more-on-social-search/) - So, yesterday I started making the case for social search as an excellent way to find information locked away within an enterprise, and the ability to get good information from social search pays for investments in social networks. I didn't cover much detail though. So, that's the focus of today's post. Social search in my
- [Flickit: A Flickr iPhone App](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/18/flickit-a-flickr-iphone-app/) - Finally. Flickit brings an easy to use Flickr uploader to my iPhone. This has been a long time coming, and thanks to Rick for the 411. People complain about the iPhone's camera. It's only 2 megapixels, it doesn't take video without a jailbreak, etc. In spite of all its failings, did you know it's easily
- [What is Blogging to You?](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/19/what-is-blogging-to-you/) - Image by greefus groinks on Flickr used under Creative Commons This post on Mashable today about another WordPress plugin that can integrate and surface your FriendFeed and Twitter activity on your blog got me thinking about what a blog means anymore. Blogging used to be the ultimate form of self-expression (or navel-gazing, depending on your
- [Carl Backstrom, Oracle ACE](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/20/carl-backstrom-oracle-ace/) - Friend of the 'Lab Carl Backstrom posthumously achieved one of his career goals recently when he was awarded the Oracle ACE designation. You can view his profile on the OTN forums here (login required). I couldn't find him on the public ACE listing yet, but I assume he will also have a profile there.
- [Pinch Media Releases iPhone App Stats](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/23/pinch-media-releases-iphone-app-stats/) - Pinch Media collects stats for iPhone apps, e.g. Clayton uses them to track usage statistics for the Oracle People Search app. Last week, they released an analysis of apps that has some pretty interesting metrics. The one that caught my eye was that for free apps, only about 20% of users return to the app
- [Oracle People iPhone App Metrics](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/24/oracle-people-iphone-app-metrics/) - Yesterday, I promised to share the Pinch Media metrics Clayton has collected for the Oracle People iPhone app. Here's a snapshot. There are 30 new users since yesterday, which seems like a nice growth rate to me. Clayton mentioned over OraTweet yesterday that adoption was slower than he anticipated. Based on the comments left here
- [Bummer 2.0](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/25/bummer-20/) - I have a few friends that were avid users of Ma.gnolia, which was a social bookmarking tool, similar to Delicious. I had an account there, but never really used the service much. I say similar to Delicious and use the past tense because Ma.gnolia's database crashed on January 30. They recently announced that all user
- [Why Do Feeds Fail?](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/26/why-do-feeds-fail/) - Yesterday, we were meeting as a team to chat about how Connect enhancements, when Paul says he would use Connect more if he could have the activity running in Firefox via an add-on. Sounds like a good idea to me, and I'm already thinking of people who might want to tinker with an add-on, which
- [Images in Feeds](https://theappslab.com/2009/02/27/images-in-feeds/) - Random image, Pacman's skull by Le Gentil Garcon Thanks to friend of the 'Lab Patrick Wolf for pointing out that the feed versions of our posts do not reflect the same alignment of images that you see here. I've noticed this in the past, via OraNA, but figured it was a rathole to try to
- [Twitter Break: Unexpected Use Cases, Search](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/twitter-break-unexpected-use-cases-search/) - I read a couple Twitter news items today that interested me. First was an interesting TED talk from Twitter co-founder and CEO, Evan Williams. It's embedded below, if you're reading on theappslab. If you're not, click through and have a look. It's only eight minutes, so not a major time spend. The title caught my
- [Play with Purpose](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/play-with-purpose/) - Play is our natural state. It is healthy and fun. In that state, we are engrossed and engaged. Time, as they say, "flies". As we grow up and put aside childish things, we lose this connection to our natural state and a strong division between play and work emerges. In fact it is worse than
- [Another Facebook User Revolt is Coming](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/) - Today, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed's). One minor change that's part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage "What are you doing right now?"
- [New iMac, Still New to Me](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/) - Update: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn't have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they've lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn't all that excited
- [Learning from Entertainment](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/) - Photo Credit: Timothy Hamilton I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between "form" and "content". Form being the mechanics used
- [Freely Available Utilities](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/) - The title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All
- [Batman vs. Superman](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/) - From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series Here comes a topic for a Friday. I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I'm coming to the 'tubes to get some real discussion. This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not
- [Leave a Comment using Facebook Connect](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/) - Just before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook's closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). I like Disqus; they've been responsive when we've
- [Connect Adds Geolocation](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/) - Now, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase "@location" followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. And
- [APEX in the Cloud](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/) - This post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. I'm surprised Chet didn't pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and
- [Trying Pivotal Tracker](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/) - Last week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse
- [On Browsers](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/) - IE6 is like that cold that just won't go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it's the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps,
- [Anatomy of a Spam Attack](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/) - Yesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing :) We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics
- [TED on Play](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/) - I am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that),
- [Ignore Your Competition, Focus on the Stable](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/) - Photo Credit: FoxTongue I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, "beat" the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to
- [TweetDeck Adds Facebook, What's Next?](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/) - As is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. I'm not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter's first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. So, it's
- [I Want VLI](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/) - Back in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don't remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. I threw out the idea of a zero
- [I Might Pay for JotNot](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/) - There are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. This is one of those few times. JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website
- [Web Mission is Coming](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/) - As he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year's Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett.
- [Had Enough Twitter Yet?](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/had-enough-twitter-yet/) - Twitter is exploding. You've probably seen the numbers. 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. By all measures, that's an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity
- [Feeling Lucky?](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/24/feeling-lucky/) - I always find it noteworthy when a handful of stories about a single company or service pop up within a day or so. Usually, none of them alone is all that interesting, but as a collection, they sometimes form a story that I find blogworthy. This time it's Google's Web Search. I'm feeling lucky goes
- [I Am Not a Good Lead](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/26/i-am-not-a-good-lead/) - Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross New this week, cold calls from innovation and strategy consultancies. Maybe it's a function of a crappy economy, or maybe I happen to be an easy to find contact at Oracle. For whatever reason, I'm now fielding calls from consultancies who want to help Oracle with innovation or Web/Enterprise
- [What is it about Kudos?](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/26/what-is-it-about-kudos/) - Photo by takingthemoney on Flicks used under Creative Commons Last week, Paul spoke on a webinar panel hosted by Communitelligence about social networking inside the firewall. Also on the panel were Lee Aase of the Mayo Clinic and Polly Pearson from EMC. I didn't attend the webinar, but Paul mentioned that Kudos was well-received. We
- [Requiem for the Computer Lab](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/30/requiem-for-the-computer-lab/) - Ever seen PCU? It came out while I was still in college, and being of that vintage, I relate to it. Remember the scene where Tom runs through the computer lab, where scads of students are cranking away on year-end thesis papers and trips over the main plug that supplies power to all the computers?
- [I'm switching back to IE6 and why you should too](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/01/im-switching-back-to-ie6-and-why-you-should-too/) - I'm finally fed up with all the standards based, open source browser, google chrome-whatchamacallit, firefox, safari bs crap. I don't want choice in browsers anymore. Especially since my ERP apps works better in IE than in any of the other crappy browsers out there. So, today, I'm switching back to the browser who made the
- [More Fun with Virtualization](https://theappslab.com/2009/03/31/more-fun-with-virtualization/) - I love me some virtualization. Whether you're testing a web app in various O/S + browser configurations, running production hardware, testing new a O/S or just geeking out for fun, virtual machines are your friend. I started out with VirtualBox, because it's open source, and then went to VMWare (Fusion, specifically) to run the official
- [OpenWorld Call for Papers](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/01/openworld-call-for-papers/) - Did you catch the announcement yesterday that the OpenWorld 2009 Call for Papers is on like Donkey Kong? The call lasts until April 19, and it sounds like the Suggest a Session program on Mix will be renewed in June. The OpenWorld blog offers some tips on proposal submission: Give your paper a clear and
- [Disqus Adds Comment Aggregation](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/02/disqus-adds-comment-aggregation/) - I suppose I blog a lot about Disqus because we've been using it here for a while. I've gone back and forth about whether we should keep it, especially after WordPress introduced threaded comments. Although I'm not in love with the idea of a) not owning the comments and b) taking a performance hit on
- [Miscellaneous Debris](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/03/miscellaneous-debris/) - It's Friday. I've got a few items that might make a full post, but rather than squeeze blood out of a stone, I'll resort to a miscellaneous debris post. It's not a link post, and it's not a full post. It's in between somewhere. Since 1972 Josh Freese, drummer for DEVO, A Perfect Circle, Nine
- [A Bit More on Our IE6 Stance](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/06/a-bit-more-on-our-ie6-stance/) - Rich's April Fools' post from last week has generated some discussion around how we (and developers in general) handle support for Internet Explorer 6. Most of the discussion was between G and me, and then Friend of the 'Lab John "I used to be the Ontario Emperor" Bredehoft weighed in with his two cents. In
- [What's New with Connect?](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/07/whats-new-with-connect/) - Glad you asked, or didn't either way, you're still reading. It's been a long time since I blogged about new features on Connect. I know not everyone can see the goodness (or care), since it's internal only. But I figure some of you might be interested anyway. When last I wrote about Connect features, we
- [Oracle DB on Mac? Yes You Can.](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/13/oracle-db-on-mac-yes-you-can/) - This announcement slipped past me last week, but if you subscribe to OraNA, you probably saw it already. Oracle 10g has come to OS X Intel, and you can has. According to Justin: 10.2.0.4 Database (Single Instance) Release for Apple MAC OS X on Intel x86-64 is now available for download on OTN.The physical media
- [Now with Video Comments](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/08/now-with-video-comments/) - When I upgraded the Disqus widget, I didn't mention that you can now leave video comments, thanks to the Disqus-Seesmic integration. Rejoice. Rich tested it out recently. He was speechless. It's pretty simple. Just click the Use Media link directly below the comment box and choose Record video. This link only appear below the main
- [Google Does Geolocation](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/08/google-does-geolocation/) - I like geolocation. At first, it seemed pretty creepy, but now, there's a lot of potential for geo-based features that are both and good for you. I write about geo-services quite a bit, and I'm a fan of services like Fire Eagle and Shizzow and BrightKite and all the others. They all have one problem
- [Musings on Relationship Symmetry in the Enterprise](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/15/musings-on-relationship-symmetry-in-the-enterprise/) - The title sounds pretty highbrow academic. It's funny to me. Anyway, I just read that according to ComScore, Twitter grew 131% in March. Insanity. That number doesn't include international or client-based usage. While I read through my feeds today, I got five new follows, all from people I don't know. Oh, and there's the whole
- [All Your Comments Are Belong to Us](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/14/all-your-comments-are-belong-to-us/) - H/t to Joel Garry for the AYB reference. As I mentioned when I enabled the new Disqus Social Media Reactions feature earlier this month, comment aggregation is all the rage with bloggers. Commentary and discussion that used to be centered squarely in the comments on a blog can now happen in a bunch of other
- [What Do You Know about Creative Commons?](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/16/what-do-you-know-about-creative-commons/) - If you blog, you're probably familiar with how weird it feels to be plagiarized. It's a given that if you blog long enough, someone will eventually copy and paste what you said without attributing it to you. There's irony here because much of blogging is borderline original content anyway, myself included. Still, the tenants of
- [OpenWorld 2009 News](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/20/openworld-2009-news/) - Photo by our good friend Eddie Awad, used under Creative Commons So, it's only 170-some days until Oracle OpenWorld 2009, but if you're into getting the worm, you'll be happy to know that registration is open. That was an early bird reference. Anyway, you can get that coveted discount now until August 14, meaning you
- [It Just Works](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/22/it-just-works/) - I've had a smidge of blogger's block lately, and from experience, I know nothing gets people talking like a discussion about operating systems. With Windows 7 RC on the horizon, Snow Leopard due later this year, and Jaunty already in RC and ready to drop any day, the next year or so will be full
- [Call for Post Ideas](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/21/call-for-post-ideas/) - Photo by pshutterbug from Flickr used under Creative Commons I'm having serious blogger's block lately. There are plenty of topics I'd love to discuss but can't, so I guess I'm just feeling gravity's pull. This blog has been around for a while now, and if you read here, you know it's pretty much my opinions
- [In Defense of Anonymous Commenting?](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/23/in-defense-of-anonymous-commenting/) - Image by Natalie Maynor used under Creative Commons If you read here, you probably know I'm against anonymous commenting and generally against anonymity online. If you know me IRL, you'll understand this is part of who I am. To call me direct is accurate, if not an understatement in many cases. I'm blunt and unedited
- [Perfect for a Friday: Spreadtweet](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/24/perfect-for-a-friday-spreadtweet/) - Many of us work for a large company that may or may not condone the use of Twitter at work. You probably spend a third of your day a work though. So, how can you keep up with @oprah, @THE_REA_SHAQ and all your other Twitter friends? Tweet with Spreadtweet (h/t Silicon Alley Insider), the Twitter
- [The Future is Good Enough](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/27/the-future-is-good-enough/) - Photo by JOE WU from Flickr used under Creative Commons Chet suggested last week that I talk about what the future will look like. So, like a good blogger, I'm recycling someone else's thoughts. Not entirely a joke because I read this piece from PC World's Linux Line shortly after Chet's comment and immediately thought
- [Where Are They Now? Top 15 Web Properties of April 1999](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/27/where-are-they-now-top-15-web-properties-of-april-1999/) - I'm trying out a new idea. If Twitter is mirco-blogging, then blogging is, well, macro-blogging? I come across lots of stuff I think is interesting and worth discussing, but not quite full-post-worthy. So, to combat my blogger's block, I give you mini-blogging. It's not quite micro in size, but smaller and probably less well-formed (if
- [Ask Google?](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/29/ask-google/) - Remember when Ask Jeeves launched? The premise was simple. Instead of munging your search into keywords and hoping for the right result set, all you had to do was ask Jeeves a real question. If you remember that, you'll also remember that it didn't work very well. Google just announced they have indexed public data
- [When Are You Most Productive?](https://theappslab.com/2009/04/30/when-are-you-most-productive/) - Photo by Schlüsselbein2007 on Flickr used under Creative Commons I've been rolling hard with Rich and Anthony to finish up the beta-testing of our next major release of Connect. I'll probably blog the highlights because this release contains the most new stuff since our second version, when we moved to the Mix codeline and added
- [2009: Year of the Side Project](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/07/2009-year-of-the-side-project/) - Photo by Hugo90 on Flickr used under Creative Commons I started this post before the New Year, and it sat in drafts for a long time. It was never meant to be a prediction post, so the title makes it feel a bit funny. Still, I kept it because this year, the side project seems
- [OraTweet in the News](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/01/oratweet-in-the-news/) - Our buddy Noel (who has a new blog) got some mainstream news coverage today from Michael Hickins at Information Weekly. Hickins mentions OraTweet, calling Oracle as the "unlikeliest company to launch a product of this nature", and quotes Noel in his post. Very cool indeed for Noel, whose little side project is all grown up
- [Connect Flirts with 200,000 Pageviews](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/03/connect-flirts-with-200000-pageviews/) - April was a big month for Connect, if you consider 195,000 pageviews and 11,000 unique visitors big anyway. If you're Facebook or Twitter, that's a slow morning, but for our little network, which has a capped number of possible users somewhere around 80,000, it's gangbusters. Since January, Connect has been growing each month, and I
- [Follow COLLABORATE 09 with the ORACLENERD](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/04/follow-collaborate-09-with-the-oraclenerd/) - Wow, that's a lot of shouting for one headline. I'm not at COLLABORATE 09 this year, and right now, as Spring reminds those of us in Portland why it's so lush and green in the Summer, I think I'd rather be in Orlando where it's in the mid-80s and sunny. Then again, like most conferences,
- [Testing is Tough](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/05/testing-is-tough/) - Photo by diggersf on Flickr, used under Creative Commons We're currently working on a redesign for Connect, and like any project, waterfall, agile or otherwise, we have a testing phase. I've been designing and building software for a long time, assuming you consider mid-90s a long time, and testing has always been the toughest part
