Informed Networker Blog

Finding local news is still not as easy as it should be. Sure, you can go to most popular news sites these days and tell them you want to follow a zip code, city, or state’s news. I utilize Topix’s RSS feed feature to track news. But its not enough and here’s why:

• Zip Code - Is imprecise. While it covers a general geographical area it doesn’t necessarily cover the exact geographical area you are interested in. For example, you may be at the northern part of a zip code and better know two or three zip codes that surround you, than the rest of your zip code further to the south. This also holds true for counties. I used to live one mile from the border of Greene County, but actually lived in Albany County (New York).
• City - While giving news on the city you live in it ignores surrounding areas. In my area the cities are so meshed together you can cross through one and end up back in the same city you originated from. In states that are old and not built on grids city lines follow nonsensical traditions.
• State - I might want to know the state news, but if I get a local view of the entire state, I’ll be overwhelmed.

Okay, enough complaining. How do we fix this problem? Well, right now I’m focused on Informed Networker and don’t really have time to spend on this project so I’ll share my solution, take it for free (though you can give me some money if you wish when you are successful):

Take a map (e.g. Google Maps) and allow people to trace an outline of the area they want news on. This lets them include just the right number of cities. The area that ends up highlighted is the area they want news on.

The company best in a position to take advantage of this methodology is Google. Why? Because this method works best if each article is tagged with its geographical coordinates (longitude/latitude) and everyone jumps when Google hollers so one could expect instant adoption of the inclusion of geographical standards in nearly every major and minor paper - who wouldn’t want their stories listed on Google?

Yes, its simple - but it would work and sure would give us better news targeting than we currently have. A startup or other established company could utilize this idea as well, just don’t expect all the news publishers to immediately implement the coordinates system. Instead you would probably need to search stories for coordinates, then map them automatically. Still, very doable, even as a mashup.

Whew. This is exhausting. But enjoyable. For those who are interested here are the main areas I am either concerned with currently or intend to concern myself with in the near future:

• Development - Refining and adding new features to the already excellent open source cms Pligg, thus adding new features to this site (I am not affiliated with Pligg, other than as a user of their cms).
• Content Creation - A lot of time has to be spent finding (I following scores of technical RSS feeds) and summarizing technical articles/news. This task will decrease in intensity over time as others begin to submit stories (continued thanks to Andrew for his dedication in this area).
• Marketing - Making people aware of InformedNetworker’s existence. At some point one hits a turning point, but that hasn’t happened just yet.
• Sales - At some point the site has to start to monetize. I hope to perform this through ad sales. I haven’t spent too much time on this yet as I want to have a solid product before I spend my limited time on selling ads.

There are a lot of software applications on my computer, but I decided to pick ten applications that would be of interest to the IT Professional community. Hope you find them as useful as I do:

1. FileZilla - An open source FTP client that has been around forever. Recently released its 3.0 version. Cross-platform, easy to use, and free. There is also a sibling product that acts as a FTP server for those interested in hosting their own FTP.
2. Paint.NET - Originally a simple replacement for Microsoft’s built-in Paint application, which remains nearly as simple as it was when first designed so many years ago, it has progressed to the point where it can replace many commercial graphics and image editing applications for the less artistically talented. Also open source and free.
3. Wireshark - Formerly known as Ethereal, it is a sweet packet capture and analysis application that also happens to be free and open source. If you want to understand how TCP/IP protocols work, here is the place to start. Very useful when troubleshooting network performance and stability issues.
4. Wakoopa - A very little web 2.0 application. Download it and run it. It keeps track of the applications you use, allowing you to see just how much time you are spending in your various applications. Its free, not open source.
5. VMWare Server - Allows you to run other OS’es on your local machine. Great if you want to try out (insert name of OS here) on your current machine but don’t want to reformat or do a dual boot.
6. OpenOffice.Org - A free and open source office suite that includes word processing, presentations, spreadsheet, database, and drawing software. A real competitor to Microsoft Office.
7. WinDirStat - Couldn’t live without this simple application that graphically maps the utilization of your hard drive. Allows you to quickly find those files that are hogging up all your space.
8. Auslogics Disk Defrag - While there are many defragmenters on the market, this is a free and a new one. It does a nice job, is fast, and is regularly updated.
9. CrossLoop - A nice GUI overlayed over the excellent open source VNC software. Allows you to get remote access over (name of family member/friend)’s computer without jumping through hoops or trying to translate technospeak into real english.
10. FeedReader - A free RSS reader. If you don’t utilize RSS feeds - you should! Most popular sites now have RSS feeds which notify you when new content has arrived. Maximize your productivity.
11. Firefox - The web browser that single-handedly challenged Microsoft’s dominance of the internet browser market, rowsing the behemoth from its sleep to put forth another spawn - Internet Explorer 7. Firefox is an innovative, open source, and free browser based on the old Netscape browser, but now nearly entirely new. It features a number of revolutionary features including tabbed browsing, a rabidly popular extension infrastructure, and an avid fan base.
12. Thunderbird - Lesser-known but still high quality is Firefox’s little sibling, Thunderbird. Thunderbird is an email client that offers a solid communications experience. It is a bit weak in the anti-spam department and can’t yet compete head-on with the full features of Microsoft Outlook in the arena of contact and calendar management, but its a great and free alternative for those who are looking to keep it cheap.
13. Skype - Revolutionizing the way we communicate, Skype brings VoIP to the masses. Bought out by eBay one can have confidence that the company will be around for years into the future. Skype allows you to make unlimited nationwide calls for less than $100 year. Watch those old copper phone lines fade away and experience the great features of VoIP.
14. Win32Pad - A very small notepad replacement. Its not meant to be a full-featured IDE that can write code in five minutes but it is an essential application if you are still using NotePad. Amongst its most significant features are line numbering, the ability to spawn new instances, minimize to tray, and bookmarking capabilities.
15. 4t Tray Minimizer Free - If you are like me you can fill up your taskbar in no time at all. Its not that you are actually utilizing all the applications all the time - but you don’t want to close them out either, as you might just need that email app, web browser, or word processor in a minute or two. For applications that don’t include the ability to minimize as an icon in your systray there is TrayIt.
16. AIM Pro - AOL can’t seem to do anything right these days - except for AIM Pro. AIM Pro offers business professionals advanced IM communications for free. Need secure communications? No problem. Records of your chats? On top of it. Multiple guests in a simple chat room on the fly? Got it. The ability to remote into another computer using WebEx for free? Yup.
17. Safari - Apple decided to make their browser cross-platform. While I still prefer Firefox, Safari is a good option especially if you want to test what your website is going to look like on a Mac in Safari.
18. Opera - Another minority browser. Again, useful for performing testing of how your website displays in different browsers. An innovative application in its own right which used to cost, but now is free. While it has many excellent features it seems unable to market itself in such a way as distracts the audience currently enamored with Firefox.