A big part of maintaining a blog is keeping up with technology news as much as possible. Since I only work on this blog part-time, I have to be efficient with my intake of technology related news. As a result, I try to follow blogs, Twitter feeds, and RSS feeds of only a select few resources that I feel give me the best news without overwhelming me with information.
Below is a list of my favorite news related technology blogs that I follow through my RSS feeds (via Google Reader)
GigaOM - Great blog for general tech news. Covers all the basics with emphasis on Cloud Computing, Mobile, and Social Media, as well as other things like Cleantech and other technology related infrastructure.
Mashable – One of the most popular technology blogs on the web. Its content is very extensive and covers a very wide range of topics, including Business, Techs and Gadget, Social Media, and Mobile. If I have any complaint about Mashable, it is that the material and number of posts are so extensive that it is difficult to keep up with all of the news.
ReadWriteWeb - This is probably my favorite of the three. I personally think that it covers a slightly narrower range of technical news, which I like. It does cover some of the business aspects of technical startups, but mainly focuses on general technology news around cloud computing, enterprise computing, and mobile computing.
In addition to the above blogs, I also follow several other tech news feeds via Twitter, including; Gizmodo, eWeek, engadget, Techcrunch, AllTouchTablet, and Wired. All of these are good, but I find that once you start following several of these, you start to see a lot of redundancy.
Another great source for staying up to date with the latest technology news is through the software company blogs. You do have to be careful with company blogs because they are obviously biased towards their own products. With that said, I have been impressed with the way that many companies have used social media to inform existing and future customers.
I like to stay on top of several company’s news through their blogs and YouTube channels. Some of the company blogs and YouTube channels I follow include; Box.net, SugarSync, Google,Salesforce.com, Zoho, Microsoft, and Apple.
For this post, I have mainly focused on the large technology news resources. For every large blog, there are several small blogs (such as this one) that provide a wealth of great information. I would encourage everyone to keep an eye out for these also. Oftentimes they focus on a niche subject (e.g. Java programming or VBA scripting) and can be very valuable.
Please comment or email if you have other good sources for technology related news and training.
-TW
Need evidence that the world of technology is moving to the cloud? Look no further than the explosive growth that has occurred for Salesforce.com‘s annual conference, called Dreamforce. Salesforce.com is one of the pioneer’s of the cloud computing industry. They have been hosting the Dreamforce conference, which brings together leaders in the industry, since 2003 and it has become the premier cloud computing conference in the world.
The amazing growth of the conference is displayed beautifully in the infographic below developed by the creative companys Jess3 and Eloqua. I was really surprised to see that in just 9 years the number of attendees has increased nearly 20 fold – from 1,100 in 2003 to over 23,000 in 2010! I think that the growth of the Dreamforce conference just reinforces how explosive the cloud computing industry is and will continue to be.
Thanks to Jess3 and Eloqua for allowing the great infographic below to be reprinted.
Source: Microsoft
Last year Microsoft announced they will be releasing the latest version of Office, aptly named Office 2010, in mid-2010. I have not found a firm date, but some sites have suggested it will be released around May or June.The layout of Office 2010 will be similar to that of Office 2007. Some of the new key features that will be incorporated into the latest version include:
- The ‘Ribbon’ has been modified to be more intuitive and easier to use
- Enhanced integration with Microsoft’s SkyDrive web site.
- Increased image editing capabilities within the Office applications
- Enhanced social media connectivity and collaboration tools
Rumors also have been floating that Microsoft will offer free online versions of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint through Microsoft’s Live Office website to compete with other online programs like Zoho and Google Docs. I’m skeptical about this since I have not seen anything from Microsoft that can compete with Zoho and Google’s strictly 100% online applications – they may be possibly waiting to release access to this until Office 2010 is officially released.
Other changes include the addition of Office 2010 Starter to replace Microsoft Works and a new mobile version of Office 2010.
Screenshots of Office 2010 can be found on the CNET website. Microsoft has also released a beta version to the public which can be downloaded from their site.
Sources: Microsoft.com, Wikipedia.org, CNET.com
Google recently announced upcoming enhancements to their Google Docs platform. At their recent Atmosphere conference, Google discussed upcoming changes that will allow for more enhanced collaboration and advanced features related to usability. The enhancements showcase the evolution of Google Docs as is continues to compete with Microsoft Office 2010.
A list of some of the new features found within Google Docs can be found here.
I’m personally interested to see how the new features will work. I’ve been a long time user of Microsoft Office products but recently have been using web-based applications like Google Docs and Zoho more. One of the main advantages to web-based (or cloud) applications is that the data is stored on a server on the web, which allows for more freedom when using multiple computers.
I still rely heavily on Microsoft Excel and Word for all of my heavy data crunching and writing. I feel that for more advanced applications web-based office programs are still a few years off before they can be used for all tasks. Nonetheless, with Google’s continued innovation, they seem poised to become a major player in the years ahead.
[Image and Article Sources: GigaOM, CNet]
Welcome everyone to TechJotter! TechJotter’s mission is to make office and home technology simplified for the everyday user.
The purpose of the blog is to provide updates, commentary, reviews, training, and humor on office and home related tech items. It is meant to make the everyday tech problems we all find easy and understandable to the average user. The initial focus will be on the following categories:
- General Software (OS, Office Productivity)
- Office Productivity (Word, Presentation, Spreadsheets, Databases)
- Spreadsheets (Excel, OpenOffice.org, Online Programs)
- Collaboration (Social Networking, Blogging, etc.)
- Internet Corner (Internet Resources, Etc.)
- Everyday Computing (Miscellaneous)
Thanks for reading and continue to check back!
-TW