- [Kidnapping Data?](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/07/kidnapping-data/) - This is a new one for me. Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported (via Wikileaks) that hackers had compromised a Virginia state prescription web site, deleted the eight million records and replaced the home page with a ransom note. The ransom demand, $10 million. Apparently, this isn't the first case of datanapping, which doesn't
- [Kidnapping Data?](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/07/kidnapping-data/) - This is a new one for me. Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported (via Wikileaks) that hackers had compromised a Virginia state prescription web site, deleted the eight million records and replaced the home page with a ransom note. The ransom demand, $10 million. Apparently, this isn't the first case of datanapping, which doesn't
- [I Guess We're a Product Team After All](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/08/i-guess-were-a-product-team-after-all/) - Well, our big redesign of Connect, version 4.0, is finally live. Anthony and Rich are knocking out some final issues, but we cut over earlier this afternoon. Luckily, it's the weekend. So, our users aren't using right now. Unluckily, it's the weekend, and everyone on the team has plans. Next week, I'll fill you in
- [My Jaunty Adventure](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/11/my-jaunty-adventure/) - So, Canonical released the latest version of the Ubuntu distro recently, Jaunty Jackalope, version 9.04. I played with Jaunty in a VM a bit when it was in alpha, and I didn't notice many new features, compared to Intrepid, aside from the new login splash screen and the Growl-style notifications. I waited a few days,
- [What's New in Connect 4.0?](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/12/whats-new-in-connect-40/) - Image by Banalities on Flickr used under Creative Commons (thx @jpiwowar) As I mentioned last week, we've released the 4.0 version of Connect, which includes a boat-load of new stuff. Our main goals for this release were: Put the focus on people, not on objects. Make it dead simple to share anything. Aggregate information by
- [Twitter's #fixreplies Boo-Boo](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/14/twitters-fixreplies-boo-boo/) - Update: Twitter founder Biz Stone has posted exactly the explanation we (all 3% of us) wanted, and I completely understand the hurry to rush out without fully thinking through the loud ramifications of the squeaky 3%. Kudos. You've probably heard about the Twitter @replies fiasco by now. Marshall has a good recap and explanation of
- [Wayback Machine: 6 Months Ago](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/15/wayback-machine-6-months-ago/) - So, I'm headed off the grid for a while. In my absence, I figured I'd keep the content fresh by recycling some old stuff. A bit ironic, but bear with me. Blogging for me is very tied to what's happening right now. We've been around for a little over two years now, but it seems
- [Wayback Machine: 12 Months Ago](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/18/wayback-machine-12-months-ago/) - The second installment of the wayback digest, a.k.a. the "I'm gone, but I want to keep the content fresh" series. Enjoy. Here's the archive from May 2008, a mere twelve months ago. Feels like an eternity, looking over the posts. Anyway . . . My First BarCamp: I'm a fan of the unconference format. Hoping
- [Wayback Machine: 18 Months Ago](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/19/wayback-machine-18-months-ago/) - Third installment, you're past halfway there now. I know you miss me. I'm probably jonesing for the 'tubes right now. Enjoy. Here's the archive from November 2007. Talk the Talk: Even if they got it wrong, CSI was at least a year ahead of the curve with the Twitter reference. You can't turn on the
- [Wayback Machine: 24 Months Ago](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/20/wayback-machine-24-months-ago/) - It's nearly over, you made it. I'll be back soon to answer all your comments, right after I catch up on thousand or so emails. We didn't really start blogging until June 2007, so technically it's 23 months, but here's the archive from June 2007. Googleforce.com Coming Soon?: My very first post and it still
- [OraTweet Leaves the Nest](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/21/oratweet-leaves-the-nest/) - First off, thanks for hanging in there while I caught up on my R&R. I came back today to hear the happy news that OraTweet will soon be available to anyone who wants to give it whirl. Noel is prepping the final package for distribution, but if you're interested now, head over to oratweet.com and
- [The Future of Mobile: WebVisions 2009](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/25/the-future-of-mobile-webvisions-2009/) - Last Thursday and Friday, I attended the 2009 iteration of WebVisions, a conference held here in Portland focused on the future of web design and development. As with last year, my goal for attending was to gain new design perspectives. Web design is constantly evolving, and we use many of the innovations present on the
- [Use Twitter to Leave a Comment](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/22/use-twitter-to-leave-a-comment/) - I'm so far behind on my reading, having been on vacation and currently attending WebVisions. Still, I noticed a post to the Disqus blog from last week announcing their support for sign-in via Twitter. You may recall they also support Facebook Connect, which I enabled back in March, and now you can also use your
- [See Rich at Google I/O](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/26/see-rich-at-google-io/) - A quick note, Rich will be presenting at Google I/O this Thursday on a panel called "OpenSocial in the Enterprise". He'll be sharing our experiences with OpenSocial and Connect. Although we haven't yet released our OpenSocial container, Rich and Anthony have been tinkering with it for over a year and have a sandbox environment we've
- [Google Wave: The Killer Enterprise Apps Platform?](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/01/google-wave-the-killer-enterprise-apps-platform/) - Last week's Google I/O left me feeling very optimistic for what's to come in the world of web apps. I don't have a whole lot to add to the coverage of Google Wave and the other cool things disclosed at I/O. However, after seeing the demo of Google Wave, I couldn't help but think of
- [The Enterprise Implications of Google Wave](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/01/the-enterprise-implications-of-google-wave/) - Five minutes after I posted my Google Wave analysis, I ran into Dion Hinchcliffe's excellent analysis of Google Wave. A must read for Enterprise 2.0 folks. This is exactly what I'm envisioning happening with Google Wave in the enterprise. It will become the "glue code" for the user experience. It won't replace existing back-end apps,
- [OpenID: WebVisions 2009](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/26/openid-webvisions-2009/) - As promised, here's the riveting second installment of my sort-of recap from WebVisions last week. On Friday last week, I went to the OpenID panel discussion, hosted by Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb and starring Scott Kveton, vice-chair of the OpenID foundation board of directors and bacon enthusiast, Chris Messina, community advocate for OpenID, OAuth, and
- [Best Job in Tech?](https://theappslab.com/2009/05/28/best-job-in-tech/) - Image by Yandle on Flickr used under Creative Commons So, Rich and Anthony are at Google I/O today, and I'm hearing everyone was blown away by Google Wave. Rich tweeted, IM'ed and finally called me to say how awesome it was. I'm now waiting to watch the hour-and-a-half demo that rocked so hard. I'm hoping
- [OraTweet Ready for Flight](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/02/oratweet-ready-for-flight/) - I mentioned a few weeks ago that OraTweet, Noel's mirco-blogging package built in APEX, would soon be released to the public after he made some tweaks to get it production-ready. Today, he unveiled it. You can download OraTweet here. It's provided free of charge, as-is, and requires Oracle 10g or 11g and APEX 3.1.x or
- [My Thoughts on Wave](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/02/my-thoughts-on-wave/) - Rich dumped his impressions and thoughts on Google Wave yesterday. Now it's my turn. In a weird coincidence, I heard Soundgarden's "My Wave" earlier today and immediately thought of Friend of the 'Lab Floyd's penchant for beginning his posts with song lyrics. Not sure why he's stopped doing that, it's a great little calling card
- [Google I/O Sessions Live](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/04/google-io-sessions-live/) - Some of the sessions from Google I/O have been posted, including the Wave breakout sessions. I know one of these conflicted with Rich's panel session, "OpenSocial in the Enterprise". Rich was both bummed he had to miss it and worried that after the morning's rousing keynote, no one would show up for his session. Although
- [Jury Duty is a Broken Model](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/08/jury-duty-is-a-broken-model/) - Image by LWY on Flickr used under Creative Commons On Friday, I received a summons to appear for jury duty. First, let me say that I'm in favor of civic duty, the right to a jury trial, all that. I don't think I'm the only one who dreads a summons to jury duty though. This
- [OpenSocial in the Enterprise Session from Google I/O](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/08/opensocial-in-the-enterprise-session-from-google-io/) - As promised, Rich's session from Google I/O has been posted, and I've embedded here for your viewing pleasure. It's a panel so, if you don't want to invest the full 60 minutes, you can skip to Rich's demo, which happens between 13:24 and 20:59. He gives a quick demo of Connect and shares some OpenSocial
- [90-9-1 Rule Skews the New Web](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/10/90-9-1-rule-skews-the-new-web/) - Photo by powerbooktrance on Flickr used under Creative Commons You've probably heard of the 90-9-1 rule of communities, outlined here by Jakob Nielsen. If not, here's the summary: In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the
- [Browsers Wars on Like Donkey Kong](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/11/browsers-wars-on-like-donkey-kong/) - I saw this post about how to provoke an argument with a geek from Wired on Digg, just as I was formulating this post about the escalating browser wars. Good timing, since debating which browser is best will undoubtedly start an argument. Anyway, the release of a developer version of Chrome for the Mac has
- [OpenWorld 2009 Suggest a Session Starts June 16](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/11/openworld-2009-suggest-a-session-starts-june-16/) - Image by our pal Eddie Awad on Flickr used under Creative Commons Mark your calendars for June 16. The Oracle OpenWorld Blog announced today that Suggest a Session will be back on that day for this year's mega-conference (which will be October 11-15, 2009 at Moscone in San Francisco as usual). If you recall, last
- [Geolocation Edges Closer for Me](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/12/geolocation-edges-closer-for-me/) - If you read here, you probably know I'm a fan of geolocation and its possibilities. Yeah, it's creepy and risky, but then again, broadcasting your location is always risky, whether you do it via geolocation or Twitter, just ask Israel Hyman. In fact, if you tweet from an iPhone Twitter client that uses the location
- [I Like Shiny Things](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/15/i-like-shiny-things/) - Image by FearfulStills from Flickr used under Creative Commons I really do love new stuff, especially when it comes to software and has a "developer release" or "alpha" or "beta" tag on it. I can't help it. I've tried to stay away from buggy releases, but I always come back, if only to feel like
- [Implications of the 90-9-1 Rule](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/16/implications-of-the-90-9-1-rule/) - Last week's post on the 90-9-1 rule was pretty popular. It bounced around Twitter and FriendFeed, and thankfully, Disqus' Reactions feature allowed me to track comments on it. So, like any good blogger, I'm going where the traffic is. The 90-9-1 rule interests me for a number of reasons beyond the obvious applications it has
- [Vote for Sessions Launches](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/17/vote-a-session-launches/) - So, Tim mentioned last night that Oracle Mix had launched this year's iteration of Suggest a Session. There are big changes from last year's inaugural run. First off, it's no longer called Suggest a Session, but rather Vote for Sessions. From the name, you can get an inkling of the biggest change, i.e. you won't
- [I Need to Use FriendFeed More](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/22/i-need-to-use-friendfeed-more/) - Did anyone notice a larger than normal bump in their FeedBurner stats last week? Last week, the FeedBurner numbers shot up from about 1,000 readers to more than 1,500. I'm behind on my reading, but so far, I haven't seen this covered anywhere but on the FriendFeed blog. Some movement in subscribers is common. However,
- [Measuring Influence and Reputation](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/23/measuring-influence-and-reputation/) - Photo by anne.oeldorf on Flickr used under Creative Commons The debate about whether FeedBurner's inclusion of FriendFeed subscribers is a good or bad thing has me thinking how to determine a person's reputation and influence. As I keep saying, trust is the key component to New Web. Without trust, it's difficult to build a community
- [The Race for Your Identity: Twitter vs Facebook](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/13/the-race-for-your-identity-twitter-vs-facebook/) - It's been a while since I blogged over here, the last few months have been intense adding new members to my team in the national security group. We've been working on some really great projects that I'd love to talk about but I'd have to kill you. There is something new on the horizon that
- [An Interesting Trust Experiment Begins](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/24/an-interesting-trust-experiment-begins/) - I've been yammering on about trust as the key component to encouraging participation in online communities for a couple weeks. Today, Facebook opened its walls to allow search engines to index anything you publish, meaning the layer of trust can be removed, and all your updates *could* be released into the wild. The change has
- [Citizen Journalism Gets a Test](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/25/citizen-journalism-gets-a-test/) - Twitter has a pretty impressive list of news stories its users have broken and covered more accurately than mainstream news outlets. To name a few: Hudson River plane crash Iranian election riots Several earthquakes in multiple countries, e.g. Southern California, Mexico City Wildfires every year, e.g. Fall 2007 Terrorists attacks in Mumbai Virginia Tech shootings
- [Twitter for Reporting the News](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/29/twitter-for-reporting-the-news/) - Photo by Ernst Moeksis on Flickr used under Creative Commons The events surrounding the reporting of Michael Jackson's death last week bring up issues with news reporting that I think are worth discussing. Granted, this discussion isn't new, but it's interesting, at least to me. Twitter offers a new channel to reporters, due to its
- [Sony Walkman Turns 30](https://theappslab.com/2009/06/29/sony-walkman-turns-30/) - Oringinal image by Marcin Wichary on Flickr used under Creative Commons Hard to believe it, but the Walkman will turn 30 on July 1. Thanks to the 'tubes for reminding me of this, specifically to this 13-year-old kid's review of the Walkman, compiled after using it in lieu of his iPod for a week. Well
- [On Product Management](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/01/on-product-management/) - I've been in software product management for about ten years now. Connect, my latest product, has reached a critical stage in its life. It's the first product I've managed from its inception, so I'm getting interesting new experience as it grows. It's pretty robust and has most of the big features people need in a
- [Using the iPhone for Gaming?](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/02/using-the-iphone-for-gaming/) - I never expected my iPhone would be a gaming device. Earlier this week, as I did my civic duty, I found myself bored to tears in a jury room, waiting to be called. It was actually a bit funny. The day started with a video about jury service, including interviews where jurors said they were
- [You Know You Love Email](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/07/you-know-you-love-email/) - Photo by dcJohn on Flickr used under Creative Commons Everyone loves to complain about too much email. But face it, you know you love it, or at least, you have a love-hate relationship. Email is today's busy meter. You know, that measuring stick that shows how busy you are. By the way, is it uniquely
- [It Just Works, My New Mantra](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/06/it-just-works-my-new-mantra/) - Also, the image we use in our new Connect error page. Last week, I had one of those, "I'm so glad I have a Mac moments". Stick with me, this isn't another my O/S can beat up your O/S posts (although those are fun). There's a point at the end. I don't consider myself a
- [Comment with OpenID](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/07/comment-with-openid/) - Disqus announced today that its commenting widget finally supports OpenID. You may recall they've been quickly adding other ways to login and leave a comment, including Facebook Connect and Twitter. I applaud their support for multiple authentication mechanisms. I've enabled OpenID here, and as you probably know, I'm a proponent. So, if OpenID is your
- [Why It Just Works](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/08/why-it-just-works/) - So John suggested I delve into why "it just works". He suggests that Apple's tight control of their products, from design to software and hardware development and third party components allows them to do what "open" systems cannot. I agree. Beyond control, this approach both limits the possible combinations software needs to support and allows
- [Everything is a Journey](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/10/everything-is-a-journey/) - Photo by gregsdumbflickr from Flickr used under Creative Commons The year I started with Oracle (1996) was the year the Network Computer (NC) was announced. The NC was about a decade ahead of its time due to a number of factors, and it's funny to me that netbooks are the latest rage. The promise of
- [Who is Scott Tiger?](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/16/who-is-scott-tiger/) - I guess more accurately, who is Scott, since it's really scott/tiger. If you're not familiar, scott used to be one of the seeded users that came with a fresh Oracle DB install. His password was tiger. Here's the story. Bruce Scott was one of the first employees at Oracle, and his daughter had a cat
- [IE6 Death Rattle](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/14/ie6-death-rattle/) - Last week, Digg became the first major web site to end support for IE6, or at least, support for certain functions in IE6. Today, it looks like YouTube may be the next. This should come as no surprise, since the anti-IE6 movement has been in full voice for quite some time. What's interesting is the
- [Inertia and Separation Anxiety Drive Design](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/13/inertia-and-separation-anxiety-drive-design/) - We fear change. This article about reluctance among users to give up Outlook as their mail client of choice underscores an issue that everyone in product design/development faces. People hate change, especially at work. When it comes to computers, most people have a very low tolerance threshold for failure, even if the service or web
- [What Kind of Advertising Works on You?](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/15/what-kind-of-advertising-works-on-you/) - Image by Marcin Wichary from Flickr used under Creative Commons Admit it. Sometimes an advertisement catches your attention. That's just one step away from buying the product. So, it's kind of a big deal. We're constantly inundated with advertising--on the TV, on the interwebs, in the car, walking on the street, in print. Everywhere. And
- [Murphy's Law of Demos](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/17/murphys-law-of-demos/) - When I started at Oracle in 1996, I was a sales consultant, part of a college new hire bootcamp program. We got lots of training on technical stuff, mostly pertaining to how to install and demo the products. In addition, we had an equal part of soft skills training, how to conduct yourself, presentation skills,
- [A Computer for Your Parents](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/20/a-computer-for-your-parents/) - This post in Forbes today, "Apple's Secret Weapon: Your Mom" came across Techmeme a little while ago. While the post centers around Apple's financials and quarterly earnings report due this week, it interested me because I'm currently planning to bring my parents into the now with a Macbook Pro. A few months ago, they finally
- [Join the ORACLENERD Family](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/21/join-the-oraclenerd-family/) - Chet, the ORACLENERD, dropped me a note yesterday. He's thinking about expanding his empire to include more Oracle content. His plan is to reach out to people in the Oracle blogging community who don't post very frequently (ahem, John P.) to see if they'd like to join his Nerd Herd. Sounds like a good idea.
