Sixty Second Tech

Feeds are the new lifeblood of the Internet. If you listen to this podcast any way other than visiting sixtysecondtech.com and clicking play, then you are using a feed. Feeds have become so ubiquitous that you may not even know you use them.

Feeds are XML files, while they are human readable, that’s about as fun as a trip to the dentist, so I don’t recommend trying it. Instead, feeds are consumed by software. Readers, like Google Reader, consume feeds from blogs and other sources and present the content in a single place for you to peruse. Podcatchers, like iTunes, consume feeds and download the podcasts they describe (like this one) to your audio player of choice.

Feeds generally come in two flavors, RSS or “Really Simple Syndication” and Atom, which was designed by people didn’t like RSS. While RSS is the more commonly used format, Atom is considered by most to be the more complete and technically accurate format. Thanks to services like feedburner.com most website owners never have to worry about which format they need to publish. Feedburner allows you to publish your feed once and it takes care of the translation.

So, if you’ve got a website, especially one with content that regularly changes, go ahead and feed the net.

My name is Cal Evans and I am, your sixty second tech.

 

 Feed the Net! [1:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You are a technology company but can’t find the people you need locally. You could uproot people and move them to where you are. It’s hard on families but hey, you’re a heartless corporation, what do you care?

How about another option…telecommuting?

If your company doesn’t have an active telecommuting policy then you are mired in 90’s management theory and really need to update your thinking. (and quite possibly your resume)

Here are a few must have tools that will make the difference between success and failure in your telecommuting program.

Skype
How about a free, and easy to use telephone system? Do yourself a favor, pop the $50 a year extra and upgrade each of your people to Skype Pro.

Instant Messaging
Make sure everybody has an IM account. Bonus points if you get everybody to use the same system.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
It’s one thing to get everybody on IM but it’s a whole ‘nother world to have them all in one virtual room. This is the one trick I do every time I setup a virtual team.

SSH
Keep your resources behind the firewall and let users tunnel into them.

So, grab the tools, kick your developers out the door (but not to the curb!) and open up the world to them. You will find that it’s no longer hard to keep good developers on staff, just hard to keep them in the building.

My name is Cal Evans and I am, your sixty second tech.

Hey, stay tuned! Don’t turn it off, I’ve got a special promo from my buddies over at theNewMediology.com! Give them a listen.

 

 Telecommuting! [1:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ok, so you followed my advice and built you a web site, you have fresh content and a look and feel that “pops”! Now all you need to do is figure out who your visitors are. There are several good ways to go about this but I’m only going to tell you about one, Google Analytics. If you don’t have Google Analytics installed on your website, go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do NOT collect $200. However, do go to google.com/analytics and register now!

Installation of this powerful tool is simple, but it will require you to add a piece of JavaScript to your site, so you may want to consult with your web designer/programmer.

If you do have someone else set it up for you, have them set it up in its own account. Once it is setup and operating, ask them hand the account over to you and change the password.

Now that it’s installed, wait a day for the data to get in there and then start poking around. Everybody can give you “most visited page” but Google Analytics can give you screen resolution, color density and even a cool google map overlay so you can click around and see the cities that people are visiting from.

Once you are comfortable with the metrics it gives you, take a look at “Google Analytics AIR”. It’s an application that will gives you your Google Analytics data right on your desktop.

So get out there and find out who is visiting your website. You may be surprised at what you find.

My name is Cal Evans and I am, your sixty second tech.

 

 Google Analytics [1:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Most web pages have contact information on them and while you can look at an address and recognize it without a problem, your computer can’t. To your computer, it’s just more characters to display; it has no meaning. You could keep a separate file on your site to describe your address in a way that a computer can understand it, but where’s the fun in that? What you need is a MicroFormat.

Microformats attach semantics to content, to allow automated processing of the text.

Microformats are nothing more than plain old semantic-HTML or POSH. A microformat encoded address, would display in your browser as normal text; however, software designed to recognize microformats could act upon it.

Let’s use the example of the hCard, the microformat version of the vCard. A plugin added to FireFox will allow it to recognize an hCard and offer you the option to add it to your address book. While you can certainly look at a webpage and say “Hey, that’s an address, I’ll add that person to my address book” it’s not nearly as convenient and will impress no one at your next cocktail party.

There are currently 8 microformats defined, and the list, along with more details, can be found at microformats.org.

My name is Cal Evans and I am, your sixty second tech.

 

 Microformats [1:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download