Will Spam Flattery Catch On?

Lately I kind of like emptying the spam folder in the admin section of my blog. There are so many encouraging comments in there. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we are in the midst of a spam revolution. The spam bots are getting so smart they now leave relevant messages instead of aimless [...]

DIY Forums Offer Business Intelligence

I don’t often get into home improvement topics on this blog, or DIY techniques because this isn’t written for homeowners. Sometimes though there are resources that appeal to the DIYer that might also offer some tidbits of knowledge to construction pros.
I got an email announcing the existence of a forum specifically for home repair. [...]

It’s Time To Think About Mobile Device Security

There is a lot to recommend an “ounce of prevention.” We take this medicine when we eat wholesome food and exercise, and when we get the oil changed in our vehicles. When it comes to computing there are probably few people left in the business world who don’t have some kind of virus protection on [...]

When Surveying Try These Friendly Tactics

Web surveys are nice tools for getting the sense of something. Usually they aren’t really excellent indicators of much, but they do provide a general guideline of what people are thinking about topics.
I was asked to take a survey at a news site and because I appreciate the fact they make the news available for [...]

Manufacturers Expand Rugged Cell Phone Offerings

I suspect there are a lot of people on the front lines of construction who find the current crop of cell phones to be, well, lightweights. Especially when it comes to abuse. So, cell phone makers are starting to build cell phones that can take some typical, and some not-so-typical, beatings.
Take the Sonim XP3 [...]

Tips for Making Your Press Releases Stand Out

There is a fine line between advertising and editorial these days. Then again, the line is often badly blurred when you find yourself viewing, or reading an advertorial – (sometimes referred to as a press release). Of course the onus is on the viewer, or reader, to recognize when they are being served an ad [...]

Lessons From The Blogosphere Statistics

About 18 people in the world might have noticed that I didn’t do any blog posts for three days last week. As I studied my blog stats I realized I had lost track of who was reading, when they were reading, and what they were reading.
I started my inquiry because of a great post I [...]

Update: Rugged Laptops For Construction

There have been some advances in the technology of rugged laptops for construction since I last wrote about this here. For example, they are a lot more expensive but they are also tougher and loaded with more features and power.
Dell’s rugged new entry is the Latitude E6400 XFR starting at about $4,000. But then, you [...]

Get The Lowdown on Networking Sites

I have only recently begun to re-explore social and business networking Web sites and it seems they have come a long way from just a few years ago. There are now widget-types of tools you use that will do things like automatically include your latest blog posts and the books you are reading.
I use LinkedIn [...]

Tapping Into Business Intelligence for Increased Efficiencies

It’s likely you’re going to be hearing more and more about business intelligence (BI) and finding the right tools to fit it into the typical construction environment. My simplified definition of BI goes like this: BI is the process of trapping information and putting it to use as quickly as possible. So, when you query [...]