- [Jim Marion's PeopleTools Book](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/21/jim-marions-peopletools-book/) - I should have posted this before, but better late than never. Friend of the 'Lab, PeopleSoft guru and all around smart guy, Jim Marion is going to be in print. His book, titled PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips & Techniques, should be going to press sometime next Summer, July-ish. You can preorder it now, if you're so
- [Do You Think Social Has Jumped the Shark?](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/22/do-you-think-social-has-jumped-the-shark/) - Way back in April 2008, Paul remarked that Web 2.0 had jumped the shark, at least for him. Image from Wikipedia For the last six months or so, I've been feeling the same way about social, which is essentially analogous to Web 2.0, but more focused on applying social aspects to everything. I'm not alone
- [Why Don't People Update Software?](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/23/why-dont-people-update-software/) - This question applies to personal software more so than IT-supported software. I understand the complexities involved with taking updates to software that IT is on the hook to support. What I don't get is why people aren't more vigilant with their own software, specifically browsers and O/S. Over the years, updates have become more in-your-face,
- [DataMapper Oracle Adapter for Ruby](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/27/datamapper-oracle-adapter-for-ruby/) - Raimonds (@rsim) recently posted his initial version of an Oracle adapter for DataMapper. DataMapper maps Ruby objects to relational database objects, so if you're a Rails or JRuby developer, you can use Raimonds' adapter to get into your Oracle databases. Raimonds previously created an Oracle adapter for ActiveRecord, another Ruby-relational database mapping tool that he
- [Geek or Nerd?](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/28/geek-or-nerd/) - Over OraTweet last week, I gently corrected an old friend of mine when she called those of us using Oracle's mirco-blogging tool "nerds". We're not nerds. We're geeks. This person hails originally from Eastern Europe, so the nuances and cultural connotations of the two aren't part of her DNA. Being the quizzical type, she asked
- [Oracle on Twitter](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/29/oracle-on-twitter/) - Even as we debate the ongoing utility of Twitter and other social tools, there are still ways to get good information from social sites. One easy way to cut through the noise is to use your personal network for recommendations. Assuming you consider this blog a trusted source, I have a couple recommendations for you.
- [Jolicloud and Netbooks](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/30/jolicloud-and-netbooks/) - I finally got my invite to Jolicloud Tuesday and promptly installed it on a VM for some geeky fun. I first heard about Jolicloud from Rick Turoczy, who wanted to put it on his new netbook. Jolicloud is a remixed Ubuntu distro, looks like Netbook Remix, that brings an iPhone-like O/S interface to your netbook. I don't
- [Connect Adds Keyboard Shortcuts](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/30/connect-adds-keyboard-shortcuts/) - Rich cracks me up; yesterday, he IMs to tell me he's added JS shortcuts to Connect for quick keyboard navigation through posts. Standard stuff, like j/k to navigate through posts, r to refresh, l to like/unlike a post, etc. The funny part is that he qualified it with "I know I'm not supposed to be
- [PC Repair Horror Stories](https://theappslab.com/2009/07/31/pc-repair-horror-stories/) - Recently, Sky News in the UK ran a sting to investigate local PC repair shops. They disabled a honeypot machine by loosening one of the RAM chips and took it to various repair shops for service. The machine had "private" data on it, including photos, documents, the usual stuff, and it also had spyware on it, not
- [Interesting Data Pr0n](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/04/interesting-data-pr0n/) - Maybe it's just me, but there doesn't seem to be much interesting blog fodder floating around lately. I don't have the best memory, but I can't recall a period this devoid of fun stuff for debate. Sure, there's some news out there, but I'm just not finding it all that interesting. Prove me wrong if
- [Hotlinking? What Year is it Again?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/05/hotlinking-what-year-is-it-again/) - During this morning's feed reading, I came across a great post from one of my new favorites, Emails from Crazy People, another hilarious UGC-based blog from the Cheezburger Network. These guys provide various forms of hilarity to brighten your day, including I Can Has Cheezburger? and the Failblog. Incidentally, they have the best business model
- [Poll: How Should Links Behave?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/06/poll-how-should-links-behave/) - Original image by laurakgibbs on Flickr used under Creative Commons Earlier in the week Noel "Mr. OraTweet" Portugal asked a question over OraTweet, natch, that created some interesting discussion. Do you think that all links in websites should open on new tabs (or windows)? I think so, but thats just me... I figured I'd share
- [Goodbye _why.](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/19/goodbye-_why/) - If you've had your hand in Ruby or Rails, you've probably heard of Why the Lucky Stiff (aka, _why), an online persona of a programmer who was one of the more influential Rubyists next to Yukihiro Matsumoto (creator of Ruby, aka, Matz) and David Heinemeier Hansson (creator of Rails, aka, DHH). As of this afternoon,
- [What Was I Doing Again?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/14/what-was-i-doing-again/) - I'm glad I finished my schooling back in the dark ages, when nearly everyone carried a notebook and wrote longhand notes. Sure, we had computers, but they weren't terribly common. Plus, the World Wide Web (or "Internet") was in its infancy and not available everywhere. I wonder how educators and students survive today with all
- [Amateurism or Art?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/07/amateurism-or-art/) - Photo by jayhem from Flickr used under Creative Commons I read another great entry from Emails from Crazy People the other day. This one attacks an amateur photographer's pictures (fauxtos as he calls them) posted to a Flickr group as "artsy and cute" but not "real" photography. Funny stuff, but only if you're not the
- [Facebook Buys FriendFeed](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/12/facebook-buys-friendfeed/) - So, I take a couple days off and Facebook buys FriendFeed. A bit ironic considering there hasn't been much to discuss lately. Chet cordially invited me to comment on the acquisition, and even though I planned to anyway, let's just give him credit for being the tipster. Image by nestor galina from Flickr used under
- [There's an App for That?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/12/theres-an-app-for-that/) - Another interesting tidbit from earlier in the week, also forwarded to me by tipster Chet, was an announcement (h/t TUAW) from USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company. Surprising, since bank's haven't been getting a lot of good ink lately. USAA plans to update their iPhone mobile banking app to allow certain customers to
- [Do You Work Too Much?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/13/do-you-work-too-much/) - Photo by Daveybot on Flickr used under Creative Commons Interesting article in the WSJ about a couple recent lawsuits from hourly workers who were required to perform work-related tasks during off-hours. The proliferation of broadband, laptops and smartphones have made it ridiculously easy for work to bleed into personal time, or at least time that's
- [Maker's vs. Manager's Schedule](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/17/makers-vs-managers-schedule/) - This blog is full of work-hacking lately. Along those lines, Paul passed along an interesting post by Paul Graham that discusses the differences between schedules of makers and managers and how to account for them when scheduling meetings. Photo by NikiSublime from Flickr used under Creative Commons In short, one reason makers (i.e. developers or
- [Risks in the Cloud](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/18/risks-in-the-cloud/) - Channeling Floyd a bit here, I'm reminded of "Get off of My Cloud" by the Rolling Stones. I'm not a huge fan of the term cloud computing. Not entirely sure why, but I prefer using some variant of service, e.g. service-based computing or SaaS, because including "service" more accurately reflects what's really going on in the cloud.
- [PubSubHubbub: Cool, but Hard to Say](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/20/pubsubhubbub-cool-but-hard-to-say/) - PubSubHubbub, a 20% time project of two Google engineers, Brad Fitzpatrick and Brett Slatkin, launched a few weeks ago. In addition to being a tongue-twister, PubSubHubbub is: A simple, open, server-to-server web-hook-based pubsub (publish/subscribe) protocol as an extension to Atom (and RSS). Parties (servers) speaking the PubSubHubbub protocol can get near-instant notifications (via webhook callbacks)
- [I'm Not a Doctor](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/20/im-not-a-doctor/) - Paul dropped a great analogy today when he compared product managers to doctors. I love a good analogy, and this one is gold, at least when applied to sustaining a product. Plus, it's funny when you inject a little Hollywood into it. Not sure which one of us is which When you're not feeling well,
- [Enterprise Clouds](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/21/enterprise-clouds/) - Bit of a cloudy week with the discussion of risks earlier and now a related post on enterprise clouds. Even though I'm not a fan of the term, I suppose I'll keep using it, like Web 2.0. It occurred to me that like a lot of consumer stuff, service-based-computing should thrive inside the corporate firewall,
- [Do You DIY?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/24/do-you-diy/) - After spending the majority of the weekend puttering around my working garden, I find myself wondering how many of you DIY whenever you can. I have a theory that people who like hacking around with tech and starting numerous side projects in their free time also generally like doing meat-life projects themselves too. Long ago, I was
- [Who's in Your Gang?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/25/whos-in-your-gang/) - Image from I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER I had a weird brain wave crossing with Robert Scoble last week. Basically, I've been trying to find value in FourSquare, the hot new web app on the block, that launched this Spring at SXSW, where any self-respecting hot web app gets its initial hotness. If you care, FourSquare
- [Strange Things are Afoot at the Circle K](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/25/strange-things-are-afoot-at-the-circle-k/) - So, we had some downtime overnight, not sure anyone noticed. Rich and I decided to make a couple tweaks to make the blog load faster. I removed Google Friend Connect, which didn't seem to do much beyond create a static network with some infrequent discussion. I expect future changes to GFC that might be interesting,
- [Show Your Inner 'NERD Outwardly](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/26/show-your-inner-nerd-outwardly/) - You know you want one Update: Realized after posting that I assumed you all knew why Chet should be at OOW. For one, he's an unabashed Oracle cheerleader, and a savvy APEX and database guy, just the kind of guy who loves to chat about all things Oracle. His head would probably explode during a
- [AWS Virtual Private Clouds](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/26/aws-virtual-private-clouds/) - Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks enterprises will pay for their own cloud-based infrastructure. Today, Amazon Web Services announced (h/t TechCrunch) a new service called Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) targeted at the exact demand I see. I should pay more attention to when I post stuff. Note to self: Friday afternoons are
- [What Is This?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/27/what-is-this/) - Image by my lovely wife used with permission, I hope. If you read Gizmodo, you're familiar with their "What Is This?" post series. Basically, they post cool images of weird stuff and ask "What Is This", simple right? Here's an example. I'm a compulsive scanner, so I rarely read the posts, but it looks like
- [What Does it Do?](https://theappslab.com/2009/08/31/what-does-it-do/) - It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. So, the ongoing quest to modernize my parents took an interesting turn over the weekend. The Macbook Pro arrived at their house earlier than I expected, and I haven't yet got them squared away with any intertubes. Thinking they might not want to wait, I
- [Do Users Want Innovation?](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/01/do-users-want-innovation/) - Photo by Matt Seppings on Flickr used under Creative Commons This is a question I've been asking myself a lot lately. When a product reaches maturity, meaning it works as designed (mostly), the ugly bugs are resolved and you've got a good number of users, inevitably, as a product team, you begin planning for new
- [Goodbye Summer](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/02/goodbye-summer/) - As we approach the final weekend in the Summer of 2009, it's remarkable how quiet it's been, at least with regard to tech news and happenings. Summer is always a slow time for news, and if you don't believe me, I present to you Facebook buying FriendFeed and MJ's death all over Twitter as two
- [What Software Do You Use Most Often?](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/03/what-software-do-you-most-often/) - I'm starting an experiment. Paul and I have talked in depth about any-interface; I used to call it zero interface, which doesn't really work. Photo by duckmackay from Flickr used under Creative Commons Essentially, any-interface supports the assertion that data exist independent of the interface and setting them free for use by any client opens
- [Taking a Break](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/04/taking-a-break/) - I always think it's funny to see blog posts about why there hasn't been content for a while, but I guess it makes sense. It's tough to get readers and keep them. I suppose since I post frequently, an absence might be noticed. Anyway, I'm stepping away from the keyboard for a little R&R, seems
- [Speed Matters](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/14/speed-matters/) - So, I'm back from my brief hiatus. Interestingly, traffic spiked on Friday the 4th when I posted that note. Not entirely sure why, but maybe some of you saw the post title in your readers and thought something noteworthy had happened. Sorry to disappoint. Part of the reason I took time off was to perform
- [Readtwit May Reenergize Twitter for Me](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/15/readtwit-may-reenergize-twitter-for-me/) - I've been pretty burned out on Twitter lately. Its popularity has brought droves of spammers and marketers, a bit too chatty and self-promotional for my tastes. I know, social media and self-promotion are like peanut butter and jelly. Let's just say, Twitter isn't as small and cozy as it used to be. One of the
- [Bad Things, Man](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/17/bad-things-man/) - Photo by Darcy McCarty from Flickr used under Creative Commons I just started the Snow Leopard upgrade process, and I've got about an hour to kill as it wanders through the process. Experience tells me to monitor the progress, just in case it hits a hiccup. So, I'm going to see if I can form
- [We're in a Book, Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/21/were-in-a-book-part-2/) - You may recall part 1 of this series, where Rich is mentioned, along with his post on the IdeaFactory, in Niall Cook's book Enterprise 2.0: How Social Software Will Change the Future of Work. Now for part 2. Paul and I are quoted and Connect is covered in a soon to be released book called
- [Programming Note](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/21/programming-note/) - So, we changed hosts last week, and now, Network Redux (@networkredux) in beautiful Portland, Oregon is handling our beloved blog. If you're wondering, it's pronounced re-ducks, not re-do. That one always gets me. Anyway, this move should clear up some of the issues we've had recently with downtime and running out of memory. There have
- [How Do You Get News Online?](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/21/how-do-you-get-news-online/) - Looking at my Reader this afternoon, it's pretty close to 0 unread, which has been typical over the past few months. I don't know if it's a lack of news or a lack of interest, but not much seems to catch my eye as post-worthy lately. So, I've been thinking about ways to branch out
- [Finally Something Interesting, Google Chrome Frame](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/22/finally-something-interesting-google-chrome-frame/) - Google's announcement of Chrome Frame for Internet Explorer today may not seem all that momentous. John sums it up what a lot of folks are probably thinking here: What is Chrome Frame? According to the announcement, it's an "open source plug-in that brings HTML5 and other open web technologies to Internet Explorer." Sounds like John
- [Just Send Me an Email](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/23/just-send-me-an-email/) - I came to a revelation of sorts earlier in the week. Email apps, not web apps, represent New Web for the enterprise. I suppose you could say Enterprise 2.0, but if you've been with me for a while, you know I steer clear of that term. Photo by piccadillywilson from Flickr used under Creative Commons
- [OpenWorld Update](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/24/openworld-update/) - Found out yesterday that I will in fact be making the trip to OpenWorld, which is rapidly approaching, October 11-15. So now, I'm looking to fill my dance card with keynotes, sessions, both unconference and scheduled, and meetups. Any suggestions? Let me know in comments. One thing I never miss is the blogger meetup, which
- [Time for a Tummy Tuck and a Little Botox](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/25/time-for-a-tummy-tuck-and-a-little-botox/) - Jake and I have grown tired over our bland red, black, and white theme. I finally had a bit of time to carry out a simple redesign. Here it is. We wanted something super simple that was easy on eyes and had a nice font. To spruce it up a bit, I added some drop
- [Sudoku anyone?](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/01/sudoku-anyone/) - Just testing out a collaborative sudoku gadget from Google Wave. Update: you'll only see this if you have a Google Wave account. 7 invites left. First 7 to comment gets an invite! Update: All my (Jake's) invitations are gone, not sure where Rich is with his batch. Also, the Wave script seems to be borked.
- [Google Wave, the Aftermath](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/05/google-wave-the-aftermath/) - When I first saw Google Wave, it was like experiencing a messiah. For a web/tech geek, @larsras' and @twephanie's 80+ min demo was a spiritual affair that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life [in software]. I even spread the love on this blog. After Google I/O (where Google Wave had it's coming
- [What's the Best Way to Collect Ratings?](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/24/whats-the-best-way-to-collect-ratings/) - Photo by anne.oeldorfhirsch from Flickr used under Creative Commons YouTube published (h/t TechCrunch) an interesting graph of its video ratings earlier in the week. YouTube uses a five-star scale for rating videos, and according to them, rating a video one star means you "loathe" it, while rating a video five stars means you love it.
