The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2009. In 1884, Congress voted to establish a Bureau of Labor, and on June 27 of that year President Chester A. Arthur signed the bill into law. A few years later the name of the organization was changed to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Eventually BLS became part of the Department of Labor when the Department was established in 1913. Your invited to learn more about the BLS Bureau’s 125th anniversary by visiting Spotlight on Statistics (www.bls.gov/spotlight) which commemorates this event through a visual essay of some of their longest-running and newest data series. FYI, the BLS is a valuable resource for those interested in statistics about employment, labor, consumer price index and other socio-economic variables. See http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2009/125_anniversary/
Archives for June 2009
Event Spotlight… Google Earth For Your Government Agency
Google Earth For Your Government Agency – Are you interested in leveraging Google Earth for your Government Agency? If so, this webinar from DLT Solutions (A Google Enterprise partner) will help put you on track. Recall, the same technology used to run the public Google Earth lets organizations build their own secure globe with their own imagery and other geospatial data. Visualize, explore and understand information on a fully interactive 3D globe, with little or no training required. Join Google and DLT an informative webinar on Tuesday, June 30th from 2-3 ET to learn more about how the Google Earth Enterprise solution is helping government agencies. See more details here
Twitter Means Business – How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company
A tip for those of you interested in this popular topic… can Twitter help or hurt your business? I recently ran into an interesting e-book that explores this topic – something thats of interest to me for sure! Some details… Given the passion and high profiles of “Twitterverse” denizens, the service has evolved into a vital early-warning system for businesses seeking to stave off criticism, and as a way to build better relationships with customers. That is why companies need to know Twitter. Embracing it can help a business thrive; ignoring the service could well hurt it. For companies unfamiliar with Twitter, this book serves as a field guide. They will get a Twitterverse tour, and learn about the dozens of firms big and small that have harnessed Twitter as a powerful, flexible business tool. You can request more info here
Geo and Mobile Tech news update/recap from June 23
Did you catch this week’s first GISuser newsletter? If not, here’s the intro (FYI, you can always sign up for it right here) – I have to wonder, how many of you stood in line last Friday in order to pick up your new, iPhone 3G… anyone?? Speaking of smartphones, if the Android mobile OS is of interest to you (I thing the G1 is killer -almost!) then you’ll be glad to know that a new, Android mobile will be available from T-Mobile a little later this summer – the myTouch 3G mobile integrates nicely with Google services and will be available in 3 colors if style is important to you – see details here. Finally, for those of you wanting a cool way to share your mobile multi-media (images, video etc…) you HAVE to check out themoment – just launched today, themoment integrates with most major social networks (Twitter, facebook) and can also pull in media from your Flickr, Picas, Youtube and other accounts – this site is awesome!! On to Geo tech news, you’ll notice in today’s spotlight we have a cool announcement from the ESRI UC team about something new at this year’s event… Lightning talks at the Map Gallery. An idea borrowed from the popular Ignite events (think O’reilly media), the lightning talk sessions will feature 5 minute talks on topics of interest – Jack will be there and you’re invited to stop by and have a drink and listen to the talks – speaker entries are also being acccepted so you better act fast! Another HOT topic these days is Google Earth for the Government Agency… if G.E.E is of interest to you then take note of an interesting webinar scheduled to run June 30 – see more here. Finally, if you plan on hitting the road this 4th of July (or sometime this summer) be sure to keep NAVTEQ mobile in mind to stay abreast of road conditions and traffic – more details here or see mobi.traffic.com on your mobile. Finally, congrats to Intergraph on rolling out I/CAD version 9.0 – The latest generation computer-aided dispatch (CAD) solution also allows for the incorporation of widely available consumer maps into workflows. That’s all for now… maybe I’ll see you at Ignite Boulder on July 2! And, FYI, I’m on the LSU bandwagon for the College World Series.. go Tigers! You can see the full newsletter from June 23 HERE…
