Well it’s official. This winter we broke the 100+ year record for the most snowfall in the Washington, DC Metro region. The record was set back in 1888-89. The Fairfax County schools have been closed since Friday, February 5, 2010. Our CIO had everyone perform a “telework” exercise last Friday, so I’ve been home since that time as the Federal Government has been officially “closed”.
Jan poses in front of our house
On Sunday, February 7th after the snow stopped we had in excess of two feet of snow. I measured between 25 and 28 inches of snow on my property in Fairfax, Virginia. Here is a link to my “Snowmageddon 2010” photos from that day. Let me know what you think of them.Here’s a video of me cleaning off two feet of snow from my car. [please click to continue…]
Photo credit: Matt Callow.
I have been mulling about whether or not I should renew my subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Don’t get me wrong, I think the WSJ is the best newspaper produced today. So, my dilemma has nothing to do with the quality of their product, my dilemma has to do with the cost. Get this: for me to renew daily delivery and online access, the cost is $441 per year. Granted the demographic for WSJ subscribers is affluence, but come-on, I’m not an AIG executive.
Information should be priced using open contracts.
This got me thinking about a creative music label that I’ve recently discovered: Magnatune. (Stick with me; I’ll circle back to the WSJ in a moment). Magnatune’s tagline and business philosophy is, “We are not evil”. All of their music catalog can be played in their entirety (no lame 30 second samples) at 128 Kbps, contains no DRM, 50% of the cost of their music goes directly to the artist, and most importantly they use an open contract or variable pricing model for the music. Users are allowed to pay what they feel is a fair price for the album as long as the payment is within a given price range.
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I love the WordPress Open Source content management blog publishing system. I’ve been using and configuring WordPress systems for several years and the number of plug-ins and add-ons to the extensible platform is truly amazing.
The iPhone is really a powerful computer that fits into your pocket.
About seven months ago I gave up my ancient Motorola Razor for a new iPhone 3GS. As I’ve told others, I believe the iPhone is a “game changer”. What makes it so is that the iPhone is really a powerful computer that fits into your pocket. Oh, and it’s also a phone. But that is almost besides the point.
If you use WordPress and own an iPhone or an iPod Touch, there are three applications that you should consider using to make running your blog easier.
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Neil Bonner works in the information technology field as a manager for applications development at the Transportation Security Administration. His focus is on innovation and collaboration for internal and external audiences. 
neil [at] michelangelo.com