- [Mayor of Simpleton](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/28/mayor-of-simpleton/) - Lately, I've been playing with foursquare, the latest shiny object among early adopter types. Foursquare is another location-based service, but it's also a game that encourages you to check-in when you go places to earn badges and the coveted mayorship of a location. The geo-geek in me likes the location bits, and the latent gamer
- [We're Joining WebCenter](https://theappslab.com/2009/09/29/were-joining-webcenter/) - If you read here, you'll know we got our start as a team focused on innovation within the development organization responsible for Oracle's enterprise application product families. Well, today we're moving. We are joining the WebCenter product development team, who have been a busy bunch this year, releasing Oracle WebCenter Suite 11g in July. To
- [Gazing into the Future of Tech](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/01/gazing-into-the-future-of-tech/) - Photo by o palsson from Flickr used under Creative Commons There are few things like predictions to spark some discussion, and I found a set of predictions about what everyday technology we won't be using in a decade on TechRadar (h/t Digg) that I'm sure will produce some discussion. If nothing else, it'll get you
- [PhotoSketch Looks Awesome](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/06/photosketch-looks-awesome/) - After several days under the weather, I emerged today to several thousand unread feed items. Normally to get through a lot of content, I scan the titles of the items for interesting stuff before reading further. Today, I think I passed up PhotoSketch (h/t Techmeme, Gizmodo) at least four times before it stuck, but when it
- [More Wave Reactions](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/08/more-wave-reactions/) - Following Rich again with Google Wave coverage, I figured I should add some of my own impressions of Wave after using it for a bit. First and foremost, Wave is a work in progress, and it may eventually live up to the potential we all saw in it after the demo at Google I/O in
- [The Obligatory Post #oow Post](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/20/the-obligatory-post-oow-post/) - I need to watch what I say when I'm with Jake, else I'll be asked to blog... what a chore :) Anyway, just a few thoughts from last week's craziness known as #oow... Congrats to Raimonds Simanovskis for winning the coveted Oracle Developer of the Year award. Raimonds' is known in the Ruby and Rails
- [OpenWorld Cometh](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/08/openworld-cometh/) - So, we'll all be making the trip to OpenWorld in a few days. I'm the only one on the team actually flying, but if you're familiar with Bay Area traffic, you could argue that we're all traveling (vs. commuting). Photo by our good friend Eddie Awad on Flickr used under Creative Commons Anyway, I'm not
- [OpenWorld Manifest: Days 0 and 1](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/13/openworld-manifest-days-0-and-1/) - Even though many of you are either here in rainy San Francisco or are following OpenWorld via its many virtual channels (#oow09 on Twitter, OpenWorld Live, OraNA (and @orana), etc.), I figured I'd give you a list of what I've been doing. Sunday, Day 0: Landed around 11:30 in Oakland. Spent 35 minutes in the
- [OpenWorld Manifest: Day 2](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/13/openworld-manifest-day-2/) - Wow, so it rained a bunch today, and it was windy. Like a tropical storm or something. Not the best weather for me, being umbrella-phobic and all. I nearly had my eye poked out a dozen times, not a good day to be anti-umbrella. Anyway, here we go. Tuesday, Day 2: Woke up to rain
- [OpenWorld Manifest: Days 3 and 4](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/16/openworld-manifest-days-3-and-4/) - The big show is over for another year, and San Franciscans are happy for the return of that critical block of Howard between 3rd and 4th. As with every year, my show was pretty much over after Tuesday, leaving me with a couple sessions and lots of work to get done. Oh, and our annual
- [I Don't Care What You Say, Foursquare Rules](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/21/i-dont-care-what-you-say-foursquare-rules/) - I've been playing foursquare regularly for about a month now, and even though I was teased by several people (you know who you are) at OpenWorld last week, I'll continue to play. /me thumbs nose If you're not familiar, foursquare debuted at SXSW this Spring, and it's currently the latest shiny object of the early adopter
- [Auto-Tuning the Spoken Word](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/21/auto-tuning-the-spoken-word/) - The good thing about having a blog without a narrow focus is that I can blog about pretty much anything. And I do. Case in point, auto-tuning. Until a few months ago, I wasn't familiar with the practice of auto-tuning, which applies effects to people's voices. I guess it's usually applied to singer's voices to
- [You Got Your AppsLab in My WebCenter](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/22/you-got-your-appslab-in-my-webcenter/) - A few weeks ago, I announced that our team was moving to WebCenter development. Since then, several people have asked what our role would be specifically, many of you in person at OpenWorld. Now, I can tell you, since I finally know for sure. We've been charged with the internal rollout of WebCenter 11g, which,
- [Miscellaneous Debris](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/27/miscellaneous-debris-2/) - So, we've got a lot going on lately, what with the move and all. We'll try to keep the content rolling despite real work. Rich attended Startup School 2009 over the weekend, and although he didn't find much to blog about, you could try to rally him into a post by commenting or pestering him
- [Why Gaming is the Future of Everything](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/05/why-gaming-is-the-future-of-everything/) - Foursquare Also titled: "What I learned from FourSquare." A few years back when we started exploring new technology, one of the ideas that seemed to stick with me was around gaming. The processes that made something enjoyable seemed to be an essential, yet elusive ingredient in business software. In truth, I felt there was something
- [It's Happens to Everyone Eventually](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/28/its-happens-to-everyone-eventually/) - No one likes to admit failure, especially when duplicity is involved. The intertubes is rife with scams and hoaxes, and I'm pretty sure everyone reading has fallen for at least one at some point. Case in point, today, I tried to download the bogus beta version of Chrome OS. Yes, it's a hoax, so don't
- [Twitters Lists Land, for Some Anyway](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/29/twitters-lists-land-for-some-anyway/) - So, finally, Twitter has finally dropped a grouping feature, called Lists, at least to some users, including @oraclemix and @theappslab. Rich (@rmanlan) had them earlier in the week, too. Guess who's out in the cold? Yours truly (@jkuramot), or at least I was when I started this post. Now, I'm in the club too. I,
- [PuSH Bot Marries PubSubHubbub with XMPP](https://theappslab.com/2009/10/29/push-bot-marries-pubsubhubbub-with-xmpp/) - Rich provided a sweet tip this evening that I wanted to share. PuSH Bot, the weekend project of Mihai Parparita, combines the PubSubHubbub protocol with XMPP to create an easy way to subscribe to any feed served by PuSH via IM, meaning you'll receive updates in your favorite IM client. Sweet! Oh, and there are
- [Meet Brizzly, My New Twitter Client](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/02/meet-brizzly-my-new-twitter-client/) - I'm finally getting around to penning that post on Brizzly I've been threatening for a week. Not that anyone noticed. It's been eerily quiet in the comments lately. Anyway, at OpenWorld, Rich turned me on to Brizzly and provided an invite. I'd heard about it over the Summer, but for whatever reason, it didn't stick.
- [Feeds: Dead to You or Still Kicking?](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/03/feeds-dead-to-you-or-still-kicking/) - There's been a fair amount of debate among the early adopter crowd lately about the place of syndicated content in relation to Twitter. The debate has been renewed in light of the general release of Twitter lists, which allow people to create and follow bunches of Twitter users en masse. Since many people use Twitter
- [More Fun with Twitter Lists](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/04/more-fun-with-twitter-lists/) - Right, wrong or indifferent, we all use the following and followers metrics to make quick judgements about a person's reputation, and now, Twitter has provided another dimension, the listed metric. This added dimension provides a much needed, albeit flawed, way to determine a user's mojo. I use mojo here loosely to represent a user's authority,
- [Critical Social Mass](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/09/critical-social-mass/) - The release of Twitter lists and the new "listed" metric has me thinking about reputation and how its applied to people in consumer web examples. I had an interesting chat with my pal Kelly (@verso) about the listed metric Friday. She doesn't see it as immediately useful since there's no way to determine the impact
- [Augmented Reality Win](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/10/augmented-reality-win/) - Augmented Reality (AR) is a phrase you've probably heard lately, and you'll probably get tired of hearing over the next few months. For the uninitiated, AR apps install to your mobile phone and layer content to views of your, erm, regular reality. Sounds weird, right? There have been several iPhone apps released over the past few months
- [What's Your IDE of Choice?](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/11/whats-your-ide-of-choice/) - So, now that we're really a product team and all, rolling into WebCenter development and working full-time on enhancements to the internal rollout of WebCenter 11g, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to add real content from time to time. I'm hoping that as we learn more about WebCenter and use it
- [Web of Fear](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/12/web-of-fear/) - There's a very scary story floating (h/t Gizmodo) around about a man framed by a virus that compromised his computer, then downloaded child porn and acted as a server, all unbeknownst to him. The Wallet Inspector (I can't believe that worked!) from Simpsons Episode 503 Let that sink in for a minute. The man was eventually able
- [WebCenter 11g Patch Set 1 Released](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/12/webcenter-11g-patch-set-1-released/) - From the "we're-a-for-reals-product-team" department, comes an announcement: WebCenter 11g Patch Set 1 has just been released. Peter Moskovits has a rundown of all the new features over on his blog, and there are plenty, including the introduction of the People Connection service, which adds the social networking layer to WebCenter. This service was at least
- [The iPhone Game Economy](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/16/the-iphone-game-economy/) - I mentioned a while back that I'm using my iPhone more frequently as a game console, and I know I'm not the only one. The iPhone makes a perfect gaming device for me because it's portable, to entertain me wherever I go, and it's already another device, meaning I don't have to lug extra gear.
- [Is Walk up and Use a Myth?](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/17/is-walk-up-and-use-a-myth/) - Simplicity by Eric Burke Eric Burke published this cartoon back in early 2008, and it's stuck with me for a long time as something that is simultaneously hilarious, sad and maddening. I started my career in development building those eye-chart apps with fields and labels all over the place, complete with the obligatory button bar. Enterprise
- [Foursquare Launches an API](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/18/foursquare-launches-an-api/) - If you've been reading here lately, you'll know we have a crush on foursquare for a number of reasons: it's fun and engaging to play, it's a new shiny object, it applies game mechanics to solve a problem, etc. On Monday, they officially announced their API. I had heard around the way that there was
- [Want to Test Drive WebCenter 11g?](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/19/want-to-test-drive-webcenter-11g/) - Here's another installment in the “we’re-a-for-reals-product-team” series. If you're interested in WebCenter, but don't have the time or resources to download, install and configure it on your own to kick the tires, you should sign up for a WebCenter Test Drive. Basically, the test drive will give you a hosted sandbox environment where you'll have
- [On Dragons](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/19/on-dragons/) - Photo by davidseth on Flickr used under Creative Commons Since last week's post on the interwebs and fear, a couple other un-related posts have come across my reader that have me pondering the future of our beloved intertubes. First was Chris (#mrhashtag) Messina on "The death of the URL", followed by Tim "What is Web
- [So, What Do You Do?](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/20/so-what-do-you-do/) - Photo by xmatt on Flickr used under Creative Commons Paul, Rich and Chet are big fans of Jason Fried, the founder of 37 Signals. Although I've happily used several of their apps (Basecamp, Highrise, Campfire), until recently, I had never read their company blog, Signal vs. Noise, which frequently has interesting observations from Friend, DHH
- [Geeky Project Part 1: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/23/geeky-project-part-1-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - I've managed to collect a handful of geeky projects lately. First, my move to Ubuntu 9.10 got fast-tracked. After the rocky move from 8.10 to 9.04, I figured I'd wait a bit on Karmic. But, last week, my drive filled up due to my backup package erroneously writing backups locally instead of to my backup
- [Geeky Project Part 2: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/24/geeky-project-part-2-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - Right after I posted yesterday's Part 1, I decided to try out the Oracle public yum server over at public-yum.oracle.com. I had pinged Justin over the weekend and his contact had pointed me there, and it turns out the same suggestion was also kindly added to comments shortly after I published. After following the instructions there,
- [Raimonds Releases Updates to ruby-plsql gem](https://theappslab.com/2009/11/25/raimonds-releases-updates-to-ruby-plsql-gem/) - Earlier this week, friend of the 'Lab Raimonds Simanovskis (@rsim) released ruby-plsql 0.4.0, which includes support for several complex Oracle datatypes and added some basic table and sequence operations for unit testing. As you know, we're big fans of Ruby in all its incarnations, and if you're an Oracle developer, you know PL/SQL. So, the
- [More Productive on a Mac?](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/02/more-productive-on-a-mac/) - It's been quiet here for a while. Not sure anyone really noticed (or cared), what with the Thanksgiving holiday last week and all. Hope you enjoyed it, by the way. Anyway, I'm emerging from a week-long flu fog courtesy of H1N1. That's right, yours truly caught swine flu, and let me tell you, it wasn't
- [Why API is a Must-Have](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/02/why-api-is-a-must-have/) - It's been clear for a long time now that a cornerstone of any new service is a good, open API. Twitter proved this point a long time ago. Now, everyone follows suit. Original image by stevedamron from Flickr used under Creative Commons Before I was felled by the H1N1, I happily reported that foursquare had
- [Noel's Epic Christmas Hack](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/03/noels-epic-christmas-hack/) - I suppose a guy whose name means Christmas in some languages should be expected to go all out for the Holidays, but wow, color me blown away by friend of the 'Lab Noel Portugal's epic Christmas lighting hack. Check out the video. Like I said, *epic*. I'm not going to begin to break down all
- [Join the XFILES Project](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/03/join-the-xfiles-project/) - I know very little, erm nothing really, about APEX, but I do know there's a robust and tight-knit community of APEX developers out there, including (but not limited to) Chet (@oraclenerd) and Dimitri (@dgielis). I know this because friend of the 'Lab Carl Backstrom talked about it a lot, like every chance he got. Little
- [Geeky Project Part 3: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/05/geeky-project-part-3-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - Having been out a few days with the flu, I'm feeling a bit behind on my geeky project (see Parts 1 and 2 for background), so last night, I decided to tackle the next big step, installing Oracle 11gR2. Obviously, WebCenter needs a database, and I haven't installed Oracle for a few years. So, this
- [Geeky Project Part 4: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/06/geeky-project-part-4-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - While finishing yesterday's Part 3, I decided to investigate how to add a swap file to my OEL 5 VM to accomodate at least one of 11g's resource requirements. I may eventually have to bump up the physical memory allocated to the VM, which will completely cripple the host OS, but I'm bending the rules
