I know, I know, it’s been a long break, but the last couple of weeks have been amazing. I’ve written more words in a shorter time than in a great while. On the one hand, I love it — while I enjoyed the podcasting gig at CMP (and campaigned for it), I found that I missed writing. That itch is being scratched with a vengeance. On the other hand, I get to 2:00 AM, realize I haven’t posted here, and know that sleep does have some priority in my life.

Here’s one thing that I’ve been up to: I’ve added InfoWorld’s SMB IT blog to my portfolio. Check it out (especially after I get some real content posted) and let me know what you think. There have been other things in the last couple of weeks, as well…I’ll have links to those up, soon.

Thanks for hanging around — I’ll try to make it worth your while…

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So I decided that one way to help the blog here is to get into Technorati. In order to do that, I have to write a post that includes a link that their spider can find. Here’s the post. Now, I just get to wait for the spider.

Here, spider. Nice spider.

Heavens, I think I should get some sleep, now.

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I also had a chance to do a couple of interviews for the Enterprise 2.0 conference in June. All the conference podcasts are here. I interviewed Bob McCandless and Irwin Lazar on the characteristics of Enterprise 2.0–and why an organization would want to embrace the new model. Thanks, on all these podcasts, to Carol. She’s the producer who makes the recordings sound far better than they would without her touch.

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Categories: General computing, Media, Housekeeping
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I haven’t recorded podcasts for this site–sorry about that. I have been podcasting, though, just for the Interop conference. If you’d like to hear interviews with a bunch of interesting folks, head over the the Interop Podcast Archives to catch up.

I am planning to start podcasting here–I’m just trying to figure out how it’s going to work with a bunch of other things that are happening in my life right now. Lots of work, school starting…it’s a good set of decisions to have to make.

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Categories: General computing, Housekeeping, Publications
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Wow, you let a major conference happen, and everything goes to pot. Sorry about the lag in posts…some interesting things have been happening and they’re going to make for some changes here in the blog.

First big change: I’ve been accepted to graduate school. I’ve enjoyed teaching at the community-education level, and the only way anyone will let me do more is with at least a master’s degree in hand, so it’s off to grad school. Where, you ask? The University of Florida, and in College of Journalism and Communications. I know I’ll be working on a concentration in journalism: there, I’ve told you all I know. Several folks have suggested I blog the experience of going back to school, and I think I shall…lots of technology to be covered, as well as plenty of life in general. I hope it will mean more regular updates, and I hope they’ll be interesting. Let me know what you think.

Speaking of that, I may end up shutting off comments here, since the only regular contributor is a comment-spammer who’s work I kill frequently and with great gusto. It’s only a minor pain, but a pain it is, and I’m not sure I need any more at this point. Do let me know if you would miss the great sense of community here…

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Today’s Dark Reading column is up, and it’s on an interesting topic; it seems that spammers have decided that there are more important things than porn to use in flooding our in-boxes. The column brought with it an even more interesting situation; Kelly Jackson-Higgins wrote her blog entry on the same subject.

As problems go, this one isn’t earth-shattering, and in many instances it wouldn’t even be a problem. It’s the sort of thing that’s easily corrected in the editing and production work-flow of a print publication, but “web time” tends to leave publications open to these little issues. The question, of course, is how to solve the problem without invoking a process that will make everyone long for the days when we could all file different takes on the same story and just laugh about it.

The whole work-process issue is fascinating. I’ve been on the team starting at least three magazines, and work flow discussions tended to involve minor tweaks to a system that apparently originated with Gutenberg. The web changed things in dramatic fashion because of the speed that has come to be associated with web publishing, the differences in the understanding of article length, and the very basic differences in how readers experience the material. The staff size is also a huge factor.

A blog like this is, generally, a one-person operation. Right now, I’m the only one posting here so the process is whatever lets me get something onto the web. I’ve had discussions with colleagues about their participation, and when they begin contributing we’ll have to work out a more significant process. If you have 20 editors, 36 writers, and an art department, you’re in a different world of process altogether.

You’ll notice that I haven’t said anything about the whole editorial oversight that’s supposed to be such a huge differentiator between Real Publications and blogs. There’s a reason I haven’t talked about it–there’s no standard to talk about on either side. I’ve written for huge print publications where my articles ran exactly as I submitted them, and I’ve written for blogs and on-line pubs where editors went over every word. Here? You, my friends, are my editorial review and so far you’re doing a good job. I liken this most to a good newsletter–there’s an on-going relationship between writer and reader that keeps things vital.

Categories: Security, Housekeeping
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I’ve been quiet for the last few days. It’s not that things haven’t been happening in technology: no, it’s just that a combination of deadlines and a vicious infection has left me with no time, energy, or attention to spare. Things should be getting back to normal, soon.

 Thanks for your patience.

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Thanks, Professor, for the link. If you’re here for the first time, take a moment to look around. I hope you’ll find a reason to come back.

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Sorry about the brief break in blogging…between the holiday and the simple joy of sitting in 80-degree weather while watching news stories about ice storms, I didn’t get to the keyboard as much as I’d planned. More stuff coming soon.

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OK, so rule one should be not to try to start a new blog at the beginning of vacation. I broke that one, and I’ll probably break others, but there you are. I’m back, and it’s time to get started here. This blog is about the technology that interests me…whether it’s enterprise, small business, or personal. To get things started, I’ll talk about some of the technology I use–and that I used on my vacation.

Oh, another thing: I expect that there will be other folks who join me in blogging here. I’ll write more as they come on board. Now…let the blog begin.

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Welcome to the CF2 TechNotes Blog. This is designed to be a way for me–Curt Franklin–to talk about the products and technologies I see as I’m working through various projects and articles in the computer industry.

I’ve been looking at new products and emerging technologies for over 20 years for magazines like BYTE, Circuit Cellar INK, InfoWorld, and Network Computing. I’ve run testing labs for various publications, as well as a commercial testing lab that produced its own set of benchmark tests and custom work for very large and well-known clients.

Why start a blog? Well, there are several reasons, but they all revolve around having a place to write about the scores of product and technology news items I see every week that I’ll never be able to source into a paper publication. I might well have some colleagues join me here, and there will certainly be podcasts associated with the CTB.

We’re starting out with comments turned off. They may be turned on for individual posts, but in general you’ll need to send e-mail to me if you’d like me to see your comments. If you don’t want everyone to see a comment, let me know in your message–otherwise, I’ll consider it fair game for posting here.

The CF2 TechNotes Blog will evolve and grow. I hope it will be enjoyable and useful reading, but I mostly hope that I’ll be able to tell some good stories and point you to interesting stuff I’ve found. Thanks for stopping by…We’ll get started soon.

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