Domain names to no longer have to end with a .com

Right now, on the Web, there are only the usual generic top-level domain names, which you probably recognize, if you have done any Internet surfing in the last decade –– .com, .edu, .org, etc. You have less than 30 top level domain names. That is about to change. This week, ICANN, the organization which overseas these kinds of things, has approved a plan to allow folks to create personalized top-level domains. This will go into effect in 2012. It will cost about $185000 for registration, plus there will be some annual fee.

Scam artists swindle people with fake checks

Fake checks are apparently the largest scam in the US today. This is how it works essentially. A crook sends you a large check for one of various reasons: like you won a lottery or sweepstakes, or your grant application was approved, or you inherited money from Nigeria. In all cases, they want you to send them some money upfront using a check or Western Union.
If you are greedy, you will get suckered in.

Amazon EC2 went down

The way Amazon's elastic cloud was designed, it was expected to never be unavailable. I suppose it was just guaranteed to not lose data. Anyway, the cloud has been having storage issues for more than 24 hours now. My source code on assembla.com uses EC2 and has been unavailable for more than a day now.

Cloud computing, April 17, 2011

Risk Management in Cloud Computing PCWorld By Sri Prakash, CIO In a troubled economy, cloud computing seems like a great cost saving alternative and it is. Whether in good times or bad, any pragmatic cost saving measure is a 'good' measure. Google, Microsoft, IBM and all other known and unknown ... See all stories on this topic »

Australia releases cloud computing guide FutureGov Magazine By Xinghui Guo | 18 April 2011 Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), an Australian intelligence agency, has released an 18-page document urging government agencies in the country to carefully consider risks associated with cloud computing before adopting ... See all stories on this topic »

IBM Offers New Opportunities to Jump Start Cloud Computing for Business ... IEWY News LAS VEGAS, – : Building on efforts to help its partner community capitalize on the growing cloud computing opportunity, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today is making available two pricing and financing programs to help IBM Business Partners and start-up companies ... See all stories on this topic »

Apple hires former Microsoft cloud computing guru CFO World UK Part II: Brave new world: cloud, mobile and social mediamore .. By Ben Camm-Jones | Macworld UK | Published 09:40, 17 April 11 Apple is planning to expand its data centre infrastructure and has poached a leading Microsoft executive to help it achieve ... See all stories on this topic »

Collective heads in the Cloud Boston Globe By James Carroll HERE COMES the Cloud — the next stage in computer-driven human transformation. Cloud computing refers to the shift of data storage and management from the personal computer to remote servers and networks, with individual users needing ... See all stories on this topic »

Wealth management could be next major opportunity: Finacle Hindu Business Line While cloud computing and mobile computing are seen as major drivers in various areas of business, such as traditional banking, wealth management could also become a major area of opportunity for banks because of the rising affluence of Indians. ... See all stories on this topic » Hindu Business Line

Two Attractive Networking Cloud Stocks to Buy on Weakness Seeking Alpha The pattern will repeat several times over the next couple of years as cloud computing becomes mainstream. FFIV is now down 35% from its highs back in January. Have the future prospects really changed that much? We're not big fans of FFIV as they have ... See all stories on this topic »

HP Application Transformation Solutions Deliver Flexibility and Speed TTKN News HP Exchange Services for Private Cloud helps enterprises get a "pay per use" model of cloud computing along with an enterprise-grade level of performance and security. This provides the benefits of cloud computing without the associated risks. ... See all stories on this topic »

Project management - April 17, 2011

Project Management Institute of New Zealand (PMINZ) 2011 Project Management Awards btob by admin | Mon, 04/18/2011 - 07:30 This is a reminder that you only have until 29 April 2011 to submit your nominations for the 2011 PMINZ Project Management Awards. The PMINZ Awards recognise and celebrate outstanding achievements in the project ... See all stories on this topic »

SITE MANAGER Goondiwindi Argus The upgrade of a live exchange Telecommunications project on Brisbane's southside is due to start in April and the opportunity for an experienced Site Manager is on offer. Reporting directly to the Project Manager you will be responsible for all safety ... See all stories on this topic »

The Great Jobs Project: Contractor, project manager a 'Zen master' on the job The News-Press He also devoted 15 years of his career — from 1983 to 1998 — to project management and computer assisted design at Parker/Mudgett/Smith Architects, where his namesake dad is founding partner. "They had a good mix of work with custom homes — and ... See all stories on this topic »

Mechanical Project Manager - Gas Turbine - Abuja, Nigeria news.careerstructure.com The project is a Power Generation and Transmission network expansion and my client are design and project management consultants for the total project. They have an established team in Abuja with 15 expat experts and 70 local experts. ... See all stories on this topic »

Sonoma Land Trust manager fosters quality outdoor experience for today, and ... Santa Rosa Press Democrat Sonoma Land Trust stewardship project manager Tony Nelson on the Glen Oaks Ranch in Glen Ellen. While his employer, the Sonoma Land Trust, holds title and easements on those lands, Nelson, 46, sees to their bounty: creeks, forests, grasslands, ... See all stories on this topic »

Baosteel first contract energy management project passed SteelGuru Till now, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co Ltd first contract energy management project successfully passed acceptance inspection, fulfilling designated target. To speed up energy-conservation technology application, enhance energy efficiency with market ... See all stories on this topic »