- [Geeky Project Part 5: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/07/geeky-project-part-5-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - Ready or not, here comes another installment in my gripping series on how to create a WebCenter 11g R1 Patch Set 1 VM. In the last part, I went over the last few steps of the 11g install. This part focuses on WebLogic, which is the preferred application server for WebCenter. I don't know if
- [Random Ubuntu Tidbits](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/06/random-ubuntu-tidbits/) - Inspired by Chet's comment, I've decided to add a few tidbits I've cataloged during my other project for today, rebuilding my Ubuntu box. Back when I began the WebCenter VM series, I mentioned my latest problem with Ubuntu. My bout with the flu took away all the extra time I had planned to spend on
- [Chrome Reaches Beta for Mac, Linux](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/10/chrome-reaches-beta-for-mac-linux/) - Shortly after Chrome was released about 15 months ago, I remember Rich saying he had switched his wife over to it and was using it exclusively on Windows. I was skeptical. After all, I love Firefox and have used it happily for years, but Rich was also a Firefox guy. So, something must have sold
- [Install the E-Business Suite with Your Pals](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/08/install-the-e-business-suite-with-your-pals/) - My latest kick is to catalog useful information for reference purposes, which is one reason why I embarked on a quest to create a WebCenter VM. Blogs are extremely good at SEO out of the box. So, it's very likely that anyone searching for information on a technical topic will find a wealth of information
- [Geeky Project Part 6: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/10/geeky-project-part-6-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - Today, I hit a roadblock in my ongoing project to create a WebCenter VM. I was all ready to get started with the WebCenter install. I found the installation guide and ran the installer. Then, I hit the prerequisites. Looks like I need to create the schemas first with the Repository Creation Utility (RCU), available
- [Geeky Project Part 7: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/14/geeky-project-part-7-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - First, let me start off with a hearty thanks to John (@jpiwowar) for his help with my n00bism, a.k.a. Part 6 in this series. Also, thanks to those of you with DBA skills out there for not flaming me for my lack thereof. Part 6 was a bit of a disaster, but thanks to John and
- [Geeky Project Part 8: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/15/geeky-project-part-8-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - Icon from Iconspedia used under Creative Commons So, I'm back on track after yesterday's detour to configure 11g and get it ready for the WebCenter schemas. I'm working off the WebCenter installation guide, by the way, Section 2.1.3 Create Schemas for Oracle WebCenter. Next step is to download and run Repository Creation Utility (RCU) which
- [Geeky Project Part 9: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/15/geeky-project-part-9-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - So, I'm in the home stretch installing WebCenter. Here's the installation guide, if you're following along at home. Yesterday, I got through the "Preparing to Install" steps, which consist mostly of running RCU to create the WebCenter schemas. I'm skipping the installation of JDeveloper for the time being. If I were using the VM in
- [Geeky Project Part 10: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/18/geeky-project-part-10-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - I really, really, really wanted to bring this whole project home with a triumphant ending today, erm late last night. It started out as a lark and has been a great learning experience, but it's been hanging over my head since before Thanksgiving. I've got other, more important work to do, and I'm sure you're
- [Foursquare for the Holidays](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/22/foursquare-for-the-holidays/) - Happy holidays everyone. I got you a heat map. Do you like it? I'm technically on vacation this week, but I cannot take a vacation from the Interwebs. While browsing feeds yesterday, I saw this post from Gizmodo titled "Foursquare, As Seen by the Predator". My crush on foursquare is well-documented, and I've always liked
- [Epilogue: Create a WebCenter VM](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/29/epilogue-create-a-webcenter-vm/) - So, after failing to bring this project home before Christmas, I picked it up again yesterday, unfortunately with the same results. I reached out to some people on the WebCenter team who could help, and the consensus was that I don't have enough system resources to run the full stack on a single VM. Further
- [Facebook Should Be Better at Search](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/28/facebook-should-be-better-at-search/) - I don't use Facebook much anymore. It's become polluted with spam and annoying social games, not really my cup of tea. Even so, as far as I know, Facebook is the de facto way to connect with people you've lost touch with over the years. While attempting to do this for a few people from
- [Goodbye 2009](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/29/goodbye-2009/) - Photo by doug88888 on Flickr used under Creative Commons With 2009 winding down quickly, I'm pleased to present you with that good old blogging tradition--the year-end wrap post. 2009 was an eventful year for us. Mostly noteworthy: we joined the WebCenter development team to work on the internal rollout of WebCenter 11g, validating our work
- [Assessing 2009 Predictions](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/30/assessing-2009-predictions/) - Photo by Nelson D. from Flickr used under Creative Commons Not entirely sure why I decided to predict events for 2009, probably because I did for 2008, which isn't really an answer. I don't recall why I ever decided to do predictions, but now it seems like a tradition. Anyway, since I did, why not dissect
- [2010 Predictions](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/31/2010-predictions/) - Photo by Irargerich from Flickr used under Creative Commons I'm stuck in this yearly cycle of wrap-up, prediction review and new predictions. John B. made an interesting point about predictions yesterday: Regarding tech predictions, the fascinating part isn't WHETHER the predictions were right or wrong, but WHY they were right or wrong. I agree, especially since my
- [Join the EBS Challenge](https://theappslab.com/2009/12/31/join-the-ebs-challenge/) - About a month ago, I mentioned John P's install EBS posts over at ORACLENERD. A few other people have decided to follow along for giggles, prompting Chet (@oraclenerd) to declare a formal "EBS Challenge". So far, here's who's participating: Chet Ted Simpson [blog|twitter] Marcin Przepiorowski [blog|twitter] Floyd Teter [blog|twitter] Interested in joining? Feel free, and
- [Unexpected Innovation](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/03/unexpected-innovation/) - Designed by Damjan Stanković Channeling Seinfeld a bit, what's up with stop lights lately? I don't know much about stop lights, aside from using them, and I wouldn't immediately think of them as a hotbed for innovation. Well, it's a good thing that's not my business because I've seen two separate innovations related to stop
- [Who Owns Your Online Identity?](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/04/who-owns-your-online-identity/) - Tired of social media? Maybe you're like Rich, and you want to delete your Facebook account. Well, there's an app for that, the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine (h/t TechCrunch). Yeah, it's a web app, but work with me here. Somehow I doubt this one would make it past Apple's censors. The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
- [The Best Enterprise 2.0 Use Cases Haven't Been Discovered, Yet](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/05/the-best-enterprise-2-0-use-cases-havent-been-discovered-yet/) - Original image by ttarasiuk on Flickr used under Creative Commons I noticed a comment came on Connect this week from a skeptic. Someone had posted this video of Seth Godin, and among the positive comments was one skeptic. The skeptic correctly identified Seth's bent toward consumer use cases and the general lack of enterprise use
- [Checkin to Foursquare by Taking a Picture](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/06/photocheck-in/) - I know I predicted that geo would be left at the altar 2010, but I think there's huge potential in geo services. Dissecting my prediction, I'm forecasting gang-busting growth for the "where-am-I" use case. Along those lines, I give you Photocheck.in (h/t TechCrunch), which hits two of my favorite things: geo and APIs. In very
- [Twitter as Plumbing](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/07/twitter-as-plumbing/) - Cue the jokes. So, Chet (@oraclenerd) floated this notion, originally proposed in the NYT, and it's completely true. Check the evidence: $25 million from Google and Microsoft to pump the firehose of tweets into search results, a full ecosystem built around the Twitter API, even an apps marketplace, Oneforty, built around the ecosystem. Incidentally, Oneforty, the
- [Email Address Matters](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/11/email-address-matters/) - Thanks to Reader, today I found this piece (h/t Slashdot and Lifehacker) by a freelance writer asking whether her aol.com email address was hopelessly square and dated. I noticed this post initially because I can't think of a single contact of mine with an aol.com address. I used to help a friend with AOL about five
- [You Asked What is WebCenter . . .](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/12/you-asked-what-is-webcenter/) - A little while back, Chet (@oraclenerd) asked the Oracle WebCenter account (@oraclewebcenter) over Twitter, "What is WebCenter?" Makes sense since Chet, and many others out there, are general Oracle practitioners, meaning they may specialize in a specific product, but are always curious and eager to expand their knowledge to other Oracle products, which is very
- [My iPhone Dilemma](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/13/my-iphone-dilemma/) - If you follow me on Twitter (@jkuramot), you might already know that my iPhone, the OG version, is failing. I noticed last week it wasn't charging or syncing over USB. I performed all the usual tests to trap the problem--swapped cables, swapped ports on the Mac and on my USB hubs, swapped ports on my
- [What is WebCenter, Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/18/what-is-webcenter-part-2/) - In case you're following along at home, Vince has posted the second installment in his "What is WebCenter" series. You can find the first part here. So far, he's kept it pretty high level, which makes sense. I expect that in future parts he'll dive into the nitty gritty details a bit more, e.g. he
- [Next Jump and Why Data Win](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/18/next-jump-and-why-data-win/) - Ever heard of a company called Next Jump? Me neither until I read this piece in the New York Times (h/t TechCrunch) last week. Next Jump had stayed stealth for 15 years, raising $45 million in venture money and hiring 225 people, all the while signing 60% of the Fortune 500 as customers. Not too
- [Be Safe Out There Kids!](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/27/be-safe-out-there-kids/) - Last week my imac (home computer), that my wife uses to run our little lunchbox company begin having some serious issues. Slow access times, constant rebooting and as of yesterday a complete inability to boot. Just a lovely grey screen of solitude much like the image above, until it refused to even show that little
- [Geo Me This](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/19/geo-me-this/) - Photo by .schill from Flickr used under Creative Commons Wow, geo is a hot topic lately, with coverage, announcements and features dropping every day. Here's a summary of what I've seen lately that caught my interest: Gowalla appears to be preparing an API. MyTown has 500,000 users, even though no one talks about it. Yelp
- [The Evolution of Crayon Colors](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/19/the-evolution-of-crayon-colors/) - As a lover of data visualization, I couldn't resist sharing this one from Stephen Von Worley depicting the evolution of beloved Crayola crayons from their humble roots as an eight-pack of fun in 1903 to today's 120-pack. I'm a total data geek, which is why I love data visualizations. I couldn't help looking for patterns
- [Would Better Online Ads Matter?](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/20/would-better-online-ads-matter/) - Photo by missbossy from Flickr used under Creative Commons Earlier in the week, I posted about Next Jump and their use of data and algorithms to target offers at consumers who are most likely to buy. Their results are impressive, 60% click-through on offers with a phenomenal 11% rate converting browsers to buyers. Apparently, 5%
- [Oracle & Sun Strategy Webcast](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/21/oracle-sun-strategy-webcast/) - Word leaked yesterday that the EU was set to approve the Oracle-Sun acquisition, and today, it's official. Justin announced that Larry Ellison will hold a live webcast on January 27 to unveil the corporate strategy for the combined companies. Here's the official description: Transforming the Way You Buy, Run, and Manage Your Business Systems Find
- [More WebCenter Goodness](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/22/more-webcenter-goodness/) - Yesterday, Vince posted the third installment in his "What is WebCenter" series, and as promised, he dives into the design points with more detail. After reading all three parts, it should be clearer that WebCenter is a lot of things and is therefore, difficult to describe in a terse manner. To date, we've been working
- [Speed Data Pr0n](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/25/speed-data-pr0n/) - Photo by JaseMan from Flickr used under Creative Commons If you read here, you know I love data and data visualizations. So, you won't be surprised to hear this post from Hot Hardware immediately intrigued me: "TomTom's IQ Routes Prove Americans Aren't Speed Demons". Aside from the blatant advertising, the conclusions, initially published by Tele
- [Does Geo Location Matter to You?](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/26/does-geo-location-matter-to-you/) - Photo by BluEyedA73 from Flickr used under Creative Commons As with last week, the geo news has been hot and heavy again this week, but before I get to the tidbits I've found interesting, let's talk about why geo matters or doesn't. Unlike social, you shouldn't be guilted into geo. Not that you were guilted
- [The Importance of January 27, 2010](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/29/the-importance-of-january-27-2010/) - Wednesday was an interesting day, with two very interesting announcements happening at the same time, one in the consumer space, one in the enterprise space. I'm talking obviously about the Apple event to announce the iPad and the Oracle-Sun strategy announcement. It's well-known that Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison have been friends for many years,
- [What Do You Think of the iPad?](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/02/what-do-you-think-of-the-ipad/) - In case you were unplugged, Apple announced a tablet last week, called the iPad. By now, the jokes have died down and the geek world has been furiously dissecting the pros and cons of the iPad. It's what we do. My quick take is the same as its been for a while: I don't need
- [Scoring Topper on the Tablet](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/02/scoring-topper-on-the-tablet/) - Image from Mac Daily News Last week, you got not one, but two posts by authors not named Jake. I felt lucky too. Matt (@topperge) gave us his rundown of "no brainer" features in advance of the iPad announcement. As a giggle, let's score his accuracy: Books in the App Store: Win. Apple announced a
- [13 Hours Until the Jesus Tablet](https://theappslab.com/2010/01/26/13-hours-until-the-jesus-tablet/) - Tomorrow is going to be a challenge trying to figure out who's getting my attention. At noon Larry is going to be revealing the strategy for the Sun acquisition here, and Steve will be releasing his new world saving device the Jesus tablet. I'm sure Larry's 5 hour presentation tomorrow is going to be riveting,
- [Are Blog Comments Obsolete?](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/09/are-blog-comments-obsolete/) - Photo by jrthoms from Flickr used under Creative Commons I've been thinking about comments lately, mostly because several interesting points have converged to draw my attention. First, Cult of Mac pointed out that John Gruber's Daring Fireball will now have comments, via another site, i.e. DaringFireballWithComments.net. Next, Engadget turned off their comments because the had
- [Welcome VirtualBox](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/04/welcome-virtualbox/) - Have you noticed the subtle change to the VirtualBox logo? Probably not, but thanks to ReadWriteWeb for pointing out the change. VirtualBox is one of several open source projects that Sun oversaw, and in his strategy briefing last week, Larry Ellison announced that VirtualBox images will be deployable on Oracle VM, which is great news.
