Please Allow 30 Days for Search Results… Dealbreaker?

ame — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:49:40 +0000

Do you ever think back to the days when you couldn’t just google, bing, or wolfram alpha an answer and have an instantaneous answer along with an infographic to back it up?

I was in a discussion yesterday regarding the concept of “Contemporary IT” and how it relates back to both our personal and professional lives. The conversation left a great number of questions open — What are our expectations for both our intranets as well as the internet? Do we expect the same things both at work and at home (use of mobile applications, hardware, software?) or are we happy with a sense of “theirs” and “mine?” Where are the new media boundaries?

Why? It’s a few things. If you haven’t realized, there’s that whole social netwoking and social media thing (maybe you’ve heard of it), coupled with the rise of smart phones, leading to the mobile application, (then the ipad, ahem) which has given us ways to harness information in ways only visionaries thought possible a decade ago.

Sure, I realize that the average user will have a much different perspective than a digital native who works in the IT function (ahem, yours truly), but what I do know is that both large and small companies alike are working to make the internets a better place for those of use who are cube-dwellers during the day and mac-addicts by night.

So I ask you, wise readers of the techyness –

In the words of a wise Liz Lemon, what’s your dealbreaker? How much new media and contemporary IT do you want in the office vs. at home?

[for more fun on what the internet used to look like, check out the wayback machine]

//antique google search image via Flickr

A Coffee Shop that BANS Electronics?

ame — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:00:50 +0000

Sign Banning Electronics in Saratoga Coffee Shop

Coffee shops are filled with tech- students doing homework and on their laptops, people checking their blackberries… I’ve never heard of a coffee shop where all of this is banned.

This “Tech Free Oasis,” Virgil’s house in Saratoga Springs, NY (15 minutes away from where I live now) has instated a policy that reads:

“This is a place to laugh, relax, read, play a game, chat with friends, bring the kids, or work on a puzzle! A few things to remember about Virgil’s … It is a place away from the frantic pace of technology .. SSSSSSoooo ……. Please do not use your cellphone, PDA, laptop Blackberry or pager … this includes talking, listening, texting, reading, emails and now apparently watching!!! If you really, really need to use your phone, please step outside or sneak in the bathroom. Our office is always available as well!”

BUT, what’s most interesting about Virgil’s house is not that electronic devices are banned… but that the owner, Kathleen Quartararo, used to SELL them. The owner was sales representative and manager for Wireless from AT&T until she resigned in July 2008.

In a recent interview with the Times Union, Quartararo said, “I love technology. I just don’t believe it should be when you’re eating and drinking and laughing. It’s got a great place in our lives, but, it stops things.”

the pursuit of techyness » policy

Please Allow 30 Days for Search Results… Dealbreaker?

A Coffee Shop that BANS Electronics?