Good News for iPhone users

New Tech Speeds up Pokey EDGE Networks | Epicenter from Wired.com

yay! No more cursing my iPhone under my breath when the internet doesn't work. This makes my life just that much easier.

PSU Sprints

Ok this is a smidge over due but here is my own personal sprint summary for the sprints following the Plone Symposium East 2008.
When I agreed to help organize a doc sprint for PSU, I didn't realize how many sprint topics they had scheduled for this event. I have to tip my hat to a very ambitious schedule. All this sprinting in addition to a conference is bound to wear out anyone. I hope all the Weblion folks are getting their much earned rest this week. I personally want to thank Mike and Christian for taking care of logistics, feeding us, and providing us with anything a sprinter could need. Those are the hardest parts of organizing a sprint and it was a relief to not worry about those details.
I had some issues sorting out some of the tasks from the Plone strategic planning summit that happened earlier this year. In my infinite organizational wisdom I decided these must be important and we should probably work on them. Once I arrived at the sprint I got to digging and realized that several of these tasks required a lot more discussion between the contributors on our doc team. After pouting for a bit, thinking we now had nothing to work on, Joel straightened me out and we took a different direction. I hashed out some ideas for what I'm calling doc team admin stuff on my own and the rest of the sprinters made great progress on their own tasks.
I'm not as satisfied with this sprint as I was with the doc com sprint but that sprint was so much bigger and longer and had more people so I really shouldn't compare at all. Again, Joel set me straight and made me realize that even just getting one or two people started on the doc team is a success. Once again, confirmation that I hold my own personal standards too high. My lessons learned: plan better and always have a back up plan. It worked best at doc com sprint where I contacted everyone before hand and made sure they had stuff to work on before we even arrived. I think that should be a standard sprint operating procedure for all future doc sprints.
But enough of this self indulgent crap. It was a good sprint! We had a great time! I've said it once and I'll keep on saying it, the best part about Plone is the community. There is nothing better than sitting in a room full of plonistas working away and making cracks at each other.

Whatever happened to bathroom graffiti?

I ran across this article about a newer website called Juicy Campus. All I can say is WTF?! When did it become necessary to gossip about people you know online? Back when I was a kid, the most public form of gossip was to see something written about a person on the bathroom wall at school. And then as you move on to college, maybe you see it in the dorm or bar bathroom wall. Of course there is always the old fashioned way, word of mouth. But seriously...a website dedicated to gossip?? So I had to look for myself and figure out why this is becoming such a phenomenon.
First, their web page pretty much sucks. Took forever to load, matinee style scrolling text across the top, and, oh my, is that much javascript really allowed?
I was relieved to see that my alma mater was not one of the participating universities. I was shocked at how many ivy league/prestigious schools were on the list. These are kids that are supposedly being groomed to be our future leaders...and they're talking shit about one another on an anonymous website? Shouldn't they be studying or something?
Let's hope that this site fizzles soon. Social networking sites have caused enough controversy among the younger users, let's hope this thing doesn't spread. I think this site is going up on my list of worst use of technology/this is why idiots shouldn't be allowed to use the internet.

Traveling by Train

In many circles I'm sure it's seen as a rather antiquated way to travel, but I have to say, I've really enjoyed my experience on Amtrak. Outlets for every seat and the ride is pretty smooth. Plus, you can't complain about being able to talk on the phone, or in my case, receive text messages. I also happen to have one of these neato little wireless air cards which makes me a bit more productive. Plus, the seats are so huge, it's almost akin to working on my couch at home. Ok, well maybe not that comfy, but better than an airplane.
As easy as this trip has been, I can't help but wonder, why are trains not equipped with wifi? They surely can't run into the same kind of issues that are present on airlines. Plus, it would be a huge benefit for lots of business travelers and probably increase business. I think this is a missed opportunity for Amtrak. Get on it guys! Your marketing team would have a field day if you were able to outfit each train with wifi before air planes are all connected. I mean, the Europeans have wifi on their trains...why can't we?! Ah well. At least I have a seat and outlets all to myself. That makes any ride worth making.

Plone Symposium East 2008

A lot of you know that I adore this little open source content management system called Plone. I've been lucky enough to spend that last week here at Penn State University, attending the Plone Symposium East. I have to say it was a fantastic experience. While most of the topics were over my head, I still managed to gleam a few nuggets that will help me in my never ending quest to document Plone. I've been using Plone since 2004 and started volunteering for the Plone Documentation team in 2005. I am a very basic user...I know what Python is and I'm slowly trying to learn it, though I get distracted easily. I can say it is easier to learn than C++. I am not a programmer and never will be, that's for sure. That's part of the beauty of Plone...you don't have to be a genius to use this extremely powerful tool. But I digress...
The symposium was wonderful. One of the best parts about being involved in the Plone community is the people. PSU has a particularly great group here in their Weblion office. You could not hope for a better group of people running your web site (or to have as your friends). The Weblion folks put on a great gathering and are the best host/hostesses you could have. Sure, State College, PA is just a little bit in the middle of nowhere...but with the success of this conference, I suspect we'll all be returning next year. Plus, there are worst ways to spend a week than being surrounded by a bunch of geeky guys getting really excited over elegant code. A geek girl's dream come true.

Setting up Social Tagging

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that it's taken me so long to set up social tagging abilities on my blog. It shouldn't be this hard! Is this just an issue with Blogger? I notice WordPress blogger don't seem to have to fuss with it too much - it's all lined up and gorgeous on the few that I've seen.
Why so hard Blogger? All I want is for my readers to be able to save, share, and link to my posts. Is that so wrong?
Don't think you're getting off so easy you silly social networks. You didn't exactly make my day any easier by hiding your widgets and code. Don't bury that kind of thing guys! If you want people to use it, don't make people hunt for it. Didn't we learn that in Web Design 101...no more than 3 clicks, etc? Sound familiar?
What a way to start out a new blog. Welcome!

Update March 16, 2008: I am now a huge fan of Add This!. Simple, easy to use, and a nice little interface. All social bookmarking should be this easy. Thanks guys!