- [The US Divided by Facebook](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/09/the-us-divided-by-facebook/) - Rich has been a big proponent of Posterous for a long time. I've been meaning to try it out, so here goes. I saw this link in my Reader today, pretty interesting stuff. I <3 data visualizations, as you know, so it was a gimme. Not sure how he got access to all the data
- [Where's the Middle?](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/09/wheres-the-middle-2/) - Writing and maintaining a blog requires a fair amount of effort. Hence the rise of micro-blogging, which is almost frictionless (one of my favorite interface-isms), creating mountains of content, a long tail for blogging as it were. That's actually pretty funny, since blogging was initially the long tail of online content publishing, which was kind
- [And Now, Google the ISP](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/10/and-now-google-the-isp/) - So, Google has been busy announcing products this week. Lost in the Buzz news was this bit that Google is planning to build its own high-speed fiber network. Mmm, fiber. Their goals are: We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll
- [Evolution of Design](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/10/evolution-of-design/) - Thought of something interesting (see disclaimer) yesterday, namely observing the evolution of how design solves problems with software. Take a common requirement for the interwebs and its viewer, the browser, like wanting to view more than a single web page at a time. In the first few iterations of browsers, this was possible only by
- [The Obligatory Google Buzz Review](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/11/the-obligatory-google-buzz-review/) - It's been a few days since Google Buzz was born and it's time for an AppsLabber to review it, so here are my thoughts. Day one It was a lonely experience -- akin to showing up to a party you knew was going to be fun, but you ended being one of the first ones
- [My Anti-Social Experiment](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/16/my-anti-social-experiment/) - In an IM conversation I had with Paul this morning, I decided to embark on an experiment. I've decided to drop out of all things social (online) for a few weeks. This includes Twitter, Buzz, Facebook, blogging, etc. The only thing this doesn't include is email and IM -- those are essential. My online activities
- [Learning from Buzz](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/17/learning-from-buzz/) - In life if something doesn't work out, at least you can learn from it. That is the power of doing. The beauty of being a human being is that we are exceptionally good at learning from others. As I watched Google launch Buzz, and the ensuing mess, it got me thinking. Why did a project
- [Coined a New Term: Computer Plumber](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/23/coined-a-new-term-computer-plumber/) - I did some printer support over the weekend, which reminded me of the whole "facebook login" fiasco from earlier in the month. Long story short, the person I was supporting couldn't get Windows to recognize the printer. The PC tower was under a desk and in a difficult spot to reach. The area was so
- [These Are Our Users](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/11/these-are-our-users/) - Computers shouldn't make people feel like idiots. A post from Signal vs. Noise titled "Computers shouldn't make people feel like idiots" has been open in a tab for nearly a week. Reading it, and other iPad coverage, has me torn. I know that I exist in a world populated by geeks, and I know that many
- [Facebook Knows When You Need a Hug](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/15/facebook-knows-when-you-need-a-hug/) - Halfway through a blah post about Google Buzz, I ran across this post about the correlation between Facebook relationship status and happiness. I've largely ignored Facebook for a while now, and it didn't occur to me until Pete Warden released his initial observations about Facebook and US geography how much statistical gold exists there. Turns
- [Raimonds Updates ActiveRecord Oracle Adapter](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/24/raimonds-updates-activerecord-oracle-adapter/) - Ruby enthusiast and friend of the 'Lab Raimonds Simanovskis (@rsim) just released a maintenance update to his ActiveRecord oracle-enhanced-adapter, bringing it to version 1.2.4. This will be the final version of the adapter for Rails 2, after which he'll move it to Rails 3. Last month, he updated ruby-plsql. As you know, we’re big fans
- [Apply Caution to Interwebs, Rinse, Repeat](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/24/apply-caution-to-interwebs-rinse-repeat/) - Photo by chokola from Flickr used under Creative Commons Last week's kerfuffle about foursquare and how it exposes you to would-be burglars was hilarious to me. More accurately, it's Twitter that poses the risk, which isn't a new problem. Foursquare encourages people to socialize their game-playing by adding friends from Facebook, Twitter and GMail. As
- [We'll Be at Chirp](https://theappslab.com/2010/02/24/well-be-at-chirp/) - Not long ago, Twitter announced its inaugural developer conference, whimsically called Chirp, would be held April 14 and 15, 2010 in San Francisco. It may or may not be coincidental that the dates are one week earlier than Facebook's annual f8 developer conference. Anyway, Chirp looks to be an outstanding opportunity to learn more about
- [Software is Hard](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/01/software-is-hard/) - Photo by jared on Flickr used under Creative Commons I'm convinced that innovation on the consumer side of the web is great for enterprise software. I'm similarly convinced that innovation on the consumer side of the web is terrible for enterprise software. Reading Marc Benioff's post "The Facebook Imperative" on TechCrunch last week reminded me of
- [Do You Search or Organize?](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/01/do-you-search-or-organize/) - Photo by mcfarlandmo on Flickr used under Creative Commons On a web conference today, I caught a glimpse of someone's inbox. Protip: Close your email and IM if you're presenting something. Unless of course, you want me to see your email folders, including the ones where you store "house" email. But I digress. The person's inbox had
- [Is Simple Viable In Enterprise Land?](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/08/is-simple-viable/) - The tradeoff between simplicity and features has been around for ages, but it was hotly debated on the web by two of the most forward thinking software luminaries: Jason Fried and Joel Spolsky. Their back and forth debate hit a crescendo last year around the time I attended the wonderful Business of Software conference put
- [Too Much Information Makes People Something Something](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/03/too-much-information-makes-people-something-something/) - When we started this team, three years ago, most people we talked to hadn't heard of Facebook or Twitter and associated MySpace, assuming they'd heard of it, with something kids do. Some people knew LinkedIn and that often helped get the wheels turning about social and how it could benefit work. It was a lot
- [OK Go's Epic Rube Goldberg Machine Video](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/04/ok-gos-epic-rube-goldberg-machine-video/) - This video is awesome and brilliant, even if you don't care for the song. There's so much going on each second that it's difficult to focus on any one thing. Even more interesting, you might notice it's a single Steadicam shot, no cuts. Apparently, that shot took 60 takes over two days to get. Wired
- [Friday Ramblings](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/05/friday-ramblings/) - I started three different placeholders today that I thought might be post-worthy, but since it's Friday afternoon, I decided to cram them all into a single post. You understand. Free does not mean open source. Eddie tweeted a link yesterday that caught my eye called "20 Reasons Why Oracle is the World's Largest Open Source
- [Fourface Exposes New Interface Paradigms](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/09/fourface-exposes-new-interface-paradigms/) - Thanks to a tweet from the @foursquare team and a post from TechCrunch, I have a new app for checking in to foursquare, Fourface. Yeah, I know foursquare and location generally have been getting a lot of ink here and other place. Get used to it though because heading into SXSW later this week, location
- [If Maslow Built Software](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/24/if-maslow-built-software/) - The moment your software team grows beyond a team of one, you need to communicate. Someone will have an idea on improving a new feature, creating a new product, etc. Immediately the question arises of how best to share the idea. For most people, the conversation moves immediately to tools. Should we use a wiki,
- [Smartphone: The Ultimate People Repellent](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/18/smartphone-the-ultimate-people-repellent/) - Photo by the_toe_stubber from Flickr used under Creative Commons Last week, I realized that the smartphone is the ultimate anti-social device. Sure, you can be all social, checking Facebook, tweeting and checking in to venues, but the paradox is that your smartphone makes you look like unapproachable IRL. And by you, I mean me. The
- [Say it Ain't So Rich, a Palm Pre?](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/10/say-it-aint-so-rich-a-palm-pre/) - Rich (@rmanalan), a borderline Apple fanboi, told me just weeks ago when I was contemplating my iPhone dilemma, that he'd never give up his iPhone. They'd have to pry it from his cold, dead fingers. Apparently, Rich died, and his alien leaders haven't done their homework because he told me yesterday he had given his iPhone
- [Product Managers Should Know How to Write Code](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/17/product-managers-should-know-how-to-write-code/) - I've been absent for a while, not sure if this tweet from Chet was related to my silence, but if it was, I have an excuse. Paul and I just returned from Austin and SXSWi, which ran March 12-16. For those unfamiliar, SXSW is comprised of three festivals: film, music and interactive. It began in
- [Are You a Design Geek?](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/22/are-you-a-design-geek/) - Everyone notices the design of everyday objects. You can't really avoid it. I suppose good design makes an object a joy to use, whereas bad design makes it a pain. Everyone notices, but I think being a design geek means you not only do you notice, but you appreciate and improve. The longer I've been
- [The Open Source Car by Local Motors](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/19/the-open-source-car-by-local-motors/) - The last SXSW session Paul and I caught before leaving Austin was called "No Straight Lines: Straight Line Thinking Stops Here" given by Alan Moore (@alansmlxl). I enjoyed his talk and found his ideas inspiring, and among many other things he covered was the story of Local Motors. Local Motors is essentially an open source
- [PM Should Know How to Code, Part 2](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/18/pm-should-know-how-to-code-part-2/) - So, if you're monitoring the comments on my post yesterday, Product Managers Should Know How to Write Code, you'll know Bex (@bex) and I are having a bit of a disagreement. This is good. I really like intellectual (vs. emotional) disagreement on the intertubes because it opens eyes to new viewpoints. Too bad Bex is
- [Surround Yourself with Smart People](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/25/surround-yourself-with-smart-people/) - Photo by edwaado on Flickr used under Creative Commons In a matter of days, the AppsLab will turn three years old. Coincidentally, I've been reminded lately just how smart the people around me. So, indulge me for a few hundred words as I brag about my team. The sense of deja vu has been heavy
- [Empathy as Design Value](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/23/empathy-as-design-value/) - Cornified AppsLab! Probably the most memorable session for me at SXSW, at least in terms of nuggets I can take away and use, was How to Design for the 15 Minutes presented by Rob Goodlatte (@rsg) of Facebook and Daniel Burka (@dburka) formerly of Digg. The slides make a little more sense when read side-by-side with
- [On Feedback Loops](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/26/on-feedback-loops/) - Photo by aarontait on Flickr used under Creative Commons taken in Cupertino, CA It's taking a while, what with real work and other things (more on that toward the end) getting in the way, but I'm strolling through the key nuggets I took away from SXSW. This installment concerns feedback loops, which is a fancy
- [@anywhere @here](https://theappslab.com/2010/04/15/anywhere-here/) - Fresh out of @twitter's oven is @anywhere, one of the big features they announced recently. The service is now live at http://dev.twitter.com/anywhere. @jkuramot and I (@rmanalan) just implemented it on this blog. To see it in action, hover over any of the @twitter names.
- [Balancing Simplicity, Purpose and Incentive](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/31/balancing-simplicity-purpose-and-incentive/) - Photo by Arenamontanus on Flick used under Creative Commons You probably know we think a lot about games and game mechanics here. This is largely Paul's doing, since he's done a lot of thinking about what makes games fun and if/how the fun of games can be applied to other typically un-fun activities, namely work.
- [I <3 Geeks](https://theappslab.com/2010/03/29/i-love-geeks/) - Reid and Audrey's map helped Portland PD find the boom. I present the following story not to make a point about social media, the utility of Twitter, the power of the real time interwebs or any of that. The only reason I'm sharing it is that I love the hacker spirit and what geeks can
- [We're Gearing up for Chirp](https://theappslab.com/2010/04/06/were-gearing-up-for-chirp/) - Next week is Chirp, the inaugural Twitter developer conference, and as I mentioned, Rich, Anthony and I are attending. Safe to say, we're all pretty excited, although it looks to be a marathon, with the conference running pretty much 9-6 on the 14th, the hack day starting right after and running for 24 hours, and
- [Twitter Fatigue? Follow More](https://theappslab.com/2010/04/03/twitter-fatigue-follow-more/) - Photo by Brood_wich on Flickr used under Creative Commons Let's talk about Twitter. It's been a while. I recently decided to stop being lazy and reciprocally follow a bunch of people on Twitter. Probably a year ago, I pruned the list of people I was following from about 400 to about 200. That number didn't
- [Beer Geeks Win!](https://theappslab.com/2010/04/02/beer-geeks-win/) - For the second time this week, I'm blogging about Portland, Oregon, where I live. Portland was one of more than 1,100 communities to answer Google's RFI for their experimental gigabit fiber network. The quest for really-really-ridiculously-fast intertubes has led to its logical conclusion for Portlanders, beer. More precisely, Hopworks Urban Brewery Gigabit IPA, which I'm
- [Is Anonymity More Interesting?](https://theappslab.com/2010/04/12/is-anonymity-more-interesting/) - Photo by Julie McLeod from Flickr used under Creative Commons If you read here, you'll know I'm generally against online anonymity. Sure, it has its uses, but the rise of Web 2.0 has proven that being yourself on the intertubes isn't bad, although it can be dangerous. But that's a different post for a different
- [Surprise, It's an iPad Review](https://theappslab.com/2010/04/04/surprise-its-an-ipad-review/) - No, I didn't buy one, so my review is limited to five minutes of fiddling with a display model at Best Buy. Here's a protip. If you want to touch/feel an iPad and don't have any friends who'll let you mess with theirs, avoid the crowds at your local Best Buy. I swung by in
- [Do You Really Need Multitasking?](https://theappslab.com/2010/04/08/do-you-really-need-multitasking/) - Maybe you noticed Apple announced today a bunch of new features will be coming soon to the iPhone OS, more than 100 by their count. Top of the list for many is multitasking. The iPhone OS has notoriously been without classic multitasking since its inception nearly three years ago. Actually, no one said boo about

## Pages

- [About](https://theappslab.com/about/) - Founded in April 2007 as a think tank within Oracle Applications Strategy, AppsLab (@theappslab) was the brainchild of Paul Pedrazzi (@ppedrazzi). The team's goal was to experiment with and drive adoption of emerging technologies and new web patterns, at the time characterized as Web 2.0. Joining Paul on the team were Jake Kuramoto (@jkuramot), Anthony

