More Testing of Live Writer

As I mentioned I am testing the new Windows Live Writer, but having a couple of issues with posting to my blog.

Tod Hilton was nice enough to help out and put me in contact with a couple of the developers Joe Cheng and Mike Munroe.  They have had me use a tool called Fiddler to analyze the HTTP traffic, very nice.

This post is to test if their solution works, if it does then answer will be in the next post.

Using Second Life for training

I have been following Second Life for awhile now just watching what happens.  Personally I feel the potential for the environment is huge we just need to get over the gambling and sex that currently occupies a majority of Second Life.

This is changing, there has been several conference run in Second Life, Cory Doctorow has done a book reading, people are even conducting business within the environment.

Today I noticed Robert Scoble posting about using Second Life for corporate training, an interesting use of the environment.

A new name and a new look

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking a lot about my blog title and how it really does not fit, a similar problem to Heather.  What with my change in jobs and being out of all things HR and HRIS from a professional point of view I think it needs a change.

Before I commit to a name change I have changed the design and simplified.

One of the major changes, other than the lack of colour, has been the removal of the sidebar links and other “cute” little things.  Including in that change is the removal of the top 10 posts (this may return) and the monthly archive.  Instead I have added a conversation tracker to bring out discussions that sometimes take place on older posts.

Another change is the removal of Google Adsense from the main page, the ads still appear on all non “home page” views.  I am playing with the different views to see if it makes any difference in the ad revenue. 

Windows Live Writer

One of the cool new tools released this week has been the Windows Live Writer, an offline blogging client from Windows Live and it is not just for Windows Live Spaces.

Writer is a great client for Windows Live Spaces but also works with other weblogs including Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress (and many others).

Writer supports RSD (Really Simple Discoverability), the Metaweblog API, and the Movable Type API.

We want Writer to work well with every blogging service out there. If you can’t get Writer to work with your blog, we want to know.

There are even some plugin’s starting to appear.

I have been playing with it over the last couple of days, you might of seen a Temporary Posts thingy as the tool tries to workout my style sheet, which it failed at 3 times. Overall not a bad little tool, this is the first post written in it.

Update: The tool did not seem to recognise that the post was published and still has this post in a Draft status.  I guess that is why they call it Beta.

Mobile flash cards

On my way to work this morning I was listening to Chris Pirillo talking to James Wen from Positive Motion, about their new tool called Mobile Prep a mobile phone flash card program.

Atf irst I was a bit skeptical about the product but listening to James and hearing his vision of how he wants to change mobile education I was very impressed.

The program allows users to create a desk of virtual flash cards and install them on their phone.  Easy enough.  From here the enterprising desk creator can earn money by selling their desk to other Mobile Prep users.  Very cool.

The tool also has built in quizzes with progress reports, this is where things got really interesting.  It could be extended into an eLearning platform.  Think, students finishing a class immediately download the next desk of cards, take the test and load the results back into the eLearning tool so the teacher knows what to focus on next lesson.
James also talked about the ability to build multi-demensional cards.  For example in the legal profession where you need to learn multiple facts about a single case, each type of fact is connected to a key on the mobile phone, case precedents are always connected to the 5 key.  This way you each time a new case is displayed you can test yourself on the different facts by pressing the same key on your phone.

The tool can be used for all sorts of learning, including professional development, CPD points and other certification processes.

The biggest issue?  Seems like the tool is only available on certain networks in the US, very sad.

Changes in the wind

I am playing with a few changes on the site over the next 2 days, so please excuse the mess and the broken bits.

I think there might even be a new name coming for this little site as well, just not sure….

Blogging for fun, profit or …?

Amitai Givertz is lamenting today about his lack of (??) success and how on earth his blog can get noticed out of the 50 million blogs now out there. The Recruiting Animal suggests quite rightly that while the blogosphere is very large, the audience for recruiting blogs is quite small.

The end result seems to be that Amitia decided to blog for himself, always a good move. (Amitia if you want to blog for profit you must subscribe to ProBlogger.)
There are lots of types of blogs and lots of reasons. There are 3 main types, link based, expert commentary and breaking news, of course most blogs are a mashup of all 3.

However there are more reasons than I can list as to why people blog, but the point being you must enjoy what you do and why you do it.


Get the latest on diversity issues in the workplace at Diversity Jobs.

Buying new skis

Even after one of the worse ski seasons on record here in Australia I am considering purchasing some new skis.  My current pair were bought in January 2000 on a very cold and snowy day in Ottawa (Canada that is).

I have been doing a bit of research and come up with my top 5 options:-

  1. Volkl Allstar
  2. Salomon Teneighty Foil
  3. Salomon Crossmax V12
  4. Head iXRC 1200 SW
  5. Dynastar Ski Cross 11

The Allstar is just that all class but comes at a price.

The Teneighty Foil are twin tips so they have the fun factor vote but not sure they will be the right sort fo ski for those days when all you want to do is go fast.

The Crossmax V12 don’t really standard out in the crowd.
The Head iXRC is meant to grip the groomed snow like an F1, which is good when going fast.

The Dynstar rocks on piste but the review have it struggling on bumps and off piste, not what I want.

Right now I am going to setup a few eBay watches just in case some pop up.