“Connect to Compete”

Announced today by the chairman of the FCC, an initiative called Connect to Compete is being launched in conjunction with Microsoft, Best Buy, careerbuilder.com and monster.com to try to increase the broadband footprint in America.  The intent is to improve internet literacy and general computer skills for students and working individuals.  This will come in the form of support from Geek Squad providing classroom training in conjunction with groups like Goodwill, Boys and Girls Club, and a few others; Microsoft offering free training and certification on-line; and the career sites providing job skills training, resume writing, and other job related training online for free.  The most positive byproduct that I can personally connect with is the intent to also increase funding for public libraries and school computer labs to provide the means for after class time training. 

Being a technologist, I would love to see greater computer skills training, but is this really just a ploy to get more potential buyers into Best Buy stores and online to support Microsoft’s initiatives?  I hope those involved remain true to the spirit of this initiative and give us reason to applaud these efforts as they progress.  Good luck guys…

Is This Science Fiction, or IBM Innovation?

http://venturebeat.com/2011/04/03/ibm-researchers-create-nanomedicine-to-kill-bacteria-where-antibiotics-fail/?obref=obinsite

While I am not typically interested in what IBM is doing with “hardware” these days, the potential that this technology brings to the world is undeniable.  Kudos to IBM.  This is truly where SciFi and reality meet.

Recent Experience

As many of my friends and family are in the IT world, I am a consultant.  I have been for a number of years, and with the job comes a requirement of travel.  Now I know there are those who think projects are always in great places and they see the sexy side of consulting.  That is not reality.  You can wind up in some rural areas with little to do.  You can read, work, exhaust the puzzles in the paper, but eventually boredom does set it… at least for me.  I love movies, and have a modest collection of favorites.  While taking all 300+ titles with me is not really an option, I can pick a few and bring them for viewing in the hotel or even in transit (unless I am driving, of course) which is great!

So how do I do it?

I found an app on Facebook a while back that was free.  It was iSkysoft’s DVD to iPhone Converter.  This app was simple to use, intuitive, yet powerful enough to enable some trimming and manipulation of the video and audio to achieve a great balance of size:quality for iPhone viewing.  I recently had to change computers, and lost my activation code for this product that I was using twice a month on average.  I contacted customer support immediately upon realizing this misfortune to see if there was anything I could do to improve my situation.  It was a Sunday night, so I did not have any expectations of immediate response, but a support representative reached out to me twice that night.  This deserved some recognition, in my opinion.

Through the communications I have been having with the very helpful representative, Susan, she extended a $10 discount to anyone who stumbles upon this posting for the replacement product Video Converter Ultimate.  Click through the link to find the offer.  (Between you and me, you can click on the trash can icon to remove the distributors’ add on product, making the price only $49 as opposed to $59 direct from iSkysoft.)  Here is the VCU product page.

It is not every day that I experience positive customer service, and I wanted to thank Susan at iSkysoft for making this a memorable experience.