NASA's Final Shuttle Launch - I'll be there!

last one by shlomi yoav

Happy 4th of July to all of my American viewers!

On July 8th, at approximately 11:40am, the Space Shuttle Atlantis will lift off for its final mission, and I'll be right there!  I've been invited by NASA to participate in a NASA Tweetup for 150 of its twitter followers.  I've previously blogged about my experience with the tweetup and the previous launch, along with the accompanying media coverage, but I missed the actual liftoff of the shuttle due to the launch being moved at the last minute for safety concerns.  Of course, this can happen again for this launch, but I have my fingers crossed!

The community of people that support NASA initiatives is very impressive. We are connected on various social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and the information flows freely.  There are people that clearly know more than me, but not once have I felt talked down to. It's truly an example of how technology can help to bring like-minded people together.

You can view my press release by clicking here.

NASA Tweetup attendees are traveling from across the U.S. and globe to attend this historic event. A list of registered Twitter attendees can be found on the NASA Tweetup Twitter account: http://twitter.com/NASATweetup/sts-135-launch/members

Information about the NASA Tweetup can be viewed at http://www.nasa.gov/connect/tweetup/index.html 

Google+ is Social Networking Done Right

Source: Mashable

I've spent a bit of time on Google's new social network, Google+. My profile page is linked here. It's currently in a limited beta with a few participants, but so far the suite of features offered is very impressive.

The network is structured around groups of people, or circles. Any time you add someone as a contact, you can put them in one or more circles. This can be done by dragging names into these circles, which is very intuitive. For example, I have circles for close family and friends, tech pundits, forum buddies, etc.

Any status updates that I push out - whether photos, quick one liners, or essays - have to be sent out on a circle basis. There is an option to send things out publicly to anyone on the site, but the main focus is that you can easily control who you are communicating with.

It's still in beta, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Google ties this network in with other services such as Google Docs, Google Alerts, and Google Trends.  Imagine if I can search on certain terms that people are talking about (I would only see results that are within my circles or public), and can view how that topic trends over time. It's the perfect mashup of Facebook's relationships and Twitter's topic search capabilities.

The possibilities are endless if Google really puts everything behind this and implements it will. And why won't they. Reportedly, everyone's bonus at the company is tied into the success of Google's social efforts. If that won't motivate some of the greatest minds in the industry to innovate, what will?

NASA and What I Enjoy The Most About Twitter

I've also been a fan of social networking. I've spent countless hours on Friendster, Facebook, and Twitter. Even though there are some that I don't quite get (Path?), I appreciate being able to keep up with old friends and make new ones.

As of late, Twitter has been my preferred network of use. One of the main reasons for this is because Twitter is best suited for finding normal people with similar interests. As you've seen from this blog, my interests vary across many technology fields, so I'm always looking for new people to meet. In contrast, Facebook is best suited to find famous people with similar interests (via Pages), or reconnecting with friends.

As I detailed in my previous posts, I won a NASA contest to see the space shuttle Endeavour launch, which was originally scheduled for April 19th. Even though several postponements led to me missing the actual launch, the Twitter community of former and current launch attendees has been a joy to be a part of. Even before I met the NASA Tweetup participants, we already shared tips, jokes, and rants together. When we did meet for the first time in Daytona during the third attempted launch date on May 2nd, it was like a reacquainting with someone you've met already.

One thing I love about finding a community that shares a similar interest is when you discover other common interests. This helped overcome the pressure, for example, of only talking about space with the NASA Tweetup folks. After we began following each other, a natural flow of conversation began as we started commenting and replying on people's messages. Even after the space shuttle program is long discontinued, I'm sure that I will maintain relationships with the people that I've met through Twitter and in person.

If you'd like to follow me, my Twitter username is @ShareefJackson. Hope to see you there!

Tech in Vegas: Touchscreen Directory

Last week I was at a medical conference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. First of all, the place was HUGE, and the geniuses that designed it placed the conference center as far as possible from the hotel rooms. Every day I had to drag myself for what seemed like a mile through the casino where every slot machine plays the same jingle.

I did run across some cool tech though! Check out the video below for the MGM Grand convention center directory - it's pretty cool!

Tech in Business: iPads at Conferences

I've already posted from the iPad line and shot an unboxing video, so it's obvious that I'm in love with the shiny tablet. But how does it fare during one of the most stressful parts of my job - covering a medical conference?

When I cover a conference, I have a few main things that I have to do:

1) Attend medical sessions
This is an easy one for the iPad. Since I don't worry about formatting while I'm actively noting, I use the default Notes app, since it automatically syncs with my gmail. That way if I crash, I still have a backup. When I got back to my room to format the notes, I use Pages. Unfortunately Apple doesn't have a good way to backup Pages files so I use a free service called DropBox which gives me 2GB of free space online to save documents. I can sync my Pages files to my DropBox account using a service called DropDav.

2) Review medical posters
Companies and schools present their latest research on posters. Most medical conferences have a huge hall dedicated to nothing but rows and rows of posters. Previously I had to either squint into my iPhone to take notes or look up interesting companies / schools or break out my fugly work laptop. With the iPad, I can carry it around without my arm getting tired, and use one hand to do my research and take notes simultaneously. I use Numbers to carry my obnoxiously created spreadsheet containing the interesting posters that I've previously marked off, so that I can prioritize my approach to the maze like corridors of the poster hall. As I stated in the first paragraph, I use the default Notes app for note taking, and later format with Pages.

3) Send out reports to my colleagues
This one's easy. Since I've already formatted my work in Pages, it's just a matter of creating one larger report. Since I don't have a corporate iPad with VPN access to my Outlook Exchange account, I forward the report from my personal gmail to my work email. Then, I access my work email via Outlook Web Access on the browser, and send it out to my distribution list. Is this more steps then having a laptop? Definitely. But the portability and ease of use during sessions and posters more than makes up for the inability to access corporate sites via VPN.

I still bring my laptop because there are some specialized programs that I can only run on the Dell, but I don't use it anymore for the day to day work that I do during a conference. The key to being successful with an iPad at a conference is to jump in and try it. There is a bit of learning curve, especially if you're not good at fast touch typing on an iPad screen. Once you get it, you won't go back!