## Categories

- [general](https://theappslab.com/category/general/)
- [del.icio.us](https://theappslab.com/category/delicious/) - We love del.icio.us. So, on a daily basis, we take our best del.icio.us links and serve them up here… “remaindered links” style! Enjoy them!
- [technical](https://theappslab.com/category/technical/)

## Tags

- [web2.0](https://theappslab.com/tag/web20/)
- [enterprise2.0](https://theappslab.com/tag/enterprise-20/)
- [management](https://theappslab.com/tag/management/)
- [bigideas](https://theappslab.com/tag/bigideas/)
- [api](https://theappslab.com/tag/api/)
- [conferences](https://theappslab.com/tag/conferences/)
- [contributors](https://theappslab.com/tag/contributors/)
- [rumor](https://theappslab.com/tag/rumor/)
- [salesforce](https://theappslab.com/tag/salesforce/)
- [acquisition](https://theappslab.com/tag/acquisition/)
- [applications](https://theappslab.com/tag/applications/)
- [saas](https://theappslab.com/tag/saas/)
- [rails](https://theappslab.com/tag/rails/)
- [dev](https://theappslab.com/tag/dev/)
- [peoplesoft](https://theappslab.com/tag/peoplesoft/)
- [amazon](https://theappslab.com/tag/amazon/)
- [privacy](https://theappslab.com/tag/privacy/)
- [web10](https://theappslab.com/tag/web10/)
- [op-ed](https://theappslab.com/tag/op-ed/)
- [humor](https://theappslab.com/tag/humor/)
- [feedbacksystems](https://theappslab.com/tag/feedbacksystems/)
- [visualizations](https://theappslab.com/tag/visualizations/)
- [green](https://theappslab.com/tag/green/)
- [gadget](https://theappslab.com/tag/gadget/)
- [socialnetworks](https://theappslab.com/tag/socialnetworks/)
- [apple](https://theappslab.com/tag/apple/)
- [iphone](https://theappslab.com/tag/iphone/)
- [jobs](https://theappslab.com/tag/jobs/)
- [ruby](https://theappslab.com/tag/ruby/)
- [programming](https://theappslab.com/tag/programming/)
- [myspace](https://theappslab.com/tag/myspace/)
- [news](https://theappslab.com/tag/news/)
- [firefox](https://theappslab.com/tag/firefox/)
- [tools](https://theappslab.com/tag/tools/)
- [microsoft](https://theappslab.com/tag/microsoft/)
- [ideafactory](https://theappslab.com/tag/ideafactory/)
- [javascript](https://theappslab.com/tag/javascript/)
- [dsl](https://theappslab.com/tag/dsl/)
- [jquery](https://theappslab.com/tag/jquery/)
- [webdevelopment](https://theappslab.com/tag/webdevelopment/)
- [statistics](https://theappslab.com/tag/statistics/)
- [mashup](https://theappslab.com/tag/mashup/)
- [OOW2007](https://theappslab.com/tag/oow2007/)
- [rss](https://theappslab.com/tag/rss/)
- [chat](https://theappslab.com/tag/chat/)
- [office2.0](https://theappslab.com/tag/office20/)
- [connect](https://theappslab.com/tag/connect/)
- [podcast](https://theappslab.com/tag/podcast/)
- [trust](https://theappslab.com/tag/trust/)
- [yahoo](https://theappslab.com/tag/yahoo/)
- [HR](https://theappslab.com/tag/hr/)
- [Legal](https://theappslab.com/tag/legal/)
- [wisdomofcrowds](https://theappslab.com/tag/wisdomofcrowds/)
- [work2.0](https://theappslab.com/tag/work20/)
- [crowdsourcing](https://theappslab.com/tag/crowdsourcing/)
- [upcoming](https://theappslab.com/tag/upcoming/)
- [information](https://theappslab.com/tag/information/)
- [socialapps](https://theappslab.com/tag/socialapps/)
- [blogs](https://theappslab.com/tag/blogs/)
- [sixapart](https://theappslab.com/tag/sixapart/)
- [tivo](https://theappslab.com/tag/tivo/)
- [orkut](https://theappslab.com/tag/orkut/)
- [oc4j](https://theappslab.com/tag/oc4j/)
- [jruby](https://theappslab.com/tag/jruby/)
- [friendfeed](https://theappslab.com/tag/friendfeed/)
- [nostalgia](https://theappslab.com/tag/nostalgia/)
- [twitter](https://theappslab.com/tag/twitter/)
- [mix](https://theappslab.com/tag/mix/)
- [agile](https://theappslab.com/tag/agile/)
- [customerservice](https://theappslab.com/tag/customerservice/)
- [linkedin](https://theappslab.com/tag/linkedin/)
- [popculture](https://theappslab.com/tag/popculture/)
- [freeagency km knowledgemangement](https://theappslab.com/tag/freeagency-km-knowledgemangement/)
- [workinggroup](https://theappslab.com/tag/workinggroup/)
- [marketing2.0](https://theappslab.com/tag/marketing20/)
- [blogging](https://theappslab.com/tag/blogging/)
- [2.0concepts](https://theappslab.com/tag/20concepts/)
- [tag](https://theappslab.com/tag/tag/)
- [game](https://theappslab.com/tag/game/)
- [innovation](https://theappslab.com/tag/innovation/)
- [acquisitions](https://theappslab.com/tag/acquisitions/)
- [peopletools](https://theappslab.com/tag/peopletools/)
- [tagged](https://theappslab.com/tag/tagged/)
- [webservice](https://theappslab.com/tag/webservice/)
- [jaiku](https://theappslab.com/tag/jaiku/)
- [pownce](https://theappslab.com/tag/pownce/)
- [dataportability](https://theappslab.com/tag/dataportability/)
- [mysql](https://theappslab.com/tag/mysql/)
- [sun](https://theappslab.com/tag/sun/)
- [bea](https://theappslab.com/tag/bea/)
- [bloggers](https://theappslab.com/tag/bloggers/)
- [ebusinesssuite](https://theappslab.com/tag/ebusinesssuite/)
- [eventtrack](https://theappslab.com/tag/eventtrack/)
- [crowdsource](https://theappslab.com/tag/crowdsource/)
- [feeds](https://theappslab.com/tag/feeds/)
- [widgets](https://theappslab.com/tag/widgets/)
- [economics](https://theappslab.com/tag/economics/)
- [widget](https://theappslab.com/tag/widget/)
- [commitment](https://theappslab.com/tag/commitment/)
- [caring](https://theappslab.com/tag/caring/)
- [internet](https://theappslab.com/tag/internet/)
- [technology](https://theappslab.com/tag/technology/)
- [travel](https://theappslab.com/tag/travel/)
- [tripit](https://theappslab.com/tag/tripit/)
- [dopplr](https://theappslab.com/tag/dopplr/)
- [sso](https://theappslab.com/tag/sso/)
- [oraclesso](https://theappslab.com/tag/oraclesso/)
- [wiki](https://theappslab.com/tag/wiki/)
- [thoughtworks](https://theappslab.com/tag/thoughtworks/)
- [collaborate](https://theappslab.com/tag/collaborate/)
- [diy](https://theappslab.com/tag/diy/)
- [lazyweb](https://theappslab.com/tag/lazyweb/)
- [spam](https://theappslab.com/tag/spam/)
- [email](https://theappslab.com/tag/email/)
- [fraud](https://theappslab.com/tag/fraud/)
- [419](https://theappslab.com/tag/419/)
- [scams](https://theappslab.com/tag/scams/)
- [meetup](https://theappslab.com/tag/meetup/)
- [blog](https://theappslab.com/tag/blog/)
- [support2.0](https://theappslab.com/tag/support20/)
- [aggregation](https://theappslab.com/tag/aggregation/)
- [startups](https://theappslab.com/tag/startups/)
- [faas](https://theappslab.com/tag/faas/)
- [events](https://theappslab.com/tag/events/)
- [utr companies](https://theappslab.com/tag/utr-companies/)
- [mac](https://theappslab.com/tag/mac/)
- [osx](https://theappslab.com/tag/osx/)
- [oci](https://theappslab.com/tag/oci/)
- [jdbc](https://theappslab.com/tag/jdbc/)
- [intel](https://theappslab.com/tag/intel/)
- [maps](https://theappslab.com/tag/maps/)
- [service](https://theappslab.com/tag/service/)
- [gmail](https://theappslab.com/tag/gmail/)
- [browsers](https://theappslab.com/tag/browsers/)
- [ie](https://theappslab.com/tag/ie/)
- ["virtual machines"](https://theappslab.com/tag/virtual-machines/)
- [testing](https://theappslab.com/tag/testing/)
- [windows](https://theappslab.com/tag/windows/)
- [linux](https://theappslab.com/tag/linux/)
- [prism](https://theappslab.com/tag/prism/)
- [mozilla](https://theappslab.com/tag/mozilla/)
- [ria](https://theappslab.com/tag/ria/)
- [air](https://theappslab.com/tag/air/)
- [adobe](https://theappslab.com/tag/adobe/)
- [webapps](https://theappslab.com/tag/webapps/)
- [pidgin](https://theappslab.com/tag/pidgin/)
- [appslab](https://theappslab.com/tag/appslab/)
- [news corp](https://theappslab.com/tag/news-corp/)
- [denver](https://theappslab.com/tag/denver/)
- [nolan](https://theappslab.com/tag/nolan/)
- [rivalmap](https://theappslab.com/tag/rivalmap/)
- [ci](https://theappslab.com/tag/ci/)
- [openworld](https://theappslab.com/tag/openworld/)
- [opensocial](https://theappslab.com/tag/opensocial/)
- [oreilly](https://theappslab.com/tag/oreilly/)
- [data](https://theappslab.com/tag/data/)
- [visualization](https://theappslab.com/tag/visualization/)
- [fireeagle](https://theappslab.com/tag/fireeagle/)
- [location](https://theappslab.com/tag/location/)
- [apis](https://theappslab.com/tag/apis/)
- [entp](https://theappslab.com/tag/entp/)
- [barcamp](https://theappslab.com/tag/barcamp/)
- [portland](https://theappslab.com/tag/portland/)
- [unconference](https://theappslab.com/tag/unconference/)
- [gaming](https://theappslab.com/tag/gaming/)
- [work](https://theappslab.com/tag/work/)
- [twitterfone](https://theappslab.com/tag/twitterfone/)
- [trends](https://theappslab.com/tag/trends/)
- [matrix](https://theappslab.com/tag/matrix/)
- [bug](https://theappslab.com/tag/bug/)
- [beta](https://theappslab.com/tag/beta/)
- [brightkite](https://theappslab.com/tag/brightkite/)
- [socialthing](https://theappslab.com/tag/socialthing/)
- [evernote](https://theappslab.com/tag/evernote/)
- [faq](https://theappslab.com/tag/faq/)
- [bandwidth](https://theappslab.com/tag/bandwidth/)
- [telecommuting](https://theappslab.com/tag/telecommuting/)
- [java](https://theappslab.com/tag/java/)
- [filter](https://theappslab.com/tag/filter/)
- [mod_osso](https://theappslab.com/tag/mod_osso/)
- [webvisions](https://theappslab.com/tag/webvisions/)
- [transparency](https://theappslab.com/tag/transparency/)
- [OAuth](https://theappslab.com/tag/oauth/)
- [Open ID](https://theappslab.com/tag/open-id/)
- [LDAP](https://theappslab.com/tag/ldap/)
- [flickr](https://theappslab.com/tag/flickr/)
- [roi](https://theappslab.com/tag/roi/)
- [chilis](https://theappslab.com/tag/chilis/)
- [jott](https://theappslab.com/tag/jott/)
- [sandy](https://theappslab.com/tag/sandy/)
- [wikipedia](https://theappslab.com/tag/wikipedia/)
- [disqus](https://theappslab.com/tag/disqus/)
- [oow](https://theappslab.com/tag/oow/)
- [bans](https://theappslab.com/tag/bans/)
- [comments](https://theappslab.com/tag/comments/)
- [musings](https://theappslab.com/tag/musings/)
- [ubuntu](https://theappslab.com/tag/ubuntu/)
- [communities](https://theappslab.com/tag/communities/)
- [zdnet](https://theappslab.com/tag/zdnet/)
- [bloggersm humor](https://theappslab.com/tag/bloggersm-humor/)
- [ubnutu](https://theappslab.com/tag/ubnutu/)
- [calendar](https://theappslab.com/tag/calendar/)
- [palm](https://theappslab.com/tag/palm/)
- [evangelism](https://theappslab.com/tag/evangelism/)
- [groups](https://theappslab.com/tag/groups/)
- [collaboration](https://theappslab.com/tag/collaboration/)
- [editorial](https://theappslab.com/tag/editorial/)
- [security](https://theappslab.com/tag/security/)
- [moveabletype](https://theappslab.com/tag/moveabletype/)
- [apps](https://theappslab.com/tag/apps/)
- [pandora](https://theappslab.com/tag/pandora/)
- [nerdcore](https://theappslab.com/tag/nerdcore/)
- [apex](https://theappslab.com/tag/apex/)
- [marketing](https://theappslab.com/tag/marketing/)
- [skitch](https://theappslab.com/tag/skitch/)
- [jing](https://theappslab.com/tag/jing/)
- ["randy pausch"](https://theappslab.com/tag/randy-pausch/)
- ["driving change"](https://theappslab.com/tag/driving-change/)
- [inspiration](https://theappslab.com/tag/inspiration/)
- ["open source"](https://theappslab.com/tag/open-source/)
- [bugs](https://theappslab.com/tag/bugs/)
- [hobby](https://theappslab.com/tag/hobby/)
- [computer](https://theappslab.com/tag/computer/)
- [comic](https://theappslab.com/tag/comic/)
- [xkcd](https://theappslab.com/tag/xkcd/)
- [orace](https://theappslab.com/tag/orace/)
- [cost](https://theappslab.com/tag/cost/)
- [engagement](https://theappslab.com/tag/engagement/)
- [community](https://theappslab.com/tag/community/)
- [society](https://theappslab.com/tag/society/)
- [comics](https://theappslab.com/tag/comics/)
- [garfield](https://theappslab.com/tag/garfield/)
- [censorship](https://theappslab.com/tag/censorship/)
- [tips](https://theappslab.com/tag/tips/)
- [tricks](https://theappslab.com/tag/tricks/)
- [shizzow](https://theappslab.com/tag/shizzow/)
- [openid](https://theappslab.com/tag/openid/)
- [garmin](https://theappslab.com/tag/garmin/)
- [oratweet](https://theappslab.com/tag/oratweet/)
- [redesign](https://theappslab.com/tag/redesign/)
- [branding](https://theappslab.com/tag/branding/)
- [social](https://theappslab.com/tag/social/)
- [features](https://theappslab.com/tag/features/)
- [oracle. barcamp](https://theappslab.com/tag/oracle-barcamp/)
- [memes](https://theappslab.com/tag/memes/)
- [lolcats](https://theappslab.com/tag/lolcats/)
- [partuza](https://theappslab.com/tag/partuza/)
- [php](https://theappslab.com/tag/php/)
- [hacking](https://theappslab.com/tag/hacking/)
- [cool](https://theappslab.com/tag/cool/)
- [ubiquity](https://theappslab.com/tag/ubiquity/)
- [metalink](https://theappslab.com/tag/metalink/)
- [projects](https://theappslab.com/tag/projects/)
- [estimation](https://theappslab.com/tag/estimation/)
- [observation](https://theappslab.com/tag/observation/)
- [workcation](https://theappslab.com/tag/workcation/)
- [voicemail](https://theappslab.com/tag/voicemail/)
- [millenials](https://theappslab.com/tag/millenials/)
- [communication](https://theappslab.com/tag/communication/)
- [rest](https://theappslab.com/tag/rest/)
- [wordle](https://theappslab.com/tag/wordle/)
- [creative commons](https://theappslab.com/tag/creative-commons/)
- [photos](https://theappslab.com/tag/photos/)
- [chrome](https://theappslab.com/tag/chrome/)
- [safari](https://theappslab.com/tag/safari/)
- [hal](https://theappslab.com/tag/hal/)
- [ai](https://theappslab.com/tag/ai/)
- [oraclecommunity](https://theappslab.com/tag/oraclecommunity/)
- [bloomberg](https://theappslab.com/tag/bloomberg/)
- [stocks](https://theappslab.com/tag/stocks/)
- [machines](https://theappslab.com/tag/machines/)
- [dropbox](https://theappslab.com/tag/dropbox/)
- [file sharing](https://theappslab.com/tag/file-sharing/)
- [air sharing](https://theappslab.com/tag/air-sharing/)
- [logo](https://theappslab.com/tag/logo/)
- [voting](https://theappslab.com/tag/voting/)
- [collok](https://theappslab.com/tag/collok/)
- [social networks](https://theappslab.com/tag/social-networks/)
- [listens](https://theappslab.com/tag/listens/)
- [hackathon](https://theappslab.com/tag/hackathon/)
- [stickers](https://theappslab.com/tag/stickers/)
- [geekisms](https://theappslab.com/tag/geekisms/)
- [slideshare](https://theappslab.com/tag/slideshare/)
- [emergencies](https://theappslab.com/tag/emergencies/)
- [cards](https://theappslab.com/tag/cards/)
- [flamebait](https://theappslab.com/tag/flamebait/)
- [art](https://theappslab.com/tag/art/)
- [creativity](https://theappslab.com/tag/creativity/)
- [errors](https://theappslab.com/tag/errors/)
- [bsod](https://theappslab.com/tag/bsod/)
- [geode](https://theappslab.com/tag/geode/)
- [umbrella](https://theappslab.com/tag/umbrella/)
- [simplicity](https://theappslab.com/tag/simplicity/)
- [defrag](https://theappslab.com/tag/defrag/)
- [meetups](https://theappslab.com/tag/meetups/)
- [geeks](https://theappslab.com/tag/geeks/)
- [ignite](https://theappslab.com/tag/ignite/)
- [android](https://theappslab.com/tag/android/)
- [communities exchange](https://theappslab.com/tag/communities-exchange/)
- [complicator](https://theappslab.com/tag/complicator/)
- [meta-problem](https://theappslab.com/tag/meta-problem/)
- [dot-coms](https://theappslab.com/tag/dot-coms/)
- [blogger program](https://theappslab.com/tag/blogger-program/)
- [recession](https://theappslab.com/tag/recession/)
- [free agency](https://theappslab.com/tag/free-agency/)
- [social networking](https://theappslab.com/tag/social-networking/)
- [wherecamp](https://theappslab.com/tag/wherecamp/)
- [bloggging](https://theappslab.com/tag/bloggging/)
- [conversation](https://theappslab.com/tag/conversation/)
- [opinion](https://theappslab.com/tag/opinion/)
- [qwitter](https://theappslab.com/tag/qwitter/)
- [economy](https://theappslab.com/tag/economy/)
- [negatives](https://theappslab.com/tag/negatives/)
- [geolocation](https://theappslab.com/tag/geolocation/)
- [fire eagle](https://theappslab.com/tag/fire-eagle/)
- [music](https://theappslab.com/tag/music/)
- [videos](https://theappslab.com/tag/videos/)
- [office](https://theappslab.com/tag/office/)
- [labs](https://theappslab.com/tag/labs/)
- [alerts](https://theappslab.com/tag/alerts/)
- [keywords](https://theappslab.com/tag/keywords/)
- [ibex](https://theappslab.com/tag/ibex/)
- [eyecandy](https://theappslab.com/tag/eyecandy/)
- [ui](https://theappslab.com/tag/ui/)
- [orgnet](https://theappslab.com/tag/orgnet/)
- [sna](https://theappslab.com/tag/sna/)
- [conference](https://theappslab.com/tag/conference/)
- [im](https://theappslab.com/tag/im/)
- [getsatisfaction](https://theappslab.com/tag/getsatisfaction/)
- [ads](https://theappslab.com/tag/ads/)
