Last week I took part in a fascinating discussion around Government 2.0, i.e. the use of Web 2.0 tools by government agencies. I connected my client Scott Burns of GovDelivery with Mark Drapeau, who has made a name for himself locally by blogging on Government 2.0 on Mashable. Mark is an Associate Research Fellow at […]
A collection of technology stories from the week worthy of some additional attention. Amidst the wrangling around passing the financial bailout, the Congress passed the Broadband Data Improvement Act. Proponents hope it’s a first step towards increasing the percentage of broadband penetration in this country, a rate that continues to fall as compared to other […]
When Gabriele and I eat out we almost always order wine. But except for a very fun evening at Evo Bistro back in April, we haven’t checked out any of the wine bars popping up around the DC area. So when the October Washingtonian magazine gave Cork its highest “four glass” rating (along with Evo […]
Here’s a selection of stories that came out in a week dominated by financial bailout news. Dana Gardner at ZDnet with a very good post about the coming standardization around cloud computing. Dana believes that customer lock in will come from superior exectution, rather than proprietary hardware and software. I hope he’s right: More important than in past […]
Gabriele and I recently had an excellent dinner at the Majestic, in the heart of Old Town. Last year Cathal Armstrong and his wife Mechelle took over the Majestic, along with a few other partners that include former Governor Mark Warner. The long time landmark delivers good food, strong service and a fun vibe: http://www.majesticcafe.com/maj_new.html […]
Friday morning I attended an Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) National Capitol breakfast. Congressman Tom Davis was the speaker, a Republican representing northern Virginia. Davis announced last year he would not be standing for re-election. He’s widely credited with being the most informed member of Congress on government IT and procurement issues. Here’s an interview […]
This is a rare Wheels post that does not talk about either of the BMWs. Gabriele and I just sold our 2007 Hyundai Sonata, and purchased a 2005 Nissan Murano. So I thought I’d share some thoughts about how we tackled the process. It all stems from doing your homework — financial, vehicle, trade-in. Arm […]
Fundamental elements of Internet infrastructure have been in the news lately, and it hasn’t been a pretty picture. Last month a serious security problem with the Domain Name System (DNS) was described by Dan Kaminsky at the Black Hat/DefCon show. I took at shot at describing the vulnerability here when the news first broke in […]
If you’re Mark Zuckerberg, you’ve got to find a way to monetize the huge traffic Facebook attracts, which they recently claimed has grown to 100 million active users. Advertisers want to reach this mostly young, tech literate demographic. Last week Facebook announced a new beta program that could work for some companies but not many, […]
Most of us enjoy expensive wines for special occasions, but most of us have mortgages as well. My wife Gabriele and I are always on the look out for wines that deliver value as well as enjoyment. This weekend we found two such wines. Saturday we had dinner at Rustico, one of the restaurants of […]
I read a Peter Whoriskey Washington Post article on web radio provider Pandora this weekend that had me shaking my head. The company has over one million users and is one of the most popular iPhone applications, but it may have to cease operations: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html Pandora founder Tim Westergren admits the company isn’t making money, […]
Thought leadership is very important in public relations. It is incredibly powerful when your client is seen an an expert in his or her field, and it makes earned media coverage much easier to secure. But sometimes clients assume that thought leadership is simply a process PR pros have mastered, when it really starts with […]