HU Project Leadership Forum to Explore The Art of Leading Projects Through Change Online PR News (press release) With fewer resources going into projects and greater outcomes being expected of them, something about the project management formula has to change. Online PR News – 17-April-2011 –Harrisburg, PA, April 07, 2011 - With fewer resources going into ... See all stories on this topic »

Transforming to solar power helped to reinvent company Detroit Free Press Sunil Agrawal, president of Nova Consultants in Novi, front, with Michelle Patrick, from left, contract administrator, Tom Neelands, project manager, and Sachit Verma, program manager-energy. / ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press BY BRENT SNAVELY Sunil ... See all stories on this topic »

Software as a Service (SaaS) April 17, 2011

Cardinal Logistics Management Corporation Announces SaaS Offering PR-USA.net (press release) Cardinal Logistics Management Corporation, a leading dedicated transportation solution provider, announces its dedicated technology solutions are now available as Software as a Service (SaaS) under the name Cardinal Hosted Logistics. ...

Industry Leaders Worldwide Embrace IBM Clouds to Transform Business Processes IEWY News IBM's SaaS portfolio ranges from business process management to collaboration, social business, Web analytics, B2B commerce, supply chain management, marketing and enterprise systems management. In IBM's new Smarter Commerce business, cloud services ...

Ramco system signs up 300 new ERP clients SAAS Directory ... clients in the aviation, aerospace and defence industries, the company said today. This is part of the company''s recent Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) offering for the aviation, aerospace and defence industry, the ...

OXYCOM, a New Systems Aggregator on the Polish Market, Chooses Comarch's Solutions PR-USA.net (press release) During this stage, main functionalities and integrations were deployed, which are perceived by OXYCOM as crucial in order to deliver all its services such as VoIP, Software on Demand (SoD), Software as a Service (SaaS) and eCommerce platform. ...

Version 2.0 of iPhone app "Insurance Glossary Lite"

This Insurance Glossary is now available on the iTunes App Store. It has a 3 star rating from 76 reviews. It is free to download and try out. The free version includes about half the glossary. The in-app upgrade accounts for the rest of the glossary.

There is also an android version which seems to have a 4 star rating.

It is very useful for both insurance professionals and those preparing for tests. The ability to have the terms and definitions at your fingertips is very well worth the cost of 'free' :)

Check it out

Failing and Failure seems to be the popular thing these days

Today I saw an article called Failing towards success at Google. Yesterday, I read that Tata in India was rewarding a whole bunch of failed ventures. Failure Is a Gold Mine for India's Tata. Last week Ericsson in San Jose gave out its Innova awards. One of the categories was for failed attempts. Apparently failure is a stepping stone to success and the more failures you have, the closer your chance of success - as you apparently learn from failure. Who knew?

There could be a billion Earth-like planets, just in our galaxy.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA has done some research that seems to indicate that one in every 50 sun-like stars may have an Earth-like planet in its orbit, according to Space.com. These planets are located within the ranges where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface.

What this means is that means there could be billions of Earth-like planets just in the Milky Way Galaxy.

From Space.com:
"This means there are a lot of Earth analogs out there -- two billion in the Milky Way galaxy," researcher Joseph Catanzarite, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told SPACE.com. "With that large a number, there's a good chance life and maybe even intelligent life might exist on some of those planets. And that's just our galaxy alone -- there are 50 billion other galaxies."

It still does not allow for any meaningful alien contact ever in the history or future of the universe, simply given the distances and the pure harshness of outer space. It is a pity that life could exist impossibly far away, and man yearns for contact with them, when right at home we have billions upon billions of opportunities for contact.

Posterous vs Tumblr? Which to choose?

Last week I was browsing Meetup.com. When I posted a comment, it asked me if I wanted it posted on twitter, facebook, linkedin etc. There was another choice I did not recognize - tumblr. I researched and found tumblr.com is a mini blogging site. I set up an account there. Today I ran across Posterous.com. Apparently it does the same things tumblr does, except it has an exceptional email delivery of blogs and the ablity to select where else to post it, and how to tag it - all from just an email.

 

Too many reviews when I compare them. Tumblr apparently has a community, but no option for commenting. They do reblogs and 'ask me'. Posterous allows commenting but has not themes customization. It also allows private groups. Too many choices. I am going to stick with tumblr for the time being.

 

Also posting this via email to see if it works.

Ten thousand random acts of kindness

Very similar to what was the point of the movie "Pay it forward", http://meatheadsact.posterous.com/ is today promoting a campaign for people to pay it forward. Pay for another person's cup of tea. Here is their text.



When the Meatheads Burgers & Fries and Aspire teams kicked off the Random Acts of Kindness campaign I tried to envision what would be the most common acts of kindness. I thought hugging a stranger would be it, for sure.That doesn't seem to be it though.


Coffee may be the winner and I contributed to that statistic.

This morning I went to my local coffee shop and I asked the cashier to charge me for two cups and give one to someone else. I wanted it to be truly random. I have no idea who got the coffee but I hope it made their day brighter.
So there's my little act of kindness. But we have a ways to go until we tally 10,000 acts of kindness, so we need your help!
And if you're out of ideas please feel free to steal this one. Next time you are at your favorite coffee shop pre-pay for something and ask the cashier to pass that kindness on to the next customer. And who knows, maybe that person will do the same.

And remember, Meatheads will donate 25 cents for each act of kindness pledged via Twitter using hash tag #meatheadsact, on Facebook or email us at act[at]meatheadsburgers.com
Let's fill this cup with acts of kindness! :)

Mana