Some very good basic advice here from Jim Trott at NetObjectives about applying lean principles and systems thinking to improve software development. An excerpt: "When it comes to analyzing where to start in helping a development organization, it often...

Just heard about a series of free training events on creating performance dashboards. Looks pretty interesting. Description, dates, locations, and links to register are below. -John Microsoft and BlueGranite present: Dashboard in a Day Seminars Learn...

With a name like Pickle , the options for joke-making can be overwhelming. :-) That aside, this is a very interesting service for sharing photos and videos. I'm embedding a pickle player below that shows a couple pics -- one for each of my kids -- that...

Saw this today. Mark Greiner, who runs Steelcase's "Workspace Futures" team spoke at a Transformation, a Symposium on Innovative Health Care Delivery recently at the Mayo Clinic. Among the speakers that stood out to Mark was Michael Howe, CEO of MinuteClinic...

Daryll McDade knows I'm a big fan of Popfly, so he sent me over to see recently released Popfly Tutorial video. Educational, and funny, too! Technorati tags: Popfly , Funny

Rick Wagoner, Chairman of General Motors , announced at the Detroit North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) that GM has taken an equity stake in an ethanol manufacturer called Coskata, and that Coskata has developed a breakthrough process for producing...

Ed Wallace has a great article in Business Week about the impact of mass demographics on the auto industry -- fun to read, and insightful. Years ago, I remember walking through Ford WHQ and seeing a distinct focus on Gen Y . Gen X isn't big enough to...

You may have heard that Ford SYNC (based on Microsoft's Windows Automotive ) will play music from your mp3 player, or even from a USB drive, as the video here shows. Turns out you can also stream music from either a phone or a laptop via a mobile phone...

Ben Flock just posted his first blog post, and I want to be among the first to say welcome to the blogging world, Ben! I've known Ben since my first few weeks at Microsoft, and I can tell you he's among the best of the best. Read his blog. It's sparse...

Occasionally someone will say to me something along the lines of: "I've got an old VB6 app that I need to migrate. Why should I use .NET 3.5 instead of .NET 2.0? What's the value proposition? The ROI?" If you've ever wondered about that question, (at...

The Office Developers Conference (ODC) is coming up quick, starting 10-Feb-2008 in San Jose this year. Should be an awesome event! Office 2007 is by far the best Office yet to build solutions on, and now that it's got a year on the market under it's belt...

Stumbled on another Ford Sync / Microsoft Windows Automotive video today -- this one a review from CNET that shows streaming music from a phone over Bluetooth to the head unit, as well as receiving and listening to text messages being read by the car...

Bill Gates gave the opening keynote at CES the other day. You can see a video of it here. I didn't think the press and blog coverage that I saw this morning did a very good job exposing the ton of cool stuff he covered, so I whipped together this guide...

Harry Mower, a self-described music junkie, tells an addict's story of how to find the next great music of the moment: Media Mechanics : Scoring with Zune Part2 - Finding Music. Even if you merely love Music, it's a great review of the how to get the...

Not brand new, but noteworthy: paidContent reports that Microsoft adds CNBC.com to it's inventory of content. Thanks to Harry Mower for the pointer. Media Mechanics : CNBC.com Hands Over Display Advertising to Microsoft

Regular readers of this blog know that I've been excited about Ford's SYNC for quite a while now. For those that don't know, SYNC is Ford's implementation of Windows Automotive inside their vehicles to provide hands free access to media and phone. For...