Government technology to speed up private projects

Technology in 24
Originally posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

Technology in 24
So I’m a 24 addict. If any of you are following this season or caught the episode from 11:00PM – 12:00AM, then you had a chance to see a pardon document produced and signed by the president in just minutes. For those of you that don’t follow the series, you are missing out and I’d like to explain to you what happened.

Request a pardon
The FBI Director requested a pardon from the President, who then asked for him to draw up the documents and send them over to her when he was done. Of course he was already prepared. I imagine that the document was drawn up in MS Word, and converted to a PDF. I would also imagine that this would normally be a template, so this part isn’t impressive, but what happens next was pretty hot.

Remote desktop and file sharing
The director tells the President that he has the document and pulls it up to show her the document through a Cisco Webex. I would have opted with a different solution, one that was less expensive. But if you’ve got the funds behind you, Cisco’s Webex is a very reliable and robust application for sharing. It was pretty cool that they had 4 different people up on webcams for the conference, and had full control over their applications. You’ll also notice that they are using Logitech Webcams.

From here the President was able to add her digital signature to the document by signing it through the webex session. She used a Wacom tablet to add her signature. It caught my attention since I had just blogged about the newest Wacom tablet. This is so awesome that they were able to quickly produce and sign an official document all remotely.

Send document to helicopter agent
While the document was still at the FBI, now with the Presidents digital signature, the FBI director needed to get the document out into the field so that his field agents wouldn’t restrain and arrest the person that was just granted immunity. He was able to send the document wirelessly to his agents while they were in transit in a helicopter.

What makes all of these even more amazing, is that all of this technology is publically available. You could even have all of your templates stored on Microsoft Live, or Google Docs for quick access from anywhere.

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Originally posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

IE 8 increases productivity – Finally a Microsoft Product worth Installing on first release

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

Internet Explorer Developer Tools
One of my developers said “Microsoft finally put out something worth installing.” I had encouraged everyone that I work with to install Internet Explorer 8, even though it has just been released. Many were shocked. You see, the normal policy for installing Microsoft products, is to wait until the first service pack. Microsoft has been known to release software with bugs, so most of us wait until the first service pack before installing new applications. Especially when it comes to security, and network administration of applications.

Debugging New Interfaces
This developer was working on a new feature for Successful Thinkers Meetup, and was having challenges getting everything to line up correctly. We are currently working on increasing a groups ability to customize their group own page. We would like groups to have their own identity, and in order to do this, we need to change a lot of things. With Internet Explorer 8’s new Developer tools (similar to FireFox’s FireBug), he was able to quickly locate the tags, and styles that were giving him the most trouble. A multi-hour project took just a few minutes to resolve. All developers should become familiar with the new IE 8 Developer Tools.

Troubleshooting Tags
Trouble shooting tags and styles for multiple browsers can be very frustrating. Having the right tools can make all the difference in the world, especially when dealing with dynamically created pages. I’m sure that we all have felt the frustration at some point, where we can’t figure out what is wrong. We go through the usual, delete process and border process, trying to pin point which object is causing the problem. You really should install IE8, and check it its new features. There are many time saving features built in. And if you are worried about some of your sites not working, there is always the view in IE7 button.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

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Microsoft On a Roll – New applications to Launch

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

Quick Overview of upcoming Microsoft Releases

The proper tools speed up all development. We all have our favorite tools for each type of project, and the right one makes all of the difference in the world. As IT experts we are always watching for the next releases of our primary applications, in hopes to make our jobs faster and easier. Microsoft's next rounds of applications might do just that.

Windows 7 RC
I think that many of us have been watching to see what the next OS will bring. Windows 7 is coming closer to its launch, and its features will defiantly enhance the user experience for both, your everyday users and for all of you power users. Take a look at some of the enhances on the list for launch. This system is going to blow you away. I realize that time is limited for IT Directors, CIO’s and CEO’s and many of you don’t have an opportunity to follow the ongoing progress on Windows 7. If you’re anything like me, you wait for the final release before you get too excited about a new product. But you might want to take a couple of minutes to review the most recent Windows 7 notes from Microsoft. It looks like Microsoft is stepping things up with this next release. If you’re looking to speed up productivity and enhance security, this operating system is going to be a big step forward.

IE8
Internet Explorer 8 released just a little while ago. Thousands of downloads have been completed and many people share the opportunity to experience more security, faster renders, and truer standards. I know that all top ranking IT administrators are hesitant in installing any new Microsoft products until the first service pack is released and especially with this being your browser. Your browser is your life line. It is where we all go for our day to day operations. Whether it is research, banking, compliance, or just taking care of our day to day tasks, our browsers need to be dependable. I’m sure that most of you are thinking… “I’m not replacing my primary application, until I’m positive that it will work on ALL sites.”

Well… IE 8 is looking up. There are tons of positive feedback posts and after years of being behind in the game, it looks like Microsoft is finally stepping up. Its looking like this next version will help us do our jobs faster, and more securely. You really should look into the latest notes on IE8.

Office 14
The next version of Microsoft Office, Office 14 has been pushed out, but will sport many more features and integrated tools to make collaboration easier and quicker. It looks like there will be a 32bit and a 64bit version of Office 14. As more application go online and many companies looking to turn all of their applications into enterprise applications, you can expect Office 14 to continue in that direction as well. Document sharing and enterprise collaboration will all continue to get more attention with Office 14. While not much information is yet out on it, check out what others are saying.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

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