McFadden Place » Internet

McFaddenPlace Moved ... But You Can't Tell

Michael McFadden — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:29:59 +0000

You might not know we moved ... I guess it's better to say we switched our hosting at mcfaddenplace. Not significant to any of our readers but it is significant (or maybe not) to Yahoo. Yahoo webhosting stinks! We started there back in 2005 right before we moved to Oxford. We used Yahoo because they had an easy to use «site builder» and hosting was included. Fast forward 4 years, 3 website designs and a switch to wordpress and we've outgrown Yahoo. How does someone outgrow Yahoo? Easy, they only have tools for people that don't want to experiment with new tools ... they don't even allow people to work with the latest and greatest platforms like WordPress.

So, you might notice some new design changes and features. I hope you enjoy.

How far did you walk/run?

Michael McFadden — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:52:00 +0000

So Kelly and I have been trying walk/run/bike more this year. Well, let me rephrase that, Kelly has a great track record of taking walks and runs. I have a slightly more vacant excercise chart. However, in the last month I have 4 runs, 1 bike ride, and several walks. We'll see if I can keep it up. If you're wondering what kind of walks/runs/bike rides are going on check out the links below. I think you'll enjoy the program.

The walk/run route around Balboa Island is 2.6185 miles.
ht tp://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=655635

My first bike ride of 2007 was about 9.0527 miles.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=655800

How did we know the exact mileage? Check out the website http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ and find out for yourself.

Free 411 Calls

Michael McFadden — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:22:00 +0000

For those in the US, add this number to your speed dial

1-800-Free-411 (1-800-373-3411)

That's right, free information calls. No more $2 charges on your phone bills. You do have to listen to a 10-15 second advert but it's worth it.

Check 'em out at www.free411.com

PS You probably don't want to call 1-800-411-Free (it's an adult phone site).

Twitter

Michael McFadden — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 16:31:00 +0000

I think Twitter is onto something. You sign up and anytime you update (send an SMS) it updates your friends and the website (if you're comments are public). In some aspects this is just an easy way to send out a text to many. Do I care what my friends are doing? Do I want to get a text message anytime a friend sends out a note? Maybe. Maybe not. But maybe the potential isn't in the updating but rather the ability to get texts (and pictures from cell phones) on a website immediately.

Imagine if you text and it appears on your MySpace page or personal website. Or what if I took a picture from cell phone and then sent and it uploaded to my site with a message. Now we're talking about cool. I'm not a programmer but I'm guessing it isn't too hard. I'm not sure though. I might send them a little note.

I did notice that the founders have quite a good track record. I'm sure we'll be reading about this company soon.

WeThink

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:32:00 +0000

Charlie Leadbeater has released an interesting book on mass creativity and innovation (well sort of released, it's actually now online for mass collaboration). We-Think: the power of mass creativity.

Here's an excerpt:

The basic argument is very simple. Most creativity is collaborative. It combines different views, disciplines and insights in new ways. The opportunities for creative collaboration are expanding the whole time. The number of people who could be participants in these creative conversations is going up largely thanks to the communications technologies that now give voice to many more people and make it easier for them to connect. As a result we are developing new ways to be innovative and creative at mass scale. We can be organised without having an organisation. People can combine their ideas and skills without a hierarchy to coordinate their activities. Many of the ingredients of these forms of self-organised creative collaboration are not new - peer review for example has been around a long time in academia. But what is striking about Wikipedia, Linux, Second Life, Youtube and many more is the way they take familiar ingredients and combine them to allow people to collaborate creatively at mass scale.

The rest is here:
http://www.wethinkthebook.net/book/home.aspx

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from the website)

Charles Leadbeater is one the world's leading authorities on innovation and creativity in organisations. He has advised companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation strategy and drawn on that experience in writing his latest book We-think: why mass creativity is the next big thing, which charts the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation from science and open source software, to computer games and political campaigning.

www.charlesleadbeater.net

Link: Everyone as Co-Creators: Harnessing Collective Innovation with Web 2.0

Michael McFadden — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 01:03:00 +0000

Unfortunately my time has been crunched over the last few weeks or I would have attempted to summarize my own thoughts on open innovation. That being said, I guess part of the genius behind open source innovation is «harnessing collective innovation», in which the link below is a great introduction to the subject:

Everyone as Co-Creators: Harnessing Collective Innovation with Web 2.0 (web2.wsj2.com)

Take a peek. There is so much going on in this arena that it's tough to keep up. Mash ups are another area that is growing exponentially. For more info on Mash Ups click here.