2010 State of the Arctic Conference – in Miami?
Where do leading scientists go to tackle the issue of the state of the Arctic… N Canada, Alaska, Finland, Sweden, Russia… heck no, they head to Florida! Interesting to see that scientists will be tackling the issue of the Arctic in a great event next year, however, some feel it may seem a bit odd that the event will take place in Miami, Florida – perhaps, although Miami may be a more attractive location for attendees (esp. in March) rather than heading to a northern location in Alaska, Finland, or the Yukon as some have suggested would be more appropriate.Some event details…The State of the Arctic Conference, to be held 16-19 March 2010 in Miami, Florida, will be an international meeting to present, exchange, and discuss the latest knowledge on the state of the Arctic and future directions of arctic science and policy. See more HERE
Join Jack for a drink at the ESRI UC Lightning Talks – sign up today
Something new for you this year at the ESRI User Conference – Lightning Talks! IF you have an interesting application to discuss, sign up for a 5 minute presentation slot. From ESRI … New to the UC this year, be part of the Map Gallery’s Monday evening Lightning Talks, which will be clear, quick, and informal presentations. These five-minute talks are based on the three-fold style to be brief, be brilliant, and be gone.
Join Jack and us for a drink, hors d’oeuvres, and to discuss topics such as
* Web demonstrations
* Cutting-edge applications
* Compelling Web maps
* Geographic analysis demonstrations
* Mash-up applications
* Web 2.0 concepts (i.e., multi-participation, collaboration)
* Applications in conservation, education, humanitarian, and other non-profit activities
Demonstrate Your Web and Mobile Application
If you’ve built a Web or mobile application that you’d like to demonstrate consider signing up for a slot! The deadline for submissions is June 30. SEE MORE DETAILS
Myself, I’m a huge fan of the O’reilly-designed ignite lightning talk format so hopefully this will be just as enjoyable! Speaking of Ignite, I’ll see you at Ignite Boulder on July 2 and Ignite Fort Collins in mid-August!
Nokia E75 Unboxing Video from thehotiron
My friend Mike from thehotiron has scored a nice new Nokia E75 (think E71 but smaller and more cole stuff) and offers up a first look – this is a must consider if you plan on shopping for a new smartphone soon! Thanks Mike!
Layar – Augmented Reality browser premiers in the Netherlands
Mobile technologies never cease to amaze me… although sometimes I am blown away – case in point, this Augmented Reality Bowser – Layar. Imagine viewing real-time information like real estate listings, POI information and much more, all layered on top of a layer of reality. You need to see the video to get the full picture – this is awesome! See more at http://layar.eu
Fort Collins tornado alert system fails – never fear, Twitter is Here!
We all take communications for granted, however, yes indeed, lines of communications do indeed fail. Case in point, yesterday here in Fort Collins CO we had some pretty severe weather including reports of tornado sightings… unfortunately the emergency messaging system didn’t work (I was wondering why I received no TXT alerts! Details from The Coloradoan… An estimated 100,000 phone numbers and e-mail addresses did not receive the notification from the city that would have alerted those in the south-central part of the city.
Never fear though, all one needed to do was look outside at the black clouds approaching (along with hail) and common sense prevailed – an army of alert Twitter followers sending warnings also helps as well as was the case with me!
Details of Ovi Maps (Nokia) 3.0 Beta for mobile
Over on the Nokia Beta Labs details of the latest from Ovi Maps has been released. A number of new features have been provided including support for the 5800 and N97 (S60 5 devices). New features include:
- Now supports “Touch devices” S60 5th Edition (5800 Xpress Music & N97)
- New additional features such as weather information, safety spot warners in selected countries, extended country coverage for traffic info service and premium POI (Point of Interest) content for travel, selected events and cinema
- New maps data version
- Quicker zooming & panning
- New “Shop & Licenses” format
- Also, a number of fixes and enhancements onto both Maps Updater and Map Loader have also been implemented – with Maps Updater supporting 21 different languages
- Last but not least, many bugs have been fixed!