- [birthday](https://theappslab.com/tag/birthday/)
- [loopt](https://theappslab.com/tag/loopt/)
- [add-on](https://theappslab.com/tag/add-on/)
- [read it later](https://theappslab.com/tag/read-it-later/)
- [bookmarks](https://theappslab.com/tag/bookmarks/)
- [panels](https://theappslab.com/tag/panels/)
- [startup](https://theappslab.com/tag/startup/)
- [dvr](https://theappslab.com/tag/dvr/)
- [xbox](https://theappslab.com/tag/xbox/)
- [netflix](https://theappslab.com/tag/netflix/)
- [set-top](https://theappslab.com/tag/set-top/)
- [inventions](https://theappslab.com/tag/inventions/)
- [contacts](https://theappslab.com/tag/contacts/)
- [rolodex](https://theappslab.com/tag/rolodex/)
- [ux](https://theappslab.com/tag/ux/)
- [usability](https://theappslab.com/tag/usability/)
- [learnability](https://theappslab.com/tag/learnability/)
- [google reader](https://theappslab.com/tag/google-reader/)
- [sharing](https://theappslab.com/tag/sharing/)
- [discovery](https://theappslab.com/tag/discovery/)
- [life](https://theappslab.com/tag/life/)
- [vc](https://theappslab.com/tag/vc/)
- [equity](https://theappslab.com/tag/equity/)
- [funding](https://theappslab.com/tag/funding/)
- [jargon](https://theappslab.com/tag/jargon/)
- [government](https://theappslab.com/tag/government/)
- [values of n](https://theappslab.com/tag/values-of-n/)
- [micro-blogging](https://theappslab.com/tag/micro-blogging/)
- [cyberchondria](https://theappslab.com/tag/cyberchondria/)
- [psychology](https://theappslab.com/tag/psychology/)
- [thanks](https://theappslab.com/tag/thanks/)
- [holidays](https://theappslab.com/tag/holidays/)
- [blackberry](https://theappslab.com/tag/blackberry/)
- [data portability](https://theappslab.com/tag/data-portability/)
- [retail](https://theappslab.com/tag/retail/)
- [barcode scanner](https://theappslab.com/tag/barcode-scanner/)
- [poll](https://theappslab.com/tag/poll/)
- [content](https://theappslab.com/tag/content/)
- [contact](https://theappslab.com/tag/contact/)
- [fail](https://theappslab.com/tag/fail/)
- [semantic](https://theappslab.com/tag/semantic/)
- [algorithm](https://theappslab.com/tag/algorithm/)
- [support](https://theappslab.com/tag/support/)
- [borked](https://theappslab.com/tag/borked/)
- [pipes](https://theappslab.com/tag/pipes/)
- [shared](https://theappslab.com/tag/shared/)
- [powerbrowser](https://theappslab.com/tag/powerbrowser/)
- [winter](https://theappslab.com/tag/winter/)
- [snow](https://theappslab.com/tag/snow/)
- [lessons](https://theappslab.com/tag/lessons/)
- [festivus](https://theappslab.com/tag/festivus/)
- [gadgets](https://theappslab.com/tag/gadgets/)
- [ergonomics](https://theappslab.com/tag/ergonomics/)
- [monitors](https://theappslab.com/tag/monitors/)
- [home office](https://theappslab.com/tag/home-office/)
- [workspace](https://theappslab.com/tag/workspace/)
- [predictions](https://theappslab.com/tag/predictions/)
- [domain fail](https://theappslab.com/tag/domain-fail/)
- [outage](https://theappslab.com/tag/outage/)
- [hyundai](https://theappslab.com/tag/hyundai/)
- [cars](https://theappslab.com/tag/cars/)
- [fedora](https://theappslab.com/tag/fedora/)
- [live usb](https://theappslab.com/tag/live-usb/)
- [os](https://theappslab.com/tag/os/)
- [parenting](https://theappslab.com/tag/parenting/)
- [philosophy](https://theappslab.com/tag/philosophy/)
- [dos](https://theappslab.com/tag/dos/)
- [wordpress](https://theappslab.com/tag/wordpress/)
- [plugins](https://theappslab.com/tag/plugins/)
- [kwiry](https://theappslab.com/tag/kwiry/)
- [sms](https://theappslab.com/tag/sms/)
- [bots](https://theappslab.com/tag/bots/)
- [integration](https://theappslab.com/tag/integration/)
- [day on](https://theappslab.com/tag/day-on/)
- [social hacking](https://theappslab.com/tag/social-hacking/)
- [white house](https://theappslab.com/tag/white-house/)
- [robots](https://theappslab.com/tag/robots/)
- [twitterfeed](https://theappslab.com/tag/twitterfeed/)
- [tweetsuite](https://theappslab.com/tag/tweetsuite/)
- [paranoia](https://theappslab.com/tag/paranoia/)
- [plugin](https://theappslab.com/tag/plugin/)
- [austin](https://theappslab.com/tag/austin/)
- [signs](https://theappslab.com/tag/signs/)
- [scribd](https://theappslab.com/tag/scribd/)
- [avatars](https://theappslab.com/tag/avatars/)
- [upgrade](https://theappslab.com/tag/upgrade/)
- [leopard](https://theappslab.com/tag/leopard/)
- [data visualization](https://theappslab.com/tag/data-visualization/)
- [last.fm](https://theappslab.com/tag/lastfm/)
- [mturk](https://theappslab.com/tag/mturk/)
- [friend connect](https://theappslab.com/tag/friend-connect/)
- [ted](https://theappslab.com/tag/ted/)
- [toys](https://theappslab.com/tag/toys/)
- [social search](https://theappslab.com/tag/social-search/)
- [ace](https://theappslab.com/tag/ace/)
- [carl](https://theappslab.com/tag/carl/)
- [pinch media](https://theappslab.com/tag/pinch-media/)
- [oracle people](https://theappslab.com/tag/oracle-people/)
- [magnolia](https://theappslab.com/tag/magnolia/)
- [free](https://theappslab.com/tag/free/)
- [greasemonkey](https://theappslab.com/tag/greasemonkey/)
- [game_the_machine](https://theappslab.com/tag/game_the_machine/)
- [imac](https://theappslab.com/tag/imac/)
- [batman](https://theappslab.com/tag/batman/)
- [superman](https://theappslab.com/tag/superman/)
- [facebook connect](https://theappslab.com/tag/facebook-connect/)
- [open web](https://theappslab.com/tag/open-web/)
- [gtm](https://theappslab.com/tag/gtm/)
- [yelp](https://theappslab.com/tag/yelp/)
- [ec2](https://theappslab.com/tag/ec2/)
- [s3](https://theappslab.com/tag/s3/)
- [pivotal tracker](https://theappslab.com/tag/pivotal-tracker/)
- [webkit](https://theappslab.com/tag/webkit/)
- [web metrics](https://theappslab.com/tag/web-metrics/)
- [analytics](https://theappslab.com/tag/analytics/)
- [tweetdeck](https://theappslab.com/tag/tweetdeck/)
- [vli](https://theappslab.com/tag/vli/)
- [jotnot](https://theappslab.com/tag/jotnot/)
- [images](https://theappslab.com/tag/images/)
- [webmission](https://theappslab.com/tag/webmission/)
- [enterprise](https://theappslab.com/tag/enterprise/)
- [pagerank](https://theappslab.com/tag/pagerank/)
- [abc](https://theappslab.com/tag/abc/)
- [leads](https://theappslab.com/tag/leads/)
- [cold calling](https://theappslab.com/tag/cold-calling/)
- [kudos](https://theappslab.com/tag/kudos/)
- [use cases](https://theappslab.com/tag/use-cases/)
- [college](https://theappslab.com/tag/college/)
- [computer labs](https://theappslab.com/tag/computer-labs/)
- [virtualization](https://theappslab.com/tag/virtualization/)
- [virtualbox](https://theappslab.com/tag/virtualbox/)
- [vmware](https://theappslab.com/tag/vmware/)
- [gos](https://theappslab.com/tag/gos/)
- [april fools](https://theappslab.com/tag/april-fools/)
- [digg](https://theappslab.com/tag/digg/)
- [aboutus](https://theappslab.com/tag/aboutus/)
- [long tail](https://theappslab.com/tag/long-tail/)
- [pricing](https://theappslab.com/tag/pricing/)
- [digital downloads](https://theappslab.com/tag/digital-downloads/)
- [ie6](https://theappslab.com/tag/ie6/)
- [seesmic](https://theappslab.com/tag/seesmic/)
- [video](https://theappslab.com/tag/video/)
- [os x](https://theappslab.com/tag/os-x/)
- [database](https://theappslab.com/tag/database/)
- [backtype](https://theappslab.com/tag/backtype/)
- [models](https://theappslab.com/tag/models/)
- [anonymity](https://theappslab.com/tag/anonymity/)
- [moderation](https://theappslab.com/tag/moderation/)
- [clients](https://theappslab.com/tag/clients/)
- [netbooks](https://theappslab.com/tag/netbooks/)
- [future](https://theappslab.com/tag/future/)
- [aol](https://theappslab.com/tag/aol/)
- [goole](https://theappslab.com/tag/goole/)
- [lifehacks](https://theappslab.com/tag/lifehacks/)
- [productivity](https://theappslab.com/tag/productivity/)
- [biology](https://theappslab.com/tag/biology/)
- [traffic](https://theappslab.com/tag/traffic/)
- [collaborate 09](https://theappslab.com/tag/collaborate-09/)
- [oraclenerd](https://theappslab.com/tag/oraclenerd/)
- [software](https://theappslab.com/tag/software/)
- [side projects](https://theappslab.com/tag/side-projects/)
- [law](https://theappslab.com/tag/law/)
- [social platform](https://theappslab.com/tag/social-platform/)
- [jaunty](https://theappslab.com/tag/jaunty/)
- [product management](https://theappslab.com/tag/product-management/)
- [wayback](https://theappslab.com/tag/wayback/)
- [mobile](https://theappslab.com/tag/mobile/)
- [wave](https://theappslab.com/tag/wave/)
- [jury](https://theappslab.com/tag/jury/)
- [prediction markets](https://theappslab.com/tag/prediction-markets/)
- [participation](https://theappslab.com/tag/participation/)
- [new web](https://theappslab.com/tag/new-web/)
- [geo](https://theappslab.com/tag/geo/)
- [identity](https://theappslab.com/tag/identity/)
- [feedburner](https://theappslab.com/tag/feedburner/)
- [reputation](https://theappslab.com/tag/reputation/)
- [citizen journalism](https://theappslab.com/tag/citizen-journalism/)
- [portable audio](https://theappslab.com/tag/portable-audio/)
- [sony](https://theappslab.com/tag/sony/)
- [strategy](https://theappslab.com/tag/strategy/)
- [information working](https://theappslab.com/tag/information-working/)
- [inbox](https://theappslab.com/tag/inbox/)
- [chrome os](https://theappslab.com/tag/chrome-os/)
- [it](https://theappslab.com/tag/it/)
- [tv](https://theappslab.com/tag/tv/)
- [radio](https://theappslab.com/tag/radio/)
- [advertising](https://theappslab.com/tag/advertising/)
- [dummy data](https://theappslab.com/tag/dummy-data/)
- [scott](https://theappslab.com/tag/scott/)
- [demos](https://theappslab.com/tag/demos/)
- [presentations](https://theappslab.com/tag/presentations/)
- [n00bs](https://theappslab.com/tag/n00bs/)
- [social analytics](https://theappslab.com/tag/social-analytics/)
- [browser](https://theappslab.com/tag/browser/)
- [updates](https://theappslab.com/tag/updates/)
- [web apps](https://theappslab.com/tag/web-apps/)
- [funny](https://theappslab.com/tag/funny/)
- [geek](https://theappslab.com/tag/geek/)
- [nerd](https://theappslab.com/tag/nerd/)
- [tablets](https://theappslab.com/tag/tablets/)
- [jolicloud](https://theappslab.com/tag/jolicloud/)
- [repair](https://theappslab.com/tag/repair/)
- [cheezburger network](https://theappslab.com/tag/cheezburger-network/)
- [licensing](https://theappslab.com/tag/licensing/)
- [links](https://theappslab.com/tag/links/)
- [amateurism](https://theappslab.com/tag/amateurism/)
- [usaa](https://theappslab.com/tag/usaa/)
- [banks](https://theappslab.com/tag/banks/)
- [lifestyle](https://theappslab.com/tag/lifestyle/)
- [multi-tasking](https://theappslab.com/tag/multi-tasking/)
- [adhd](https://theappslab.com/tag/adhd/)
- [information overload](https://theappslab.com/tag/information-overload/)
- [workhacking](https://theappslab.com/tag/workhacking/)
- [meetings](https://theappslab.com/tag/meetings/)
- [cloud computing](https://theappslab.com/tag/cloud-computing/)
- [backups](https://theappslab.com/tag/backups/)
- [pubsubhubbub](https://theappslab.com/tag/pubsubhubbub/)
- [atom](https://theappslab.com/tag/atom/)
- [foursquare](https://theappslab.com/tag/foursquare/)
- [sxsw](https://theappslab.com/tag/sxsw/)
- [what is this](https://theappslab.com/tag/what-is-this/)
- [boredom](https://theappslab.com/tag/boredom/)
- [summer](https://theappslab.com/tag/summer/)
- [any interface](https://theappslab.com/tag/any-interface/)
- [experiment](https://theappslab.com/tag/experiment/)
- [vacation](https://theappslab.com/tag/vacation/)
- [broadband](https://theappslab.com/tag/broadband/)
- [pipe](https://theappslab.com/tag/pipe/)
- [readtwit](https://theappslab.com/tag/readtwit/)
- [malware](https://theappslab.com/tag/malware/)
- [xss](https://theappslab.com/tag/xss/)
- [book](https://theappslab.com/tag/book/)
- [social media](https://theappslab.com/tag/social-media/)
- [enterprise 2.0](https://theappslab.com/tag/enterprise-2-0/)
- [hosting](https://theappslab.com/tag/hosting/)
- [network redux](https://theappslab.com/tag/network-redux/)
- [chrome frame](https://theappslab.com/tag/chrome-frame/)
- [tablet](https://theappslab.com/tag/tablet/)
- [leaving](https://theappslab.com/tag/leaving/)
- [deutsch](https://theappslab.com/tag/deutsch/)
- [paul pedrazzi](https://theappslab.com/tag/paul-pedrazzi/)
- [developer relations](https://theappslab.com/tag/developer-relations/)
- [machine translation](https://theappslab.com/tag/machine-translation/)
- [user assistance](https://theappslab.com/tag/user-assistance/)
- [instructions](https://theappslab.com/tag/instructions/)
- [arduino](https://theappslab.com/tag/arduino/)
- [christmas](https://theappslab.com/tag/christmas/)
- [internet of things](https://theappslab.com/tag/internet-of-things/)
- [virtual reality](https://theappslab.com/tag/virtual-reality/)
- [VR](https://theappslab.com/tag/vr/)
- [cardboard](https://theappslab.com/tag/cardboard/)
- [virtual meetings](https://theappslab.com/tag/virtual-meetings/)
- [amazon echo](https://theappslab.com/tag/amazon-echo/)
- [pca](https://theappslab.com/tag/pca/)
- [smartwatch](https://theappslab.com/tag/smartwatch/)
- [wearables](https://theappslab.com/tag/wearables/)
- [eyeo](https://theappslab.com/tag/eyeo/)
- [nodebox](https://theappslab.com/tag/nodebox/)
- [general](https://theappslab.com/tag/general/)
- [oracle](https://theappslab.com/tag/oracle/)
- [del.icio.us](https://theappslab.com/tag/delicious/)
- [google](https://theappslab.com/tag/google/)
- [development](https://theappslab.com/tag/development/)
- [design](https://theappslab.com/tag/design/)
- [facebook](https://theappslab.com/tag/facebook/)
- [socialnetworking](https://theappslab.com/tag/socialnetworking/)
- [search](https://theappslab.com/tag/search/)
- [metrics](https://theappslab.com/tag/metrics/)
- [reader](https://theappslab.com/tag/reader/)
- [apple watch](https://theappslab.com/tag/apple-watch/)
- [wearable](https://theappslab.com/tag/wearable/)
- [gdc](https://theappslab.com/tag/gdc/)
- [gur](https://theappslab.com/tag/gur/)
- [user engagement](https://theappslab.com/tag/user-engagement/)
- [research](https://theappslab.com/tag/research/)
- [gdc16](https://theappslab.com/tag/gdc16/)
- [games](https://theappslab.com/tag/games/)
- [user research](https://theappslab.com/tag/user-research/)
- [oculus rift](https://theappslab.com/tag/oculus-rift/)
- [playstation](https://theappslab.com/tag/playstation/)
- [PS](https://theappslab.com/tag/ps/)
- [samsung](https://theappslab.com/tag/samsung/)
- [oculus](https://theappslab.com/tag/oculus/)
- [guerilla test](https://theappslab.com/tag/guerilla-test/)
- [business origiami](https://theappslab.com/tag/business-origiami/)
- [resource flow](https://theappslab.com/tag/resource-flow/)
- [focus group](https://theappslab.com/tag/focus-group/)
- [sdc](https://theappslab.com/tag/sdc/)
- [sdc16](https://theappslab.com/tag/sdc16/)
- [sdc2016](https://theappslab.com/tag/sdc2016/)
- [iot](https://theappslab.com/tag/iot/)
- [iPad Pro](https://theappslab.com/tag/ipad-pro/)
- [stylus](https://theappslab.com/tag/stylus/)
- [keyboard](https://theappslab.com/tag/keyboard/)
- [review](https://theappslab.com/tag/review/)
- [Mixed Reality](https://theappslab.com/tag/mixed-reality/)
- [AR](https://theappslab.com/tag/ar/)
- [Augmented Reality](https://theappslab.com/tag/augmented-reality/)
- [User Experience](https://theappslab.com/tag/user-experience/)
- [ambient](https://theappslab.com/tag/ambient/)
- [sensors](https://theappslab.com/tag/sensors/)
- [gdc2017](https://theappslab.com/tag/gdc2017/)
- [mr](https://theappslab.com/tag/mr/)
- [accessibility](https://theappslab.com/tag/accessibility/)
- [daydream](https://theappslab.com/tag/daydream/)
- [qs](https://theappslab.com/tag/qs/)
- [Circular Design Thinking](https://theappslab.com/tag/circular-design-thinking/)
- [IDEO](https://theappslab.com/tag/ideo/)
- [Facebook 8](https://theappslab.com/tag/facebook-8/)
- [Future Cone](https://theappslab.com/tag/future-cone/)
- [Future Signals](https://theappslab.com/tag/future-signals/)
- [Future Summit](https://theappslab.com/tag/future-summit/)
- [Academy OX](https://theappslab.com/tag/academy-ox/)
- [robot](https://theappslab.com/tag/robot/)
- [humanoid](https://theappslab.com/tag/humanoid/)
- [NAO](https://theappslab.com/tag/nao/)
- [SoftBank](https://theappslab.com/tag/softbank/)
- [girlgeekdinner](https://theappslab.com/tag/girlgeekdinner/)
- [OWL](https://theappslab.com/tag/owl/)
- [oraclewomen](https://theappslab.com/tag/oraclewomen/)
- [bayareaggd](https://theappslab.com/tag/bayareaggd/)
- [changetheratio](https://theappslab.com/tag/changetheratio/)
- [shoe](https://theappslab.com/tag/shoe/)
- [badgelife](https://theappslab.com/tag/badgelife/)
- [e-ink](https://theappslab.com/tag/e-ink/)
- [badge](https://theappslab.com/tag/badge/)
- [iot badge](https://theappslab.com/tag/iot-badge/)
- [esp8266](https://theappslab.com/tag/esp8266/)
- [e-paper](https://theappslab.com/tag/e-paper/)
- [e-ink badge](https://theappslab.com/tag/e-ink-badge/)